Embodiments of the present invention provide flip-chip bond pad arrangements that lead to a smaller increase in die size than conventional approaches. This is accomplished by using the core side of a periphery I/O pad ring for placing some of the bond pads in order to meet the bond pad pitch requirements of flip chip technology. For example, alternating bond pads are moved inward to the core side of the I/O pads or drivers, to meet the bond pad pitch requirement between the bond pads that are moved to the core side as well the bond pads that remain outside of the core. Because the bond pads are moved inward instead of outward, the increase in the die size from the edge of the I/O pad ring is reduced. In an alternative embodiment, the bond pads are each bonded on top of an active circuitry of a corresponding I/O pad. In another alternative embodiment, the bond pads are disposed between I/O pads which are spaced from each other by a spacing in the direction of the periphery of the core to accommodate the bond pads.

The present invention relates generally to packaging of semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to bond pad placement for flip chip packages.
Flip chip technology provides many benefits over traditional wire bonding technologies including reduced electrical parasitics and reduced complexity in manufacturing. However, the requirements for bond pad placement for flip-chip is more stringent than for wire bonding. In particular, the pitch between bond pads for flip chip must be substantially greater than wire bond pad pitch. As shown in FIG. 1a, the pitch of bond pads 10 that meets wire bonding technology rules is too small to meet flip-chip technology requirements 12 (e.g., 300 xcexcm). This can lead to larger die sizes for the flip chip, especially for pad-limited designs where the die area is governed by the number and size of the I/O pads 16.
Prior solutions include moving alternating bond pads further away from I/O drivers or pads 16 until the minimum bond pad spacing requirements are met, as illustrated in FIG. 1b. This approach increases the die size. For example, in the flip chip technology where the bond pad pitch requirement is 300 xcexcm, the traditional approach would be to move alternating bond pads out approximately (300 xcexcm+bond pad height) per side.
To illustrate the die size increase, consider a chip with periphery I/O drivers which is 5000 xcexcm per side (excluding bond pads), with a bond pad which is 80 xcexcm in height, and which is to use flip chip package technology. Using prior techniques, there will be two rows of bond pads around the chip. The first row will be placed closest to the periphery I/O drivers, and the second row will be approximately 300 xcexcm further from the I/O drivers. This leads to a die size of approximately, (5000 xcexcm+80 xcexcm (bond pad height)+300 xcexcm)2, which is 5380 xcexcm per side. This bond pad placement is inefficient since there is substantial xe2x80x9cwastedxe2x80x9d area around the periphery of the die.
Embodiments of the present invention provide flip-chip bond pad arrangements that lead to a smaller increase in die size than conventional approaches. This is accomplished by using the core side of the I/O pad ring for placing some of the bond pads in order to meet the bond pad pitch requirements of flip chip technology. For example, alternating bond pads are moved inward to the core side of the I/O pads or drivers, to meet the bond pad pitch requirement between the bond pads that are moved to the core side as well the bond pads that remain outside of the core. Because the bond pads are moved inward instead of outward, the increase in the die size from the edge of the I/O pad ring is reduced.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an integrated circuit device comprises a plurality of I/O pads disposed along a periphery of a core. The core has no I/O pads disposed therein. A plurality of bond pads are provided for the I/O pads. A portion of the bond pads are disposed inside the core and a remaining portion of the bond pads are disposed outside of the core.
In some embodiments, the bond pads are spaced from each other by a minimum bond pad pitch. The minimum bond pad pitch between bond pads is 300 xcexcm. Each bond pad is disposed adjacent a corresponding I/O pad. Alternating bond pads are disposed inside the core and remaining alternating bond pads are disposed outside of the core. The I/O pads are oriented transverse to the periphery of the core.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an integrated circuit device comprises a plurality of I/O pads disposed and oriented along a periphery of a core. A plurality of bond pads are provided for the I/O pads. Each bond pad is bonded on top of an active circuitry of a corresponding I/O pad. The bond pads are spaced along the periphery of the core by a minimum bond pad pitch.
In specific embodiments, the minimum bond pad pitch may be 300 xcexcm. Each bond pad has a bond pad height which matches a height of the corresponding I/O pad to which the bond pad is bonded. A plurality of power buses extend along the I/O pads parallel to the periphery of the core. The core has no I/O pads disposed therein.
In some embodiments, the plurality of I/O pads are arranged into a plurality of rows of I/O pad rings around the periphery of the core. In one embodiment, a plurality of power buses extend along the I/O pad rings parallel to the periphery of the core. In another embodiment, a plurality of power buses extending across the I/O pad rings and across the core. The power buses provide power to both the core and the I/O pads.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an integrated circuit device comprises a plurality of I/O pads disposed along and oriented transverse to a periphery of a core. The I/O pads are spaced from each other by spacings in a direction along the periphery of the core. A plurality of bond pads are provided for the I/O pads. The bond pads are disposed in the spacings between the I/O pads.
In specific embodiments, the I/O pads and bond pads are alternately disposed along the periphery of the core. The bond pads are spaced from each other by a minimum bond pad pitch. The minimum bond pad pitch is 300 xcexcm. The core has no I/O pads disposed therein.


Apparatus for singulating paper sheets. The apparatus includes: a deck for supporting a plurality of paper sheets; a device for feeding the plurality of paper sheets along the deck; a retarding roller situated above the deck for retarding the plurality of paper sheets; and a feeding roller situated below the retarding roller for feeding the lowermost of the paper sheets past the retarding roller, which has a metal sleeve with a grit coating having a hardness on the Rockwell "C" scale of at least 60 and a grit size according to the U.S. Standard System between 10 and 320.

The instant invention relates to a singulating feeder for feeding sheets of paper seriatim from an upstream supply to a downstream apparatus and further processing. More particularly, the invention relates to the separating roller and stone used in such a feeder to effect singulation.
Mechanisms for the feeding of paper documents generally fall into two categories, those being vacuum fed and friction fed. The following description of the prior art will deal only with those types of feeders and material handlers which are considered to be friction-type feeders and which include singulators.
Friction feeders are preferred when it comes to feeding single paper documents. Friction feeders, as the name implies, rely on the interaction of several components that result in the singulation of paper documents. Two methods of singulation are provided by friction feeders. One style is via top feed and the second style is via bottom feed. A friction feeder is designed to operate as a top feed or a bottom feed, but it cannot operate in both modes. The components are usually a drive roller and a retarding device. The retarding device is of a material which provides a high coefficient of friction between the paper being fed and the drive roller.
In a bottom feed configuration, the paper begins as a vertical stack placed on a plurality of belts which usually are supported by a feeder table. This plurality of belts then advance the stack of paper toward a retarding device. As the plurality of belts advance the stack of paper under the retarding device, the friction between the belts and the bottom of the stack of paper tends to pull paper off the bottom of the stack. The retarding device provides the friction that acts to hold back the stack of paper. Therefore, the number of paper documents that are pulled from the bottom of the vertical stack is determined by the physical distance between the belts and the retarding device. If the distance is substantially the thickness of a single piece of paper, or the thickness of the material being singulated, a single paper will be delivered from the bottom of the stack. The single sheet delivery is generally the desired result. If the distance between the belts and the retarding device is the thickness of several pieces of paper or of the documents to be singulated, then a stream of paper documents will be delivered from the stack.
The typical retarding device in a bottom feed configuration is a stationary stone, and a feed roller located beneath the stone advances the lower most of the sheets of paper. A long standing problem associated with the use of a feed roller is that it becomes glazed over with paper fibers, ink or other foreign matter. Thus, the instant invention provides a feed roller which overcomes the problems associated with the conventional feed rollers and yet continues to provide reliable feeding and singulation of paper sheets.


A method for driving a discharge display panel provides at least a first type sub-filed and a second type sub-field that are used alternately over the span of at least a sub-field. The first type sub-field sequentially includes an addressing time for a first display electrode-line group, a display-sustain time for the first display electrode-line group, an addressing time for a second display electrode-line group, and a display-sustain time for the first display electrode-line group and the second display electrode-line group. Each of the second type sub-fields sequentially includes an addressing time for a second display electrode-line group, a display-sustain time for the second display electrode-line group, an addressing time for the first display electrode-line group, and a display-sustain time for the first display electrode-line group and the second display electrode-line group.

