A bathroom wall mounted rack has mounts with a wall end as one end; holes set on the wall mount, and in the center one frame is perforated to the wall end. Through holes are set on the connector end of frame in the condition of radial transfixion, and the two ends of through hole are corresponding to the fillisters of wall mount. Bolts go through the through hole of frame connector end, the two ends protrude on two sides of frame connector ends and further embed into two fillisters of wall mount correspondingly so as to connect and fix the frame and wall mount. Therefore, the combination and orientation design of bolts will enable the frame to have an effect of firm support and orientation to actually avoid from circumvolution, loose and split so as to meet the advancement requirements of more firmness and durability.

There are different functions of bathroom wall racks according to different frame patterns, such as towel rack, tissue rack, soap rack and handle rack, etc. The improvement made in this invention is a structure, in which the frame of bathroom mounted rack is connected with the wall mount. As for the traditional structure, the frame of bathroom wall mounted rack is generally connected with the wall mount by means of bolting, jointing and riveting. As a matter of fact, these connecting means are comparatively insufficient to the radial orientation of the connector end of frame. While because the bathroom wall rack generally becomes a handle for people casually in a bathroom, especially at the moment people are going to slip, the action of hands on the wall rack is so powerful that parts of bolting, jointing and riveting between the wall rack frame and wall mount mentioned above are usually likely to unscrew or split. At the other angle, it is required in design to take supporting strength of a handle rack into consideration. In a purpose of time saving and efficient assembling, practitioners gradually tend to adopt the structure of single wall mount with curvilinear handle racks. Therefore, the combining strength between the frame and wall mount of the structure becomes an important key. The prior structure by means of bolting, jointing and riveting is unable to meet the requirement of this structure due to insufficiency in radial supporting strength.
Based upon the aforementioned disadvantages of conventional bathroom wall rack, this industry shall assume the responsibility to make pioneering R&D and innovation for an ideal utility model.

Reinforced design of bathroom wall mounted rack connector


Dial tone detection circuitry is employed in a telephone of the type which has its dialing mechanism incorporated into the handset. The dial tone detection circuitry is connected to an annunciating means which indicates to a user that dial tone is present without the need to bring the handset to the user's ear. The dial tone detection circuitry my also be connected to the telephone's automatic redial circuitry to ensure efficient operation of the redial function.

The present invention relates generally to telephones and specifically to an apparatus for detecting and annunciating the presence of a dial tone.
Telephones featuring their dialing apparatus located on the handset have recently become commonplace. Operation of such an apparatus requires the user to first bring the headset into viewing position to operate an on/off switch, second bring the handset to the ear for auditory detection of a dial tone, and third remove the handset to a distance at which the dialing controls can be viewed and manipulated. This sequence becomes particularly inconvenient in cases where the user repeatedly terminates a first phone call with the handset controls, and returns the handset to the ear for dial tone detection before returning the handset to viewing distance for dialing the next call.
Another source of delay related to ensuring the presence of a dial tone occurs in telephones having an "automatic redial" feature. An automatic redial feature is circuitry that remembers the last number dialed and redials it at the push of one button saving the user from having to redial all the digits of the telephone number.
This feature frequently incorporates a time delay after an on-hook/off-hook sequence to accommodate the requirement that dialing begin only after a dial tone has been established. This time delay often results in waiting longer than is necessary to ensure the presence of a dial tone and in some instances still might not prevent dialing prior to the presence of a dial tone.

Dial tone annunciating system and method


Various embodiments include at least one of systems, methods, and software to receive input configuring tests within a computing environment to expose users to standard application or website experiences or test experiences. In some embodiments, multiple tests may be configured to run orthogonally within user experiences without affecting the results of one another. Some such embodiments preserve the ability to execute certain tests in a non-orthogonal manner while other tests are allowed to execute orthogonally.

In software and systems development, organizations have traditionally maintained separate testing and production computing environments. New code is first tested in the test environment and then moved to the production environment upon successful completion of testing. More recent efforts have allowed for testing in a production environment, but with users being exposed to only a single test at a time. Only a single test per user is allowed to ensure that the test results are not skewed by another test.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Orthogonal experimentation in a computing environment


A semiconductor package includes a substrate having one or more dice mounted thereto, and a cover adapted to protect and form a sealed space for the dice. The cover can be pre-fabricated of molded plastic, or stamped metal, and attached to the substrate using a cured seal. A hole can also be provided through the substrate to permit pressure equalization during formation of the seal. The cover can be prefabricated in an enclosed configuration for attachment directly to the substrate, or in a planar configuration for attachment to a peripheral ridge on the substrate. In either embodiment, the cover is removable to permit defective dice to be replaced or repaired.

One type of semiconductor package is referred to as a "multi chip module". These packages include semiconductor dice mounted directly to a substrate, such as a printed circuit board. The dice can be bare dice or contained in chip scale packages. In addition, the dice can be mounted in a chip-on-board configuration, or in a flip chip configuration. With chip-on-board mounting, the dice are back bonded to the substrate, and wire bonds are formed between the bond pads on the dice, and corresponding bonding sites on the substrate. With flip chip bonding, the dice are mounted circuit side down, with the bond pads on the dice soldered to solder wettable pads on the substrate.
Typically, a multi chip module will be arranged in a particular electronic configuration. For example, a single-in-line memory module (SIMM) can include an array of interconnected DRAMs, with edge connectors on the substrate that include dedicated input/output ports for the module.
Also with multi chip modules, an encapsulant layer can be used to protect and seal the dice on the substrate. For example, the encapsulant material can be applied directly to the dice and substrate in the form of a "glob top". Glob top encapsulation materials typically comprise electrically insulating polymers such as epoxies, silicones and polyimides. The glob top can be formed by dispensing a required volume of viscous material over the dice and portions of the substrate. A fence can also be formed on the substrate, as a mold for defining a perimeter of the glob top. The glob top can be formed over individual dice and associated wire bonds, or can be formed over groups of dice. Following dispensing, the encapsulation material can be cured at an elevated temperature (e.g. 165.degree. C.) for a suitable period of time (e.g. 60 minutes). Thereafter, the dice can be subjected to testing, to evaluate the electrical characteristics of the module prior to assembly in an electronic device.
One limitation of a glob top encapsulation process is that the curing process is relatively time consuming. This increases the length of the packaging process and decreases package throughput. Also, the glob top dispensing and curing apparatus can be relatively expensive to install and operate.
Another limitation of glob top encapsulation is that following encapsulation, the dice cannot be removed from the substrate. This essentially prevents defective dice from being replaced or repaired. Accordingly, some substrates are provided with one or more replacement sites on which replacement dice can be mounted. The defective dice are then electronically by-passed. However, replacement sites increase the size of the substrate and add expense to the module. Also the defective dice may sometimes be repairable but cannot be removed for repair because of the glob top.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to utilize a cover to protect and seal dice on a substrate, which can be easily removed to permit defective dice to be repaired or replaced. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a semiconductor package that includes a pre-fabricated protective cover for dice mounted to a substrate. Still further, the present invention is directed a method for fabricating electronic assemblies, such as multi chip modules and BGA connects, that include one or more dice on a substrate.

Semiconductor package with pre-fabricated cover and method of fabrication


A substrate is coated with a compound comprised of a cation completed by a heterocyclic multidentate ligand, which provides a surface having a low work-function and facilitates the emission of electrons.

1. Cross Reference to Related Applications
This invention is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 08/719,792, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,972, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Vacuum Diode-Based Devices with Electride-Coated Electrodes", filed 25.sup.th Sep. 1996, and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/744,574, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,980 entitled "Low Work Function Electrode", filed 6.sup.th Nov. 1996.
2. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to electrodes as used in vacuum electronic systems and structures enabling a current of electrons to flow between a metallic conductor and another body. It also relates to vacuum diode-based thermoelectric devices, and in particular to vacuum diode-based thermoelectric devices with electrodes having a low work function.


A running light is activated in response to a number of command signals that correspond to the activation of one or more vehicle lights. For example, the running light may blink when an associated turn signal blinks, may dimly illuminate when a parking light is on, and may shine brightly when a brake light is on.

