Methods of fully siliciding semiconductive materials of semiconductor devices are disclosed. A preferred embodiment comprises depositing an alloy comprised of a first metal and a second metal over a semiconductive material. The device is heated, causing atoms of the semiconductive material to move towards and bond to the atoms of the second metal, leaving vacancies in the semiconductive material, and causing atoms of the first metal to move into the vacancies in the semiconductive material.

Generally, semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon. In the very large scale integration (VLSI) era, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices are continuously being designed smaller and smaller, and have requirements of high performance and low power consumption.
In semiconductor device manufacturing, silicides or silicide materials, which are alloys of silicon and metals, are often used. Silicides are typically formed by the reaction of a metal with silicon, and they are used in a variety of applications. For example, in transistors, silicide may be used at the source, drain and/or gate regions, or it may be used to construct gates or local interconnect lines, as examples.
Silicide materials are commonly used in advanced complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Silicides reduce sheet resistance and contact resistance, which is particularly advantageous when a silicide is disposed over the source, drain, and gate region of a transistor, as examples, although silicides are also used in other applications.
A silicide is typically formed by depositing a metal layer such as Co or Ni over a silicon layer, and then annealing the semiconductor structure. Where the metal layer is in contact with the silicon, a silicide is formed. The un-reacted metal is then etched away. In some applications, the silicide formed is automatically aligned to the underlying polysilicon layer; thus, it is often referred to as a Self-ALigned silicide or a "salicide."
One disadvantage of prior art methods of forming silicide materials is the phenomenon of incomplete silicidation, as shown at 128 in prior art FIG. 5, which will be described further herein. If incomplete silicidation 128 occurs in the gates of a semiconductor device 100 or integrated circuit having a plurality of transistors, for example, this is a problem, because the transistors of the device 100 have different operating characteristics. For example, transistors having gates that are fully silicided have less resistance and thinner electrical gate dielectric thickness due to no depletion of silicide gates than transistors having incompletely silicided gates, and thus, the transistors having fully silicided gates operate faster. Thus, incomplete silicidation results in decreased device performance and decreased yields.
What are needed in the art are improved methods of forming silicide materials.


A power demand and supply scheduling apparatus a includes a transceiver that mutually exchanges power supply reservation information including at least information of a total suppliable power amount, a suppliable state start time, a suppliable state end time, and a maximum suppliable amount per unit time zone, and power request reservation information including at least information of a total request power amount, a receivable state start time, a receivable state end time, and a maximum receivable amount per unit time zone, with scheduling apparatuses for other energy management systems each of which manage other power equipment, and a plan creating unit that plans a power reception amount and a power supply amount in each of the unit time zone which are delivered to and received from the other power equipment, and creates a power delivery and reception plan.

It is predicted that in the future, large-capacity loads and distributed power supplies are going to increase, a room capable of being controlled by a power supply company side (power system side) is going to be small, and the power system will overall become very unstable wherein the large-capacity loads includes, for example, an electric automobile, the occurrence of the demand thereof being difficult to predict and the distributed power supplies includes, for example, a photovoltaic power generator, the occurrence of the demand being also difficult to predict. In order to control the unstable power demand and supply thereof, various EMSs (energy management systems) such as a CEMS (Community Energy Management system), a BEMS (Building Energy Management System), a HEMS (Home Energy Management System), and a FEMS (Factory Energy Management System) are proposed.
They have a main object to achieve leveling of a demand and supply and energy saving in an independent small-scale power system under management by carrying out the output increase and decrease control of distributed power supplies, suppression of a demand of power equipment, and suppression of abrupt variation and peak shift in the case of possessing energy storage equipment (a stationary storage battery, a heat storage tank and the like). For example, JP-A-2008-236904 (Kokai) proposes the example of the BEMS that performs energy management of a building, and JP-A-2009-130985 proposes the example of the HEMS that performs energy management in a household.
Further, as the system that aids interchange of power among a plurality of independent small-scale power systems, JP-A-2011-61970 (Kokai) and the like are proposed. JP-A-2011-61970 (Kokai) proposes a system which reserves power interchange amounts among respective systems in each time in advance, temporarily converts an AC power into a DC power in an interconnection line of each of the systems and interchanges power with each other.
In a conventional power system, the highest priority is placed on the necessity of complying with a supply-demand balancing rule at each unit time zone, and therefore, as for power, the system side (power supply company side) has generally set up a plan which is entirely systematic, and conducted control. When EMSs are interconnected with each other from an upper layer to a lower layer, for example, in the CEMS (Community Energy Management System) that controls a system side, and the BEMS, HEMS, FEMS and the like that control a user side such as each building and households, the operation of each EMS is independent, and the influence of the power demand/supply which occurs in the range managed by the BEMS, HEMS, FEMS and the like of the lower order is only unilaterally estimated and controlled in accordance with the demand prediction by the CEMS of the upper order. The method for creating the plan of the power amount (electric energy) interchanged at each time (hereinafter, called a power delivery and reception plan) by utilizing the power storage equipment of a partner by cooperating with each other among EMSs is not considered. For example, the above described JP-A-2011-61970 proposes the system which reserves/agrees the power interchange amount among the systems at each time in advance among a plurality of independent small-scale power systems and interchanges power with each other, but the mechanism is such that the power delivery and reception plan is on the preconditions that the system side which issues a reservation creates the entire plan, and after creation, agreement of the partner side is obtained.
When close interconnection accompanied by power delivery and reception from each other is to be carried out among the EMSs which are independent from each other, it is predicted that if the EMSs set up the plans of power delivery and reception independently from each other, interconnection with integrity of the plans being kept is difficult because the plans differ from each other in temporal grading, and the mechanism which solves this is required.
When it is assumed that the distributed power systems which the EMSs each manages includes power storage equipment with a large capacity as a buffer, regulation in a time direction of the over-and-under amount of the power amount per unit time becomes easy, and therefore, the temporal gradings of the power delivery and reception plans which are required among the EMSs which are independent from each other are likely to differ significantly. For example, it is assumed that in a building A which includes power storage equipment with a large capacity, as long as the balance of the electric power which is interchanged from outside is kept in the unit of an hour, the electric power is within the range capable of being regulated with charge and discharge of the stored power amount, and there arises no problem, whereas in a building B which does not include power storage equipment, the total amount of the balance of the electric power which is interchanged from an outside has to be kept at each instant. When electric power is interchanged between the buildings A and B as above, if a reservation of a request or a supply of electric power is made by the building A side, the B side needs to set up a power delivery and reception plan for each unit time zone which is executable based on the request of the building A side. As this example, it is predictable that when close interconnection is to be carried out among the EMSs which are independent from each other when the supply-demand balancing rule at each unit time does not have to be kept, interconnection becomes difficult because the temporal gradings of the mutual plans differ from each other.
Furthermore, it is difficult to consider that the EMSs are introduced simultaneously from the upper layer to the lower layer, and it is predictable that, for example, after the BEM (Building and Energy Management System) which controls the power demand and supply of each building is put into widespread use, the CEMS which conducts centralized control over the BEMS is introduced. Further, it is predictable that some of the EMSs of the hierarchy go down due to an accident or a failure. Therefore, the mechanism of power delivery and reception scheduling for autonomous and distributed EMSs, which operates without a problem even if the EMSs are introduced stepwise from the EMSs of the lower layer, and are capable of interconnecting with each other afterwards.

Power demand and supply scheduling apparatus


A method and apparatus for processing call data. A first server in active mode replicates call data to a second server in standby mode. The first server is monitored for a fault condition by the second server, as well as other network devices. If a fault condition is detected, the first server is switched to standby mode and the second server to active mode.