This application claims the priorities of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-55875, filed on Aug. 12, 2003, and Korean Patent Application No. 2003-75806, filed on Oct. 29, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of driving discharge display panels, and more particularly, to driving methods which include a plurality of sub-fields in a unit frame and perform gradation display through time-division driving.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical discharge display panel, such as a plasma display panel, is usually configured to have a three-electrode surface discharge structure. Front and rear substrates, usually glass substrates, are provided. A number of address (A) electrodes are formed in parallel on one of the two substrates, and parallel scan (Y) and sustain (X) electrodes are formed in a direction perpendicular to that of the address electrodes on another substrate. Partition walls are formed, for example, on the substrate with the address electrodes, to divide the panel into a number of individual discharge cells. Phosphors are provided between the partition walls. The space between the two substrates is filled with a plasma-generating gas. Discharges between the electrodes generate plasma, the phosphor is excited by the ultraviolet radiation of the plasma, and the discharge cell is thus caused to illuminate.
Plasma panels such as those described above are driven so that particular discharge cells are illuminated in order to display an image. Most driving methods employ, sequentially, a resetting step, an addressing step, and a display-sustain step in each unit sub-field. The resetting step is performed to uniformly distribute electric charges in all display cells. The addressing step is performed to create a desired wall voltage in selected cells to display an image. The display-sustain step is performed to apply a predetermined alternating-current voltage to all the X and Y electrode-line pairs so that the selected display cells with the desired wall voltage applied in the addressing step are caused to have display-sustain discharge.
One conventional driving method that is performed is the address-display separation driving method. In the address-display separation driving method, the addressing period and the display-sustain period in each of the sub-fields of a unit frame are separated from each other. In other words, in address-display separation driving, all of the discharge cells are addressed before any of them are discharged. Therefore, there is a relatively long latent period between addressing and discharge, during which wall charges in the display cells may be scattered, which may deteriorate the accuracy of the display-sustain discharges that begin when the addressing period is complete.

Method for driving discharge display panel by address-display mixing


A gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device realizing a high light output power without causing an increase in the threshold current or a reduction in the emission efficiency, specifically a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device comprised of a diffraction grating at least at part of the inside of a cavity and having a gain or loss periodically changing, a reflectance of one end surface (front facet) of the cavity being not more than 3% and the reflectance of the other end surface (rear facet) being larger than the reflectance of that one end surface and not more than 60%, such a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device wherein the length of said cavity is at least 400 xcexcm, and in particular such a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device of an absorbing diffraction grating type.

The present invention relates to a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device, more particularly relates to a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device which emits light with a high light output power and enables an increase in the threshold current to be kept to a minimum.
A distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device comprises a predetermined layer structure of semiconductor materials and a cavity having a predetermined cavity length in which is formed a diffraction grating for periodically changing a real or imaginary part of a refractive index and feeding back only laser light of a specific wavelength so as to give wavelength selectivity.
A distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device of a type where only the real part of the refractive index changes periodically inside the cavity is called a refractive index-coupling type, while one of the type where both the real part and imaginary part of the refractive index change periodically is called a gain-coupling type or a complex-coupling type.
Note that in the present invention, the latter of the above types, that is, the type where at least the imaginary part of the refractive index changes periodically, is called a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device.
Among these types of distributed feedback type semiconductor laser devices, the refractive index-coupling type generally oscillates in two modes near the Bragg wavelength. This is because the difference in the threshold gain between the two modes sandwiching the Bragg wavelength is small. Therefore, this type of laser device suffers from the problem of a difficulty in achieving a single mode oscillation operation. The yield in the single mode becomes lower.
On the other hand, in the case of a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device, the difference in the threshold gain between the two modes at the two sides of the Bragg wavelength is large, so the yield in a single mode becomes high.
Some gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser devices, however, form a diffraction grating inside the cavity by periodically arranging absorbing layers comprised of semiconductor materials absorbing the light of the oscillation wavelength of the device. This type is called an absorbing diffraction grating type.
In an absorbing diffraction grating type of gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device, by giving a loss to only one mode among the two modes at the two sides sandwiching the stop band, the difference in the threshold gain between the two modes is made larger during operation. Therefore, it is possible to realize a high single mode yield with this device. In this case, the peaks of the standing wave which the laser light of the oscillation wavelength forms in the cavity are positioned away from the periodically arranged absorbing layers. In other words, the standing wave which the diffraction grating in the cavity forms has a waveform with peaks avoiding the absorbing layers.
On the other hand, if considering the reflection at the end surfaces of the cavity, since the end surfaces have free end reflection, the peaks of the standing wave match with the positions of the end surfaces of the cavity.
Therefore, if the absorbing layers of the diffraction grating are positioned in a state not matching with the end surfaces of the cavity, the valleys of the standing wave formed by the laser light of the oscillation wavelength in the cavity and the valleys of the standing wave due to the end-surface reflection easily match, so this laser device can realize a low threshold current and a high emission efficiency.
The usual practice however is to form the end surfaces of the semiconductor laser device by cleavage. Since the positions of formation of the cleaved facets (cavity end surfaces) are randomly positioned with respect to the diffraction grating, however, various relative positions occur such as the position of the cleaved facets and the position of the absorbing layers of the diffraction grating matching or not matching. This means that the standing wave to be formed by the diffraction grating and the standing wave to be formed by the end-surface reflection will not necessarily match in all cases.
For example, when the positions of the cleaved facets match with the positions of the absorbing layers of the diffraction grating, the peaks and valleys formed by the diffraction grating become opposite in phase to the peaks and valleys of the standing wave formed by the end-surface reflection. As a result, the oscillation mode is affected by the loss due to the absorbing layers of the diffraction grating and, while single mode oscillation is achieved, an increase in the threshold current or a reduction in the emission efficiency ends up being induced.
On the other hand, when considering increasing the light output power of a distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device, in the past, the method has been adopted of making the reflectance of the front facet (emission end surface) low and making the reflectance of the rear facet for example at least a high 80% and increasing the ratio of the light output power from the front facet.
If the above method is applied so as to realize a higher light output power of a semiconductor laser device of the absorbing diffraction grating type, however, the following problem arises. That is, at the high reflectance rear facet, the valleys and peaks of the standing wave are emphasized by the end surface reflectance, so when these do not match the standing wave due to the distributed feedback, there is the problem that a large increase of the threshold current and a large reduction in the emission efficiency are caused.
An object of the present invention is to solve the problems occurring when trying to realize a high light output power from a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device giving a low reflectance to the front facet and a high reflectance to the rear facet, in particular a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device of the absorbing diffraction grating type, and to provide a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device realizing a high ratio of light output power without causing an increase in the threshold current or a reduction in the emission efficiency.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device comprised of a diffraction grating at least at part of the inside of a cavity and having a gain or loss periodically changing,
a reflectance of one end surface (front facet) of the cavity being not more than 3% and the reflectance of the other end surface (rear facet) being larger than the reflectance of that one end surface and not more than 60%.
In particular, there are provided a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device wherein the reflectance of the other end surface (rear facet) is 30 to 60%,
a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device wherein said one end surface (front facet) and said other end surface (rear facet) are formed with at least one type of film selected from the group of SiO2, SiNx (0xe2x89xa6xxe2x89xa61.4), xcex1-Si, and Al2O3,
a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device wherein the length of said cavity is at least 400 xcexcm, and
a gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device wherein said diffraction grating is an absorbing diffraction grating comprised of a semiconductor material absorbing oscillation wavelength light.

Gain-coupling distributed feedback type semiconductor laser device


A new and distinct Asiatic Lily Hybrid for the garden having upright, multicolored flowers which form a striking pattern of pink to red-purple with a light eye and maroon brushmarks and spots.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lily hybrid referred to commercially as an upright Asiatic hybrid lily and given a cultivar name of `Pink Pagoda`. This invention was developed by controlled breeding in Aurora, Oreg., using A-001-85, `Tamara`, as the seed parent and A-090-82, `Beaudacious`, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,631 as the pollen parent.
This invention has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length, without, however, any variation in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the basic characteristics of this invention which in combination distinguish this lily as a new and distinct cultivar: 1) strikingly patterned and multicolored flowers of light orange to pink to red-purple with a dark maroon brushmark; 2) multicolored pink, yellow-green, and red-purple buds; 3) early bloom time; and 4) good disease tolerance.
Of the many cultivars known to the inventor, the inventor is not aware of any other Asiatic lily commercially available with the unique color and striking pattern of this invention.
Asexual reproduction of this new variety has been accomplished at Cebeco Lilies, Inc., Aurora, Oreg. by scaling and tissue culture. The resulting plants have shown that the above-mentioned unique features are stable and reproduce true to type in each successive propagation.

Asiatic hybrid lily plant named `Pink Pagoda`


A closed-loop toner concentration adjustment system extends xerographic process control performance with a system and method including a first controller to adjust toner concentration (TC) in a developer of the imaging device to alter a DMA level of the imaging device, the TC being adjusted based on a TC target value; a second controller to adjust an electrostatic development field to alter the DMA level; and an adjustment logic device to adjust the TC target value based on adjustments made to the electrostatic development field. The first controller outputs a dispense amount to the developer based on a difference between a measurement of the actual TC and the TC target value, thereby adjusting the TC based on the dispense amount to the developer. The second controller adjusts the electrostatic development field based on a difference between a measurement of the actual DMA level and a DMA target value. The adjustment logic monitors the adjustments made to the electrostatic development field to determine a trend, and adjusts the TC target value based on the trend.

