A method for reprocessing scrap rubber, which produces reclaimed rubber from comminuted scrap rubber after devulcanization, in a biotechnology-type of process, by holding the comminuted scrap rubber in a bacterial suspension of chemolithotropic microorganisms with a supply of air, until sulphur as an elementary sulphur and/or sulfuric acid is separated from the remaining replasticized reclaimed rubber. This biotechnological reprocessing obtains reclaimed rubber and sulphur in a simplified manner which products can be reused.

The present invention deals with a method for reprocessing scrap rubber where the scrap rubber contains sulphur and is comminuted, and the reclaimed rubber is produced from the comminuted scrap rubber by devulcanization.
The invention also deals with an apparatus for performing this method.
Every year several million tons of scrap rubber, especially old automobile tires, are rejected worldwide, which to date have been only insufficiently utilized as a secondary raw material. Due to the small share of rubber returned into the material circulation cycle by different reprocessing variants, for instance recapping of tires, there results a large accumulation of scrap tires in dumps, which require reprocessing. Hitherto, it was assumed that with scrap tires are naturally non-composable waste materials (DE 2638387).
To date the reprocessing of waste tires proceeded along three different process variants.
In the first variant, the scrap tires, after being granulated down to grain sizes of approximately 25 mm, are utilized as an additive for construction of bituminous road cover layers or strengtheners for athletic grounds. For this purpose the rubber granulate is mixed, in a mixer common in road construction, with cement, gravelly sand or sand, water and bonding improvement agents, and is used as a highly elastic intermediate layer, for instance in highway reconstruction or road rail construction (DE 2638387).
A second possibility of utilizing scrap tires as a secondary raw material consists in subjecting the scrap tires to a pyrolysis, in order to thereby obtain pyrolysis oil as initial material for chemical base materials or fuel oils for generation of heat energy and electrical energy from the use of the thermal energy of the incompletely burned gases by directly driving a gas turbine (DE 2724813). For this purpose the scrap tires are undercooled. The undercooled tires are as a rule fed to begin with to a coarse rubber crusher, where only the rubber of the tires is initially crushed in such a way that it can be detached from the bead wires. A twin rotor hammermill is for instance located downstream of the coarse rubber crusher, which knocks the basic components off from the carcass, which thereupon are sorted as to different grain sizes in a screening drum. Thereupon the rubber granulate is separated in magnetic separators and a screening installation from the remaining metal shares and cord fibers (DE 2724813). Subsequently the rubber ingredients are degassed at a temperature of approximately 500.degree. C. The soot or carbon black produced therein can be used either as a product for further processing or as fuel oil. The incompletely burned gas produced as a result of the degassing process is used for directly driving a gas turbine and thus for energy generation.
The third possibility of utilizing scrap tires as secondary raw material consists in replasticizing the finely comminuted rubber granulate, for instance the rubber powder accumulating during the course of recapping old tires preferably in the extruder, and to reuse the granulate up to 20 shares or parts by weight in the tire breaker strip mixture when recapping old tires. Evident disadvantages of this method are the high installation and energy costs of the extruder or analogous installation as well as the use of chemicals, which cause a chain and/or cross-linkage decomposition or degradation and which remain entirely or partially in the replasticate. In addition only a relatively small part of the accumulating mass of scrap tires can be reused through regeneration.


A system for treating sleep-related breathing disorders. In one embodiment, the system includes a first magnetically susceptible material attached to a left lateral pharyngeal wall and a second magnetically susceptible material attached to a right lateral pharyngeal wall. The second magnetically susceptible material is positioned opposite the first magnetically susceptible material across an upper airway. The system further includes a first magnet disposed outside the body and lateral to the first magnetically susceptible material, and a second magnet disposed outside the body and lateral to the second magnetically susceptible material.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to prevention of abnormal breathing sounds (e.g., snoring), adverse consequences, illness or death in persons due to partial or complete blockage of the upper airway.
2. Description of the Related Art
A common and potentially serious disorder in humans involves involuntary closure of the airway during sleep. This disorder is known as "sleep-disordered breathing" or "obstructive sleep apnea" (OSA). In persons with OSA, there is involuntary closure or reduction in caliber of a portion of the airway that connects the atmosphere to the lungs. The upper portion of the airway (the "upper airway") consists of two passageways, the nasal airway and the oral airway. These two passageways merge to become a single passageway. Portions of the upper airway just behind the tongue are known as the soft palate, the pharynx, the hypopharynx, etc.
In persons affected by OSA, closure, reduction in patency or increased airflow resistance of the upper airway occurs during sleep, due to a combination of physiological changes associated with sleep (including relaxation of muscles) and the anatomy of the upper airway (which is generally smaller or more crowded than in normal individuals). In persons prone to sleep apnea, a portion or portions of the muscular walls of the upper airway may become narrow or collapse, leading to reduction in airflow ("hypopnea"), cessation of airflow ("apnea"), increase in airflow turbulence or increased resistance to airflow within the airway. In the instance of collapse, the upper airway is blocked, breathing stops, air movement to the lungs ceases, and the oxygen level in the blood tends to decrease. As a response to this process (or to less severe manifestations, such as hypopneas or increased airway resistance), a brief arousal usually occurs in the brain. As a consequence of the brief arousal, the muscle tone in the walls of the upper airway returns to waking levels, and the airway abnormality is corrected—i.e. airway resistance and patency return to normal levels.
Generally, following each event, the patient returns to sleep, until another partial or complete upper airway collapse occurs and the process repeats itself. Depending on the severity in an individual case, the number of events may range from a few per hour of sleep to more than 100 events per hour of sleep. This process disrupts normal sleep. As a consequence, patients typically suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation. Such effects may include daytime drowsiness, tiredness or fatigue, difficulties with mental concentration or memory, mood changes, reductions in performance or increases in mistakes, and increased risk of accidents. Additionally, OSA is known to increase the risk of development of other medical problems
Snoring is a mild form of sleep-disordered breathing in which increased airflow turbulence occurs. The snoring sounds result from tissue vibration within the nasal or oral airway. While snoring has been traditionally regarded as a social or cosmetic problem, recent studies suggest that snoring may be linked to the development of health problems, including high blood pressure.
Airway closure during sleep generally occurs at one or both of two levels in the upper airway: the soft palate and the hypopharynx (base of the tongue). At either level, the anterior tissue can collapse against the posterior pharyngeal wall, which makes up the rear wall of the throat. Additionally, the side (lateral) walls of the upper airway can collapse inward partially, or completely against each other. The lateral walls of the airway are susceptible to collapse in many patients with obstructive sleep apnea and other forms of sleep-related breathing disorders. In these cases, prevention of collapse of the airway only in the anterior-posterior dimension is insufficient to maintain normal airway patency. Even after extensive airway surgery for sleep apnea (which primarily addresses the anterior-posterior dimension of the airway), the patient may continue to have problems with breathing during sleep, due to lateral wall collapse or dysfunction.
Several types of treatment are available for obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep-related breathing disorders. The most common treatment consists of an air pressure delivery system that applies greater than atmospheric pressure to all walls of the upper airway to reduce the potential for full or partial collapse. Many people have difficulty using this device or prefer not to use it for various reasons. Also, surgical reconstruction of the airway or dental devices may be used. These treatments, however, often fail to treat the problem adequately.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for an improved method and system for treating sleep apnea and other sleep-related breathing disorders.

System and method for preventing closure of passageways


An encapsulated electrophoretic display having a plurality of non-spherical capsules disposed substantially in a single layer on a substrate.

Current electrophoretic display technology produces a display that neither is as bright nor has as much contrast as is desired. Current displays are not capable of achieving uniform brightness or good contrast due to limitations in their construction. Thus, new materials and methods of construction are needed to provide electrophoretic displays with acceptable brightness and contrast.