Given the current state of telephony technology, telephone calls over modern telecommunications networks are relatively reliable in terms of speed in completing a call connection, meeting quality of service requirements, and maintaining a call connection during the course of a conversation. The last category, maintaining a call connection, is provided in large part by building redundancy into the network, especially in the call processing platform. The call processing platform generally controls the set-up and shut-down of a call connection, and ensures that billing for a call is accurately maintained. This redundancy in the call processing platform ensures that a call connection is maintained even if there is a hardware failure in the equipment used to establish the call connection, and is sometimes referred to as "fault tolerant call processing."
Conventional technology and methods to build redundancy in a call processing platform, however, are less than desirable for a number of reasons. For example, a call processing platform typically has a call control computer that is responsible for implementing call flow by coordinating and assigning the resources of the other platform components, such as a switching matrix, voice response computers, and data base computers. Given its central function, the operation of the call control computer is extremely important in maintaining a call connection. Consequently, the call control computer is typically a specialized computer designed with redundant hardware components, such as a back-up microprocessor, memory, power supply, and so forth. This specialized call control computer, however, is very expensive. In addition, a single call control computer, even with redundant hardware, is susceptible to common mode failure. Common mode failure occurs when a single failure of a system component causes total system failure to occur. Further, the specialized call control computer is difficult to upgrade and maintain.
In an attempt to avoid the above problems, some call processing platforms utilize multiple call control computers, rather than a single dedicated call control computer with redundant hardware. The use of multiple call control computers, however, poses a new set of problems. Typically, one of the call control computers is designated as an active call control computer, with a second designated a standby call control computer. The active call control computer actively controls call processing functions for the call processing platform, while the standby call control computer stands ready to take over control of the call processing platform in the event the active call control computer experiences a hardware or software failure. To ensure that calls are not dropped when the active call control computer fails, it becomes necessary to duplicate all call processing data to the standby call control computer. Further, it becomes necessary to implement a monitoring scheme to monitor the active call control computer, and determine when it becomes necessary to switch over to the standby call controller.
Conventional techniques exist for duplicating call processing data from an active call control computer to a standby call control computer, such as the technique disclosed in a paper authored by Rachid Guerraoui et al. Titled "Software Based Replication for Fault Tolerance," Computer Journal, IEEE, April 1997. The technique described in the Guerraoui paper, however, is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. For example, the Guerraoui paper fails to disclose a monitoring and switch over scheme that minimizes dropped calls in the case of failure of the active call control computer. Further, the Guerraoui paper fails to disclose a means for synchronizing the call processing data across the call processing platform.
In addition, the Guerraoui paper fails to teach how to ensure that the standby computer has accurate records regarding static call data. Typically, a call processing platform requires two types of data to process a call: (1) dynamic call data; and (2) static call data. Dynamic call data is information about the caller or call connection that changes for every call. For example, a destination telephone number is considered dynamic call data since it typically changes from call to call. Static call data is information about a caller that is relative stable, that is, it does not change on a call by call basis. An example of static call data would be a billing address for a caller, or perhaps a Personal Identification Number. The Guerraoui paper fails to discuss the duplication of static call data to the standby call control computer.
In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a substantial needs exists for a fault tolerant call processing method and apparatus that solves the above-discussed problems.

Method and apparatus for fault tolerant call processing


Methods and devices for treating skin include a skin-contacting portion, an actuator and a processor, wherein activation of the actuator causes surface acoustic waves of Rayleigh, “pseudo” Rayleigh types to be produced on the skin around the actuator. In a location which is under the actuator, the actuator produces tension and repulsion of skin particles. These surface acoustic waves can be used to provide treatment to the skin, including wound healing, non-adhesion of bandages, reduced infection, reduced pain and cosmetic enhancements. The skin-contacting portion may be a patch or bandage, a glove, a hand-held device, or any other suitable configuration. The actuator is incorporated into the skin-contacting portion.

Ultrasonic waves have been widely used in medical applications, including diagnostics and therapy, and in many industrial applications, for welding, cutting, fiber optics technology, speed meters, etc. Diagnostic use of ultrasound waves includes using ultrasonic waves to detect underlying structures in an object or human body. An ultrasonic transducer is placed in contact with the tissue or object via a coupling medium, and high frequency (1-10 MHz) ultrasonic waves are directed to the tissue. Upon contact with the various underlying structures, the waves are reflected back to a receiver adjacent the transducer. By comparison of the signals of the ultrasonic waves sent with the reflected ultrasonic wave as received, an image of the underlying structure can be produced.
Three therapeutic medical uses of ultrasound waves include aerosol mist production, contact physiotherapy, and soft tissue ablation. The ultrasound contact physiotherapy procedure may cause a patient significant discomfort and/or pain, and skin may appear raw and damaged.
However, the necessity of direct contact with or without a coupling medium makes current methods undesirable. Some tissue conditions may be accessible to contact ultrasound devices but would be impractical for contact ultrasound treatment. For example, fresh or open wounds resulting from trauma, burns, surgical interventions are not suitable for direct contact ultrasound treatment because of the structural nature of the open wound and the painful condition associated with those wounds. Moreover, conventional contact ultrasound may have a destructive effect on these types of open wounds due to the close proximity of an oscillating tip of an ultrasonic transducer relative to the already damaged tissue surface. In general, conventional ultrasound therapy considers applicator placed on the skin and deep propagation of ultrasonic waves and much of the energy is wasted.

System and method for surface acoustic wave treatment of skin


A sub-assembly for a packaged integrated circuit (IC) device has a planar substrate. The substrate's top side has multiple sets electrically connected bond posts arranged in corresponding nested contour zones. Each contour zone includes a different bond post of each bond-post set. The bottom side has a different set of pad connectors electrically connected to the each top-side bond-post set. The sub-assembly can be used for different IC packages having IC dies of different sizes, with different contours of bond posts available for electrical connection depending on the size of the IC die.

The present invention relates to integrated circuit (IC) packaging and, more particularly, to substrates used in IC packaging.
Surface-mount grid-array-type integrated circuit (IC) devices such as, for example, land grid array (LGA), ball grid array (BGA), and pin grid array (PGA) packages, electrically connect a die to a corresponding printed circuit board (PCB) through pad openings in their bottom surfaces. In contrast, some other surface-mount IC devices such as, small-outline IC (SOIC) or quad flat pack (QFP) packages—connect to a corresponding PCB through lead fingers emerging from the package sides.
The particular attachment mechanism between the pad openings of a grid-array-type IC device and a PCB may be, for example, (1) solder balls—as used for BGA devices, (2) pins on the IC device, which fit in a corresponding socket on the PCB—as used for PGA devices, or (3) pins on a corresponding socket on the PCB—as used for LGA devices. The pad openings are at the bottom of a PCB-like substrate of the packaged device. The package substrate may comprise materials similar to those of a typical PCB and may be similarly fabricated. Note that a package substrate is not the same as an IC die substrate, which is typically semiconductor bulk material, such as crystalline silicon. As used herein, unless otherwise indicated, the term "substrate" refers to a package substrate and not to an IC die substrate.
Each IC die of a grid-array-type package is typically mounted on the top side of the substrate and electrically connected to bond posts on the top side of the substrate. The die and top side of the substrate are then encapsulated in molding compound. Metallic vias connect the bond posts on the top side to corresponding pad connectors on the bottom side of the substrate. The pad connectors, in turn, electrically connect the substrate to the PCB. In a conventional new product introduction (NPI) process, a custom substrate is designed for a particular device based on the dimensions of the to-be-packaged die(s).

Multi-use substrate for integrated circuit


A backlight includes a directional waveguide and a light source array, for providing large area directed illumination from localized light sources. Interfaces are provided between the directional waveguide and optical components adjacent the directional waveguide such that the coefficient of friction at the waveguide interfaces is greater than the coefficient of friction at least one outer interface on each side of the waveguide in the stack. Damage from compressive forces on the optical stack may be reduced, achieving improved optical performance and lifetime. Privacy display, low stray light display and autostereoscopic display may be provided with high uniformity, long lifetime and reduced cost mechanical components.

Directional displays provide non-Lambertian luminance distributions to display viewers, that is the luminance varies with viewing direction.
Low stray light displays such as privacy displays provide image visibility to a primary user that is typically in an on-axis position and reduced visibility of image content to a snooper, that is typically in an off-axis position. A privacy function may be provided by micro-louvre optical films that transmit some light from a display in an on-axis direction with low luminance in off-axis positions. However such films have high losses for head-on illumination and the micro-louvres may cause Moiré artefacts due to beating with the pixels of the spatial light modulator. The pitch of the micro-louvre may need selection for panel resolution, increasing inventory and cost.
Switchable privacy displays may be provided by control of the off-axis optical output. Control may be provided by means of luminance reduction, for example by means of switchable backlights for a liquid crystal display (LCD) spatial light modulator.
Display backlights in general employ waveguides and edge emitting sources.
Displays comprising collimating directional waveguides are described in Ishikawa et al. "New Design for a Highly Collimating Turning Film" SID 06 Digest, pp. 514-517, 2006 and in U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2017-0269283.
Certain imaging directional backlights have the additional capability of directing the illumination through a display panel into viewing windows. An imaging system may be formed between multiple sources and the respective window images. One example of an imaging directional backlight is an optical valve that may employ a folded optical system and hence may also be an example of a folded imaging directional backlight. Light may propagate substantially without loss in one direction through the optical valve while counter-propagating light may be extracted by reflection off tilted facets as described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,519,153, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Such imaging directional backlights may be used for privacy display as well as for time multiplexed autostereoscopic display.

