A phase determination unit in a signal processing circuit generates sampling clocks with different phases in a clock generator and sequentially provides them to an analog-to-digital convertor. Then, the phase determination unit obtains differences between each adjacent two signal levels in each sampled digital signal by use of the sampling clocks, and monitors a polarity change in the differences, extracts a more inappropriate phase for use in sampling from phases of the sampling clocks on the basis of the absolute values of the differences where the polarity change is detected, and determines an antiphase of the extracted phase as a phase of the sampling clock to be provided to the analog-to-digital convertor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing method and a signal processing circuit, and particularly relates to a method and a circuit for automatically adjusting a phase of a sampling clock used when sampling an analog signal and converting the signal to a digital signal.
2. Description of Related Art
In a digital image display apparatus and the like, an analog-to-digital convertor samples (quantizes) RGB (Red-Green-Blue) signals being image data by use of a sampling clock, and thereby converts the signals to digital image signals. Here, generation of the sampling clock for the RGB signals is triggered by their synchronizing signals (a horizontal synchronizing signal and a vertical synchronizing signal). However, under the condition that the delays (input timings) of RGB signals and their synchronizing signals are not the same, the following problem has occurred. Specifically, sampling is not performed appropriately by use of a sampling clock generated in response to such synchronizing signals as triggers, and consequently a blurred image is obtained when the resultant digital image signals are displayed.
Descriptions will hereinafter be given of related techniques [1] and [2] for dealing with the problem.
Related Technique [1]: FIGS. 7 to 10
A signal processing circuit 1a shown in FIG. 7 includes: an analog-to-digital convertor 10 which samples an inputted analog signal SA to convert the signal to a digital signal SD; a clock generator 20 which sequentially generates sampling clocks C0 to Cn having different phases in response to a synchronizing signal Ssync of the analog signal SA as a trigger, and provides these sampling clocks to the convertor 10; a clock controller 30 which provides frequency data Cf and phase data Cp (phases P0 to Pn of the respective clocks C0 to Cn) for informing the generator 20 of the frequency and the phases of the sampling clocks; and an effective image area start/end point detector 40 which operates with the sampling clocks C0 to Cn and the synchronizing signal Ssync, detects a start point HcS and an end point HcE of the effective image area of the analog signal SA by comparing the signal level of the digital signal SD with a predetermined threshold value Th, and provides these points to the clock controller 30.
Here, when receiving the synchronizing signal Ssync, the clock controller 30 determines a frequency common to the sampling clocks C0 to Cn on the basis of previously held parameters (such as the number of output pixels of the digital signal SD) and outputs the frequency as the frequency data Cf. In addition, the clock controller 30 finally determines a phase suitable for sampling among the clock phases P0 to Pn on the basis of the effective image area start points HcS and end points HcE detected on the operational conditions with the respective sampling clocks C0 to Cn.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, the effective image area start point HcS is a point (timing) where the analog signal SA first enters the effective image area after the input of the synchronizing signal Ssync, and the end point HcE is a point where the analog signal SA has just gone away from the effective image area. Accordingly, these points HcS and HcE can be detected by monitoring the signal level of the digital signal SD.
Descriptions will hereinafter be given of the detailed operations of the above signal processing circuit 1a with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
Now, it is assumed that the analog signal SA shown in FIG. 9 is sampled by use of sampling clocks C0 to C7 (clocks being out of phase with each other by a time obtained by dividing a clock cycle by 8).
In this case, with regard to the sampling clocks C0 to C3, the signal level (unillustrated) of the digital signal SD outputted from the analog-to-digital convertor 10 exceeds a threshold value Th for the first time at the rising timing of the s-th pulse PLs from the first. Then, the signal level of the digital signal SD falls below the threshold value Th at the rising timings of the pulses subsequent to the e-th (e>s) pulse PLe from the first.
On the other hand, with regard to the sampling clocks C4 to C7, the signal level of the digital signal SD exceeds the threshold value Th for the first time at the rising timing of a pulse PLs-1. Then, with regard to the sampling clock C4, the signal level of the digital signal SD falls below the threshold value Th at the rising timings of the pulses subsequent to the pulse PLe, as in the sampling clocks C0 to C3. Meanwhile, with regard to the sampling clocks C5 to C7, the signal level of the digital signal SD falls below the threshold value Th at the rising timings of the pulses subsequent to a pulse PLe-1.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the effective image area start/end point detector 40 sets the effective image area start point HcS to the pulse PLs for the sampling clocks C0 to C3 while setting the start point HcS to the pulse PLs-1 for the sampling clocks C4 to C7. In addition, the effective image area start/end point detector 40 sets the effective image area end point HcE to the pulse PLe for the sampling clocks C0 to C4 while setting the end point HcE to the pulse PLe-1 for the sampling clocks C5 to C7.
Upon receiving the start points HcS and the end points HcE, the clock controller 30 firstly calculates the difference between each pair of start and end points "HcE−HcS" (that is, the number of samples included in each digital signal SD). The point differences "HcE−HcS" thus obtained are not equal to one another. Specifically, the point difference in the sampling clock C4, shown in the shaded area in the drawing, is greater by "1" pulse than those in the other sampling clocks C0 to C3 and C5 to C7, namely, the number of samples for C4 are different from those for C0 to C3 and C5 to C7.
Hence, the clock controller 30 provides the clock generator 20 with the center phase of the sampling clocks C0 to C3 and C5 to C7, which are expected to have the correct point difference "HcE−HcS," that is, the phase P0 of the sampling clock C0, as the phase data Cp.
In this manner, the signal processing circuit 1a can automatically adjust the phase of a sampling clock used for the sampling of the analog signal SA (refer to Patent Document 1, for example).
However, such a signal processing circuit has a problem that an adjusted phase of a sampling clock varies depending on the set value of the threshold value Th.
For example, assume that the analog signal SA shown in FIG. 11 is inputted. In this case, the results of adjusting the phase of a sampling clock are different between when using a threshold value Tha and when using a threshold value Thb which is set smaller than the threshold value Tha.
In other words, even though the same analog signal SA is sampled by use of the sampling clocks C0 to C7 respectively having the same phases in both the cases where the threshold values Tha and Thb are used, the clock controller 30 selects different phases in these cases as shown in FIG. 12. Specifically, the clock controller 30 selects the phase P1 (the center phase of the sampling clocks C0 to C3 and C7, which are expected to have the correct point difference "HcE−HcS") of the sampling clock C1 when the threshold value Tha is used while selecting the phase P7 (the center phase of the sampling clocks C0 to C2 and C4 to C7, which are expected to have the correct point difference "HcE−HcS") of the sampling clock C7 when the threshold value Thb is used.
To deal with the problem, the related technique [2] has been proposed as follows.
Related Technique [2]: FIGS. 13 to 17
A signal processing circuit 1b shown in FIG. 13 includes a frequency informing unit 50 and a phase determination unit 60 instead of the clock controller 30 and the effective image area start/end point detector 40, which are shown in FIG. 7.
Here, the frequency informing unit 50 determines a frequency common to the sampling clocks C0 to Cn on the basis of parameters previously held when receiving the synchronizing signal Ssync, and outputs the frequency as the frequency data Cf, similarly to the clock controller 30.
Furthermore, the phase determination unit 60 has: a maximum difference detector 61 which detects maximum values D0_max to Dn_max (hereinafter, referred to as the maximum differences, and may be collectively called a symbol D_max) of absolute differences between each adjacent two signal levels in each digital signal SD sequentially sampled by the sampling clocks C0 to Cn; and a phase informing unit 62b which provides the clock generator 20 with the phase of the sampling clock, from which the maximum value has been obtained, among these maximum differences D0_max to Dn_max, as the phase data Cp.
With regard to the operations, first, the phase informing unit 62b sequentially provides the clock generator 20 with the clock phases P0 to P7 first, and generates the sampling clocks C0 to C7, similarly to the clock controller 30 shown in FIG. 7.
The analog-to-digital convertor 10 operates with the sampling clocks C0, C1, . . . , C4, . . . , and C7 as shown in FIG. 14, sequentially converts the analog signal SA to digital signals SD0_1, SD0_2, . . . (hereinafter, they may collectively be called the symbol SD0), SD1_1, SD1_2, . . . (hereinafter, they may collectively be called the symbol SD1), . . . , SD4_1, SD4_2, . . . (hereinafter, they may collectively be called the symbol SD4), . . . , and SD7_1, SD7_2, . . . (hereinafter, they maybe collectively called the symbol SD7), and provides the signals to the maximum difference detector 61.
Here, an optimum phase of the sampling clock is one which can capture the peak value of the analog signal SA. Therefore, the absolute difference between adjacent signal levels in the digital signal SD becomes larger as sampled by a sampling clock with a more appropriate phase. Hence, the maximum difference detector 61 detects absolute differences for all the signal levels of the digital signals SD0 to SD7.
In other words, as shown in FIG. 15, first, the maximum difference detector 61 detects a difference obtained by the sampling clock C0 between the signal levels of the digital signals SD0_1 and SD0_2, which are adjacent to each other, and detects the absolute difference DA0. Similarly, the maximum difference detector 61 detects the absolute differences DA1 to DA7 of the digital signals SD1 to SD7 obtained respectively by use of the sampling clocks C1 to C7. The maximum difference detector 61 executes the process for all the signal levels of the digital signals SD0 to SD7.
In other words, as shown in FIG. 16, the maximum difference detector 61 detects absolute differences DAn(i), Dan(i+1), DAn(i+2), . . . (i is a natural number) for the whole analog signal SA. The maximum difference detector 61 then provides the phase informing unit 62b with the largest DAn(i) among the illustrated absolute differences DAn(i) to DAn(i+2), for example, as the maximum difference Dn_max.
Assuming that D0_max is now the largest among the absolute differences D0_max to D7_max as shown in FIG. 17, the phase informing unit 62b provides the clock generator 20 with the phase P0 of the sampling clock C0, from which the maximum difference D0_max has been obtained, as the phase data Cp (Step T1).
Consequently, the signal processing circuit 1b can adjust the phase of a sampling clock used for the sampling of the analog signal SA with higher accuracy than the above related technique [1] (the signal processing circuit 1a shown in FIG. 7) (refer to Patent Documents 2 to 4, for example).    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-47649    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-89709    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-356729    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-144842

