The present invention discloses a power saving method of a portable Internet device, the portable Internet device and its instant messaging system. If a screen of the portable Internet device is in non-view state, for example, both backlight module and LCD panel are turned off, it means that a user is not viewing the screen, and thus the message update frequency of the instant messaging program is lowered to prevent unnecessary transmission and receiving of wireless signals, so as to reduce power comsumption of the portable Internet device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power saving method of a portable Internet device, and more particularly to a method of reducing the power consumption for using an instant messaging service on a portable Internet device.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, increasingly more people are using portable Internet devices such as mobile phones or instant messaging devices for instant messaging services. However, when a portable device is connected to the Internet for the use of the instant messaging service, it is very important to increase the operating time of the device. After a user logs on an instant messaging platform, the portable device will keep transmitting updated data with the server platform to timely update the status of all contact persons. If the number of contact persons increases rapidly, then the frequency of updated data downloaded from the portable Internet device and the data volume will become increasingly larger, and thus result in an increasingly larger battery power consumption of the portable Internet device.
If the user leaves the portable Internet device idle without closing the instant messaging program, then the instant messaging program will keep transmitting updated data with the instant messaging platform frequently, and thus result in unnecessary power consumption of the portable Internet device.

Power saving method of portable internet device and portable internet device thereof, and instant messaging system using the same


In order to increase the sensitivity and range of a system for the exchange of data by microwaves between a fixed station, or reader, and a mobile station, or badge, the modem of the badge includes an oscillator. A single transistor works, under a first bias, as a detector of the wave transmitted by the reader and demodulates this wave, and then, under a second bias, it works as an oscillator and modulates the response transmitted by the badge. Applications to the exchange of data at a distance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system of transmission by modulation-demodulation of a microwave, for two-way communication between a fixed station, called a beacon or reader, and a mobile station, called a badge or responder. More precisely, the invention relates to the modem (modulator-demodulator) of the portable badge, said modem including an oscillator which enables the badge to be active in transmission and active in reception. This means that several badges of a meshed network organized around a fixed station can exchange data.
This type of data exchange can be applied to the control of moving bodies, for example in the identification of wagons on a railroad, automobiles at a toll-gate or pedestrians at the entrance to a building. The mobile station or badge takes the form of a chip card, and it has to be extremely economical in energy for it is supplied by small cells known as "buttons".
2. Description of the Prior Art
The general diagram of a system for the exchange of data by microwave electromagnetic radiation, according to the prior art, is fairly simple and FIG. 1 which represents it enables its elements and the abbreviations used to be specified.
A mobile station or badge 1 includes a microwave part 3, an information processing part 4 and a supply 5. The exchanges among these two parts relate to the operation of modulation/demodulation and to the transmission/reception commands.
The fixed station or beacon 2 includes a microwave source, a microwave part 6, an information processing part 7 and a computer 8 which enables the management of all the radioelectrical exchanges carried out with the badges, by means of an antenna 9 for each badge and an antenna 10 for each beacon or reader.
The following values will be used:
d=distance between the antennas 9 and 10, PA1 G.sub.1 =gain of the antenna 10 of the reader 2 PA1 G.sub.b =gain of the antenna 9 of the badge 1 PA1 P.sub.li =power transmitted at the antenna of the reader 2 PA1 P.sub.lr =power received by the antenna of the reader PA1 P.sub.bi =power transmitted at the antenna of the batch 1 PA1 P.sub.br =power received by the antenna of the batch PA1 passive in transmission, i.e. the power it transmits being always lower than the power it receives (P.sub.bi P<P.sub.br), and the energy being given to it by the reader. PA1 or active in transmission, i.e. including a microwave amplifier (P.sub.bi >P.sub.br), which therefore assumes a supply source such as cells.
The modulations used in these systems are generally of the OOK (on-off keying . amplitude modulation) type or of the PSK (0/.pi. phase-shift keying, phase modulation) type.
The working of the modem differs, depending on whether the beacon interrogates the badge or whether the badge responds to the beacon.
In the mode in which the badge 1 is interrogated by the reader 2, the reader 2 generates (P.sub.li) a modulated microwave signal. The badge receives this signal (P.sub.br) and demodulates it: it is a step that enables the activation of the badge which has been in the vigil state.
In the mode in which the badge 1 is responding to the reader 2, the reader generates a non-modulated microwave signal. The badge receives this signal, modulates it, i.e. loads it with the information on which it has been interrogated and re-transmits a signal comprising, as the case may be, either losses or gain.
Indeed the badge may be:
There are therefore problems of energy consumption at least on the badge side, that are equivalent to the problems of obtaining the sensitivity of the badge in the vigil state, hence under conditions of very low power consumption, obtaining the sensitivity of the reader, and problems of parasitic phenomena contributed by other systems working at a near frequency.
But, in addition, a badge even if it includes an amplifier can communicate only with a reader: there is no communication possible among badges.

Device for the exchange of data by electromagnetic waves


The invention generally relates to the filed of providing a liquid for human consumption. In particular, the invention relates to a system for channeling a liquid such as particularly an aqueous liquid such as water in a circuit and for controlling the contamination of the circulating liquid with microorganisms, as well as to a corresponding method using the same.

It is to be understood that the following explanations exemplarily relate to aqueous liquids such as, in particular, water but are also valid for other liquids.
The water provided for operational, sanitary and drinking purposes of human consumption is subject to strict hygiene requirements whose compliance is regulated and controlled by a variety of regulations. Upon violation of these regulations, aside from health risks for the persons concerned, substantial consequences are imminent for those responsible. Therefore, arrangements have to be made in order to secure a sufficiently high quality of the water intended for human consumption at any time.
Basically, there are two ways in which water, even if it is fed into a piping system in an unobjectionable manner, may be contaminated. Firstly, undesired components such as, in particular, microorganisms may be present in this piping system which come into contact with the water thereby contaminating the same. Particularly, the pipe walls but also sealings, pumps, valves and the like may be typical sources. Secondly, a few germs being fed with a liquid into the system may, under favorable conditions, develop to numerous colonies of microorganisms which manifest themselves in the system either as free floating or as being fixed at a surface as a so-called biofilm. Legionella causing severe health problems are named as exemplary microorganisms. Such microorganisms may, for example, be taken up upon assimilating food. However, for Legionella in particular, inhalation of pathogen-containing, respirable aerosols from the hot water region is regarded as main path of infection. Accordingly, also showers or aerosols emerging at the point of withdrawal (water-tap) represent sources of danger. It is known in this context that such microorganisms predominantly propagate upon stagnation, i.e. in standing water, or also within at least temporarily closed circulation piping systems, whereas they do not cause problems in continuously floating pipes of a comparatively open system. Since a steady streaming of water is normal in industrial-scale water processing, the invention particularly focuses on piping systems with approximate withdrawal, as can be found e.g. in hospitals, swimming pools, schools, sports halls, fitness centers, hotels, youth centers and old-age homes, but also in single- and multi-family houses.
One method for the mortification of said microorganisms is to use ultraviolet light (UV light). The high-energy light destroys the organisms, with the dead components still being present in the water. For one thing, this is sanitarily unacceptable, for another thing even these components may act toxic or allergenic as long as they are present in the water and e.g. are incorporated via ingestion. A further problem arises from mutual shadowing of the microorganisms during irradiation which is why this measure commonly does not result in a complete mortification of all microorganisms. Further, spore-building organisms are to be considered whose spores are not always accessible for a mortification by UV-light. Thus, this approach for the contamination control of operational, sanitary and drinking water for human consumption may only be followed if the irradiation unit is traversed several times or if several irradiation units are arranged sequentially, which involves correspondingly high time and power expenditure.
Another method for securing tap-water quality is directed to heat the water such that the organisms are denatured. For this purpose, the required temperature typically ranges between 60 and 70° C. Adversely, this again implies the presence of the denatured remnants in the water and requires high energy input necessary to heat the water. In case the water to be withdrawn from a tap shall (again) be cold, a cooling of the same is often necessary which again requires energy.
Common to both methods is that the subsequent disinfection of the water is complex and thus costly, and that additional measures have to be taken to remove the dead microorganisms from the water before it is withdrawn from a tap.
For the removal of particles of a certain size, corresponding finely designed filter can be used. Particularly advantageous are so-called ultrafiltration systems (UF-systems). In these systems the contaminated water typically streams through a multitude of thin capillaries having lateral filter openings of a defined size. Only the purified water emerges from these openings, whereas the remaining water continuously being enriched with impurities at the end of the capillary is periodically or continuously guided to a disposal discharge. The purified water from the multitude of capillaries is, however, centrally collected and available at the filter outlet. Here, it can be withdrawn from a tap or fed into a pipe system for clean water. Ultrafiltration systems are suitable and known for the removal of said microorganisms as well as of other suspended matter. Water-soluble substances, such as e.g. health-damaging salts (mono- or bivalent ions), or toxics such as e.g. herbicides or uranium, cannot be solely handled with UF-techniques. Although such substances can well be separated from the water by reverse osmosis or electro-deionization, this would, however, cause a modification of the chemical composition of the water which is undesired. Only the so-called "nanofiltration" which operates with much smaller pore sizes than the similar UF-technology offers corresponding opportunities.
Whilst UF-systems involve higher initial costs than pore filters, they are, at least in the medium term, superior due to their more convenient cleaning.
However, the use of UV-systems has been problematic in those situations in which the water intended for human consumption and purified via ultrafiltration is not immediately withdrawn from the piping system, i.e. does at least temporarily not stream. As mentioned before, microorganisms may develop in circulating or standing cold or not sufficiently hot water and may, in the course of time, accumulate in such a manner that alarming germ titers are reached.
While this is irrelevant for the water still being present in the capillaries, a microbial re-growth in the liquid volume present downstream of the UV-unit, in the course of time of its standing, results in a re-contamination which is to be avoided by all means. Due to the typically very large surface of such filter systems, catalytic contaminations with extremely high exceedance of limit may develop. To avoid this problem, the UV-systems are regularly rinsed with chemical cleaning liquid and/or disassembled and mechanically cleaned. Both methods have drawbacks since, in one case, harmful substances may again be introduced into the piping system, and since, in the other case, corresponding outage times have to be considered.
A further problem relates to the possibilities to determine an undue burden of the water intended for human consumption (drinking, showering, washing) with undesired components such as, in particular, microorganisms in real-time. According to the prior art, the piping system of almost every building may be affected by contamination with e.g. Legionella without being able to preventively detect this by means of common sampling operation requiring up to 10 days which is clearly too long.
Applicant's EP 2 474 506 B1 discloses a solution for the above-mentioned problem of a re-contamination of an at least temporarily non-streaming liquid volume which has already passed an ultrafiltration unit by providing a bypass over which this liquid volume may again be directed to the ultrafiltration unit, wherein the bypass comprises a further ultrafiltration unit. By following this technical teaching the germ load in the piping system in question can be reduced significantly, if not completely eliminated.

