The present invention relates to a nectarine tree, Prunus persica, and more particularly to a new and distinct variety broadly characterized by a large size, vigorous, self-fertile, productive and reqular bearing tree. The fruit matures under the ecological conditions described approximately the last week in June, with first picking on Jun. 24, 1997. The fruit is uniformly large in size, subacidic in flavor, globose in shape, freestone in type, very firm in texture, and nearly full red in skin color. The variety was a first generation cross using `Spring Bright` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,507) yellow flesh nectarine as the selected seed parent and an unnamed white flesh nectarine seedling as the selected pollen parent.

In a continuing effort to improve the quality of fresh market and shipping fruits, we, the inventors, typically hybridize a large number of nectarine and peach seedlings each year. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as `Kay Pearl`. The present variety was developed by us in 1992 in a cultivated area of our experimental orchard at Bradford Farms near Le Grand, Calif. in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). It was a first generation cross using `Spring Bright` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,507) yellow flesh nectarine as the seed parent and an unnamed white flesh nectarine seedling as the selected pollen parent. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, we asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects. The reproduction of the variety included the use of Nemaguard Rootstock, the standard of the industry in central California, upon which the present variety was compatible and true to type.
The fruit produced by the present variety is most similar to the `Ruby Pearl` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,959), by producing white flesh nectarines that mature in late June, that are subacidic in flavor, and that are full red in skin color, but is distinguished therefrom and an improvement thereon by requiring less chilling, by blooming earlier, by having a large blossom instead of small, by having globose glands instead of reniform, and by producing fruit that is larger in size and freestone instead of clingstone.
The present variety is similar to its seed parent, `Spring Bright` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,507) by producing very firm, full red nectarines that ripen the last week in June, but is very distingished therefrom by producing fruit that is white flesh instead of yellow flesh, that is freestone instead of clingstone, and that is subacidic in flavor instead of acidic.


A semiconductor memory device and method of fabricating a semiconductor memory device, wherein a tunnel insulating layer, a first charge trap layer and an isolation mask layer are sequentially stacked over a semiconductor substrate in which a cell region and a peri region are defined. The isolation mask layer, the first charge trap layer, the tunnel insulating layer and the semiconductor substrate are etched to thereby form trenches. An isolation layer is formed within each trench. The first charge trap layer is exposed by removing the isolation mask layer formed in the cell region. A second charge trap layer is formed on the exposed first charge trap layer and the isolation layer. A blocking layer and a control gate are formed over the semiconductor substrate in which the second charge trap layer is formed.

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a semiconductor memory device and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating a semiconductor memory device, which can prevent electron migration within a charge trap layer.
A semiconductor memory device can be largely classified into a volatile memory device, which retains its data only when voltage is applied thereto, but loses its data when the application of voltage thereto is stopped, and a non-volatile memory device that retains its data even when the application of voltage is stopped. Of them, a non-volatile memory device has been in the spotlight because it retains its data even after the application of power is stopped. Active research has now been made on the non-volatile memory device.
A flash memory device is a representative one of the non-volatile memory devices. Recently, the size of the flash memory device becomes very small and the capacity thereof has greatly increased.
The flash memory device is described below in more detail.
A general flash memory device has a structure in which a tunnel insulating layer along which electrons are moved, a floating gate for storing data therein, a dielectric layer for preventing the leakage of charges, and a control gate for transferring voltage are sequentially stacked over a semiconductor substrate.
Meanwhile, a flash memory device that has recently been developed has a structure in which a tunnel insulating layer along which electrons are moved, a charge trap layer which traps charges and is formed from insulating material, a blocking layer for preventing trapped charges from leaking to a control gate, and the control gate for transferring voltage are sequentially stacked.
A conventional flash memory device, including the charge trap layer, is fabricated by first forming a low voltage NMOS transistor (LVN) and a high voltage NMOS transistor (HVN), which are used in a peri circuit, and then forming a memory cell to be used as a storage medium. However, in this memory cell formed according to the above sequence, charge trap layers used as trap layers of electrons are not isolated in the direction of a string in view of the manufacturing process. This is because electrons are trapped in the charge trap layer only when voltage is applied from the control gate and the trapped electrons are rarely moved unless external voltage is applied, in terms of the charge trap layer.
However, if a program operation is performed on a selected memory cell, electrons trapped in a memory cell adjacent to the selected memory cell can be moved through the charge trap layer due to a high program voltage.
In particular, the electron trap rate of the charge trap layer does not exceed about 70% when compared with the floating gate. Accordingly, the threshold voltage may be changed due to a trap characteristic that is short of about 30%.
Due to this trap characteristic of the charge trap layer, at the time of a program operation, electrons of an unselected memory cell move to a neighboring isolation layer or in the direction of a selected memory cell, which may change the threshold voltage. It may degrade a retention characteristic, that is, a charge retention capability. Consequently, the threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell is lowered as much as the amount of electrons that have exited, so that program efficiency can be lowered.