Backlights having stacked waveguide and optical components with different coefficients of friction


The present technology relates to a data processing apparatus and a data processing method that permit enhancement of functional extensibility of apparatuses on a receiving side.

The development of ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) 3.0, one of next generations of terrestrial broadcasting standard, is underway at present (refer, for example, to NPL 1).
It has been decided that ATSC 3.0 will adopt a scheme that mainly uses an IP/UDP packet, i.e., an IP (Internet Protocol) packet that includes a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet (hereinafter referred to as an IP transport scheme), rather than a TS (Transport Stream) packet for data transport. There are also expectations that the IP transport scheme will be used in the future not only in ATSC 3.0 but also in other broadcasting schemes.
Also, in M-PLP (Multiple PLP) scheme prescribed in DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting-Second Generation Terrestrial), what lies between a circuit at a preceding stage that performs a transport stream (TS) restoration process and a circuit at a succeeding stage that performs a process such as decoding on a receiving side is implemented by a single interface (refer, for example, to NPL 2).

Data processing apparatus and data processing method

Abstract: A data processing apparatus at a preceding stage receives a digital broadcast signal, processes, of data acquired by a demodulation process of the digital broadcast signal, notification data to be notified to a data processing apparatus at a succeeding stage that performs a process succeeding to the demodulation process, transforms the notification data into a transportable format together with reception data acquired from the digital broadcast signal, and outputs the notification data to the data processing apparatus at the succeeding stage together with the reception data. The present technology is applicable, for example, to a system that includes a demodulation device and a system-on-chip.


A method for determining, in three dimensions, the location of a moving ground object observed in a region by a video camera. A terrain map supplies altitude for the latitude and longitude of each terrain point. The terrain information is combined with camera location, field of view, and orientation to produce a computed terrain map relative to the camera. A video analytics step processes the video and locates moving target(s) in two Cartesian coordinates. The coordinates are processed with the camera information to produce target location in terms of azimuth and elevation angle. The computed map information is combined with the angular target location to produce latitude, longitude, and altitude of the target. The target location information is used for further investigation or to attack the target. Also, a method for determining the third dimension of a 2-D radar track to cue a camera or fuse with camera data.

Homeland security has become of more than passing interest. One aspect of security involves surveillance of regions near borders to be protected from invasion, whether the invasion is (a) by hostile troops seeking to enter and attack a region to be protected or'(b) by undocumented or criminal persons, as might occur at the U.S.-Mexican border. One of the problems with such surveillance is that the regions under surveillance may be large, and the manpower available to perform the surveillance may be small. The availability of personnel to counter a detected incursion is a different issue. When the number of eyes available to perform surveillance or to survey is small, there is the possibility, or even the likelihood, that some incursions will not be noticed. Even when a large number of eyes is available, the relative infrequency of incursions may lead to momentary inattention, which again can lead to unnoticed incursions.
As a result, attention has been directed to technological means for surveillance. One possible solution is to place small ground proximity or movement sensors in the region to be surveyed, and to radio to a human-attended center when movement is detected. One disadvantage of this is that some of the sensors might have to be placed on the sovereign territory of another, which might not be possible. In addition, deploying such sensors over many miles along, and over suitable depth of, a border will be quite expensive. Not all the terrain to be protected will be amenable to use of a single type of proximity sensor, so multiple types might be required. Also, such sensors have the disadvantage that battery power would be required, and the changing of batteries in a large plurality of sensors scattered over a region in turn requires substantial manpower. Even if ground proximity sensors were to be deployed, they tend to be susceptible to false alarms such as animal movement (or even to movement of tree roots along the northern border). Historically, ground proximity sensors have been poor performers.
A radar system can survey a region which includes sovereign territory of another, and can provide a current location and speed of an object, and the data can be stored to provide a track (history of locations). Ground Surveillance Radar (GSR) has a long history of use for surveillance, and so constitutes a mature technology. Some of these radars are easy to set up or install using trained personnel. Moving target detection for radar is well known, and can detect objects moving with some radial velocities relative to the radar. Ground surveillance radar (GSR) that is available for border surveillance provides a two-dimensional detection capability, which is to say that it only identifies the location of an object by range and azimuth. Additionally, the GSRs available for border surveillance tend to have slow update rates (half a minute to more than a minute per scan), and also limitations in detection of objects with low radial velocity (relative to the radar location). The two dimensional object location, together with the slow update rate, make radar data somewhat difficult to use for the important task of cueing narrow field of view interrogation cameras to closely observe the target of interest. In addition, significant limitations to angular resolution and range accuracy result in the detection mode of operation not being as effective as the tracking modes. Additional limitations of radar border surveillance include possible inability to detect objects through vegetation and under various clutter conditions. A major disadvantage of radar systems is that they cannot, in general, identify an object. For example, a moving object smaller than a vehicle might be a human intruder, or it might be an animal. Indeed, a low-flying bird might give rise to concern, since radar generally cannot determine the shape of an object. Radar systems undesirably tend to require skilled operators and maintenance personnel.
Cameras can also be used for surveillance. Cameras, like radar systems, have the advantage of being able to extend their sensing capabilities across borders. As with GSR, cameras can be installed and set up by relatively unskilled personnel. They also cost less than radar systems. Cameras have the advantage of being capable of reporting the shape of an object within their fields of view, so can, in principle, tell the difference between an animal and a human. In addition, a video surveillance approach allows for use of infrared (IR) technology to detect warm bodies moving through vegetation and other similar obstructions, as the warm bodies provide enough of a difference between pixels for detection by video analytics. On the other hand, cameras have a problem similar to that of radar, in that they provide only a two-dimensional (azimuth and elevation) representation of a three-dimensional world. Another disadvantage of cameras for surveillance use is that the camera can only "see" objects which subtend a substantial portion of the field-of-view. That is, if the object is small and at a significant distance from the camera, its image may be so small as to be indistinguishable from the background. If a zoom lens function is directed toward the object so as to effectively enlarge the object in the field of view, the field of view is narrowed so that other targets or objects may be able to move through the region without being imaged. Yet a further disadvantage of cameras for surveillance is that the video analytics processing, which is well-known processing for detecting motion from frame-to-frame variations in each pixel, tends to require the operator to configure each individual field of view to be monitored so that detected objects can be converted to geospatial coordinates. This configuration task might take several hours, depending on the operator. Because of this setup time, COTS video analytics products are primarily useful at fixed installations, and tend to be left in position (not moved) once they are set up.
Improved or alternative surveillance arrangements are desired.

Determination of the three-dimensional location of a target viewed by a camera


Radar tubes are assessed based upon an observation that faulty radar pulses have a significantly increased content of undesired high frequency components in their cathode current sensed at the cathode lead of an operating radar transmitting tube.

This invention relates generally to radar systems and more particularly to active radar transmitting systems. More specifically, for example, the invention relates to a detector for detecting faulty radar transmitting tubes of high-power radar transmitting systems.
In the past, the U.S. Navy has employed expensive diagnostic equipment to assess whether certain high-power, pulsing type, microwave radar transmitting systems are working as intended. Such techniques employed, for example, expensive digitizing oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers each costing over $25,000. Use of such equipment can be cumbersome and taxing at inopportune times.
There is a need for a low-cost test device that can be built into radar systems wherein testing can be performed on an active system in real-time with minimal complexity and cost.
The invention is designed to test whether a radar, pulse type, transmitting tube is faulty or not. This assessment is based upon an observation that faulty radar pulses have a significantly increased content of undesired high frequency components in their cathode current sensed at the cathode lead of an operating radar transmitting tube.
The invention exploits this observation by sensing the current at the transmitting tube""s cathode and by high pass filtering only those frequency components known to be indicative of faulty transmitting tubes.
The filter output is fed to a detector that converts the analog output of the filter into a rectified output that is proportional to the amplitude of the high frequency voltage components passing through the filter. The high-pass output is smoothed and the smoothed output is fed to an analog-input, digital output threshold amplifier. The threshold amplifier provides a TTL output that corresponds to a smoothed amplitude that is considered to represent a good radar pulse or to a smoothed amplitude value representing a faulty pulse. The TTL logic output then is input to a digital data processor which uses predetermined algorithms to assess the condition of the transmitting tube based upon the rate of occurrence of the bad radar pulses. The output of the processor is then sent to a data collection and storage system whose files are available for observation by a radar system operator.
An object of this invention is to provide a device for testing radar systems.
Another object of this invention is provide a device for testing radar systems that is relatively simple and inexpensive.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a built-in device for testing radar systems.
A further object of the invention is to provide a device that tests the transmitting tube of a radar system.
Still yet another object of this invention is to provide a device that tests the transmitting tube of a radar system by exploiting a characteristic of faulty radar pulses.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a device that tests the transmitting tube of a radar system by assessing the current characteristics as provided at the cathode of the tube.
Other objects, advantages and new features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanied drawing.

