An apparatus includes a heat generating component; a heat radiating member that absorbs heat from the heat generating component and radiates heat; a fan that sends air toward the heat radiating member; a housing incorporating the heat generating component, the heat radiating member and the fan, and including a first opening that discharges air warmed up by the heat radiating member to an outside and a second opening that exposes an air inlet portion of the heat radiating member in which air from the fan enters; and a cover member that is detachably attached to the housing and covers the second opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus that has a built-in heat generating component, and to a data processing apparatus that has a built-in heat generating component and performs data processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of apparatuses having a built-in component that generates heat when in use. Although some of them perform their intended function by generating heat, it is not desirable for the other apparatuses to generate heat by the built-in component. Thus, some techniques are devised to suppress rise in temperature of the apparatus due to heat generated by the built-in heat generating component. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-217343 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-55591 disclose that a heat sink and a heat radiating member is used to radiate heat generated by a power transistor, while Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-135073 discloses the structure that heat generated by a voice coil motor is conducted to a housing of a hard disc drive via heat radiating fins.
Additionally, another typical technique for suppressing heat is that a fan is provided in an apparatus to generate airflow, thereby cooling down a heat generating component. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-321287 discloses the structure in which heat generated by a heat generating component is conducted via a heat pipe to heat radiating fins. Airflow that is generated by rotation of a fan absorbs heat while passing through between the heat radiating fins and then warmed air is discharged from the apparatus.
Use of such a structure is widespread as it is effective in suppressing rise in temperature of a heat-generating component.
However, such a structure entails the following problems. Firstly, heat radiating fins are likely to be covered in dust at the inlet thereof, which blocks air flow and thus deteriorates cooling capacity thereof, resulting in rise in temperature of a heat-generating component. Consequently, this may disable normal operation of the heat-generating component and shorten the life of its peripheral components as well as the heat component. Secondly, even without such abnormal conditions, if an apparatus is configured to adjust cooling capacity by changing the speed of a fan, the increased speed of the fan for securing cooling capacity will make noise of the fan larger.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-321287 deals with the first problem, by providing a tilted portion formed at the inlet of the heat radiating fins, aiming at moving dust by causing dust to be carried by air flow from a fan along the tilted portion and discharged from the apparatus.
Although provision of the tilted portion may delay the time for the dust to be accumulated, this does not substantially solve the problem.
Additionally, a heat radiating member and a fan are typically disposed inside an apparatus while only an outlet, from which air passed through the heat radiating member is discharged, is exposed to be seen from outside. On the other hand, dust is accumulated at the inlet of the heat radiating member and thus, in order to remove accumulated dust, the apparatus must be disassembled, which is rather difficult to perform.


A transmitter circuit includes: a driver that includes an output resistor set to a resistance value according to an input code, and that outputs, to an output terminal, an output signal; and a high potential side resistor and a low potential side resistor that are connected to the output terminal. The transmitter circuit further includes a high potential side current source that is set with a current value according to the input code, and a low potential side current source that is set with a current value according to the input code. The transmitter circuit further includes a high potential side switch and a low potential side switch that switch between allowing current output from the high voltage side current source and the low voltage side current source to pass, and blocking the current.

A known semiconductor device includes a signal signaling circuit provided with a driver circuit that outputs complementary voltages to signaling paths, and a first voltage source that uses a voltage supplied to the driver circuit as an operation voltage to adjust the amplitude of the complementary voltages output to the signaling path from the driver circuit. The driver circuit includes a complementary inverter formed from plural transistor switches that produce a specific impedance by operating one of a pair of transistors in the saturated region, and operating the other transistor in the triode region. The transistor switches are each driven based on complementary signals so as to output complementary voltages to the signaling paths.

Transmitter circuit and semiconductor integrated circuit


An apparatus and method for detecting a connection to a data transmission network functions by detecting the network signal energy on a network cable while avoiding the problems of excessive power consumption and generation of excessive electrical noise. By monitoring the receive network lines and determining if there is electrical energy on the cable in the form particular to the type of network supported by the network adaptor card, the host computing device can power-down the transceiver associated with the network adaptor card until an active network connection is detected.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital computing equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices used to interconnect computing equipment in a network configuration.
2. Background Information
The proliferation of computers has made great computing power available to large numbers of users. The flexibility and capabilities of personal computers is greatly enhanced when the computers are interconnected to each other. When a plurality of computers are interconnected to share information, it is generally referred to as a network. Local Area Networks (LANs) are those networks which connect computers over a relatively small geographic areas and Wide Area Networks (WANs) are those networks which connect computers over a relatively large geographic area. With millions of computers being connected to each other as part of various networks, efficient use of computing resources becomes very important.
In order to allow a computer to be connected to a network, the computer must be provided with the appropriate network hardware. Such hardware is referred to as a network adaptor card. A network adaptor card may adhere to many different network standards, such as one of the popular Ethernet network standards or one of the Token ring network standards. A network adaptor card also adheres to one of the many standards which allow the network adaptor card to communicate with the computing device. The standards which allow the network adaptor card to communicate with the computing device include, for example, the PCI standard, the ISA standard, the PCMCIA and CARDBUS standards, the various IEEE RS standards (e.g. RS-232), as well as other standards. All of these standards are examples of standards which are well-known in the industry but the recitation of these standards is not intended to be a comprehensive list of those standards which are applicable to the present invention.
Represented in FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the general arrangement of a host computer, a network adaptor card, and a connection to the media conveying a network signal used in the case of the Ethernet network standard. It is to be understood that the arrangement represented in FIG. 1 is merely exemplary and not limiting of the applications of the present invention or is indicative of any particular network arrangement.
As represented in FIG. 1, a network adaptor card 10 resides in a host computer 12. Network adapter cards, such as network adaptor card 10, used in connection with personal computers, such as host computer 10, typically contain a transceiver 14 which interfaces between the media access controller (MAC) 16 on the network card 10 and the physical network media 18 (e.g. the media carrying the network signals (twisted pair cable, coaxial cable, or fiber optic cable)). The transceiver 14 is also sometimes referred to as a Medium Attachment Unit. In the example of FIG. 1, when implementing the Ethernet network standard the transceiver 14 performs the task of transmitting the data frames onto the cable and receiving data frames from it. The transceiver 14 also monitors the signal level on the medium, acts as an electrical isolator between the network adaptor card 10 and the network media 18, and detects network collision and other error conditions, all as known in the industry. The transceiver 14 can either be external to, or on-board, the network adaptor card 10. Other components which are included on the network adaptor card 10 are represented at 22.
Besides functioning to convert between the signals of the MAC 16 and the signals that appear on the network media 18, the transceiver 14 is involved in establishing the network connection in the first place. When the host computer 12 initializes the network card 10, the transceiver 14 continuously monitors the network media 18 while typically sending out its own broadcast packets until there is a response from the network and a connection established. Some transceivers 14 that support more than one type of connection call the process of determining which types of signals must be used on the network "autonegotiation." It is to be understood that the functions carried out by the network adaptor card 10 can be integral with other components of the host computer 12 or other type of computing device.
The advent of PCMCIA cards and CardBus cards, collectively known as PC Cards, has brought networking to the portable computer user. Such portable computers are battery powered devices which are small, easily carried devices often the size of a notebook or smaller. PC cards are compact hardware devices having dimensions of about 2.1 inches by about 3.4 inches with a thickness of only 3.5 mm, 5 mm, 10.5 mm or some other dimensions allowed by the promulgated PCMCIA standard. The PC Card typically slides into a socket provided on the housing of the computer to allow easy replacement of one PC Card with another PC Card. Increasingly, users of desktop computers, as well as other electronic devices, are also using such PC Cards to add hardware devices to their computing devices.
It is common to add a network adaptor card to a portable computer as a PC Card. Some of these PC Cards also contain a modem and are known as network/modem combination, or "combo," cards. Often the portable computer user is only using the modem portion of the PC Card, or the user simply keeps the PC Card in the host computer even when the PC Card is not connected to any network. Since the network PC Card is installed in the PC Card slot on the computer, the PC Card still gets initialized by the host computer, and the transceiver (see 14 at FIG. 1) on the card continuously attempts to find a network connection, even if no connection to network media is present. The amount of power used by the transceiver is great enough to unsatisfactorily reduce the battery life of portable computers when being powered from the internal battery. In addition, because network and modem components on a combination network/modem card are in such close proximity, the constant attempts of the transceiver to find a network connection creates electrical noise that can adversely interfere and affect modem performance since the circuit board in the PC Card contains the components for both the modem and the network adaptor.
To reduce undesirable power consumption and electrical noise when the transceiver is not needed, most transceivers can enter a low-power mode. However, the circuitry needed to establish a network connection is disabled in a transceiver when the transceiver is in the low-power mode. While it has been suggested that it is possible to put the transceiver into the low-power mode and periodically give it full power to check for a cable being connected to the network adaptor card, this suggestion is impractical since in order to significantly reduce power consumption and minimize electrical noise, these full power checks are so infrequent that it results in an unacceptable delay in connecting to a network when a cable carrying active network signal is actually attached to the network adaptor card. Additionally, the software overhead required of the host computer for such an ongoing operation would hurt the performance of all other tasks the host computer is running. Moreover, merely mechanically detecting when a network cable is connected to the network adaptor card also provides unsatisfactory performance since there is no guarantee that the other end of the cable is actually connected to a network hub, switch, or router and that the cable is carrying an active network signal.
In view of the foregoing, it would be an advance in the art to provide a system and method for reducing the power consumed by a network adaptor card when the network adaptor is not actively connected to a network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Techniques for detection of an active connection to a network


A simple method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a thick and dense insulator layer having a uniform film thickness includes forming the insulator layer by repeatedly applying a liquid material to a conductive layer plural times.

