A system and method allow client applications to invoke remote procedures on a server application using any of a plurality of remote procedure mechanisms, by selecting a remote procedure call mechanism at runtime. The system and method uses client and server stubs in the application that include an mechanism-independent canonical specification of each procedure interface. The specification defines the form of the interface and arguments, but not does include conventional mechanism-specific marshalling arguments for marshalling the arguments. The resulting compiled stubs may be used with any remote procedure call engine. Such remote procedure call engines receive the specification of the procedure interface and the arguments passed by the client application to the server, and determine at runtime the particular marshalling routines to use, according to the canonical specification. This defers selection of the marshalling routines, and hence allows a single compiled client application binary code to be used with any of a variety of remote procedure call engines and marshalling routines. Deferring selection of marshalling routines further allows optimization of data types where the client and server computers share architectural characteristics. The system includes a interface definition language compiler that produces the client and server stubs having the canonical specification of the procedure interfaces, a virtual remote procedure library that selects a remote procedure call engine for a client, and plurality of remote procedure call engines.

1. Field of Invention
The present inventions relates to client-server distributed computing systems generally, and more particularly, to systems providing multiple remote procedure call mechanisms dynamically selected at runtime to provide client-server interprocess communication and data transfer.
2. Background of Invention
Client-server computing has become the predominant model of distributed computing, paralleling the increasing performance of desktop computers and workstations. In a client-server distributed computing environment, multiple computers are connected in a network, and a computer may operate both as client, a consumer of resources and data, and a server, a producer of resources and data for the clients. Accompanying the spread of client-server systems, there has been a move away from the homogenous networks common in the past, where there was typically a single or very few vendors providing all the computers, to heterogeneous networks with computers, software, and peripheral devices from multiple vendors. In this environment, integration of client-server operation becomes a critical requirement.
In any client-server environment, a client requests operations of a server through a remote procedure call (RPC). In a remote procedure call, a process, the client, on a local computer invokes a process, the server, on a remote computer. Historically, the idea was to perform the remote procedure call with a single thread of control held by the client, so that the RPC behaved in the same manner as a local procedure call. In order to achieve this goal, there must be an agreed upon set of semantics between the client and the server for describing the procedure call and specifically, the arguments passed across the call. This is because both the client and the server may have different internal architectures for representing data, and thus, explicit specification of types of arguments is used to communicate data between the client and server. In addition, because the client and server typically are different computers, each with its own address space, passing parameters by reference is not usually possible. Conversion and construction of data for transmission between the client and server is called marshalling. In a general purpose RPC mechanism explicit typing is necessary, since implicit typing cannot be used unless a single RPC mechanism is chosen. In a heterogeneous environment, there may be multiple RPC mechanisms in use, and thus, explicit typing is needed. However, marshalling routines are specific to each RPC mechanism, since they are designed to construct the data for a particular and machine architecture RPC mechanism.
In conventional RPC systems, the client holds an interface to the server in the form of a client stub. The server has a server stub that provides the linkage to the server application. These stubs are created by the application developer by using the interface definition language (IDL) to specify the interface, and then compiled by an IDL compiler. The IDL is used to specify the interface between the client and the server. The client-server interface is conventionally defined as a set of procedures with specifically defined input and output arguments.
In conventional systems, the semantics of each remote procedure call are implemented when the stubs are compiled by the IDL compiler. The IDL compiler determines the specific marshalling routines for use with the arguments in a given procedure, and links these routines into the object code of the interface. The stub is then compiled into the application binary. The resulting, executable binary application code thus, can only be used with the particular RPC mechanism that uses the linked-in marshalling routines. At runtime, there is no ability to select which RPC mechanism to use when several are available, since the marshalling routines are already part of the application.
In a homogenous computing environment where there is a single RPC mechanism, this approach was acceptable. The selection of a single RPC mechanism ensured that all applications were developed to use just that mechanism. However, homogenous systems are no longer the typical environment. Rather now heterogeneous systems are commonplace where a single RPC mechanism becomes a limitation on the interoperability of clients and servers. Ideally then, a client application should be able to use the services of any server, regardless of the RPC mechanism. That is, where multiple RPC mechanisms are available on the system, the client should be able to select an RPC mechanism when the server is invoked.
With conventional RPC mechanisms, this is not possible because conventional RPC systems are incompatible and have incompatible APIs. While the individual RPC mechanisms in and of themselves support heterogeneous environments for different machine architectures, clients and servers do not support heterogeneous operating environments for different RPC mechanisms. More specifically, there are numerous distinct interface definitions languages, each with its own semantics, and with distinct compilers. Each IDL compiler is exclusively tied to a distinct RPC mechanism, and each RPC mechanism has its own particular set of marshalling routines for servers using the RPC mechanism. Marshalling routines of one RPC system cannot be used with another. Thus, existing applications that are compiled for use with a specific RPC mechanism cannot be used with another RPC mechanism. This prevents an application selecting an RPC mechanism at runtime.
To make the application interoperable with another RPC mechanism conventionally requires rewriting the interface of the server in the specific IDL of the new RPC, and then modifying and recompiling the application with the marshalling routine of the RPC. This process is expensive and time consuming, and results in the user having to choose which application to execute depending on which RPC mechanism is desired. The selection of RPC mechanisms is confusing to the user and inefficient.
Accordingly, it is desirable to use a mechanism that isolates the interface definition of the client-server interface from the RPC mechanism and marshalling routines, so that the RPC mechanism can be dynamically selected when the client is about to use the RPC mechanism on the server. Since the selection is performed at runtime, the client and server can select the RPC mechanism that best suits the operating environment on a per invocation basis. This allows the selection of RPC mechanism to be made at runtime, rather than at compile time, resulting in the desired heterogeneous system flexibility. Deferring selection of marshalling routines to invocation also makes clients and server more portable between hardware platforms and operating systems and allows the addition of new RPC mechanisms to an installed base without change to such mechanisms.

Remote procedure call system and method for RPC mechanism independent client and server interfaces interoperable with any of a plurality of remote procedure call backends


A speaker assembly includes a speaker mounted within a housing having a front plate and a base plate. The speaker is inclined with respect to the front plate. The base plate includes one of an inclined type structure, a convex type structure, a radial rib type structure having radial ribs, and an uneven structure having projections. The front plate includes holes of certain shapes such as having two half holes formed on opposite sides of front plate and communicating with each other through a common opening formed between the two half holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speaker apparatus and implementing method of the speaker apparatus, and more particularly, to a speaker apparatus and implementing method of the speaker apparatus preventing the distortion of the original sound of the speaker, preventing the generation of standing waves within the speaker apparatus, and improving the articulation of the original sound.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional electronics having a speaker apparatus, a design concept has been a major factor to decide an outer appearance of the speaker apparatus. The actual structure and the size of a housing of the speaker apparatus is decided by a mold for the housing of the speaker apparatus. The speaker is arranged parallel to the housing and then secured to the housing. Therefore, the conventional speaker apparatus is disadvantageous due to distortion of the original sound generated from the speaker and due to the standing waves existing between the speaker and the housing of the speaker apparatus.
Exemplars of the art are U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,571 issued to Snell, for Acoustic System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,585 issued to Collings, for Loudspeaker Enclosure for Suppressing Unwanted Audio Waves, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,208 issued to Sugihara, for Speaker Enclosures, U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,905 issued to Rodgers, for Speaker Enclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,361 issued to Field, for Loudspeaker System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,809 issued to Sato et al., for Speaker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,850 issued to Sabato et al., for Speaker System, U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,338 issued to Thompson, for Loud Speaker Enclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,823 issued to Tanaka, for Speaker System, U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,746 issued to Azima et al., for Loudspeakers Comprising Panel-form Acoustic Radiating Elements, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,971 issued to Tozawa, for Speaker System and a Method for Improving Sound Quality Thereof. I have found that the art does not disclose a speaker assembly that effectively reduces standing waves.