Abstract: The invention exploits this observation in a simple, relatively low-cost device that can be built into a radar system to be put under test. The current at the transmitting tube""s cathode is high-pass filtered to pass only those frequency components known to be indicative of faulty transmitting tubes. The filter output is converted into an analog output having an amplitude proportional to the amplitude of the high frequency voltage components passing through the filter. The high-pass output is smoothed and is fed to an analog-input, digital-output threshold amplifier. The threshold amplifier provides a TTL output that indicates whether its smoothed input amplitude represents a good radar pulse or a faulty pulse. The TTL logic output is then provided to a processor which uses predetermined algorithms to assess the condition of the transmitting tube based upon the rate of occurrence of the bad radar pulses. The output of the processor is made available for observation by the radar system""s operator.

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


A vehicle utility receptacle adapted to be mounted in a vehicle adjacent the side of a vehicle seat. The receptacle has an upward opening container with side walls and a bottom portion that joins the side walls. The receptacle also has upper and lower container-to-seat mounting assemblies attached to the container and suitable for attachment to a vehicle seat.

The present invention relates generally to storage or waste receptacles for use in vehicle passenger compartments. In particular, the invention relates to a utility receptacle for safely and securely stowing personal objects or waste adjacent a seat position in a vehicle, within the convenient reach of the seat occupant.
For years vehicle operators and their passengers have fought the battle of trying to safely, securely and conveniently stow personal articles or waste within a vehicle. It is not unusual for individuals to seek to stow in vehicles items such as handbags, cassette tapes, compact discs, cellular phones, Dictaphones, toys, snacks and waste. Numerous methods and devices have been tried to temporarily retain such items, but with significant disadvantages.
For instance, placing an object directly on the front floor of a vehicle is unacceptable because the vehicle operator cannot reach the object easily while operating the vehicle. Also, an object on the vehicle floor reduces the available foot space, tends to move when the vehicle is driven, and is subjected to dirt and moisture carried into the vehicle by front seat occupants. Placing waste or a waste container directly on the floor is even more troublesome because it raises additional aesthetic and sanitary concerns. Using the rear floor of a vehicle imposes the same space, aesthetic and sanitary problems for rear seat occupants while further complicating the accessibility problem for front seat occupants.
After-market floor consoles were introduced long ago. Yet, floor consoles often require a raised center tunnel in the vehicle floor for mounting, a feature that is not as common on modern front wheel drive passenger vehicles. Moreover, such floor consoles tend to be unstable, reduce front passenger foot space, and obstruct air flow from floor level heating and cooling ducts. Original equipment floor consoles are more securely mounted and often provide spaces for holding items such as cups, coins, cassette tapes and ashes. However, not every vehicle is originally equipped with a floor console and the space for personal items tends to be very limited and insufficient for larger items commonly carried in vehicles, such as a handbag.
The alternative of placing personal articles, waste or a waste container on a seat is impractical because it reduces available seating and the items are prone to undesired movement and a tendency to fall to the floor when the vehicle is driven (resulting in the above mentioned problems).
Container assemblies that drape over the upright back portion of a seat are typically not securely fastened to the seat back and require bench style seating to permit easy access by the vehicle operator or a front seat passenger. Containers that are designed for attachment to the rear face of a front seat back carry the significant disadvantage of not being within convenient reach of the front seat occupants.
Devices for carrying and restraining animals in a vehicle generally do not provide adequate means to overcome the problem of holding personal objects or waste. Such devices typically are constructed to restrain an animal, not to carry objects of various sizes that also need to be readily accessible. Therefore, use with personal articles or waste would tend to impede the withdrawal of such items from the device.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a vehicle utility receptacle that provides secure mounting in a location that is convenient to seat occupants, and is adaptable to a variety of vehicle interior seating configurations.
More particularly, the present invention provides a vehicle utility receptacle that is mounted adjacent the side of a vehicle seat and is easily accessible to the seat occupant.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a receptacle that is capable of safely and securely holding frequently used relatively large objects, such as a handbag, without impeding retrieval of such items.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle utility receptacle to be attached to a plurality of seats in a manner that permits independent fore and aft movement of the seats.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle utility receptacle that may be removably attached to a vehicle seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle utility receptacle that is waterproof.


In a high pressure fuel supply system, a variable speed motor asynchronously actuates a pumping piston with a drive mechanism including a circular cam with cam roller, having an axis that is offset from the axis of the cam drive shaft. A rolling or sliding cam follower is rigidly connected to the piston, and a piston retainer is operatively connected among the piston, the cam follower and the cam roller. As the cam shaft rotates, the cam roller rotates eccentrically relative to the cam shaft while maintaining contact with the cam follower, thereby reciprocating the follower and the piston along the actuation axis, in corresponding charging and pumping strokes of the piston.

The present invention relates to single piston, high pressure fuel supply pumps for direct injection gasoline engines.
The prevalent architecture for a Direct Injection (DI) fuel supply system synchronizes the pumping events with the injection events. This is desirable to minimize the pressure variation on the DI common rail. The coupling is normally accomplished directly by the number of lobes on the actuating cam of the high pressure pump (HPP). Because the cam is normally driven by a mechanical shaft (driveshaft) at an integer ratio to the engine crankshaft, the HPP is synchronized to the engine piston position (and the injection event) both in speed and in the position of the HPP piston.
Recent DI control strategies decouple the mechanical drive for HPP from the engine powertrain, and the HPP is driven by a separate actuator such as an electrical motor. The decoupling of the HPP from the engine implies that the HPP could run at an asynchronous ratio to the engine injection. The electrical drive is not limited by the engine speed, and it could have a much high speed than normally found in engine-driven mechanical systems.
The common drive system utilizes three or four-lobe cams for four-stroke engines of four, six, or eight cylinders. In the case of an electrical motor drive, and because of its speed flexibility, it is possible to drive the HPP with a single-lobe actuation cam and deliver an equivalent fuel flow rate to the rail. Rail pressure control is simplified if the pumping ratio is above the injection ratio.


Provides within a semiconductor chip a plurality of internal DRAM arrays connected to each section data bus. A cross-point switch simultaneously connects the plural section data buses to a corresponding plurality of port registers that transfer data between a plurality of ports (I/O pins) on the chip and the section data buses in parallel in either data direction to effectively support a high multi-port data rate to/from the memory chip. For any section, the data may be transferred entirely in parallel between the associated port and a corresponding port register, or the data may be multiplexed between each port and its port register in plural sets of parallel bits. Each of the DRAM banks in the chip is addressed and accessed in parallel with the other DRAM banks through a bank address control in the chip which receives all address requests from four processors in a computer system. Each section data bus is comprised of a large number of data lines that transfer data bits in parallel to/from all of DRAM cells in an address-selected row in one of the DRAM banks at a time in each section. The four DRAM section buses in the chip may be transferring data at the same time in independent directions to/from the four chip ports.

The prior art has a multitude of single-port single-bank DRAM memory chips and of memory configurations of such memory chips in single-port and multiple-port arrangements. However, the prior art is not known to disclose any single chip architecture for structuring a single DRAM semiconductor chip with multiple ports and multiple DRAM banks--which is the primary object of the subject invention. A clear distinction needs to be made between different types of memory chips.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,545 shows a memory using memory banks which "the memory banks are organized into each section of memory in a sequential and interleaved fashion", which is not the way the internals of the subject invention are organized (and in which it is believed that each memory bank may be a separate chip). U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,545 focuses on having unidirectional ports (read or write), and on conflict resolution among its ports, and on supporting an interleaved memory for multiple processor accesses, which is not a focus within the chip of the subject invention which does not have unidrectional ports.