Method of fabricating semiconductor memory device


A compressor having a housing and mutually engaged stationary and orbiting scrolls. A crankcase is disposed between a motor and the orbiting scroll. A shaft is operably connected with the orbiting scroll and extends through the crankcase and the motor. The end of the shaft extending from the motor is rotatably supported by a bearing mounted in a bearing support. A counterweight is rotationally coupled with the shaft proximate the bearing support. An oil sump is disposed within the housing and an oil shield is fixed to the bearing support. The oil shield has a cylindrical portion with an open end which encircles the counterweight and may include a plurality of flexible members having inwardly bent portions which engage a groove on the bearing support.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compressors and, more particularly, compressors having a rotatable counterweight with a shield surrounding the counterweight.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional compressor designs often include a rotating shaft which is eccentrically loaded, such as a shaft coupled to the orbiting scroll in a scroll compressor. Such eccentrically loaded shafts typically include counterweights which may be mounted directly to the shaft or located on the rotor of a motor which is coupled to the shaft. Although shielding for such counterweights is known, an improved shielding assembly for such counterweights is desirable.


An overhead transport apparatus includes a guide rail unit having a main rail having a pair of rail members, and a branch rail branching off the main rail; an auxiliary guide rail provided along the branch rail at an upper part of a branching region in which the branch rail branches off the main rail; a transport vehicle having a vehicle body, a pair of wheels attached to the vehicle body and moving along the guide rail unit, and a driving motor mounted on the vehicle body and driving the wheels; a roller provided in the transport vehicle, and ascending in order to move the transport vehicle toward the branch rail with the auxiliary guide rail, or descending in order to move the transport vehicle toward the main rail; and a control part controlling the ascending/descending movement of the roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an overhead transport apparatus, more particularly, to an overhead transport apparatus installed on a ceiling of a building to transport articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an overhead transport apparatus includes a guide rail unit installed on a ceiling of a building such as a hospital or a semiconductor factory, and a transport vehicle adapted to hold an article, such as a semiconductor and to move along a guide rail.
The guide rail unit of the transport apparatus generally includes a main rail and a branch rail branching off the main rail.
A conventional overhead transport apparatus including a guide rail unit, and a moving body supported and guided by the guide rail unit and moving on the guide rail unit, is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2001-56773.
The guide rail unit includes a pair of rail members. Each rail member is formed with an upward wheel supporting plane and an inward roller guide plane. The guide rail unit includes a linear rail part and a branch rail part branching off the linear rail part. A linear guide member and a branch guide member are installed in a joint part of the linear rail part and the branch rail part.
The moving body is provided with a wheel supported and guided by the wheel supporting plane, a side guide roller guided by the roller guide plane, and a direction regulating roller guided by a transverse guide part of the branch guide member to regulate a direction of the moving body.
The direction regulating roller moves freely between a position corresponding to the linear guide member and a position corresponding to the branch guide member by a moving means to move the direction regulating roller right and left.
The moving means includes a supporter connected to the direction regulating roller, a guide load guiding the supporter, a cam roller having a spiral groove engaged with a cam moving part provided in the supporter, and a driving part (driving motor) to drive the cam roller.
Thus, the direction regulating roller provided in the conventional transport equipment moves right and left by the moving means and is selectively guided to the linear guide member or the branch guide member, to thereby move the moving body toward the linear rail part or the branch rail part.
However, according to the conventional transport equipment, the linear guide member and the branch guide member are respectively provided along the linear rail part and the branch rail part in the joint part of the linear route and the branch rail, thereby making the structure more complex. Also, the configuration of the moving means to move the direction regulating roller right and left so that the direction regulating roller can be guided to the linear guide member or to the branch guide member is complex. Accordingly, there are problems in that failures and repair costs are increased, as well as there being increased manufacturing costs.