Signal processing method and circuit to convert analog signal to digital signal


A memory device comprises a substrate including isolation regions and active regions, and a floating gate stack proximate the substrate. The floating gate stack comprises a first high-k dielectric layer proximate the substrate, a first metal layer proximate the first high-k dielectric layer, and a second high-k dielectric layer proximate the first metal layer. The memory device comprises a control gate electrode proximate the floating gate stack.

As metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices continue to advance, the thickness of the gate dielectric continues to decrease to maintain the desired control of the MOSFET devices. According to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of less than 15 Å is necessary to meet the requirement of sub-100 nm MOSFET devices. Using conventional SiO2 as the gate material, it is difficult to keep scaling the thickness below 20 Å without having high tunneling leakage current through the gate. Thus, various other gate dielectric materials having a higher dielectric constant (k) than SiO2 have been studied extensively. These materials are known as high-k materials. SiO2 has a k value of 3.9 while the various other gate dielectric materials being studied have k values in the range of 10 to 80.
The thickness of the gate dielectric required to control a MOSFET depends on the capacitance of the film. High-k material films and the thicknesses that would result may be compared to other high-k materials and SiO2 using equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). For example, a high-k film with a k value of 20 may be about five times thicker than a SiO2 film and still have the same control over a MOSFET. The thicker gate dielectric layer may reduce tunneling leakage current through the gate, enabling sub-100 nm MOSFET devices.
Flash electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) uses MOSFET technology and suffers from the same tunneling leakage current through the gate as the flash EEPROM memory cells are scaled in size. In operation, electrons in flash EEPROM memory cells are injected by tunneling into a floating gate to cause a threshold voltage shift that can be detected via current sensing. The magnitude of the threshold shift is related to the charge in the floating gate, the thickness of the control oxide, and other device parameters.


A method is provided for improving the effectiveness of cleaning up wells in a subterranean formation. The treatment is made more effective by first treating the well with a clean-up fluid that enzymatically degrades residual polymeric viscosifiers followed by removing solids contained in drill-in fluids.

A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for improving the effectiveness of stimulation treatments in subterranean formations and/or wellbores. In one aspect, the invention relates to methods for improving fluid penetration into the formation by removing residual treating fluids from a wellbore and around the well face.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Acid treatments have been used for many years in new and old wells to dissolve rock, thus enlarging existing channels and to open new ones to the wellbore. Subterranean sandstone or siliceous formations are normally treated with hydrofluoric acid and mixtures of hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acids. Subterranean carbonate formations can be treated with a variety of acid systems, including hydrochloric, acetic and formic acids. For many years acid treatments have been performed after drilling operations in an attempt to remove wellbore damage caused by foreign fluids injected for well drilling and development. Such treatments somewhat improve permeability of the formation around the wellbore, but it is known that the acid will `wormhole` through the filter cake (and formation in the case of limestone) thereby leaving the bulk of the damaging material in place.
The damaging material is in most cases the result of polymeric viscosifiers which are frequently used in drilling muds and other well completion fluids. Such polymeric viscosifiers remain in the well and tend to interfere with other phases of drilling and/or completion operations, as well as production of the well after such operations are finished. In drilling operations as the wellbore is originally made, fluids tend to seep into the surrounding formation forming a filter cake on the wall of the bore. The filter cake sometimes can prevent casing cement from properly bonding to the wall of the bore.
Moreover, the trajectory of a wellbore is generally tortuous whether it is vertical or horizontal. The wall of the bore often has various ledges and cavities that will collect fluid that has come into contact with it. The fluid in contact with the bore wall tends to gel as water leaks off into the formation, thus greatly decreasing permeability of the formation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,126,051 and 5,165,477 disclose a method for removing one type of fluid, drilling mud, from the wall of a bore and portions of the formation adjacent thereto and for removing residual mud to improve adhesion of casing cement. The patents also disclose a method of cleaning up a well site drilling mud pit. The methods described include adding to the drilling mud an enzyme capable of enzymatically degrading the viscosifier component of the mud. A well treatment fluid comprising one or more enzymes is injected into the well prior to placing the cement between the wall of the bore and casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,995 discloses a method of degrading damaging material within a subterranean formation of a wellbore using enzymes to improve production from the formation. The enzyme treatment degrades polysaccharide-containing filter cakes and damaging fluids which reduce their viscosity. The degraded filter cake and damaging fluid can then be removed from the formation and produced back to the well surface. This patent discloses the use of particular enzymes which are active at low to moderate temperatures and specific to a particular type of polysaccharide. The enzymes are active in the pH range of about 2.0 to 10.0.
It is known that enzymes may be used to aid in the removal of residual damaging materials from drilling or treating fluids to allow greater flow out of the formation. However, it is many times desirable to improve flow or penetration into the formation, for example, when an acidizing treatment is performed to improve well production, or more specifically, in the case of injection wells. Injection wells are normally used in secondary recovery operations to push oil towards a producing well. If the flow of injected water is restricted by deposits from previous well treatments or by deposit build up over time, such as scale, the effectiveness of the injected water is severely limited. Acid treatments are used many times to improve injectivity, but the restricted permeability of the formation affects the acid penetration in the same way that it affects the injected water. It would be desirable to reduce or eliminate the size of costly acid treatments by improving the effectiveness of a small volume of injected acid.

Method for improved stimulation treatment


A portable, electronic imaging system (100) includes a compact housing (102) extending across and beyond the eyes of the user, a wide field of view binocular viewfinder imaging subsystem (104) operating on an image produced by an electronic display subsystem (104) located within the housing, speakers (106) integrally mounted with the housing, an internal, interactive electronic control subsystem (108) to control the functions of the system, and an external input/output interface (110) to facilitate connection with a plurality of optional external devices and/or modules. The housing may further provide for modular mounting and removal of a plurality of optional system modules such as the electronic camera (120), a video tape record and playback device and battery (122), the electronic display (118), a night vision camera, a television tuner, a video game electronic system, a head orientation and position tracking device, or a means for mounting the system on the user's head.