Abstract: Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for the effective energy saving in the course of providing a heated liquid for human consumption while controlling the limit values recommended, admissible or acceptable for microorganisms, in which the set temperature of a heating device (8) is adjusted to a value below 60° C., preferably to a value between 40 and 55° C., most preferably to a value between 43 and 48° C.


A method for simultaneously cutting a multiplicity of slices from a cylindrical workpiece, along strictly convex cutting faces, by supplying a suspension of hard substances in a carrier liquid, as cutting medium, to wire portions, while the wire portions, having a longitudinal tension, define a relative motion to the workpiece as a result of wire guide roller rotation with continual alternation between a first direction of rotation and a second direction of rotation, which is opposite to the first direction of rotation, wherein, during the rotation in the first direction, the wire is moved a first length, and during the rotation in the second direction, the wire is moved a second length, and the second length is shorter than the first, and at the cutting operation start a first longitudinal wire tension is greater than a second longitudinal tension at the end.

Many applications require thin, flat slices of particular materials, for example glass slices as a substrate for the production of magnetic storage disks, slices of sapphire or silicon carbide as a base for the manufacture of optoelectronic components, or semiconductor slices for the production of photovoltaic cells ("solar cells") or as a substrate for the structuring of microelectronic or micro-electromechanical elements.
Semiconductor slices are slices of semiconductor materials such as, for example, element semiconductors (silicon, germanium), compound semiconductors (for example, aluminum or gallium) or compounds thereof (for example, Si1-xGex, 0<x<1; AlGaAs, AlGaInP etc.).
The starting material is usually in the form of a rod of monocrystalline (electronics applications) or polycrystalline (solar cells) semiconductor material, and the required slices of this material are cut off from the rod by a chip-removing process such as cut-off lapping. A particle removed from the workpiece is referred to as a chip.
In particular, for cutting off semiconductor slices, cut-off lapping and cut-off grinding are especially important. In the case of cut-off lapping, the tools for removing material are in the form of sharp-edged particles of a hard substance, for example silicon carbide, as a suspension in a viscous carrier liquid, and a tool carrier in the form of a wire, on which the carrier liquid and hard substances adhere, brings these particles into contact with the workpiece. The carrier liquids include, for example, water, polyols, mineral oils, glycols, or mixtures thereof. The suspension of hard substance is referred to as slurry. As a result of motion the wire in the longitudinal direction of the wire, exertion of a force in the transverse direction of the wire and supply of slurry, hard substances enter between the surface of the wire and that of the workpiece, are moved under pressure relative to the latter by means of a sliding or rolling motion, and remove chips from the workpiece by means of material overloading or fatigue, by brittle erosion.
It is characteristic of cut-off lapping that the slurry contains hard substances that effect removal of material, and the tool carrier does not contain any hard substances that effect removal of material, and the removal of material is based on an interaction of three bodies (firstly, the workpiece; secondly, the hard substance; thirdly, the tool carrier).
In the case of cut-off grinding, the tools that remove material are in the form of sharp-edge particles of hard substances that are fixedly bonded to a surface of a tool carrier. The tool carrier is, for example, a wire.
It is characteristic of cut-off grinding that the tool carrier contains fixedly bonded hard substances that effect removal of material, and the cooling lubricant does not contain any hard substances that effect removal of material, and the removal of material is based on an interaction of two bodies (firstly, the workpiece; secondly, hard substances fixedly bonded to the tool carrier).
The process of cut-off lapping and cut-off grinding by means of a wire is referred to by the combined term, wire sawing.
In the case of cut-off lapping and cut-off grinding, the hard substances used include, for example, silicon carbide, boron carbide, boron nitride, silicon nitride, zirconium oxide, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, chromium oxide, titanium nitride, tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, vanadium carbide, diamond, sapphire, and mixtures thereof. Silicon carbide is particularly important in the case of cut-off lapping, and diamond in the case of cut-off grinding.
The wire, as tool carrier, may be monofilar, or may be a stranded wire composed of a plurality of strands or fibers, and also of differing materials, and may possibly carry additional coatings of metals, alloys or plastics.
In the case of cut-off lapping and cut-off grinding, the wires are composed, for example, of hardened steel ("piano wire"), plastics, carbon fibers or metal alloys.
Both cut-off lapping and cut-off grinding may be performed with one or more wires. Examples of the latter are so-called gang saws, in which the multiplicity of individual wires are fastened in a frame (gang), which is then moved back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the wire, such that the wires work through the workpiece.
In the cutting of slices from a rod of semiconductor material, wire saws that have just one wire are of particular importance.
Rods of semiconductor material for electronics application are usually processed before the cutting operation, such that they are in the shape of a straight, circular cylinder, having a rod axis, a cylindrical circumferential surface and two cylinder end faces (bottom and top face). Usually, an identification groove (notch), which marks, for example, a particular crystal orientation, is also ground into the circumferential surface of the rod, parallel to the cylinder axis. The semiconductor slices obtained by the cutting operation are also referred to as "wafers," and they themselves, in turn, are in the shape of a straight, circular cylinder, the height of the cylinder being some tenths of a millimeter up to, for instance, one millimeter, and the base of the cylinder having a diameter of 75 to 450 mm. Rods or wafers having a diameter of up to 150 mm are classed as small, those up to 200 mm as medium-sized, those up to 300 mm as large, and those up to 450 mm as very large.
Dividing up into slices, by means of cut-off lapping or cut-off grinding, is effected along a multiplicity of kerfs, which are as flat as possible and as parallel to each other as possible, and which are substantially perpendicular to the rod axis, i.e. with a deviation of up to 2° relative to the perpendicular to the rod axis.
Cut-off lapping and cut-off grinding are equally suitable for dividing up small and medium semiconductor rods. For dividing up large and very large semiconductor rods, cut-off lapping is particularly important, since, even in the case of long lengths of wire in contact with the rod, it produces wafers whose front and back have a high degree of flatness and parallelism in relation to each other. In addition, the cutting faces that then form the front and back of the cut-off slices have only a small depth of crystalline damage caused by the cutting operation.
Owing to the shallowness of the damage, wafers obtained by cut-off lapping are less susceptible to breakage, and during the subsequent processing only a small amount of material then has to be removed in order ultimately to obtain a wafer having the required high degree of plane parallelism of the front and back, and lack of defects. Cut-off lapping therefore enables particularly high-quality wafers to be produced in a particularly cost-effective manner.
The length along which a wire portion extends through the workpiece at any moment in the cutting operation, and on which the wire portion thus acts to remove material, is referred to as the engagement length of the wire portion.
In the following "multiwire cut-off lapping" ([slurry] multiwire slicing, MWS, S-MWS) is described in greater detail using the references from FIG. 1.
In cut-off lapping, the wire 1 is wound helically around at least two cylindrical wire guide rollers 3 and 4, which have cylinder axes 5 and 6 that are parallel to each other, such that, on at least one side of this arrangement, a multiplicity of portions 11 of the wire come to lie (25) parallel to each other in one plane, perpendicularly in relation to the cylinder axes, and when the wire guide rollers are rotated 7 and 8 in the same direction, about their respective axes, the wire portions 11 move with a uniform velocity and parallel to each other in the longitudinal direction of the wire. The term wire grid—or sawing grid—is used to refer to this at least one side of wire portions running parallel to each other. The position of the wire grid in this case is selected such that it faces toward the rod to be cut.
The wire guide rollers in this case are normally each provided with a multiplicity of closed grooves 2, which are parallel to each other and perpendicular in relation to the cylinder axis, and which are in flush alignment in respect of adjacent guide rollers, and in which the individual turns of the wire are guided.
Removal of material is effected by moving the wire portions in the longitudinal direction of the wire, supplying the suspension, comprising the hard substances, to the wire grid, and advancing the workpiece on to and through the wire grid.
In the run-in to and run-out from the wire grid, the longitudinal wire tension in the running direction of the wire is controlled by means of deflection rollers, which are attached to levers, an alteration of the angle of the levers in relation to the longitudinal direction of the wire causing the running length of the wire to be changed, and thus enabling the wire to be tensioned to a greater or lesser degree.
The torque exerted upon the lever by the wire provides a measure of the actual wire tension, such that, by means of torque measurement and angle adjustment, there is a closed loop for feedback control of the longitudinal wire tension. Levers having a deflection roller are referred to as "dancers" because of their rapid back and forth motion as control deviations occur.
During the cut, the wire is subject to wear resulting from abrasion. The wire cross section decreases approximately in proportion to the product from the cumulative length of the wire contact with the workpiece 15 and the workpiece volume machined per kerf. Consequently, the width of the kerfs 13 decreases from the first end face 12 of the rod, at which the wire first enters a first kerf, to the opposite, second end face 24 of the rod, at which the wire ultimately emerges from the last kerf.
The first end face is also referred to as the wire infeed side 12 of the rod, and the second end face 24 as the wire run-out side.