Encapsulated electrophoretic displays having a monolayer of capsules and materials and methods for making the same


The present invention relates to a semiconductor chip coolant path, a semiconductor package utilizing the semiconductor chip coolant path, and a cooling system for the semiconductor package. For effective dissipation of heat generated during semiconductor chip operation, a semiconductor chip having a coolant path formed through or adjacent to its backside and a semiconductor package utilizing the semiconductor chip are provided. In addition, a cooling system for the semiconductor package circulates a coolant through the coolant path within the semiconductor package to directly contact and cool the semiconductor chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a semiconductor package and, more particularly, to coolant path and cooling system for a semiconductor package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transistors are basic units of integrated circuits forming a semiconductor chip. Over time, semiconductor chip manufactures integrate ever-increasing numbers of transistors in integrated circuits. As the number of the transistors integrated in a semiconductor chip rapidly increases so does the heat generated by the device during operation. Clock speed can also increase heat generated by an operating integrated circuit. Managing heat generated by the operating semiconductor chip has become an important technical issue. Heat may cause permanent damage to the semiconductor chip. As temperature increases chip failure rates increase and limit clock speeds. Consequently, effective dissipation of heat becomes a crucial problem for semiconductor packages.
In a conventional semiconductor package, the heat generated from the semiconductor dissipates externally via its external interface terminals or surfaces of the semiconductor package. For more effective heat dissipation, a heat sink may be attached to a surface of the semiconductor package. For example, in the case of a ball grid array (BGA) package having a plastic resin molding compound encapsulating the semiconductor chip, the heat sink is directly attached to a surface of the molding compound. The molding compound transfers heat energy via conduction to the heat sink and the heat sink dissipates the heat via convection.
Unfortunately, because the plastic resin making up the molding compound has a relatively low thermal conductivity, the efficiency of heat dissipation through the heat sink attached to the surface of the molding compound is similarly low.
To solve this problem, liquid cooling methods have been suggested for circulating a coolant relative to the semiconductor package, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,429 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-61391.
As shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor package cooling system 10, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,429, comprises a semiconductor package 1 having a coolant path 4 within its molding compound 7. The system 10 dissipates heat generated from a semiconductor chip 2 by circulating a coolant through the coolant path 4 within the molding compound 7.
Both ends of the coolant path 4 are connected to a coolant pipe 8 with a heat exchanger 9 interposed therealong. The coolant circulates by way of a pump 5, operating along the coolant pipe 8 between the heat exchanger 9 and the semiconductor package 1 at the outlet side of the outlet of the coolant path 4.
The semiconductor package 1 is a BGA package, in which the semiconductor chip 2 mounts on the upper surface of a substrate 3 and solder balls 6 protrude from the lower surface of the substrate 3. The portion where the semiconductor chip 2 mounts is protected by the molding compound 7, which is made by encapsulation with liquid plastic resin. The coolant path 4 is formed within the molding compound 7 and above the semiconductor chip 2.
Compared with the prior art heat sink, the semiconductor package cooling system 10 may have higher heat dissipation efficiency. Again, however, because the coolant path 4 is formed within the molding compound 7 having a low thermal conductivity, it may be difficult to cool effectively the semiconductor chip 2.
In addition, the coolant path 4 formed within the molding compound 7 may cause an increase in the overall thickness of the semiconductor package 1, thereby contradicting a general trend towards thinner and smaller semiconductor packaging.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a liquid cooled semiconductor package 11, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-61391, is a ceramic package having a base substrate 13, a semiconductor chip 12 mounted on the base substrate 13, and a lid 15 hermetically sealing the base substrate 13 and the semiconductor chip 12. This hermetic seal forms a package body 17. A coolant path 14 passes through the base substrate 13.
By circulating a coolant through the coolant path 14 of the base substrate 13, as attached to the back surface of the semiconductor chip 12, the liquid-cooled semiconductor package 11 may have higher heat dissipation efficiency than the semiconductor package cooling system 10 shown in FIG. 1.
However, the base substrate 13, acting as a heat transfer medium, lying between the coolant path 14 and the semiconductor chip 12, may become an obstacle to effective cooling of the semiconductor chip 12.
In addition, the coolant path 14 formed within the base substrate 13 may cause the base substrate 13 to become thicker, thereby increasing the overall thickness of the semiconductor package 11.
Accordingly, there is a need to form an improved coolant path enabling effective cooling of the semiconductor chip while facilitating the general trend toward smaller integrated circuit packaging.

Semiconductor chip having coolant path, semiconductor package and package cooling system using the same


A method and system for assisting with backup and restore operations of data stored in a data storage system is provided. The server and client processes of the backup and restore application include software which allow both processes to communicate with one another either over a network or through the data storage system. The server and client processes are capable of recognizing the calls for both types of communication mechanisms needed for either network or data storage system communications. Once the type of call is recognized the processes can direct the call to the appropriate communication mechanism.

Data storage systems are used with a number of applications, residing on host computers connected to the data storage system, in which the virtually continuous availability of data is used for the operation of business or other entities using the applications. Generally, backup and restore operations are part of a typical information systems (IS) operation that is used to support the needs of the business. Typically, at the end of a business day or some other timeframe, any data stored on the data storage system, including any transactions, are backed up onto reels of tape or some other storage device from the host computers to another computer or server and eventually onto the tape.
With the advent of open systems and client/server technologies, information management has become increasingly complex. For example, the Symmetrix® family of data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation, assignee of the present invention, are capable of storing information on a plurality of different types of host systems, including but not limited to host computers or CPUs manufactured by Sun Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sequent, and Siemens-Nixdorf. As the data storage systems become increasingly effective at storing data from different host computers, it is also becoming important to do both efficient and effective backups of the information contained on the data storage system. A typical application which runs on these host computers is an Oracle relational database application. Such an application is capable of managing and supporting a database which could be both very small or very large, such as hundreds of gigabytes or larger in size. Such a large database requires a high-speed efficient backup in order to prevent the lessening of the processing on the host computer or downtime of the host computer and/or applications.
The usual method of performing such a backup is to perform a backup over a network, such as a local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN). The EMC Data Manager (EDM™) product manufactured and sold by EMC Corporation is typical of a centralized high-performance backup system capable of handling the backup and restore needs of a user of an Oracle database (or other types of applications) over an LAN or WAN. However, although it is well known how to do a backup over a network, there are problems associated with such backups. The usual problem is that in order to backup the very large databases contained within an Oracle database, it would be desired to use a very high speed channel for performing the backups. In a network backup often the network bandwidth is not sufficient to perform a truly high-speed backup over the network. Additionally, there is usually other traffic from other servers located on the network which serve to further reduce the bandwidth of the network, causing any backup or restoration operations not to be done in a high speed manner.
The EDM product manufactured and sold by EMC Corporation has a feature termed EDM Direct Connect or Symmetrix DirectConnect which allows for the backup of data to be done without the use of a network. The backup and restoration of data is done directly between the data storage system and the server on which the backup and restore application resides. The host computer, on which the database application resides is not directly used for this backup and restore operation. This functionality is described in assignee's patent applications entitled "Logical Restore from a Physical Backup in a Computer Storage System," "System and Method for Backing Up Data Stored in Mass Storage System Under Control of a Backup Server," "System and Method for Backing Up Data Stored in Multiple Mirrors on a Mass Storage System Under the Control of a Backup Server," "System and Method for Performing File-Handling Operations in a Digital Processing System Using an Operating System-Independent File Map," and "System and Method for Generating an Operating System-Independent File Map" filed on the same day as the present patent application. This DirectConnect product takes advantage of the high-speed channels that connect a data storage system, such as the Symmetrix and the host computer and the server upon which the backup application resides. However, since the DirectConnect product is highly dependent on the internal knowledge of the individual database applications, and knowledge of how the underlying host computer system works (i.e., operating system), it is difficult and time consuming to make the DirectConnect available for use with every type of application residing on host computers with different types of operating systems. Therefore, the DirectConnect product is not currently capable of being utilized for every database or file system application, or operating system that is available on the market. Accordingly, what is needed is a database backup and restore method and system which uses the high-speed communication connection between the storage system and the host computer for certain types of communications, while using the network connection for certain types of communications. Such a hybrid use of both types of connections can be used to solve the problems associated with the use of backup and restore applications designed for the network or for direct communication with a data storage system. The present invention solves this and other problems.

Method and system for assisting in backups and restore operation over different channels


A diving mask includes a transparent visor, a frame, a gasket to guarantee the watertight seal and appropriate belts for fitting the mask, a breathing tube associated with the facial part is fitted onto the upper part of the mask and which enables the flow of air to enter into the compartment between the frame and the visor. The path of air in the inhalation phase and in the exhalation phase both in the mask and tube are different from each other. The tube is made with separate ducts for inhalation and exhalation and the inside of the mask is made with two compartments, one upper front and one lower oronasal separated by a wall. The path provides that inhalation air is introduced by the tube into the frontal compartment and then into the oronasal one and air exhaled from the oronasal compartment travels up to the tube.