Portable electronic imaging systems employing an electronic image display internal to an optical viewing assembly are well known and are generally designed for two primary applications. The most common is the camcorder, comprising a monocular viewfinder to provide a magnified virtual view of the recorded scene. Such viewfinders provide only a limited apparent field of view and a limited exit pupil and eye relief, and further limit viewing to one eye, resulting in an inconvenient configuration for the user and limited utility for other applications. One solution to this problem has been to replace the viewfinder with a larger flat television display. This solution provides comfortable viewing by both eyes with no exit pupil and eye relief restrictions. However, a large display costs and weighs significantly more than the conventional viewfinder, requires a great amount of battery power, and also provides only a limited field of view.
The second common application of optical viewing assemblies in electronic imaging systems is the head mounted display for night vision or virtual reality applications. Typically employing a binocular or biocular optical system to view one or two display panels, such systems generally provide wider fields of view (i.e., greater than approximately 40.degree.) and larger exit pupils than camcorder viewfinders by employing more elaborate and expensive optical systems, larger display panels, or both. However, the greater cost of such systems combined with the limited utility of head mounted displays results in restricted markets and subsequently in restricted development and production resources.
Another significant problem which is common to both such portable electronic imaging systems is their limited utility, thereby restricting one application from sharing in the benefits of another. Simply stated, camcorders can not realistically enjoy the advantages of head mounted display imaging systems because such systems are too elaborate or too expensive. Conversely, head mounted display systems inherently do not benefit from the large market demand and the subsequent resources of the camcorder industry.
These imaging systems further share an inability to be upgraded with advances in display technology, requiring the user to purchase an entire new imaging system to exploit such advances.
Finally, it is well known that camcorders exhibit many characteristics which are often undesirable, including excessive weight, size, cost and incompatibility with different tape formats. Current camcorders also provide only monaural sound, requiring separate headphones to listen to the stereo capabilities inherent in such systems. Current camcorders also require the user to manage the camcorder's weight significantly from their body, causing greater fatigue than if one's hands are maintained more closely. Further, the narrow viewfinders of most camcorders may represent particular danger to the user's eye if the camcorder is bumped or if the user is in a dynamic situation. Such viewfinders also are inconvenient and sometimes difficult to use by people who wear eyeglasses.

Modular binocular electronic imaging system


In a piston-type compressor, especially for generating compressed air in motor vehicles, there is a suction plate on the underside of a valve support, clamped between the cylinder and cylinder head, facing the compressor piston. The suction plate consists of an active and an inactive section. The active section, preferably consisting of a tongue-shaped active plate fitted in the center, operates in relation to suction apertures in the valve support while the inactive section of the suction plate has at least one delivery aperture in active connection with at least one delivery aperture in the valve support. The suction plate takes the form of a disc, thus virtually eliminating waste space. The suction plate can be fitted between the cylinder and the valve support without additional components; when used in an energy-saving system, the suction plate can be rotated to produce differing degrees of overlap between suction and delivery apertures.

The invention generally relates to a piston-type compressor and more specifically to an improved suction plate for a piston compressor.
In the case of piston-type compressors shown for example, in (German Patent Documents DE 39 04 172 A1 and DE 39 09 531 A1), suction plates are provided which have an essentially circular shape and, by means of their freely movable part, that is, the part which can be swivelled perpendicularly to the plane of the valve support plate, are adapted to the position of the suction apertures situated in the valve support. The recessed interior area of such suction apertures as well as partial areas outside their outer contours may be called a waste space since a waste volume remains in each case between the top side of the piston in its upper dead-center position and the underside of the valve support or of the valve support plate. The fitting-in of the suction plates takes place by pin elements or, when they are used on an energy saving system (German Patent Document DE 39 09 531 A1), by a toggle lever operating system which permits a displacement of the suction plate between two active positions, specifically the pumping position and the idling position.
Based on the above, it is an object of the invention to further develop a suction plate of the above-mentioned type, when using constructionally simple devices with respect to its fitting or fixing, such that the waste volume above the piston of the compressor is reduced to a minimum. Suction plates of this type must also be usable in energy-saving systems for piston-type compressors claiming the above-mentioned advantages.
The objects are obtained by a suction plate, which consists of an inactive section and an active section, and covers almost the whole cross-section above the piston of the compressor, that is, on the underside of the valve support. This results in almost no waste volume laterally to the active section in the upper dead-center position of the piston. The active section, which is preferably constructed as a tongue-shaped valve plate, and extends almost along the whole diameter of the plate disk body such that the two sides of the active section are limited by approximately semicircular inactive section sections with delivery apertures penetrating them.
The fixing of the suction plate takes place without additional mounting devices; that is, the suction plate can be inserted and clamped in between the cylinder and the valve support plate. For the purpose of a securing with respect to rotation, a notch is provided on the outer circumference of the suction plate, a projection on the cylinder or on the valve support plate engaging in this notch. The suction plate can also be advantageously used in the case of piston-type compressors with a so-called energy-saving system. As the result of their disk-shaped configuration, it can be rotated by a simple rotary drive in order to achieve a complete covering of the delivery apertures of the valve support or in order to achieve the desired partial opening of the suction apertures of the valve support.
Advantageous developments and further developments are listed in the claims.
In the following, the invention will be explained by means of embodiments with reference to the enclosed drawing.

Piston-type compressor, especially for generating compressed air in motor vehicles

Knorr-Bremse Systems fur Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH


A printer attenuates curl in media sheets being printing by the printer. The printer includes a moisture ejecting subsystem that ejects a water-containing material in the margins of the media sheet in the cross-process direction to reduce a moisture gradient across the media sheet when the grain of the media is parallel to the process direction of the media moving through the printer.

In general, inkjet printing machines or printers include at least one printhead that ejects drops or jets of liquid ink onto a recording or image forming surface. In some inkjet printers, the printhead ejects ink directly onto the surface of media as the media passes the printhead. The media can be in the form of a continuous web or in the form of sheets. In continuous web printers, the media is pulled from a supply roll by actuator-driven rollers. As the web moves through the printer it passes around rollers to which tension is applied to keep the web taut as it passes through the printer to a take-up roll. In sheet printers, actuator-driven rollers are positioned against one another to form nips and these nips urge the sheets through the printer.
In inkjet printers that eject ink directly onto sheets, media deformation occurs more frequently in sheet printers than continuous web printers since a web is generally taut as it passes through the printer. Sheets having leading and trailing edges that can get caught in structure and wrinkled. Additionally, the sheets can absorb moisture in the inks ejected onto the sheets and this moisture can cause curling or other deformations in the media. These deformations are particularly troublesome in inkjet printers that employ water-based or solvent-based inks in which pigments or other colorants are suspended or in solution. The water and solvents in the inks can change the physical properties of the sheets in ways that degrade the quality of the images produced on the media sheets. Consequently, most aqueous ink printers form the ink images on a blanket mounted to a drum or endless belt and then transfer the ink image to media sheets as they pass through a nip formed with the drum or endless belt. Such a printer avoids the changes in image quality, drop spread, and media properties that occur in response to media contact with the water or solvents in aqueous ink. Addressing the media property changes would enable inkjet printers to eject ink directly onto media without adversely impacting image quality.

System for reducing cockle in media printed by an inkjet printer


A combined air cleaner and noise attenuating resonator device including a hollow cylindrical air cleaner element pressed to a fitting on a hose, the fitting latched to the housing in a position holding the air cleaner filter element within a cavity in a housing. An expansion chamber and a Helmholtz resonator chamber are both defined in part in the housing and by an insert piece within the housing which also forms an air flow passage in fluid communication with each chamber.

This invention concerns air induction systems for internal combustion engines. Modern engines for automotive power plants incorporate one or more resonator chamber devices in the air induction system in order to reduce engine noise. Conventionally, each resonator device comprises a separate component which must be connected into the induction system typically using hoses and clamps to connect the device to the air cleaner and throttle body. This involves significant labor, extra parts, and potential leak points allowing entry of dust.
In an effort to simplify the air induction system and lower costs, the air cleaner sometimes includes a resonator chamber in the housing into which the air cleaner element is installed. An example of such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,864, issued on Dec. 13, 1988 for a "Compact Engine Air Cleaner with Integrated Components".
Resonator devices include both expansion chamber and Helmholtz resonators which are each designed to attenuate noise in different frequency ranges. Even where one type of resonator is integrated into the air cleaner housing, typically the other type is often installed as a separate component, although integration of both types in a separate component is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,494, issued on Jun. 13, 1995 to the assignee of the present application.
Copending application U.S. Ser. No. 08/842,252 filed on Apr. 24, 1997, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, attorney docket No. 97P7659US, describes a connector hose between the air cleaner and throttle body which has both types of resonator integrated with the connector hose.
Automotive air cleaner elements often are rectangular in shape and are sealed by engagement of a large rectangular cover around the entire perimeter of the seal. The air cleaner housing is usually of molded plastic, and larger molded structures sometimes are slightly warped, creating leak points where dust can bypass the air filter and enter the engine.
More costly stronger plastic materials are often used to avoid this problem, thus increasing costs.
An object of the present invention is to provide an air induction system having an air cleaner which incorporates both an expansion chamber and a Helmholtz resonator.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an air cleaner assembly for an automotive air induction system which does not rely on establishing complete sealing engagement of covers or other housing parts with the filter element.