Multi-port multiple-simultaneous-access DRAM chip

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed herein is a method for fabricating an organic thin film transistor that includes a gate electrode, a gate insulating film, source/drain electrodes and an organic semiconductor layer formed in this order on a substrate wherein the surface of the gate insulating film on which source/drain electrodes are formed is impregnated with an inorganic or organic acid, followed by annealing. According to the method, the surface of a gate insulating film damaged by a photoresist process can be effectively recovered. In addition, organic thin film transistors having high charge carrier mobility and high on/off current ratio can be fabricated.

Priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Korean Patent Application No. 2004-103537 filed on Dec. 9, 2004, which is herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating an organic thin film transistor, and more particularly to a method for fabricating an organic thin film transistor comprising a gate electrode, a gate insulating film, source/drain electrodes and an organic semiconductor layer formed in this order on a substrate wherein the surface of the gate insulating film on which source/drain electrodes are formed is impregnated with an inorganic or organic acid, followed by annealing.
2. Descriotion of the Related Art
Since polyacetylenes as conjugated organic polymers exhibiting semiconductor characteristics were developed, organic semiconductors have been actively investigated as novel electrical and electronic materials in a wide variety of applications, e.g., functional electronic and optical devices, in terms of various manufacturing processes, easy molding into fibers and films, superior flexibility, high conductivity and low manufacturing costs.
Among devices fabricated by using these electrically conductive polymers, research on organic thin film transistors fabricated using organic materials as active layers has been conducted since 1980. In this connection, a number of studies are now being actively undertaken around the world. Organic thin film transistors are substantially identical to silicon (Si) thin film transistors in terms of their structure, but have a difference in that organic materials are used as materials for semiconductor regions instead of silicon (Si). In addition, such organic thin film transistors have the advantages that they can be fabricated by using printing processes at ambient pressure, instead of conventional silicon processes, such as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Organic thin film transistors are expected to be useful for driving devices of active displays and plastic chips for use in smart cards and inventory tags, and are comparable to α-Si thin film transistors in terms of their performance.
On the other hand, general organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) comprise a substrate, a gate electrode, a gate insulating film, source/drain electrodes, and an organic semiconductor layer. Organic thin film transistors can be classified into bottom-contact OTFTs wherein an organic semiconductor layer is formed on source/drain electrodes, and top-contact OTFTs wherein source-drain electrodes are formed on an organic semiconductor layer by mask deposition.
The fabrication of bottom-contact OTFTs involves a photoresist process for forming a pattern after deposition in order to form source-drain electrodes on a gate insulating film. At this time, the gate insulating film is exposed to a photoresist stripper and nitrogen generated from the stripper is adsorbed to the surface of the gate insulating film, leading to damage to the gate insulating film and thus making it impossible to fabricate OTFTs with superior insulating properties.
There have been introduced some attempts to reduce the damage to the surface of a gate insulating film. For example, damaged surface of a gate insulating film is physically treated using non-reactive gas plasma, or a gate insulating film is formed into a double layer by a self-assembly monolayer (SAM).
The aforementioned attempts simply smooth the damaged surface of the gate insulating film in a physical manner or necessitate an additional material for the formation of the double layer.

Method for fabricating organic thin film transistor


The system for aggregation and prioritization of diagnostic data for the purpose of mechanical system tuning allows the user, or technician, to quickly tune a complex mechanical system, such as a HVAC system. Tuning is assisted by rendering alert, system performance, and subsystem performance using a consistent visual tuner as a replacement for traditional mechanical gauges. Diagnostic data is collected by one or more data trackers and sensors installed on mechanical components within the HVAC unit. Data collected includes temperatures, flow, amperage consumption, refrigerant pressure, and related metrics. When the user opens the interface for the mechanical system tuner, the user is first prompted to select a location and a time period. The system then reviews its previously collected data, sorting and processing for the location and time period selected. The user is then presented with multiple performance measurements rendered in a consistent graphical, color-coded format.

Mechanical systems with interdependent components, including Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, require periodic maintenance. HVAC systems include many moving parts and interacting systems. As a result, adjustments and repair are required from time to time to compensate for parts wearing down, breaking, or initial miscalibration.
While the collection of diagnostic data is straightforward, it is the processing and prioritization that is difficult. The current methodology for diagnosing and correcting HVAC systems relies heavily on the skill of the technician. Currently, a technician must locate issues by walking through checklists and troubleshooting a system step-by-step. When the technician is skilled, experienced, and diligent, this method is very effective. But when a technician is rushed, or lacks skill and or experience, the resulting troubleshooting is incomplete and imperfect.
What is needed is an automated system for tuning and diagnosing complex mechanical systems that allows a technician to quickly review a large complex system and quickly diagnose issues.

System for aggregation and prioritization of diagnostic data for the purpose of mechanical system tuning


Devices, systems, and methods for compensate for friction within powered automatic systems, particularly for telesurgery and other telepresence applications. Dynamic friction compensation may comprise applying a continuous load in the direction of movement of a joint, and static friction compensation may comprise applying alternating loads in positive and negative joint actuation directions whenever the joint velocity reading falls within a low velocity range.

The present invention is generally related to improved robotic devices and methods, particularly for telesurgery.
Minimally invasive medical techniques are aimed at reducing the amount of extraneous tissue which is damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and deleterious side effects. Many surgeries are performed each year in the United States. A significant amount of these surgeries can potentially be performed in a minimally invasive manner. However, only a relatively small percentage of surgeries currently use these techniques due to limitations in minimally invasive surgical instruments and techniques and the additional surgical training required to master them.
Advances in minimally invasive surgical technology could dramatically increase the number of surgeries performed in a minimally invasive manner. The average length of a hospital stay for a standard surgery is significantly longer than the average length for the equivalent surgery performed in a minimally invasive surgical manner. Thus, the complete adoption of minimally invasive techniques could save millions of hospital days, and consequently millions of dollars annually in hospital residency costs alone. Patient recovery times, patient discomfort, surgical side effects, and time away from work are also reduced with minimally invasive surgery.
The most common form of minimally invasive surgery is endoscopy. Probably the most common form of endoscopy is laparoscopy which is minimally invasive inspection and surgery inside the abdominal cavity. In standard laparoscopic surgery, a patient's abdomen is insufflated with gas, and cannula sleeves are passed through small (approximately ½ inch) incisions to provide entry ports for laparoscopic surgical instruments.
The laparoscopic surgical instruments generally include a laparoscope for viewing the surgical field, and working tools defining end effectors. Typical surgical end effectors include clamps, graspers, scissors, staplers, and needle holders, for example. The working tools are similar to those used in conventional (open) surgery, except that the working end or end effector of each tool is separated from its handle by, e.g., an approximately 12-inch long, extension tube.
To perform surgical procedures, the surgeon passes these working tools or instruments through the cannula sleeves to a required internal surgical site and manipulates them from outside the abdomen by sliding them in and out through the cannula sleeves, rotating them in the cannula sleeves, levering (i.e., pivoting) the instruments against the abdominal wall and actuating end effectors on the distal ends of the instruments from outside the abdomen. The instruments pivot around centers defined by the incisions which extend through muscles of the abdominal wall. The surgeon monitors the procedure by means of a television monitor which displays an image of the surgical site via a laparoscopic camera. The laparoscopic camera is also introduced through the abdominal wall and into the surgical site. Similar endoscopic techniques are employed in, e.g., arthroscopy, retroperitoneoscopy, pelviscopy, nephroscopy, cystoscopy, cisternoscopy, sinoscopy, hysteroscopy, urethroscopy, and the like.
There are many disadvantages relating to current minimally invasive surgical (MIS) technology. For example, existing MIS instruments deny the surgeon the flexibility of tool placement found in open surgery. Most current laparoscopic tools have rigid shafts and difficulty is experienced in approaching the worksite through the small incision. Additionally, the length and construction of many endoscopic instruments reduces the surgeon's ability to feel forces exerted by tissues and organs on the end effector of the associated tool. The lack of dexterity and sensitivity of endoscopic tools is a major impediment to the expansion of minimally invasive surgery.
Minimally invasive telesurgical systems for use in surgery are being developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity as well as to allow a surgeon to operate on a patient from a remote location. Telesurgery is a general term for surgical systems where the surgeon uses some form of remote control, e.g., a servomechanism or the like, to manipulate surgical instrument movements rather than directly holding and moving the tools by hand. In such a telesurgery system, the surgeon is typically provided with an image of the surgical site at the remote location. While viewing typically a three-dimensional image of the surgical site on a suitable viewer or display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master control devices at the remote location, which control the motion of servomechanically operated instruments.
The servomechanism used for telesurgery will often accept input from two master controllers (one for each of the surgeon's hands), and may include two robotic arms. Operative communication between master control and an associated arm and instrument is achieved through a control system. The control system typically includes at least one processor which relays input commands from a master controller to an associated arm and instrument and from the arm and instrument assembly to the associated master controller in the case of, e.g., force feedback.
One objective of the present invention is to provide improved surgical techniques. Another objective is to provide improved robotic devices, systems, and methods. More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a method of compensating for friction in a minimally invasive surgical apparatus. It is a further object of the invention to provide a control system incorporating such a method of compensating for friction.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Friction compensation in a minimally invasive surgical apparatus