Structure for preventing the generation of standing waves and a method for implementing the same


According to one example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device, wherein the device includes a transistor having source and drain regions separated by a channel region. The device includes a gate formed over the channel region and formed over part of the source region and over part of the drain region. The device further includes an insulator region configured and arranged to insulate the gate from the channel region and from the source and drain regions. The insulator region has a first material arranged over the channel region and providing a high dielectric constant, and has a second material arranged over part of the source region and over part of the drain region and providing a significantly lower dielectric constant. By using insulator materials having different dielectric constants, this embodiment not only meets the compact size requirements of higher-functioning devices, but also adequately insulates the gate and channel regions and improves the transistor performance.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and their fabrication and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices and their manufacture involving dielectrics used with transistors.
The electronics industry continues to rely upon advances in semiconductor technology to realize higher-functioning devices in more compact areas. For many applications, realizing higher-functioning devices requires integrating a large number of electronic devices into a single silicon wafer. In addition, many of the individual devices within the wafer are being manufactured with smaller physical dimensions. As The number of electronic devices per given area of the silicon wafer increases, and as the size of the individual devices decreases, the manufacturing process becomes difficult.
A large variety of semiconductor devices have been manufactured having various applications in numerous disciplines. Such silicon-based semiconductor devices often include metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors, such as p-channel MOS (PMOS), n-channel MOS (NMOS), complementary MOS (CMOS), bipolar complementary MOS (BiCMOS), and bipolar transistors.
Each of these semiconductor devices generally includes a semiconductor substrate on which a number of active devices are formed. The particular structure of a given active device can vary between device types. For example, in MOS transistors, an active device generally includes source and drain regions and a gate electrode which modulates current between the source and drain regions.
As devices are scaled below 0.18 microns, gate insulator thicknesses reach the quantum mechanical regime. One gate insulator material used in this regime is silicon dioxide. Current research indicates that silicon dioxide thicknesses of 20-25 angstroms will result in unacceptably large tunneling currents. To alleviate this problem, research has begun on alternatives to silicon dioxide that have larger dielectric constants. This allows the use of thicker gate insulators, diminishing the gate tunneling current without reducing the gate capacitance. However, large capacitance is not desirable in the source-drain overlap regions of the gate because it increases the gate to source-drain, or overlap, capacitance and degrades transistor performance. The gate-to-drain capacitance is particularly critical for transistor performance as it is amplified during switching due to the Miller effect.
Previous work on this problem has mostly focused on thickening the gate oxide over the source-drain region to reduce overlap capacitance. This provides only a modest reduction in overlap capacitance and creates stress in the gate.
With the demands for increasing the density of such MOS-based circuits continuing to escalate, there is an ongoing need to reduce the amount of real estate consumed by various aspects of the circuits and to minimize the complexities and deficiencies resulting from manufacturing processes.
The present invention is directed to a transistor gate insulator material that not only meets the compact size requirements of higher-functioning devices but also adequately insulates the gate and channel regions and improves the transistor performance. The present invention is exemplified in a number of implementations and applications, some of which are summarized below.
According to an example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a semiconductor device that includes a transistor comprising source and drain regions separated by a channel region. A gate is formed over the channel region, over part of the source region, and over part of the drain region. An insulator region is configured and arranged to insulate the gate from the channel region and from the source and drain regions. The insulator region has a first material arranged substantially over the channel region and providing a high dielectric constant, and a second material arranged substantially over part of the source region and over part of the drain region and providing a significantly lower dielectric constant.
In another example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. The device includes source and drain regions separated by a channel region, and an insulator region. The insulator region is over-etched to form recesses at corners of the gate adjacent the source and drain regions. A second material is formed in the recesses.
In yet another example embodiment, a semiconductor device that includes a transistor having source and drain regions separated by a channel region is provided. A gate is formed over the channel region, over part of the source region, and over part of the drain region. An insulator region is configured and arranged to insulate the gate from the channel region and from the source and drain regions. The insulator region has means, arranged over the channel region, for providing a high dielectric constant. The insulator region also has means, arranged over the part of the source region and over the part of the drain region, for providing a significantly lower dielectric constant.

Semiconductor arrangement with transistor gate insulator


A spatial light modulator based on a metamaterial structure and a preparation method thereof. The spatial light modulator includes an array of optical function elements and a control circuit. The optical function element includes a metamaterial structure formed by a metal nanostructure layer and a metal reflector layer, with a medium layer and nonmetal conducting material layer being provided between the metal nanostructure layer and the metal reflector layer. The spatial light modulator is simple in structure, high in integration, easy in manufacture and low in cost. Furthermore, the spatial light modulator is capable of high-speed modulation, the depth of modulation is controlled easily, and a low drive voltage may be obtained.

Optical information processing, as a novel technology which has been developed in recent years, due to its high processing speed, large information flow and the like, especially excellent interference resistance against light waves and capability of transferring and processing loaded information concurrently, has great application value in the field of information, national defense and the like. A spatial light modulator is a device for modulating spatial distribution of the light waves, and specifically a device for spatially and temporally transforming or modulating one-dimensional or two-dimensional distribution of certain properties (such as amplitude, phase, polarization and frequency) of the light waves thus to write information loaded by a source signal into incident light. At present, the technologies to realize a spatial light modulator mainly include electro absorption modulation, electro-optical modulation, liquid crystal, MEMS and the like. The low-speed operation of the liquid crystal modulation and MEMS modulation can not meet the application of high-speed modulation; the electro absorption modulation has high cost as it is generally based on gallium arsenide quantum well material, the process is very complicated since the entire structure often requires epitaxy of dozens of layers of heterogeneous material, and the uniformity of a plurality of layers of material further limits the size of the array as well as the depth of modulation; and as the electro-optical modulation is generally based on nonlinear crystal material or polymers, this results in large device volume and high drive voltage.

Spatial light modulator based on metamaterial structure and preparation method thereof

Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is disclosed, which comprises setting a stencil mask above a substrate to be processed in confronting to the substrate, the stencil mask having an opening, and irradiating the substrate with charged particles through the opening of the stencil mask, while adjusting a potential difference between the stencil mask and the substrate depending on a value of a current flowing between the substrate and the stencil mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using, for example, a stencil mask as a transfer mask and an apparatus for manufacturing the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a method in which in semiconductor device manufacturing process, a stencil mask having a predetermined pattern is set above a substrate to be processed at a predetermined distance and charged particles such as electrons or ions are projected onto the substrate through openings defining the pattern of the stencil mask. In the method, charged particles (ion beam) such as ions accelerated from a particle source by a predetermined energy pass through a scanner and a magnet to be formulated into a patterned ion beam. The patterned ion beam is projected onto the substrate through the openings formed in the stencil mask. The substrate to be processed mentioned here is a semiconductor substrate, on the surface of which a semiconductor device is to be formed or has been formed, not shown.
There is a disadvantage that, when a substrate is processed using the charged particles, residue charges are accumulated on the substrate so that the semi-conductor device formed on the substrate may be destroyed by being charged due to the accumulated charges. A conventional method is known to overcome this disadvantage (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-283411, see page 4). In this method, secondary electrons or plasma electrons are generated to neutralize the accumulated charges, thus preventing the destruction of a substrate due to the accumulated charges.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-203806 FIGS. 29 and 35) discloses a method of controlling the amount of charges accumulated on a substrate to be processed. In the method, a distance and a potential difference between a stencil mask and the substrate to control the amount of charges accumulated on the substrate. The controlling of the amount of charges is carried out by providing a power supply between the stencil mask and the substrate, or by providing a power supply between the stencil mask and the ground and also another power supply between the substrate and ground.
However, neutralizing the accumulated charges by generating secondary electrons or plasma electrons is sensitive to the amount of charges on the substrate and the stencil mask, the amount of energy on charged particles, degree of vacuum in the apparatus, etc., and the amount of neutralized charges greatly changes depending on these factors. As a result, with the method of neutralizing the accumulated charges by generating secondary electrons or plasma electrons, the neutralized charge amount may be insufficient or an excessive amount of electrons may be supplied to cause negative charging, which possibly destroy the semiconductor devices. Further, the charge neutralizing mechanism, which generates the secondary electrons or plasma electrons, is complicated in structure.
On the other hand, according to the method of controlling the amount of the charges accumulated on the substrate by changing a distance and a potential difference between the stencil mask and the substrate, yield is improved. However, it is necessary to set up the distance and the potential difference between the stencil and the substrate before an ion implantation process is carried out. There is no problem if the irradiation condition of the charged particles is stable and the state of the apparatus is stable during the processing. However, if the apparatus is unstable, and the irradiation amount (current amount) of the charged particles per unit time changes during the processing, the neutralized charge amount may be insufficient, or an excessive amount of electrons may be supplied to cause negative charging, which leas to a possible destruction of the semiconductor devices.

Method of controlling a potential difference between a stencil mask and a substrate of semiconductor device


A wheel bearing apparatus incorporating a wheel speed detecting apparatus has an outer member, an inner member, double row rolling elements, a sensor holder, and a pulser ring. The sensor holder cover has a cylindrical fitting portion press-fit onto the inner side end portion of the outer member. A flange portion extends radially inward from the fitting portion. The flange portion is in close contact with the end face of the outer member. A bottom portion extends further radially inward from the flange portion. The holding portion is integrally joined to the bottom portion. The flange portion is formed with a flat surface so that it forms an abutting width larger than 5 mm or more, against the end face of the outer member, or larger than 50% or more, relative to the flat width of the end face of the outer member.