A pneumatic tire is provided with sipes, at least some of which have an open top end to the surface of the tread block. An intersection of the sipe with a surface that is geometrically congruent and parallel with the surface of the tread block and arranged a depth apart from the surface of the tread block into the tread block forms a curved line. A first sipe is shaped in such a way, that at all depths (d) within a range from the open top of the first sipe to a first transition depth, the curved line includes at least one deflection point having an inner corner that has a radius of curvature under 0.3 mm. A lamella plate for manufacturing the pneumatic tire, the tread band, or the tread block. Use of the lamella plate for manufacturing a tread block, a tread band, or a pneumatic tire.

A tread of a known pneumatic tyre is indicated in FIG. 1. A pneumatic tire is known to include a tread band having a tread which has circumferential and transversal grooves 1 on its outer surface, said grooves defining a number of protruding parts, such as ribs, shoulders and tread blocks. The tread is meant for a rolling contact against a ground surface, such as road. The grooves 1 are meant for draining water and/or slush that is possibly located on the ground surface away from the tread, so that the contact between the tread and the ground surface is as good and consistent as possible. Certain types of tires such as winter tires are provided in the tread with a number of sipes 11 at various angles with respect to a motion direction of the tire. The sipes 11 not only serve a better tire-ground contact in the rain, but also improve traction, braking and lateral stability on snow by trapping snow as well as providing more gripping edges. The sipes also make the rubber material to deform more easily, in effect making the tire appear softer. This also improves friction.
An example of a sipe 11 in use today is shown in FIG. 1, wherein the top view of the sipe 11 shows a waved line which swings back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the sipe one or more cycles, with two or more bent points 12. In between two sipes 11, lamellas 13 are arranged. Lamella plates 33 used in the manufacturing process of a pneumatic tire for making said kinds of sipes 11 are, for example, shown in FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b. The manufacturing process of said lamella plates 33 is by bending a flat plate into a desired shape with bent points 32.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pneumatic tire, a tread band, and a tread block comprising a sipe, and a lamella plate for the manufacture thereof


The present invention provides an injection molding nozzle having a nozzle tip. The nozzle tip includes a body portion and a tip portion that extends from a forward end of the body portion. The tip and/or body portions may include at least one planar surface area on an outer surface thereof. The tip and/or body portions may also be provided with a convex and/or concave outer surface area. The geometry of the nozzle tip is such that it maximizes an outer surface area in order to increase the nozzle tip's heat conductance.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to injection molding and more particularly to a nozzle tip seated in the front end of an injection molding nozzle to provide molten plastic to a mold gate.
2. Related Art
Hot runner nozzle tips may include single or multiple outlet channels for feeding molten resin to a mold cavity in an injection molding system. The hot runner nozzle tips are generally spaced from an injection gate leading to the mold cavity. The spacing is necessary to avoid direct contact between the cooled mold cavity by the heated nozzle tip in order to prevent the nozzle tip from rapidly cooling. Rapid cooling of the nozzle would cause the resin to freeze up and render the nozzle inoperable. In addition, if the nozzle tip is heated from a cold condition to its operating temperature, generally 350°-450° F. space must be provided for thermal expansion, which results in the nozzle and the nozzle tip growing in length.
Conventional hot tip designs usually provide a bubble or resin space surrounding the tip that fills with resin. This resin layer is considered beneficial in that the resin in the bubble has poor thermal conductivity compared to steel and effectively insulates the hot tip from the cooled mold cavity. The amount of resin resulting in the resin layer depends on various factors such as the temperature of the tip, the temperature of the cavity, and the type of plastic resins being processed. However, the presence of resin within the bubble around the nozzle tip results in high pressure drops between the tip area and the mold cavity.
Further, the bubble can result in "hang up" areas around the nozzle tip where resin stays that can narrow the flow path of the melt around the nozzle tip and that can make color or material changing of the resin problematic. Due to these undesirable results, it often becomes necessary to purge the nozzle tip of such resin between drops and/or between material or color changes which can be time consuming and wasteful of the resin. One way in which this is done is to dismantle and clean the nozzle assembly to remove all traces of the previous resin. This can be very time consuming and expensive due to lost production time.
In order to keep melt flowing through a nozzle tip and to effectuate satisfactory color change, one attempted solution is to provide a nozzle tip with an element that induces a spiral flow pattern. Another attempted solution to keep melt flowing through a nozzle tip and to effectuate satisfactory color change is to provide nozzle tips with mixing elements to improve the homogeneity of the resin flowing through the nozzle tips. However, these solutions are not entirely effective in overcoming the foregoing problem and/or promoting rapid color changing.
It is therefore desirable to provide a simple and effective nozzle tip design that does not reduce but improves the melt flow path around a nozzle tip. A nozzle tip according to the present invention achieves this result by incorporating a nozzle tip geometry that increases the surface area of the tip portion to allow for greater heat transfer to the plastic resin in the tip area of the hot runner nozzle. Such a nozzle tip also improves the heat profile, reduces pressure drops, and enhances material flushing at the nozzle tip.