Automobiles, trailers and other vehicles increasingly employ running lights on their exteriors to increase road awareness and their inherent aesthetic value. Running lights are conventionally connected in circuit with a switch on the interior of the vehicle that is under the control of the driver. Running lights, also called clearance or marker lights on all types of vehicles and trailers, are conventionally illuminated whenever a driver activates the headlight switch to illuminate the parking lights and/or the headlights.
More particularly, running lights are lights located on the exterior sides of a vehicle that, in addition to parking lights conventionally located at the corners of the vehicle, illuminate when a headlight switch is activated, wherein that activation of the headlight switch includes a setting where the parking/running lights are on, but the headlights remain off. Parking and running lights may additionally illuminate when the headlight switch is in a second position corresponding to the headlights being on, as well. Thus a running light may include a light located along an exterior side of a vehicle that is configured to be activated at the same time as is a conventional parking light.
The use of running lights on towed vehicles has also increased, largely in step with the rising popularity of boating, camping and other outdoor recreational activities. Most such vehicles include on-board electrical systems for providing, for instance, brake lights and turning signals. These complete on-board electrical systems are controlled by the electrical system of the towing vehicle. For instance, the brake lights of a towed vehicle will activate in sequence with the brake lights of the towing vehicle.
A hard-wired electrical connection is used generally to interface respective electrical systems and to coordinate the lights of separate vehicles. Each of the wiring harnesses have a harness connector with female and/or male terminals in a pin and/or blade configuration in order to establish an electrical connection between the wiring harnesses. The wiring harness of the towed vehicle usually includes an array of male pin terminals for insertion into an array of female pin terminals associated with the wiring harness of the towing vehicle.
With the increased availability and deployment of running lights on vehicles, there exists a continuing need to more efficiently and effectively utilize these and other running lights.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting device, which comprises the steps of successively stacking a bottom electrode, an organic layer including an emission layer, and a top electrode, the method further comprising the step of: surface-treating the bottom electrode with ion beam etching before stacking the organic layer. By effectively removing impurities such as polymer materials or oxidation films, which are formed on the bottom electrode of the organic light emitting device, not only electron injection and hole injection in the organic light emitting device progress smoothly, but also an operation voltage is lowered and performance reliability can ensured because the surface roughness of the bottom electrode is maintained at the same level before and after ion milling.

Various flat panel displays such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a field emission display (FED), a plasma display panel (PDP) and an electro luminescence (EL) display have recently emerged as candidate displays capable of replacing a conventional cathode ray tube.
Among devices used for these flat panel displays, an organic light emitting device is in the spotlight as a device suitable for a next-generation flat panel display because it has superior characteristics including a low driving voltage of 3 to 10V, a wide viewing angle, high-speed response, a high contrast ratio and so forth. This organic light emitting device is a device in which, if electric charges are injected into an organic emission layer formed between an electron injection electrode (negative electrode) and a hole injection electrode (positive electrode), electrons and holes meet each other to generate excitons, and light emission occurs when the excitons fall again to the ground state.
Such an organic light emitting device generally has a structure in which a cathode electrode (negative electrode) and an anode electrode (positive electrode) are disposed opposite to each other on a transparent substrate such as a glass substrate, and an organic emission layer is formed therebetween. An electron or hole transportation layer and an electron or hole injection layer may be additionally interposed between the electrodes and the emission layer. According to the prior art, a transparent electrical conductive electrode having a high work function is used as the positive electrode in order to satisfy the positive electrode's functions of supplying holes and transmitting emitted light to the outside, and such an electrode may be formed by sputtering an ITO (Indium-Tin Oxide) film, an IZO (Indium-Zinc Oxide) film or the like. The negative electrode functions to supply electrons, and a metal thin film having low work function may be formed as the negative electrode by means of a thermal evaporation process, etc.
A display using an organic light emitting device may be classified into a passive matrix (PM) type and an active matrix (AM) type according to a driving method thereof. In the passive matrix type, the organic light emitting device is placed in a portion where bus lines of positive and negative electrodes intersect each other, and is driven in a line-by-line scanning manner. In the active matrix type, ON/OFF adjustment is performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis by using at least one thin film transistor (TFT), and storage capacitance is used for storing information. Further, the active matrix type has advantages in that a process of forming a unit pixel is simpler than in the passive matrix type, and a high definition panel can be manufactured.
A method of manufacturing an organic light emitting device includes a process of forming a bottom electrode on a glass substrate. The bottom electrode is formed directly on the glass substrate in the case of the passive matrix (PM) type, and is formed after fabricating a thin film transistor on the glass substrate in the case of the active matrix (AM) type.
The organic light emitting device may also be classified into a bottom emission type and a top emission type according to a light emission direction thereof. The bottom emission type has a structure in which light is emitted downward, and the top emission type has a structure in which light is emitted upward. In the bottom emission structure, when a TFT is formed below a substrate formed with an emission layer, a small light emitting area cannot be avoided owing to the TFT. On this account, an organic light emitting device having the top emission structure is better in light emission efficiency than an organic light emitting device having the bottom emission structure, and thus is actually more suitable for a display.
However, in view of manufacturing processes, there is a problem in that, when an ITO layer, that is, an anode, is formed by sputtering after an organic material layer is formed, the organic material is damaged by the sputtering, which results in deterioration in the performance of an organic light emitting device. Therefore, in a common manufacturing method of an active matrix type organic light emitting device, it is generally practiced that the ITO layer, that is, an anode, is formed as a bottom electrode. Nevertheless, some investigators have created an organic material capable of enduring the damage caused by sputtering, and have succeeded in developing a so-called inverse structure in which a cathode is formed as a bottom electrode and an anode formed by sputtering is used as a top electrode, so that it has become possible to easily manufacture a top emission structure having good light emission efficiency.

Organic light emitting device having surface-treated bottom electrode


A bookcase system is provided. The bookcase system includes at least adjacently arranged two bookcase units. Each of the bookcase units further includes a first RFID reader having an antenna and placed on a first lateral side of the bookcase unit. The bookcase unit further includes a separating structure placed between two of the adjacently arranged bookcase units. The separating structure may further include at least three metal plates forming a three-layer stacked structure, and a lateral side of each of the metal plates is larger than half of a wavelength of an operating frequency of the antenna. And books are placed along a direction parallel to the lateral side.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to a bookcase system, and more particularly, to a bookcase system that is equipped with the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for facilitating the management of books.
2. Description of Related Art
The RFID technology utilizes RFID readers which are electro-magnetic readers with antennas to generate electro-magnetic fields or emit electro-magnetic waves to RFID tags. The RFID tags upon the receipt of the electro-magnetic fields/waves could generate responding electro-magnetic fields/waves for the RFID readers for the identification purpose. The RFID-based identification has been widely used in automation, warehouse management, and electronic token.
Bookcase systems having bookcase units have been the primary equipment for the placement of the books or other reference materials. And the increasing volume of the books or reference materials increase poses a challenge to the management of the books/reference materials. Traditionally, the books are associated with the RFID tags for being identified by the RFID readers.
However, the traditional approach of the book identification may not be able to identify all the books in the bookcase system. For example, when twenty or even thirty books placed continuously in the bookcase system the density of the paper and the moisture variation may preclude the electro-magnetic fields/waves from penetrating the books, negatively affecting the identification of the books. Also, the responding/reflective electro-magnetic fields/waves may be received by the RFID readers not for the bookcase units where the books are placed.


Methine compounds represented by the following general formula (Ia) or (Ib); ##STR1## wherein CYA represents atoms having a cyanine chromogen structure, MER represents atoms having a merocyanine chromogen structure, L represents a divalent linkage group composed of an atom or atoms containing at least one of a carbon atom, a nitrogen atom, a sulfur atom and an oxygen atom, Het represents a group containing a 5- to 7-membered hetero ring containing at least one nitrogen atom, l.sub.1 represents 1 or 2, l.sub.2 represents 0 or 1, and l.sub.3 represents 1, 2 or 3. Methine dyes using same are also disclosed.

Various cyanine dyes and merocyanine dyes have conventionally been known. Examples thereof are described in, for example, F. M. Hamer, Cyanine Dyes and Related Compounds (Ed. A. Weissberger, 1964, Wiley Interscience (New York)); G. E. Ficken, The Chemistry of Synthetic Dyes, vol. 4, Chapter V, 1971 (Ed. K. Venkataraman, Academic Press (New York and London)); and D. M. Sturmer, The Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds (Ed. A. Weissberger and E. C. Taylor, 1977, John Wiley and Sons (New York)). These compounds adsorb a heavy metal or heavy metal ion, but have disadvantages such as transferring, diffusion and elution when they are used as dyes. A compound which can adsorb a heavy metal or a heavy metal ion strongly has been desired.
The chromogen structure of the cyanine dyes comprises two of the so-called basic nuclei linked to each other through a conjugated double bond chain. However, those cyanine dyes which have as substituent linked to this cyanine chromogen structure a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic group or groups, particularly a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic group or groups capable of chemically or physically adsorbing a heavy metal such as silver ion, have not been known.
Likewise, the chromogen structure of the merocyanine dyes comprises a so-called acidic nucleus and a basic nucleus linked to each other through a conjugated double bond chain. However, those merocyanine dyes which have as a substituent linked to this merocyanine chromogen structure a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic structure or structures, particularly a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic structure or structures capable of chemically or physically adsorbing a heavy metal such as silver ion, have not been known.


A semiconductor device according to one embodiment includes: a gate electrode formed on a semiconductor substrate via a gate insulating film; Si:C layers formed on the semiconductor substrate in sides of the gate electrode; p-type source/drain regions formed in sides of the gate electrode in the semiconductor substrate, and a part of the p-type source/drain regions being formed in the Si:C layers; and silicide layers formed on the Si:C layers.