Masks for diving, also known as diving masks, comprise a part or frame made of rubber or silicone which adheres to the face of a user him/herself and at least one belt that is wrapped around the head of the user and at least a transparent part, generally made of glass or plexiglass, adapted to enable underwater viewing and cancel the phenomenon of refraction that determines blurred vision under water. The glass and the rubber frame at least partially isolate in a watertight way from the underwater environment allowing correct vision.
In diving activity, in recent years a second type of mask has been introduced called a full face mask, which covers the entire face, including the mouth. Such second type of mask comprises a transparent visor, a frame a rubber gasket adapted to guarantee the watertight seal and appropriate belts for fitting the mask onto the face. A breathing mouthpiece is associated with such facial part of the mask which is fitted onto the upper part of the frame and which enables the flow of air to enter into the compartment created between the frame and the visor.
The air path when breathing in and that when breathing out are advantageously different from one another.
In fact, for that purpose, two compartments are obtained within the mask, a main upper one in the area of the eyes and cheekbones of the user and an oronasal one which is associated with the nose and mouth of the user. Such compartments are separated by a separation wall provided with valves for air.
The inhaled air reaches the main compartment of the mask through the tube, laps the transparent part or visor, crosses the wall by means of the mentioned valves and reaches the oronasal compartment to be breathed.
The air exhaled by the mouth or nose does not exit from the oronasal compartment, as the valves on the separation wall prevent it from doing so, but it reaches the tube through a perimeter exhalation duct of the mask.
The tube itself is made with separate ducts for the inhaled and exhaled air provided with appropriate directional valves.
This prevents the known inconvenience of the fogging of the mask, as only the fresh air coming from the outside laps the transparent wall whereas the exhausted air exits from the mask without passing into the facial area thereof.
A mask of this type is described in patent application EP3153400 in the name of the same applicant.
The applicant has observed that in a mask of the full face type, the inhalation operation can sometimes become difficult and the user could have the sensation of not breathing in as much fresh air as he/she would like.

Mask for underwater use, in particular of granfacial type with assisted breathing


A software development system. An inventory of software modules is maintained. When a given system is to be assembled, modules from the inventory are selected for that system. In addition, modules not contained in the inventory are developed specifically for that system, and included in the system.

One problem existing in the prior art is the diversity of message formats used in modern communication systems.
When large organizations communication with each other through computerized systems, they commonly do so using "messages," which are packets of data. The messages contain not only information which the organizations wish to communicate, but also other information which is required by the equipment and systems which transport the messages.
For example, many messages are required to contain the address of the parties to which they are to be delivered. As another example, many messages contain error-correction codes which allow the recipient to predict whether the message received corresponds to the message sent and, if not, to request a re-transmission of the message.
As a third example, many messages are compressed. The type of compression used must be known to the recipient, and, to that end, the type of compression may be identified somewhere within the message. Alternately, the parties involved may agree, in advance, on a type of compression.
Thus, the messages contain multiple types of content, which may be grouped into two groups: (1) informational content and (2) transport-related content.
Many different conventions are available for packaging these two types of content into the messages. For instance, even in the simple examples just given, four types of content are present: (1) informational content, (2) recipient address, (3) error-correction codes, and (4) compression type. With four types of content, multiple possibilities exist for packaging.
Standards have evolved which prescribe how the content should be packaged. Both industry groups, and also governmental agencies, issue these standards.
However, the standards are numerous, they sometimes change, and new standards come into being. Because of those three factors, the following type of problem frequently arises:
Assume a given communication system is used by a given organization, and it utilizes messages conforming to a given standard. If that standard changes, then, in general, a large part of the software contained within the system must be re-written.
In addition, if the organization wishes to communicate with a new organization, which uses messages conforming to a different standard, then, again, a large part of the software contained within the system must be re-written.
This re-writing of software is time-consuming and expensive.
In addition, re-writing of software is required for other reasons than changes in formatting standards. Other standards apply to other aspects of the communication systems, such as communication protocols. For protocols, numerous standards exist, they change, and new ones come into being. Similar wholesale re-writing of software is also required for these changes.
Therefore, a major problem exists in achieving conformity of software systems to communication standards which are (1) numerous and (2) continually changing.
This type of problem occurs in communication systems utilized by financial systems, and particularly in "switches" used by electronic payment systems. The "switches" are components which handle the transfer of messages between the computers within the financial systems and the networks which carry the messages to other financial systems, which have their own switches.

Software development system having particular adaptability to financial payment switches


A novel antiferroelectric liquid crystal compound is disclosed which is represented by the following formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are independently selected from C.sub.3 -C.sub.18 alkyl groups, respectively, Rf is a lower fluoroalkyl group, X is a group selected from the group consisting of --O--, --COO--, --OOC--, and --CO--, or a single bond, (A) and (B) each is independently a group selected from the group consisting of phenyl, biphenyl, and naphthalene group which may be substituted with a halogen atom, and C having an asterisk indicates an asymmetric carbon atom.