An edge router 12 sends a router advertisement to wireless terminals 11 to notify the wireless terminals 11 of the hop limit. Each wireless terminals 11 stores the notified hop limit in the hop limit field of an IPv6 packet. The edge router 12 stores the maximum number of hops in the user's home system 1 and the maximum number of hops in the IP network NW. When receiving a communication packet sent from the user's home system 1 to the IP network NW, the edge router 12 sets the hop limit in the communication packet to the maximum number of hops in the IP network NW. When receiving a communication packet sent from the IP network NW to the user's home system 1, the edge router 12 sets the hop limit in the communication packet to the maximum number of hops in the user's home system 1.

The following non-patent literature 1, which is the standards of IPv6 over Low-power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN), is conventionally known. 6LoWPAN allows IPv6 to be available on IEEE 802.15.4. In 6LoWPAN, wireless devices performing communication over IPv6 in a low-power consumption wireless link do not include enough internal resources, and in some cases, it takes 20 to 30 msec to transmit a ping packet in the same link, for example. High resource devices such as PCs can transmit a ping packet in the order of milliseconds or less.

Communication system, wireless device, and program for wireless device

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A beverage maker comprises a frame which has an upper panel with one or more circular or oval apertures into which may be inserted metal or plastic holders for paper beverage filters. A middle panel comprises an adjustable drip shelf. The drip shelf is placed at a distance below the upper panel, which spacing is large enough to admit cups of typical size and small enough to prevent excessive spillage when fluid drains down from the filter holders into the cups. What spillage does occur passes through perforations in the drip shelf and is collected in a removable drip pan. Hot water is poured into individual filter holders by hand, which produces a plurality of small portions of beverage simultaneously or in rapid succession for beverage service in a commercial environment. Alternatively, fixed members for dispensing water into the filter holders can be added above the top panel, such as push-button fixed-volume fluid dispensers or manual spigots.

Existing drip-filter beverage machines are designed to produce one container of beverage at a time--for example, a pot of drip-brewed coffee or tea. However, with today's wide range of exotic teas, coffees and special coffee blends, it is not practical for a coffee shop to brew entire potfuls of each batch of beans or leaves it has on stock. It is likely that much coffee would be wasted thereby--through going stale before enough customers would purchase from any one pot (particularly in the case of blends in low demand).
Therefore, coffee shops typically brew potfuls of only one or two of their most popular blends. Their remaining bean mixtures are available only for off-site home brewing. No efficient means of sampling or otherwise consuming them in the shop presently is available.
Therefore, a means for efficiently and quickly producing a plurality of individual fresh-brewed cups of coffee is needed. Moreover, given the demands of the commercial beverage vending market, it is desirable to be able to produce significant quantities of such cups more or less simultaneously, or in rapid succession.
The same holds true for the myriad of teas available. Although the availability of teas in bag form does provide one way for single cups to be brewed, individual bags are not a solution for a shop that offers teas that are custom blended on-site.
Prior developments in this field may be generally illustrated by reference to the following information disclosure statement:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. Documents Patent No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,550,652 A. Da Silva Nov. 5, 1985 5,055,311 W. Bauer, Jr. et al. Oct. 8, 1991 2,052,476 A. Koch Aug. 25, 1936 4,667,583 R. Tarozzi May 26, 1987 4,694,738 R. Tarozzi Sep. 22, 1987 4,280,401 R. Cleland Jul. 28, 1981 3,620,155 G. Bixby, Jr. Nov. 16, 1971 4,278,013 K. Norean et al. Jul. 14, 1981 ______________________________________
U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,652 teaches a coffee maker designed to dispense coffee into multiple cups.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,311 teaches a stand for holding a charge of coffee grounds (hereinafter "stock"), into which stand water is poured. The water then gravity feeds a brewed beverage into a cup.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,052,476 teaches a beverage-producing device wherein water is poured into a segmented compartment, thereby to gravity feed into a single container (page 2, column 2, lines 40-42).
The rest of the patents are representative of what was found in a search of the art.


A network device may receive information regarding a service set identifying service to apply to a data flow received via a particular interface of the network device; receive the data flow via the particular interface; identify a service to provide to the data flow based on the information regarding the service set; identify a processing device to process the data flow; and provide the data flow to the processing device. The processing device may be different than the network device and may process the data flow, on behalf of the network device, to form a processed data flow. The processed data flow may include the data flow with the service applied to the data flow. The network device may further receive the processed data flow from the processing device and transmit the processed data flow toward a destination device.

Network devices, such as routers, are sometimes used to process, route, and provide services to data flows between user devices and server devices. Network devices sometimes include a wide area network (WAN) interface card (WIC). The WIC may include processing instructions, routing tables, or some other information that provide the network device with instructions for processing data flows. Modifying the functionality and/or operations of network devices (e.g., modifying the processing instructions, etc.) may require replacement of WAN cards and/or specialized software development.