The decrease in thickness of the wire is generally compensated by a gradual decrease in the distance between adjacent grooves of the wire guide rollers 3 and 4 from the wire infeed side 12 to the wire run-out side 24 of the rod, such that, averaged over the full length of the rod, the wafers cut off from the rod are of a constant thickness.
During the cutting operation, the wire may be wound continuously in one direction from a pay-off coil (delivery coil), via the wire guide rollers and the grid, to a take-up coil (receiver coil), such that the wire portions move in one direction throughout the entire cutting operation. This is referred to as unidirectional sawing.
The wire may also be guided through the workpiece with a change of direction. Such a bidirectional cut may be effected over the entire run of the wire supply from the pay-off coil, via the grid and workpiece, to the take-up coil, and then in full from the original take-up coil, which thus becomes the pay-off coil, back to the original pay-off coil, which now becomes the take-up coil. Owing to the wear on the wire, however, the workpieces would become thicker on the "return pass" than on the "outgoing pass," which is undesirable.
For the production of large and very large wafers for particularly demanding applications, particular importance attaches to cut-off lapping with multiple and continuous reversal of the direction of the wire run, according to the so-called pilgrim step method ("pilgrim step motion," "wire reciprocation").
A pilgrim step in this case refers to a pair of successive reversals of the wire direction. A pilgrim step comprises a first motion of the wire in a first longitudinal direction of the wire, by a first length, and then a second motion of the wire in a second direction, exactly opposite to the first direction, by a second length, the second length being selected so as to be less than the first length.
For each pilgrim step, therefore, a wire length corresponding to the sum of the two lengths goes through the workpiece, while the wire portion coming into cutting engagement with the workpiece in this case advances from the pay-off coil to the take-up coil only by an amount corresponding to the difference of the two lengths. In the case of the pilgrim step method, therefore, the wire is used multiple times, by the factor resulting from the ratio of the sum to the difference of the two lengths. For simplicity, the difference of the two lengths is to be referred to as the "net motion" of the wire over a complete pilgrim step, having a net wire infeed 9 and a net wire run-out 10 (FIG. 1).
By analogy with the terms used for a rod cut by a unidirectional wire motion, in the case of a rod cut with a pilgrim step method the first end face of the rod, at which the wire first enters the first kerf, in the direction of its net motion, is referred to as the wire infeed side of the rod, and the opposite, second end face, at which the wire ultimately emerges from the final kerf, in the direction of its net motion, is referred to as the wire run-out side of the rod.
Since the length of the forward and return motion, and therefore the effective length and wear of the wire, are freely selectable, the pilgrim step method is highly suitable for cutting workpieces into a smaller number of slices, of comparatively shorter workpieces, which could not be cut with an economic use of wire by means of only a single wire pass (unidirectional cut). The pilgrim step method is particularly suitable for cutting workpieces that have wire engagement lengths that vary over the course of the cut, i.e. for example cylindrical semiconductor rods.
For the purpose of cutting wafers from a semiconductor rod, the rod is first mounted, depending on its total length, with a part of its circumferential surface on a holding, mounting or sawing strip, for example a strip made of hard carbon, glass, plastic or a composite material. This sawing strip is shaped, on the side thereof that faces away from the rod, or is connected to a further adapter, such that the sawing strip or adapter can be clamped in a corresponding receiving device, which is fixed to the feed table that, during the cutting operation, feeds the bar perpendicularly on to the grid and through the latter. The bond between the rod and the sawing strip is produced by adhesion, and that between the sawing strip and the adapter is produced by adhesion, positive fit by force or positive fit by shape (for example, clamping or screwed connection). The rod axis is aligned substantially perpendicularly in relation to the feed direction, and perpendicularly in relation to the direction of the wires in the grid, and thus substantially in the plane spanned by the wire portions of the grid.
The feed table is usually disposed above the wire grid, and feeds the clamped-in rod perpendicularly on to the plane spanned by the wire portions of the grid.
The following continues with reference to FIG. 1. The side of the cylinder surface of the rod, into which the wire portions of the grid enter, along their longitudinal direction, into the kerfs, is referred to as the (momentary) wire entry side 17, and the side on which they re-emerge from the kerfs, along their longitudinal direction, is referred to as the (momentary) wire exit side 18. Disposed above the wire grid 25 on the wire entry side, parallel to the rod axis 14, is a nozzle strip 19, having slurry nozzles 21, which extends over the entire length of the wire grid and uniformly applies slurry 22 to the wire portions 11 before they enter the rod.
In the case of a unidirectional cut, with only one wire entry side, one nozzle strip is provided for this purpose, and in the case of a bidirectional cut, with wire entry and exit sides alternating in time, two nozzle strips 22 and 23 are provided, one on each side of the rod. The two nozzle strips 19 and 20 may be operated alternately, such that the strip on the instantaneous wire entry side is active in each case, or, for simplicity, both may also be operated continuously.
As a result of the rod being fed on to the grid, the entire length of the rod is brought into contact with the grid, along a line on the cylinder surface of the rod that is parallel to the rod axis. This instant of first contact of the wire portions with the rod is referred to as the cut-in operation or, in short, cut-in. Upon further feeding, motion of the wire portions of the grid in the longitudinal direction of the wire, and supply of slurry, the wire portions work slowly through the rod, removing material.
The cut terminates as soon as all wire portions of the grid have swept over the entire cross section of the rod and have fully reached the sawing strip. The instant of final contact of the wire portions with the rod is referred to as the out-cut operation, or, in short, out-cut. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the cut is being effected to the side having the identification groove 26, from the opposite side of the rod. The mounting strip holding the rod is bonded to the latter on the side with the identification groove 26 (not shown).
The feeding of the rod is ended, and the rod is again slowly withdrawn from the grid. As the rod is being withdrawn, the wire continues to travel in its longitudinal direction, at least slowly, in order to prevent the wire portions from becoming caught on any irregularities of the previously produced cut faces.
After the rod has been withdrawn from the wire grid, the composite consisting of sawn-up rod, sawing and mounting strip is removed from the clamping device on the feed table. Thus, after completion of the cut, a multiplicity of wafers hang, like teeth on a comb, on the partially cut-in sawing strip, with a portion of their circumferential surface still joined to the sawing strip. The wafers are separated by dissolving the adhesive bond. The bond can be dissolved, for example, if an adhesive has been used that can be dissolved by water or heat, the composite consisting of wafers, sawing and mounting strip being immersed in a hot water-bath for the purpose of so-called degluing.
Slurry cut-off lapping, and a suitable apparatus therefor, for cutting off semiconductor slices are described, for example, in EP 0 798 091 A2.
The width of the kerf produced, and consequently the thickness of the wafers obtained by the cutting operation, depends on the thickness of the wire, the thickness of the slurry film surrounding the wire in the kerf, and the spacing of the grooves in the wire guide rollers that guide the wire. Since the thickness of the wire changes continuously because of wear, and the thickness of the slurry film changes continuously as a result of being wiped off or becoming spent during the cutting operation, cut-off lapping is subject to certain limitations in respect of the degree to which the desired shape of the wafers obtained thereby can accurately be achieved. These limitations are described in the following.
As a wire portion enters the workpiece, most of the adhering slurry is stripped off. Of the slurry that does enter the kerf, most continues to be stripped off or become spent as the wire penetrates further into the rod. Wear causes the particles to become spent primarily because the hard materials become broken or fragmented, or because rounding or chipping off causes them to lose their sharp-edged cutting surfaces that remove material. The decrease in thickness of the slurry film surrounding the sawing wire, as viewed in the direction of entry of the wire, is also referred to as the "slurry funnel". Owing to the slurry funnel, each kerf is wide at the periphery of the workpiece, on the side on which the wire enters, and tapers in a wedge or funnel shape in the running direction of the wire, along the wire engagement length, to the opposite, wire exit side.
In the case of a unidirectional cut and large or very large semiconductor rods, in particular in the region of the longest wire engagement length—thus, in the case of a circular cylindrical rod, when the latter has been cut through by exactly half—virtually no more slurry reaches the wire exit side of the rod. Slices are produced having a thickness that increases in a wedge shape from the wire entry side to the wire exit side, with a high degree of roughness on the wire exit side ("sawing scores," "saw marks"). Semiconductor slices that have a tapering thickness and a high degree of roughness are not suitable for demanding applications. Unidirectional cut-off lapping therefore cannot be used for producing high-quality large or very large wafers.
In the case of the pilgrim step method, the direction of the longitudinal motion of the wire is reversed continuously. As a result, "slurry funnels" are produced alternately on the left and right in each kerf. If the infeed of the rod is effected so slowly, or the change in direction of the longitudinal motion of the wire is effected so rapidly, that the slurry funnels formed consecutively in alternating fashion overlap somewhat every second change of direction (=one complete pilgrim step)—as viewed in the direction of advance of the rod—the kerf is effectively supplied with slurry on both sides, and the slurry then only has to be transported as far as the center of the rod in each case. The overlapping also reduces the widening of the kerfs on the wire entry side that is caused by the slurry funnel in each case, and thereby reduces tapering of the wafers. The wafers obtained are then no longer wedge-shaped, but still have a slight saddle shape, with thicknesses that decrease slightly from the center to their peripheries, in both running directions of the wire. The minimum thickness occurs in the peripheral region of greatest wire engagement length, i.e. when a circular cylindrical has been cut through exactly by half. The zones of minimum thickness in the peripheral region of greatest wire engagement length are denoted by 27 and 29 in FIG. 2. Owing to the net motion of the wire in the case of cut-off lapping according to the pilgrim step method, and the decrease in thickness that the wire undergoes in this process, the taper 27 of the wafer on the wire entry side is somewhat thicker than the taper 29 on the wire exit side; however, both are considerably less than the wedge shape of a comparative cut with a unidirectional wire motion.