The exemplary embodiments relate generally to imaging or printing machines, and more particularly to controlling the concentration of toner in a development system of an electrophotographic imaging device to maintain a desired development performance. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiments will also find application in other types of devices where the concentration of toner and/or other materials used in the printing process is advantageously calibrated, monitored, or controlled.
In many related art printing and/or xerography systems, images are formed on paper and/or other medium using electrophotographic printing. A photoreceptive surface is electrostatically charged, and the image is transferred to the photoreceptive surface through selective exposure to light or other electromagnetic radiation. The light discharges the exposed areas of the photoreceptive surface to form an electrostatic charge pattern known in the art as a latent image. The latent image is developed by exposure to a developer material that selectively coats the charged surface areas.
A typical two-component developer includes toner particles and carrier beads. The carrier beads are usually several times larger than the toner particles. The toner particles triboelectrically bond to the larger, spherical carrier beads to form composite developer particles. In the vicinity of the electrostatically charged regions of the latent image, the toner particles are attracted away from the carrier beads and attach onto the photoreceptor due to the greater electrostatic attraction of the photoreceptor versus the triboelectric bonding to the carrier beads.
This developed latent image is referred to as the toner image. The toner image is transferred to the paper or other print medium using an electrostatic process to effectuate transfer of the toner particles from the toner image onto the paper. Finally, a fusing process employing heat and pressure permanently affixes the toner onto the paper or other print medium to form the final printed image.

System for active toner concentration target adjustments and method to maintain development performance


Recombinant S. aureofaciens cells are provided. These cells comprise: (a) at least one CTC 11 gene; and (b) optionally. (i) a CTC 09 gene; PA1 (ii) a CTC 03 gene; or PA1 (iii) a combination thereof; PA1 the CTC 11 gene is chromosomal, extra-chromosomal, or chromosomal and extra-chromosomal; PA1 the CTC 09 gene, CTC 03 gene, or a combination thereof is chromosomal, extra-chromosomal, or a combination thereof; expression of the CTC 11 gene is enhanced over that of a wild-type S. aureofaciens cell; and PA1 optionally, the CTC 09 gene, the CTC 03 gene, or both of the CTC 09 gene and the CTC 03 gene are inactivated. PA1 (a) a functional E. coli origin of replication; PA1 (b) a functional Streptomyces origin of replication; PA1 (c) a functional gene that imparts a positively selectable phenotype on the host cell; and PA1 ((d) a ribosomal S12 gene which is expressed in Streptomyces such that it imparts sensitivity to streptomycin to the host cell. In another embodiment, a method of mutating a target gene of a biosynthetic pathway of Streptomyces is disclosed. The method comprises. wherein:. The present invention also contemplates vector pLP21329 and vectors for allelic replacement in a S. aureofaciens host cell. The vectors comprise:. (a) replacing the genomic copy of the target gene with a selectable marker gene through homologous recombination to form a first recombinant strain; and PA2 (b) replacing the selectable marker gene in the first recombinant strain with an altered copy of the target gene through homologous recombination to form a second recombinant strain.

Chlortetracycline and related compounds (e.g., tetracycline, 6-demethyl chlortetracycline, 6-demethyl tetracycline) are widely used as antibiotics, additives to animal feed, and intermediates in the synthetic production of other antibiotic drugs. These compounds are typically produced commercially in submerged fermentation by Streptomyces aureofaciens. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,005,023 and 3,019,173; Merck Index, Eleventh Edition (1989). Sophisticated fermentation techniques, media formulations, and high-producing mutants of S. aureofaciens have resulted in increased yields of chlortetracycline and its derivatives. See Goodman, Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, 78:5-57 eds. Hlavka and Boothe (1985); Veselova, Antiobiotiki, 14:698-702, 1969. However, some derivatives can only be produced efficiently semi-synthetically.
Recently, recombinant DNA techniques iwere used to the isolate the gene cluster encoding the proteins responsible for the biosynthetic pathway for producing tetracycline, chlortetracycline, and other derivatives from S. aureofaciens (see, U.S. application Ser. No. 08/125,468 filed Sep. 22, 1993 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,385). This genetic information is used in the present invention to produce genetically altered strains which produce high levels of a desired biosynthetic product.
Because tetracycline and its derivatives are such useful compounds, new selective, increased yield methods and vehicles for the preparation of one or more of these tetracycline compounds are desired.

Strain for the production of 6-demethyltetracycline, method for producing the strain and vector for use in the method


A device for foaming liquid includes a line system and a pump, via which at least one first line of the line system is connectible to at least one storage container in which the liquid to be foamed is stored, and via a second line of the line system is connectible to at least one outlet nozzle, an air-enrichment element by means of which air can pass through the liquid, and a heating element designed as a continuous flow heater. Furthermore, the heating element is arranged in the second line of the line system of the device and is designed as a thick-film heater in which an electric heating resistor is attached to a carrier using thick-film technology, on which carrier a flow path is provided for the liquid.