The present invention provides a display device which can suppress the increase of a chip size while reducing the number of transistors of a decoder circuit compared to the prior art. Assuming m (m being an integer of 2 or more) as a lower-order bit in accordance with n-bit display data, a drive part includes a gray-scale voltage generating circuit which generates M pieces of gray-scale voltages where the gray scale number with respect to the gray-scale voltages is discontinuous, a decoder circuit which selects two neighboring gray-scale voltages out of M pieces of gray-scale voltages based on data of upper-order (n-m) bits in accordance with n-bit display data, and an output amplifying circuit which generates gray-scale voltages between two gray-scale voltages from two gray-scale voltages selected by the decoder circuit based on the data of lower-order m bits in accordance with n-bit display data and outputs the gray-scale voltages to the video lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly to a display device capable of performing a multi-gray scale display used in a personal computer, a work station and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
An active matrix type liquid crystal display device which includes an active element (for example, a thin film transistor) for each pixel and performs the switching driving of the active elements has been popularly used as a display device of a notebook type personal computer or the like.
In this active matrix type liquid crystal display device, a video signal voltage (gray-scale voltage corresponding to display data: hereinafter referred to as "gray-scale voltage") is applied to pixel electrodes through the active elements, there is no crosstalk between respective pixels and hence, it is unnecessary to use a particular driving method for preventing the crosstalk different from a simple matrix type liquid crystal display device which requires such a particular driving method whereby it is possible to perform the multi-gray scale display.
As one of the active matrix type liquid crystal display devices, there has been known a TFT type liquid crystal display module which includes a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) type liquid crystal display panel (TFT-LCD), a drain driver which is arranged on an upper side of the liquid crystal display panel, a gate driver which is arranged on a side surface of the liquid crystal display panel, and interface portions (see JP-A-2001-34234 which constitutes a prior art literature relating to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "patent literature").
This TFT type liquid crystal display module includes a gray-scale voltage generating circuit, a decoder circuit which selects one gray-scale voltage corresponding to display data out of a plurality of gray-scale voltages generated by the gray-scale voltage generating circuit, and an output amplifying circuit to which one gray-scale voltage selected by the decoder circuit is inputted.


A hybrid single-phase variable reluctance motor system has a stator (1) having a pair of oppositely disposed salient main poles (4) provided with main windings (12) and at least one pair of oppositely disposed salient auxiliary poles (5, 6) provided with auxiliary windings (13, 14) and disposed intermediate the main poles (4) on the stator (1). Furthermore the motor system has a rotor (2) having a pair of oppositely disposed salient poles (7) without windings. Additionally the motor system includes a control circuit (11) for rotating the rotor (2) during normal running by supplying current pulses to the main stator windings (12) in synchronism with rotation of the rotor (2) and for rotating the rotor (2) on starting by supplying current pulses to both the main and auxiliary stator windings (12, 13, 14) in synchronism with rotation of the rotor (2). By supply of current pulses to the auxiliary stator windings as well as the main stator windings on starting, it is possible to ensure that positive torque can be produced at substantially all rotor positions, thus guaranteeing that the motor system can be started regardless of the position in which the rotor has previously come to rest.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to variable reluctance motor systems.
2. Description of Related Art
A single phase variable reluctance motor system typically comprises a stator having a pair of oppositely disposed salient poles provided with energising windings, a rotor having a pair of oppositely disposed salient poles without windings, and a control circuit for rotating the rotor by supplying current pulses to the stator windings in synchronism with rotation of the rotor. Such a motor system offers the advantage, over a conventional motor system having rotor windings, that commutator brushes, which are wearing parts, are not required for supply of current to the rotor. Furthermore significant advantages over other motor systems are provided by the fact that there are no conductors on the rotor, and high-permanence magnets are not used in the motor construction.
However, although they are simple in construction, conventional single phase variable reluctance motor systems suffer from the fact that they are non-self-starting since it is inherent in their construction that positive torque is available for only 180.degree. at most per 360.degree. cycle, and there are large zones (of about 90.degree.) intermediate the stator poles where positive torque is not available so that, if the rotor has stopped with its poles orientated in these zones, the motor system cannot be re-started without first having to turn the rotor to a position in which torque becomes available. This rules out such single phase variable reluctance motor systems for certain applications and in particular for driving difficult loads such as those which combine direct drive and high friction, for instance.