As elooptical apparatuses using a liquid crystal, electrooptical apparatuses using nematic liquid crystals such as a DSM type display, TN type display, G-H type display, or STN type display have been developed and practically used. However, all of the electrooptical apparatuses nematic liquid crystals suffer the drawback response time is as slow as several msec to several tens msec, which results in a limited range of applications. The flow response of the electrooptical apparatuses or elements using nematic liquid crystals is due to the fact that the torque which changes the direction of molecules is inherently based on the anisotropy of dielectric constant and thus, the force is not so strong. With such a technical background, the development of a ferroelectric liquid crystal had been attempted which has a spontaneous polarization (Ps), has a strong torque based on Ps.times.E (E is an applied voltage), and has an extremely short optical response time of few .mu.sec to several tens .mu.sec to make the preparation of a ultrahigh speed device possible.
Mayer et al. synthesized DOBAMBC (p-decyloxybenzilidene-p-ammino-2-methylbutyl cinnamate) in 1975 for the first time in the world and which was confirmed to be a ferroelectric liquid crystal (Le Journal de Physique, Vol. 36, 1975, L-69).
Further, since Clark and Lagerwall reported in 1980 on such characteristics on display devices as high velocity response of submicroseconds and memory characteristics of DOBAMC, ferroelectric liquid crystals have drawn considerable public attention (N.A. Clark et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 36, 899 (1980)).
However, many technical problems in the above mentioned system have presented obstacles to its practical application. In particular, no material was reported as exhibiting ferroelectric liquid crystallinity at an ambient temperature. Moreover, an effective and practical method was not established to control the molecular alignment of the liquid crystal molecules. Control of the molecular alignment is essential in order to have an effective and practical liquid crystal display device.
After the publication of the report, various attempts have been made from both aspects of liquid crystal materials and device, display devices utilizing the switching between twisted bistable states were prepared for trial, and high speed electrooptical apparatuses using the device are proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,924 and others. However, high contrast and proper potential of threshold value have not been obtained.
From such a point of view, other switching systems were explored to propose a transitional diffusion system. Subsequently, a three states switching system of liquid crystal having tristable states was reported in 1988 (A. D. L. Chandani, T. Hagiwara, Y. Suzuki et al., Japan, J. of Appl. Phys., 27, (5), L729-L732 (1988)).
The optically tristable states herein referred to mean that, when voltage in the form of a triangular wave as in FIG. 1 A is applied to liquid crystal electrooptical devices where antiferroelectric liquid crystals are laid between the first electrode substrate plate and the second electrode substrate plate which is apart at a given space from the first one, the antiferroelectric liquid crystal shows the first stable molecular orientation and resulting the first optically stable state shown in FIG. 3 (a), and FIG. 1(D) at point 2, respectively, when electric voltage is zero. The antiferroelectric liquid crystal shows the second stable molecular orientation and resulting the second optically stable state shown in FIG. 3 (b), and FIG. 1(D) at point 1, respectively, in one of the direction of electric field and shows the third stable molecular orientation and resulting the third optically stable state shown in FIG. 3 (c), and FIG. 1(D) at point 3, in the other direction of electric field.
Liquid crystal electrooptical apparatuses utilizing the tristable states, that is three states, are proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,823 filed by the present applicant.
The characteristics of an antiferroelectric liquid crystal showing the tristable states are described in more detail below.
In the ferroelectric liquid crystal element having a stabilized surface which was proposed by Clark-Lagerwall, ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules show two stable states in which the molecules are uniformly oriented or aligned in one direction in the phase S*C. The molecules are stabilized in either state depending on the direction of applied electric field as shown in FIG. 2 at point (a) and at point (b), and the state is kept even when the field was shut off.
Actually, however, the alignment of the ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules shows twisted two states in which directors of the liquid crystal molecules are twisted or shows a chevron structure in which layers are bent in a doglegged shape. In the chevron layer structure, switching angle becomes small, forming a cause for a low contrast, and which constitute a serious obstacle for its practical use.
On the other hand, in the liquid crystal electrooptical devices, an "anti" ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules are aligned in antiparallel, tilting in opposite direction at every adjoining layer, in the phase S*.sub.(3) showing the tristable states, and thus, the dipoles of the liquid crystal molecules are negating each other. Accordinqly, the spontaneous polarization is nullified as a whole. The transmittance of the liquid crystal phase showing such molecular alignment corresponds to point 2 in FIG. 1 D.
Further, when a voltage sufficiently higher than a threshold value of (+) or (-) was applied, liquid crystal molecules shown in FIG. 3 (b) or (c) are tilted in the same direction and aligned in parallel. In this state, the spontaneous polarization is produced since the dipoles are also shifted to the same direction to form a ferroelectric phase, and the transmittance of the liquid crystal phase in that state corresponds to points 1 and 3 in FIG. 1 D.
That is, in the phase S*.sub.(3) of the "anti" ferroelectric phase, the "anti" ferroelectric phase at the time of no-electric field and two ferroelectric phases due to the polarity of applied electric field are stabilized, and switching is carried out among tristable states of an "anti" ferroelectric phase and two ferroelectric phases, with a direct current-like threshold value. Based on the change in the alignment of liquid crystal molecules accompanied with the switching, light transmittance is changed while drawing such a double hysteresis as shown in FIG. 4.
One of the characteristics of the present invention is that a memory effect can be realized by applying a bias voltage to the double hysteresis as shown in FIG. 4 (A) and then, further applying a pulse voltage.
Moreover, the ferroelectric phase is stretched in terms of its layer by the application of an electric field to form a book-shelf structure. On the other hand, in the "anti" ferroelectric phase of the third stable state, an analogous book-shelf structure is formed. Since the layer structure switching due to the application of an electric field gives a dynamic shear to liquid crystal layers, an alignment defect is improved during driving, and thus, a good molecular alignment can be realized.
In the "anti" ferroelectric liquid crystal, since image display is performed by alternatively using both hysteresises of plus side and minus side, afterimage phenomenon due to the accumulation of inner electric field based on the spontaneous polarization can be prevented.
As explained above, the "anti" ferroelectric liquid crystal can be said to be a very useful liquid crystal compound having advantages as follows:
1) Ultrahigh speed response is possible, PA1 2) High contrast and wide viewing angle can be expected, and PA1 3) Excellent alignment characteristics and memory effect can be realized. PA1 1) A. D. L. Chandani et al., Japanese J. Appl. Phys., 28, L-1265 (1989), and PA1 2) H. Orihara et al., Japanese J. Appl. Phys., 29, L-333 (1990).
Reports are made on the liquid crystal phase of the "anti" ferroelectric liquid crystal showing the tristable states in the following articles:
The liquid crystal phase is called "Phase S*.sub.CA " (Antiferroelectric Smectic C phase) in association with the "anti" ferroelectric property. The phase is named "phase S*.sub.(3) " in the present specification since the liquid crystal phase performs the switching among tristable states.
The liquid crystal compounds which have the "anti" ferroelectric phase S*(3) showing the tristable states in a phase series are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-316367, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,171,471 and 4,973,738, and European Patent No. 330,491 A filed by the present inventions, and in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-213390 filed by Ichihashi et al. Liquid crystal electrooptical devices utilizing the tristable states are proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-2-40625 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,823.
The liquid crystal compounds having an amide linkage are reported in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 63-126865, 63-132869, and 2-151684.
However, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-126865 has disclosed optically active, cyclic amide compounds such as indole ring compounds, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-132869 has disclosed compounds prepared by using L-isoleucine derived from a natural substance as a starting raw material. Both of them are chiral dopane compounds producing a ferroelectric chiral smectic base liquid crystal.
Further, Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-151684 has produced the use of amides such as dimethyl formamide, dibutyl formamide, and diphenyl formamide as a stabilizer to a change with the passage of time of a liquid crystal phase.
As will be understood from the above, a report has not yet been published on an "anti" ferroelectric liquid crystal having an amide linkage.

Antiferroelectric liquid crystal compound


An apparatus and method for producing an exploded view of an assembly. The invention includes an input unit, a geometrical data memory for storing geometrical data of parts composing an assembly, a/m for storing assembling process data composed of parts to be attached and attaching directions, a calculating unit for displaying the assembly to a display based on geometrical data, and apparatus for determining arranged positions of the parts in a disassembled state based on assembling process data and geometrical data, thereby producing an exploded view of the display corresponding to the arranged positions.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing an exploded view, the exploded view being produced for the purpose of showing the structure of an assembly composed of plural parts, an assembling procedure in a manufacturing process, or a procedure for maintenance and inspection or repairing of the structure, for example.
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing an animation showing assembling of parts by with a structure of an assembly composed of plural parts, or an assembling procedure in a manufacturing process, is confirmed on a screen of a central processing unit.
An exploded view of a drawing in which parts composing an assembly are disassembled from an assembled state into pieces and arranged in an assembling order in the reverse direction of attachment. Such an exploded view is used for the purpose of showing the structure of an assembly composed of plural parts, an assembling procedure in a manufacturing process, or a procedure for maintenance and inspection or repairing of the structure, for example.
In the past, an exploded view has been produced by hand based on a manufacturing drawing, such as an assembly drawing, detail drawing and the like, and with reference to an assembling procedure manual showing an assembling procedure and the like.
In recent years, a CAD system also has been used in the design of products. An operator has made an exploded view by producing an assembly drawing of a product to be produced by using a three-dimensional CAD system and by moving parts with a moving command, taking the assembling procedure into consideration, based on data produced by the three-dimensional CAD system.
In conventional technology, it has taken a very long time to make an exploded view produced by hand. Although, by utilizing geometrical data for assembly of a product obtained by a three-dimensional CAD system eliminates the need to draw at least geometrical pictures of parts, it takes a long time for an operator to move parts one by one by inputting values representing moving directions and moving amounts.
Further, in studying an assembling procedure in preparation for manufacturing, it is necessary to confirm whether the assembling procedure is correct or not. However, since a trial and error method is required in determining the correctness of an assembling procedure, there is a problem in that it takes substantial manpower to revise the exploded view by hand for every procedural change.
In a conventional method for producing an animation of an assembling procedure, an assembled model as a geometrical product in an assembled state is produced using a three-dimensional CAD system, and geometrical data is input in an animation display system. Then, an operating data inputting operation is executed to set operating data as input parameters for an animation display function.
After setting the operating data for each of the parts composing the product, an animation producing process is executed to display the process of assembly of the product by animation.
In the above-mentioned operating data inputting process, a subject part is firstly specified. Next, the kind, the direction and the amount of movement are set for the specified part. Assuming that a part is moved, for example, in a straight line in the positive direction of the z-axis by a distance of "500", it is necessary to set parameters, such as "straight moving", (0.0, 0.0, 1.0), "500.0".
Lastly, the time period of movement is set. The time period indicates the time range of movement of the part, and, in order to confirm the order of assembly of the parts, an operator needs to set the time period so that the time range does not overlap with the time range of another part, taking the order of assembly of each part into consideration.
In a conventional apparatus for producing animation of an assembling procedure, a program for inputting geometrical data takes out geometrical information of an assembly procedure from an input unit and stores it in a geometrical data area. A program for inputting operating data inputs through the input unit operating data as input parameters for the animation display function for each part composing the assembly.
A program for producing animation generates animation data from the geometrical data and the operating data and outputs it to the output unit. As described above, in the conventional method, it is necessary to set operation data for all of the parts composing the assembly, taking the order of assembly into consideration.
The conventional technique is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-147375 (1986), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-324779 (1993), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-37960 (1992).
In the conventional technology for producing animation, there is a disadvantage in that the procedure carried out by an operator becomes complicated, since operating data has to be set for each unit of parts. Further, there is a disadvantage in that, when the number of parts in a product is large, it takes a very long time to set operating data for all of the parts, taking the order of assembly of the product into consideration.
Furthermore, there is a disadvantage in that it is difficult for the operator to understand the detailed contents and the degree of difficulty of the assembling work using a simple animation in which all of the parts to be assembled are moved at a constant speed or are expressed with the same attribute.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for producing exploded view and animation of assembling, and method thereof


A projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus has a wavefront correction device including a first refractive optical element and a second refractive optical element. The first refractive optical element includes a first optical material having, for an operating wavelength of the apparatus, an index of refraction that decreases with increasing temperature. The second refractive optical element includes a second optical material having, for an operating wavelength of the apparatus, an index of refraction that increases with increasing temperature. In a correction mode of the correction device, a first heating device produces a non-uniform and variable first temperature distribution in the first optical material, and a second heating device produces a non-uniform and variable second temperature distribution in the second optical material.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus containing a wavefront correction device, and to a method of operating such an apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Microlithography (also referred to as photolithography or simply lithography) is a technology for the fabrication of integrated circuits, liquid crystal displays and other microstructured devices. The process of microlithography, in conjunction with the process of etching, is used to pattern features in thin film stacks that have been formed on a substrate, for example a silicon wafer. At each layer of the fabrication, the wafer is first coated with a photoresist which is a material that is sensitive to radiation, such as deep ultraviolet (DUV), vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. Next, the wafer with the photoresist on top is exposed to projection light through a mask in a projection exposure apparatus. The mask contains a circuit pattern to be projected onto the photoresist. After exposure the photoresist is developed to produce an image corresponding to the circuit pattern contained in the mask. Then an etch process transfers the circuit pattern into the thin film stacks on the wafer. Finally, the photoresist is removed. Repetition of this process with different masks results in a multi-layered microstructured component.
A projection exposure apparatus typically includes an illumination system, a mask alignment stage for aligning the mask, a projection objective and a wafer alignment stage for aligning the wafer coated with the photoresist. The illumination system illuminates a field on the mask that may have the shape of a rectangular slit or a narrow ring segment, for example.
In current projection exposure apparatus a distinction can be made between two different types of apparatus. In one type each target portion on the wafer is irradiated by exposing the entire mask pattern onto the target portion in one go; such an apparatus is commonly referred to as a wafer stepper. In the other type of apparatus, which is commonly referred to as a step-and-scan apparatus or simply scanner, each target portion is irradiated by progressively scanning the mask pattern under the projection light beam in a given reference direction while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. The ratio of the velocity of the wafer and the velocity of the mask is equal to the magnification β of the projection lens. A typical value for the magnification is β=±¼.
It is to be understood that the term "mask" (or reticle) is to be interpreted broadly as a patterning device. Commonly used masks contain opaque, transparent or reflective patterns and may be of the binary, alternating phase-shift, attenuated phase-shift or various hybrid mask type, for example.
One of the essential aims in the development of projection exposure apparatus is to be able to lithographically produce structures with smaller and smaller dimensions on the wafer. Small structures lead to high integration densities, which generally has a favorable effect on the performance of the microstructured components produced with the aid of such apparatus. Furthermore, the more devices can be produced on a single wafer, the higher is the throughput of the production process.
The size of the structures that can be generated depends primarily on the resolution of the projection objective being used. Since the resolution of projection objectives is inversely proportional to the wavelength of the projection light, one way of increasing the resolution is to use projection light with shorter and shorter wavelengths. The shortest wavelengths currently used are 248 nm, 193 nm or 157 nm and thus lie in the deep or vacuum ultraviolet spectral range. Also apparatus using EUV light having a wavelength of about 13 nm are meanwhile commercially available. Future apparatus will probably use EUV light having a wavelength as low as 6.9 nm.
The correction of aberrations (i.e. image errors) is becoming increasingly important for projection objectives with very high resolution. Different types of aberrations usually require different correction measures.
The correction of rotationally symmetric aberrations is comparatively straightforward. An aberration is referred to as being rotationally symmetric if the wavefront deformation in the exit pupil of the projection objective is rotationally symmetric. The term wavefront deformation denotes the deviation of an optical wave from the ideal aberration-free wave. Rotationally symmetric aberrations can be corrected, for example, at least partially by moving individual optical elements along the optical axis.
Correction of aberrations that are not rotationally symmetric is more difficult. Such aberrations occur, for example, because lenses and other optical elements heat up rotationally asymmetrically. One aberration of this type is astigmatism.
A major cause for rotationally asymmetric aberrations is a rotationally asymmetric, in particular slit-shaped, illumination of the mask, as it is typically encountered in projection exposure apparatus of the scanner type. The slit-shaped illuminated field causes a non-uniform heating of those optical elements that are arranged in the vicinity of field planes. This heating results in deformations of the optical elements and, in the case of lenses and other elements of the refractive type, in changes of their refractive index. If the materials of refractive optical elements are repeatedly exposed to the high energetic projection light, also permanent material changes are observed. For example, a compaction of the materials exposed to the projection light may occur, and this compaction results in permanent local changes of the refractive index. In the case of mirrors the reflective multi-layer coatings may be damaged by the high local light intensities so that the reflectance is locally altered.
The heat induced deformations, index changes and coating damages alter the optical properties of the optical elements and thus cause aberrations. Heat induced aberrations sometimes have a twofold symmetry. However, aberrations with other symmetries, for example threefold or fivefold, are also frequently observed in projection objectives.
Another major cause for rotationally asymmetric aberrations are certain asymmetric illumination settings in which the pupil plane of the illumination system is illuminated in a rotationally asymmetric manner. Important examples for such settings are dipole settings in which only two poles are illuminated in the pupil plane. With such a dipole setting, also the pupil planes in the projection objective contain two strongly illuminated regions. Consequently, lenses or mirrors arranged in or in the vicinity of such an objective pupil plane are exposed to a rotationally asymmetric intensity distribution which gives rise to rotationally asymmetric aberrations. Also quadrupole settings sometimes produce rotationally asymmetric aberrations, although to a lesser extent than dipole settings.
In order to correct rotationally asymmetric aberrations, U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,823 B1 proposes a lens which can be selectively deformed with the aid of a plurality of actuators distributed along the circumference of the lens. The deformation of the lens is determined such that heat induced aberrations are at least partially corrected. A more complex type of such a wavefront correction device is described in US 2010/0128367 A1.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,830,611 B2 discloses a similar wavefront correction device. In this device one surface of a deformable plate contacts an index matched liquid. If the plate is deformed, the deformation of the surface adjacent the liquid has virtually no optical effect. Thus this device makes it possible to obtain correcting contributions from the deformation not of two, but of only one optical surface. A partial compensation of the correction effect, as it is observed if two surfaces are deformed simultaneously, is thus prevented.
However, the deformation of optical elements with the help of actuators has also some drawbacks. If the actuators are arranged at the circumference of a plate or a lens, it is possible to produce only a restricted variety of deformations with the help of the actuators. This is due to the fact that both the number and also the arrangement of the actuators are fixed. In particular it is usually difficult or even impossible to produce deformations which may be described by higher order Zernike polynomials, such as Z10, Z36, Z40 or Z64.
US 2010/0201958 A1 and US 2009/0257032 A1 disclose a wavefront correction device that comprises a refractive optical element formed as a plate. In contrast to the device described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,830,611 B2, a wavefront correction is not produced by deforming the plate, but by changing its refractive index locally. To this end the plate is provided with thin heating wires that extend over one of its surfaces. With the help of the heating wires a temperature distribution inside the plate can be produced that results, via the dependency dn/dT of the refractive index n on the temperature T, in the desired refractive index distribution.
In one embodiment of this known wavefront correction device the plate is made of fused silica (i.e. quartz glass, SiO2). This element is attached to a second thicker refractive optical element that is made of CaF2 (fluorite). Since in fused silica the index of refraction increases with increasing temperature, while in CaF2 the index of refraction decreases with increasing temperature, phase variations induced by the two materials compensate each other outside a region which is covered by the heating element.
Although even higher order wavefront deformations can be corrected very well with this known wavefront correction device, it is difficult to quickly change the corrective effect.
WO 2011/116792 A1 discloses a wavefront correction device in which a plurality of fluid flows emerging from outlet apertures enter a space through which projection light propagates during operation of the projection exposure apparatus. A temperature controller sets the temperature of the fluid flows individually for each fluid flow. The temperature distribution is determined such that optical path length differences caused by the temperature distribution correct wavefront deformations.
From the unpublished international patent application PCT/EP2011/004859 (Zellner et al) a wavefront correction device is known in which a plurality of heating light beams are directed towards a circumferential rim surface of a refractive optical element. After entering the refractive optical element, the heating light beams are partially absorbed inside the element. In this manner almost any arbitrary temperature distribution can be produced inside the refractive optical element, but without a need to arrange heating wires in the projection light path that absorb, reflect, diffract and/or scatter projection light to an albeit small, but not negligible extent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,704 discloses a projection objective in which a lens made of CaF2 is heated with the help of a gas flow that flows over one of the lens surfaces. In order to prevent that lenses made of fused silica arranged on both sides of the heated CaF2 lens are also heated, these lenses are kept at a constant temperature with the help of a constant temperature gas which flows over at least one surface of the adjacent lenses.