Exemplary embodiments relate to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
In the related art, in electronic devices such as semiconductor devices, the utilization of multi-layer interconnections is used in order to achieve high integration. With respect to a semiconductor device having multi-layer interconnections, when electrically connecting upper and lower wiring patterns that are disposed with an interlayer insulator layer therebetween, contact holes are formed in the interlayer insulator layer. Through the contact holes, the upper and lower wiring patterns are connected.
In the related art, in a method of making a multi-layer interconnection, a film of a conductive material such as metal and polycrystalline silicon is formed on a substrate. By etching the film, a lower wiring layer is formed. Next, while an interlayer insulator layer is formed on the lower wiring layer, predetermined openings (contact holes) are formed in the interlayer insulator layer using a photolithography method. Further, a conductive material as a contact plug is applied onto the whole area of the interlayer insulator layer in a manner to fill the formed contact holes, and then patterning is performed by a photolithography method, thus a contact plug is made. Then, a film of a conductive material for wiring on the upper layer is formed in a manner to connect with the contact plug. Patterning this film by a photolithography method forms an upper wiring layer (for example, International Patent Publication No. WO 00/59040).

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A system and method for network management, including a message handling process, having a network manager and at least one network element is described. The network management messaging system sends and receives multiple concurrent messages between the network element layer and the network management layer. Support of concurrent messaging greatly speeds and simplifies network management. A client request is received at a first managed object, at least part of the client request is fulfilled by a second managed object. A major row is created in response to receiving the client request, and a minor row associated with a managed object request sent to the second managed object. The minor row has an index that associates the minor row with the major row, and correlates a response to the managed object request with the client request.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network management systems, and more specifically is directed toward management of network resources using distributed intelligence and state management.
II. Related Art
Telecommunication service providers provide a wide range of services to their customers. These services range from the transport of a standard 64 kbit/s voice channel (i.e., DS0channel) or subrate thereof to the transport of higher rate digital data services (e.g., video). Both voice channels and digital data services are transported over the network via a hierarchy of digital signal transport levels. For example, in a conventional digital signal hierarchy 24 DS0 channels are mapped into a DS1 channel. In turn, 28 DS1 channels are mapped into a DS3 channel. The number of customers served and the complexity of services offered by telecommunication service providers is always increasing.
The wide range of services, signals and channels require a complex network of telecommunications equipment. Management of the complex telecommunications network is necessary in order to maintain optimum levels of service to the customer as well as efficiency in the maintenance and usage of the equipment itself. As networks grow increasingly complex, both in the size of the network and the range of services provided by the network, network management becomes increasingly important. Telecommunications service providers provide for management of the network by implementing network management systems designed to manage, provide for growth and ensure optimum performance of the network.
Network management systems include at least two layers. The first layer is the network management layer. The network management layer includes a network manager that monitors and controls the configuration of the network. The network manager is usually a server and software that maintains a logical representation of the state and condition of the network. The network manager provides an interface to the network for users and applications wishing to manage the network.
The second layer of the network is the network element layer. The network element layer includes all of network elements. Examples of network elements are the mobile switching center (MSC), call detail adjunct (CDA), home location registry (HLR), channel service unit (CSU), customized dial plan (CDP), CDMA interconnect subsystem (CIS), etc. The network elements provide the functionality and services of the entire network, independent of the network manager.
The network management system implements a set of procedures, software, equipment and operations designed to keep the network operating near maximum efficiency. The goals of network management include configuration management, fault location and repair management, security management, and performance management.
Configuration management deals with installing, initializing, loading, modifying and tracking configuration parameters, network elements and their associated software. The network manager accomplishes configuration management by downloading configuration parameters and software to the network elements. The network manager also tracks the configuration of the network by retrieving data indicating the configuration of the network elements and their associated software.
Fault location and repair management predicts and diagnoses problems with the network and provides a methodology for replacing or rerouting the network around the affected network elements. The network manager accomplishes fault location and repair management by retrieving fault information from the network elements in the network element layer. For example, the network manager may retrieve the number of severely errored seconds (SES) or the frame error rate (FER) from a network element in order to locate faults and diagnose problems with the network. If, upon retrieval of fault information from the network element layer, the network manager determines that particular network elements are experiencing degraded performance or are inoperative, the network manager may reroute the network around the affected elements. The network manager accomplishes the rerouting function by downloading additional configuration information to the network elements in order to reconfigure the network.
Security management allows the network manager to restrict access to various resources in the network, thereby giving customers different levels of access to different network resources. The network manager accomplishes security management by retrieving the current security information from the network elements and analyzing the retrieved information. If the access to resources in the network is to be changed, the network manager accomplishes the change by downloading additional or changed security information to the network elements, thereby changing the levels of access the users have to the network resources.
Performance management provides statistical information about the network's operation allowing the network manager to manage the resources of the network to ensure optimum performance. The network manager monitors the usage and traffic levels of the network element to ensure that the traffic on the network is properly distributed. Proper distribution of traffic among the network elements helps to ensure that the network does not experience performance degradation because a few network elements are carrying most of the communications load, while other network elements are carrying too little. The network manager accomplishes performance management by retrieving information pertaining to the traffic loading of the particular network elements. If the network manager determines that the performance of the network would be improved by redistributing the network traffic from one set of network elements to another, the network manager downloads additional configuration information to the network elements, thereby reconfiguring them.
Network management, therefore, is accomplished by communication between the network manager and the network elements. A telecommunications network may contain tens of thousands of network elements. A network manager, therefore, may be interacting with thousands of elements at a time. It is not practical for the network manager to spend time establishing synchronous connections with each of the network elements that it wishes to communicate with, if it must establish thousands of such connections to manage the network.
A more practical solution to the problem of communication between the network manager and the network elements is asynchronous communication. In asynchronous communication, messages containing requests, commands and data are transmitted between the network manager and network elements over the network. In such a system, messages transmitted from a network element before others may arrive at the network manager after the later transmitted message. Context information about the network management system, therefore, may not be assumed or inferred since a received message may not reflect the current state of the system.
Asynchronous communications pose additional management problems. Often, when the network manager sends a message to a network element, it must wait for a response. The management functions of the network manager often require information to be retrieved from multiple subsystems. If the network includes thousands of network elements, this serial process of messaging and response becomes too slow for practical network management. Current asynchronous packet network management systems are unable to handle concurrent outstanding messages sent to the subsystems.
Furthermore, messages between the network elements and network manager perform differing functions. Some messages communicate information, or data, between the network manager and the network elements, or between the network elements themselves. Other messages cause actions to be performed. Current messaging systems for network management implement different systems to accommodate the different types of network management messages.
Additionally, a network may contain multiple hierarchical layers. In order for a network manager to communicate with the multiple layers, current messaging systems require the implementation of multiple messaging protocols. Multiple messaging protocols allow the network manager to communicate with network elements existing at multiple levels within the network management system hierarchy. Multiple network management protocols make the communication between the network manager and the network elements, as well as between the network elements themselves, complex and error prone.
What is needed, therefore, is a network management messaging system which is capable of sending and receiving multiple concurrent messages to the network element layer from the network management layer. Such a system would greatly increase the speed with which the network can be managed. The network management messaging system should provide a universal message handling method that handles both information and action messages. Such a system should also provide for interacting with network elements at differing levels within the network management hierarchy, and between the network elements themselves.