This saddle shape can be rendered less pronounced by methods known in the prior art, for example by adjusting the first and second wire motion lengths of the pilgrim steps according to the actual depth of cut (depth of the kerf in the direction of the ingot feed), or by increasing the wire application in the region in which the saddle shape is most pronounced. In particular, for example, the rod feed rate can be reduced to such an extent that the slurry funnels of two wire reversals overlap almost completely. There are economic efficiency limits to the measures for reducing the saddle shape, since they result in very long overall cutting times and high wire-length consumption rates.
A further limitation of the flatness, of the front and back of slices obtained from rods having wire engagement lengths that vary over the cut, that can be achieved by cut-off lapping consists in the form of a so-called "cut-in wedge" 28 (FIG. 2). This cut-in wedge comprises a slope, of the front and back in the transverse direction of the wire and toward the central plane of the slice, which extends over the entire slice width in the longitudinal direction of the wire.
In the case of cylindrical rods, the cut-in wedge is produced because, for example, at the instant at which the wire grid first makes contact with the rod, the engagement length of the wire portions and also, consequently, the wear on the wire are zero.
Since they initially have not been subjected to any wear, the wire portions that cut in first have a greater diameter than the wire portions that come into engagement later, which have already passed through kerfs of finite length and have therefore been subjected to wear. As the cut-in depth increases, therefore, the result is a wedge-shaped increased thickness 28 of the wafers. In addition, at the instant at which the wire portions first make contact with a cylindrical rod, the wire portions are tangential to the circumferential surface of the rod. At that point, less slurry is wiped off than as the cut progresses further, when the engagement lengths are finite and the contact of the wire portions with the circumferential surface of the rod becomes increasingly steeper—even precisely perpendicular in the region of greatest engagement length (half cut)—and a regular surge of stripped-off slurries builds up there, at the point where each wire portion enters the rod.
WO 2013/051183 A1 describes wire cut-off lapping by the pilgrim step method, in which conical wire guide rollers are used, the distance of the base of the grooves from the axis of the wire guide roller decreasing from the wire infeed side to the wire run-out side. As a result, when the rod with the rod axis is fed perpendicularly on to the wire guide roller axes, the wire portions of the wire grid that are on the wire infeed side are the first to come into engagement with the rod. Owing to the net motion of the wire, these wire portions advance from the wire infeed to the wire run-out side of the wire guide roller and have become thinner by abrasion, as a result of the rod being fed further on to the grid, until ultimately the part of the rod on the wire run-out side also comes into material-removing engagement with the wire grid, such that the formation of the cut-in wedge is counteracted.
Owing to the conical shape of the wire guide rollers, the lengths for respectively one winding around the wire guide roller decrease from groove to groove, from the wire infeed side to the wire run-out side. All grooves of each wire guide roller rotate with the same angular velocity, but not with a constant circumferential velocity, owing to the decrease in groove diameter from the wire infeed side to the wire run-out side. Since the wire is moved in the grid by the circumferential velocity of the grooves, however, the axial wire tension in the grid is therefore reduced from the wire infeed side to the wire run-out side.
It is known to persons skilled in the art who are familiar with wire cutting methods that the flatness of the kerf that is produced decreases as the longitudinal wire tension decreases. The method described therefore produces slices whose flatness worsens toward the wire run-out side.
This fundamental method deficiency also cannot be eliminated by, for example, the obvious means of using four wire guide rollers, selected so as to complement each other exactly, of which the upper two, which span the grid of the wire portions coming into contact with the rod, are provided with a groove depth that increases from the wire infeed side to the wire run-out side, and the lower two are provided with a groove depth that decreases from the wire infeed side to the wire run-out side. Although the lengths of the wire windings would then be constant over the entire length of the wire guide rollers, there would nevertheless be a pronounced forced slippage of the wires in the grooves, between the upper and the lower wire guide rollers, owing to the differing circumferential velocities, resulting from the differing diameters, at the same angular velocities. As a result of this, the grooves of the wire guide rollers would be subject to a large amount of wear and would consequently undergo differing cut-in by abrasion by the wire, with the result that the anticipated advantages of the method would already be eliminated in a very short time. WO 2013/051183 A1 does not discuss this putative solution to the problem of wear.
Moreover, an uneven wire tension in the grid has the effect that the wire longitudinal tensions of the wire portions must be selected so as to be very low, on average, over the grid, since the most highly tensioned wire portions, on the wire infeed side, may have at most the wire longitudinal tension at which the wire is still certain not to rupture (tensile strength), and therefore all other wire portions have a lesser tension that these wire portions. Consequently, the majority of the wire portions undergo wire flexure that increases toward the wire run-out side, with increasingly poorer wire guidance and worsening flatness of the wafers obtained.
Although the unevenness of the wire tension over the wire grid will be compensated somewhat by wire slippage, the method according to WO 2013/051183 A1 is therefore nevertheless unsuitable for execution according to the pilgrim step principle, because, in the second half of each pilgrim step, wire portions of short winding lengths on the wire run-out side would return to long winding lengths on the wire infeed side, causing them to become overtensioned and rupture there. This could be counteracted only by reducing yet further the wire longitudinal tension with which the wire is supplied to the grid in a controlled manner (setpoint longitudinal wire tension), in order to ensure a sufficiently reliable wire tension reserve ("headroom"), up to the wire rupture tension, in order to prevent wire ruptures during the cutting operation. This, however, would involve a yet more impaired flatness of the wafers obtained, owing to the imprecise and unreliable wire guidance in the kerfs.
The method specified in WO 2013/051183 A1 is therefore unsuitable for producing highly planar semiconductor slices for demanding applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,581 B2 discloses a method for wire cut-off lapping in which the axis of the rod is tilted slightly, in the feed direction, toward the axis of the wire guide rollers. In this case, the wire feed rollers have a cylindrical shape, their axes are disposed so as to be parallel to each other, and all grooves for guiding the sawing wire are incised to a uniform depth. When the rod is fed in therefore, an end-face rod end is cut into first and the opposite rod end is cut into last, owing to the tilting of the rod axis in relation to the axes of the wire guide rollers.
Since the circumferential velocities of all wire portions are equal, this method does avoid the problems resulting from wire tensions varying over the wire grid, as well as excessive groove wear caused by wire slippage; however, the axial tilt results in an additional force in the transverse direction of the wire and parallel to the rod axis (slope downforce). The slope downforce acts only in the instant of the respective cut-in of each wire portion, and vanishes as soon as the cut-in has been made. The cut face therefore runs with wires that, in the region of the cut-in, are deflected out of the cut plane produced by a cut without transverse force, and is therefore curved in that region. Since the slope downforce upon adjacent wire portions is approximately the same, the front and back of the sliced obtained are substantially parallel to each other, and have a uniform curvature for the front and back in the cut-in region. The slices obtained are thus of a substantially constant thickness, but have a curved or warped shape ("cut-in wave").
U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,581 B2 utilizes this cut-in wave, deliberately produced by tilting, to compensate a random cut-in wave that might be present on a wafer cut previously without a slope downforce. Obviously, the method may also be used to counteract a cut-in wedge, since, owing to the tilt, the individual wire portions effect cut-in in time succession along the rod axis, and are thus subjected to differing wear. This possible application is not identified by U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,581 B2.
Since, in the method according to U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,581 B2, owing to the rod tilt, cutting off is effected along planes that are tilted against the rod axis, the slices that are obtained have an unwanted misorientation. This misorientation could be compensated by correspondingly tilting the crystal axis in the opposite direction, against the rotation axis, during the preceding circular grinding of the rod. For this, however, it would be necessary to know in advance during circular grinding, for each rod, what tilt, and by what angle, would subsequently be necessary for a wire saw in order that the instantaneous inclination of this wire saw, for forming an cut-in wave, could be compensated precisely without the slices obtained having a misorientation. Clearly, for reasons of causality, this is not possible.
Slices cut off according to U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,581 B2 therefore always have an unwanted misorientation, such that the method is likewise unsuitable for producing slices for demanding applications.