An erasable and programmable ROM with an identification code includes an internal circuit operating as an EPROM, a code reading circuit having a code setting circuit for storing a predetermined identification code, an output circuit, and a switching circuit for transferring an output of an internal circuit to the output circuit. The switching circuit is turned on to transfer the output signal of the internal circuit to the output circuit directly, when information in the internal circuit is read out. On the other hand, the switching circuit is turned off to separate the output circuit from the internal circuit, when the identification code is read out from the code setting circuit.

A conventional EPROM with an identification code includes an internal circuit operating as a EPROM, a code setting circuit storing predetermined identification code, a switching circuit which is composed of plural logic gates and is connected at inputs to the internal circuit and the code setting circuit, and a control circuit for controlling the switching circuit to selectively supply one of outputs of the internal circuit and the code setting circuit to an output circuit.
In this conventional EPROM with an identification code, when a mode in which information stored in the internal circuit is read out is instructed by a selection signal of the control circuit, a signal from the internal circuit to the output circuit, and an identification code is not read from the code setting circuit. On the other hand, when a mode in which a predetermined identification code is read out is instructed, a signal from the code setting circuit is transferred through the switching circuit by disconnecting a signal line of the internal circuit.
According to the conventional EPROM with an identification code, however, there are disadvantages in that the switching circuit becomes complicated in structure and large in an occupying area, when the bit number of an identification code and/or functions of an EPROM are increased, because the switching circuit operates in accordance with levels of signals supplied from the control circuit and the code setting circuit. For this reason, the number of transistors which are arranged longitudinally in the switching circuit is increased. As a result, the transfer speed of a signal read from the internal circuit is lowered.

Erasable and programmable ROM with an identification code


A steam generator for a nuclear reactor comprises plenums proximate with a first plane, wherein the first plane intersects a bottom portion of a riser column of a reactor vessel. The steam generator may further comprise plenums proximate with a second plane, approximately parallel with the first plane, wherein the second plane intersects a top portion of the riser column of the reactor vessel. The steam generator may further include a plurality of steam generator tubes that convey coolant from a plenum located proximate with the first plane to one of the plenums proximate with the second plane.

In a nuclear reactor, a core of nuclear material is confined to a small volume internal to the reactor so that a reaction may occur. In many instances, a controlled nuclear reaction may persist for an extended period of time, such as several years, before refueling of the reactor core is required. Accordingly, when used as a source of heat for converting water into steam, a properly designed nuclear reactor may provide a carbon-free, stable, and highly reliable source of energy.
A nuclear reactor may make use of a working fluid, such as water, which may be converted to steam at a pressure significantly above atmospheric pressure. The pressurized steam may then be used to drive a turbine for converting mechanical energy to electric current. The steam may then be condensed back into water, and returned to the reactor. In many nuclear reactors, the cycle of vaporization, condensation, and vaporization of the working fluid may continue day after day and year after year.
Thus, a significant feature of a nuclear reactor may be a steam generator that receives liquid coolant at an input side, vaporizes the coolant by way of exposure to the heat source of the nuclear reactor, and provides the vaporized coolant to the input of a turbine. Accordingly, the efficiency, ease of manufacture, performance, and the safety features of the steam generator represent areas of continued investigation, analysis, and evaluation.


A method for voting by peers via mobile devices operating in a network on behalf of their owners, comprising iteratively sending by a plurality of peers votes for candidates to a peer and determining by the peer, according to the votes, at least one winner candidate.

Scheduling using constraints satisfaction is known in the art. For example, Pauline Berry, Melinda Gervasio, Bart Peintner, Tomas Uribe, Neil Yorke-Smith, Multi-Criteria Evaluation in User-Centric Distributed Scheduling Agents, Artificial Intelligence Center, SRI International, or Richard J Wallace and Eugene C. Freuder Cork, Constraint-based Multi-agent Meeting scheduling: effects of Agent Heterogeneity on Performance and Privacy Loss, Constraint Computation Center, or Gregory G. Leedberg, Cotiro: A College Time and Room Scheduler Using Constraints Satisfaction, Cornell University (http://leedberg.com/glsoft/cotiro/cotiro.pdf), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.


The present disclosure relates to an integrated circuit (IC) that includes a boundary region defined between a low voltage region, and a method of formation. In some embodiments, the integrated circuit comprises a first gate boundary dielectric layer disposed over a substrate in the low voltage region. A second gate boundary dielectric layer is disposed over the substrate in the high voltage region having a thickness greater than that of the first boundary dielectric layer. The first boundary dielectric layer meets the second boundary dielectric layer at the boundary region. A first polysilicon component is disposed within the boundary region over the first boundary dielectric layer and the second gate boundary layer. A second polysilicon component is disposed within the boundary region over the first polysilicon component. A hard mask component is disposed over the first polysilicon component and laterally neighbored to the second polysilicon component.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced exponential growth over the last few decades. In the course of IC evolution, high voltage technology has been widely used in power management, regulator, battery protector, DC motor, automotive relative, panel display driver (STN, TFT, OLED, etc.), color display driver, power supply relative, telecom, etc. On the other hand, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. One advancement implemented as technology nodes shrink, in some IC designs, has been the replacement of the typically polysilicon gate electrode with a metal gate electrode to improve device performance with the decreased feature sizes. Semiconductor devices of the replacement gate technology are integrated on the same chip with a logic core, and support the logic core to accomplish an intended function and limits or eliminate inter-chip communication. However, there are challenges to embed low voltage devices and high voltage devices especially on 28 nm node and beyond process.

Boundary region for high-k-metal-gate (HKMG) integration technology

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


An in-tank motor-pump unit includes a motor driven gear pump, a pressure transducer, and a control module as a single integrated package establishing fuel flow at a constant pressure by creating a pulse-modulated motor drive having a fixed "off" and a variable "on" period. A permanent magnet DC motor drives a rotary pump with the required torque operating over the specified speed range and without stalling out at low flow demand. An integrated circuit board includes an IC timing chip, operating in an astable mode, has an input connected to the transducer and an output connected to a MOSFET switch which connects the motor to a power supply. A series resistor connects an amplified voltage signal of the transducer to charge the capacitor and discharge resistor separately connects the capacitor to the input of the timing chip to generate a constant "off" period and a variable operative "on" period of the MOSFET. A slight recycle fuel flow is established with substantially equal "on" and "off" periods at substantially zero fuel flow.