An article of protective eye wear, specifically, sunglasses which are self-buoyant is disclosed. The self-buoyant sunglasses include an elongated flexible strap having two free ends provided with fasteners joinable together to form a band which encircles the head. The strap has a cutout section in its lower longitudinal edge wall for receiving an eye shield having the shape of a thin cylindrical plate. A flap formed in the upper edge of the strap folds down behind the strap to sandwich the upper margin of the eye shield, which is fastened to the strap and flap, preferably by strips coated on both sides with a pressure sensitive adhesive. In the preferred embodiment, the strap is made buoyant by fabricating it from a low-density polyethylene foam core, the outer surface of which core has adhered thereto by flame, heat and pressure, a nylon spandex cover.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective eye wear for people. More particularly, the invention relates to sunglasses of improved design which are buoyant.
B. Description of Background Art
Sunglasses are being worn by ever increasing numbers of people, who have been made aware of the damages of prolonged exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet rays emanating from the sun.
The increasing demand for sunglasses has resulted in a proliferation of designs for sunglasses. Thus some sunglasses are designed primarily to meet functional objectives; others are more stylish. Sunglasses which depart in structure and appearance from conventional spectacle-type sunglasses are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: Sameth, 2,491,137, Dec. 13, 1949, Eve Protector, in which is disclosed an eye protector or goggle which includes a one-piece plastic lens assembly consisting of two spaced apart lens portions connected by a bridge, forming a nose relief therebelow. Opposite upper corners of the two lens portions are notched to received a fabric attachment band, which is looped around the bridge section. The free ends of the band must be tied in a knot to secure the eye protector to the head of a wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. McBrayer, 3,378,851, Apr. 23, 1968, Soft Frame Adjustable Eyeglasses: Discloses eyeglasses intended to be folded up and packaged in emergency survival kits. The eyeglasses have a soft plastic frame provided with two lens-holding openings, and an elongated upper band having VELCRO fasteners at opposite ends thereof, for securing the band at various circumferences around the head of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. Jean, Jr. , et al., 4,616,367, Oct. 14, 1986, Headband With Detachable Lenses: Discloses a headband having VELCRO fasteners at opposite ends thereof, and means for fastening a pair of lenses to the band which are movable laterally to accommodate an individual's inter-pupillary distance and also angularly to accommodate the individual's forehead angle.
U.S. Pat. No. Daigle, 4,712,254, Dec. 15, 1987, Headband and Eyepiece Combination: Discloses a flexible headband securable around the head of a wearer by VELCRO fasteners at opposite ends of the band. A pocket within the band holds a dual eyepiece assembly, which may be pulled down into an operable position over the eyes of a wearer, and re-inserted into the pocket when not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. Janusz, 4,811,430, Mar. 14, 1989, Eve Shield and Headband Combination: Discloses an endless flexible moisture-absorbent headband having a VELCRO strip on part of its eye shield inner surface. An eye shield consisting of two lens portions joined by a bridge to form a nose relief has a VELCRO strip adhered to the upper margin at its outer surface. The eye shield is storable within a pocket in the headband when not in use, and adherable to the VELCRO strip on the inside of the band when it is desired to have the eye shield extend below the band into an operative position.
U.S. Pat. No. Duggan, 4,852,189, Aug. 1, 1989, Headband Structure: Discloses a headband in the form of an endless loop made of moisture absorbing, expandable or stretchable material such as terrycloth or cheesecloth. A plastic eyeglass assembly having a VELCRO strip adhered to part of its inner perimeter is thus removably fastenable to the headband.
U.S. Pat. No. Could, D 207,187, Mar. 14, 1987, Combination Goggles and Headband: Discloses an ornamental design for goggles having an attached flexible headband.
U.S. Pat. No. Grayson, D 212,201, Sep. 10, 1968, Strap Support for a Pair of Spectacles: Discloses an ornamental design for a strip for spectacles, the design consisting of two straps, each having a loop at one end thereof for fastening to the free end of an eyeglass bow, and a VELCRO fastener at the other end thereof for fastening the two strips together at a desired longitudinal position.
The present invention was conceived of to provide sunglasses having structural and functional characteristics which constitute novel and non-obvious advancements in the art.