Method for simultaneously cutting a multiplicity of slices of particularly uniform thickness from a workpiece


A system and method is disclosed for sensing, storing and using personal trait profile data. Once sensed and stored, this personal trait profile data may be used for a variety of purposes. In one example, a user's personal trait profile data may be accessed and downloaded to different computing systems with which a user may interact so that the different systems may be instantly tuned to the user's personal traits and manner of interaction. In a further example, a user's personal trait profile data may also be used for authentication purposes.

In the past, computing applications such as computer games and multimedia applications used controllers, remotes, keyboards, mice, or the like to allow users to manipulate game characters or other aspects of an application. More recently, computer games and multimedia applications have begun employing cameras and software gesture recognition engines to provide a natural user interface ("NUT"). With NUI, user gestures are detected, interpreted and used to control game characters or other aspects of an application.
Mice and other such controllers provide a well-defined interface for interacting with computing systems. One of the challenges of NUI systems is that the interface is controlled by a user's interaction with, and perception of, the 3-D space in which they move. However, physical, societal and other personal traits make each user at least slightly different, and as such, different users interact with NUI systems in different ways. Thus, for example, where a user's performance of a gesture varies from the norm, the NUI system may not understand the user's intention. While a user's own NUI system can be tuned over time to their personal style of interaction, the user may have trouble interacting with NUI systems other than their own.
Despite presenting difficulties for a NUI system, a user's personal traits have potential benefits which at present are not being taken advantage of. For example, current systems go to lengths to ensure proper authentication of users through login protocols and passwords, but do not use the wealth of information provided by a user's personal traits for authentication purposes.


An system for providing a highly adjustable sleep system has box frame assembly and a mattress assembly with a plurality of support cylinders, where the support cylinders may be spring loaded or pneumatic. The pressure of each individual support cylinder may be automatically adjustable by changing the tension on a spring, or by modifying the internal air pressure of a pneumatic support cylinder. The box frame may have a moving tool head configured to move along a gantry and carriage assembly, and having actuators to engage valves on the bottom of each pneumatic support cylinder to add or release compressed air from a pneumatic support cylinder. Each support cylinder may have sensors or therapeutic modules, which may be controlled and monitored by a control module in the box frame assembly.

Manufacturers of bedding and sleep products have attempted to produce mattresses that conform to the comfort preferences of an individual through a plurality of means. These efforts have included steel inner spring mattresses, including independent 'pocket coil' systems, foam mattresses, air mattresses, inflatable air bladders in mattresses, waterbeds, and the like.
However, no two consumers are alike in size, shape, personal fitness level, health, preferred sleeping position, or comfort preference. These and myriad factors affect the ability of a bed to compensate for the preferred firmness of each consumer. Additionally, the requirements of each consumer may change significantly over the course of a mattress's lifespan as a consumer's weight, activity level, health, and preferred seeping position change.
Conventional bedding manufacturers have attempted to compensate for the infinite combination of consumer preferences by releasing several models of firmness for each bedding line. In particular, manufacturers strive to have consumers fit into a soft/plush/firm/ultra firm class of bedding.
Similarly, manufacturers of adjustable air beds have attempted to compensate for differing consumer preferences by allowing for different pressures in one or more air bladders. However, the arrangement required of traditional air bladders generally provides for a limited number of air bladders within the mattress that span the width of the bed, or a single occupant's position on the bed. This arrangement provides far too low a resolution of adjustability to resolve the complexities and variances between individual users' sizes, weight, sleep patterns and the like. Additionally, as the size of each air bladder increases, the pressure within the air bladder may increase as the temperature within the room increases, or as the body heat from a slumbering user warms the air within each air bladder. Such changes to the internal air pressure of an air bladder also change the firmness of each air bladder.
Visco-elastic foam bed suppliers claim that their foam beds will conform perfectly to individual body types, regardless of physiological factors applicable to individual users. However, the preferences and requirements of each user vary so widely that a few limited classes of bed firmness, especially when applied across the entire mattress surface, are insufficient to provide optimum comfort for a wide variety of bed users.


A pickup head is provided with a second shaft receiving section. A cutout is formed in the second shaft receiving section. A sub shaft supports the pickup head in a movable manner via the second shaft receiving section. A diameter of the sub shaft is smaller than the size of the cutout. A retainer is attached between the second shaft receiving section and the sub shaft. The retainer includes a body section and a pressing section. The body section enters the cutout in a state that a slide groove of the body section slidably fits to the sub shaft. The pressing section is elastically deformed upon contact with the sub shaft when the body section enters the cutout, and biases the second shaft receiving section via the body section such that a lower surface of the cutout is pressed against the sub shaft.