The invention describes a device for foaming a liquid, in particular milk or milk substitute.
The coffee culture which has developed and the cult status of a coffee beverage connected therewith has led to a wide-ranging offer of coffee-containing beverages. In the meantime a large number of collie machines are available for the preparation of coffee beverages, ranging from a manual system to a completely automated one. The coffee specialties producible with the coffee machines also include drinks, such as cappuccino, latte macchiato or café latte, which require for their preparation milk and milk foam. For this purpose a supply of milk is needed in or at a coffee machine, which makes a cooling necessary, for reasons of storage life, freshness and hygiene.
Known from the state of the art are diverse milk codling devices, which are designed for installation in a beverage maker, in particular a coffee machine, or for external connection to a beverage maker, in particular as auxiliary device. In order to be able to maintain freshness and hygiene of open milk over a longer period of time, milk is stored ideally at 4° C. Similar conditions apply for so-called milk substitute.
Likewise known are diverse devices for milk foam preparation, which find application in the coffee machine or also as auxiliary device and which produce warm or respectively hot or cold milk foam. For generation of warm or respectively hot milk foam, milk foamers generally comprise a storage container, in which the milk is heated. By means of a pump, the milk is conducted from the storage container via a line to an outlet nozzle and in an air-enrichment element is thereby enriched with air or respectively air is passed there-through. This is disadvantageous in view of the storage life of the stored milk and is problematic owing to an increased germ formation in particular in the line system and the elements coming into contact with the milk. The production of cold milk foam takes place, as a rule, in a separate system.
Known from DE 10 2008 058 934 A1 is a milk foamer comprising a storage container, from which liquid is extractable, a pump and an outlet nozzle, as well as an air-enrichment element, by means of which air is able to be passed through the liquid. The milk enriched in this way is pressed through a sieve at an outlet nozzle, so that a stable foam results. Downstream from the air-enrichment element is a heat exchanger, which is designed either as continuous flow heater for generation of warm milk foam or as cooling element for generation of cold milk foam. Provided for control of the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger is a temperature sensor, in order to cool the cold drink to 1° C. to 5° C. A combined device for selective production of hot and cold foam is not described.
Known from WO 2008/083941 A1 is a milk foam system for production of cold milk foam and warm milk foam. Cold milk is sucked out of a container, is possibly mixed with a certain portion of air and is led to an outlet. Foreseen furthermore is that provided in the outlet line is a parallel section, able to be switched on selectively via a valve, in which section a continuous flow heater is disposed in order to produce, selectively, cold or hot milk or respectively cold or hot milk foam. This system comprises a complex system of lines and valves which makes a higher investment in cleaning necessary.
Known from EP 3 042 592 A1 is a device for production of cold, warm and hot milk or respectively milk foam, whereby a cold milk-air emulsion can be selectively heated by meat as of a heat exchanger to a medium temperature or, via an alternative flow path, can be heated, by means of steam injection, to a higher temperature. This system comprises multiple line paths and multiple heating devices, which require a complicated cleaning.
It is desirable to design a device as initially mentioned in such a way that a compact device is made available for selective production of hot/warm and cold foam. The compact device is included in a modular unit, which is able to be disposed in a cooling device.
According to an aspect of the invention, the device is suitable for foaming liquid, in particular milk and/or milk substitute. The terms milk and milk substitute encompass those products which are suitable for preparation of a hot beverage, in particular coffee beverages and/or milk drinks, for example whole milk, reduced-fat milk, soya milk, almond milk, etc.
The device for foaming liquid comprises a line system and a pump, via which at least one first line of the line system is connectible to at least one storage container in which the liquid to be foamed is stored, and via a second line of the line system is connectible to at least one outlet nozzle; an air-enrichment element by means of which air can pass through the liquid; and, a heating element designed as a continuous flow heater. In particular the heating element is disposed in the second line of the line system and is designed as thick film heater, in which an electric heating resistor is attached to a carrier using thick-film technology, on which carrier a flow path is provided through which the liquid flows.
The device for foaming liquid is accommodated in a housing, on which ducts for lines of fluids and connections are provided. In particular the device is connectible to further devices, for example for electric contacting and/or for contacting with a control unit. Besides an air suction device, the device comprises a line system with one or more first lines, in order to connect it detachably to at least one storage container, in which at least one liquid to be foamed is stored. The stored liquid is extractable from the at least one storage container by means of a pump. Furthermore the pump is connected via a second line to at least one outlet nozzle, at which the produced foam of the liquid is able to be withdrawn. The outlet nozzle can be provided, for example, on a coffee machine, in particular a fully automated coffee machine.
For example, foreseen is that the device for foaming liquid is in connection with at least two storage containers. Thus taken selectively from a first storage container can be hole milk and from a second container reduced-fat milk, soya milk, rice milk or other milk substitutes. Disposed in the at least one first line, which connects the storage container or containers to the pump, is at least one valve in order to be able to extract selectively liquid from the one or other storage container.
The liquid extracted from the at least one storage container is enriched with air from the surrounding area, for example in a pressureless way, in a correspondingly designed air-enrichment element, whereby the liquid froths up and forms a stable foam. Included are, for example, a proportional valve with a nozzle, whereby preferably air is suctioned intermittently or respectively in a pulsed way.
The device for foaming liquid further comprises a heating element, which, in the direction of flow of the liquid, is disposed behind the pump and behind the air-enrichment element. The milk, already enriched with air, can be warmed or respectively heated in the heating element, which has an advantageous effect for the foaming up of the milk and the formation of a stable foam.
Proven to be very advantageous is the design of the heating element in the form of a continuous flow heater, which can be simply integrated in a line system of the device and provides a flow path for the liquid to be brought to temperature. The device can thereby be designed in a compact and space-saving way.
According to the invention, the heating element is based on thick-film technology and will be designated in the following as a thick-film heater. Such a heating element is described, for example, in EP 2 163 130 A, the heating element being suitable for heating liquids. In principle a corresponding heating element comprises a heat transfer element with a heating region, on which an electrical resistance-heating device is attached or respectively deposited as thick-film heating element. The thick-film heating element generally comprises a resistive heater track on a carrier or respectively an insulating substrate, e.g. of glass, ceramic or other material. For formation of a heat transfer element, a flow path is provided on the carrier, for example. Further provided are corresponding electrical connections for electrical contacting of the electrical resistive heater track and of a temperature sensor. Methods for production of heating elements in thick-film technology are known. With a heating element of this kind a very quick regulation is possible with at the same time high process reliability and an advantageous cost and energy efficiency.
Provided in a suitable way on the carrier of the heating element is a flow path for the liquid to be heated, for example in the form of flow-through path disposed in a spiral shape in the heat transfer element. Thus a heating element designed as a continuous flow heater comprises a thick-film heating element implemented as electrical resistance heater and a corresponding beat transfer element which transfers the heat generated by the thick-film heating element to the liquid to be brought to temperature. The liquid thereby extracted from the at least one storage container, which in particular is cooled, is delivered, via an inlet, along a spiral-shaped flow-through path running from the outside to the inside, to an outlet and is heated along the flow path to a suitable temperature, preferably in a temperature range of 50° C. to 80° C. With a heating element constructed in such a way and short lines, a compact construction is achievable, so that the heating element is able to be disposed in a space-saving way in the device according to the invention.
The heating element of the device according to the invention for framing liquid offers the advantage that its heat buildup is minimal, i.e. the heat given off by it into the surrounding area is very minimal. Thus the device according to the invention with the integrated heating element can be placed in a cooling device. The heat given off by the heating element is thereby so limited that the cooling is affected only minimally or not at all.
For improved storage life of the milk and for hygienic reasons, it is preferred that the device for foaming liquid, in particular milk, be able to be accommodated in a cooling device. Thus it is preferred that the device according to the invention for foaming liquid be included in a cooling device in such a way that the connections for an electrical contacting and to a control unit are connectible to a coupling unit provided in the cooling device. The cooling device can be designed as an auxiliary device of a coffee machine, in particular of a fully automated coffee machine, or also as an independent cooling device, which is connectible to a coffee machine by means of corresponding connections.
In one embodiment, the device according to the invention for foaming liquid is able to be received in a modular unit, which is insertable into the cooling device, for example able to be pushed in or plugged in. The modular unit further comprises means for an electrical contacting and provides an air-tight connection to the liquids provided. The modular unit comprises the at least one storage container, which is received in the modular unit in an exchangeable way. A device for foaming liquid received in the modular unit is connectible to the at least one storage container. Preferably foreseen is that, instead or alternatively, a container with a rinsing solution for a cleaning cycle is insertable in the modular unit.
For the production of cold foam, cooled milk is taken from the at least one storage container and is enriched with air. The prepared milk flows along the flow path and passes the switched-off heating element to at least one outlet nozzle. By means of the arrangement of the device or respectively of the modular unit in a cooling device, the entire flow path of the milk to be frothed, or respectively the frothed milk, runs to a large extent in a cooled environment.
Owing to the preferred construction, the heating element, except for a short phase during the switched-on state, is to a large extent brought to ambient temperature. Thus it is possible that, one after the other, first warm foam is generated with the device according to the invention for foaming liquid and then subsequently, with the same device, cold foam. The device according to the invention for foaming liquid is suitable for both milk foams, whereby a simple system is achievable and no two separate devices with corresponding connections, elements and lines are necessary. In particular, during the production of warm foam, liquid to be frothed can be taken from the at least one storage container, can be enriched with air, and can be heated to a desired temperature in the switched-on heating element while flowing through. The heating element is switched off when the desired quantity of milk foam has passed the heating element. Preferably the heating element is switched off before the end of the milk foam process, whereby cold liquid subsequently flowing through, in particular cold milk, milk substitute or water, cools the heating element. Alternatively, the heating element can also be cooled by rinsing with cold water within the framework of a rinsing step. The step of cooling of the heating element takes place in a short time span, for example within about 3 seconds. Thus the heating element is cold, except for the short heating phase. Moreover this is optimal in order to counteract a buildup of germs and contamination which greatly increases with rising temperature. Furthermore it is not necessary with complex measures to bring out of the system the heat-up energy arising from the heating element.
Another problem of devices for foaming liquids, in particular milk, is the complicated cleaning of such a device. Cyclical rinsings are necessary during a running operation and also an intensive cleaning at the end of the day. Cyclical rinsings of the lines of the line system as well as of those elements which come into contact with milk, e.g. the pump, the heating elements etc., lead, as a rule, to high water and milk losses. The integration of the device according to the invention for foaming liquid in a cooling device minimizes the germ formation so that it is possible to carry out cleaning cycles with a lesser frequency. Furthermore, through the compact construction able to be achieved with the device according to the invention, the line paths are significantly shortened, whereby fewer losses arise with the cleaning cycle.
In one embodiment, the device according to the invention for foaming liquid can be connected to a container in which a rinsing solution is stored, instead of the at least one storage container. This rinsing solution can be e.g. water and/or an acidic or alkaline cleaning solution. In a cleaning cycle, by means of the pump, rinsing solution can be rinsed through the line system of the device, for example also in circuit, i.e. the rinsing solution is led via corresponding valves and connections back into the container of the rinsing solution. During a cleaning cycle the elements in contact with the liquid to be foamed as well as the valve at the air inlet can thereby be cleaned.
In an embodiment of the device according to the invention for foaming liquids a conductance sensor is disposed in the line system, so that via the detected conductance it can be determined which liquid is present in the line system, i.e. air, water, rinsing solution. Determined furthermore cant be whether a sufficient cleaning has been carried out.

CUP&CINO KAFFEESYSTEM-VERTRIEB GMBH & CO. KG


A manual dosing device for dosing liquids on which a syringe or pipette tip can be releasably held. The manual dosing device includes an elongated frame as a support structure, a mechanism for releasably holding a syringe or pipette tip at the bottom end of the frame, a drive member that attached above the mechanism for releasably holding to the frame, a displacement member for displacing a fluid in the syringe or pipette tip that can be driven by the drive means and are connected to the mechanism for releasably holding, and a housing encasing the frame.