A conventional transistor is known in which metal silicide is formed on a gate electrode or source/drain regions in order to reduce electric resistance thereof.
In order to form an upper member of a transistor such as a capacitor, etc., under high temperature conditions, each member composing a transistor is required to have thermal stability, however, the thermal stability of commonly used metal silicide such as Ni silicide, etc., is not high.
On the other hand, it is known that the thermal stability of the Ni silicide is improved by forming the Ni silicide on a Si:C crystal. This technique, for example, is disclosed in a non-patent literary document of Liow et al. "Strained N-channel FinFETs with High-stress Nickel Silicide-Carbon Contacts and Integration with FUSI Metal Gate Technology", Extended Abstracts of the 2007 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials, Tsukuba, 2007, pp. 872-873.

Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same


A wiring board includes a first via hole in a first insulating layer to expose a first wiring layer. A first via in the first via hole includes an end surface. A second wiring layer is arranged on the first insulating layer and the end surface of the first via. A second insulating layer covers the second wiring layer. A second via hole in the second insulating layer exposes the second wiring layer. A second via in the second via hole is arranged above the first via through the second wiring layer. The outer surface of the first insulating layer is lower in surface roughness than an inner surface of the first via hole.

Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Nos. 2003-023252 and 2003-023253 describe a wiring board with a multilayer wiring formed by buildup technique. According to the buildup technique, formation of an insulating layer, formation of a via hole, and formation of a wiring using electrolytic plating are repeated to form the multilayer wiring.
In response to trend in recent years toward higher performance of an electronic part such as a semiconductor chip, efforts are being made to make a wiring layer of a wiring board finer on which the electronic part is to be mounted.

Wiring board, semiconductor device, and method of manufacturing wiring board


A method for the additive manufacturing of an elastomer part, includes—the creation of a model of spatial coordinates of the part; followed by—the corresponding deposition of an elastomer material. The deposition is carried out in a plurality of substantially flat layers which are vertically stacked. The elastomer material is deposited in the form of a latex-based liquid composition having a dispersion of polymers in an aqueous base, and the deposition is carried out by formation and pressurized ejection of drops of a liquid composition.

It is known to produce flexible parts, for example prototypes, by means of additive manufacturing or 3D printing methods. Document US20160185040 describes, for example, the manufacture of a part by depositing a hot strand of raw rubber, followed by vulcanization.
The use of raw rubber does not allow very precise deposition to be obtained. The Applicant has therefore studied the production of flexible prototypes from a liquid latex-based composition, i.e. from a suspension of polymers in an aqueous base.
However, the viscosity of the latex precludes the use of known liquid deposition devices, such as ink printers. Furthermore, the deposition at too high a temperature may lead to premature vulcanization of the polymer.

Method for the additive manufacturing of an elastomer part, and associated production facility and part

ASSOCIATION POUR LES TRANSFERTS DE TECHNOLOGIES DU MANS


Some embodiments provide a non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores a program. The program observes a parameter associated with a computing system. Upon receiving a change associated with the parameter, the program further determines a routine definition from a set of routine definitions associated with the parameter. Each routine definition in the set of routine definitions specifies a set of instructions associated with a particular parameter associated with the computing system. The program also executes the set of instructions specified in the determined routine definition.

Software applications are programs that operate on computing devices and/or systems. These applications are configured to perform a set of specific tasks. Typically, software applications are to be used by end-users. Examples of software applications include word processors, media editors, media players, database applications, spreadsheet applications, presentation applications, etc. In general, software applications are developed with predefined functionality. To add, modify, and/or remove features to software applications, their code is edited and recompiled. Then, the software application is redeployed on a computing device.

Dynamic generation of logic for computing systems


A method of using an oximeter sensor assembly including the steps of detecting light from a light emitting element and storing digital data in a memory associated with the sensor assembly. The stored digital data includes coefficients for use by an oximeter monitor coupled to the sensor assembly to calculate data from the detected light, wherein the coefficients represent a combination of different sensor-specific characteristics, application-specific characteristics, and patient-specific characteristics. Control means including means for processing received information signals in accordance with the equation in response to received coefficients to determine blood oxygen levels is provided.

Non-invasive physiological monitoring is a common means for testing, detecting, and treating a physiological condition. Typically, non-invasive monitoring techniques such as pulse oximetry, electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG), and ultrasonic imaging, to name a few, require that a sensor be placed in direct contact with a patient undergoing the procedure.
Pulse oximetry involves the non-invasive monitoring of oxygen saturation level in blood-perfused tissue indicative of certain vascular conditions. Pulse oximetry is typically used to measure various blood flow characteristics including, but not limited to, the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supplying the tissue, and the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heartbeat of a patient. Measurement of these characteristics has been accomplished by use of a non-invasive sensor which passes light through a portion of the patient's tissue where blood perfuses the tissue, and photoelectrically senses the absorption of light in such tissue. The amount of light absorbed is then used to calculate the amount of blood constituent being measured. Oxygen saturation may be calculated using some form of the classical absorption equation know as Beer's law.
The light passed through the tissue is typically selected to be of one or more wavelengths that are absorbed by the blood in an amount representative of the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of transmitted light passed through the tissue will vary in accordance with the changing amount of blood constituent in the tissue and the related light absorption. For measuring blood oxygen level, such sensors have been provided with light sources and photodetectors that are adapted to operate at two different wavelengths, in accordance with known techniques for measuring blood oxygen saturation.
Known sensors include an optical oximeter probe which uses a pair of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to direct light through blood-perfused tissue, with a detector picking up light which has not been absorbed by the tissue. The operation depends upon knowing the wavelength of the LEDs. Since the wavelength of LEDs can vary, a coding resistor can be placed in the probe with the value of the resistor corresponding to the actual wavelength of at least one of the LEDs. When the oximeter instrument is turned on, it first applies a current to the coding resistor and measures the voltage to determine the value of the resistor and thus the value of the wavelength of the LED in the probe. U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,708 discloses such an encoding mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,381 recognizes that the coded value of the wavelength of the red LED provided by a coding resistor may be inaccurate, since the actual wavelength can vary with temperature. Accordingly, this patent teaches including a temperature sensor in the oximeter probe to measure the actual temperature. With the actual temperature, and the coded wavelength value, a look-up table can be consulted to determine the actual LED wavelength for that temperature.
Another method of storing coded information regarding the characteristics of the LEDs is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,877. This patent discloses using an EPROM memory to store digital information which can be provided in parallel or serially from the sensor probe to the remote oximeter. The memory is described as storing coefficients for the saturation equation, wavelength, subwavelength (secondary emission), half-width of wavelength spectrum emitted by LED, intensity of LEDS or ratio, and on time of LEDS (written by the processor).
Other examples of coding probe characteristics exist in other areas. Multiple calibration values are sometimes required, with this making the circuitry more complex or requiring many leads. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,715, assigned to Camino Laboratories, Inc., a number of resistors are used to provide coded information regarding the characteristics of a pressure transducer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,910 discloses another pressure transducer with a ROM storing characteristics of the individual transducer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,984 shows another probe with digital characterization information stored in a PROM, which is read serially using a shift register. Typically, the coding element is mounted in the probe itself. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,643 shows the coding resistor mounted in the probe element itself. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,003 shows the coding resistor being formed with a printed conductive material on the probe itself.
In some devices, an electrical connector coupled by a cable to a device attached to a patient may include a coding element. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,199 shows an intra-aortic balloon catheter with a connector between the catheter and a console. The connector includes a resistor with a value chosen to reflect the volumetric displacement of the particular balloon. U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,245 discloses a fiber optic catheter with a module between the fiber optic and electrical wires connected to a processor. The module converts the light signals into electrical signals, and includes a memory storing calibration signals so the module and catheter can be disconnected from the processor and used with a different processor without requiring a recalibration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,059 teaches using a modulated signal to provide the coded data to a remote analyzer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,129 shows using a voltage regulator to produce a specific voltage value in response to an attempt to read by the analyzer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,588 teaches an oximeter sensor with an encoding element that could be resistor, ROM, or customized integrated circuit. The encoding element encodes the type of sensor (in particular, type indicating area of placement on body—finger, ear, foot, arm; also, the type of sensor can indicate transmission/reflection type, or adult/neonate (indicating correction to be performed on theoretical oxygen saturation, allow switching between physiological limits such as minimum/maximum pulse rates for adults/neonates); the maximum driving current may be adapted according to type of sensor, and contact of sensor with tissue can be tested by means of an attenuation measurement if sensor type is known).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,059, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, teaches coding information in sensor memory used to provide pulse modulated signal, to indicate the type of sensor (finger, nose), the wavelength of a second LED, the number of LEDs, the numerical correction terms to the standard curves, and an identifier of the manufacturer.
A number of catheter patents also discuss encoding information in the catheter. Sentron U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,615 teaches encoding the type of sensor, type number, serial number, date of production, safe use life of the sensor, correction data for non-linearity, pressure sensitivity, offset, and temperature sensitivity.
Interflo Medical Published PCT Application No. PCT/US92/08263, Publication No. WO 93/06776 teaches encoding patient specific data, size, manufacture date, batch number, sterilization date, expiration date, transducer number and type, manufacturer's name and address, thermistor heating element resistance, filament efficiency, program segments or patient historical data, format version for the calibration data, trademark information, catheter unique serial number, ship date, other date and time information, security code to identify manufacturer, thermal mass, filament composition, coefficient of resistance, layout byte, checksum, copyright, number of seconds since a certain date, patient weight, patient height, timestamp of data point, and a count of all CO data points in EEPROM.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,725 describes storing both calibration and ID information in a sensor memory. U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,198 describes a coding memory in a sensor with data for defining sensor's characteristic curve. U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,984 describes a memory which stores characterization information, such as linearization information for a pressure sensor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,462 describes a date code in a sensor memory. U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,873 describes a pressure sensor with a PROM storing coefficients for a polynomial. U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,649 describes a PROM in a sensor storing correcting data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,732 shows calibration data in a sensor memory. U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,293 talks about different calibration information for a catheter, including a security code (encryption is discussed), serial number, model number, ID data such as calibration, manufacture, sterilization and ship date or other date and time information, a software program segment, security code for identifying whether sensor made by same manufacturer as monitor manufacturer, filament or transducer resistance, heat transfer coefficient, thermal mass, filament composition and coefficient of resistance, layout byte, copyright notice, checksum, random data bytes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,843 describes a sensor with EEPROM ID and characteristics data.
The prior art does not disclose a sensor assembly which stores coefficients for a saturation or similar equation wherein the coefficients are defined as a combination of different sensor-specific characteristics, application-specific characteristics, and patient-specific characteristics. As detailed herein, the benefits of storing coefficients which comprehensively include a variety of different characteristics include improved sensor accuracy, system flexibility and the ability to utilize updated sensors with existing monitoring equipment.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a sensor assembly which is capable of storing equation coefficients which represent a plurality of different characteristics including sensor-specific characteristics, application-specific characteristics, and patient-specific characteristics.