It is generally known that a wheel bearing apparatus incorporating a wheel speed detecting apparatus can support a vehicle wheel relative to a suspension apparatus and can detect the wheel speed to control the anti-lock braking system (ABS). Such a bearing apparatus generally includes a wheel speed detecting apparatus. The detecting apparatus includes a magnetic encoder with magnetic poles alternately arranged along its circumference and integrated in a sealing apparatus arranged between inner and outer members for containing rolling elements therebetween. A wheel speed detecting sensor detects the variation in the magnetic poles of the magnetic encoder according to the rotation of the wheel.
The wheel speed sensor is usually mounted on a knuckle after the wheel bearing apparatus is mounted on the knuckle to form a suspension apparatus. Recently, a wheel bearing apparatus incorporating a wheel speed detecting apparatus has been proposed where a wheel speed detecting sensor is incorporated into the wheel bearing. Such a device reduces the size of the wheel bearing apparatus as well as eliminates troublesome in air gap adjustment between the wheel speed sensor and the magnetic encoder.
An example of the wheel bearing apparatus incorporating a wheel speed detecting apparatus is shown in FIG. 28. The wheel bearing apparatus incorporating a wheel speed detecting apparatus includes an outer member 101 secured on a suspension apparatus (not shown) of a vehicle forming a secured member. An inner member 102 is inserted into the outer member 101, via a plurality of balls 103, 103. The outer member is integrally formed on its outer circumference with a body mounting flange 101b. The outer member inner circumference includes double row outer raceway surfaces 101a, 101a.
The inner member 102 includes a wheel hub 105 and an inner ring 106. The wheel hub 105 and inner ring 106 are formed with double row inner raceway surfaces 105a, 106a, respectively, that are positioned opposite to the double row outer raceway surfaces 101a, 101a. One inner raceway surface 105a is formed on the outer circumference of the wheel hub 105 and the other inner raceway surface 106a is formed on the outer circumference of the inner ring. The inner ring 106 is press-fit onto a cylindrical portion 105b that axially extends from the inner raceway surface 105a of the wheel hub 105. Double row balls 103, 103 are contained between these double row outer and inner raceway surfaces. The balls are rollably held by cages 107, 107.
The wheel hub 105 is integrally formed with a wheel mount flange 104 to mount a wheel (not shown). Hub bolts 104a are secured on the flange 104 at circumferentially equidistant positions. The wheel hub 105 is further formed with a serration 105c on its inner circumference. A stem portion 111 of an outer joint member 110, that forms a constant velocity universal joint, is inserted into the serration 105c. Seals 108, 109 are mounted on both ends of the outer member 101. The seals 108, 109 prevent leakage of grease contained within the bearing and the entry of rainwater or dusts from the outside into the bearing.
As shown in FIG. 29, the inner side seal 109 includes a first sealing plate 112. The plate 112 has an L shaped cross-section and is adapted to fit into the inner circumference of the outer member 101. A second sealing plate 113 has an L shaped cross-section and is adapted to be arranged opposite to the first sealing plate 112. The second sealing plate 113 includes a cylindrical portion 113a adapted to fit onto the inner ring 106. A standing portion 113b extends radially outward from the cylindrical portion 113a. A magnetic encoder 114 is adhered to the inner side surface of the standing portion 113b, via vulcanized adhesion. The magnetic encoder 114 is formed from a rubber mingled with magnetic powder. Also, it includes magnetic N and S poles alternately arranged along its circumferential direction.
The first sealing plate 112 includes a metal core 115 with an L shaped cross-section. A sealing member 116 is adhered to the metal core 115, via vulcanized adhesion. The sealing member 116 includes a side lip 116a in sliding contact with the outer side surface of the standing portion 113b of the second sealing plate 113. A pair of radial lips 116b, 116c is in sliding contact with the cylindrical portion 113a of the second sealing plate 113.
An annular sensor holder 119 is mounted on the end of the outer member 101. The annular sensor holder 119 includes a fitting cylinder 117 and a holding portion 118 joined to the fitting cylinder 117. The fitting cylinder 117 includes a cylindrical fitting portion 117a. A flange portion 117b extends radially inward from the fitting portion 117a. The fitting cylinder has a wholly annular configuration with an L shaped cross-section.
The holding portion 118 is integrally molded and embedded with a wheel speed sensor 120. The speed sensor 120 opposes the encoder 114, via a predetermined air gap. The wheel speed sensor 120 includes a magnetic detecting element such as a Hall effect element, magnetic resistance element (MR element) etc. to change its characteristics in accordance with the flow direction of magnetic flux. An IC incorporating a wave forming circuit for rectifying the output wave form of magnetic detecting element is also included.
A labyrinth seal is formed by a small gap 121 between the end face of the inner ring 106 and the flange portion 117b. The labyrinth seal can prevent foreign matter such as magnetic powder etc. from entering into a space between the magnetic encoder 114 and the wheel speed sensor 120 before the stem portion 111 of the outer joint member 110 is inserted into the wheel hub 105. This includes transportation of the bearing apparatus to an assembling line of a manufacturer of automobiles. Thus, it is possible to improve the reliability of wheel speed detection. Reference Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 254985/2003.
However, in the prior art wheel bearing apparatus incorporating a wheel speed detecting apparatus, since the sensor holder 119 is arranged between a knuckle (not shown) and the outer joint member 110, it is believed that foreign matter, such as muddy water etc., would enter into the bearing apparatus through an annular space between the outer joint member 110 and the knuckle. Thus, this would detract from the detecting accuracy of wheel speed. In addition, it is also believed that foreign matter may enter and solidify on rotational parts of the wheel bearing. The dry matter would be blown off by a centrifugal force and damage surfaces of the magnetic encoder 114 and the holding portion 118. Accordingly, it is difficult to maintain the reliability of wheel speed detection for a long term.
In addition it is also believed that a suitable air gap (labyrinth) would not be formed, due to formation of a gap between the flange portion and the end face of the outer member 101, if the fitting portion 117a of the fitting cylinder 117 is press-fit obliquely or incorrectly onto the outer member 101.
It is also believed that the length of the harness 122 (FIG. 30) would be insufficient after assembly of the bearing apparatus and damaged. Foreign matter once entered into the bearing apparatus could not be surely discharged from the bearing apparatus. Accordingly, it stays in the bearing apparatus and solidified due to erroneous positioning of a draining aperture 123 of the fitting cylinder 117. If the fitting cylinder 117 is erroneously press-fit onto the outer member 101 in its circumferential direction, the holding portion 118 joined to the fitting cylinder 117 is also erroneously positioned relative onto the outer member 101. Thus, foreign matter entered and solidified on rotational parts of the wheel bearing would be blown off by a centrifugal force and damage surfaces of the magnetic encoder 114 and the holding portion 118. Accordingly, it is difficult to maintain the reliability of wheel speed detection for a long term.
Furthermore, since the holding portion 118 of the sensor holder 119 is not strictly limited in a projection amount from the end face of the outer member 101 and in a radial thickness, it is believed that the holding portion 118 will interfere with the outer joint member 110. In addition, it is believed that the holding portion 118 would be damaged when the harness 122 is taken out from the holder portion and caught by anything during transportation of the bearing apparatus. Especially in cold environments, the holding portion 118 would be liable to be damaged by an excessive load applied to the mounting portion of the harness 122 during steering of the vehicle wheels since the harness 122 would be in a frozen condition.

Wheel bearing apparatus incorporated with a wheel speed detecting apparatus


Management of unwanted phone calls and/or text messages can be performed by allowing a user to create a personalized list of unwanted calls and/or text messages at the user's device and synchronizing that personalized list between a storage system in the user's device and a remote storage in a network to which the device can be coupled. In one embodiment, the remote storage can be a cloud based backup system for the user's contacts and content and the user can access a full list of the unwanted phone numbers through a web server but the full list is not accessible on the device except through a web browser that retrieves the full list from the web server.

Users of telephones often receive unwanted phone calls. For example, a user of a telephone may receive a marketing telephone call or a telephone call from a public opinion survey service or even a phone call from an ex-friend. Caller ID will alert the user to the call being unwanted by identifying the caller in many cases, but the telephone will still ring or otherwise provide an audible or other alert indicating that a call is incoming. Similarly, a user of a telephone device, such as a cell phone, may receive text messages through an SMS service, and some of these text messages can be unwanted, such as spam text messages or text messages from an ex-friend, etc. A typical cell phone will provide some alert (e.g. make a sound) when a text message is received even if it is an unwanted text message.
Certain solutions have been created for dealing with these unwanted phone calls. In these solutions, a mobile user can manage at the mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, a blocked list, also known as a "blacklist". The user manages this blocked list by providing inputs at the mobile device to add or change or delete numbers entered into the blocked list at the mobile device. In this solution, the entire management of the list is performed at the mobile device and this requires a complicated user interlace at the mobile device. Moreover, the list cannot be reused when the user upgrades to a new mobile device, such as a new cellular telephone. In other words, the list cannot be reused for the new device of the user when the user replaces the older cell phone. Moreover, there may be potential security risks with the management of a local blocked list at the mobile device.