Network management system and method using a partial response table


The present disclosure provides nanoparticle transducers and methods of use thereof for the detection of analyte concentrations in a fluid. Nanoparticle transducers can comprise a nanoparticle, such as a Pdot, coupled to an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction with the analyte. The nanoparticle transducers further comprise chromophores that emit fluorescence that varies as a function of the concentration of one of the elements of the reaction. The nanoparticle transducer thus changes fluorescence as the analyte concentration changes, transforming analyte concentration values into fluorescence intensities. The measurement of these intensities provides a measurement of the analyte concentration. The nanoparticle transducers are biocompatible, allowing for use in vivo, for the monitoring of analyte blood concentrations such as blood glucose concentrations.

Measurement of the concentration of fluid constituents is important in medicine, biomedical research, and biotechnology. It is desirable, for example, to monitor the concentrations of various molecules in the blood of a patient, including small molecules. Indeed, small molecules play highly important roles in all aspects of life science because they are extensively involved in various cellular processes such as cell signaling, enzyme activity, and molecular transport. Advances in biology and medicine have led to identification of a vast number of small molecules implicated in human disease. In drug discovery, small molecules constitute a large yet fast-growing library of active drugs. Small molecules are also extensively used as research tools to probe biological function and assess emerging therapeutic agents.
The treatment of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, can require continual monitoring of one or more blood constituents, such as glucose, the concentrations of which can be dangerous when excessively high or low. Rapid and precise measurement of blood contents allows for the detection of undesirable variations in those contents as well as more efficient and responsive treatment of the underlying condition.
However, specific and sensitive detection of small molecules in a living system is highly challenging. Many prior methods of monitoring blood concentration require the removal of blood from the patient for external analysis, resulting in poor response speeds dependent on patient compliance, or the implantation of devices with poor biocompatibility or poor precision and sensitivity to blood concentration changes. Electrochemical transducers, for example, encounter intractable problems such as impaired responses and unpredictable signal drift, requiring the implanted electrodes of such transducers to be replaced frequently. Optical techniques, such as Raman techniques, have also been applied. However, Raman signals from small molecules tend to be weak and may easily be masked by intense overlapping from dominant biological species, although some unique Raman tags can generate signal in typical Raman-silent region of a cell. Therefore, it is highly challenging for in vivo real-time detection of intact small molecules such as amino acids, sugars, lipids, neurotransmitters, metabolites, and drug molecules.
Still greater problems arise in detection of large molecules such as proteins or nucleic acid chains, which require still greater measurement specificity due to their great number. In vivo, real time detection of such fluid constituents has heretofore proven generally impractical.
Thus, there is a need to provide improved sensors and methods for monitoring concentrations of fluid constituents with a high response rate, specificity, and sensitivity. The present disclosure addresses this need and more.

Nanoparticle transducer sensors and methods of use thereof


A system and method for actively updating a data cache is provided. In an embodiment, a plurality of travel listings is received from a plurality of data sources and stored in a data cache. Invalidity prediction instructions are used to determine that a travel listing in the data cache contains inaccurate information. Listing relationship instructions are used to identify listings that are related to the travel listing that contains inaccurate information. Data update requests are then sent to the plurality of data sources for the related listings.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
The modern prevalence of travel booking websites has created a large amount of information that is available to consumers. In the context of travel items, such as hotel rooms, airplane flights, and vacation packages, service providers who own or operate travel websites may negotiate directly with the travel service provider to create an offering for the public. For example, one company may negotiate a price of $100 a night for a room while a second company may negotiate a price of $120 a night for the same room. The travel websites may display the negotiated prices, payment options, and other information about the listings on their individual websites.
The large amount of information available to customers may be overwhelming. With multiple websites available, each of which displaying booking information for multiple listings or inventory items, it is difficult for an end user to compare listings. The difficulty for the end user to reasonably compare listings negotiated by various travel websites has led to the creation of websites that consolidate listings from multiple data sources. The consolidated websites may receive information from each data source regarding availability of listings, number of listings, and rates for each listing. The consolidated websites may then display the various listings on a single site, allowing a user to compare information received from multiple data sources.
One issue with displaying comparative information is that data sources often update listings based on changes in availability, listing sales, or general price fluctuations. If data changes at a data source, the consolidated website must reflect the changes in the listings displayed to the consumer. Otherwise, if prices and availabilities vary between the consolidated website and the data source, the consumer will be unable to trust that the consolidated website contains accurate information.
A consolidated website may attempt to solve this issue by requesting listings from each data source whenever the consolidated website receives a request for listings. Requesting new data for each consumer search may ensure the accuracy of the data, but the repeated requests are inefficient. Additionally, sending constant requests to different data sources puts a high strain on the requesting computer as well as the data sources. If a data source is unable to handle the strain of so many requests, the data source computers may begin to fail.
To decrease the number of requests sent to the data sources, a consolidated website may request all of the listings from the data source at one time and store the listings in a data cache. When the consolidated website receives a request for listings, the consolidated website may fulfill the request with the data stored in the data cache. In order to ensure the accuracy of the listings in the data cache, the consolidated website may periodically update the data cache by requesting new listings from the data source.
While caching the listings received from other data sources decreases the strain on the data sources caused by requesting listings for each search, the data caching method has its own problems. One issue with the data caching method is that the consolidated website must use a large amount of memory to store listings that may never be requested. Additionally, maintaining a balance between accuracy and efficiency becomes difficult. If the cache is refreshed too often, the number of requests to the data source may exceed the number of requests the data source can handle, thereby causing the data source computers to fail. If the cache is not refreshed often enough, the accuracy of the data in the cache begins to decrease, thereby increasing the chance that a consumer will receive incorrect data.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that caches only relevant listings and intelligently refreshes the cache in a way that maximizes the accuracy of the cache while minimizing the number of data requests sent to individual data sources.

Caching and updating data records based on relationships between the data records


Systems and methods for encrypting the output of a card reader in a card authentication system are provided. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method for reading a data card having an intrinsic magnetic characteristic and recorded data on the data card using a read head including a magnetic sensor having a housing, an analog to digital converter located within the housing and a processor located within the housing, the method including generating an analog signal indicative of the intrinsic magnetic characteristic and the recorded data of the data card, converting the analog signal into a digital signal, generating a magnetic fingerprint based on the intrinsic magnetic characteristic from the digital signal, extracting the recorded data from the digital signal, encrypting at least a portion of the recorded data, storing the magnetic fingerprint and the recorded data, and outputting the encrypted at least the portion of the recorded data.

The present invention relates to reading, encrypting and protecting information stored in association with a data card. This stored information can be securely transferred over a data network. Examples of data cards include credit cards, identification cards, or other similar cards.
The security of personal financial and identification information is an important concern for consumers. Such information commonly stored on data cards includes account numbers, expiration dates, the names of card users, identification numbers, or other information. Often phishing and spoofing scams are designed to acquire the personal financial information of everyday consumers from their personal data cards by fraud or by other deceptive means. Many of these schemes rely on the ability to extract information stored on the data cards using conventional magnetic read heads.

Encrypting the output of a card reader in a card authentication system


Described herein is a container for a beverage as well as a structure to allow a user to drink the beverage contained therein. In at least one embodiment, there is a beverage container and straw combination that allows for a unique transportation of the liquid through the straw. The straw may be configured to pass through a lid of the beverage container multiple times and pass through a hollow or channel positioned above a lid of the beverage container.