Dynamic network device processing using external components


A surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuit does not cause separation of an electrode film due to application of a bias voltage and can reliably accurate operate even if liquid is adhered thereto. The surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuit includes interdigital electrode disposed on a piezoelectric substrate and a reaction film that is arranged so as to cover the interdigital electrodes and bound to a target substance or a binding material to be bound to the target substance. A surface acoustic wave sensor that is capable of detecting a bit of mass loading on the basis of a variation in frequency is connected as a resonator in the surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuit. Direct-current cutting capacitors are connected in series to the surface acoustic wave sensor, and the direct-current cutting capacitors respectively define impedance matching circuits in the surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuits including surface acoustic wave sensors, which are used as resonators, for use in, for example, biosensors or gas sensors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuits using a surface acoustic wave sensor that detects a target substance on the basis of a variation in frequency due to mass loading and to a biosensor apparatus using the surface-acoustic-wave-sensor-included oscillator circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various surface acoustic wave sensors using surface acoustic wave devices have been proposed in order to detect various substances. For example, surface acoustic wave sensors for detecting biological materials, such as deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) or antibodies, have reaction films that react only to specific biological materials, such as DNAs or antibodies, on their surface acoustic wave devices. In such surface acoustic wave sensors, the DNAs or antibodies respond to the reaction films and are bound to the reaction films to load the mass on the surface acoustic wave devices. The presence or concentration of the DNAs or antibodies is detected on the basis of a variation in frequency due to the mass loading.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-90270 (Patent Document 1) discloses an example of a surface acoustic wave sensor of this type. The surface acoustic wave sensor described in the related art is capable of detecting 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB), which is a musty odor element contained in water. As shown in FIG. 11, a surface acoustic wave sensor 101 has interdigital electrodes 103 and 104 and a metal thin film 105 formed on a piezoelectric substrate 102. Amplifiers 106 and 107 are connected between the interdigital electrode 103 and the interdigital electrode 104. A mixer 108 is connected downstream of the interdigital electrode 104 at the output side and the amplifiers 106 and 107. The surface acoustic wave sensor 101 is structured such that an output is provided through the mixer 108.
In the surface acoustic wave sensor 101 described in the related art, an OVA-camphor complex is immobilized over the piezoelectric substrate 102. This OVA-camphor complex functions as a reaction film, and the 2-MIB is detected on the basis of a reaction of the 2-MIB to the OVA-camphor complex.
Specifically, the camphor-protein complex antigen, which has a structure similar to that of the 2-MIB being the musty odor element, is immobilized in the surface acoustic wave sensor 101. The surface acoustic wave sensor 101 is dipped in a solution to be measured, which contains an anti-2-MIB-antibody of a certain concentration specifically bound to the 2-MIB, and the 2-MIB whose concentration is unknown, in the solution, competitively reacts to the camphor-protein complex antigen. The amount of anti-2-MIB-angibody bound to the camphor-protein complex antigen immobilized over the surface acoustic wave sensor 101 is yielded on the basis of a variation in output level due to the mass loading on the surface acoustic wave sensor. A difference between the amount of anti-2-MIB-antigen bound to the camphor-protein complex antigen and the amount of the bound antibody when the 2-MIB does not exist is calculated to determine the concentration of the 2-MIB in the solution to be measured.
As described above, in the surface acoustic wave sensor of this type, a variation in mass is detected as a variation in frequency. Specifically, the surface acoustic wave sensor is included in the oscillator circuit as a resonator, and a variation in mass is detected on the basis of a variation in frequency of the oscillator circuit.
Exemplary oscillator circuits using surface acoustic wave devices as resonators are disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3. The oscillator circuits disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are used in radio systems, such as voltage controlled oscillator circuits or remote controllers. FIG. 12 is an exemplary circuit diagram of an oscillator circuit of this type.
An oscillator circuit 121 uses a surface acoustic wave device 122 as a resonator. In the oscillator circuit 121, the surface acoustic wave device 122 is a two-port surface acoustic wave resonator. A first port of the two-port surface acoustic wave resonator 122 is connected to the gate terminal of a field effect transistor (FET) 123. A second port of the two-port surface acoustic wave resonator 122 is connected to the drain terminal of the FET 123.
An oscillation output is provided through an output terminal 124 connected to the gate terminal of the FET 123.
The oscillator circuit 121 in FIG. 12 uses the surface acoustic wave device as a resonator, as in Patent Documents 2 and 3. However, such oscillator circuits are used in the radio systems, such as the voltage controlled oscillator circuits or the remote controllers, and are not used for detection of a target substance.
In addition, in the oscillator circuit 121 in FIG. 12, a several-V DC voltage corresponding to a bias voltage of the FET 123 is normally applied to the interdigital electrode portion of the surface acoustic wave device 122 connected to the FET 123.
When the surface acoustic wave sensor, such as the one disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-90270, is used in the oscillator circuit 121 in FIG. 12, the following problems are caused. The surface acoustic wave sensor is normally dipped in a liquid, such as body fluid or blood, in order to detect a target substance with the surface acoustic wave sensor. Accordingly, part of the liquid is adhered to the surface of the surface acoustic wave sensor. In addition, when the surface acoustic wave sensor is used, instead of the surface acoustic wave device 122 in the oscillator circuit 121 in FIG. 12, a DC bias voltage is applied to the interdigital electrode portion of the surface acoustic wave sensor, as described above. As a result, with the DC bias voltage being applied, dielectric breakdown is caused through the liquid adhered to the surface of the surface acoustic wave sensor to cause the electrode in the interdigital electrode portion to be separated.
In other words, since the use of the oscillator circuit 121 or the like with the surface acoustic wave sensor to be dipped in a liquid is not assumed, the surface acoustic wave sensor used in the oscillator circuit 121 is not proposed.    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-60211    Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-164121

Oscillator circuit including surface acoustic wave sensor and biosensor apparatus


The diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present embodiments includes a display unit, an input unit, and a display control unit. The display unit includes a display area in which a medical image and a menu in relation to the medical image are displayed. The input unit receives input to the display area. The display control unit displays different menus in the display area in accordance with the input received by the input unit.

A diagnostic ultrasonic apparatus generates an ultrasonic image from a reflection wave signal that is obtained by scanning a subject with an ultrasonic probe. Some of the diagnostic ultrasonic apparatus are provided with a touch panel to display an ultrasonic image and also to receive various operations from an operator. For such diagnostic ultrasonic apparatus incorporating a touch panel, a conventional technology has been known that displays graphics such as switches, icons, and tabs on the monitor of the touch panel, receives operations with respect to these graphics, and thereby displays various menus for an ultrasonic image.
With such a conventional technology, however, if graphics such as switches, icons, and tabs are constantly displayed on the monitor, these graphics reduce the display area of an ultrasonic image. Thus, the display area is not always effectively used during examination of a medical image such as an ultrasonic image according to the conventional technology.

Diagnostic imaging apparatus, diagnostic ultrasonic apparatus, and medical image displaying apparatus


An electronic distributed computing system connecting both merchant and customer devices implements a referral marketing program that rewards customers for recruiting other customers to purchase products from the merchant and join the referral marketing program. A customer uses an application to purchase a product or service and is invited to join the referral marketing program. The customer is optionally invited to select an incentive level and a target number of recruits. After paying a referral program fee that varies based on the cost of the customer's purchase, the incentive level, and the recruiting target, the customer obtains the targeted number of electronic referral keys. The customer provides these referral keys to recruited customers in exchange for a predetermined resale program fee. The recruited customer can redeem the referral key to join the referral marketing program and obtain their own referral keys, after making a purchase from the merchant.

Existing referral marketing systems and methods allow a first person to introduce an application or product of a company to a second person and, in return, receive a benefit from the company when the second person does business with the company.
In a typical prior art example illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, an application such as "Uber Eats" is offered to smart phone users. As shown in FIG. 1A, when the application is downloaded and installed in the smartphone, Person A is assigned a User Identification Number or UID. When Person A convinces a second person, Person B, to download and install the Uber Eats application, the application asks Person B to provide a UID number if he has one, as shown in FIG. 1B. When Person B submits Person A's UID, the servers enabling the application are informed that Person B is a customer referred by Person A. Person A can thereafter be provided with various rewards when Person B makes purchases from, for example, Uber Eats. The application may then transfer a coupon code, cash amount, or other incentive to Person A's account in response to the signup and/or purchases of Person B. One example of a system that tracks referrals and rewards referring customers can be found in WIPO publication WO0111472 (A1).
There are also internet-based electronic commerce systems that implement multi-level marketing (MLM) reward programs. These systems allow participants to recruit new customers and refer them to the sponsoring company to purchase products. The new customers are encouraged to participate as referrers to obtain financial and other rewards. One such system is disclosed in U.S. patent publication US2010094695 (A1).
Established businesses have also sold products and services through a membership model, where the customer first pays a fee to join the organization without receiving any goods or services in exchange for that fee. The membership fee provides the new member with access to the goods and services sold by the company. Organizations such as Costco, B.J.'s and Sam's Club based in the United States implement examples of this marketing method. Some of these organizations have also paid a referral fee or provided a store credit as compensation to members who encourage their contacts to sign up for a similar membership.
The inventor has noted that existing electronic commerce incentive systems and implementations have significant design flaws that limit their ability to effectively motivate, reward, and enable electronic commerce referrals.
Many of the systems employed in multi-level marketing or MLM commerce implement complex rules that are difficult for participants to fully understand. In many MLM systems, participants believe they can obtain significant rewards, but the system is designed around rewards hierarchies that make rewards far more difficult to earn than it first appears. As a result, in most cases the financial benefits of MLM systems are directed almost entirely to a small number of individuals who are early entrants to the system or have amassed a large personal following. The vast majority of customers of these MLM electronic commerce systems lose money rather than receiving any financial rewards. As a result of these and other abuses the traditional MLM industry is viewed by many people with suspicion. In the United States and other jurisdictions, MLM commerce systems are subjected to a variety of state and federal laws placing some limits on their excesses, prohibiting deceptive recruiting methods that were widespread prior to regulation, and requiring disclosure of the fact that most people who participate in those referral programs lose money.
In view of these and other limitations of existing referral marketing systems, the inventor believes there is a need for improved e-commerce systems that operate in global networks and implement simple, easy-to-understand-and-achieve rewards for referring customers to a vendor.

Systems and methods for networked referral marketing transactions


A decoder for a nonvolatile memory device includes a level shifter configured to produce a first voltage at an output thereof responsive to a first state of a global word line and to produce a second voltage at the output responsive to a second state of the global word line. The decoder further includes a plurality of local word line drivers, each having an input coupled to the output of the level shifter, the respective local word line drivers configured to drive respective local word lines responsive to voltages on respective partial word lines when the output of the level shifter is at the first voltage and to drive the respective local word lines to a common voltage when the output of the level shifter is at the second voltage. The first state of the global word line may generate a third voltage at an input of the level shifter, the second state of the global word line may generate a fourth voltage at the input of the level shifter, and the first and second voltages may have opposite polarities.