Management of unwanted calls and/or text messages


Techniques are described herein for robotic control using value distributions. In various implementations, as part of performing a robotic task, state data associated with the robot in an environment may be generated based at least in part on vision data captured by a vision component of the robot. A plurality of candidate actions may be sampled, e.g., from continuous action space. A trained critic neural network model that represents a learned value function may be used to process a plurality of state-action pairs to generate a corresponding plurality of value distributions. Each state-action pair may include the state data and one of the plurality of sampled candidate actions. The state-action pair corresponding to the value distribution that satisfies one or more criteria may be selected from the plurality of state-action pairs. The robot may then be controlled to implement the sampled candidate action of the selected state-action pair.

Reinforcement learning may be used to train an actor network and/or a critic network that, when trained, can be utilized by a robot in performing a robotic task in which the robot interacts with one or more environmental objects. Robotic tasks can include robotic grasping, or other non-grasping robotic tasks such as opening a door, throwing a ball, pushing objects, traversing through an area, etc. An actor network may be, for instance, a trained neural network that can be used to generate probabilities for a plurality of candidate actions based on a current state. The robot may select one of the candidate actions based on the probabilities. A critic network may be, for instance, a neural network model that approximates a state-action value function.
In some reinforcement learning approaches, the critic network may be used to train the actor network only; during inference, the actor network may be used exclusively to control the robot. In other reinforcement learning approaches, the critic network may be used alone in performing the robotic task. For example, the trained critic network can be used to process state-action pairs that each include current state data (e.g., vision data and/or other data) along with a corresponding one of N sampled candidate actions. These N sampled candidate actions may be sampled using techniques such as the cross-entropy method (CEM) and/or other technique(s).
A corresponding value is generated for each of the sampled candidate actions based on the processing of the sampled candidate action and the robot state data. These values may correspond, for instance, to likelihoods of ultimately completing the robotic task successfully if that action is taken during this iteration. The candidate action corresponding to the "best" generated value can be selected during that iteration for implementation by the robot. Upon completion of implementing the candidate action, the process can then be repeated to select a next candidate action to be implemented by the robot during a next iteration. This can continue until, for example, a candidate action is selected that corresponds to a termination action, thereby enabling a sequence of actions to be sequentially selected and sequentially implemented in performing the robotic task.
One non-limiting example of a reinforcement learning approach proposed for robotic control is QT-Opt. QT-Opt is a distributed Q-Learning algorithm suitable for continuous action spaces. The QT-Opt approach trains a parameterized state-action value function Qθ (s, a) which is represented by a neural network model with parameters θ. CEM is used to iteratively optimize and select the best action for a given Q function:πθ(S)=arg maxaQθ(s,a)  (1)
In order to train the Q function, a separate process called the "Bellman updater" samples transition tuples (s, a, r, s′) containing the state s, action a, reward r and next state s′ from a replay buffer and generates Bellman target values according to a Q-learning algorithm, such as:{circumflex over (Q)}(s,a,s′)=r(s,a)+γV(s′)  (2)where V(s′)=Qθ1 (s′, πθ2(s′)) and θ1 and θ2 are the parameters of two delayed target networks. These target values are pushed to another replay buffer D, and a separate training process optimizes the Q-value function against a training objective:ε(θ)={circumflex over (Q)}(s,a,s′)˜D[D(Qθ(S,a),{circumflex over (Q)}(s,a,s′))]  (3)

Robotic control using value distributions


The present invention describes a method for the treatment of tall oil pitch (TOP), said method comprising heating the TOP and optionally additives including water and steam to a temperature of at least 300° C.; maintaining the temperature in the reactor at 300° C. or higher for a period of time to enable thermal treatment of the TOP to act on components thereof to produce fatty acids and/or rosin acids, and/or derivatives thereof, and/or unsaponifiables and/or derivatives having lower molecular weight compared to the high molecular weight components with molecular weights of at least 350 g/mole present in the original TOP, to yield a modified TOP material with lower viscosity.

TOP is a by-product obtained when processing of crude tall oil (CTO) is performed. The TOP contains varying amounts of fatty acids (straight hydrocarbon chain ranging from C12-C26 of varying unsaturation degree i.e. zero, one, two, three, etc. double bonds and containing primary/terminal carboxylic acid group) and rosin acids (typical examples being Pimaric, iso-Pimaric, Sandaracopimaric, Levopimaric, Palustric, Abietic, Dehydroabietic and Neoabietic acids occasionally referred to as resin acids) as well as their derivatives which are reaction products between fatty- or respectively rosin acids and the so called neutral components present within CTO and where resulting TOP is typically characterized with a high viscosity.
The present invention is directed to a thermal treatment of TOP to provide a TOP fraction which is easier to handle in further processing and wherefrom valuable organic components boiling at atmospheric pressures between about 150° C. and 450° C. and optionally wood sterols can be recovered.
There are methods involving increased temperatures when processing TOP. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,936 a process is disclosed wherein TOP is thermally treated in a temperature range of 200-300° C. with an alkali reagent in order to saponify fatty acids and liberate sterols from their esters. The reaction product is thereafter acidified to liberate fatty acids, rosin acids and sterols. The material is thereafter distilled. Saponification followed by acidification is a classical procedure for liberating the carboxylic acids present within TOP and is procedure mainly practiced for recovery of valuable sterols present in the TOP. Saponification is a cumbersome procedure which also generates a salty brine which has to be recycled or disposed of.
The present invention aims on providing a simple and effective treatment of TOP without a saponification step which provides a TOP fraction which is comparatively easy to process further into valuable chemicals including renewable fuel chemicals and optionally sterols.

Method for thermal treatment of tall oil pitch (TOP)


The present invention relates to a process for preparing a rubber containing polymer bound functionalities. The process comprises the emulsion polymerization at a temperature ranging from about 0.degree. C. to about 25.degree. C. of (a) at least one functionalized monomer that contains a polymerizable vinyl group; with (b) at least one copolymerizable conjugated diene monomer selected from the group consisting of butadiene 1,3, 2-chlorobutadiene-1,3, isoprene, piperylene and conjugated hexadienes; wherein the polymerization is conducted in the presence of from (1) from 2 to 30 parts by weight of an ionic surfactant per 100 parts by weight of organic components and (2) about 1 to about 70 parts by weight of a plasticizer based on 100 parts by weight of total monomers. Other than the water, ionic surfactant, and the copolymerizable conjugated diene, the plasticizer functions as the sole solvent agent for the functionalized monomer during the emulsion polymerization and additionally functions as a plasticizer for the final polymer product.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a rubber containing polymer bound functionalities. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for forming a rubber comprising the emulsion polymerization at a temperature ranging from about 0.degree. C. to 25.degree. C. of (a) at least one functionalized monomer that contains a polymerizable vinyl group with (b) at least one copolymerizable conjugated diene monomer selected from the group consisting of butadiene-1,3, 2-chlorobutadiene 1,3, isoprene, piperylene and conjugated hexadienes; wherein the polymerization is conducted in the presence of (1) from 2 to 30 parts by weight of an ionic surfactant per 100 parts by weight of organic components and (2) from about 1 to about 70 parts by weight a plasticizer based upon 100 parts by weight of total monomers. The plasticizer functions as the sole solvent for the functionalized monomer during the cold emulsion polymerization and also as a plasticizer for the final polymer product.
Polymer bound functionalities, and especially antidegradants, have been used in rubber. Preparation of rubbers having polymer bound functionalities involves the use of copolymerizable functionalized monomers. Many of these copolymerizable monomers are polar, high melting solids which are only slightly soluble at best in the copolymerizable diene monomers typically employed to prepare rubber. And since these copolymerizable monomers have little if any solubility in water and ionic surfactants, the solubility of these chemicals limits the level to which they can be polymerized.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,658,769, 3,767,628 and 4,213,892 describe the preparation of compounds such as N-(4-anilinophenyl) methacrylamide and N-(4-anilinophenyl) acrylamide and the polymerization of such compounds with typical monomers. These references suggest that a solvent such as methylethyl ketone or isopropyl alcohol may be required to obtain adequate solubility of the monomers. Unfortunately, the use of cosolvents like methylethylketone (MEK) and isopropyl alcohol is limited in emulsion polymerization systems due to the tendency of these solvents to destabilize latex particles resulting in partial coagulation or the formation of multiple phases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,574 discloses the use of dichloromethane (DCM) and/or tetrahydrofuran (THF) as cosolvents in an emulsion polymerization; however, DCM and THF have been determined to be a potential environmental and health concern.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,507 discloses the use of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) as a cosolvent in an emulsion polymerization; however, MIBK is also unsuitable in many applications due to its odor and volatile nature. In addition, the use of a solubilizing cosolvent while necessary to dissolve polar, solid copolymerizable monomers in the emulsion polymerization recipe, most often will require its complete removal and economical recycle upon completion of the reaction. The steps of cosolvent addition, removal and recycle make their use inconvenient and costly.