Method of operating a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus and projection objective of such an apparatus


An apparatus for obtaining a push-pull signal is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a first amplifier coupled to a first fluctuating signal for utilizing a first gain value to amplify the first fluctuating signal and then outputting a first amplified fluctuating signal; a second amplifier coupled to a second fluctuating signal for utilizing a second gain value to amplify the second fluctuating signal and then outputting a second amplified fluctuating signal; a subtractor electrically connected to the first and second amplifiers for subtracting the second amplified fluctuating signal from the first amplified fluctuating signal to generate the push-pull signal; and a level decision unit electrically connected to the first and second amplifiers for controlling the amplitudes of signals amplified by the first and second amplifiers when the optical disc drive is switched from a first operating mode to a second operating mode.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus applied in an optical disc drive for obtaining a push-pull signal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus applied in an optical disc drive for obtaining a push-pull signal via adjusting amplifying gains according to fluctuating signals generated from a photo detector of a pick-up head.
As well known to those skilled in the art, an optical disc drive reads information recorded on a wobble track spirally formed on an optical disc to identify physical addresses used for accessing the optical disc or to extract a reference clock (i.e., the wobble clock) used for generating clock signals required by the optical disc drive. The wobble track defines a wavy wobble groove on the optical disc. Therefore, when the pick-up head moves along the track, the pick-up head outputs a laser beam onto the optical disc and then detects intensity of the laser beam reflected from the optical disc. Through comparing intensity of the reflected laser beam detected by two separate sides of a photo detector of the pick-up head, a signal commonly known as a "push-pull signal" is obtained. The push-pull signal is a periodic sinusoidal signal whose period is related to the position of the pick-up head and the rotating speed of the optical disc, so it is suitable to be referenced by the optical disc drive. In short, it is very important to extract an accurate, undistorted push-pull signal so as to achieve high stability and good performance.
As mentioned above, the push-pull signal is applied to identify physical addresses on the optical disc. Taking a DVD-R/RW disc for example, there are some land pre-pits pre-recorded on the wobble track, resulting in spike patterns included in the generated push-pull signal. Please refer to FIG. 1 in conjunction with FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a pick-up head 10 moving on an optical disc 50 according to the related art. FIG. 2 is a diagram of a push-pull signal S1 generated according to signals detected by a photo detector 12 of the pick-up head 10 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a small area on an optical disc 50 is enlarged, showing a plurality of wobble track segments 30a, 30b and a plurality of data track segments 32a, 32b. These wobble track segments 30a, 30b belong to a single wobble track spirally formed on the optical disc 50, and these data track segments 32a, 32b belong to a single data track spirally formed on the optical disc 50. The wobble track segments 30a and 30b are land regions, while data track segments 32a and 32b are groove regions. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, there are a plurality of data patterns 34 recorded on the data track segments 32a and 32b.
On the optical disk 50, due to intensity of the reflected laser beam in the land region being different from the groove region, the four areas A, B, C, and D of a photo detector 12 of the pick-up head 10 detect different intensity of the reflected laser beam when the pick-up head 10 moves along wobble track segment 32a according to the direction T. Generally, the intensity of the laser beam detected by areas B and C is subtracted from the intensity of the laser beam detected by areas A and D to generate a push-pull signal S1. Please note that a land pre-pit 20 disrupts wobble track segment 30b as shown in FIG. 1, and when the pick-up head 10 moves across the land pre-pit 20, the corresponding push-pull signal S1 shown in FIG. 2 has a spike due to asymmetry between two sides of the wobble track segments 30a, 30b. Therefore, if a spike is detected, the optical disc drive knows that a land pre-pit 20 is located at the current position of the pick-up head 10. User data are recorded onto the optical disc 50 according to the corresponding address, and the land pre-pits materialize the addressing on the optical disc 50. Therefore, how to obtain a correct push-pull signal S1 with an easy-detecting spike relates to performance of the optical disc drive.
Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a conventional apparatus for generating a push-pull signal S1. The pick-up head 10 detects a reflected laser beam from an optical disc by a photo detector 12, and four areas A, B, C, and D of a photo detector 12 output four detecting signals IA, IB, IC, and ID, respectively. Next, these detecting signals IA, IB, IC, and ID pass through pre-amplifiers 100a-100d respectively, becoming amplified detecting signals IA′, IB′, IC′, and ID′. Then, the amplified detecting signals IA′, IB′, IC′, and ID′ are respectively transferred into following gain adjusters 110a-110d. The purpose of the gain adjusters 110a-110d is for further enlarging amplitudes of the amplified detecting signals IA′, IB′, IC′, and ID′ to obtain an easily distinguished push-pull signal S1. Amplified signals IB″ and IC″ are summed up through an adder 130a and then transferred into a balance adjuster 120a for eliminating asymmetry, and amplified signals IA″ and ID″ are summed up through an adder 130b and then transferred into a balance adjuster 120b. Finally, a subtractor 140 subtracts these two balanced signals outputted from the balance adjusters 120a and 120b to generate the wanted push-pull signal S1. As described above, one of the key methods of getting the push-pull signal S1 is gain adjusting performed by the gain adjusters 110a-110d to maximize the amplitudes of detecting signals IA-ID.
In the normal operations of optical disc drives, there are three basic modes—read mode, write mode, and blank mode. When the optical disc drive is reading data from or writing data into the optical disc, the pick-up head 10 detects a reflected laser beam containing data information and wobble information such that the detecting signals IA-ID are mixed with pulse signals. Unfortunately, the amplitude of the pulse signals (i.e. write pulses in write mode or pulses caused by EFM signal recorded in the groove in read mode) is much larger than the amplitude of wobble signal; therefore each gain adjuster 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d determines the voltage gain mostly according to the amplitude of pulse signals, resulting in a small voltage gain applied to the incoming wobble signal. When the optical disc drive is in the blank mode, there is no pulse signal to interfere with the wobble signal, but because the gain of each gain adjuster 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d is fixed according to the amplitude of pulse signals in read or write mode, the optical disc drive is sure to have bad performance owing to the small gain.

Method and apparatus applied in optical disc drive for obtaining push-pull signal via adjusting amplifying gain according to fluctuating signals generated from photo detector of pick-up head


An active rectifier used in a power supply circuit comprises a diode (4) connected between in input terminal (9) and an output terminal (8). A transistor (2) is formed in a substrate (50) and has a control electrode (5) and two conductive electrodes (6,7) which are respectively connected to the input terminal (9) and the output terminal (8). A comparator (3) is supplied by the power supply circuit and has two inputs (+, -) connected to the input (9) and the output (8) terminals respectively, and an output connected to the transistor control electrode (5).

It is known to use rectifiers in order to entirely or partially constitute circuits which transform an alternating voltage produced by a voltage generator into a direct-current voltage suitable for supplying power to electronic circuitry: such a rectifier is known from the document WO 85/01161 which describes a rectifier according to the preamble of claim 1. Such circuits are used, for example, in wristwatches which feature an AC voltage generator and a time-keeping circuit driven by the power generated therefrom. In wristwatches of this type, a rectifier circuit is needed to convert the alternating voltage produced by the AC voltage generator into a DC voltage for driving the time-keeping circuit. In known wristwatch applications, rectifier circuits performs either half-wave rectification by means of a single diode, or full-wave rectification by means of a bridge employing four diodes arranged in a conventional manner.
However, in forward bias a diode exhibits a voltage drop between its input and output terminals which is slightly greater than the threshold voltage at which current begins to flow in the diode. For silicon junction diodes, this voltage drop may be approximately 0.7 volts, 0.4 volts in the case of a Schottky diode. The voltage supplied to the time-keeping circuit can therefore be as much as 1.4 volts less than the voltage provided by the AC voltage generator, with the result that power is lost. In many circumstances, such as in low-power, low-voltage applications, this power loss becomes significant and undesirable.
In order to overcome this loss, it would in theory be possible to increase the number of turns in the AC generator's coil. However, a coil having a large number of turns is bulky and may be difficult to house in the limited space available in a timepiece of small volume such as a wristwatch. If one were to produce this coil with a wire having a sufficiently small diameter for it not to be bulky, it becomes difficult and costly to manufacture. Increasing the number of turns of the AC generator's coil would also increase the resistance of the coil and hence add to the power loss.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned voltage drop results in a reduction in the energy able to be supplied to and subsequently stored by the time-keeping circuit. If the AC generator is inoperative for any sustained period of time, there is therefore less energy available to drive and maintain the correct functioning of the time-keeping circuit during such periods of inoperability.