This invention relates to a motor driven fuel pump and control system for internal combustion engines, and particularly to an apparatus and method which continuously monitors the fuel system pressure and regulates the fuel flow to a predetermined pressure, and controls the flow of fuel at an essentially constant pressure from a remote fuel tank to the engine.
Fuel delivery systems for modern internal combustion engines, particularly engines using fuel injection, generally use a motor driven fuel pump. A fuel pump operated at an appropriate manner provides for a more precise flow of fuel for injection into the engine. The fuel pump may be mounted external to or within the fuel tank. The connection may use either a single line direct flow or a constant flow with excess fuel redirected to the fuel tank via a return line. For various reasons, direct line connection without a need for the return line, is desirable.
Various prior art patents disclose the various fuel systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,291, which issued Jul. 12, 1988 to Cummins et al and is assigned to the Ford Motor Company, discloses a control system for a motor driven fuel pump in which a control system is provided having a high voltage limit and low voltage limit related to the flow pressure. If the flow related voltage signal rises above the high voltage limit or below the low voltage limit, the control system adjusts the motor drive, using a pulse width modulated signal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,758 which issued Oct. 8, 1991 to Hock is assigned to Jabil Circuit Company, discloses a motor driven fuel pump establishing an alternating current signal in combination with a voltage control signal related to the flow, which is superimposed on the alternating signal. An output drive signal is a pulse, the width of which is set by the intersecting of alternating current signal by the flow related voltage control signal. This again provides a pulse width modulated signal, which is varied each half cycle of the main supply signal.
The more recent patent to Hock '758 discloses the motor pump unit mounted within the fuel tank proper, while the earlier Cummins et al '291 patent discloses the motor and pump mounted external to the fuel tank. Generally, each prior art system can use a motor driven pump in it mounted within or external to the fuel tank, Other patents of general interest are, of course, disclosed in the above two patents.
The fuel delivery systems are required to provide fuel in relatively precise amounts to the engine and in appropriate time relation. Maintaining of a proper flow and pressure has presented various problems with respect to providing a cost effective supply system. Sensing units must be able to accurately determine the pressure characteristic. The system must be of a relatively small and compact construction while able to handle the power to drive the pump motor and a control system, and the system must have a long operating life preferably corresponding substantially to the life of an engine. Although a life of 50,000 miles of operation is generally considered a good life, a more satisfactory anticipated need is between 100,000 and 200,000 miles. The power consumption should be minimal while the motor operates under sufficient power and torque to maintain the desired flow under pressure over the total engine speed range. A smooth flow at a relatively constant pressure from the fuel tank to the engine is desirable to maintain an efficient system, with minimal fuel consumption. Further, the system must operate in the various environments encountered by engines, such as in automobiles, and preferably over the life of the engine.
The requirements for an improved fuel delivery system having the optimal characteristics thus present various considerations and demands with respect to cost, life and size. There is a present need for a compact, cost effective fuel pump unit, which can supply fuel at an essentially constant pressure at the engine without requiring significant maintenance and/or replacement during the normal life of the vehicle marine and other internal combustion engines.

Motor driven fuel pump and control system for internal combustion engines


The synthetic resin at a projecting end portion (5) projected from a clamping device (9) is heated to melt, then the projecting end portion (5) is positioned in a press molding space, which comprises an opening between an aluminum foil layer (3c) of a laminated aluminum tube and a molding wall of the press molding space. The projecting end portion (5) is pressed and molded into a sealed portion in the press molding space. The tube produced with this method has a sealed portion (8) with a desired shape, the aluminum foil layer (3) at the sealed portion (8) being completely covered and encapsulated with the synthetic resin, and the density of the sealed portion (8) improves providing excellent sealing quality.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a forming method for a seal portion of laminated aluminum tubes, in which the seal portion, one end of the tube, is flattened, melted and formed into a certain shape. This invention also relates to an apparatus for forming a seal portion of laminated aluminum tubes.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, a seal portion of synthetic resin made tube-type containers, the main body thereof is made of a laminated aluminum tube, is generally formed in such way that, first, an end portion, which comprises a cave and naturally opens to the air, is clamped and flattened by a clamp device. Then a projecting end portion, which is a portion protruded from the clamp device, is heated and melted by a heater. At last, the melted projecting end portion is simply pressed by a pair of sealing metal clamps into a closed flat shape.
According to the prior art described above, the sealing metal clamps are such that they are only capable of pressing the melted projecting end portion, but they cannot control the melted synthetic resin to flow to certain directions. Therefore, the sealing metal clamps according to the prior art cannot form the seal portion into a desired shape.
That is, according to the prior art, the sealing metal clamps only press the melted synthetic resin at the projecting end portion, so that, as shown in FIG. 8, the melted synthetic resin partly protrudes toward the side directions and produces sharp shaped burrs. Users are often bothered by such containers as the burrs scratch his/her fingers or the like and hurt them.
Further, since the sealed portion is formed into a final shape by being simply clamped by the sealing metal clamps, the final shape thereof is limited to such shape as shown in FIG. 8 or the like. And, the sealed portion cannot be formed into any other desired unique shape or any other useful shape which, for example, enables it to comprise a portion such as a hook for placing it on a hanger. The container according to the prior art is not satisfactory enough because the final shape thereof is limited.
Further, in the sealed portion of a tube of the prior art, as the projecting end portion is heated to melt, an aluminum foil layer thereof is partly exposes to the air. Since the projecting end portion is simply pressed and formed into a final shape, the aluminum foil layer 3c is not fully covered with the synthetic resin. It continues to be exposed partially in the air as shown in FIG. 8. The exposed aluminum foil layer corrodes, and the outer periphery of the sealed portion deteriorates, also depreciating the leak resistance of the sealed portion.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to resolve such problems and to form a sealed portion of laminated aluminum tubes into a desired shape, to form an outer periphery of the sealed portion with an attractive shape, and to cover the aluminum foil layer completely with the synthetic resin.

Method and apparatus for forming seal portion of laminated aluminum tub


A method is provided for controlling a hydraulic system having at least an implement pump, a fan-steering-braking (FSB) pump, a valve assembly, a fan drive system and one or more accumulators. The method may determine an operational state of a power source associated with the hydraulic system, actuate one or more valves of the valve assembly such that the FSB pump charges the accumulators and operates at least the fan drive system if the power source is operating at less than maximum power, and actuate one or more valves of the valve assembly such that the accumulators operate at least the fan drive system and such that the FSB pump supplements the implement pump as needed if the power source is operating at maximum power.

Work machines, such as tractors, backhoe loaders, compactors, feller bunchers, forest machines, industrial loaders, skid steer loaders, wheel loaders, mining vehicles, and the like, often employ hydraulic systems that provide functionality and control to various aspects of the machines. Typically, work machines employ multiple fluid pressurizing pumps to provide hydraulic power to a number of different machine functions, including functions pertaining to implement systems, fan drive systems, steering systems, braking systems, propulsion systems, swing systems, and the like.
Based on design choice, the hydraulic system may be configured such that one or more of the machine functions are individually powered by dedicated pumps while other machine functions are powered by a shared pump. For example, while some machines employ a dedicated fan pump configured to only power the fan drive system, other machines often employ the fan pump to drive not only the fan drive system but also the braking and/or steering system. Although sharing a single pump over multiple machine functions may provide more efficient use of the hydraulic system, it does come with its drawbacks.
The fan drive system of a typical work machine is configured to drive the motor of a cooling fan during operation of the machine, which serves to circulate air through air flow passages situated around the engine and dissipate heat from the engine compartment. When the fan pump is used to power the braking and/or steering systems in addition to the fan drive system, power to the fan drive system is sacrificed at the cost of driving the braking and/or steering systems due to the fixed displacement of the fan motor. This reduction in power to the fan drive system results in reduced output torque of the cooling fan, and thus, a reduction in fan speed. Moreover, reductions in fan speed can lead to substantial reductions in engine cooling, which can adversely affect the overall performance and efficiency of the machine.
In addition to cooling the engine, the fan drive system can also be controlled to periodically reverse the rotation of the cooling fan in order to dislodge any debris from screens of the engine compartment which lead to the air flow passages. More specifically, as the cooling fan urges outside air through the screens and into the air flow passages for cooling the engine during normal machine operation, any debris that may be carried by the air can collect on the screens over time, thus hindering air flow and degrading the cooling capabilities of the fan drive system. Various mechanisms have been conventionally used to provide fan reversibility in industrial work machines. In typical implementations, however, angular momentum causes a residual motion in the rotating fan which has been noted to induce vacuums within the hydraulics of the fan drive system. Such vacuums can introduce cavitation within the hydraulics system which can be detrimental to the machine. Additionally, a sudden change in flow direction through valving can cause damaging pressure spikes.
Accordingly, there is a need to improve the overall performance of hydraulic systems in mobile and work machines and reduce parasitic losses. Moreover, there is a need to provide means for controlling and managing hydraulic systems that are better suited to maintain optimum performance of individual machine functions without sacrificing efficiency. There is also a need for improved reversibility of the fan drive system that is less susceptible to pressure spikes caused by pressure differentials within the hydraulic system.

Reduced parasitic hydraulic fan system with reversing capability


A percussion tool includes a housing part having a frontal end provided with an opening; a tool bit guide supported in alignment with the opening; and a tool bit slidably supported in the tool bit guide and projecting from the housing part through the opening. The tool bit is arranged for a reciprocating motion parallel to the longitudinal tool bit axis and transverse excursions substantially perpendicular to the tool bit axis. A transverse guide is attached to the housing part and displaceably receives an outer seal composed of a transverse slide. The transverse slide has an aperture through which the tool bit passes. The transverse slide and the tool bit are arranged such that the transverse slide and the tool bit move as a unit during the transverse excursions of the tool bit. There is further provided an inner seal disposed in the housing part between the transverse slide and the tool bit guide externally thereof. The inner seal surrounds the tool bit and is in a resilient contacting relationship therewith.