The invention relates to a manual dosing device for dosing liquids.
Manual dosing devices are dosing devices for dosing liquids on which a syringe or pipette tip can be releasably held. Syringes have a syringe cylinder with a syringe plunger which can move therein, and an opening connecting the syringe cylinder to the environment for drawing and releasing liquid. The opening is generally arranged in a tip on the floor of the syringe cylinder. Pipette tips are small tubes that generally narrow downward and have a bottom tip opening for drawing and releasing liquid, and a top tip opening to be connected with a displacement device for air. Manual dosing devices are held in one hand by the user while dosing so that the syringe, or pipette tip, held thereon can be aligned with a vessel or another object from which liquid is to be withdrawn or toward which liquid is to be released. The user can control the withdrawal and release of liquids and possibly additional functions with the same hand with which he holds the manual dosing device. Manual dosing devices are in particular used in laboratories for dosing liquids.
Manual dosing devices are designed as air cushion dosing devices and positive displacement dosing devices. Air cushion dosing devices have a seat for releasably holding a pipette tip at their top tip opening. A displacement unit for air is integrated in the manual dosing device and, communicating by means of a channel, is connected to a hole in the seat. An air cushion is displaced by means of the displacement unit so that liquid is aspirated into, or discharged from, the bottom tip opening depending on the direction of displacement of the air cushion. The displacement unit is usually a cylinder having a plunger displaceable therein. The plunger is driven by means of a drive unit. Manual dosing devices that function with an air cushion are termed "pipettes".
Direct displacement dosing devices work together with syringes. The syringes can be coupled to or released from the positive displacement dosing devices. The syringe cylinder is held in the positive displacement dosing device, and the syringe plunger is held in a seat body that can be displaced by means of a drive unit. By means of the drive unit, the syringe plunger is moved back and forth so that the liquid is aspirated into, or discharged from, an opening in the syringe.
Direct displacement devices that work together with small syringes with a similar size and shape as pipette tips are also termed "direct displacement pipettes". Direct displacement dosing devices that work together with large syringes which are usually emptied in several steps are also termed "dispensers".
Pipette tips and syringes are preferably made of plastic and can be thrown away after being used and replaced with new pipette tips or syringes.
Known manual dosing devices have a mechanical drive unit or electromechanical drive units. In addition, manual dosing devices having a manual drive unit with an electromechanical support ("servo drive unit") are known. In addition, there are manual dosing devices with a fixed dosing volume, and manual dosing devices with an adjustable dosing volume. Furthermore, there are manual dosing devices with only one channel for use with only a single syringe or pipette tip, and manual dosing devices with a plurality of channels for the simultaneous use of a plurality of syringes or pipette tips. The invention relates to all of the above types of manual dosing devices.
Conventional manual dosing devices have a housing shaped as a handle made of a rigid plastic. These contain means for holding a syringe or pipette tip, a drive device, means for transmitting the drive movement of the drive device to a plunger or syringe, or a displacement unit for displacing an air cushion, operating elements and possibly display elements or other components. In the case of electrically-driven manual dosing devices, an electric drive motor, electronic control unit and batteries or rechargeable batteries are arranged in the housing. A plurality of components are therefore accommodated in a very small space in the housings of manual dosing devices. The housing simultaneously forms the support structure of the known manual dosing devices.
EP 2 033 712 A2, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a dispenser that has a seat in a bottom end area of the housing for a syringe flange of a syringe. The syringe flange is held by means of syringe gripping levers that are mounted on pivot shafts in the bottom area of housing. Leaf springs are arranged on the inner jacket of the housing, and their top ends are fixed in the bottom area of the housing. The bottom ends of the leaf springs press against the inside of the syringe gripping levers to pretension them toward the position of gripping behind the syringe flange.
A spring-loaded thrust bearing is arranged in the seat against which the top side of the syringe flange can be pressed. The thrust bearing has sensors for scanning a code on the top side of the syringe flange.
A seat body with a plunger seat is arranged in the housing into which an upward projecting end section of a syringe plunger of the syringe can be inserted. Plunger gripping levers are mounted in the seat body that can grip behind a plunger collar on the outer end of the syringe plunger. The plunger gripping levers are pretensioned by legs springs toward a position in which they grip behind the plunger collar.
The seat body is driven by means of mechanical plunger positioning elements. These comprise a lifting unit connected to the seat body which extends out of the housing. Furthermore, the plunger positioning elements comprise a threaded spindle or rack that is also firmly attached to the seat body. An adjusting sleeve is seated on the threaded spindle, and its axial position is adjustable on the threaded spindle by means of an adjustment knob. Arranged in the top area of the housing is an actuating unit that has a pivoting actuating lever and can be actuated from the outside by means of an actuating button. A pawl is pivotably arranged on the actuating lever. The actuating lever is pressed upward by a spring, and the pawl is pretensioned by the spring toward the threaded spindle.
The actuating unit, the adjustment knob and the spindle are mounted in a plate-like holder with a laterally projecting bearing bracket that is inserted in the housing.
When a syringe is inserted in the syringe seat and held in the housing by means of the syringe gripping levers and the plunger gripping levers, the liquid can be drawn upward by moving the lifting unit. A dosing quantity is adjusted using the adjustment knob. By actuating the actuating unit, the syringe plunger is moved downward, and the desired amount of liquid is released. With each actuating stroke, the pawl falls into the threaded rod when it reaches the bottom end of the adjusting sleeve. The released dosing amount is set by adjusting the adjusting sleeve using the adjustment knob.
The actuating unit, the adjustment knob and the spindle can be premounted in the holder before it is inserted in the housing. Additional elements are not part of the holder or are mounted on it. In particular, the holder for the syringe flange is part of the housing. The spring-tensioned thrust bearing, the syringe gripping levers and the leaf springs are mounted in the housing. These means for holding the syringe must be mounted separately by the holder in the housing. The housing must therefore be very strong since drawing liquid into the syringe and ejecting liquid from the syringe exerts strong force on the means for holding the syringe. This restricts the selection of usable materials.
The disadvantage of known manual dosing devices is that the housing does not sit well in the hand, easily becomes dirty and is difficult to clean.
Against this background, the objective of the invention is to create a haptically improved manual dosing device.


The present invention relates to a method of enlarging a travel of a piezoelectric sensor and a MEMS switch employing an enlarging means employing the leverage theory. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a MEMS switch capable of using a relatively low voltage, less than 5V, lowering power consumption isolation and insertion loss, and having application to a wide range of wireless communication systems such as PCS and wireless LAN.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a MEMS switch employing a piezoelectric sensor, and more particularly, to a method of enlarging a travel of a piezoelectric sensor and a MEMS switch employing the enlarged travel of a piezoelectric sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) switch can be classified by means of an employed actuator into four types, such as dynamo-electrostatic, thermal expansion, dynamo-electromagnetic and piezoelectric types, and by means of a switching direction into two types, such as vertical contact and lateral contact types.
Firstly, the dynamo-electrostatic type of MEMS switch uses a curved surface electrode type or comb drive type. This kind of switch is mostly developed nowadays. This type of MEMS switch employs the principles that two electrodes are contacted when different polarity of voltages are applied to the two electrodes of which one is a stationary electrode and the other is a movable electrode spaced apart from the stationary electrode.
Generally, the manufacture of this type of switch is not difficult; however, it additionally needs the use of a chip for raising the voltage to be useful for the current RF devices due to the requirement of at least several decades of voltage, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost. The travel speed of the switch has a range of 1 to 200 seconds depending upon its structure.
Secondly, the dynamo-electromagnetic type of MEMS switch uses the theory of an electromagnet, which makes a magnetic field through a coil structure. While this type of switch can be operated by a relatively low voltages of about 5 Volts, when the structure of the switch becomes complex and hug, its power consumption comes to reach a number of hundreds mW.
The thermal expansion type of MEMS switch uses the theory that the volume of solid or liquid materials expands as its temperature increases. While a relatively low voltage of about 5 Volts can also operate this type of switch, this switch is very sensitive to an ambient temperature, its power consumption comes to reach a number of hundreds of mW, and conclusively its travel speed is too slow such that it becomes several decades of milli-seconds.
The piezoelectric type of MEMS switch uses the theory of piezoelectric materials of which volume is expanded when a voltage is applied. While this type of switch has the most prompt travel speed (100 nsec to 1 sec) among the abovementioned methods, the most large power can transmit when it drives, and, while it can be driven by a relatively low voltage, this strain can be a maximum of 0.1% of the length of the materials, thus, the use of the MEMS switch has a disadvantage that its travel length is no more than several decades or hundreds of nanometers.
In this connection, the raising of the operation voltage implies difficulties in adoption of a portable optical communication device or personal communication services, or the requirement of additional cost due to the sue of the voltage-raising device.
High level of power consumption means the reduction of working period per one charge of portable devices such as PCS, leapt computer, etc. The more the speed of data communication is accelerated, the more the need of the component having a prompt travel speed is increased. Furthermore, in RF applications such as PCS, laptop, WLAN etc., in which various approaches for integrating all components in one chip are accomplished, those skilled in the art are interested in MEMS components having a relatively small area.
MEMS is a technology of combining a computer and a very small mechanical device such as a sensor, a valve, a gear, a reflection mirror and a driver etc. mounted in the semiconductor chip. It is used as a vibration accelerator in an air-bag for an automobile A MEMS device comprises a micro circuit on a very small silicon chip which a part of mechanical devices have been manufactured.
Further examples of applications of MEMS include GPS sensors for tracking express parcel services and detecting a intermediate parcel treatment process; a sensor mounted on wings of an airplane provided with a number of tiny auxiliary ailerons for detecting and reacting to air flow depending upon variations of surface resistance of the wings of an airplane; and optical exchanging devices capable of exchanging optical signals to an individual passageway at a speed of 20 nsec.
As described hereinabove, while the piezoelectric type MEMS switch is capable of nearly solving the aforementioned problems since it allows a lowering of voltage and power consumption, and a raising of travel speed, since a travel length for a voltage below 5 volts is too small, it is impossible to apply the variable optical device such as optical switch, RF switch, filter, etc.
Eventually, the present invention provides a method of enlarging a travel length of the piezoelectric materials while its travel mechanism using a piezoelectric material is used as before.