Sensor system with memory and method of using same


The present invention relates to a deposition process for thin film deposition onto a substrate comprising providing a plurality of gaseous materials comprising at least first, second, and third gaseous materials, wherein the first and second gaseous materials are reactive with each other such that when one of the first or second gaseous materials are on the surface of the substrate the other of the first or second gaseous materials will react to deposit a layer of material on the substrate and wherein the third gaseous material is inert with respect to reacting with the first or second gaseous materials. The process comprises flowing the gaseous materials along the length direction of a plurality of elongated channels across the surface of the substrate surface in close proximity thereto.

Among the techniques widely used for thin-film deposition are Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) that uses chemically reactive molecules that react in a reaction chamber to deposit a desired film on a substrate. Molecular precursors useful for CVD applications comprise elemental (atomic) constituents of the film to be deposited and typically also include additional elements. CVD precursors are volatile molecules that are delivered, in a gaseous phase, to a chamber in order to react at the substrate, forming the thin film thereon. The chemical reaction deposits a thin film with a desired film thickness.
Common to most CVD techniques is the need for application of a well-controlled flux of one or more molecular precursors into the CVD reactor. A substrate is kept at a well-controlled temperature under controlled pressure conditions to promote chemical reaction between these molecular precursors, concurrent with efficient removal of byproducts. Obtaining optimum CVD performance requires the ability to achieve and sustain steady-state conditions of gas flow, temperature, and pressure throughout the process, and the ability to minimize or eliminate transients.
Especially in the field of semiconductor, integrated circuit, and other electronic devices, there is a demand for thin films, especially higher quality, denser films, with superior conformal coating properties, beyond the achievable limits of conventional CVD techniques, especially thin films that can be manufactured at lower temperatures.
Atomic layer deposition ("ALD") is an alternative film deposition technology that can provide improved thickness resolution and conformal capabilities, compared to its CVD predecessor. The ALD process segments the conventional thin-film deposition process of conventional CVD into single atomic-layer deposition steps. Advantageously, ALD steps are self-terminating and can deposit precisely one atomic layer when conducted up to or beyond self-termination exposure times. An atomic layer typically ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.5 molecular monolayers, with typical dimensions on the order of no more than a few Angstroms. In ALD, deposition of an atomic layer is the outcome of a chemical reaction between a reactive molecular precursor and the substrate. In each separate ALD reaction-deposition step, the net reaction deposits the desired atomic layer and substantially eliminates "extra" atoms originally included in the molecular precursor. In its most pure form, ALD involves the adsorption and reaction of each of the precursors in the complete absence of the other precursor or precursors of the reaction. In practice in any process it is difficult to avoid some direct reaction of the different precursors leading to a small amount of chemical vapor deposition reaction. The goal of any process claiming to perform ALD is to obtain device performance and attributes commensurate with an ALD process while recognizing that a small amount of CVD reaction can be tolerated.
In ALD applications, typically two molecular precursors are introduced into the ALD reactor in separate stages. For example, a metal precursor molecule, Ml, comprises a metal element, M that is bonded to an atomic or molecular ligand, L. For example, M could be, but would not be restricted to, Al, W, Ta, Si, Zn, etc. The metal precursor reacts with the substrate, when the substrate surface is prepared to react directly with the molecular precursor. For example, the substrate surface typically is prepared to include hydrogen-containing ligands, AH or the like, that are reactive with the metal precursor. Sulfur (S), oxygen (O), and Nitrogen (N) are some typical A species. The gaseous precursor molecule effectively reacts with all of the ligands on the substrate surface, resulting in deposition of a single atomic layer of the metal:substrate-AH+MLx→substrate-AMLx-1+HL  (1)where HL is a reaction by-product. During the reaction, the initial surface ligands, AH, are consumed, and the surface becomes covered with L ligands, which cannot further react with metal precursor MLx. Therefore, the reaction self-terminates when all the initial AH ligands on the surface are replaced with AMLx-1 species. The reaction stage is typically followed by an inert-gas purge stage that eliminates the excess metal precursor from the chamber prior to the separate introduction of the other precursor.
A second molecular precursor then is used to restore the surface reactivity of the substrate towards the metal precursor. This is done, for example, by removing the L ligands and redepositing AH ligands. In this case, the second precursor typically comprises the desired (usually nonmetallic) element A (i.e., O, N, S), and hydrogen (i.e., H2O, NH3, H2S). The next reaction is as follows:substrate-A-ML+AHY→substrate-A-M-AH+HL  (2)This converts the surface back to its AH-covered state. (Here, for the sake of simplicity, the chemical reactions are not balanced.) The desired additional element, A, is incorporated into the film and the undesired ligands, L, are eliminated as volatile by-products. Once again, the reaction consumes the reactive sites (this time, the L terminated sites) and self-terminates when the reactive sites on the substrate are entirely depleted. The second molecular precursor then is removed from the deposition chamber by flowing inert purge-gas in a second purge stage.
In summary, then, an ALD process requires alternating in sequence the flux of chemicals to the substrate. The representative ALD process, as discussed above, is a cycle having four different operational stages:    1. MLx reaction;    2. MLx purge;    3. AHy reaction; and    4. AHy purge, and then back to stage 1.
This repeated sequence of alternating surface reactions and precursor-removal that restores the substrate surface to its initial reactive state, with intervening purge operations, is a typical ALD deposition cycle. A key feature of ALD operation is the restoration of the substrate to its initial surface chemistry condition. Using this repeated set of steps, a film can be layered onto the substrate in equal metered layers that are all identical in chemical kinetics, deposition per cycle, composition, and thickness.
ALD can be used as a fabrication step for forming a number of types of thin-film electronic devices, including semiconductor devices and supporting electronic components such as resistors and capacitors, insulators, bus lines and other conductive structures. ALD is particularly suited for forming thin layers of metal oxides in the components of electronic devices. General classes of functional materials that can be deposited with ALD include conductors, dielectrics or insulators, and semiconductors.
Conductors can be any useful conductive material. For example, the conductors may comprise transparent conductors such as indium-tin oxide (ITO), ZnO, SnO2, or In2O3. The thickness of the conductor may vary, and according to particular examples it can range from about 50 to about 1000 nm.
A dielectric electrically insulates various portions of a patterned circuit. A dielectric layer may also be referred to as an insulator or insulating layer. Specific examples of materials useful as dielectrics include strontiates, tantalates, titanates, zirconates, aluminum oxides, silicon oxides, tantalum oxides, hafnium oxides, titanium oxides, zinc selenide, and zinc sulfide. In addition, alloys, combinations, and multilayers of these examples can be used as a dielectrics. Of these materials, aluminum oxides are preferred.
A dielectric structure layer may comprise two or more layers having different dielectric constants. Such insulators are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,970 hereby incorporated by reference and copending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/088,645, hereby incorporated by reference. Dielectric materials typically exhibit a band-gap of greater than about 5 eV. The thickness of a useful dielectric layer may vary, and according to particular examples it can range from about 10 to about 300 nm.
Examples of useful semiconducting materials are compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, cadmium sulfide, zinc oxide, and zinc sulfide.
A number of device structures can be made with the functional layers described above. A resistor can be fabricated by selecting a conducting material with moderate to poor conductivity. A capacitor can be made by placing a dielectric between two conductors. A diode can be made by placing two semiconductors of complementary carrier type between two conducting electrodes. There may also be disposed between the semiconductors of complementary carrier type a semiconductor region that is intrinsic, indicating that that region has low numbers of free charge carriers. A diode may also be constructed by placing a single semiconductor between two conductors, where one of the conductor/semiconductors interfaces produces a Schottky barrier that impedes current flow strongly in one direction. A transistor may be made by placing upon a conductor (the gate) an insulating layer followed by a semiconducting layer. If two or more additional conductor electrodes (source and drain) are placed spaced apart in contact with the top semiconductor layer, a transistor can be formed. Any of the above devices can be created in various configurations as long as the critical interfaces are created.
A semiconductor material, for use in an atmospheric process, must display several characteristics. In typical applications of a thin film transistor, the desire is for a switch that can control the flow of current through the device. As such, it is desired that when the switch is turned on a high current can flow through the device. The extent of current flow is related to the semiconductor charge carrier mobility. When the device is turned off, it is desired that the current flow be very small. This is related to the charge carrier concentration. Furthermore, it is desired that the device be weakly or not at all influenced by visible light. In order for this to be true, the semiconductor band gap must be sufficiently large (>3 eV) so that exposure to visible light does not cause an inter-band transition. A material that is capable of yielding a high mobility, low carrier concentration, and high band gap is ZnO. Furthermore, in a real high volume web based atmospheric manufacturing scheme, it is highly desirable that the chemistries used in the process be both cheap and of low toxicity, which can be satisfied by the use of ZnO and the majority of its precursors.