This invention relates to a protective device which finds application in a fluid-operated percussion tool and is of the type that has a housing portion which is coupled with the percussion tool and which shields the latter at least from the front against external effects. A tool bit driven by the percussion tool extends into the housing portion which, at its passage for the tool bit, has an external seal surrounding the tool bit with a small clearance transversely to the longitudinal tool bit axis and is movable transversely to the tool bit axis.
Fluid-driven percussion tools whose tool bit is usually a one-piece, chisel-like member are preponderantly used for breaking up rocks or stone formations. During such an operation, apart from large pieces of broken material, stone dust and grains of a few mm of diameter are also obtained. Since such a stone dust in most cases contains abrading material (such as quartz), its penetration into the tool bit guide causes an increased wear and possibly a premature breakdown of the structural elements.
For the protection of the tool bit guide against the penetration of dirt it has been known to use elastic sealing elements which, by being urged with their contact faces against the tool bit, seek to prevent penetration of small-size dirt (even down to dust consistency) . Such protective devices are, however, easily damaged during heavy duty use and further, they are exposed to significant wear due to the continuous reciprocating motion of the tool bit.
German Offenlegungsschrift (application published without examination) 34 40 530 describes a machine-guided percussion tool of the earlier-discussed type which is entirely encapsulated and has an outwardly shielding, disk-like damping element externally of the tool bit (chisel) guide. The percussion tool proper is countersupported by the surrounding housing with the interposition of elastic damping elements.

Protective device for a fluid-operated percussion tool


The present invention provides devices and methods that protect against exposure to remote sources of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). As such, the devices provide protection against a plurality of electrical equipment used in ordinary households and employment settings. The device includes a housing, a solenoid operably connected to a driver and a polymer. The solenoid generates incident radiation which results in the polymer emitting electromagnetic oscillations at frequencies that counter adverse effects associated with the subject's exposure to the electromagnetic radiation.

Every operating electrical and electronic device emits electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The power of this emission varies depending on the size and electrical strength of the device and the electrical current it carries. High voltage power lines are significant emitters, and their field strength is sufficiently high to cause adverse effects on humans, animals and plants even hundreds of feet away. Smaller devices, such as computers, television sets, cellular phones and microwaves, emit lesser quantities of EMR, but the effect on humans can still be significant because people are in much closer proximity to such devices.
Adverse effects on the health of humans that have been reported as attributable to long-term EMR exposure include occurrence of certain cancers, multiple sclerosis, headache, and sleep disruption, impairment of short term memory, autism, and significant increases in the frequency of seizures in epileptic children. Reported adverse effects on animals have included stillbirths of young and reduction of milk production in cattle.
Although the effects of electromagnetic radiation on human health are not always easily quantifiable it is the desire of many prudent people to eliminate or reduce their exposure to EMR. There exist various methods of protecting from EMR that rely on reducing the magnitude (or strength) of the radiation that enters human body. Most commonly these utilize some sort of protective shield that enclosures the emitting apparatus hereby reducing the energy that is radiated by the EMR emitting device. Alternative approach is disclosed by Smirnov (U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,399), which describes an EMR shielding material that is composed of an electromagnetic radiation optimum neutralized polymer (MRET-Shield). MRET-Shield material does not reduce the power of electromagnetic fields. It "shields" the cellular structures of the body against the harmful biological effects of EMR. The radiation is still entering the body but the neutralizing effect of MRET-Shield material reduces the adverse effects associated with exposure. However, MRET-Shield required the design of a protective shell that encloses the EMR emitting device. While personal communications devices, such as cell phone or Blackberry, can be easily adapted to fit into such protective shell as a part of their design, enclosing larger electric appliances (inter alia personal computers, game consoles) is often impractical. Further, replacement of current EMR sources such as power lines would be cost prohibitive. Therefore, there remains a need to protect against EMR emitted from devices that do not provide a protective shell.

Devices and methods for protection against exposure to electromagnetic radiation


A method for piecing a yarn at a rotor spinning machine comprising plural spinning stations, wherein more than five piecers are successively produced in a measuring phase and coordinates of measurement values and associated measurement values from individual measurements of the piecers are evaluated for averaging and determining a fiber band function taking into account a drafting reduced for the measurement values, which reflects the fiber flow behavior in the form of the respective fiber band quantity supplied to the rotor as a function of the transport path of the fiber band feed. The speed of the fiber band feed is controlled in a delayed manner from the run-up of the yarn draw-off, dependent on the rotor speed, by the fiber band function, such that the fiber shortfall quantity being produced from the fiber band function is compensated by dynamic feed addition with respect to height and length.

The present invention relates to a method for piecing a yarn at a rotor spinning machine and to a rotor spinning machine for carrying out such method.
With increasing demands on the yarn production process, ever higher demands are also made on the production of piecers. The process of forming piecers after yarn interruptions, the piecing, is carried out at the individual spinning stations of the open-end rotor spinning machines, generally by a piecing unit travelling along the spinning machine, the so-called piecing carriage. The piecing process is controlled by means of a piecing program.
The quality of piecers with regard to their visual appearance and strength is decisively influenced by an optimal parameterisation of the piecing program. The very complex process for determining the optimal piecing parameters until now has had to be carried out after every batch change and every change of spinning parameters, such as, for example, a change in the draft, the twist factor, the rotor speed and the like. An adequately good adjustment can often only be found after hours even with experienced users. This task is made more difficult when spinning fine yarns with high yarn counts. In the case of small yarn diameters, for example 0.2 mm with a yarn count Nm 50, it is no longer possible without a mechanical visual display of the yarn diameter for the user to visually detect the fluctuations occurring in the 100th of a millimeter range.
An important reason for the outlay for optimisation is due to the circumstance that during piecing, the fiber flow is only available in a delayed manner and not 100%. This is to be attributed to the procedure in principle during piecing.
Thus, after a process triggering the piecing, such as, for example, a yarn break or a bobbin change, the yarn band feed is switched off. The trailing opening roller, however, still releases fibers from the fiber tuft. In order to achieve the same conditions and therefore a prefeed quantity which is as far as possible the same, before each piecing process, the fiber tuft is evened out. Up to the piecing, fibers continue to be combed from the fiber tuft, so the fiber tuft is shortened.
The prefeed to form a fiber ring takes place for a predetermined time and is then switched off. In this case, the quantity of fed-in fibers as well as the duration of the prefeed can also be controlled by the adjustment of the feed speed. The process of piecing begins with the rotor start. On reaching a preadjusted piecing rotor speed, feeding in of fibers begins. In this case, a certain delay occurs in reaching the required fiber flow and possibly causes a diameter deviation after the piecer. Therefore, the fiber feed is already switched on again shortly before the start of the yarn draw-off. The draw-off speed then has a value which corresponds to the instantaneous rotor speed when maintaining the desired twist of the spun yarn. Until the operating rotor speed is reached, the draw-off speed follows the increase in the rotor speed.
Apart from the follow-up movement of the fiber flow after switching off the feed and the delayed starting up after switching on the feed, the fiber flow can also react with a delay when increasing the feed speed. This can lead to diameter fluctuations of the yarn occurring after the piecer. In order to avoid these undesired diameter fluctuations, a so-called feed addition is carried out.
When piecing, it is attempted by means of the feed addition to ensure that 100% of the required quantity of fiber is present in the rotor at every draw-off instant. The feed addition thus compensates the temporary shortfall quantity through a higher feed speed. A linear increase in the fiber flow is assumed here. The optimisation of the piecer inter alia assumes knowledge of the parameters: addition length, addition quantity and advance time of the feed, the necessary advance time of the feed being assumed to be constant with a predetermined spinning geometry. One is in a position to determine the addition length owing to suitable technical aids and the use of software for visually displaying the piecer profile.
A piecing mechanism is known from German Patent Publication DE 199 55 674 A1 set up for determining the length of the feed addition required to compensate the diameter deviation from the determined length of the diameter deviation. For this purpose, a predeterminable number of test piecers is produced without feed addition, but with reduced drafting, the number of which is determined as a function of the level of the nominal drafting.
German Patent Publication DE 199 55 674 A1 proceeds from a prior art, in which the yarn diameter in the region of the piecer is also evaluated. However, a feed addition is worked with there from the start in order to obtain, as far as possible from the beginning, piecers which can at least be used. An empirical value is used as the starting point for the addition, and is based on the average staple length. In the case of staple length distributions of natural fibers, which correspondingly fluctuate this leads in the first place to a relatively high degree of imprecision. A longer optimisation phase follows this first piecer, in which additional influences, such as the opening roller clothing, opening roller speed, rotor run-up time etc. are to be compensated and this makes the empirical determination relatively protracted. Furthermore, the result of this optimisation is only to some extent satisfactory with a very high outlay.
In contrast, German Patent Publication DE 199 55 674 A1 provides an algorithm, by means of which the length of the thin point is determined with the aid of test piecers which are produced without feed addition. So that these test piecers can be produced at all with a definite thin point at the end of the piecer, the draft is reduced for these test spinners to obtain a pieceable yarn end. This draft reduction has again to be calculated by a suitable algorithm to obtain the actual values for the thin point.
The basic information of German Patent Publication DE 199 55 674 A1 is that exclusively the length of the thin point is to be used to determine the feed addition. For this purpose, an average test piecer is calculated from a large number of individual test piecers and the increase in the yarn thickness is represented by a straight line, the point of intersection of which with the horizontal representing the normal yarn thickness is to embody the end of the thin point. The distance between the beginning of the piecer and this point of intersection is then defined as the addition length and the addition is then determined. This solution is clearly an improvement compared to the previously characterised prior art but is in need of improvement with regard to approaching the optimum of the piecer. The necessary addition level to determine the feed addition then has to be determined empirically however, which is liable to undesired imprecisions.
Because of the imprecisions occurring, the result of these measurements cannot, however, be transferred to other machines provided to process the same fiber band material and to adjust the piecing parameters.
Alternatively, the determination of the fiber flow behaviour may take place under laboratory conditions by means of video recordings of the fiber flow in the fiber guide channel. The high technical outlay does not allow this method to be used at every machine. Furthermore, the determination of the fiber flow behaviour has to be carried out again at each change of the fiber band.
Moreover, the actual effects of the fiber flow behaviour on the yarn are not detected with the two methods as the fiber flow cannot be determined at the site of the yarn formation because the interior of the rotor is not accessible for measurement purposes during operation. In addition, the two methods disregard the doubling back taking place in the rotor.