Method of enlarging a travel of piezoelectric sensor and MEMS switch employing the same

Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials


A power saving impedance transformation circuit for receiving a d-c biased signal comprises a junction transistor connected to operate as an emitter follower, means for connecting the base of the transistor to receive the signal, an operational amplifier having both inverting and non-inverting inputs, a first resistor connected between the emitter of the transistor and the operational amplifier inverting input, a second resistor equal to the first resistor in resistance and having one end connected to the operational amplifier inverting input, resistive means for connecting the other end of the second resistor to a first voltage source of a polarity which, in cooperation with the signal, forward biases the emitter-base junction of the transistor, the emitter-base junction of the transistor receiving its forward bias from the first voltage source exclusively through the first and second resistors and the resistive means, and means for connecting the collector of the transistor to a second voltage source of a polarity opposite to that of the first voltage source.

A CCD sensor used for electronic imaging applications typically includes both horizontal and vertical shift registers (internal to the sensor structure) to supply charge levels indicative of individual pixels in a scanned image to external equipment such as a frame store controlling a video monitor. At the end of the horizontal shift register, an output amplifier is provided to drive all necessary output signal processing circuits. The output from the sensor's horizontal shift register, and hence from its output amplifier, takes the form of a square wave having a frequency equal to the horizontal clock frequency of the sensor. A correlated double sample and hold (CDS/H) circuit is normally also connected to receive the square wave sensor output, detect the difference between the pre-charge level of that output and the signal levels representing individual pixel images, and serve as a low pass filter. Often, the CDS/H circuit lacks sufficient driving capacity. For that reason, a transistor emitter follower (which has a high input impedance and a low output impedance) is commonly connected to receive the CDS/H circuit output and provide a necessary impedance transformation function and, thereby, the needed driving capacity.
In one important example, the output of the CDS/H circuit has one or two volts of d-c bias. A transistor emitter follower driven from the CDS/H circuit is then operated with dual power supplied (one connected to the collector of the transistor and another, of opposite polarity, connected to the emitter of the transistor through a load resistor) in order to avoid clipping. With the emitter follower impedance transformation circuits found in the prior art, such an arrangement introduces problems of power dissipation. Recently developed CCD image sensors, moreover, have multiple outputs and, for that reason, need as many CDS/H circuits and emitter followers as they have outputs. In such multiple emitter follower arrangements, power dissipation problems are correspondingly larger and, because of heat build up around the sensor and a resulting increase in sensor temperature, tend to cause so-called dark current problems in the CCD sensor. A better way of powering the transistor emitter followers receiving the outputs of multiple output CCD image sensors is, therefore, highly desirable.

Power saving impedance transformation circuit for CCD image sensors


A SAW coupled resonator filter providing improved rejection outside the passband frequencies includes at least two filter tracks on a piezoelectric substrate with each track having a plurality of acoustically cascaded transducers disposed along a longitudinal axis of the filter track. At least one filter track includes signal pads driven in a differential mode or a balanced mode. The two tracks are electrically connected with crossover bridges crossing over connecting lines between the tracks such that voltages across the crossover bridges are approximately the same in magnitude but substantially out-of-phase. The connecting lines extend between opposing bus bars of split transducers within each of the filter tracks.

Low noise amplifiers used in modern communications systems such as mobile phones often need to be driven in balanced or differential mode. In other words, they need to be fed by two input potentials with the same amplitude and with a 180 degrees phase difference. Usually, to protect the receiver against interferences, a filter is placed after the antenna. It is very common that the same antenna is used for both the transmitter and the receiver. In this case, depending on the communication system, the separation between the transmit path and the receive path is done with a switch (when they occur at different times) or with a duplexer that permits a frequency separation of a signal, as described by way of example with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 7,196,594 to Cheema et al. for a SAW Duplexer Having Enhanced Isolation Performance, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. In both cases, it is advantageous to have a receive filter or a duplexer with a balanced output signal.
As is well known in the art, one very efficient technology useful in making RF filters or duplexers includes surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. SAW ladder filters and resonator filters are two common design approaches to realize SAW RF filters and duplexers, as described by way of example with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,833,774 to Abbott et al. for a SAW Filter and U.S. Pat. No. 7,105,980 to Abbott et al. for a SAW Filter Device and Method Employing Normal Temperature Bonding for Producing Desirable Filter Production and Performance Characteristics, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. The SAW ladder filter typically comprises series and shunt resonators electrically cascaded in a ladder network to form the filter. Each resonator consists of transducer placed between two reflective gratings. This structure achieves low losses and handles sufficient power. It is used in most SAW duplexers. The SAW ladder filter however cannot be used in a balanced or differential mode.
Yet further, and with regard to devices known in the art, problems result with crosstalk due to crossover capacitance between an output and lateral transducer connections. This crosstalk results in filter rejection degradation and in degradation of the symmetry. In spite of the extensive efforts made in the art, there remains a need to provide a filter with desirable rejection (attenuation outside a passband) and symmetry while providing low output impedance.

Surface acoustic wave filter and method for improved rejection


An apparatus for decoding an input video signal includes edit header extracting circuit, decoding circuit and substitute image replacing circuit. The input video signal includes a sequence of first and second coded video signals, an edit header added to at least one of the decoded video signals before and after an editing point when the first and second coded video signals executed an interframe compression are edited at specified editing points. The edit header extracting circuit extracts an edit header from the input video signal. The decoding circuit decodes the first and second video signals in accordance with the extracted header and outputs decoded first and second video signals. The substitute image replacing circuit, responsive to the extracted header, outputs a substitute image in place of a frame of output from the decoding circuit at a location corresponding to the frame where the second coded video signal after the editing point has been subjected to an interframe compression.