A disk apparatus for reading and writing high-density data on a disk is known. The disk apparatus reads and writes data by moving a pickup head while the disk loaded on a turntable is spinned.
The turntable is supported on a lifting frame that moves up and down in a body chassis of the disk apparatus. The pickup head is supported by a guide shaft fixed to the lifting frame, and moves along the guide shaft in a radial direction of the disk. The lifting frame is in a down position when a disk is unloaded. After a disk is inserted, the lifting frame moves up and the disk is loaded onto a chucking head of the turntable. Thereby, the disk apparatus is ready to read or write data on the disk.
Slimming down of such disk apparatus has been promoted. However, if the disk apparatus is made excessively slim, the guide shaft may interfere with a bottom plate of a body chassis when the lifting frame is moved up and down. To slim down the disk apparatus and prevent interference between the guide shaft and the bottom plate, it is necessary to reduce the diameter of the guide shaft. However, the diameter of the guide shaft is formed in accordance with a shape of a shaft receiving section provided in the pickup head. When the diameter of the guide shaft is only reduced, the pickup head may become unsteady. On the other hand, changing the shape of the pickup head to cope with the slimming down of the disk apparatus requires a custom-ordered pickup head and causes significant cost increase.
To solve the above problems, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-334943, a leaf spring is attached to a pickup head. A guide shaft inserted through a shaft receiving section is pressed against the shaft receiving section with the leaf spring. Thereby, the pickup head is kept steady even if it is a conventional pickup head and the guide shaft has a smaller diameter than the shaft receiving section.
In the above publication, the leaf spring needs to be fixed to the pickup head with screws or adhesives, requiring time and effort to assemble the disk apparatus. As a result, assemblability of the disk apparatus decreases and assembly costs increase. In addition, since the guide shaft is pressed only with the leaf spring, unsteadiness (shake) of the pickup head is not surely prevented when the diameter of the guide shaft is excessively smaller than the shape of the shaft receiving section. Such unsteadiness causes fluctuations in the optical axis of laser beams from the pickup head, resulting in reading and writing errors. Recently, a technology to draw patterns and letters on a disk surface with laser beams from the pickup head has been developed, and it requires high precision mechanisms in the disk apparatus so as to perform drawing with high resolution.
To prevent unsteadiness of the pickup head, a collar may be provided between the guide shaft and the guide shaft receiving section to fill a gap therebetween. However, high processing precision is necessary in producing the collars capable of surely preventing the unsteadiness, resulting in increase in production costs.


The invention relates to a network entity installed in a network comprising an operator objective interface for receiving operator objectives; a SON-Function model interface for receiving at least a first SON Function Model, wherein the network entity is adapted to link the operator objectives with the first SON-Function model in order to adapt a SON Function for influencing a network behavior. Moreover the invention relates to a method for automatic controlling of at least one SON Function.

Self-Organizing Networks (SON) describe a management approach for mobile networks where a set of independently acting SON Functions aim at the automation of dedicated network management tasks. These tasks may include network optimization, network configuration and failure recovery. Each SON Function thereby may represent a closed control loop, which may aim at optimization of dedicated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the network. Such KPIs may include for example a call drop rate, a handover success rate and/or a cell load. The optimization may be provided in the network through an adjustment of Network Configuration Parameters (NCP), such as for example a base station transmission power, a cell individual offset, a handover hysteresis, a time-to-trigger, etc. At present SON Functions are executed with default (e.g., manufacturer default, or operator default) configuration parameter values (SCV), since a manual adaptation seems to be not very suitable, as it requires considerable efforts and extensive operational knowledge to adjust the needs in a network during operation.
At present there occurs a problem to adapt SON Functions according to individual objectives of a network operator, which is in current systems to be performed manually (manual gap, as it is displayed in FIG. 1). Thus, there may be a need to provide an automated solution in order to improve or avoid manual adaptations in a network in relation to SON Functions, and to avoid complications that come along with such manual adaptations.

Network entity and method for controlling a son-function


According to one implementation, a system for harvesting energy from a mobile device includes a housing having a receptacle for receiving the mobile device, a battery situated within the housing, an energy collection interface including at least one transducer coupled to the battery by a power bus, and one or more auxiliary electronic components coupled to the battery by the power bus. The system is configured to receive, via the receptacle, the mobile device, and to receive, via the energy collection interface, an energy emitted by the mobile device. The system is also configured to generate, by the one or more transducers, a current, using the energy received from the mobile device, and to feed, via the power bus, the current to at least one of the battery and the at least one auxiliary electronic component.

Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, and smartwatches may be connected to various external devices to provide users with productive and entertaining experiences. For example, some augmented reality (AR) viewing systems are designed to accept a smartphone in order to display virtual digital imagery superimposed over images of a real physical environment.
In some such applications, it may be advantageous or desirable to add electronic features to the system into which the mobile device is inserted or attached. For instance, lights, amplifiers, speakers, and other auxiliary electronics can significantly enhance the utility of the mobile-embedded or mobile-connected system. However, conventional solutions for powering those auxiliary electronics can undesirably add to the cost, weight, size, and complexity of mobile-embedded or mobile-connected systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A prove apparatus includes a first and a second loading port for mounting therein two carriers facing each other, a wafer transfer mechanism having a rotation center between the loading ports, and a first and a second inspection unit being symmetrical to each other and disposed in accordance with the arrangement of the loading ports. In this configuration, wafers are directly transferred between the carrier and a wafer chuck of the inspection unit by the wafer transfer mechanism. The wafer transfer mechanism has three arms for unloading two wafers from the carrier. The prove apparatus has a compact size and achieves a high throughput.

After IC chips are formed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as "wafer"), a probe test is performed on the wafer by using a probe apparatus in order to inspect electrical characteristics of the IC chips. The probe apparatus is configured to control a position of a wafer chuck which moves in X, Y and Z directions and rotates about a Z axis so that probes, i.e., probe needles, of a probe card are brought into contact with electrode pads of the IC chips of the wafer, the probe card being provided above the wafer chuck which mounts thereon the wafer.
In order to make the probes precisely contact with the electrode pads of the IC chips on the wafer, first, the wafer surface is imaged by a camera provided in the probe apparatus and, also, the probes are imaged by a camera provided at, e.g., the wafer chuck side. Next, based on the imaged positions of the wafer chuck, a so-called fine alignment is performed to calculate a position of the wafer chuck at which the electrode pads contact with the probes. In order to perform the fine alignment, a movement region of the wafer chuck needs to be ensured. However, as the wafer is scaled up, the movement region is expanded, so that the apparatus is scaled up. Further, the expansion of the movement region of the wafer chuck increases movement time and alignment time. Meanwhile, a demand for an improvement of throughput leads to a development of a loader unit capable of loading a plurality of carriers or a common loader unit shared by a plurality of inspection units. However, there is a trade-off relationship between a high throughput and a large occupation area of the apparatus.
As for a conventional probe apparatus aimed to provide a high throughput, there is known an apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H6-66365 (Especially, FIG. 1). In this apparatus, two inspection units including a wafer chuck, a probe card and the like are connected to both sides of a loader unit. Since, however, the inspection units are not designed to be scaled down, the inspection units installed at both sides of the loader unit increase the occupation area of the probe apparatus. Further, the wafer transfer deteriorates due to the presence of a pincette for transferring a wafer from/to a carrier loaded into the loader unit and two swing arms for transferring the wafer between the pincette and the two inspection units, the pincette being movable in a longitudinal direction of the loader unit. Moreover, the moving paths of the swing arms need to be ensured, so that the apparatus cannot be scaled down.

Each inspection units of a probe apparatus is provided with an imaging unit to take an image of a wafer


A plurality of hydrocarbon storage tanks, each storage tank has a) a fill conduit, b) a vapor recovery conduit and c) a vent line. The vent lines of the hydrocarbon storage tanks are directly connected to the vapor recovery risers and a manifold bar is connected to every vent line. The system allows for the maximum recovery of vapors during simultaneous filling of at least three storage tanks. The system also includes a vapor recovery pipe connected to at least one of the vent lines for receiving the vapor recovered from the vapor-recovery unit of hydrocarbon nozzles which dispense hydrocarbons to automobiles.

The Environmental Protection Agency of the Federal Government and similar regulatory agencies of the States require capture or recycle of hydrocarbon vapors created during the filling of gasoline storage tanks at a gasoline service station. These regulations also require that vapors be recovered from the gasoline tanks of automobiles during fill-ups.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,205 to Wagner (the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference) discloses a vapor recovery system for recovering hydrocarbon vapors from storage tanks and from automobiles during fill-ups. The system illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a manifold 126 wherein vent lines from a plurality of hydrocarbon storage tanks are directed. Also in communication with the manifold 126 is a vent line 130 for venting vapors to the atmosphere and a vapor recovery line 131. Because of the proximity of vent line 130 to the vent lines of the storage tanks vapors are just as likely to escape to the atmosphere through vent line 130 as vapors are likely to travel up vapor recovery line 131. The presence of only a single vent line to the atmosphere is disturbing because if this vent line is ever plugged by debris or destroyed by accident the hydrocarbon storage tanks will not vent during regular operation of the service station. Clogging or plugging of the vent line 130, in addition to being illegal, creates a hazardous situation.
The present invention overcomes these disadvantages of the prior art.