Process for the preparation of a rubber having polymer bound functionality


A vehicle drive system comprises a frame, a motor, a first wheel assembly, a second wheel assembly and an endless drive member. The motor is mounted to the frame and has a motor shaft powered by the motor. The first wheel assembly includes a first axle, a first drive wheel and a first riding wheel. The first axle extends generally transversely from the frame and is journalled for rotation relative to the frame. A proximal end of the first axle is operatively connected to the motor shaft in a manner so that rotation of the motor shaft causes rotation of the first axle. The first axle is operatively connected to the frame in a manner so that a distal end of the first axle is moveable in a generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame about a first pivot axis. The first drive wheel and the first riding wheel are both mounted to the first axle. Similarly, the second wheel assembly includes a second axle, a second drive wheel and a second riding wheel. The second axle extends generally transversely from the frame and generally parallel to the first axle. The second axle is journalled for rotation relative to the frame and is operatively connected to the frame in a manner so a distal end of the second axle is moveable in a generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame about a second pivot axis. The second drive wheel and the second riding wheel are both mounted to the second axle. The endless drive member is trained around the first and second drive wheels in a manner so that rotational motion of the first drive wheel causes rotational motion of the second drive wheel.

The present invention relates to land vehicles and, more particularly, to utility vehicles adapted for multi-terrain use.
A variety of multiple-wheeled utility vehicles have been designed for light-duty work over a variety of terrain conditions. Many such vehicles include small beds or boxes for carrying modest loads. Typically, these vehicles have one or two steerable front wheels and at least two rear drive wheels. To increase the hauling capacity and the size of the load-carrying zone, some of these vehicles have been equipped with four or more rear drive wheels positioned under the hauling bed. Chain drives are commonly used in vehicles of this power class for transferring power from one set of drive wheels to another. In general, such chain drives are efficient, relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain and repair, as compared with more complicated drive systems that use intermeshed drive shafts and differentials.
However, in prior art utility vehicles utilizing a chain drive for four or more rear drive wheels, the rear drive wheels are unsuspended or are inadequately suspended. In some prior art utility vehicles utilizing a chain drive for four or more rear drive wheels, the rear drive wheels are not suspended at all, and remain in fixed positions relative to the vehicle frame. While unsuspended drive wheels work well with chain drives (which require the sprockets carrying the chain to remain in substantially the same plane to ensure proper operation and avoid disengagement of the chain), they compromise the vehicle""s performance and limit the types of terrain on which the vehicle can be effectively used.
Thus, there is a need for a multi-terrain utility vehicle having multiple rear drive wheels all powered by a simple chain drive system, wherein each of the rear drive wheels is independently suspended from the vehicle frame for optimal performance and terrain versatility.
A general object of the invention is to provide a utility vehicle having multiple drive wheels for traversing a variety of terrain conditions. Another object is to provide a vehicle drive system that is efficient, relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain and repair. A related object is to provide chain-drive and suspension systems for utility vehicles that have fewer and less expensive parts than more complicated drive and suspension systems used in vehicles of the same power class, without significantly compromising performance. Still another object of the invention is to provide an idler mechanism for a chain drive that permits significant transverse movement of the drive chain without compromising performance of the drive system. A more specific object of the invention is to provide a drive system for a multi-terrain utility vehicle having multiple, chain-driven rear drive wheels that are each independently suspended from the vehicle frame.
In general, a vehicle drive system of the present invention comprises a frame, a motor, a first wheel assembly, a second wheel assembly and a drive chain. The motor is mounted to the frame and has a motor shaft powered by the motor. The first wheel assembly comprises a first control arm, a first axle, a first sprocket and a first wheel. The first control arm extends generally transversely from the frame and has a proximal end pivotally connected to the frame in a manner to permit pivoting movement of the first control arm in a generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame. The first axle is journalled in the first control arm for rotation relative thereto. A proximal end of the first axle is operatively connected to the motor shaft in a manner so that rotation of the motor shaft causes rotation of the first axle. The first sprocket and first wheel are both fixedly mounted to the first axle. Similarly, the second wheel assembly comprises a second control arm, a second axle, a second sprocket and a second wheel. The second control arm extends generally transversely from the frame and generally parallel to the first control arm. The second control arm has a proximal end pivotally connected to the frame in a manner to permit pivoting movement of the second control arm in a generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame. The second axle is journalled in the second control arm for rotation relative thereto. The second sprocket and second wheel are both fixedly mounted to the second axle. The drive chain is trained around the first and second sprockets in a manner so that rotational motion of the first sprocket causes rotational motion of the second sprocket.
In another aspect of the invention, a vehicle drive system comprises a frame, a motor, a first wheel assembly, a second wheel assembly and an endless drive member. The motor is mounted to the frame and has a motor shaft powered by the motor. The first wheel assembly includes a first axle, a first drive wheel and a first riding wheel. The first axle extends generally transversely from the frame and is journalled for rotation relative to the frame. A proximal end of the first axle is operatively connected to the motor shaft in a manner so that rotation of the motor shaft causes rotation of the first axle. The first axle is operatively connected to the frame in a manner so that a distal end of the first axle is moveable in a generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame about a first pivot axis. The first drive wheel and the first riding wheel are both mounted to the first axle. Similarly, the second wheel assembly includes a second axle, a second drive wheel and a second riding wheel. The second axle extends generally transversely from the frame and generally parallel to the first axle. The second axle is journalled for rotation relative to the frame and is operatively connected to the frame in a manner so the distal end of the second axle is moveable in a generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame about a second pivot axis. The second drive wheel and the second riding wheel are both mounted to the second axle. The endless drive member is trained around the first and second drive wheels in a manner so that rotational motion of the first drive wheel causes rotational motion of the second drive wheel.
In still another aspect of the invention, a vehicle drive system comprises a frame, a motor, a drive sprocket, a wheel assembly and a drive chain. The motor is mounted to the frame and has a motor shaft powered by the motor. The drive sprocket is operatively connected to the motor shaft in a manner so that rotational motion of the motor shaft causes rotational motion of the drive sprocket. The wheel assembly includes an axle, a follower sprocket and a wheel. The axle is journalled for rotation relative to the frame and is operatively connected to the frame in a manner so a distal end of the axle is moveable in a first generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame about a pivot axis. The follower sprocket is fixedly mounted to the axle in a manner so that the follower sprocket is moveable in a second generally vertical arcuate path relative to the frame about the pivot axis. The wheel is mounted to the distal end of the axle. The drive chain is trained around the drive sprocket and the follower sprocket in a manner so that rotational motion of the drive sprocket causes rotational motion of the follower sprocket.
While the principal advantages and features of the present invention have been described above, a more complete and thorough understanding and appreciate for the invention may be attained by referring to the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments, which follow.


A photographic flash lamp having an envelope defining a chamber, at least a portion of the envelope being transparent. A support mesh is positioned within the chamber and has a first portion out of contact with the remainder of the lamp. Suitable combustible material to produce the flash, is adhered to the first portion of the mesh to generate a flash upon ignition. An ignitor ignites the combustible material.

The use of various means to produce a flash during exposure of a photographic image, is well known. Currently, electronic flash units using xenon or the like, flash tubes, are typically used. While such electronic flash units are reliable and produce many flashes during their lifetime, they represent a substantial fixed cost component of the camera. For most cameras, this is not a problem since, compared to the rest of the camera components, the fixed cost of an electronic flash unit is relatively low and so does not influence the price of the camera much.
In recent years though, so called "single use cameras" (sometimes referred to as "film with lens" or similar terms) have become available. These cameras are sold to the end user with film pre-loaded in them, and are provided with an associated indication (usually in express written instructions on them) that the entire camera is to be returned to a processor for processing of the film. At the processor, the film is removed for processing but the camera is not returned to the user (often they are repaired as necessary and re-loaded with film for sale as a single use camera again). It is necessary in such camera to keep component cost as low as possible. In such single use cameras or other low cost cameras, the fixed cost of an electronic flash unit represents a substantial proportion of the overall camera cost which it would be desirable to reduce.
Combustion flash units which produce a flash by rapid combustion of a suitable material, were well known historically. Ignition of the combustible material was timed to occur close to the opening of a camera shutter to expose a photographic film. An encapsulated form of such a combustion flash is disclosed, for example, in GB 1,446,658. In this device, a combustible tissue or mesh is shaped the same as the bulb of the flash unit and disposed to be "bearing against the bulb wall". A difficulty with combustion flash units is that ignition and combustion of the combustible material requires a relatively long time in comparison to the duration of an electronic flash. This means that for relatively short film exposures, much of the light is wasted with the by-production of unnecessary combustion products (particularly combustion gasses) and heat.
It would be desirable then to provide a combustion flash unit in which combustion to produce the flash, takes place relatively rapidly and in which light generation efficiency is relatively high.