The semiconductor films made according to the present method exhibit a field effect electron mobility that is greater than 0.01 cm2/Vs, preferably at least 0.1 cm2/Vs, more preferably greater than 0.2 cm2/Vs. In addition, n-channel semiconductor films made according to the present invention are capable of providing on/off ratios of at least 104, advantageously at least 105. The on/off ratio is measured as the maximum/minimum of the drain current as the gate voltage is swept from one value to another that are representative of relevant voltages which might be used on the gate line of a display. A typical set of values would be −10V to 40V with the drain voltage maintained at 30V. Self-saturating surface reactions make ALD insensitive to transport non-uniformities, which might otherwise impair surface uniformity, due either to engineering tolerances and the limitations of the flow process or related to surface topography (that is, deposition into three dimensional, high aspect ratio structures). As a general rule, a non-uniform flux of chemicals in a reactive process generally results in different completion times at different areas. However, with ALD, each of the reactions is allowed to complete on the entire substrate surface. Thus, differences in completion kinetics impose no penalty on uniformity. This is because the areas that are first to complete the reaction self-terminate the reaction; other areas are able to continue until the full treated surface undergoes the intended reaction.
Typically, an ALD process deposits about 0.1-0.2 nm of a film in a single ALD cycle (with numbered steps 1 through 4 as listed earlier). A useful and economically feasible cycle time must be achieved in order to provide an uniform film thickness in a range of about from 3 nm to 30 nm for many or most semiconductor applications, and even thicker films for other applications. Industry throughput standards dictate that substrates be processed in 2 minutes to 3 minutes, which means that ALD cycle times must be in a range from about 0.6 seconds to about 6 seconds.
ALD offers considerable promise for providing a controlled level of highly uniform thin film deposition. However, in order to take advantage of its inherent capabilities a number of technical hurdles still remain. One important consideration relates to the number of cycles needed. Because of its repeated reactant and purge cycles, effective use of ALD has required a process that is capable of abruptly changing the flux of chemicals from MLx to AHy, along with quickly performing purge cycles. Conventional ALD processes are designed to rapidly pulse the different gaseous substances onto the substrate in the needed sequence. However, it is difficult to obtain a reliable scheme for introducing the needed series of gaseous formulations into a chamber at the needed speeds and without some unwanted mixing. Furthermore, an ALD process must be able to execute this sequencing efficiently and reliably for many cycles in order to allow cost-effective coating of many substrates.
In an effort to minimize the time that an ALD reaction needs to reach self-termination, at any given reaction temperature, one approach has been to maximize the flux of chemicals flowing into the ALD reactor, using a so-called "pulsing" process. In order to maximize the flux of chemicals into the ALD reactor, it is advantageous to introduce the molecular precursors into the ALD reactor with minimum dilution of inert gas and at high pressures. However, these measures work against the need to achieve short cycle times and the rapid removal of these molecular precursors from the ALD reactor. Rapid removal in turn dictates that gas residence time in the ALD reactor be minimized. Gas residence times, τ, are proportional to the volume of the reactor, V, the pressure, P, in the ALD reactor, and the inverse of the flow, Q, that is:τ=VP/Q  (3)
Accordingly, lowering pressure (P) in the ALD reactor facilitates low gas residence times and increases the speed of removal (purge) of chemical precursor from the ALD reactor. In contrast, minimizing the ALD reaction time requires maximizing the flux of chemical precursors into the ALD reactor through the use of a high pressure within the ALD reactor. In addition, both gas residence time and chemical usage efficiency are inversely proportional to the flow. Thus, while lowering flow can increase efficiency, it also increases gas residence time.
Existing ALD approaches have been compromised with the trade-off between the need to shorten reaction times and improve chemical utilization efficiency, and on the other hand, the need to minimize purge-gas residence and chemical removal times. One approach to overcome the inherent limitations of "pulsed" delivery of gaseous material is to provide each reactant gas continuously and to move the substrate through each gas in succession. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,563 entitled "GAS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR CYCLICAL LAYER DEPOSITION" to Yudovsky describes a processing chamber, under vacuum, having separate gas ports for precursor and purge gases, alternating with vacuum pump ports between each gas port. Each gas port directs its stream of gas vertically downward toward a substrate. The separate gas flows are separated by walls or partitions, with vacuum pumps for evacuating gas on both sides of each gas stream. A lower portion of each partition extends close to the substrate, for example, about 0.5 mm or greater from the substrate surface. In this manner, the lower portions of the partitions are separated from the substrate surface by a distance sufficient to allow the gas streams to flow around the lower portions toward the vacuum ports after the gas streams react with the substrate surface
A rotary turntable or other transport device is provided for holding one or more substrate wafers. With this arrangement, the substrate is shuttled beneath the different gas streams, effecting ALD deposition thereby. In one embodiment, the substrate is moved in a linear path through a chamber, in which the substrate is passed back and forth a number of times.
Another approach using continuous gas flow is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,022 entitled "METHOD FOR PERFORMING GROWTH OF COMPOUND THIN FILMS" to Suntola et al. A gas flow array is provided with alternating source gas openings, carrier gas openings, and vacuum exhaust openings. Reciprocating motion of the substrate over the array effects ALD deposition, again, without the need for pulsed operation. In the embodiment of FIGS. 13 and 14, in particular, sequential interactions between a substrate surface and reactive vapors are made by a reciprocating motion of the substrate over a fixed array of source openings, Diffusion barriers are formed by a carrier gas opening between exhaust openings. Suntola et al. state that operation with such an embodiment is possible even at atmospheric pressure, although little or no details of the process, or examples, are provided.
While processes such as those described in the '563 Yudovsky and '022 Suntola et al. disclosures may avoid some of the difficulties inherent to pulsed gas approaches, these processes have other drawbacks. Driving the gas flow directly toward the surface in a vertical direction, as described in both of these disclosures, invites barrier layer effects that complicate gas flow and can cause unwanted mixing. Both the gas flow delivery unit of the '563 Yudovsky disclosure and the gas flow array of the '022 Suntola et al. disclosure require vacuum ports for exhausting spent gases, positioned between the gas supply ports. This prevents these devices from being compact and increases the needed travel distance of the substrate in order to effect ALD exposure. Moreover, it would be very difficult to maintain a uniform vacuum at different points in an array and to maintain synchronous gas flow and vacuum at complementary pressures, thus compromising the uniformity of gas flux that is provided to the substrate surface. Neither the gas flow delivery unit of the '563 Yudovsky disclosure nor the gas flow array of the '022 Suntola et al. disclosure can be used in closer proximity to the substrate than about 0.5 mm, due to the need to maintain gas flows in the vertical direction (that is, normal to the substrate surface). The complex arrangements of both the gas flow delivery unit of the '563 Yudovsky disclosure and the gas flow array of the '022 Suntola et al. disclosure, each providing both gas flow and vacuum, make these solutions difficult to implement and costly to scale and limit their potential usability to deposition applications onto a moving substrate of limited dimensions.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2005/0084610 to Selitser discloses an atmospheric pressure atomic layer chemical vapor deposition process. Selitser et al. state that extraordinary increases in reaction rates are obtained by changing the operating pressure to atmospheric pressure, which will involve orders of magnitude increase in the concentration of reactants, with consequent enhancement of surface reactant rates. The embodiments of Selitser et al. involve separate chambers for each stage of the process, although FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which chamber walls are removed. A series of separated injectors are spaced around a rotating circular substrate holder track. Each injector incorporates independently operated reactant, purging, and exhaust gas manifolds and controls and acts as one complete mono-layer deposition and reactant purge cycle for each substrate as is passes there under in the process. Little or no specific details of the gas injectors or manifolds are described by Selitser et al., although they state that spacing of the injectors is selected so that cross-contamination from adjacent injectors is prevented by purging gas flows and exhaust manifolds incorporate in each injector.
For higher throughput and lower fabrication costs, there would be particular advantages to an ALD process that allows thin film deposition onto large surfaces or onto a moving web. Conventional designs for ALD processes, however, would not easily offer this flexibility. For example, conventional approaches offer little promise of obtaining an ALD gas distribution process that could be transported across the surface of a larger substrate or web arrangement.
Thus, a need exists for an ALD process that can achieve short reaction times and good chemical utilization efficiency, can be adaptable for use with larger size substrates, is suitable for high-speed operation, including preferred processes at or near atmospheric pressure, and that can be produced and operated economically.