Techniques to protect a subscriber identity, by encrypting a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) to form one-time use subscription concealed identifiers (SUCIs) using a set of one-time ephemeral asymmetric keys, generated by a user equipment (UE), and network provided keys are disclosed. Encryption of the SUPI to form the SUCIs can mitigate snooping by rogue network entities, such as fake base stations. The UE is restricted from providing the unencrypted SUPI over an unauthenticated connection to a network entity. In some instances, the UE uses a trusted symmetric fallback encryption key KFB or trusted asymmetric fallback public key PKFB to verify messages from an unauthenticated network entity and/or to encrypt the SUPI to form a fallback SUCIFB for communication of messages with the unauthenticated network entity.

Many wireless devices are configured to use removable Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (UICCs) that enable the wireless devices to access services provided by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). In particular, each UICC includes at least a microprocessor and a read-only memory (ROM), where the ROM is configured to store an MNO profile that the wireless device can use to register and interact with an MNO to obtain wireless services via a cellular wireless network. Typically, a UICC takes the form of a small removable card, (commonly referred to as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card), which is configured to be inserted into a UICC-receiving bay included in a wireless device. In more recent implementations, UICCs are being embedded directly into system boards of wireless devices. These embedded UICCs (eUICCs) can provide several advantages over traditional, removable UICCs. For example, some eUICCs include a rewritable memory that can facilitate installation, modification, and/or deletion of one or more electronic SIMs (eSIMs), which can provide for new and/or different services and/or updates for accessing extended features provided by MNOs. An eUICC can store a number of MNO profiles—also referred to herein as eSIMs—and can eliminate the need to include UICC-receiving bays in wireless devices.
An MNO profile includes a globally unique subscription permanent identifier (SUPI), such as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), by which a user that subscribes to services provided by the MNO can be identified uniquely by cellular wireless networks. The SUPI includes a mobile country code (MCC), a mobile network code (MNC), and a Mobile Subscriber Identification Number (MSIN). Certain messages sent between the cellular wireless network and the wireless device may include the SUPI in a clear, readable, unencrypted format, and as such the SUPI is open to snooping by passive listening or active request and reply capture techniques.

Subscriber identity privacy protection against fake base stations


Embodiments of an apparatus for implementing a display port interface are disclosed. The apparatus may include a source processor and a sink processor coupled through an interface. The interface may include a primary link, and an auxiliary link. The source processor may be operable to send a wake-up command to the sink processor via the auxiliary link, which may indicate a change in frequency on the primary link. The source processor to the sink processor via the primary link may send initialization parameters, which may include a clock data recovery lock parameter and an idle parameter.

1. Technical Field
This invention is related to the field of processor communication, and more particularly to the implementation of display port interfaces between processors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display technology for computer systems continues to evolve. From the first Cathode Ray tubes (CRTs), new display technologies have emerged including Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode (LED), Eletroluminescent Display (ELD), Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS), for example. Additionally, computer systems may employ multiple displays, projectors, televisions, and other suitable display devices.
To support the growing number of display technologies and the need to connect to multiple displays, interface technologies between processors and displays have developed into complex systems that may support platform-independent operation, networked operation, "plug and play" connections, and the like. Additionally, new interface technologies, such as, e.g., High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Video Graphics Array (VGA), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), or Embedded Display Port (eDP), may need to support legacy display types. In some cases, newer interface technologies may exploit the support for legacy display types by transmitting secondary data during time intervals, which are not utilized by legacy devices.

Link clock change during veritcal blanking


Firearm barrel sleeves and barrel grips configured to fit upon gun barrels are made of heat insulating material and have internal splines and externals ribs or flanges which extend from a cylindrical body and provide gripping function, heat transfer and air flow.