A conventional coded signal editing apparatus and edited coded signal decoding apparatus, particularly for use in video editing, is currently available in the market. This type of coded data editing apparatus is capable of creating a new image by rearranging a current image for a specified frame. It is also capable of creating a new image by properly connecting specified frames of a plurality of video signals.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a coded data editing apparatus for editing baseband video signals. FIGS. 2(a) through 2(e) are timing charts for explaining the operation of a conventional coded data editing apparatus. FIG. 2(a) shows an input image signal A. FIG. 2(b) shows a time base adjusted form of the input image signal A. FIG. 2(c) shows an input image signal B. FIG. 2(d) shows a time base adjusted form of the input image signal B. FIG. 2(e) shows an edit output (signal change-over output) from the coded data editing apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2(a) through 2(e), the input image signal A, as shown in FIG. 2(a), is applied to an input terminal 1 in units of frames, i.e., frames Am, Am+1, Am+2, etc. successively. The input image signal B, as shown in FIG. 2(c), is applied to an input terminal 2 in units of frames, i.e., frames Bn, Bn+1, Bn+2, etc. successively. The input image signal A is applied to a buffer memory 3 and a sync separator 4 while the input image signal B is applied to a buffer memory 5 and a sync separator 6. The sync separators 4 and 6 separate sync signals from the input image signals A and B and apply the sync signals to write controllers 7 and 8, respectively. The write controllers 7 and 8 control the writing operations to buffer memories 3 and 5 using the sync signals of the input image signals A and B for storing the input image signals A and B in buffer memories 3 and 5, respectively.
Readout of data from buffer memories 3 and 5 is controlled by a readout controller 9. This readout controller 9 controls the readout of data stored in buffer memories 3 and 5 based on a reference signal given from a reference signal generator 10. As a result, the input image signal A is read from buffer memory 3 after being delayed by .DELTA.TA and the input image signal B is read from buffer memory 5 after being delayed by .DELTA.TB, as shown in FIGS. 2(a) through 2(e). The time delays .DELTA.TA and .DELTA.TB synchronize input image signal A and input image signal B, respectively, with the reference signal. That is, the data read from buffer memories 3 and 5 are synchronized by the reference signal, and the frames Am', Am+1', etc. of the time base adjusted input image signal A are read out at the same rate as the frames Bn', Bn+1', etc. of the time base adjusted input image signal B, as shown in FIGS. 2(b) and 2(d).
The image signals read out of buffer memories 3 and 5 are applied to terminals a and b, respectively, of a switch 11, as shown in FIG. 1. Switch 11 selectively switches between terminals a or b by a change-over control signal that is applied through a terminal 12. For example, assume that the switch 11 has initially selected the terminal a and the output is the frames Am', Am+1', etc. based on the input image signal A. Once a change-over signal is applied through terminal 12, switch 11 will switch from terminal a to b in response to the change-over control signal at the change-over point between frames Am+2' and Am+3', etc. of the input image signal A, as shown in FIG. 2(e). After this change-over point, the switch 11 transmits the output from buffer memory 5 instead of buffer memory 3 and, as shown in FIG. 2(e), the frames Bn+3', Bn+4', etc. based on the input image signal B become the new output.
Since the base band video signals A and B have been synchronized prior to the change-over, the frames Am+2' and Bn+3' are output consecutively. Also, in this case it is also necessary to take the phase of a color subcarrier into consideration.
In recent years, a system for recording or transmitting image information by encoding at high efficiency has been of great interest. A proposed system is described in Japanese Patent Application Tokkai-Hei 4-14974 entitled "Moving Picture Coded Data Recording Method", which discloses an editing apparatus for editing high efficiency encoded (compressed) video signals in the as-coded state. In this prior art device, coded data for a moving picture is obtained by quantizing an input image signal after it is intra-frame coded or interframe coded. Moving picture coded data is edited in units of frame groups by defining a frame group as a specified number of frames and setting an edit flag for a frame group immediately after an edited group. The sequence of coded frames is changeable by detecting this edit flag.
The coded quantity of high efficiency coded data per frame differs depending on its pattern and on whether the encoding method is intraframe compression or interframe compression. Accordingly, for editing high efficiency encoded video signals, it is essential that the time bases of the frames before and after the change-over point are the same. In the proposed system described above, editing and decoding in units of frame groups is possible when high efficiency coded video signals are changed over (edited) for each frame by adjusting the time bases of the frames to agree with each other.
However, the above-mentioned system discloses a apparatus for editing only one video signal. With the increasing adoption of interframe compression for high efficiency encoding in addition to intraframe compression, decoding may become impossible when an edit is performed between two input image signals A and B. Interframe compression is a method using the interframe correlation, and only the differential value between the preceding and the current frame images is transmitted. Accordingly, a decoding result from a preceding frame is needed for decoding intraframe compression signals. However, when compression data of a specific frame of the input image signal A is changed over to interframe compression data by adjusting the time bases of both data to agree with each other, this interframe compression data cannot be decoded because there is no preceding frame image signal of the interframe compression data for input image signal B.
Further, when transmitting signals in units of packets, editing high efficiency coded signals and decoding editing signals may become difficult. FIGS. 3 and 4 are timing charts for explaining this problem.
FIG. 3(a) shows that a video signal is transmitted in units of packets, i.e., packets A-1, A-2, A-3, etc. FIG. 3(b) shows the video signal frames V-0, V-1, V-2, etc. included in the packets, as shown in FIG. 3(a). Each packet has a fixed word length, as illustrated by the solid vertical lines in FIG. 3. Each frame has been encoded in variable length and its coded quantity varies for each frame.
Now, it is assumed that the input image signal A is transmitted in units of packets, i.e., packets Am+1, Am+2, Am+3, etc. The boundaries between the frames am+1, am+2, am+3, etc. included in these packets are shown with broken lines in FIG. 4(a). Further, it is also assumed that the input image signal B is transmitted in units of packets, i.e., packets Bn+1, Bn+2, Bn+3, etc The boundaries between the frames bm+1, bm+2, bm+3, etc. included in these packets are also shown with broken lines in FIG. 4(b).
When an input image signal is transmitted in units of packets in this manner, the boundaries of video frames are unclear and consequently editing in units of video frames is difficult. Even if the boundaries of frames are clear, editing can be difficult. For example, when connecting frame am+2 of the input image signal A with frame bn+4 of the input image signal B, the boundary between these frames is between packets Am+3 and Bn+4, but when frame am+2 is connected to frame bn+4, subsequent packets must be prepared to transmit frames after this connection point at a fixed word length.
Therefore, it is necessary to edit in units of packets. FIG. 4(c) illustrates an example where packet Am+3 is connected to the packet Bn+4. After packets Am+3 and Bn+4 are connected, the edited data contains unnecessary parts AO and BO, which are the first half of the frame am+3 and the latter half of the frame bn+3, illustrated by the shadowed portions in FIG. 4(c). When decoding the output C after editing, all the unnecessary parts AO and BO from the point Ap in FIG. 4(c) are decoded after frames am+1 and am+2 are decoded. That is, after the video signals corresponding to the first half of the frame are decoded, the decoding of the unnecessary part BO of the next packet Bn+4 begins. However, it is unclear which part of frame bn+3 is the leading portion of the unnecessary part BO and which part is the data of the unnecessary part BO. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether the decoding process was properly carried out and disturbance of the final image is expected at this portion.
Further, the same problem exists in the editing of recorded signals in a VTR. FIG. 5 is a drawing for explaining this problem.
The recorded quantity on each recording track of a magnetic tape is fixed but data quantities of the video frames am+1, am+2, etc., and bn+1, bn+2, etc. are not fixed. Therefore, the boundary between video frames can lie at any position on a track, as shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, when video signals of the tracks Am+3 and Bn+4 are connected to each other, the unnecessary part, as illustrated by the shadowed portion in FIG. 5, is produced. Even when the boundary between the frames am+2 and bn+4 is clear, removal of the unnecessary part is required by recoding data in the middle of the track, and it is usually impossible to remove the unnecessary part except in special cases. Consequently, a disordered image is produced on a reproduced image because of this unnecessary part.
As described above, when interframe compression signals were edited, the image became disordered as the interframe compression signals (a differential image signal) were decoded using a predictive original image signal that was not related to the interframe compression signals. In addition, when video signals recorded or transmitted in fixed word lengths of packets, etc. were edited, the image also became disordered when decoding the video signals.

Edited coded data decoding apparatus with substitute image replacement


Provided herein are methods for imaging subwavelength structures in three dimensions and with high resolution. The methods comprise illuminating subwavelength structures with an illuminating wavelength of light and detecting the self-image generated thereby at a distance distal to the structures. Also provided is a method for confining propagating light to a sub-diffraction limit dimension by illuminating a surface of a metal structure with subwavelength features with a wavelength of coherent light such that light propagating from the features is confined to a dimension that is a sub-diffraction limit thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fields of optical and/or fluorescence microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, photolithography, and semiconductor manufacturing and quality control. Specifically, the present invention provides methods for detecting and imaging subwavelength size structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
The interaction of light with nano-apertures in metallic films produces interesting effects that resemble the properties of traditional optical elements, such as chromatic filters (1-11) and lenses (12-14). The optical characteristics of these perforated films are not completely understood and appear to be created by the interference of the transmitted light with surface modes, plasmon polaritrons and/or diffracted evanescent waves (1-11, 15). Experimental methods used for imaging the transmittivity of subwavelength apertures utilize near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). NSOM has been used to characterize the optical properties of a variety of apertures: nanoholes (16), arrays of nanoholes (17), nanoslits (12,18), and apertures surrounded by periodic corrugations (12). However, unlike the surface near-fields, the 3D far-field light distribution is far more difficult to determine experimentally and hence there is little data available to confirm theoretical predictions.
One experimental profiling technique has been used to map the far-field light distribution emanating from an illuminated nanoslit (19). This technique currently has a spatial resolution of 5 μm and is restricted to 2D beam profiling. Another way to understand light interactions with nano-apertures is through numerical simulations of Maxwell's equations, such as the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method (13,14,16-18,20). The FDTD calculated near-fields surrounding the apertures are in impressive agreement with experimental observations (16-18). But, direct numerical calculations of the 3D far-field light distributions are seldom performed because of the enormous amount of computational resources required.
Optical microscopy, both transmission and fluorescence, has limited spatial resolution due to well-known limits of diffraction. Few methods are available to increase resolution. For example, electron microscopy increases resolution, but requires samples be treated and that samples are non-living. Furthermore, approaches to increase optical resolution are complex and expensive, for example, the use of stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, which uses multiple lasers.
Pendry described a lens based on negative refraction materials (21). However, such materials do not exist in the optical region. Furthermore, even if such materials are created the images exist only in the near-field above the metal, approximately 50 nm (22). The imaging methods presented herein also are distinct from the Talbot-effect because the known effect does not result in subwavelength features (23).
Thus, there is a recognized need in the art for methods of high resolution optical mapping of structures with sub-optical wavelength dimension that do not require contact or near-field measurement. More specifically, the prior art is deficient in methods of imaging subwavelength structures via mapping the three dimensional spatial distribution of light transmitted through a structure of interest at far-field distances from the surface. The present invention fulfills this long-standing need and desire in the art.