Process and apparatus for the purification of a cryogenic fluid in liquid, diphase, gaseous or supercritical state, having a boiling point Pe, with at least one of its impurities having a boiling point Pe', with Pe'>Pe. The process includes at least one step selected from the group comprised by:. a filtration step of at least one impurity in solid state, PA1 and an adsorption step of at least one impurity in liquid or gaseous state; PA1 and in which there is recovered at least one portion of the cryogenic fluid at least partially purified.

At present, cryogenic fluids find use in numerous and various fields of industry. Thus, nitrogen, helium, neon, argon, deuterium, krypton, and xenon are at present used in the electronic field.
This field especially requires these compounds to be as pure as possible, which is to say stripped of most of their impurities, so as to avoid subsequent degradation of the electronic components by reaction with said impurities. By way of example, can be cited the use of ultra pure helium, as inert gas utilizable in constant temperature control of the support chips for integrated circuits forming memories or processors, or in the cooling of "wafers".
There is also an increase in demand in the electronic field as to the supply of ultra pure hydrogen.
Numerous processes for purification of cryogenic fluids, such as inert fluids, are known from the prior art, but these latter generally have several drawbacks or disadvantages, namely:
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,082 discloses a process for the purification of gaseous argon from its oxygen impurity by means of a synthetic zeolite of type A.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,030 discloses itself a process for the purification of gaseous argon from its oxygen impurity, in which the oxygen is transformed into water by catalytic reaction with excess hydrogen; the water formed being then eliminated by dehydration.
EP-A-0 350 656 discloses moreover a process for the purification of an inert gas of its oxygen, carbon monoxide and hydrogen impurities, in which the carbon monoxide and the hydrogen are eliminated by catalytic oxidation at a temperature comprised between 150.degree. C. and 250.degree. C. in the presence of a first reduced copper-based catalyst, then a second oxidized copper-based catalyst, giving carbon dioxide and water, which are then eliminated by adsorption at ambient temperature on an adsorbent of the molecular sieve type.
Moreover, FR 9604955 discloses a process to supply a utilization conduit with ultra pure helium, in which helium is withdrawn in liquid phase or in supercritical phase from a storage reservoir, the helium is filtered by means of a steel cloth so as to retain solid impurities, the filtered helium is vaporized and is sent to the utilization conduit. It is recited in this document that the hydrogen and/or neon impurities dissolved in the liquid or supercritical helium are not retained.
FR 9507943 discloses itself a process of purification of inert gases, such as nitrogen and rare gases, of their oxygen and carbon monoxide impurities, by adsorption at a temperature below 30.degree. C. on a specific adsorbent of the porous metallic oxide type; the hydrogen impurity is then eliminated by distillation.
Moreover, FR 9611271 relates to the purification of a cryogenic fluid, such as liquid nitrogen, liquid argon or liquid helium, of its hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or oxygen impurities, by adsorption on a support of the type of alumina, silica, zeolite or titanium oxides supporting a metal, such as platinum, palladium, rhodium or iridium.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,351 discloses a process in two steps for obtaining liquid helium, in which a gaseous flow consisting essentially of helium and nitrogen with several minor impurities is subjected to a cooling step so as to condense said minor impurities and nitrogen, which are then eliminated; the gaseous flow enriched in helium is then subjected to a PSA type process (pressure swing adsorption) or a process of adsorption by pressure variation, from which results a flow of relatively pure gaseous helium, which helium is then condensed to liquid helium. It will be easily understood that this process has numerous disadvantages and drawbacks, not only as to the cost of energy but also as to the purity of helium obtained. Thus, the requirement to use the steps of vaporization/liquefaction of helium is very costly from a point of view of energy and finance, and although the helium obtained will be relatively pure, it contains quantities of impurities too high to be used particularly for electronics.

Process for the purification of a cryogenic fluid by filtration and/or adsorption

L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude


An oligo- or polynucleotide analogue having one or more structures of the general formula: where B is a pyrimidine or purine nucleic acid base, or an analogue thereof, is used for treating obesity-related metabolic diseases.

The present invention relates to methods and formulations of treatment of metabolic diseases. The invention has particular utility in connection with treatment of obesity and in general, although treatment of other obesity-related metabolic related diseases and conditions including but not limited to diabetes, muscle loss due to deconditioning, Duchenne muscle dystrophy (DMD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cancer recovery, hypertension and/or dyslipidemia also advantageously may be treated.
Over 1.9 billion people globally are overweight and of those people, more than 650 million are obese. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States and a growing epidemic. Being obese significantly increases the risk of other diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, endometrial cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Currently, approximately 5% of all deaths in the United States are related to obesity.
Current treatments for obesity have limited results and serious side effects. For example, prescription medications that target the central nervous system, hormonal pathways, and/or gastrointestinal tract exhibit minimal physical improvement and carry significant side effects. Bariatric surgery, including gastric bypass, LAP-band, and gastric sleeve procedures are highly invasive and expensive. Lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, are not applicable for serious cases of obesity and exhibit mixed results.
The risk factors contributing to obesity are complex and diverse. In particular, genetic factors, medical conditions, energy intake, energy expenditure, socioeconomic factors, and/or psychosocial factors may all contribute to an individual's risk for obesity. Previously known treatments for obesity and related conditions are inadequate and typically only address one or two of these risk factors.

Methods and formulations for the treatment of obesity and obesity-related metabolic diseases


The file name (75) of a second data file is included in a first data file (32a). A position information data (76) is likewise included in the first data file (32a) for specifying the position of specific data in the second data file. A processing unit obtains the specific data from the second data file based on the description in the first data file. Specific instructions are supplied to a quality analyzing apparatus in a vehicle quality analyzing system based on the obtained data. The quality analyzing apparatus supplies electronic apparatuses or devices in a vehicle with predetermined signals in response to the specific instructions, so as to analyze the quality of the vehicle based on responses from the electronic apparatuses or devices. A set of independent files is utilized to establish the data structure. Data can be changed or modified in the individual file in a facilitated manner.

A vehicle quality analyzing system is well known. The vehicle quality analyzing system is utilized to analyze the quality of vehicles shipped out of a factory, for example. The vehicle quality analyzing system is designed to realize the process of analysis in accordance with a predetermined software. The vehicle quality analyzing system receives various data, required to realize the process of analysis, for the individual vehicle.    [Related Art] JP Patent Publication No. 2844252    [Related Art] JP Patent Application Publication No. 7-333110    [Related Art] JP Patent Publication No. 3345829    [Related Art] JP Patent Publication No. 3331112    [Related Art] JP Patent Publication No. 3360635    [Related Art] U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,560    [Related Art] U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,408

Vehicle quality analyzing system and data management method


The present invention relates to a method for providing a user interface on a terminal, which provides a user interactive information search service that uses, as information, a user response to an information search request so as to overcome local limitations coverable by an information search service and expand a search function for the domain that cannot be supported. A method for providing a user interface on a terminal according to one embodiment disclosed in the present specification comprises a step of transmitting, to a server, an information search request based on a user voice input; a step of receiving, from the server, a response to the information search request; and a step of displaying an item to take, in the form of a voice input, a user response to the information search request in the event that the response indicates that there is nothing found as a search result.

Terminals can be classified into two types, such as a mobile/portable terminal and a stationary terminal based on its mobility. Furthermore, the mobile terminal can be further classified into two types, such as a handheld terminal and a vehicle mount terminal based on whether or not it can be directly carried by a user.
As it becomes multifunctional, for example, such a terminal is allowed to capture still images or moving images, play music or video files, play games, receive broadcast and the like, so as to be implemented as an integrated multimedia player. Moreover, improvements in the aspect of structure and software of such as terminal may be taken into consideration to support and enhance the functions of the terminal.
For an example, a terminal may receive an information search request from a user as a voice to provide the corresponding search result through a dedicated search service. However, since information providers providing information to the dedicated search service are limited, it may occur a case where there is no search result or the search result cannot be provided. In this case, the terminal may provide an interface capable of receiving a search result through exception handling, but such a web-based search result is inaccurate and not useful, thus having a low degree of usage.