In a mounting structure of an electrical junction box, the electrical junction box is vertically mounted on a wall surface along a vertical direction in a state where mating faces of an under case member and an upper case member are set in the vertical direction. Each of the under case member and the upper case member has a pair of left and right locking projections provided therein. A bracket including a backside plate part and a pair of case hook parts provided upright from both sides of the backside plate part is disposed along the vertical direction on the wall surface. The electrical junction box is slidingly inserted from above along the backside plate part in the vertical direction until both pairs of locking projections of the under case member and the upper case member are locked to the pair of case hook parts. Thus, the electrical junction box is mounted on the wall surface by use of the bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure of an electrical junction box, in which the electrical junction box is vertically mounted on a wall surface in a state where mating faces of an under case member and an upper case member are set in a vertical direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among electrical junction boxes installed in vehicle bodies, there is one vertically mounted on a vehicle body in a state where mating faces of an upper case member and an under case member are set in a vertical direction in consideration of its installation space. A mounting structure of the related electrical junction box is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-140956, which is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, an electrical junction box 100 includes an electrical junction box main body 101 and a housing case 102 which houses the electrical junction box main body 101 therein. The housing case 102 consists of an under case member 103 and an upper case member 104. In the electrical junction box main body 101 and the under case member 103, pairs of left and right L-shaped locking pieces 101a and 103a are provided, respectively, at the same positions so as to face opposite directions. On insides of left and right side walls of the upper case member 104, a pair of left and right slide locking parts 104a and 104a are provided, which are locked to the both locking pieces 101a and 103a. At an upper end of the under case member 103, a bolt attachment part 103b is protrudingly provided. At an upper end of the upper case member 104, a cover part 104b is protrudingly provided, which covers the bolt attachment part 103b.
In the above configuration, an assembled body of the electrical junction box main body 101 and the under case member 103 is inserted into a mounting space inside a vehicle body up to a mounting position and is fixed with a bolt to a mounting panel on the vehicle body side by using the bolt attachment part 103b of the under case member 103. Next, the upper case member 104 is slidingly inserted from above with respect to the assembled body of the electrical junction box main body 101 and the under case member 103 while locking the pair of slide locking parts 104a and 104a of the upper case member 104 to the respective locking pieces 101a and 103a of the electrical junction box main body 101 and the under case member 103. Thus, the upper case member 104 is attached to the under case member 103 to complete mounting.
As a matter of course, the mounting structure of the electrical junction box is required to have the electrical junction box mounted so as not to drop downward and the like due to vibration and the like. Moreover, in the vertically mounted electrical junction box, mating faces of the both case members are positioned on an upper surface thereof and a weight of the upper case member does not act on the under case member unlike a horizontally mounted one. Thus, the mating faces of the under case member and the upper case member are easily loosened in an opening direction by vibration and the like. The loosening of the mating faces allows intrusion of water. Accordingly, the mounting structure is required to prevent loosening of the mating faces of the under case member and the upper case member in the opening direction.
In the electrical junction box 100 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-140956, the pairs of left and right locking pieces 101a and 103a of the electrical junction box main body 101 and the under case member 103 are locked to the pair of left and right slide locking parts 104a of the upper case member 104. Thus, the mating faces between the both case members 103 and 104 are never loosened in the opening direction. As a result, a structure having an excellent waterproof property is achieved.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 10 (1998)-243520 and Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. Sho 64 (1988)-54716 disclose a structure in which an electrical junction box is mounted on a vehicle body by use of a locking structure with a bracket and by bolting.
However, in the mounting structure of the related electrical junction box 100 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-140956, a bolting operation is required for the assembled body of the electrical junction box main body 101 and the under case member 103 set in the mounting position. As described above, the installation space of the electrical junction box 100 is small in many cases. Thus, there is a problem of poor mounting workability.
Moreover, also in the mounting structure of the electrical junction box disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 10 (1998)-243520 and Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. Sho 64 (1988)-54716, a bolting operation is required for case members and the like set in a mounting position. Thus, there is the same problem as that described above.

Mounting structure of electrical junction box


A method for fabricating a wafer-level light emitting diode structure is provided. The method includes: providing a substrate, wherein a first semiconductor layer, a light emitting layer, and a second semiconductor layer are sequentially disposed on the substrate; subjecting the first semiconductor layer, the light emitting layer, and the second semiconductor layer with a patterning process to form a first depressed portion, a second depressed portion, a stacked structure disposed on the second depressed portion and a remained first semiconductor layer disposed on the depressed portion, wherein the stacked structure comprises a patterned second semiconductor layer, a patterned emitting layer, and a patterned first semiconductor layer; forming a first electrode on the remained first semiconductor layer of the first depressed portion; and forming a second electrode correspondingly disposed on the patterned second semiconductor layer of the second depressed portion.

Conventional process for fabricating a thin film light emitting diode (TF-LED) roughly contains two phases. The first phase is to grow epi layers on a growth substrate and thus forming the epi wafer. The growth substrate can either be made of sapphire or silicon carbide. The number of epi layer can be designed according to the need. The second phase is to bond the epi wafer to a support substrate (such as a sub-mount or a packaging substrate), to remove the growth substrate, and to perform further semiconductor processes such as etching, photolithographing, development and phosphor coating. During the fabricating process of TF-LED, it's difficult to measure the photoelectric properties, such as the characteristics of current-voltage or spectrum of the epi wafer. Accordingly, said photoelectric properties of TF-LED are inspected and measured after the completion of two-phase process of TF-LED.
In the above process, particularly in the second phase of making a TF-LED, the semiconductor process is performed onto the entire epi-layer bonded with the support substrate. The photoelectric properties interim are hardly to be inspected, leading to a poor yield rate of TF-LED to 50% or even worse. More specifically, only 50% or fewer chips, though bonded with the support substrate, could meet the predetermined photoelectric properties. This means that all the chips, whether they meet the pre-determined photoelectric properties or not, have to undertake the subsequent fabrication process. For the chips that fail to meet the required photoelectric properties, the bonding with the support substrate appears to be unnecessary and a waste. Noted that LEDs to meet the required bins standard is often the challenge to most of the manufacturers when competing among one another. Therefore, promoting the yield rate of LEDs and cost-down is always the important issue to each LED maker.

Wafer-level light emitting diode structure, light emitting diode chip, and method for forming the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Colorimetric data of a tone patch of a specific color is transmitted from a specific-color-data extracting unit to a hue characteristic calculator, to obtain a hue characteristic of the colorimetric data. A replacement data generator generates replacement data by performing hue correction for reflecting the hue characteristic with respect to second gamut data corresponding to the specific color. A specific-color-data replacing unit replaces the second gamut data corresponding to the specific color with the replacement data, and color target data after such a replacement process is gamut compressed from the second gamut to third gamut by a gamut compressing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for creating a color profile (color conversion profile) used for converting a color signal having a certain color reproduction area (gamut) to a color signal for a color-image output device having a more restricted gamut.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, when image data displayed on an sRGB-compliant color-image display apparatus is output by the color-image output device such as a color printer in which the gamut is more restricted than that of the color-image display apparatus, conversion from an RGB signal (input color signal) to a color signal (output color signal) such as a CMYK signal appropriate for the color-image output device is required.
The color profile used for the conversion is created, in many cases, as a three-dimensional or four-dimensional look-up table in which an sRGB space is divided into cubes of the same type, and an output color signal value is stored at an address of each lattice point (determined by an RGB value).
When such a color profile is to be created, for example, a following procedure is used. That is, after the RGB value at each lattice point in the sRGB space is converted to color data in a perceptual space such as CIELAB or CIECAM02, which is a device-independent color space, and then gamut conversion to the gamut of the color-image output device is performed, to convert the gamut-compressed color data to an output color signal value for the color-image output device, and a look-up table is created in which the output color signal value is stored at an address corresponding to the lattice point.
As well known, sRGB is an international standard of the color space planned by the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC), the CIELAB is an international standard of a uniform color space determined by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) and also specified by the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS), and the CIECAM02 (Color Appearance Model 2002) is a color appearance model issued by the CIE in 2004.
FIGS. 14A and 14B are schematic diagrams for explaining gamut compression in the CIELAB space. In FIG. 14A, the gamut outermost periphery in a certain hue (that is, the outermost periphery of the sRGB space in the hue) of the sRGB-compliant color-image display apparatus is expressed by a solid line, and the gamut outermost periphery in a certain hue of the color image output device is expressed by a broken line. Gamut compression is processing such that it is determined whether an L*a*b* value corresponding to each lattice point in the sRGB space is inside or outside of the gamut of the color image output device, and when the value is outside the gamut, the L*a*b* value is mapped to an L*a*b* value on the gamut outermost periphery (that is, compressed), and when the value is inside the gamut, the L*a*b* value is mapped to the same L*a*b* value (that is, not compressed). Various methods are known, as shown in FIG. 14B, according to how to decide a mapping destination of the L*a*b* value outside the gamut, that is, a method of compressing the L*a*b* value so that a color difference before and after the compression becomes minimum, a method of compressing the L*a*b* value so that luminance before the compression is stored, a method of compressing the L*a*b* value so that chroma before the compression is stored, and a method referred to as perceptual mapping in which the chroma in the gamut of the color-image display apparatus is relatively replaced by the gamut of the color-image output device (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-252785). FIGS. 14A and 14B depict an example in which a point s on the gamut outermost periphery of the color-image display apparatus is mapped to a point t having the smallest color difference (the smallest distance) on the gamut outermost periphery of the color-image output device.
When the size and the shape of the gamut of the color-image display apparatus and the gamut of the color-image output device are largely different, the degree of freedom in selection of the color on the gamut outermost periphery (for example, the point t) to be associated with the color outside the gamut (for example, the point s) of the color-image output device is large. This means that there is a large difference in correspondence of color data before and after gamut compression depending on a difference of capability of people involved in creation of the color profile, and on differences of the size and the shape of the gamut of the color-image output device. Because suitability of gamut compression directly affects the color reproduction performance of the color profile, it is desired to take measures to restrict such differences.
An effective prior technique to solve the above problem has been disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-252785, which is a patent application by the present applicant. In the color map creating apparatus shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-252785, two-stage gamut compression including an intervening virtual gamut is used. An outline of the two-stage gamut compression including the intervening virtual gamut is explained with reference to FIG. 15.
As shown in FIG. 15, for example, when gamut compression from the gamut of the sRGB-compliant color-image display apparatus (first gamut=sRGB space) to the gamut of the color-image output device (third gamut) is to be performed, a virtual gamut (second gamut) narrower than the first gamut and wider than the third gamut is set. Two-stage gamut compression is then performed such that an L*a*b* value at each lattice point obtained by performing cube division of the sRGB space is prepared as a representative color of the first gamut, these L*a*b* values are gamut compressed to the second gamut, and the L*a*b* values are then gamut compressed to the third gamut. FIG. 15 is an example of mapping of the point s on the first gamut outermost periphery to a point v on the second gamut outermost periphery, and mapping of the point v to the point t on the third gamut outermost periphery. Thus, by including the intervening virtual second gamut, the degree of freedom in conversion from the first gamut to the third gamut (the degree of freedom in correspondence from the point s to the point t) can be restricted.
For example, in the case of the color-image output device using cyan (C) color material, magenta (M) color material, yellow (Y) color material, and black (K) color material, there are demands for reproduction of a specific color, for example, to reproduce primary colors such as cyan and magenta only by one color material, to reproduce secondary colors such as red and blue only by two color materials, and the like.