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using simplified processing and eliminating and/or minimizing the extrinsic parasitic elements of the device. The method is particularly suited for manufacturing heterojunction bipolar transistors where the extrinsic parasitic base resistance and the extrinsic parasitic base-collector and base-emitter capacitances can be virtually eliminated and the base contact resistance can be greatly reduced. The method includes formming symmetric emitter and collector portions using front and backside processing of the wafer, respectively. The symmetric emitter and collector virtually eliminates the extrinsic collector and emitter regions of the device thereby virtually eliminating the extrinsic base-collector and base-emitter capacitance. The extrinsic base contact region may also be increased to minimize the base contact resistance without increasing parasitic capacitive elements of the device. Self-aligned processing features are also included to form self-aligned contacts to the base layer thereby virtually eliminating the extrinsic base resistance. The method may include building up the collector and emitter contacts to separate the emitter and collector interconnections from the base layer to avoid increasing the emitter-base and collector-base extrinsic parasitic capacitances and to minimize associated resistances and inductances. The method may further include forming etch stop layers to facilitate removing of the substrate to perform the backside processing and to accurately etch through the collector layer without etching the base layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating vertical semiconductor devices, and in particular to a method of manufacturing heterojunction bipolar transistors using simplified processing, virtually eliminating the extrinsic parasitic base resistance and extrinsic parasitic base-collector and emitter-base capacitances and significantly reducing the base contact resistance.
2. Discussion of the Background
In manufacturing three-terminal vertical devices, such as a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), collector, base and emitter layers are successively deposited on a substrate. Functionally, the contact to the base region is from the side but in practice it is made from the top of the device. The contact to the collector region is functionally from the bottom of the device but in practice it is also made from the top of the device in a region outside the area of the base contact. This results in an overlap of the base and collector extrinsic to the intrinsic device which results in an extrinsic parasitic base-collector capacitance. Furthermore, the top of the extrinsic base typically consists primarily of a metallized portion which determines the base contact resistance to the extrinsic base and a much smaller unmetallized portion which determines the extrinsic base resistance to the intrinsic device. Decreasing the overlap results in a reduction in extrinsic parasitic capacitance but generally increases the base contact resistance since less area is available for the base contact metal. Thus, the base contact resistance and extrinsic capacitance cannot in practice be simultaneously minimized. This reduces the optimum device performance which can be realized and necessitates a compromise between base contact resistance and extrinsic base-collector capacitance in order to achieve optimum device performance.
Various approaches have been made to reduce and/or eliminate this compromise between parasitic capacitance and resistance. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,562 to Alderstein discloses a method of manufacturing HBTs where the HBT structure is "grown" in reverse (emitter-down) configuration. Although this approach virtually eliminates the extrinsic base-collector capacitance, it does so by replacing the base contact resistance/extrinsic base-collector capacitance compromise with a base contact resistance/extrinsic base-emitter capacitance compromise and as such does not address the fundamental problem of overlap between emitter, base and/or collector layers extrinsic to the device which arises from performing all processing on the top side of the substrate.
Other methods have attempted to alleviate the extrinsic base contact resistance/extrinsic base-collector capacitance compromise by employing self-aligned features in the processing methods. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,805 to Kajikawa and U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,650 to Inada et al, emitter mesas are formed with photoresist layers disposed thereon having a predetermined overlap of the emitter mesa to provide self-aligned base contacts on either side of and close to the emitter mesa. Although these self-aligned techniques allow a net reduction in extrinsic parasitics compared to non-self-aligned techniques, they do not avoid the base contact resistance/extrinsic base-collector capacitance compromise described above.
A method for fabricating a compound semiconductor bipolar device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,252 to Awano which reduces the extrinsic base-collector capacitance (in an emitter-up configuration) or the emitter-base capacitance (in an emitter-down configuration). This reduction is achieved by a combination of removing part of the collector from underneath the base in the extrinsic part of the device and reducing that part of the base extrinsic to the device by contacting the base from the side of the device. Removing part of the collector from underneath the base reduces the parasitic extrinsic base-collector capacitance by lowering the dielectric constant underneath that part of the base where the collector is removed; however, this capacitance is not eliminated because part of the collector remains underneath that part of the base extrinsic to the device. Moreover, contacting the base from the side of the device increases the base contact resistance for practical values of base sheet resistance (.rho..sub.s), contact resistivity (.rho..sub.c) and width (w) as follows. For a top base contact, the base resistance is given approximately as ##EQU1## where L.sub.t is the transfer length given as ##EQU2## and l.sub.c is the emitter length and S is the width of the base metal. This expression takes into account the resistance associated with the transition of a lateral current flow in the base semiconductor to a vertical flow into the base metal. For a side base contact, the lateral current flow in the base semiconductor remains lateral as it flows into the base metal. The base contact resistance for a side contact is thus given as ##EQU3## For practical values of base sheet resistance (<420 ohms/square), contact resistivity (>10.sup.-8 ohms-cm.sup.2) and width (<10.sup.-5 cm), and assuming the base metal width for the top base contact is at least twice the transfer length, the contact resistance from side base contacts exceeds that from top base contacts since the ratio of top to side base contacts is given approximately by 2L.sub.t /w. Thus, the advantages of eliminating the extrinsic capacitance according to Awano are generally offset by an increased contact resistance.
Furthermore, the process according to Awano is somewhat complicated and entails a number of critical etching processes requiring careful monitoring and control. The resulting structure is very complicated and all processing is performed on the front side of the substrate.


A support stand for a golf bag comprising a stand body having a pair of upper pivot members at its upper portion and a pair of lower pivot members its lower portion, a pair of legs pivotally mounted at their upper ends to the upper pivot members, respectively, each of the legs having at its upper portion a slide member provided with a slide slot, and an actuating member operatively connected to the legs to pivot the legs between an extended position and a retracted position. The actuating member having a pair of upper bent portions received at their ends in the slide slots of slide members, respectively, a pair of middle pivot portions mounted pivotally separably to the lower pivot members, respectively, and a balance weight mounted to a lower end of the actuating member. The legs can be easily extended by the weight of an actuating lever upon positioning the bag at an upright position or an inclined position and automatically retracted by the weight of the actuating lever, upon carrying the bag, while the actuating lever is not actuated upon storing the bag.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to golf bags, and more particularly to support stands for golf bags wherein a pair of legs are movable between their extended position and their retracted position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there have been proposed various golf bags which have legs movable between their extended and retracted positions. An example of such golf bags is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,854. The golf bag disclosed in the patent includes a pair of legs attached to a golf bag-supporting frame, and an actuator member having an upper end hingably connected to the legs and a lower end movable along a guide such that when the stand is set on the ground, the weight of the bag causes the actuator member to slide upwardly within the guide and thereby the legs to extend. There is a convenient in use, in that legs are automatically extended when the golf bag is set on the ground. However, this construction of golf bag has a problem that the golf bag can not stand on stably, since legs are extended even when the golf bag is set on the ground for carrying or storage thereof. During the user carries the golf bag by gripping a handle of bag with his hand, legs is hung downwardly. As he walks, the legs swing upwardly and downwardly, thereby causing carrying of golf bag to be troublesome.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,676,464 and 4,921,192, there have been disclosed other examples of golf bags with support stands.
The construction disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,464 comprises a pair of legs pivotally mounted at the upper ends thereof on the upper portion of golf bag, a pair of shoulder pads connected at the upper end thereof to the uppermost ends of said legs, respectively, and a pair of clamps fixedly mounted to the lower ends of said shoulder pads and adapted to fit around and slide along the legs, respectively. As the shoulder pads are lifted for carrying the golf bag, the clamps slide upwardly along the legs, thereby causing the legs to be retracted. On the other hand, shoulder pads are free, the lower ends of the shoulder pads made of an elastic material such as a nylon codes are extended by virtue of their elasticity, so that the clamps slide and push the legs, thereby causing the legs to extend and function as a stand. As compared with the prior arts, this construction has improved convenience in use, because the legs are automatically retracted in carrying the golf bag and automatically extended in using or storage thereof.
However, this construction has inconvenience in storage, since even in storage, the legs are automatically extended. Moreover, to carry or store a golf bag under the condition of extending the legs causes the necessity of a large space, thereby resulting in a decrease in transportation efficiency. In order to avoid such problems, a support member of a special shape is required. However, such a requirement makes it impossible to apply the above-mentioned construction to general types of golf bags.
In the golf bag disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,192, a front half portion of the base of the bag is formed inclinedly so that as the inclined base portion is brought into contact with the ground, a vertically extending actuating rod, which is disposed at the side of bag adjacent to the inclined base portion and is movable upwardly and downwardly, is lifted to extend legs. This construction also have the disadvantage that it can not be used in general types of golf bags, because of requiring the inclined base. Furthermore, this inclined base causes a disadvantage that the golf bag falls down easily, in that the ground contact area thereof is only a part of the bottom surface of the base. In the case that golf clubs are contained in the golf bag, it is difficult to maintain the golf bag at its upright position, because the heavy weights of golf clubs should be supported only by the horizontal surface of the base. As a result, the golf bag is naturally maintained at its inclined position where the inclined surface of the base is in contact with the ground and legs are maintained at their extended position. Consequently, a large storage space is needed, in that the legs are naturally maintained at their extended position, in storage under the condition that golf clubs are contained in the bag.
Another golf bag has been disclosed in the Korean Utility Model Application No. 90-2102 filed on Feb. 26, 1990 by the applicant. The golf bag comprises a L-shaped actuating member provided at the lower end of a vertical movable member operatively connected to support legs. As the L-shaped actuating member is lifted up and lowered down, the legs are extended and retracted. However, this construction has a disadvantage that a space between extended legs may be insufficient or excessive, depending on the ground condition. Furthermore, the L-shaped actuating member may be easily damaged or transformed. The damaged or transformed actuating member makes the overall support stand useless. There is also disadvantages of complicated construction and expensive manufacture cost.