Various types of closure lids and beverage containers have been developed that have an opening through which a drinking straw is passed or forced to enable a user to apply suction and withdraw liquid material for consumption. For example, a drinking cup may be formed of paper or polymer material, to which is applied a friction or interference fitting lid that is typically composed of polymer material. The lid may further permit a drinking straw to be forced or passed through a drinking straw opening that is defined by lid.
However, many of these types of beverage containers are not aesthetically pleasing and often conform to a readily accepted and ubiquitous structure. The result being that drinking from the container becomes a routine and mundane task. Thus, there is a need for a beverage container that creates an illusion when one drinks from the beverage container. This creates a pleasing experience, especially for children, which keeps them engaged and encourages them to drink from the container regardless of the liquid contained therein. The present invention and its embodiments meets and exceeds these objectives.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,566 pertains to a combination drinking container and straw and method of manufacture. The container has at least one straw retaining member molded into either the outer or inner surface of the container wall, or a portion of the wall may be shaped to include a constricted stem. A malleable straw is fitted onto each such retaining member so that at least a portion of the pathway of the straw is defined by the retaining members. A first end of the straw extends into the container and a second end extends upwardly so that beverage may be sipped therefrom. A lid may close the container, the lid optionally including an aperture to permit passage of the straw, the straw passing through the aperture. Also disclosed is a lidded container wherein the lid is provided with an aperture. A first portion of a drinking straw extends from inside the container, through the hole and to the container's outside to form a hinge for the lid. A second portion of the straw is attached to the container. In this way, the lid remains attached to the straw and container even when removed from the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,142 pertains to a beverage container is equipped with a rotatable cover and an automatically extendable drinking straw. The container includes an open ended body closed by a removable cap, a straw unit inserted through a conduit on the cap, a cover member rotatably fitted on the cap for rotational movement relative to the cap between a first position allowing the straw to extend through a slot of the cover member and a second position folding the straw unit and closing the slot. A groove formed on the cap engages a raised spot formed on the inner edge of the cover member for indicating when the cover member is rotated to either the first or second position. The straw unit includes a first straw made of elastomeric material and a second straw made of rigid material and sized so that the first straw is held between the conduit and the second straw in a coaxial relation without the use of fastening elements.
U.S. Patent Application 2017/0112308 pertains to a lid for a drinking cup for two having a generally circular panel of flexible material and having a circular retaining rim securing the lid to the circular rim of a drinking cup. The lid has a pair of orienting and access receptacles depending from the circular panel and having side walls sufficiently spaced to receive a drinking straw therebetween. The receptacles have drinking straw orienting walls for orientation of a pair of drinking straws within a cup. The receptacles each have a drinking straw entry wall oriented at an abrupt angle with the orienting wall and having a perforation permitting a drinking straw to be forced through the perforation and into a cup to which said lid is assembled.
U.S. Patent Application 2012/0055818 pertains to a disposable (or recyclable) beverage container includes two or more liquid-tight subsections, each subsection adapted to hold a different beverage. The container can carry liquids to be mixed at a point of consumption, or the contents of each subsection can be consumed separately, at different times.
Various systems and methodologies are known in the art. However, their structure and means of operation are substantially different from the present disclosure. The other inventions fail to solve all the problems taught by the present disclosure. At least one embodiment of this invention is presented in the drawings below and will be described in more detail herein.

Beverage container and mechanism of consuming a beverage contained within said beverage container


Systems and methods for detecting and analyzing bodies visible to an input source are disclosed herein. Analysis of detected bodies can be used in gesture recognition. In particular embodiments, detection and recognition of hand and portions thereof, including fingers and portions thereof (e.g., fingertips) can be performed to recognize gestures related to the hand. Recognition and analysis of bodies visible to an input source can occur using, for example, blob detection techniques, machine learning techniques, and various calculative techniques including statistical analysis, application-specific equations, and estimations related to bodies anticipated to be visible to the input source.

Interfaces between users and technology integrate a variety of components to allow the technology to receive input from a user. One direction pursued by interface designers has been in gesture recognition and similar technologies. Human or other motions can be identified and analyzed to trigger action related to electronic devices. The use of human motions to convey input to a device can provide a speedy, intuitive component to control the device, especially in instances when more traditional device controls (e.g., keyboard, mouse) are impracticable.
Despite obvious advantages, gesture recognition can be limited by the resolution of systems employing it. For example, while a basic motion sensor can recognize the presence of a hand in frame (e.g., within the "view" of one or more sensors capable of collecting input relevant to gesture recognition) merely by detecting motion, a determination of what the hand is doing is far less cut-and-dried. Systems today lack the granularity to robustly identify nuanced gestures, severely limiting the type and number of possible gestures that can be utilized for controlling various systems.
In a non-limiting example, current gesture recognition systems fail to distinguish between various portions of the human hand and its fingers. Many easy-to-learn gestures for controlling various systems can be distinguished and utilized based on specific arrangements of fingers. However, current techniques fail to consistently detect the portions of fingers that can be used to differentiate gestures, such as their presence, location and/or orientation by digit (e.g., which fingers are bent, where fingertips are placed, and others).


Based upon the results of an ID check with an ignition knob lock device which prevents rotational operation of an ignition knob which is used when stating an engine of a vehicle, and of an ID check with a portable unit, a passive control unit transmits to the ignition knob lock device a command to release prohibition of rotational operation of the ignition knob, and performs an ID check with the ignition knob lock device before detecting an operation of pushing in the ignition knob.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic key apparatus for a vehicle which performs wireless transmission between an electronic key which is carried by the vehicle driver and a device mounted upon the vehicle, and which releases the locked state of a door or starts the vehicle engine upon checking of the ID of the driver; and further relates to a method for arrest cancellation of a rotation arresting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic key system for a vehicle which checks the ID of the vehicle driver by performing wireless transmission between an electronic key which is carried by the driver and a device mounted upon the vehicle, and which releases the locked state of a door or starts the vehicle engine based upon the result of this checking, is per se known (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-349117). With such an electronic key system for a vehicle, in order to enhance the anti theft characteristics, ID checking is performed between the vehicle mounted device and the electronic key when, in order to start the engine the driver performs the operation of pushing in the ignition knob; and, when it has been determined that the electronic key is the proper one, then it is arranged to allow rotation of the ignition knob, only after further ID checking has been performed between the vehicle mounted device and an ignition knob lock unit which prohibits rotation of the ignition knob.

Electronic key apparatus for vehicle and arrest cancellation method for rotation arresting device


In a time-of-flight distance measurement device, a light receiving device is driven by a sequence having a matrix of a phase number n, a value sampled on the basis of the n rank matrix with respect to the phase number n is linearly calculated, and a waveform equivalent to the waveform sampled in a 1/n step is detected. A linear operation is performed on a sampled value based on the matrix with the rank n with respect to the phase number n, thereby being capable of restoring the waveform equivalent to the waveform sampled in the 1/n steps, and determining whether the shape of the light emission waveform is normal, or not. As a result, the shape of the light emission waveform can be monitored without interrupting a distance measurement.

As a device for measuring a distance from a subject device to a target object without contact, a time-of-flight (TOF: time of flight) distance measurement device is provided. The time-of-flight distance measurement device emits a modulated light (distance measuring light) toward a space, and receives an incident light including a reflected light obtained by reflecting the modulated light on a target object. The time-of-flight distance measurement device distributes charges corresponding to the received incident light to multiple storage capacitors and accumulates the distributed charges, and calculates a distance from the subject device to the target object with the use of a sampled value (for example, refer to Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
In addition, a technique is disclosed in which the distance is actually measured for a target object whose distance is known and a correction is performed by creating a lookup table (LUT) based on the distance measurement result (for example, refer to Patent Literatures 3 and 4).

Time-of-flight distance measurement device


A method for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) a copper layer (22) begins by forming the copper layer (22). The copper layer (22) is then exposed to a slurry (24). The slurry (24) contains an oxidizing agent such as H.sub.2 O.sub.2, a carboxylate salt such as ammonium citrate, an abrasive slurry such as alumna abrasive, an optional triazole or triazole derivative, and a remaining balance of a solvent such as deionized water. The use of the slurry (24) polishes the copper layer (22) with a high rate of removal whereby pitting and corrosion of the copper layer (22) is reduced and good copper interconnect planarity is achieved. This slurry (24) has good selectivity of copper to oxide, and results in copper devices which have good electrical performance. In addition, disposal of the slurry (24) is not environmentally difficult since the slurry (24) is environmentally sound when compared to other prior art slurries.

The integrated circuitry (IC) industry is currently researching and developing new metallic interconnect materials and structures which can be used within integrated circuits (ICs). A promising metallic material which will be used in the future for integrated circuit (IC) interconnects is copper (Cu). Copper is desired in the integrated circuit industry since copper has improved electromigration resistance over aluminum and other metallic materials which are currently being used in the integrated circuit industry. In addition, copper has a lower resistivity than other commonly used metallic materials, whereby the performance of integrated circuit devices can be greatly improved through the use of copper interconnects.
However, there is currently no known technology which can effectively plasma etch or wet etch copper materials so that functional copper interconnects are adequately formed over the surface of an integrated circuit. In order to overcome this limitation, copper chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has been suggested as the most promising alternative which can render proper formation of copper interconnects on an integrated circuit. Therefore, the industry is currently searching for an optimal chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry which can be used to form copper interconnects on an integrated circuit (IC).
It is known in the industry to use one of either H.sub.2 O.sub.2 or H.sub.3 PO.sub.4 as an oxidizing agent in a slurry in order to perform aluminum polishing. It is also known in the art to use one of H.sub.2 O.sub.2, KIO.sub.3, Ce(NO.sub.3).sub.4, Fe(NO.sub.3).sub.3, and K.sub.3 Fe(CN).sub.6 to polish tungsten material. It is also known to use one of HNO.sub.3, HN.sub.4 OH, or KMnO.sub.4 to perform polishing of copper. Therefore, these chemical compounds have been extensively researched by CMP engineers in an attempt to discover an optimal copper CMP process. However, the use of these known chemicals has not yet produced optimal copper polishing results.
For example, various experimentation performed using the known chemistries described above have resulted in one or more of: (1) poor removal rate whereby CMP throughput is inadequate; (2) excessive pitting and/or corrosion of the copper material whereby device performance and device yield is reduced; (3) layer planarity problems; (4) poor IC electrical performance; or (5) poor selectivity to copper over adjacent oxide materials ("oxide" refers to "silicon dioxide" and the two may be used interchangeably herein.)
Therefore, a need exist in the industry for an improved CMP slurry which may be used to manufacture copper interconnects while reducing or eliminating one or more of the above common copper CMP problems. This improved slurry should have good removal rate whereby CMP throughput is improved, reduced or eliminated pitting and corrosion of the copper material whereby device performance and yield is improved, improved planarity of the copper layer, improved electrical performance of integrated circuits, and/or improved selectivity of copper to oxide.