Active rectifier having minimal energy losses


Copolymers comprising 1-50 mole % of sulfur dioxide and 50-99 mole % of trialkylgermylstyrene, having a weight average molecular weight of 500-10,000,000 and exhibiting a high sensitivity to light, electron beam, and X-ray, as well as having an excellent anti-dry etching resistance, and their application as a positive resisting material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the novel copolymers of sulfur dioxide and trialkylgermylstyrene and more particularly, to copolymers exhibiting a high sensitivity to light, electron beam, and X-ray, as well as having an excellent dry etching resistance, and their application as positive resist material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent developments in LSI (Large Scale Integration) have resulted in a demand for a high performance of a high sensitivity, a submicron resolution, and dry etching resistance in their application as a positive resist material. In general, most of main chain scission type positive resist materials exhibit an internal conflict relationship between a sensitivity and an anti-dry etching resistance. That is, the higher the sensitivity of positive resist material, the lower its dry etching resistance. For example, a conventional high positive resist material exhibiting a high sensitivity is a copolymer of sulfur dioxide and olefin (M. J. Bowden and L. F. Thompson, J. Electrochem. Soc., 120, 1722, 1973). Poly(1-butene sulfone) of the copolymer of sulfur dioxide and olefin has a high sensitivity and a low dry etching resistance during electron beam irradiation. In order to give dry etching resistance characteristics to poly (olefin sulfone), a unit having an aromatic ring such as styrene is included in the poly (olefin sulfone) unit. In the prior art, when the ratio of styrene and sulfur dioxide is more than 2 in the copolymer, the resulting poly (styrene sulfone), ##STR1## is soluble in a solvent. However, this prior art copolymer exhibits a high dry etching resistance and a poor sensitivity (M. J. Bowden and L. F. Thompson, J. Electrochem. Soc., 121, 1620, 1974).

Copolymer of sulfur dioxide and nuclear-substituted trialkylgermylstyrene


A lightweight, raised roof edge segmented to accommodate narrow openings for scupper-fed downspouts. The edge's segments include at least one pair of elongated, inflatable or otherwise fillable, membrane-covered barriers, each of which spans about 20 feet, making it compatible with typical spacings between industrial building downspouts. Retrofitted onto a flat or low pitch roof at the latter's joint with an exterior wall, the barrier, still in its flattened state, is secured and sealed not only to the roof but also to the wall. So secured, the barrier straddles the joint between them longitudinally. Subsequently filled with gas or solids, the barrier functions as a check dam, collecting and temporarily storing storm water and/or funneling it, via scupper, into a downspout. Barriers with rigid, longitudinally extending, angular peaks also tend to break up and lift high winds, further reducing potential roof damage.

In flat roof structures such as those which are commonly used on industrial buildings, problems arise when water leaks between the roof's surface and the building's interior walls. Not only does such leakage damage the building and its roof structurally, but also it can damage materials stored in the building's interior.
One remedy is to deploy air- or foam-filled, membrane-covered barriers, such as those taught in my pending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/385,400 and 13/987,485, in such a way that said barriers direct storm water towards the building's downspouts, as well as prevent it from gaining access to any of a roof's naturally-occurring recessed areas. Unfortunately, when gutters are used to collect storm water and then feed it into the downspouts, additional problems emerge. Typically, gutters clog easily and require constant maintenance.
Moreover, high winds can cause the roof membrane to rip, especially at its juncture with a building's walls. As is well known, high winds give rise to vertical forces which tend to lift the membrane off of a building's roof. Such forces occur at the roof's windward edge whenever an air flow across it collides with an upward flow of air formed as a horizontal air flow strikes the building's upwind side and is then redirected upwardly.
Also contributing to roof membrane failure is the fact that critical fasteners at the roof deck/exterior building wall joint are continually stressed by discordant movements between the roof deck, as it expands and contracts mostly horizontally, and the wall, which expands and contracts mostly vertically. Indeed, Kelly, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,482, teaches that it is the destabilization of these fasteners, when they are used to secure the roof membrane in place, which ultimately leads to roof failure.
However, rather than seeking remedies whereby roof membrane failure in general can be virtually eliminated, Kelly directs his focus elsewhere. Specifically, he concentrates on improvements which can be used to reduce the extent to which a roof is catastrophically removed during a blow-off. Towards such an end, he teaches that those fasteners otherwise utilized to secure the main roof membrane proximate with the upwind side of the roof deck's outer edge must be repositioned and calls for them to be separated from said outer edge by a wide span, the width of which is such that those portions of the roof's upwind side deemed most susceptible to blow-off lie within it. Furthermore, the main roof membrane, no longer attached to these most susceptible portions is to be simply loose laid across them; and a perimeter membrane, separately attached, is to provide weather proofing in its stead. Even the roof covering's substrate is to be reconfigured so as to accommodate a groove-like "interruption". Disposed inwardly with respect to said most susceptible portions and extending both longitudinally and generally parallel to the outer edge of the roof's upwind side, each such "interruption" is provided to insure that, in the event of a roof blow-off, a relatively clean break occurs.
Nevertheless, the lack of any raised, membrane-covered barriers or the like to mitigate the impacts of storm water and/or wind on roof membranes suggests that, in prior art roof assemblies such as Kelly's, much has been missed that could have been utilized to substantially reduce the incidence of roof failure whether due to blow-off or otherwise.

Raised roof edge to seal and protect membrane and eliminate the need for gutters


A vehicle operating condition determining system determines, when a turning angle of wheels or a steering angle of a steering wheel changes, that the turning angle of the wheels or the steering angle of the steering wheel changes due to a driver's intention, under a condition that the magnitude of steering torque applied to a steering device is kept equal to or larger than a threshold value after the torque reaches a peak, for a period of time equal to or longer than a reference time.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an operating condition determining system, an operating condition determining method, and a driving assist system, for determining operating conditions concerning operations performed by a driver of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A technology of assisting the driver in a driving operation in order to enhance the safety of the vehicle, such as an automobile, has been proposed. For example, a system that informs the driver of the presence of an obstacle or deviation of the vehicle from a running course, and a system that assists the driver in an operation to circumvent or avoid the obstacle or an operation to cause the vehicle to return to the course are known.
It is desirable that the systems as described above do not operate in response to vehicle behaviors caused by the driver's intentional operations. In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-515545 (JP-A-2006-515545), for example, it is proposed to determine that a lane change is made by the driver's intention when the steering angle exceeds a threshold value or the accelerator pedal operation amount (accelerator pedal stroke) exceeds a threshold value, and restrict the operation of the driving assist system.
In the meantime, the steering angle also changes when the turning angle of the wheels changes due to disturbances, such as the shape of the road surface and vibrations of the vehicle body. Also, when the running speed of the vehicle is high, the steering angle may be small even when a lane change is made by the intention of the driver. Thus, there is a possibility that an intentional driving operation of the driver is not correctly determined.

Vehicle operating condition determining system, driving assist system, and operating condition determining method


When a cushioning member is fitted to a tubular part in a first facing direction, an inner circumferential surface of the tubular part contacts a part of a second protruding portion, a first portion of a first protruding portion contacts a first contact region, a second portion of a third protruding portion contacts a second contact region, a third portion of the third protruding portion contacts a third contact region, and a distance between the first contact region and the second contact region is smaller than a distance between the first contact region and the third contact region, and a length of the second contact region from a base portion in a direction of protrusion is greater than a length of the third contact region from the base portion in a direction of protrusion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cushioning member.
2. Related Art
To prevent damage resulting from an external shock imparted to a packed product, it is common to provide such a product with protection in the form of a cushioning member, which member typically consists of resin or polystyrene foam.


An ink-jet head to jet ink from a front side thereof includes an actuator in which a plurality of parallel channels for generating pressure change to be applied to ink are formed and having a nozzle surface on which a plurality of nozzle holes are formed to jet ink from a corresponding ink channel, and a front plate located at the front side of the nozzle surface so as to protect the nozzle surface and having a recessed section on a front surface of the front plate, wherein the recessed section has an opening in which the nozzle surface of the actuator is inserted in such a way that the nozzle surface is located between the front surface of the front plate and the bottom surface of the recessed section.