Color profile creating apparatus and color profile creation method


A fetch section of a processor comprises an instruction cache and a pipeline of several stages for obtaining instructions. Instructions may cross cache line boundaries. The pipeline stages process two addresses to recover a complete boundary crossing instruction. During such processing, if the second piece of the instruction is not in the cache, the fetch with regard to the first line is invalidated and recycled. On this first pass, processing of the address for the second part of the instruction is treated as a pre-fetch request to load instruction data to the cache from higher level memory, without passing any of that data to the later stages of the processor. When the first line address passes through the fetch stages again, the second line address follows in the normal order, and both pieces of the instruction are can be fetched from the cache and combined in the normal manner.

Modern microprocessors and other programmable processor circuits utilize a hierarchy of memories to store and supply instructions. A common hierarchy includes an instruction cache or L1 cache that is relatively close to the core of the processor, for example, on the processor chip. Instructions are loaded to the L1 instruction cache from a somewhat more remote or L2 cache, which stores both instructions and data. One or both caches are loaded with instructions from main memory, and the main memory may be loaded from more remote sources, such as disk drives of the device that incorporates the processor. The cache memories enhance performance. Because of its proximity to the processor core, for example, fetching of instructions from the L1 cache is relatively fast.
In many implementations, a line of the instruction cache holds a number of instructions. If the number of bits per instruction is fixed for all instructions, a cache line can be sized to hold an integer number of such instructions. For example, if each instruction is 32 bits, a 256-bit cache line will hold eight such instructions, and the boundaries of the first and last instructions stored in the line match or align with the boundaries of the cache line. However, if the processor handles instructions of different lengths, e.g. 32-bit instructions and 16-bit instructions, then the instructions in a given cache line may not align with the boundaries of that line. If the processor architecture mandates that an instruction may not overlap two cache lines, then there will be some wastage. However, many architectures do not impose such a cache restriction. In the later cases, problems occur in reading an instruction that has part stored in one line and the rest stored in another line, e.g. a 32-bit instruction having 16 bits at the end of one line of the cache and the other 16 bits stored at the beginning of the next cache line.
Modern programmable processor circuits often rely on a pipeline processing architecture, to improve execution speed. A pipelined processor includes multiple processing stages for sequentially processing each instruction as it moves through the pipeline. Of course while one stage is processing an instruction, other stages along the pipeline are concurrently processing other instructions. Each stage of a pipeline performs a different function necessary in the overall processing of each program instruction. Although the order and/or functions may vary slightly, a typical simple pipeline includes an instruction Fetch stage, an instruction Decode stage, a memory access or Readout stage, an instruction Execute stage and a result Write-back stage. More advanced processor designs break some or all of these stages down into several separate stages for performing sub-portions of these functions. Super scalar designs break the functions down further and/or provide duplicate functions, to perform operations in parallel pipelines of similar depth.
The Fetch stage is the portion of the pipeline processor that obtains the instructions from the hierarchical memory system. In many pipeline designs, the Fetch operation is broken down into two or more stages. Of these stages, one stage collects the instructions when fetched from the L1 cache and communicates with the higher level memories to obtain instruction data not found in the L1 cache.
A problem can occur in such a fetch operation where the boundaries of the instructions cross the cache line boundaries, and part of a desired instruction is not yet present in the L1 cache. For example, if the stage that collects the instructions fetched from the L1 cache receives a first part of the instruction, it will not communicate with the higher level memories because the instruction was found in the L1 cache. Similarly, if that stage has already obtained the line containing the first piece from the higher level memory, it will not initiate a second request for the line containing the other piece of the instruction. Instead, it waits to receive the rest of the instruction from processing of the next cache line by the preceding stage. However, if the preceding stage detects that the rest of the desired instruction is not in the appropriate line of the L1 cache (a miss), it can not provide the remaining part of the instruction, and it does not have the capability to access the higher level memories to obtain the missing piece of the instruction. Normally, in the case of a miss, this stage would drop the address down to the next stage to request the data from higher level memory, but that next stage is waiting for the second piece of a split instruction to come from the preceding stage. In some extreme cases, the Fetch processing may lock up for some period waiting for a portion of the instruction that neither stage can request.
It might be possible to allow more than one stage in the fetch section of the pipeline to request instructions from the other memory resources, to avoid the above-identified problem. Such a solution, however, adds complexity, in construction of the fetch stages, in the interconnection of the fetch stages to other memory resources and in the management of flow of instructions to and through the fetch stages. For a high performance processor design, it is desirable to make requests to higher level memory resources from as few places as possible, e.g. because each such request delays other processing while waiting for return of requested data. Hence, there is still further room for improvement in fetching instructions, where instructions may cross cache line boundaries.

Handling cache miss in an instruction crossing a cache line boundary


Disclosed is the structure of a center pin assembly inserted into the winding center of a winding-type electrode assembly of an electrochemical device, which has a case containing the winding-type electrode assembly. The center pin assembly can secure the safety of an electrochemical device when physical impact (e.g. squeezing, shock) is applied from the outside, when the internal temperature rises, and/or when the device is overcharged. The center pin assembly includes a center pin manufactured by winding a planar substrate into a tubular shape, the planar substrate having at least two protrusions formed in an embossing type or at least two discontinuous scores formed in a predetermined shape; and a container placed in a space inside the center pin, the container containing a substance capable of improving the safety of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the structure of a center pin assembly inserted into the winding center of a winding-type electrode assembly of an electrochemical device, which has a case containing the winding-type electrode assembly, and more particularly to a center pin assembly adapted to secure the safety of an electrochemical device when physical impact (e.g. squeezing, shock) is applied from the outside, when the internal temperature rises, and/or when the device is overcharged.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally known in the art, lithium secondary batteries with high energy density have been extensively developed in line with the recent trend towards compact and light electronic equipment, as well as the widespread use of portable electronic devices.
Lithium secondary batteries use substances that are adapted to intercalate and deintercalate lithium ions as their cathode and anode, respectively, and an organic electrolyte or a polymer electrolyte fills the space between the cathode and anode. The Lithium secondary batteries create electric energy based on the oxidation and reduction reactions occurring when lithium ions are intercalated to and deintercalted from the cathode and anode, respectively.
However, lithium secondary batteries have a safety problem, and various efforts have been made to solve it.
If a lithium secondary battery is overcharged, an excessive amount of lithium is deintercalated from the cathode and is intercalated to the anode. As a result, lithium metal with very high reactivity precipitates on the anode surface. The cathode also becomes thermally unstable. The organic solvent used as the electrolyte undergoes a decomposition reaction, and the resulting abrupt exothermic reaction causes the battery to catch fire or explode.
In addition, lithium secondary batteries using a flammable non-aqueous electrolyte generally explode or catch fire due to a flammable gas resulting from the decomposition reaction of the electrolyte when the internal temperature of the batteries rises, due to a flammable gas resulting from the reaction between the electrolyte and the electrodes, or due to oxygen created as a result of decomposition of the cathode.
Furthermore, if a battery is crushed by a heavy object, if strong impact acts on the battery, or if the battery is exposed to a high temperature, the safety problem occurs. Particularly, the cathode and anode inside the battery are locally short-circuited if a nail penetrates the battery, if the battery is squeezed, if impact is applied to the battery, or if the battery is exposed to a high temperature. As a result, an excessive amount of current locally flows and generates heat. The amount of short-circuit current resulting from the local short circuit is inversely proportional to the resistance, and a larger amount of short-circuit current flows toward portions with low resistance. In this case, a very large amount of heat is locally generated around the short-circuited portion.
If heat is generated inside a battery, the cathode, anode, and electrolyte, which constitute the interior of the battery, react with one another or burn. This reaction is highly exothermic, and the battery finally catches fire or explodes. Therefore, such abrupt heat generation inside the battery must be avoided.
In an attempt to improve the safety in the case of overcharging, an additive is added to the non-aqueous electrolyte. However, the safety cannot be secured simply by adding an additive to the non-aqueous electrolyte when a nail penetrates the battery, when the battery is squeezed, when an impact acts on the battery, or when the battery is exposed to a high temperature, as mentioned above.