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry for copper and method of use in integrated circuit manufacture


A selectable element or an element image associated with the element is displayed on a screen of a display unit. A representation of a person whose image is captured with a detection unit, or an indicator that moves in conjunction with a motion of the person is displayed on the screen. The element or the element image is moved so as to be driven out of the representation or the indicator thus displayed. The element is judged as selected based on a movement degree or a post-movement position of the element or the element image thus moved.

Heretofore, there has been developed a method of allowing a user, when manipulating an apparatus in a non-contact state, to select an element on a display screen by using his/her hand or finger instead of using a remote controller.
For example, an input device described in Patent Document 1 is disclosed as follows. Specifically, in order for a person to input information by a hand or finger operation without touching an apparatus, the input device captures images of a hand or finger of the input person pointed to a display, and calculates a direction in which the hand or finger is pointed toward the display based on the captured images. Then, the input device displays a cursor on the display to present a position on the display corresponding to the calculated direction. When detecting a click operation of the hand or finger, the input device selects, as information submitted by the input person, information in a portion where the cursor is positioned.

Element selection device, element selection method, and program


A work station having a base, a user support affixed to the base; and an overhead hanger affixed to said base. The overhead hanger has a rear portion extending upwardly behind the user support and an overhead portion extending forwardly above the user support a sufficient distance so that when a user is positioned in the user support, the overhead portion is above the user and a peripheral mounting system affixable to the overhead portion proximate a distal end of the overhead portion.

Conventional computer work stations consist of a desk having a location for mounting of a computer monitor, a keyboard and a computer tower. The user generally sits on an office chair in front of the monitor. Such arrangements have been notorious for inducing backpain, carpal tunnel syndrome and other problems. A few workstations were designed attempting to integrate human comfort and health with performance. However, such workstations have been made up of many different parts interconnected or free standing. Moreover, some of these parts typically block off access by a user to a chair. Finally, moving such systems involves moving awkwardly interconnected elements such as a chair and a desk as well as free standing stands for holding monitors and side tables.
It is an object of the invention to provide an ergonomic workstation in which the entire workstation is integrated and the user area is accessible from either side.


Systems and methods for a silicon photonics integrated optical velocimeter are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method includes producing a laser output at a laser source; emitting the laser output from a plurality of emitters formed in an optical chip; receiving a plurality of reflected portions of the emitted laser output at an optical collector formed in the optical chip, wherein the plurality of reflected portions are reflected off of at least one surface; beating the laser output against the reflected portions of the emitted laser output, wherein one of the laser output or the reflected portions of the emitted laser output are modulated by at least one modulation frequency; and calculating a doppler shift for each of the plurality of reflected portions of the emitted laser output based on an output of the beating and the at least one modulation frequency.

Many systems provide velocity measurements for use in a wide range of applications. In some examples, velocity measurements may be used as an aiding source for navigation in GPS denied environments. Presently, examples of currently available systems that provide velocity measurements include Lidar or Radar based velocimeters. Lidar based velocimeters, while accurate, are large and consume a substantial amount of power. Radar based velocimeters have a lower sensitivity than Lidar based velocimeters and lower angle resolution. Radar is also a larger system. Thus, due to the size and power consumed of current velocimeters, challenges exist when attempting to integrate velocimeters with MEMS inertial sensors.

Silicon photonics integrated optical velocimeter


A sputtering method deposits a film on a substrate by controlling a magnetic field parallel to a surface of a target so that the magnetic field at a part of the target, other than parts of the target which are sputtered during a deposition mode in which a deposition process is performed with respect to the substrate, has an intensity lower than an arbitrary intensity at the other parts during the deposition mode and has an intensity higher than or equal to the arbitrary intensity during a standby mode in which the deposition process is not performed. A redeposited film which is deposited on the part of the target during the deposition mode is removed by performing a sputtering during the standby mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sputtering methods and apparatuses, and more particularly to a sputtering method and a sputtering apparatus which are suited for magnetron sputtering and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional sputtering method. In FIG. 1, magnets 2 and 3, which are provided on a magnet base 1, are rotated with respect to a target 8 by a motor (not shown). A peripheral part of the target 8 is held by a target holder 9 within a vacuum chamber of a sputtering apparatus.
During sputtering within the vacuum chamber of the sputtering apparatus, sputtering atoms 11 reach a substrate (not shown) on which a desired film is to be sputtered. In this process of reaching the substrate, a portion of the sputtering atoms 11 become redepositing atoms 12 which are redeposited on the surface of the target 8 due to scattering of a process gas such as Ar gas, to thereby form a redeposited film on the surface of the target 8. On the other hand, a sputtering rate at the surface of the target 8 has a distribution which is mainly dependent upon an intensity of a magnetic field parallel to the surface of the target 8. In FIG. 1, a dotted line indicates the magnetic field, and a one-dot chain line indicates the magnetic field intensity. As a result, a volume of the redeposited film which is formed on the surface of the target 8 is determined by a balance between the sputtering rate and a deposition rate of the redeposited film.
In general, a magnetic circuit used in magnetron sputtering, more particularly, a rotary cathode magnet, is designed to have a weak magnetic field intensity at the peripheral part of the target 8 in order not to subject parts other than the target 8, such as the target holder 9, to the sputtering. For this reason, the deposition rate of the redeposited film becomes high with respect to the sputtering rate at the peripheral part of the target 8, and this causes the deposition of the redeposited film.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between the sputtering rate and the deposition rate of the redeposited film at a location where the intensity of the magnetic field parallel to the target surface (that is, the surface of the target 8) is strong. In addition, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the sputtering rate and the deposition rate of the redeposited film at a location where the intensity of the magnetic field parallel to the target surface is weak. In FIGS. 2 and 3, SQ denotes a sputtering amount (or quantity) of the sputtering atoms 11, and RD denotes a redeposition amount (or quantity) of the redepositing atoms 12. In the case shown in FIG. 3, the redeposition amount RD is large compared to the sputtering amount SQ.
If the deposition amount RD of the redepositing atoms 12 or, the film thickness of the redeposited film becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined value, a delamination of the redeposited film easily occurs due to changes in thermal stress and the like. When the delamination of the redeposited film occurs, a component of the redeposited film may adhere on the substrate to cause a defect or, a cathode may be short-circuited to the ground within the vacuum chamber and cause an operation failure of the sputtering apparatus.
Various kinds of sputtering apparatuses have been proposed, as may be seen from Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 11-61401, No. 2000-1776, No. 4-63271 and No. 4-63273, for example.
According to the conventional sputtering method, there was a problem in that the deposition amount of the redeposited film becomes large at the peripheral part of the target where the intensity of the magnetic field parallel to the target surface is weak, and the delamination of the redeposited film easily occurs.