Method for piecing a yarn and rotor spinning machine for carrying out the method


A bolometer-type infrared solid-state image sensor has a plurality of infrared detecting elements provided above the substrate, which has diaphragm spacing from the substrate and supported by beams. The diaphragm has a bolometer thin film, electrodes arranged on the both end of the bolometer thin film, an upper layer protective film and a lower layer protective film, which are formed so as to sandwich and cover said bolometer thin film and the electrodes, and concave or convex sections formed on said lower layer protective film. The bolometer thin film is formed on the sides of the concave or convex sections. The beams includes wiring material and insulating protective films surrounding the wiring material.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal infrared solid-state image sensor having thermal isolation, particularly to a bolometer-type infrared solid-state image sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the bolometer-type infrared solid-state image sensor of this kind has adopted a structure in which diaphragm simply sandwiched a bolometer thin film with an insulating protective film in a plurality of infrared detecting elements, which consist of the diaphragm spacing above a semiconductor substrate and supported by beams. Alternatively, the image sensor had comprised an infrared absorption film on a side of the insulating protective film, to which light is made incident. Then, to obtain an infrared image, the infrared detecting elements have been arranged in two-dimensionally above the semiconductor substrate and a readout circuit corresponding to the infrared detecting elements has been formed on the semiconductor substrate.
To obtain a highly defined image by such a bolometer-type infrared solid-state image sensor, the number of infrared detecting elements above the semiconductor substrate need to be increased. However, the infrared solid-state image sensor becomes large if the number of elements is simply increased without changing the sizes of the infrared detecting elements. Therefore, reduction of the sizes of infrared detecting elements is required to achieve high definition.
Dimension reduction of the bolometer thin film is necessary for the reduction of the sizes of the infrared detecting elements. A vanadium oxide thin film is generally used as the bolometer thin film. Mr. Wada et al, after having used the vanadium oxide thin film as the bolometer thin film and inspected the relationship between the bolometer thin film dimension and noise occurred in the film, reported that the noise in the bolometer thin film had increased with the reduction of volume of the bolometer thin film (refer to SPIE Vol. 3379, p. 90, 1998). 1/f noise makes up most of the noise component, the 1/f noise is inversely proportional to the square root of the sum of free carriers (equation reported by Mr. Wada, et al), and thus the above-described noise characteristic appears. In other words, there has existed a problem that the noise occurred in the bolometer thin film increased when the size of infrared detecting element was reduced to achieve high definition.
To solve the problem, Mr. Hata and Mr. Nakagi (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-346704 publication) proposed a bolometer-type infrared detecting element whose microfabrication can be realized without increasing the noise. Description will be made for the conventional example by Mr. Hata and Mr. Nakagi using FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional structural view of the bolometer-type infrared detecting element that forms a unit pixel constituting an infrared solid-state image sensor. A plurality of the bolometer-type infrared detecting elements are formed above a semiconductor substrate 10 so as to form an array state. The infrared detecting elements are characterized by comprising a bolometer section 13 of a multi-layer structure. The bolometer section 13 is one in which a first bolometer film 13a and a second bolometer film 13b have been laminated via an insulative junction film 14, and the both bolometer films consist of vanadium oxide.
The bolometer section 13 is arranged so as to bridge over a first electrode 12a and a second electrode 12b, which are formed on a support film 11. Further, the bolometer section 13 is supported by a support leg 1B, and thermally isolated from the semiconductor substrate 10. The junction film 14 that lies between the first and the second bolometer films 13a, 13b is provided with two through holes 15. The two through holes 15 are directly positioned above the electrodes 12a, 12b respectively, and vanadium oxide is filled in the both through holes 15. The first and second bolometer films 13a, 13b are electrically connected to each other via vanadium oxide filled in the through holes 15, and the bottom surface of the first bolometer film 13a is connected to the both first and second electrodes 12a, 12b, so that the first and second bolometer films 13a, 13b are parallelly connected between the first and second electrodes 12a, 12b. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the bolometer-type infrared detecting element includes insulating film 16, infrared absorbing film 17, support layer 18, and wiring layer 19. Alternatively, there are cases where the first and second bolometer films 13a, 13b are connected in series. With such a lamination structure, it is possible to increase the volume of the bolometer film leaving the two-dimensional size thereof as it is, and the noise can be reduced.
As a method of increasing the volume of the bolometer film leaving the two-dimensional size thereof as it is, simply increasing the thickness of the bolometer film is an option. However, Mr. Hata and Mr. Nakagi (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-346704 publication) verified that the noise cannot be reduced by such a volume increasing method. It is understood that this is because the free carriers that cannot be effectively used increase as the film thickness becomes thicker and the increase of the sum of effective free carriers equal to the volume increase cannot be obtained. Consequently, the above-described publication adopted the structure where the thin bolometer films 13a, 13b were laminated via the insulative junction film 14 in order to obtain the increase of the sum of effective free carriers equal to the volume increase.
Generally, the bolometer film made of metal oxide such as vanadium oxide is thermally treated in a reduction atmosphere to optimize a resistance temperature coefficient, a sheet resistance, or the like. In the above-described conventional example (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-346704 publication), the bolometer films are in a laminated structure, so that there exists a problem that thermal treatment to the bolometer film of the upper layer affects the bolometer film of the lower layer and its characteristic is changed to deviate from the optimal state. Further, since there is little provability that the change amount becomes uniform between the pixels, another problem occurs that characteristic dispersion between pixels increases.
Furthermore, there exists the following problem on the point that, in the foregoing conventional example, electrical connection between the bolometer film of the upper layer and the bolometer film of the lower layer is made by the contact between the bolometer films. Specifically, although it is desirable that the bolometer films have a high resistance temperature coefficient, the resistance temperature coefficient and the resistivity are in a proportional relationship when the film material is the same. Accordingly, it is desirable that the resistivity be as high as possible from the viewpoint of the resistance temperature coefficient. However, the higher the resistivity becomes, the more difficult to obtain ohmic characteristic of the junction section. Particularly, this is even more difficult in the metal oxide such as vanadium oxide because it has stronger semiconductor characteristic in the higher resistivity. Thus, there also exists a problem that a high resistance temperature coefficient and a good electrical characteristic cannot be compatible in the conventional example.