Electrochemical cell exhibiting enhanced safety features


To provide a method for detecting a protein by immobilizing a protein on a protein array substrate at a high density with controlled orientation, irradiating the immobilized protein with ultraviolet light, visible light, or infrared light, and measuring the light not absorbed by the protein and further analyzing an interaction between the protein on the substrate and another protein and/or a compound other than proteins, a system used for the method, and to provide a protein array suitable for the system. A system including a protein array in which a protein is immobilized in aligned position on a light-transmissive substrate at a high density, a light-irradiating means, and a light-detecting means and being for detecting or analyzing a protein on the protein array and/or a compound which is other than proteins and interacts with the immobilized protein, wherein the protein array is irradiated with light by the light-irradiating means, and the light transmitted through the protein array is measured by the light-detecting means for detecting the light absorption of the protein on the protein array and/or the compound which is other than proteins and interacts with the immobilized protein.

A protein array (protein chip) is a technology providing new possibilities as a means for investigating functions of unknown proteins encoded by genes or analyzing complicated interactions among a large number of proteins at once. The protein array is provided by aligning a protein or a peptide on a substrate, and various protein arrays have been reported (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). In protein array technology, a protein is immobilized on an appropriate substrate, the immobilized protein is brought into interaction with another protein or the like, and the interacting spots on the array are detected.
The detection of spots on an array is carried out by using a compound labeled with a fluorescent dye or the like and capable of interacting with the immobilized protein and measuring the fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye on the array. This method, however, requires preparing a label preparation and has the problem that the activity of a protein may be decreased by labeling of the protein. In addition, equipment for measuring an array using a fluorescence-measuring device or the like is not widely used. Further, the interaction between proteins cannot be analyzed in real time.
In order to solve these problems, a detection process by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging has been developed (see Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). In this process, a protein immobilized on a protein array is detected by irradiating the array with a polarized beam to give an SPR image of the reflected light and analyzing the reflection light intensity of the SPR image. This process has advantages that a label is not required and that the detection can be performed in real time. However, the interaction between an immobilized protein and a low-molecular substance cannot be analyzed even if the SPR imaging process is employed, and also this process has the problem that the dynamic range is narrow. In addition, there are problems that equipment used for SPR imaging is extremely expensive and that construction of a detection system is not easy.
Further, though a detection process using a protein array having a crystal oscillator integrated thereinto has been reported (see Non-Patent Document 3), this process has the same problems as in the above-described SPR imaging process.
In addition, though a detection process utilizing microscopic Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (micro FT-IR) has been reported (see Patent Document 3), the measurement apparatus is expensive, and the process is not necessarily suitable for quantitative determination.
[Patent Document 1] JP Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 2002-520618A
[Patent Document 2] JP Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 2002-502038A
[Patent Document 3] JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-45390A
[Non-Patent Document 1] Nelson, B. P., et al., Anal. Chem., 71(18), 3928-3934 (1999)
[Non-Patent Document 2] Brockman, J. M., et al., Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem., 51, 41-63 (2000)
[Non-Patent Document 3] Y. Okahata, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 8299-8300 (1992)

Detection and analysis system for protein array

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A method and a device are described for acquiring driving data of a vehicle. Moreover, a computer program and a computer program product are put forward for carrying out the method. In the method described, a three-dimensional, kinematic vehicle model is calculated, including linear-motion-dynamics signals and lateral-motion-dynamics signals. This model can be utilized for reconstructing the vehicle movement.

Methods and devices of the type indicated are frequently used to permit reconstruction of the events prior to an accident. The devices, also known as crash recorders (CR), are used as well to recognize accidents and to report accident information automatically to suitable central locations via radio communication network for the purpose of dealing with the accident more quickly.
German Published Patent Application No. 29 29 168 describes a method for acquiring, storing and evaluating driving data of vehicles. Using it, the intention is to reconstruct the speed conditions prior to an accident with great accuracy, without a sharp increase in outlay for storage. This is achieved by continually entering the acquired measured values into an erasable memory.
German Published Patent Application No. 41 32 981 describes a method for reconstructing the movement trajectory of a road vehicle. In this method, the movement of the vehicle prior to an accident event is described as a two-dimensional movement on the roadway surface. It starts from the assumption that during the braking process, the vehicle is moving in a straight line approximately in the direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis. In this case, longitudinal and transverse dynamic values are taken into account.
In the method described, at least two sensors for analog signals, as well as a measured-value acquisition device and a data memory are used. One of the analog signals carries information regarding the speed of the vehicle or its components in the vehicle longitudinal direction. With the assistance of a correlative measuring method, it and the movement of the vehicle are ascertained using a stationary evaluation unit, e.g. a digital computer, by resolution of a differential equation system. In this case, the method permits the detection of slippage-independent traveling speeds.
A disadvantage in the described method is that a new sensor system must be installed extra, and therefore the costs are very high.
In addition, an important disadvantage in known methods is that the vehicle movement is described in modulated fashion as a mass point, not completely as a three-dimensional object in its kinematics, namely translation and rotation.

Method and device for analying collision driving data


A method for information transfer allowing for native transfer of voice, data, and any other digital service information over a passive optical network, comprising; the LT transmitting downstream in serially ordered frames broadcast to all of the NT's at a fixed interval; the NT's transmitting upstream in serially ordered frames, said frames being divided into serially ordered time slots, at most one NT transmitting information for at most one service type in each slot; the LT and the NT's exchanging management information, and the LT and the NT's natively transporting service information to each other in both the upstream and downstream directions, according to said management information exchanged between the LT and the NT's.

A high-speed access system provides an efficient way for a relatively large number of small-scale users to share a high-speed network. It concentrates several service traffic streams to a single point of entry to a high-speed backbone so as to share the broadband service economically. A PON, or passive optical network, is one such system. PON's have gained in popularity because of their capability to supply a high bandwidth at low cost, due to the fact that the splits between lines are of a purely optical and passive nature. PON's have the potential to supply a full range of all currently known and new services being offered and considered for residential and business customers, over a single line. The most common services today are voice and data, where data is transported using IP or ATM protocols.
The use of a PON requires an efficient multiplexing function to manage the mixed upstream service traffic from the multiple users, or NT's, at the connection point to the network, or the LT. Such a protocol is necessary to prevent collisions between the many information transport streams competing for access to the backbone networks through the single LT.
Related art provides for a method of service transport over a PON, using ATM protocols for transfer of all service types. This is called APON. U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,374 and the International Telecommunications Union standard G.983 relate to APON protocols.
This art is a rather cumbersome way to provide service transport over a PON, as all information being transported must be wrapped in ATM cells at one end, and unwrapped at the other. This wrapping and unwrapping requires a significant amount of work, as well as adding significant overhead because of the addition of ATM headers, which is a drain on bandwidth resources. Furthermore, because of the nature of certain synchronous services, such as voice calls, much of this ATM conversion must be done in real-time, requiring the installation of DSP's at all of the network terminations. Such extensive deployment of DSP's raises costs for service providers. A further disadvantage of the prior art is that the need to convert everything to ATM cells increases the potential for jitter.
Alternatively, according to the prior art many businesses rely on separate suppliers for each of their service needs, most notably voice and data, in order to provide native transport of both. This leads to a situation in which such enterprises are dependent on two or more separate technologies provided by two or more separate suppliers, lowering efficiency and raising costs to the business.
It would be desirable to supply all existing and future services over a single line, using native service transport.

Protocol for native service transport over point-to-multipoint passive optical networks