Flash memory devices typically are electrically erasable and/or programmable and are often used for data storage in relatively large units. Flash memory is widely used, for example, for storing a basic input/output system (BIOS) in place of a hard disk, for storing a communication protocol in a mobile phone, as an image memory in a digital camera, and other storage application.
NOR-type flash memory devices typically have a significantly greater programming and read speed in comparison to other types of nonvolatile memory devices. A typical NOR-type flash memory device includes memory cells positioned at respective intersections of word lines and bit lines. Each memory cell typically includes a control gate and a floating gate positioned between a source region and a drain region. The control gates typically are coupled to word lines, the drain regions are typically coupled in common to a bit line, and the source region is typically grounded. The floating gate typically is disposed between a channel region and the control gate.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a conventional NOR-type flash memory device. Memory blocks BLK, 10, 12, 14 and 16 and a sense amplifier S/A, 20 are illustrated. For example, the memory block 10 may have 512K memory cells, the number of word lines WL may be 1024 and the number of bit lines BL may be 512. The word lines are connected to row decoders X-DEC, 30 and 31, and the bit lines are selectively connected to the sense amplifier 20 through a column pass circuit Y-PASS 40 in response to a column decoded signal output from a column decoder. A row decoder may select one word line and a column decoder may select one bit line. The sense amplifier 20 senses whether a selected cell is an "off" cell or "on" cell, amplifying a bit line voltage according to a state of a memory cell connected to a selected word line and selected bit line.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating a memory cell of a memory block of the memory device of FIG. 1. A memory cell includes a cell transistor CTR1. The cell transistor CTR1 includes a control gate and a floating gate. The control gate is connected to a word line WL. A drain of the cell transistor CTR1 is connected to a bit line BL and a source is connected to a ground terminal through a source line SL.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional read operation of a NOR-type flash memory device as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. When a cell transistor CTR10 is selected, a word line S_WL and a bit line S_BL connected to the cell transistor CTR10 are selected. Other word lines US_WL connected to other cell transistors CTR12-15 in other rows of cell transistors are unselected, and a bit line US-BL connected to cell transistors CTR11, CTR13, CTR15 is unselected. The selected bit line S_BL is selected by coupling it to the sense amplifier S/A using a column pass transistor SW1 in response to a column selection signal yi. The unselected bit line US-BL is disconnected from the sense amplifier S/A by turning off a column pass transistor SW2 in response to another column selection signal yj.
In a read operation, when a voltage, e.g., 5V, is applied to the selected word line S_WL, and 0V is applied to the unselected word lines US_WL, and the selected cell transistor CTR10 connected to the selected word line S_WL and the selected bit line S_BL is an "off" cell, cell current Icell may be approximately 0, which causes the voltage of the selected word line S_BL, which is precharged, to remain at a logic "high" value. If the selected cell transistor CTR10 is an "on" cell, cell current Icell has a larger value which, after passage of a certain amount of time, causes the voltage of the selected bit line S_BL to approach a logic "low." To read a state of the selected cell, the sense amplifier S/A is turned on at an appropriate time point in response to the column selection signal yi and performs a sense and amplification operation.
FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional program operation of a NOR-type flash memory device. To program a selected cell transistor CTR20 connected to a word line S_WL and a bit line S_BL to an "off" condition, a program voltage, for example, 10V, is applied to the selected word line S_WL. A bias voltage, for example, 5V, is applied to the selected bit line S_BL, while unselected word lines US_WL connected to unselected cell transistors CTR21, CTR22, a source line SL, and unselected bit lines (not shown) are grounded. This bias condition supports a program scheme using a channel hot electron (CHE) injection, in which a threshold voltage of cell transistor is increased by injecting hot electrons into a floating gate of the selected cell CTR20. The programmed flash memory cell CTR20 prevents current flow from a drain region thereof to a source region thereof.
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional erase operation for a NOR-type flash memory device. To erase a memory cell transistor CTR51, a bit line BL and a source line SL are floated. A negative voltage, for example, −8V, is applied to a word line WL. A bulk voltage Vbulk, for example, 8V, is applied to a substrate of the cell transistor CTR51. The word line voltage and substrate (bulk) voltage are examples, and other voltage levels may be used. Electrons in the floating gate move via Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling through a tunnel oxide layer to the semiconductor substrate. The tunneling may be induced by forming a relatively high electric field between the floating gate of the memory cell CTR51 and the semiconductor substrate.
FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a conventional decoder used to select word lines in the memory device shown in FIG. 1. The decoder selects one of a plurality of local word lines WL<0>-WL<7> (connected to respective pluralities of cells) in response to a combination of signals applied to a read global word line GWL_RD or a write global word line GWL_WT and corresponding one of a plurality of a partial word lines PWL<0>-PWL<7>. For example, to select a local word line WL<0> for a read operation, a read global word line GWL_RD is driven to a "high" level to turn on an NMOS transistor NM61. A current driving capability of PMOS transistors PM61 and PM62 is lower than that of the NMOS transistor NM61, so a node N60 is driven to the voltage of a line nSS_RD, which has a voltage of approximate 0V in a read operation.
When a partial word line PWL<0> is selected, a local word line WL<0> takes on a voltage supplied to the partial word line PWL<0>. For example, the partial word line PWL<0> may driven to approximately 5V, while other partial word lines PWL<1>-PWL<7> are maintained at approximately 0V. Complementary partial word lines nPWL<0>˜nPWL<7> corresponding to the partial word lines PWL<0>-PWL<7> have logic levels opposite to the partial word lines PWL<0>-PWL<7>. For example, when the partial word line PWL<0> is at approximately 5V, a complementary partial word line nPWL<0> has a low level, e.g., approximately 0V, which turns off NMOS transistor NM64. The partial word lines PWL<1>-PWL<7> are at approximately 0V and the complementary partial word lines nPWL<1>-nPWL<7> have a high level, e.g., VCC level, which turns on corresponding NMOS transistors NM65.
An external voltage Vex is provided to unselected local word lines. The external voltage Vex may be a ground voltage VSS. For example, when the read global word line GWL_RD or the write global word line GWL_WT is unselected, the node N60 has a Vpx level, and NMOS transistors NM63, NM65 of the local word line drivers 60-67 are turned on. Approximately 0V is applied to partial word lines PWL<0>-PWL<7>, and complementary partial word lines nPWL<0>-nPWL<7> have a complementary voltage, e.g., VCC, which turns on NMOS transistors NM64 and NM66. Thus, local word lines WL<0>-WL<7> take on the external voltage Vex, which may be a ground voltage of around 0V. The NMOS transistors NM64 and NM66 and complementary partial word lines nPWL<0>˜nPWL<7>, which can prevent floating of unselected local word line in the decoder, may complicate the structure of the decoder and unduly increase its size.

Decoders and decoding methods for nonvolatile memory devices using level shifting


A process for manufacturing a molded piston ring for a piston in a piston-cylinder unit from a material which can be molded in a master mold. The surfaces of the piston in contact with the piston ring are provided with a separating agent which substantially prevents adhesive contact between the piston and piston ring. The piston is placed in the master mold including a shaping piece which at least partially contacts the circumferential surface of the piston. As a result of piston ring material being pressed in at the contact point or contact points of the shaping piece an expansion zone is formed at the piston which is free from the piston ring material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a process for manufacturing a molded piston ring for a piston of a piston-cylinder unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
German patent publication 44 10 996 C1 discloses a flat-topped piston for a vibration damper the exterior surface of which is covered by a piston ring. According to the description, the piston ring can be made of plastic and injected on or, alternatively, rolled onto the piston. This is achieved using a two-shell or two-sheet strip material comprising a reinforcement and a sliding strip.
A plastic piston ring is disadvantageously burdened by even the slightest possible axial play. To overcome this problem, the piston ring may be pretensioned, as for example taught by German Patent publication 40 32 609 C1.
Another problem associated with manufacturing the piston ring using a plastic material is that since a plastic piston ring is subjected to extensive thermal expansions a space or by-pass results between the inner wall of the cylinder and the piston ring at relatively low temperatures and increased friction in the vibration damper at elevated temperatures.
Plastic piston rings can also be produced as individual parts by injection molding. These individual parts have a joint and are pinned to the piston and thus require considerable production efforts and exhibit significant axial play. In a piston ring with a cross-section shown in FIG. 3 of German Patent publication 44 10 996 C1, undercuts occur as a result of the covered surfaces holding the piston ring at the piston which can be eliminated or controlled only by special molding techniques, especially the releasing of the piston ring from the injection mold, that are significantly more complex and accordingly more expensive.