In a single plate type solid-state image pickup device having a color filter with primary color filters, gray filters are disposed at specific pixels of the arrangement of the primary color filters, whereby variation of the sense of resolution with respect to color can be prevented, and outline emphasis is applied to achieve an excellent image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a single plate type solid-state image pickup device equipped with primary-color type color filters.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a single plate type color solid-state image pickup device, an on-chip color filter, which is designed so that various color filters of plural colors are repetitively disposed in a predetermined arrangement, is formed on a sensor portion to output signals of desired colors.
This on-chip color filter has many kinds of color coding (color arrangements). One of these kinds of color coding has a color arrangement of primary colors (Red, Green, Blue), and it is called as a Bayer arrangement.
The Bayer arrangement is shown in FIG. 11.
If the Bayer arrangement is applied to each four-pixel arrangement (pixel unit) of 2 pixels in the longitudinal direction×2 pixels in the lateral direction, green (G) pixels are obliquely arranged at two places in the diagonal direction, and a red (R) pixel is disposed at one of the other two places while a blue (B) pixel is disposed at the remaining place. As a whole, the arrangement of the pixels is set so that the green pixels are arranged in the oblique direction.
The feature of the Bayer arrangement resides in that when the pixel arrangement is viewed from only the horizontal direction or vertical direction, the green (G) pixels contributing to the resolution exist every pixel. In FIG. 11, Px represents the pixel pitch in the horizontal direction, and Py represents the pixel pitch in the vertical direction.
Accordingly, the Bayer arrangement has the following characteristics.    (1) The spatial frequency characteristic in the horizontal and vertical directions is isotropic.
FIGS. 12A to 12C are spatial frequency characteristics in the horizontal and vertical directions of the three primary colors in the Bayer arrangement of FIG. 11. Specifically, FIG. 12A shows the spatial frequency characteristic for the green G, FIG. 12B shows the spatial frequency characteristic for the red R and FIG. 12C shows the spatial frequency characteristic for the blue B.
From FIGS. 12B and FIG. 12C, each of the red R and the blue B exists every other pixel when the pixels are viewed in each of the horizontal and vertical directions. Accordingly, the horizontal spatial frequency (1/Px) and the vertical spatial frequency (1/Py) are equal to ¼.
On the other hand, from FIG. 12A, the green G exists every pixel when the pixels are viewed in each of the horizontal and vertical directions as described above, and thus the horizontal spatial frequency (1/Px) and the vertical spatial frequency (1/Py) are equal to ½, which is twice as large as these of the red R and the blue B. However, the green G exists every other pixel in the oblique direction, so that the horizontal spatial frequency and the vertical spatial frequency of the green G are equal to those of the red R and the blue B.
Therefore, for the three colors (R, G, B), the horizontal spatial frequency and the vertical spatial frequency are isotropic.    (2) Aperture control signals (outline correcting signals) that provide a comparatively high sense of resolution can be generated by only the green G pixels.
By generating aperture control signals from only the green G pixels, the system can be implemented by using a relatively smaller hardware as compared with a system of generating aperture control signals by using pixels of all three colors.
However, in the color filter having the RGB (primary color type) Bayer arrangement, aperture control signals are generated by using only the signals from the green G pixels, so that the sense of resolution is unbalanced among the colors. When aperture control signals are generated by using only the signals from the green G pixels, the green components dominantly contribute to the spectral characteristic, so that it is difficult to generate aperture control signals from a subject having hue of primary colors (red R, blue B, etc.) containing no green B. That is, for a subject such as a red rose, the outline emphasis is hardly applied to the subject although the subject has high saturation.

Solid-state image-pickup device having primary color and gray color filters and processing means thereof


A buffer tree structure includes, at each internal node, a buffer having a compacted portion and an uncompacted portion. Insertion of data elements to the buffer tree can occur units called packets. A packet is initially stored in the uncompacted portion of a receiving node's buffer. After a time, packets in the uncompacted portion of a buffer are combined into compacted packets in the compacted portion of the buffer. A buffer-emptying (flush) operation pushes the compacted packets to children nodes.

A conventional buffer tree is a search tree in which each node has approximately f children and has an associated buffer that can hold approximately B items. New items are inserted into the root's buffer. Whenever a node's buffer exceeds some limits (e.g., on number of items), some of its items are moved to the buffer of one of its children. Items are typically moved from one node's buffer to another in batches. Items within a buffer are typically maintained in sorted order to facilitate searches.
In conventional processing of a conventional buffer tree, every time items are added to a node's buffer, the new items are sorted with the items already present in the buffer and the buffer is rewritten to disk. As a result, items may be written to disk many times while residing in a node's buffer. This effect is sometimes referred to as "write amplification."

Reducing write amplification in buffer trees


A fountain having a spherical element over which water flows is disclosed. The sphere includes an upper pole, a lower pole, a polar axis connecting the upper and lower poles, an equatorial plane, and a sphere surface. The sphere is mounted in the fountain so that the upper pole forms the apex of the sphere. A water outlet is provided at the upper pole for providing a flow of water over the surface of the sphere. The surface of the sphere is provided with a plurality of annular grooves circumscribing the polar axis, and extending above and below the equatorial plane for a predetermined distance towards each pole. Each annular groove has a radius of predetermined size, with the annular grooves located on the lower hemisphere being canted downwardly and inwardly from the equatorial plane so that the water or other liquid will flow slowly, evenly and continuously downhill over the surface of the sphere from groove to groove to the lower pole, without shedding or loss beneath the equatorial plane.

Decorative fountains and water displays which are aesthetically pleasing to the eye are well known, and have been in use since ancient times. The Romans, for example, used public fountains (such as the Trevi Fountain in Rome) as a practical way of reducing incoming water pressure from aqueducts before allowing the water to flow through the urban water distribution system. Aesthetic beauty was produced almost as an afterthought.
In more recent times, fountains have been used solely for their aesthetic beauty. Typical fountains include a pump or other means for delivering water to an elevated position where the force of gravity can act upon the water, causing it to flow back to earth. The path of the water can be free-fall mode, which, in the event of high water pressure, can be very exciting. Alternatively, the flow of water can be very gentle, and a winding path over rocks and through various plants and terrains can be provided, which provides a very soothing, cooling, and natural experience. Some fountains are technologically interesting, providing an apparently seamless film of water flowing down from an elevated source.
Convex surfaces are not typically used in fountains because they provide special problems. Water flowing from the top of a sphere having a smooth surface tends to break into discrete streams and flows down towards the plane (hereinafter referred to as an "equatorial plane") which divides the sphere into an upper hemisphere and a lower hemisphere. When the water flows below the equatorial plane, the film thickness increases as a result of decreasing surface area, allowing the force of gravity to overcome the surface tension, causing the water to shed, or fall off, the surface of the sphere before it reaches the bottom.
Accordingly, the need exists for an aesthetically pleasing fountain incorporating a sphere in which the water appears to flow smoothly across the surface of the sphere from an upper to a lower pole without loss of water shedding from the surface below the equatorial plane as a result of the force of gravity.


An integrated circuit package comprises a substrate having an upper surface, a lower surface, and a long slot penetrating from the upper surface to the lower surface. The lower surface is formed with a wiring regioins arranged at side of the long slot, and the wiring regions formed with a plurality of connection points. A glue layer is coated on the upper surface of the substrate and as arranged at the periphery of the long slot. The integrated circuit has a first surface formed with a plurality of bonding pads and is adhered to the glue layer. The wires, each of which is arranged within the long slot of the substrate electrically connected the bonding pads of the integrated circuit to the connection points of the substrate. The first compound layer is filled within the long slot of the substrate to protect the wires.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit package having a resistant layer for stopping flowed glue, and more particularly to an integrated circuit package which may be conveniently manufactured with reduced manufacturing costs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional integrated circuit package having central leads includes a substrate 10, a glue layer 12, an integrated circuit 14, a plurality of wires 16, and a compound layer 18. The substrate 10 has an upper surface 20, a lower surface 22 and a long slot 24 penetrating from the upper surface 20 to the lower surface 22, wherein the lower surface 22 of the substrate 10 is formed with wiring region 26 arranged at the two sides of the long slot 24, and the wiring region 26 is formed with connection points 28. The glue layer 12 is coated on the upper surface 20 of the substrate 10, and is located at the periphery of the long slot 24. The integrated circuit 14 has a first surface 30 and a second surface 32, wherein the central portion of the first surface 30 of the integrated circuit 14 is formed with bonding pads 34, while the first surface 30 of the substrate 10 is adhered to the glue layer 12, so that the bonding pad 34 of the substrate 10 are exposed from the slot 24. The wires are arranged within the long slot 24 of the substrate 10, and electrically connect the bonding pads 34 of the integrated circuit 14 to the connection points 28 of the substrate 10. The compound layer 18 is filled within the long slot 24 to protect the wires.
However, the above-mention integrated circuit package has the following drawbacks. When the glue layer 12 is coated on the upper surface 20 of the substrate 10, the flowed glue layer 12 covers the wiring region 26 through the long slot 24 of the substrate 10, so that the connection points 28 which are arranged at the wiring region 26, are covered by flowed glue.

Integrated circuit package having a resistant layer for stopping flowed glue


A throttle body assembly for an internal combustion engine comprising a straddle-mounted throttle plate shaft extending transversely through an airflow passage, a bearing located on each side of the airflow passage for rotatably supporting the throttle plate shaft, and a mechanical connection between the throttle plate and the throttle plate shaft including strategically positioned clearances between the shaft and the throttle plate which will allow the throttle plate to move relative to the shaft, thereby permitting self-alignment of the throttle plate within the airflow passage.