Firearm barrels absorb a large amount of heat from firing action, further increased by repeated firing particularly in semi and fully automatic weapons. Barrel heat along the entire length reaches temperatures at which skin or other materials are quickly burned on contact. High heat accumulation occurs even with barrel ventilation openings. In longer length weapons such as military machine guns, the extended length barrel provides a gripping point during firing, but the barrel temperature is too high for direct hand contact.


Depositing a diamond film on an electron emitting tip including disposing hydrocarbon and etchant reactant gasses together with the tip in a reaction vessel and providing an external voltage source such that electrons, emitted from the electron emitter, disassociate hydrocarbon constituents of the reactant gas. The constituents accelerate toward and are deposited onto the tip and are selectively etched by the etchant constituents such that only the diamond form of the deposited carbon remains.

It is known in the art that diamond films may be formed/deposited on a variety of substrate materials. It is further known that diamond film formation may be induced to preferentially take place at selectively treated locations on a surface of a substrate.
However, the prior art techniques may not be employed in instances where it is desirable to preferentially form/deposit diamond materials on physical features which may not be subjected to a selectivity treatment.
Accordingly there exists a need for a method which overcomes at least some of the shortcomings of the prior art and/or provides a new technique for selective diamond material deposition.

Forming a diamond material layer on an electron emitter using hydrocarbon reactant gases ionized by emitted electrons


A seatback system having self-adjusting lumbar support. The seatback system including a pivot configured for facilitating rotating of a lumbar support in response to pressure applied thereto by a seat occupant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seating systems having seatbacks for supporting occupants of the type wherein a lumbar support is included to support a lumbar portion of the occupant.
2. Background Art
Seating systems are commonly used in any number of environments and vehicles to support occupants in a seating position. Some seating system include a feature in the seatback to support a lumbar portion of the seat occupant, commonly referred to as a lumbar support.
The lumbar support is generally configured to be provide a bulge or other rigid or semi-rigid feature in the seatback for focusing support on the lumbar portion of the occupant. In some cases, a positioning of the lumbar support within the seatback may be controlled by the occupant.
Such lumbar seatback assemblies are uniform to all seat occupants, regardless of the size and other parameters of the occupant. This can make it difficult in maximizing the position of the lumbar support relative to the occupant.


Systems and methods presented herein create a graph of data within a data set, such as items within an electronic catalog. The nodes of the graph may represent data items, such as items within the electronic catalog. Links or edges can be created between nodes of the graph representative of a data-metric of interest. For example, links or edges can be created between nodes of the graph representative of co-access of items. A diversified page rank process can be performed with respect to a particular node in the graph. This process can use positive or negative bias toward specific attributes to dynamically re-weight edges before and/or during the walk.

Computing systems are sometimes used to process heterogeneous data sets. This processing can involve determining a relationship between the data of a heterogeneous data set to determine new information or relationships, or to determine an action to perform. With large heterogeneous data sets, it is often necessary to have a lot of available computing resources, a lot of available time to perform the processing, or a combination of both. This requirement for time or computing resources makes some calculations impracticable, and some may be infeasible to perform in real time or on a large scale.