Hanyang Apt. 22-102, Songpa-Dong, Songpa-Ku


A compound hand held tool for use with the round pot belly type of barbeque grills that have circular grills made of heavy wire. While the primary purpose of the invention is to operate as a handle for such grills, it is also designed to be used to scrape grills to help clean them, to open and close hot air vents normally found on barbeque grills and to manipulate hot charcoal briquets. In the preferred embodiment this tool is made by machine working stainless steel and is provided with a heat resistant handle.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is compound hand held tools designed for use with Barbeque grills, especially the round pot belly type of barbeque grills, also known as kettle grills, that have circular grills made of heavy wire, although the invention works well with most other types of grills as well. While the primary purpose of the invention is to operate as a grill lifter and manipulater, the invention also provides means to scrape grills to help clean them, to manipulate hot air vents found on barbeque grills and to manipulate hot charcoal briquets.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR Section 1.97-1.99
The inventors have searched the current market place and were not able to locate any tool that could act as a handle for a barbeque grill, let alone perform all of the functions that the present invention is capable of. Most grills for the round pot belly type or kettle barbeque grills do not come with any handle and when they are in place to be utilized they are recessed down into the body of the kettle, thus making them difficult to remove, especially when hot. The present invention was designed to fill the need to be able to securely manipulate grills of the type described with one hand. Additionally, the present invention was designed to fill the typical needs of a person operating a barbeque grill by acting as a utility tool. The present invention is able to scrape and thereby clean grills and to manipulate hot air vents and position hot charcoal briquets, thus eliminating the need of any other tool for a person operating a barbeque grill.
While no product was located on the market that could act as a handle for the above referenced type of grill, let alone act as a comprehensive utility tool of an operator of a barbeque grill, a patent search did disclose the material prior art set forth hereinbelow. Copies of the patents described hereinbelow are submitted herewith. All of the material prior art of which Applicants are aware is set forth herein below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,181, Grill Lifter, issued Nov. 13, 1984, inventor Charles G. Shepherd, shows a barbeque grill lifter. However, Shepherd's Grill Lifter requires the user's hand to be directly over the fire while grasping the grill with the handle and even when the grill is removed from the fire the user's hand would still be in close proximity to the grill which would then still be hot. These problems are overcome by the present invention. When lifting a grill that has food on it, thus requiring the grill to remain level, Shepherd's Grill Lifter requires the user to apply significant pressure to the handle to prevent the handle from twisting in the user's hand. No twisting force is created in the use of the present invention under the same circumstances. All forces arising from the use of the present invention move in the directions of and through the length of the handle or at 90 degrees thereto as the result of gravity. Unless the grill was loaded with food in an unballanced manner, i.e., not evenly distributed along either side of the center support spine of the grill, there would be no tendency for the present invention to attempt to twist in the hand of a user. Sheperd's Grill Lifter also requires a larger area of the grill to operate and can not grab hold of the outermost rib of a round grill as the present invention does. Additionally, Sheperd's Grill Lifter is not a compound tool and would not be useful as a grill cleaner.
Design Pat. No. Des. 282,518, Barbeque Grill Lifting Tool, issued Feb. 11, 1986, inventor Patrick E. Mahoney, shows a barbeque grill lifter. However, the way in which Mahoney's Barbeque Grill Lifting Tool functions is not understood by these inventors or this author but it appears that it does not actually grasp the grill in any way and would thus not provide the user with secure control over the grill. The parallel grooves in the bottom of Mahoney's Barbeque Grill Lifting Tool make it appear that it was either intended to work with a different type of grill or to function in some fundamentally different manner than the present invention. Additionally, Sheperd's Grill Lifter is not a compound tool and would not be useful as a grill cleaner.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,587,350, Oven-shelf Handle, inventor William Parke, issued Jun. 1, 1936, shows an oven-shelf handle which while capable of being designed to grasp a grill, was obviously not intended to do so. It could not be placed in its final position where it could securely grasp the grill until the grill was actually lifted out of the body of the barbeque because the grills are recessed down into the body of the barbeques and this prevents the user from getting to the edge of the grill as reflected in FIG. 2 of Parke's Oven-shelf Handle. Parke's Oven-shelf Handle also has the problem of needing different sized models depending on whether the grill is composed of an even or odd number of parallel struts because in use it needs to be placed to straddle the axis of the grill. Additionally, Parke's Oven-shelf Handle could not function as a grill scraper.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,911, Food Handling and Scraping Tool For Use With Grills, issued May 29, 1956, inventor Paul H. Kuever, shows a tool that is suited to scrape a grill but is of no use in attempting to physically lift and handle a grill.


A document management system capable of reliably implementing disposal management of printed matter resulting from print output based on document data. A print history of images based on the document data printed by a printing device is managed. A deletion instruction for at least one set of document data stored in a document storage device is received. The document data targeted for deletion from the document storage device based on the deletion instruction is deleted. Management information of the document data targeted for deletion from the document storage device based on the print history managed by the management unit is deleted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document management system, document management apparatus, document management method, and program for managing data of documents or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the introduction of stricter regulations has meant that industry is being required to keep an ever wider variety of data for regulatory storage periods.
It is therefore necessary to be able to dispose of the data and printed material once the storage period has passed and to prove that the data has been disposed of.
In the prior art, a system has been disclosed which proceeds alternately processing for the disposal procedure capable of carrying out through disposing goods expiring its previously set disposing deadline or authorized to dispose before expiring the deadline (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-034436).
However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-034436, when all document data and data associated to the document data are disposed of in the document data disposal processing after the storage period has passed, the following problem occurs.
In short, links between printed matter resulting from print output of the document data and the document data are lost when the document data and data associated to the document data are disposed of. Therefore, when subsequently attempting to dispose of all the printed matter resulting from print output of the document data, disposal confirmation/registration operations are impossible and complete disposal cannot be proved.

Document management system, document management apparatus, document management method, and program


A thrust enhancer includes a peripheral ring with an exhaust ring concentrically supported within the peripheral ring by a plurality of radially extending circumferentially spaced struts. Each strut carries a blade that is preferably angled in the left-hand direction at about a 36.degree. angle with respect to a plane defined by the strut to redirect water flowing at lateral angles with respect to the axis of the propeller shaft so that the water moves more in alignment with the propeller shaft to cause the thrust forces caused by rotation of the propeller to be directed more completely aligned with the axis of the propeller shaft. Suitable brackets are provided for securely mounting the thrust enhancer onto an outboard motor housing or other mounting location aft of a marine propulsion propeller.

The present invention relates to a thrust enhancer for marine propeller. Applicant herein is also the patentee of U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,550 issued Jan. 5, 1993, for ENGINE PROPELLER BLADE AND LOWER UNIT PROTECTOR. FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 herein directly correspond to FIGS. 1, 6 and 7, respectively, of Applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,550, the specification of which is hereby incorporated by reference, in its entirety. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,550, in its several embodiments, is intended to protect the propeller blade and lower unit of a marine outboard motor, not only to protect these structures from being damaged but, also, to protect Manatees and other marine creatures from propeller damage.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the inventive thrust enhancer is designed to be coupled to a protector similar to that which is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 herein. If desired, the inventive thrust enhancer may be mounted directly to the outboard motor housing or other vessel skeg in the absence of a lower unit protector.
In marine propulsion devices, the predominant means of providing thrust comprises a propeller having two or more blades. As the propeller spins, water is forced backward, resulting in forward thrust of the propeller, and the vessel attached thereto via a propeller shaft.
However, as is known, the thrust produced by a marine propeller is not directed solely in the rearward direction. Lateral components of the force generated by the propeller exist that rob the propulsion system of optimal efficiency. If a means could be devised to cause the propulsive force of a marine propeller to be directed most optimally in a single rearward direction, efficiency would be enhanced dramatically. It is with this need in mind that the present invention was developed.