Bolometer-type infrared solid-state image sensor


The invention relates to a radiation detector (100) and an associated method for the detection of (e.g. X or γ-) radiation. The detector (100) comprises a converter element (110) in which incident photons (X) are converted into electrical signals, and an array of anodes (130) for generating an electrical field (E) in the converter element (110). At least two anodes are associated with two steering electrodes (140) to which different potentials can be applied by a control unit (150). Preferably, each single anode or small group of anodes is surrounded by one steering electrode. The potentials of the steering electrodes (140) may be set as a function of the potentials that are induced in these electrodes when an operating voltage is applied between the anodes and a cathode (120). Moreover, a grid electrode (160) may be provided that at least partially encircles anodes (130) and their steering electrodes (140).

The WO 9714060 A1 discloses a radiation detector comprising a semiconductor crystal with a cathode on one and an array of anodes on the other side. To reduce low-energy tailing of the measurement signals, the anodes are designed with a very small area and disposed in the cells of a grid-shaped control electrode to which a negative potential can be applied.

Radiation detector with steering electrodes


Techniques for maintaining an approximate histogram of a relation in a database, in the presence of updates to the relation. The histogram includes a number of subsets, or "buckets," each representing at least one possible value of an attribute of the relation. Each of the subsets has a count associated therewith indicative of the frequency of occurrence of the corresponding value of the attribute. After an update to the relation, the counts associated with the subsets are compared to a threshold. If the count associated with a given subset exceeds the threshold, the given subset is separated at its median into two separate subsets. After the separation operation, the two subsets with the lowest counts are combined such that a constant number of subsets are maintained in the histogram, if the total combined count of the subsets does not exceed the threshold. If no two subsets have a total combined count which does not exceed the threshold, the histogram is recomputed from a random sample of the relation. The invention substantially reduces the number of times the histogram must be recomputed from the random sample, and is particularly well-suited for use with approximate equi-depth and compressed histograms.

Databases store large amounts of data in the form of "relations," which may be viewed as tables of data items. The size of a given relation may be on the order of several megabytes to several gigabytes or more, depending on the application. A relation stores the data items, which are also referred to as records or "tuples," in a predetermined format. For example, a relation in a database of bank customers may be structured to hold categories of information such as customer name, account number, account balances and the like. Each category is referred to as an "attribute" of the relation. The particular values entered in the attribute of a relation for a given customer constitute tuples of that relation. In many applications, relations are continuously updated as tuples are inserted, deleted or modified during normal operation of the database. A database management system (DBMS) is used to manage these updates as well as other database operations, such as query processing, evaluation and optimization.
It is often desirable for a given DBMS to be able to estimate the characteristics of database relations. For example, query optimizers of most relational database systems decide on the most efficient access plan for a given query based on estimates of the intermediate result sizes of queries and the costs of executing various plans, as described in P. Selinger, M. Astrahan, D. Chamberlin, R. Lorie and T. Price, "Access path selection in a relational database management system," Proc. of ACM SIGMOD Conf., pp. 23-34, 1979. Also, quick estimates of query result characteristics can be useful to a user during query design and in providing approximate answers to queries, as described in, for example, J. M. Hellerstein, P. J. Haas and H. J. Wang, "Online aggregation," Proc. of ACM SIGMOD Conf., 1997.
Most DBMSs therefore maintain a variety of statistics on the contents of database relations in order to perform various estimations. These statistics usually take the form of approximations of the distributions of particular data values in attributes of the relations. Since the statistics are used to estimate the values of several parameters of interest to optimizers, the validity of the optimizer's decisions may be affected by the quality of these approximations, as described in S. Christodoulakis, "Implications of certain assumptions in database performance evaluation," ACM TODS, 9(2): 163-186, June 1984. In fact, it has been established in Y. Ioannadis and S. Christodoulakis, "On the propagation of errors in the size of join results," Proc. of ACM SIGMOD Conf., pp. 268-277, 1991, that selectivity estimation errors propagate exponentially with the number of operators in the query and hence will ultimately result in a poor-quality plan being chosen by the optimizer. This is becoming very important in the context of increasingly complex queries, such as decision support and data analysis queries.
A commonly-used technique for selectivity estimation involves maintaining histograms on the frequency distribution of an attribute. A histogram groups attribute values into subsets, referred to as "buckets," and approximates true attribute values and their frequency distributions based on summary statistics maintained in each bucket. Since histograms are just summaries of actual, much larger distributions, any estimations based on histograms may still incur errors. Nonetheless, for most real-world databases, there exist histograms that produce acceptable low-error estimates while occupying reasonably small space, which may be on the order of only hundreds of bytes. Histograms are used in conventional DBMSs such as DB2, Informix, Ingres, and Microsoft SQL Server, as well as in other DBMSs from Oracle, Sybase, and Teradata. Histograms are also being used to provide various estimates in other database management applications, such as parallel join load balancing, as described in V. Poosala and Y. Ioannidis, "Estimation of query-result distribution and its application in parallel-join load balancing," Proc. of the 22.sup.nd Int. Conf. on Very Large Databases, September, 1996, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Histograms are usually precomputed on the underlying data and used without much additional overhead inside the query optimizer. A significant drawback of using precomputed histograms is that they may get outdated when the data in the database is modified, and hence introduce significant errors in estimations. On the other hand, it is clearly impractical to compute histograms after every update to the database. Fortunately, it is often not necessary to keep the histograms perfectly up-to-date at all times, because they are used only to provide reasonably accurate estimates. Instead, one needs appropriate techniques for propagating updates to histograms, so that the database performance is not affected. Despite the popularity of histograms, many important issues related to their maintenance have not been adequately addressed.
A typical conventional histogram maintenance approach, which is followed in a substantial number of commercial database systems, involves recomputing histograms periodically (e.g., every night). This periodic recomputation approach has at least two serious disadvantages. First, any significant updates to the database between two successive recomputations could cause poor estimations inside a query optimizer. Second, since the old histograms are discarded and new histograms are recomputed, the recomputation phase for the entire database is computationally very intensive. Other conventional histogram maintenance techniques focus on proper bucketizations of values in order to enhance the accuracy of the histograms, and generally assume that the database is not being modified. Although efficient sampling-based methods are available to construct various histograms, these methods also generally ignore the problem of histogram maintenance. With the increasing use of histograms in multiple components of a DBMS, some of which (e.g., user interfaces) may have even higher accuracy requirements on estimates than query optimizers, it has become very important to identify more efficient techniques for maintaining histograms.

Incremental maintenance of an approximate histogram in a database system


An image reading device of the present invention includes a reading means for reading a manuscript along a main-scanning direction as well as reading image information of the manuscript which relatively moves along a sub-scanning direction and a determination means for determining whether there is a specific image in the image information or not. The determination means makes determination by giving precedence to the center portion over end portions in the main-scanning direction in a reading range by the reading means.

The present invention relates to an image reading device, a copy apparatus and an image reading method.
A conventional image reading device includes a reading means for reading a manuscript along a main-scanning direction as well as reading image information of the manuscript which relatively moves along a sub-scanning direction, and a determination means for determining whether there is a specific image in the image information or not (for example, an image reading device disclosed in JP-A-2002-77609).
In the image reading device disclosed in JP-A-2002-77609, the determination means discriminates a specific image based on arrangement relation of marks. The means extracts marks included in image information, calculates distances between marks and determines that there is the specific image in the image information when the distances between marks correspond to distances in the specific image.
The conventional image reading device having such configuration is mounted on, or connected to a copy apparatus and the like having a printing means for performing printing based on image information. The image reading device is capable of, when determining that there is a specific image in image information, taking illegal copy prevention measures such as stopping image reading and the like. Accordingly, the image reading device discriminates a specific image included in a manuscript such as a banknote or a classified document and restricts reading of inappropriate reading of the image to prevent illegal copying.
In order to prevent the image reading device from being misused as illegal copies of a banknote or a classified document, it is preferable to improve determination accuracy of a determination means for determining whether image reading is inappropriate or not.
However, processing of discriminating the specific image included in a banknote or a classified document will be processing imposing large burden with the improve of the determination accuracy, therefore, there is a case that a long period of time is necessary for the determination processing. In this case, since it takes a long time to be determined by the determination means, there arises a problem that waiting time for a user will be long.

Image reading device, copy apparatus, and image reading method