An ink-jet head for recording a desired image by jetting ink from nozzles onto a recording medium is maintained, to be able to jet ink in a normal state all the time, in such a manner that: ink is periodically and forcibly subjected to suction from nozzles; thus high viscosity ink accumulated in nozzles is exhausted; and thereby blockage in nozzles is resolved.
To suck ink as described above, it is necessary to cause a suction cap to tightly contact with the nozzle surface of the ink-jet head. However, the nozzle plate of an ink-jet head is extremely small, and even a nozzle plate having several hundreds of nozzles has dimensions, for example, 1 cm multiplied by several cm, or the like. Accordingly, when ink is sucked from nozzles, there are problems in that the nozzles cannot be covered with a suction cap enough, that, even when the nozzles are covered with the suction cap, the suction cap does not contact with the nozzles tight enough to ensure airtight, and so on. Further, although the nozzle plate is bonded to the front end of an actuator, the gap between the nozzle plate and the recording medium is so small as approximately 1 mm. Therefore, if the recording medium has come in contact with the ink-jet-head, a paper jam may occur on the recording medium and a large force may be applied to the head, which peels the nozzle plate off the actuator. Therefore, with respect to an ink-jet head, enclosing the periphery of a nozzle plate by a front plate is carried out to prevent these problems.
Thus, an ink-jet head is arranged in such a way that a nozzle surface is located in an opening of a front plate formed in a flat plate shape having the opening. By this front plate, the surface of a nozzle plate is protected; peeling of the nozzle plate is protected; and a space large enough to allow tight contact of a suction cap with the nozzle plate is formed.
However, if the front plate encloses the nozzle plate, ink gathers at the joint edge between the nozzle plate and the front plate. In this situation, although ink on the nozzle surface of the ink-jet head can be removed by wiping with a blade, the nozzle surface is desirably arranged at a position, in the opening of the front plate, deeper than the position of the surface of the front plate in order to prevent damage of nozzles due to, for example, rubbing with the recording medium. However, if nozzle surface 100a is arranged in a deeper position (the lower side in the figure) in opening 111 than surface 110a of front plate 110, ink 200 and dust easily gather at the joint edge between nozzle plate 100 and the front plate 110. Accordingly, wiping of the nozzle surface 100a cannot be performed effectively. Further, if the ink 200 having gathered here touches with a nozzle 101, problems such as disturbance of ink jetting and the like occur.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, if the nozzle surface 100a is arranged protruding from the surface 110a of the front plate 110, even when ink 200 or dusts gather at the joint edge between the nozzle plate 100 and the front plate 110, since the ink 200 or the dusts do not come in contact with the nozzle 101, ink jetting cannot be disturbed. However, since the nozzle surface 100a is protruding from the surface 110a of the front plate 110, the nozzle surface 100a cannot be protected, which causes problems of scratching the water repellent surface and peeling the nozzle plate 100.
For example, Patent Document 1, described later, discloses a technology in which a head cap for protection of a nozzle plate is arranged enclosing the nozzle plate, the nozzle surface is positioned 2 to 20 μm deeper than the surface of the head cap so that a blade and a recording medium do not come in hard contact with the nozzle surface, and thus a water repellent film coated on the nozzle surface can be prevented from peeling.
Further, Patent Document 2, described later, discloses a technology in which a nozzle plate cover is arranged around the periphery of a nozzle plate, the nozzle surface is positioned protruding toward a recording medium from the nozzle plate cover by the height not greater than the thickness of the plate, and thus the nozzle plate is prevented from peeling.
Still further, Patent Document 3, described later, discloses a technology in which, as shown in FIG. 7, in the state that nozzle surface 100a is protruded from surface 110a of front plate 110, adhesive 300 is applied to the edge space therebetween, then, an actuator is drawn back to move the nozzle surface 100a to a deeper position than the surface 110a of the front plate 110, and in this state, the adhesive 300 is cured. Thus, the step generated between the nozzle surface 100a and opening 111 of the front plate 110 is smoothed by the adhesive 300 to reduce ink that remains after cleaning by a blade.
(Patent Document 1) TOKKAI No. 2000-141652
(Patent Document 2) TOKKAI No. 2001-150668
(Patent Document 3) Patent No. 3127573
In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, as the nozzle surface is drawn to a position a little deeper than the surface of the front plate, the nozzle surface is protected. However, as a step is generated between the nozzle surface and the surface of the front plate, when removing ink adhering to the nozzle surface by wiping, ink tends to gather in the step, which may cause ink jetting failure due to the contact of the gathering ink with nozzles.
In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, although ink does not gather on the nozzle surface since the nozzle surface is protruded a little from the surface of the front plate, the nozzle surface cannot be protected enough.
In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 3, there is a problem that adhesive tends to flow into nozzles. To prevent this flow in of the adhesive, painstaking mask treatment is required, and further, to stably form the shape of the adhesive, it is necessary to finely control the relative position between the nozzle surface and the front plate after applying the adhesive, according to various conditions including the characteristics of the adhesive, the environmental temperature, and the dimensions of the gap between the nozzle surface and the opening of the front plate, which causes a problem of extreme difficulty in control of the adhesive and the shape thereof.
The defect common to the above technologies is that it is impossible to prevent ink from gathering at the joint edge between an actuator and a front plate, because an opening having a rectangular cross-section with dimensions which the actuator just fits in is formed through the front plate, and the actuator is inserted in the opening.


An ammonia injection device for use in an exhaust gas denitration system comprises ammonia injection pipe units arranged in a multiplicity of stages within an exhaust gas duct and each comprising a horizontal header pipe and a plurality of ammonia injection pipes extending downward from and connected to the header pipe and each having a multiplicity of injection nozzles. The header pipes other than the uppermost header pipe and a guide fixing member disposed horizontally at a bottom portion of the duct are each provided with a plurality of upward tubular guides arranged at a predetermined interval. The injection pipes have their lower ends inserted in the respective guides upwardly and downwardly movably. The injection nozzles have an opening diameter gradually increasing as the injection pipe extends downward.

The present invention relates to an ammonia injection device for injecting ammonia serving as a reducing agent into an exhaust gas duct, for use in exhaust gas denitration systems for removing nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the exhaust gases of gas turbines, boilers, etc. by selective catalytic reduction.
With reference to FIG. 6, exhaust gas systems include an ammonia injection device which is disposed within an exhaust gas duct provided between an NOx-containing exhaust gas source (boiler, heating furnace, gas turbine or the like) and a reactor. The injection device is installed at a specified position where the exhaust gas has an appropriate temperature for supplying to the duct vaporized ammonia gas serving as a reducing agent and supplied from an ammonia production device.
FIG. 7 shows a conventional ammonia injection device, which comprises a pair of vertical header pipes 201 arranged outside respective opposite side walls 101 of an exhaust gas duct 100, a plurality of ammonia injection pipes 202 arranged horizontally within the duct 100 with their opposite ends extending through the duct side walls 101 and each formed with a multiplicity of nozzles (not shown), and a plurality of expansion joints 203 connecting the ends of the injection pipes 202 to the header pipe 201 opposed thereto. The ammonia injection pipes 202 are secured to a plurality of vertical support members 204 arranged inside the duct 100 and thereby prevented from warping or deflecting.
However, the conventional ammonia injection device described has the following problems.
While the ammonia injection pipes 202 have opposite ends extending through the duct side walls 101, the provision of many pipe passing portions in the side walls 101 which portions need to be sealed makes the device complex in construction and requires much labor. Moreover, the multiplicity of expansion joints 203 must be used for absorbing the difference in the amount of thermal expansion between the injection pipes 202 which are exposed to the hot exhaust gas and the header pipes 201 which are positioned externally of the duct 101.
The amount of thermal expansion of the support members 204 increases considerably as the overall size of the device increases, so that the injection pipes 202 secured to these members 204 are likely to be broken by being subjected to pressure by the support members 204 which thermally expand.
The reducing agent, i.e., vaporized ammonia gas, needs to be uniformly injected into the duct 100, whereas when the ammonia injection pipes 202 have an increased length with an increase in the size of the device, there arises the problem that the device fails to effect uniform injection since the amount ammonia injected from the injection nozzle of the pipe 202 away from the header pipe 201 is much smaller than that from the injection nozzle close to the header pipe 201.

Ammonia injection device for use in exhaust gas denitration systems