An air/fuel mixture for an internal combustion engine is delivered to the engine intake manifold through an air/fuel mixture flow passage formed in a throttle body. It is conventional design practice in the case of an engine having an air/fuel mixture carburetor to provide a throttle plate situated in the throttle body on the downstream side of a carburetor venturi. Fuel distribution to the intake air is developed by reason of the venture pressure. In the case of an internal combustion engine having a fuel injection system, the throttle plate would be located in the throttle body in the airflow path between the air intake duct and the engine air intake manifold. The flow of air or the flow of an air/fuel mixture through the throttle body is controlled by the throttle plate as the position of the throttle plate is adjusted by a throttle valve actuator. The actuator may be in the form of a driver-operated linkage or a throttle controller such as an electrical stepper motor.
The throttle plate may be mounted on a throttle shaft that extends through the throttle body passage, hereinafter referred to as an airflow passage. Spaced bearings in the throttle body rotatably support the throttle shaft in a straddle mount arrangement. An example of a throttle body having a throttle plate of this kind may be seen by referring to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,492,097 and 1,841,695. Each of these prior art throttle valve assemblies includes a circular valve plate situated in a cylindrical airflow passage in the throttle body.
One problem associated with a throttle valve assembly of the kind shown in the '097 and '695 patents is a tendency of the valve plate to frictionally engage the wall of the airflow passage, thereby creating an undesirable binding or sticking of the valve plate which prevents normal throttle valve adjustments. Valve plate sticking is more prevalent when the valve plate assumes a closed throttle position.
Attempts have been made to overcome the valve plate sticking problem by providing for a lost motion connection between the throttle plate shaft and the throttle plate itself in instances when the throttle valve plate shaft is journalled in the throttle body in a cantilever fashion. Such an arrangement is shown in prior art patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,849, where a pin-and-slot connection is provided between a cantilever-mounted throttle shaft and a throttle plate so that any binding tendency of the throttle plate is reduced. The cantilever throttle plate mounting arrangement of the '849 patent provides for a floating movement of the throttle plate relative to a relatively stable bearing mount for the cantilever throttle shaft. The design does not make specific provision for allowing flexure of the throttle plate due to a pressure differential that would exist across the throttle plate when the throttle plate assumes a closed position. Neither does it make provision for reducing to a minimum leakage of air through the lost motion connection with the throttle is closed.


An opening device comprising a removable membrane (11) connected to a pulling device (12). The pulling device (12) is connected to the membrane (11) at its opposed ends (13, 14) so as to define a pull ring. Weakening arrangements (15, 16) are provided at said opposed ends to initiate the tearing off of the membrane.

Today, for milk, juice and other beverages, there exists a number of types and sizes of consumer packages, e.g. Parallel epidemic packages of laminated paper/plastic, blow moulded bottles or cups made solely of plastic and different kinds of containers made of glass, sheet metal or aluminium. A number of these different kinds of packages comprise some kind of opening device in order to facilitate the access of the consumer to the contents of the package either for pouring into a drinking-vessel or for consumption directly from the package. In case of packages formed as bottles, a common solution is some kind of screw cap, while packages formed from plastic or laminated paper/plastic often comprise a simple tear notch or a pre-made pouring opening covered by a strip adapted to be torn off, a so-called pull-tab. Separately made opening devices of thermoplastic material, e.g. injection moulded opening devices with a pouring edge or a short neck and a snap or screw cap are also known. This kind of opening devices can also be injection moulded in situ, i.e. around an opening punched from the packaging material such that this opening is closed until the consumer opens the opening device. Injection moulded opening devices can of course also be of different size and even cover a complete upper surface of a packaging container, whereby they also serve as a side panel of the packaging container.
Especially in case of the above mentioned injection moulded opening devices is it common to seal the pouring opening with some kind of membrane that can be torn off, which membrane on one hand guarantees that the opening device is completely tight before it is opened, and on the other hand indicates that the package has not been opened before (tamper proof). The membrane is often also utilised in case of the kind of opening devices that have a screw or snap cap for the reclosure. In order to make the removal of the membrane possible, the membrane is of the provided with some kind of grip or pull device, which makes is possible for the consumer to get a firm grip in order to especially promote the initiation of the opening. Even in cases where the membrane is demarcated from the surrounding opening device or surrounding portions of the package, the initiation of the tearing can in some cases cause difficulties, since the weakening line in spite of its obvious weakening purpose is not allowed to weaken the material in such an extent that ruptures and leakage occurs, Earlier attempts to eliminate this difficulty at the initiation of the tearing has in substance been directed towards minimising the necessary force by making sure that the weakening line has a minimal remaining material thickness, but since the manufacturing tolerances are comparatively large a relatively large material thickness must be present in order to secure that leakages do not occur. Other possibilities to facilitate the initiation of the tearing is of course to provide the grip device with a sturdy pull ring or equivalent grip that makes it possible for the consumer to apply a large pulling force on the membrane at the initiation of the tearing.
Thus, it is a common desire to provide an opening device of the above-mentioned kind, by which the initiation of the tearing of the membrane is facilitated without the occurrence of any of the above-mentioned drawbacks.


A dielectric film of a capacitor is formed using the plasma CVD apparatus. A thin Ta layer is deposited on a semiconductor wafer by using Ta(N(CH.sub.3).sub.2).sub.5 gas and H.sub.2 radicals. The thin Ta layer is then oxidized by O.sub.2 radicals to form a thin Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 layer. An Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer is then formed on the Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 layer by using SiH.sub.4 and NH.sub.3 gases. The Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 layer and the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer are alternately laminated one upon the other several times to form a dielectric film of laminated structure. The dielectric film can thus have a composition close to the stoichiometric composition and it can be made high in dielectric constant and excellent in withstand voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a dielectric film for a semiconductor device and, more particularly, it relates to a method of forming a laminated film which can be used as a dielectric film of a capacitor and which includes oxidized tantalum layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various new processes have been developed these days to make semiconductor devices higher in performance and more highly integrated. The capacitor forming process is one of them and it is deemed as being important.
The capacitance C of the parallel-plate capacitor can be expressed as follows: EQU C=e.sub.0 .multidot.e.sub.r .multidot.S/d
wherein e.sub.0 represents the vacuum dielectric constant, e.sub.r the relative dielectric constant of the dielectric substance, S the area of the plate and d the film thickness of the dielectric substance.
In order to increase the capacitance of the capacitor, therefore, the film thickness of the dielectric substance may be reduced. In the case of the small capacitance semiconductor device such as 1 M DRAM now available, therefore, its capacitor capacitance which becomes smaller as the capacitor is made finer can be kept not reduced when its parallel-plate capacitor is made thin or the film thickness of its dielectric substance is decreased.
In the case of 4 or more Ms DRAMs, however, it has become impossible to make the memory cell thin, from a physical viewpoint, by using a laminated film of SiO.sub.2 and Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, which is now used as dielectric film, as it is. The reasons are as follows:
1) SiO.sub.2 has a low relative dielectric constant of 3.8, and even if the laminated film is made thin, the capacitance thereof cannot be made large enough.
2) When the laminated film is made thinner than 50 .ANG., leak current is increased.
In order to increase the capacitance, therefore, it has been tried to increase the area (S) of the plate or surface area of the capacitor. In other words, the capacitor has been tried to have a three-dimensional structure. Early days when it was wanted that the surface area of the capacitor was made as large as possible, the capacitor of the trench type was studied. In the case of the capacitor of this type, however, its signal to noise ratio (or S/N ratio) is lowered by a film formed of oxidized silicon. Therefore, the capacitor having a structure of the stacked type has been used these days. In addition to forming the stacked capacitor, this stacked type structure has been applied to the trenched Si to form a capacitor of stacked and trenched structure.
As 16- and 64-M DRAMs are developed, the devices are made finer and their capacitors are made thinner. In the case of the 64-M DRAM, for example, it is believed that its capacitor size becomes 1.5 mm.sup.2 and that its film thickness becomes smaller than 50 .ANG. when calculated in terms of a oxide film thickness. In addition, it is asked that power consumed must be made as smaller as possible. Since signal charge capacity equals to a product obtained by multiplying electrostatic capacitance by operating voltage, the lowering of power source voltage must be corrected by increasing the electrostatic capacitance. In order to increase the surface area of the capacitor, therefore, capacitors of the fin, crown and chimney types have been proposed these days. It is however quite difficult to make these capacitors because their structures are complicated.
As means for solving this problem, attention has been again paid to those materials, which have a high dielectric constant, such as tantalum pentoxide (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5), and studies have been conducted to make them practical (see a monthly "Semiconductor World", March issue, 1987 and May issue, 1990: and "J. Electrochem., Soc.", Vol. 136, No. 3, March, 1989).
Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 is one of materials most worthy of attention because its relative dielectric constant is as high as 28. However, it is still impossible to form a film of fully satisfactory and high quality with this Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5. Even if dielectric film is made using Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5, therefore, its withstand voltage is still low. This is a problem to be conquered upon making Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 practical.
The reasons why a high quality film cannot be made using Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 are as follows:
1) Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 is likely to be reduced by Si which serves as base material. This makes oxygen atoms short, thereby causing the withstand voltage of the film thus formed to become low. When a little more added from the viewpoint of standard free energy of formation, SiO.sub.2 =-0.8244 J/mol and Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 =-1.191 J/mol. O in Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 is therefore likely to be reduced by Si. Further, when CVD and sputtering manners are used, in which an organic Ta gas is mixed with an oxidizing gas for continuous deposition, a film thus formed is often short of oxygen, and the composition thereof deviates from the stoichiometric composition, because components reacted in vapor-phase are deposited. This leads to the lowering of dielectric constant.
2) When contaminants such as carbon are present in the film, they cause leak current, which lowers the withstand voltage of the film. Particularly a gas source of the organic Ta gas is decomposed in the plasma CVD process, for example, and carbon as an intermediate by-product is likely to be taken into the film and to remain there.
3) Even when deposition is to be made in grooves of high aspect ratio to increase capacitance, it cannot be made conformable (or uniform in holes and on inner walls severely stepped).
Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 is quite high in physical property for a strong dielectric memory as described above, the barrier by which it is prevented from becoming practical cannot be broken yet.