Subwavelength resolution optical microscopy


A vehicle body lower section structure has a rocker that extends in a vehicle body front-rear direction at an outside in a vehicle width direction of a floor panel; and a dashboard cross member that extends in the vehicle width direction at a lower side of a dashboard panel, and an outside end portion of the dashboard cross member in the vehicle width direction is superimposed on and connected to an upper face of the rocker.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle body lower section structure.
2. Related Art
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-193843, for example, a conventional vehicle body lower section structure is proposed in which a rocker extending in a vehicle body front-rear direction, and a dashboard cross member extending in the vehicle width direction at a higher position than the rocker, are coupled together by a gusset.


A current limiting MOSFET monitors power applied to a direct current boost regulator that powers an LED backlight to automatically shut off power to the boost regulator if the current exceeds a predetermined amount. An embedded controller interfaces with the current limiting MOSFET for normal control of operation of the boost regulator by turning the MOSFET on and off. An overcurrent alert is communicated from the MOSFET to the embedded controller if the current exceeds the predetermined amount so that the embedded controller shuts off power to the boost regulator and indicates the failure to an end user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system integrated displays, and more particularly to a system and method for information handling system display backlight protection and monitoring.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
As enterprises and individuals have grown more reliant on information handling systems, portable information handling systems have become more and more common. Portable information handling systems include an integrated display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an integrated power source, such as a battery, and integrated I/O devices, such as a keyboard so that the systems operate free from hard connections, such as power outlets or external peripherals. Portable information handling systems having wireless capabilities allow end users to communicate from virtually any location that is within reach of a wireless local area network, such as Wi-Fi hotspots, or a wireless wide area network, such as a cellular phone network. Two considerations that end users tend to take into account when purchasing a portable information handling system are the size of the system and the time that the system will operate on battery power before needing to recharge. Smaller portable information handling systems typically weigh less than larger systems and are thus easier to carry and use on the go, however, smaller systems tend to have less room to hold processing components and thus tend to have less processing capability. Although larger systems generally have more room for more capable processing components, components that are more capable tend to use more power, which leads to less operating time on a given battery charge.
One example of a portable information handling system component that impacts size and power consumption of a system is the backlight used to provide illumination behind an LCD panel. Traditionally, cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) have provided backlight for LCD panels. CCFLs are powered with relatively high voltage alternating currents of up to 1000V provided from an inverter that converts the typical 12V direct current of the system power source. CCFLs are relatively inexpensive and proven components although CCFL inverters are somewhat complex and often include a microcontroller to manage the generation of alternating currents. In contrast to CCFLs, light emitting diode (LED) backlights are a relatively new alternative that illuminate an LCD panel with direct current voltage of approximately 40V provided from a boost regulator. LED backlights provide an energy efficient light source with a reduced footprint for use in smaller portable information handling systems. The boost regulator used to power an LED backlight is typically simpler than the inverter used to power a CCFL backlight. Indeed, a boost regulator is typically a simple analog circuit. The boost regulator and inverter generally lack intelligence to detect and report faults associated with the backlight, however, inverters typically have inherent safety features not found in boost regulators. Since the boost regulator usually operates from the main system power bus, a component failure can bring down the main power rail and cause a system shutdown, even potentially latching the external power adapter if it is plugged in. One option to detect such a fault is to have a fuse blow if an over current occurs, but a blown fuse disables the system and does not provide feedback of the fault. Another option is to integrate a switch in the boost regulator that turns off if current exceeds a preset value, but such a switch is costly and increases power use.

System and method for information handling system display backlight protection and monitoring


A device includes a first optical element configured to receive first light in a first direction. The first light includes a first component having a first circular polarization and a second component having a second circular polarization. The first optical element is also configured to convert the first component of the first light into second light having the second circular polarization and output the second light in a second direction. The first optical element is further configured to convert the second component of the first light into third light having the first circular polarization and output the third light in a third direction. The device also includes a second optical configured to receive and transmit the second light and to receive the third light and convert to the third light into fourth light having the second circular polarization.

Polarization conversion devices have gained increasing interest for application on optics. In particular, polarization conversion devices for circularly polarized light have gained interest in field of display technologies.
Conventionally, conversion of light with both left-handed and right-handed circular polarization states to light with only one circular polarization state includes filtering the light with a circular polarizer, which transmits light with one polarization state while blocking the opposite polarization state. Such polarization conversion devices are highly inefficient and undesirable for many applications, including displays.
Therefore, there is a need for polarization conversion devices with minimal loss of energy.

Polarization conversion using geometric phase and polarization volume hologram optical elements


An object-transporting apparatus and method is provided for moving an object in a zero-gravity environment without the use of a latch handle or sprayed pressurized air. The object to be transported includes a first joinable element which mates with a second joinable element attached to a transport means such as a slide table, which is moved by a transport mechanism, using the mated joinable elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object-transporting apparatus for use in a zero-gravity space, and more specifically to an apparatus for the purpose of transporting materials in a space station.
2. Description of Related Art
With regard to transporting objects on the earth and under the effect of normal gravity, an object-transporting apparatus such as a conveyor belt can be used to transport an object thereon, making use of the frictional force developed by virtue of the gravitation force.
However, in a zero-gravity environment, such as in outer space, it is not possible to make use of a frictional force generated by virtue of gravity.
Therefore, a different type of transporting apparatus must be considered for use in a zero-gravity environment.
In the past, a proposal was made to provide a latch handle on a slide table so as to enable the holding of an object of a standardized shape. There also has been proposed a method of holding an object by means of a spray of air pressure, as disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model application S63-25734.
However, in the above-noted prior art, the following problem arises. Specifically, in the case of grabbing and holding a transported object using a latch handle, it is necessary to provide an electromechanical apparatus such as an actuator driver or the like to drive the latch handle, the latch handle itself being large, the result being not only an increase in weight and bulk, but also an increase in electrical power consumption.
In addition, in grabbing a transported object with a latch handle, because an object of a standardized size is to be grabbed, application to non-standard objects is not possible, thereby making the system inflexible.
Further, in the case of grabbing and holding a transported object using a latch handle, there must exist mechanical moving parts in the apparatus and thus malfunctions thereof would likely occur. Thus, this kind of transporting apparatus or method would likely have low reliability in an outer space from a point of view of correct and accurated operation thereof.
Also, in the case of holding an object using the force of sprayed air, the transport of the object is limited to the location of the air pressure, so that such a use is only possible only in a space wherein air pressure can be applied.
In spraying and circulating the air, it is necessary to have a fan or ventilation equipment, thereby leading to an increase in the scale of the equipment.
In view of the above-noted drawbacks in the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for transporting an object without using a latch handle, and without using sprayed pressurized air.

Object-transporting apparatus and method for transporting object


A circuit and method for regulating an output voltage are provided. The circuit includes a fully differential first stage amplifier, a second stage amplifier, and a power output driver transistor. The first stage amplifier receives a reference voltage and feedback voltage relative to an output voltage of the power output driver transistor. A differential output of the first stage amplifier is received at differential inputs of the second stage amplifier. The second stage amplifier provides a voltage at a control terminal of the power transistor. The output voltage of the power transistor is based on the voltage at the control terminal and a supply voltage coupled to the power output driver transistor.

Field
This disclosure relates generally to electronic circuits, and more specifically, to a low drop-out voltage regulator and method therefor.
Related Art
A low drop out (LDO) voltage regulator is used to provide a stable power supply voltage that does not fluctuate much in response to a changing load. The drop out voltage is the difference in voltage between the power supply and the lowest regulated output voltage. Low drop out voltage regulators are commonly used in battery powered applications.
Many systems-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated circuit applications include analog and radio frequency (RF) circuits and digital circuits on the same integrated circuit. The transistor switching of the digital circuits can cause the power supply to be very noisy while the analog and RF circuits may be sensitive to the power supply noise. Therefore, the analog and RF circuits should be provided with a very clean power supply voltage to avoid performance degradations.
A LDO regulator may include an error amplifier, power output driver, feedback resistive network, and output capacitor. A Miller compensation capacitor has been used to in LDO regulators to provide stability. However, some Miller compensation techniques may require a capacitor to be integrated on-chip. On-chip capacitors of sufficient capacitance may require a substantial surface area of the integrated circuit, thus increasing cost of the integrated circuit. Also, the use of Miller compensation capacitors may cause the LDO regulator to react slowly to changes in the load and increase output voltage glitches and settling time.
One of the main sources of noise in the LDO regulator is caused by power supply noise coupling through the error amplifier, band-gap reference, and the power output driver. If the error amplifier does not have good power supply noise rejection, the error amplifier can degrade the performance the entire regulator. Also, the error amplifier should provide high gain while providing good power supply noise rejection.
Therefore, a need exists for a LDO voltage regulator that solves the above problems.

Low drop out voltage regulator and method therefor