Method for providing user interface on terminal


A workload to be handled by a database system can be identified. The workload can include at least one query that the database system is to handle. A set of at least one candidate statistical views (statviews) to be utilized when optimizing the workload can be enumerated. A benefit value and a cost value of the each of the enumerated candidate statistical views relative to the entire workload can be computed. The cost value can reflect a cost of constructing and collecting statistics on the associated statistical view. A set of the candidate views most beneficial for handling the workload can be determined based upon the computed benefit values and computed cost values. A generalization phase that augments the candidate view set with higher value candidate views for consideration during the recommendation phase. The optimum subset of views from the determined set of candidate views can be recommended, which can cause them to be constructed and utilized by a database optimizer.

The present invention relates to the field of database optimizing and, more particularly, to automatically recommending statistical views (statviews) using cost/benefit metrics for improved intermediate result estimations during query optimization operations.
A query optimizer is the component of a database management system that attempts to determine the most efficient way to execute a query. The optimizer considers the possible query plans for a given input query, and attempts to determine which of those plans will be the most efficient. Cost-based query optimizers assign an estimated cost to each possible query plan, and choose the plan with the smallest cost. The set of query plans can be formed by examining the possible access paths (e.g. index scan, sequential scan) and join algorithms (e.g. sort-merge join, hash join, nested loops).
The performance of a query plan is determined largely by the order in which the tables are joined. For example, when joining three tables A, B, C of size 10 rows, 1,000,000 rows, and 1,000,000 rows, respectively, a query plan that joins B and C first can take several orders-of-magnitude more time to execute than one that joins A and C first. Joining A and C first could have the advantage of a smaller size result that can in turn be joined to B more efficiently than if we were to join the two big tables first. Most query optimizers determine join order via a dynamic programming algorithm, although other optimization algorithms exist and can be utilized.
Cost-based query optimizers rely on a cost model to choose the best possible query plan for a given query. The accuracy of cost estimates can directly affect the quality of the query plan. That is, when costs estimates are inaccurate, non-efficient plans can be selected over more efficient ones, which can significantly affect query performance. Cost estimates depend mainly on cardinality estimations of various sub-plans (intermediate results) generated during optimization.
Statistics that capture the logical characteristics and physical layout of the data are important to cost based optimizers for accurately estimating the execution cost of the access plans. Logical characteristics can include, but are not limited to, the sizes of the tables, the number of distinct values in a column of a table, the frequency and histogram statistics that capture the distribution of the data values in the columns, and the like. Physical characteristics can include, but are not limited to, the clustering and the number of pages that a table or index occupies.
Using basic statistics on base tables requires adopting unrealistic assumptions to estimate the cardinalities of intermediate results, which usually cause large estimation errors that can be off by several orders of magnitude. For example, the basic statistics might give the optimizer the information about the individual columns but may not capture correlation of values in one column with the values in another column. Modern commercial database systems support statistical or sample views, which give more accurate statistics on intermediate results and query sub-expressions. There is currently no mechanism to automatically recommend the most beneficial statistical views to construct for estimating intermediate results during query optimization operations.

Recommending statistical views using cost/benefit metrics

International Business Machines Corporation


Pumping and foaming device (100) comprising a pumping and foaming unit (102) rotatable around a shaft (130) by driving means (104), the pumping and foaming unit (102) comprising a pumping element (110) whose rotation pumps both air and fluid and mixes them; the pumping and foaming unit (102) further comprising a foaming element (120) whose relative rotation in a foaming chamber (121) drives the mixture of air and fluid coming from the pumping element (110) under a certain level of shear stress which allows this mixture to be foamed.

Foams consist of two phases, an aqueous phase and a gaseous (air) phase. A fluid foam is therefore a substance which is formed by trapping many gas bubbles in a fluid structure: producing a fluid foam involves not only the generation of these gas bubbles, but also the packing and the retention of these bubbles into the overall fluid structure in order to provide a stable foam.
It is desirable to produce food foams obtained from food fluid products with the tiny and stable air bubbles to provide a light texture and different mouth feel. In most of the food foams, proteins are the main surface active agents helping in the formation and stabilization of the dispersed gaseous phase, creating protein-stabilized foams. Proteins will always have certain stresses to overcome, such as mechanical and gravitational: the capacity of proteins to stabilize the foaming structure formed against these stresses will determine foam stability, usually expressed as the time required for 50% of the fluid to drain from the foam, i.e., the time required for reaching a 50% reduction in the foam volume.
When foaming a fluid, it would be desirable to produce foam on demand, having a superior quality. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide this prime quality foam as quickly as possible and in a repeatable way, meaning that the foam quality is controlled and can be repeated from one fluid to another.
One of the most commonly used food fluid foams is milk foam. Devices for producing milk foam are well known in the state of the art: typically, these devices comprise a reservoir, into which milk is filled, the reservoir being also provided with a rotating part, typically a whisk arranged in its lower surface, causing the foaming of the milk by agitating the milk which in turn traps air inside the liquid film. The production of milk foam in these known devices requires however time, quite a number of manipulations and also requires cleaning every time foam is produced. Also, in order to regulate the characteristics of the foam obtained, the geometry of the whisk needs to be controlled, something which is hard to understand and control in a precise way, making any repeatability of the process too complex and not achievable.
Document EP 2478804 A1 in the state of the art, for example, discloses a milk reservoir pressurized by gas, the pressurized milk being directed to a mixing area for being further mixed with another gas. Later frothing and reduction of the size of bubbles occurs in a frothing arrangement, comprising typically a static mixer or a rotating whisk. However, the regulation and control of the foaming in such systems is complicated and not precise, also requiring a complex configuration. Moreover, these systems require cleaning after foaming has been produced, which is both cumbersome and time consuming.
Other documents known in the state of the art, such as US 2013/0043274 A1, describe packaging solutions providing storing, dosing and dispensing functions particularly adapted for food fluid products, typically beverages, comprising a container, dosing means and a valve. The dosing means comprise a rotor with at least a truncated part driven in rotation and working as a dosing device, taking liquid from a dosing inlet and driving it to a dosing outlet, such that the liquid from the container is conveyed into a mixing chamber where it is mixed with a diluent: when this diluent is gas (N2 or CO2) a head of foam is provided on the upper layer of the beverage. However, the foaming process in this system is not produced in a controlled and precise way, being very difficult to monitor and to regulate it and, consequently, to obtain repeatable results from one fluid foamed to another.
Accordingly, other solutions have been provided to allow the production of foaming fluids in a controlled and regulated manner. An example is provided in EP 12199185.5 belonging to the same applicant, where a device for producing milk foam is disclosed: high shear stress is applied to a milk-air mixture in the gap between two cylinders rotating with respect to each other, the shear stress leading to an emulsion of the milk and the air, with a later foaming effect once expansion occurs. With this solution, milk foam can be produced in a controlled way. However, the device is relatively complex and requires frequent cleaning after milk foam has been produced, something which is time consuming and not attractive for the user.
There are also well known foaming devices in the state of the art which use steam to foam via a Venturi effect, such as for example the devices shown in EP 2695556 A1 or in EP 2636343 A1. Document EP 2695556 A1 discloses a device for preparing heated milk foam having a suction device comprising a mixing chamber with vapour and milk, such that this mixture is suctioned through utilizing Venturi effect, so that milk foam is provided. Another example is provided in document EP 2636343 A1, where a device for producing heated milk foam is described: this device uses a narrowing nozzle, particularly a Venturi nozzle, for obtaining a suction effect of milk and vapour, in order to produce milk foam. However, these known systems using the Venturi effect are not operated in a clean way, the milk being repeatedly in contact with the device which not only imposes often cleaning but which can also be a source of product contamination. Moreover, these devices only allow the production of hot milk foam: cold milk foam is not an option when using such systems. Apart from this, the quality of the foam obtained by using these systems is not satisfying.
On top of that, these systems are typically prepared to allow only the production of milk foam, but not the production and delivery of other types of food foams, such as for example foams from vegetables or other food products, which are more viscous and cannot be processed in standard known foaming devices.
Therefore, there is still a need to provide a simple device which is able to produce high quality foam on demand, in a short time, in a reliable and repeatable way. Moreover, this device will be able to provide other types of food foams, such as for example foams from vegetables. The present invention aims at providing a foaming device which addresses these and other needs.


The present invention relates to a roll-on applicator with a filling opening and a dispensing opening which prevents leakage or spillage without the need of the cooperation of a cap. This container comprises ball (3) and a flexible and resilient support means (4) for said ball. Said flexible and resilient support means urges said ball against said dispensing opening, achieving a leak-tight engagement between said ball and said dispensing opening. Furthermore, said flexible and resilient support means can be resiliently deformed by an external force acting on said ball to disengage said leak-tight engagement between said ball and said dispensing opening, allowing said contained product to be spread by said ball.