Method of forming dielectric film for semiconductor devices


An inflatable balloon (34) for use in the treatment of retinal detachments. The balloon (34) has a hollow elliptic-shaped body (36), a solid base (38), and a solid cylindrical stem (40). The balloon is inserted into Tenon's space by inserting a fine blunt-ended needle (52) longitudinally through the solid base (38) and stem (40) of the balloon (34). The needle (52) is then used to guide the balloon (34) into place. Once the balloon (34) is in place, it is inflated with a sterile solution to create the necessary degree of buckling in the sclera. The needle (52) is then removed, with the stem (40) and base (38) maintaining the solution in the body (36) of the balloon (34), and the cylindrical (40) stem is trimmed to the desired length.

Vision is accomplished through a complex process wherein light rays are refracted or bent so as to focus on the retina, which then transmits these signals through the fibers of the optic nerve to the brain. To function properly, the retina must contact the choroid, from which it receives a significant portion of the oxygen and glucose required for its normal nourishment. If the retina is detached from the choroid, it is therefore no longer able to accomplish its function.
Retinal detachment is typically the result of subretinal fluid that has permeated between the retina and the choroid through one or more holes in the structure of the retina. The retinal holes generally have the shape of either round holes or "horseshoe" shaped breaks. The permeated subretinal fluid causes portions of the retina to break away from the choroid. As a result of retinal detachment, patients observe some degree of reduction in their visual acuity and field of vision, dependent upon the extend of the retinal detachment.
Treatment of retinal detachment requires occlusion of the ruptures of the retina. In the prior art, occlusion is accomplished by suturing permanent silicone implants to the outer wall of the sclera. The implants cause a buckling or bulging in the sclera toward the area of the retinal holes. The buckling in the sclera causes the sclera and its internally contiguous layer, the choroid, to move inward and occlude the holes of the detached retina. After this occlusion occurs, subretinal fluid is reabsorbed, allowing the retina to settle back into position, in contact with the choroid. In order to induce an inflammatory reaction and augment the adhesiveness of the retina to its normal position in the areas in which it was previously detached, diathermy, cryotherapy, or laser therapy is also applied to the area of the retinal rupture.
This procedure for treating retinal detachment, however, presents several problems. For example, under this procedure, the patient is required to undergo general anesthesia. The surgery also demands a substantial amount of time. Moreover, because the procedure requires extensive surgical manipulation of ocular tissue, the patient is likely to suffer from pain and ocular edema in the post-operative period. Furthermore, substantial dexterity is needed in order to suture the solid implant to the patient's sclera.
Attempts to solve these problems have resulted in Lincoff's inflatable balloon. Prior Art FIG. 1 shows a representation of the Lincoff balloon during treatment of the detached retina. Lincoff's balloon is used to cause a buckling effect similar to that generated by the previously discussed solid permanent implants.
Referring now to FIG. 1 Prior Art, the prior art Lincoff balloon 12 is shown inserted in Tenon's space 14 near a detached retinal portion 18. In the Lincoff balloon technique, the balloon 12 is first inserted into Tenon's space 14 through an incision 20 in the conjunctiva 22. Once it is in a proper location in Tenon's space 14, the balloon 12 is inflated with a saline solution via a catheter 24. The catheter 24 further includes an intricate valve used to maintain the saline solution in the balloon 12. The balloon 12 is shown in FIG. 1 in a semi-inflated state. As the balloon 12 is further inflated, the sclera 26 buckles, this bulge causing the inner wall 32 of the sclera 26 to push the choroid 28 inward and make it to contact a detached retinal portion 18, specifically the portion where the retina holes are located. After the balloon 12 is inflated to the necessary degree, the catheter 24 is taped to the skin near the patient's eye. Several weeks later, after the detached retinal portion 18 has settled in contact with the choroid 28, the balloon 12 and catheter 24 are removed from the patient's eye.
Lincoff's balloon has many advantages over the solid permanent implants. For one, the surgery only requires local anesthesia and surgical time is reduced. Secondly, during the operation, the size of the buckle effect is easily graduated depending on the volume of liquid injected inside the balloon. Also, less tissue manipulation is necessary to insert the balloon, and it is not normally necessary to suture the balloon to the sclera. Finally, diplopia and muscle imbalance does not occur after balloon removal.
The Lincoff balloon, however, also presents several problems. Primarily, the Lincoff balloon is inflated by a catheter which requires an intricate valve to maintain the saline solution in the balloon. After the balloon is inserted and inflated in the Tenon's space of the patient's eye, the catheter protrudes from the patient's eye, disturbing normal eyelid movements and possibly causing corneal erosions. Moreover, the catheter is taped to the patient's skin during the several weeks following the procedure, which adds to the patient's inconvenience and annoyance.
Therefore, a need exists for an inflatable balloon for use in retinal detachment surgery that does not require a catheter and valve as integral components of the balloon.

Inflatable balloon for treatment of rental detachments


An in-wheel assembly includes an in-wheel actuator and a wheel. The in-wheel actuator includes a driving motor, a decelerator which is disposed in the driving motor and configured to decrease a rotational speed received from the driving motor, and an output shaft which is configured to receive the rotational speed decreased by the decelerator. The wheel is configured to accommodate the in-wheel actuator in an inner space and is driven by the rotational speed of the output shaft to rotate.

1. Field
The following description relates to an in-wheel actuator applicable to a vehicle, such as an electric automobile, which is driven with electrical power, and an in-wheel assembly comprising the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles have gained more popularity due to harmful environmental effects from air pollution and a shortage of fossil fuels. A hybrid vehicle uses an internal-combustion engine to generate power, and uses an electric motor as an auxiliary power source. An electric vehicle uses an electric motor as a main power source.
With the development of technologies for batteries and motors, it is expected that electric vehicles, known as pollution-free cars, will replace "transition" vehicles, such as hybrid cars, since electric vehicles emit no pollutants or carbon dioxide during driving.
An in-wheel system has a driving motor mounted on a wheel, and delivers power from the driving motor directly to the wheel. The application of the in-wheel system allows a vehicle to have a compact and organized driving system, thereby reducing vehicle weight and improving a degree of freedom in vehicle layout or design. In addition, the in-wheel system contributes to optimization of a vehicle frame to increase collision safety. Further, the in-wheel system increases a drive motor performance of the vehicle and facilitates a larger interior space by optimally balancing weight across the vehicle.
In addition, the size of a driving motor is proportional to a level of output torque. Therefore, the bigger the size of the driving motor is, the higher the output torque can be achieved. However, an in-wheel assembly of an in-wheel system needs to be designed such that a driving motor embedded in a wheel should not protrude outward to prevent the driving motor from any external force. In addition, a brake is embedded in the wheel of the in-wheel assembly and the driving motor is arranged in the wheel, separately from the brake. Therefore, there is a limit to increasing the size of the driving motor.
In order to achieve output torque high enough to drive a vehicle, a decelerator can be installed to an output shaft of a driving motor. In this case, the size of the driving motor may be reduced. However, a decelerator is usually arranged outside of the driving motor in series. Thus, the size of the in-wheel assembly, including the driving motor, is not reduced as much as expected.

In-wheel actuator and in-wheel assembly comprising the same