Roll-on applicators are well known in the art. Usually, said applicators are containers comprising a hollow body for liquids, a ball and a retaining support means for said ball. These roll-on applicators generally allow to apply a liquid film from the inside of the hollow body to a selected surface. The common problem of these is to avoid leakage or spillage of the contained liquid during the periods of non-use of said roll-on applicators. The prior art solves this problem using the cooperation of a cap. Indeed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,328, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,494, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,495, U.S. Pat. No. 4,475, 837 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,051, 017, the ball is forced to engage and bear against a sealing surface of said retaining support means when the container is closed by the cap. But this solution to avoid leakage or spillage is inconvenient, if the above retaining support means with the ball is located under the level of the content. Indeed, leakage or spillage may occur during the operation of unscrewing the cap. For this reason, the roll-on applicator of the prior art usually has the retaining support means for the ball on top of the corresponding container above the level of the content when said container is stored in its upright position.
EP-A-0 575 714, for example, describes a circular-sectioned applicator rotating about the axis defined by opposite pins engaged in the rim of an orifice. The liquid detergent has to be poured through the orifice before being intercepted by said applicator. Therefore, leakage or spillage is prevented only by the fact that said orifice is located above the level of the contained liquid detergent. This example shows that in the art of roll-on applicating means exists the need of a leakage- or spillage-free solution ensured without a cap.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a container with a roll-on applicating means which is leak-tight when the cap is off or when said container does not comprise a cap and when the liquid is above said roll-on applicating means.
Another disadvantage of the roll-on applicators of the prior art is given by the fact that the spread quantity cannot be increased. Instead, the prior art only teaches a decrease of said spread quantity. Indeed, the roll-on applicating means described in the above mentioned prior art can force the ball to engage and bear against a sealing surface of said retaining support means to decrease or stop completely the flow of the content on said ball. The inverse is never possible. On the contrary, an increased spread quantity is useful especially during pretreatment. Indeed, different stains may need a greater amount of liquid detergent for a more effective pretreatment. For example, stains made of certain constituents may need a greater quantity of detergent to get a more thorough and effective pretreatment. A greater quantity may also be needed to simply cover the dimension of the stain itself.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container with roll-on applicating means allowing to increase the product flow from the interior.


A network equipment device test system includes a message blueprint data structure for storing blueprint data for messages to be decoded. The network equipment test device further includes a message decoder for decoding received messages by accessing the message blueprint data structure and matching information elements in the received messages with information elements in the message blueprint data structure. The network equipment test device further includes a message blueprint data structure configurator for receiving, as input, test configuration data, and for configuring the message blueprint data structure for optimized decoding of messages based on the test configuration data.

A network device test system sends protocol messages to a device under test and receives responsive messages from the device under test to test the functionality and performance of the device under test. In order to properly evaluate the functionality and performance of the device under test, the network device test system must decode the response messages to determine what information elements are included in the messages. The decoding of response messages is one of the most processor intensive operations performed by a network device test system. For example, in some network device test systems, decoding is performed by sequentially accessing elements in a data structure and comparing the elements to bits of a received message until a matching element is located. Each access to the data structure and each comparison consumes processor cycles. Thus, it is desirable to limit the number of data structure accesses and comparisons performed during message decoding.
Accordingly, there exists a long felt need for methods, systems, and computer readable media for test configuration optimized decoding of protocol messages in a network device test system.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for test configuration optimized decoding of protocol messages in a network device test system


A method of manufacturing an electronic device (10) provides a substrate (20) that has a plastic material. A particulate material (16) is embedded in at least one surface of the substrate. A layer of thin-film semiconductor material is deposited onto the substrate (20).

Thin-film transistor (TFT) devices are widely used in switching or driver circuitry for electro-optical arrays and display panels. TFT devices are conventionally fabricated on rigid substrates, typically glass or silicon, using a well-known sequence of deposition, patterning and etching steps. For example, amorphous silicon TFT devices require deposition, patterning, and etching of metals, such as aluminum, chromium or molybdenum, of amorphous silicon semiconductors, and of insulators, such as SiO2 or Si3N4 onto a substrate. The semiconductor thin film is formed in layers having typical thicknesses of from several nm to several hundred nm, with intermediary layers having thicknesses on the order of a few microns, and may be formed over an insulating surface that lies atop the rigid substrate.
The requirement for a rigid substrate is based largely on the demands of the fabrication process itself. Thermal characteristics are of particular importance, since TFT devices are fabricated at relatively high temperatures. Thus, the range of substrate materials that have been used successfully is somewhat limited, generally to glass, quartz, or other rigid, silicon-based materials.
TFT devices can be formed on some types of metal foil and plastic substrates, allowing some measure of flexibility in their fabrication. However, problems such as chemical incompatibility between the substrate and TFT materials, thermal expansion mismatch between substrate and device layers, planarity and surface morphology, and capacitive coupling or possible shorting make metal foil substrates less desirable in many applications.
Clearly, there would be advantages in improving and expanding the range of suitable substrate materials for electronic devices such as TFTs to include more types of plastics and plastic materials with improved characteristics. This would allow fabrication on a flexible substrate and help to reduce the overall weight of display and other electro-optic components. It could be feasible to fabricate thinner devices. In addition, this capability could enable fabrication of larger displays and devices, since crystalline silicon and many types of glass that are conventionally employed as substrates become increasingly difficult to form and manage in large sheets.
While there are clear advantages to plastic and other flexible substrates, there are significant disadvantages that have discouraged use of such substrates, including the following:                Incompatibility with the high temperature range required for TFT fabrication.        Poor dimensional stability at high temperatures.        Mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of plastic and thin-film semiconductor materials.        High moisture absorption characteristics of plastics.        Poor transparency for many types of plastic.        The requirement to attach and detach the plastic substrate material from a carrier.
Chief among these disadvantages are temperature-related requirements. The fabrication process for the TFT may require temperatures in the range of 200-300 degrees C. or higher, including temperatures at levels where many types of plastic substrates would be unusable. Thus, it is widely held, as is stated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,045,442 (Maruyama et al.), that a TFT cannot be directly formed on a plastic substrate. In order to provide the benefits of TFT devices mounted on a plastic substrate, the Maruyama et al. '442 disclosure describes a method that forms the TFT on a release layer that is initially attached to a carrier substrate. Once the TFT circuitry is fabricated, the release layer is then separated from its carrier substrate and can be laminated onto a lighter and more flexible plastic material.
As one alternative solution, U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,026 (Graff et al.) discloses the use of flexible plastic substrates having relatively high glass transition temperatures Tg, typically above 120 degrees C. However, the capability for these substrates to withstand conventional TFT fabrication temperatures much above this range is questionable. Moreover, in order to use these plastics, considerable effort is expended in protecting the substrate and the device(s) formed from scratch damage and moisture permeation, such as using multiple barrier layers.
Another alternative solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,680,485 (Carey et al.) In the method described in the Carey et al. '485 disclosure, energy from a pulsed laser source is used to form amorphous and polycrystalline channel silicon TFTs onto low-temperature plastic substrates. The conventional, low-temperature plastic substrates for which this method is described include polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethersulfone (PES), and high density polyethylene (HDPE), for example.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,762,124 (Kian et al.) discloses a process using an excimer laser to ablate a material through a mask to form a patterned conductor or semiconductor material for TFT formation onto a substrate. In the Kian et al. '124 disclosure, the substrate that is used is a composite, "glass replacement" material that may have a flexible or rigid plastic material supplemented with one or more barrier and protective layers.
Although these and similar solutions have been proposed for forming TFT components on flexible substrates, drawbacks remain. Lamination of a release layer that is populated with TFT devices, as described in Maruyama et al. '442 requires additional fabrication steps and materials and presents inherent alignment difficulties. The use of high-performance plastics, such as that of the Graff et al. '026 disclosure, still leaves thermal expansion (CTE) difficulties and requires additional layers and processes in order to protect the plastic. The excimer layer solutions proposed in the Carey et al. '485 and Kian et al. '124 disclosures do not provide the full breadth of capabilities of more conventional TFT fabrication techniques and thus have limited utility. None of these disclosures provide a flexible substrate that truly serves to replace glass or other silicon-based substrate, since the TFT must be formed either on a release layer or on some intermediate layer that must be formed on top of the flexible substrate.
One particular flexible material of interest for use as a substrate, with properties including dimensional stability and heat and chemical resistance, is the class of polyimides. However, even with its advantages, polyimide material presents significant obstacles to direct deposition of TFTs. For example, additional release layers and transfer layers must be employed, since reflow behavior is not characteristic of polyimides. The CTE of polyimide differs from that of thin-film semiconductor materials, leading to fracturing and electrical discontinuity following high-temperature fabrication. In one attempt to improve polyimide material characteristics, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0163968 (Hanket) describes a micro-filled polyimide film having improved CTE and other durability enhancements. However, even where CTE can be more closely matched using microfiller additives, other problems with lamination remain. Other plastics of interest, such as Teflon®, may have some properties that are more favorable for use as flexible substrates, but present other sets of obstacles that preclude their use with conventional fabrication approaches.
It can, therefore, be appreciated that there is an unmet need for a fabrication method for forming TFTs directly onto a flexible substrate with a minimum number of additional steps and procedures for preparation or conditioning of the substrate itself.

Flexible substrate with electronic devices formed thereon