Computer process for diversified random walk of a directed graph


Provided are a bit patterned medium having a super track, a reading head which reads data recorded on the bit-patterned medium, and a hard disk drive (HDD) for recording/reading data on/from the bit patterned medium. The bit patterned medium includes a substrate, and a recording layer formed with a plurality of bit cells separated from each other along a plurality of tracks forming concentric circles having different radii on the substrate, wherein each track includes a super track including a plurality of sub-tracks, and bit cells formed on one of the sub-tracks are arranged at different positions in a circumference direction of the recording layer to bit cells formed on adjacent sub-tracks. The reading head which reads data recorded on a bit patterned medium has a width in a cross-track direction sufficient for reading data of an equal number of bit cells as the plurality of sub-tracks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bit patterned medium, a reading head which reads data recorded on the bit patterned medium, and a hard disk drive (HDD) which records/reads data on/from the bit patterned medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since HDDs have large capacity and characteristics such as high-speed access, HDDs are widely used as data storage devices of personal computers (PCs) and various kinds of digital devices. Along with the rapid increase in the amounts of handled data due to recent technology developments, high density of HDDs is required.
HDDs generally employ a magnetic recording method for recording/reading data. A magnetic recording method is a method of recording data by magnetizing a magnetic layer of a recording medium using a magnetic field and reading data by means of a magnetic signal from magnetization of the recording medium. Magnetic recording methods can be classified into a longitudinal magnetic recording method and a perpendicular magnetic recording method. In the longitudinal magnetic recording method in which data is recorded by magnetizing a magnetic layer to be parallel to the surface of the magnetic layer, a recording density of 100 Gb/m2 can be achieved, and in the perpendicular recording method in which data is recorded by magnetizing a magnetic layer to be perpendicular to the surface of the magnetic layer, a recording density of about 500 Gb/m2 can be achieved, which is higher than that of the longitudinal magnetic recording method.
Recently, research into an electric field recording method of recording and reading data using an electric field instead of a magnetic field has been conducted. The electric field recording method is a method of recording data by polarizing a ferroelectric layer of a recording medium using an electric field and reading data by means of an electric signal using from polarization of the recording medium. According to the electric field recording method, a recording density of over 1 Tb/m2 can be achieved.
In any recording method, an increase of recording density causes a decrease in bit size, a bit being the minimum recording unit of data, and the magnitude of a signal generated from a recording medium is weakened. In order to address this problem, research into a method of increasing recording density using a patterned medium to maintain a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) by decreasing noise from the medium also has been conducted.
FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic structure of a bit patterned medium 10. Referring to FIG. 1A, the bit patterned medium 10 includes a substrate 20 and a recording layer 30 formed on the substrate 20. The recording layer 30 includes a pattern of a plurality of bit cells 32 forming tracks of concentric circles and being physically separated from each other. A single bit is recorded in each bit cell 32, and since noise can be reduced in accordance with a small bit size, recording density can be effectively increased. According to a decrease of the bit size, the width of a reading head decreases as well. FIG. 1B is a top view illustrating the structure of the bit cells 32 of the bit patterned medium 10 together with a reading head 40. The reading head 40 reads data from each bit cell 32 of a track to be read while relatively moving along the track. In this case, the width of the reading head 40 must be sufficiently small not to generate noise due to tracks adjacent to the track to be read, and thus, the width of the reading head 40 is an important design factor as well as the width of each bit cell 32. However, reducing the width of the reading head 40 requires a very high degree of precision in a manufacturing process and thus increases manufacturing costs.

Bit patterned medium, reading head for reading data recorded on bit patterned medium, and hard disk drive for recording/reading data on/from bit patterned medium


A striplike lamination (10) for a stator of an electrical machine is proposed, in which the striplike lamination has an end contour (19) on each strip end (18). The end contours (19) are embodied such that a difference in length at the lamination (10) resulting from bending can be compensated for.

The invention relates to a striplike lamination for a stator of an electrical machine and to a stator lamination packet made of such striplike laminations. From German Patent Disclosure DE-OS 26 295 32, a stator for an electrical machine is already known which is made from an iron packet that is initially present in flat form. To produce it, striplike laminations provided with slots are disposed such that they form a flat lamination packet. All the slots of the individual laminations are oriented in the same direction, resulting in an overall comblike arrangement of this packet. This flat packet is hereinafter called a flat packet. In the aforementioned patent disclosure, this flat packet is bent into a round shape in a further step in such a way that a stator lamination packet is obtained which can be used like conventional annular stator lamination packets. This reference already describes the fact that after the flat packet has been bent into a round shape, the two ends facing one another of the laminations are separated by a slight spacing. To join these two ends together, it is provided that they be joined together by welding, using a coating metal. This embodiment has two disadvantages. First, a coating metal must additionally be applied, which on the one hand involves cost and on the other requires major expenditure of energy, on the one hand to melt it and on the other to join this coating metal to the two ends. A further disadvantage is that this coating metal creates a relatively large nonlaminated cross section in the axial direction of the stator. Because there are increased eddy currents in the cross section of the stator, this increases the corresponding eddy current losses. Moreover, the application welding introduces a relatively large amount of energy into the stator. Furthermore, the gap mentioned in the prior art between the two ends leads to poorer efficiency at that point.

Strip-type segment and laminated stator core for an electrical machine


A key mechanism (22) includes a key body (222), a resilient metal sheet (226), a circuit board (26). The circuit board (26) is placed between the key body (222) and the resilient metal sheet (226). The circuit board (26) includes a first surface (2622) facing the key body (222) and a second surface (2624) facing the resilient metal sheet (226). The first surface (2622) has a number of ground points connecting to the key body (222). The second surface (2624) has a switch unit corresponding to the resilient metal sheet (226).

1. Field of the Invention
The exemplary embodiment relates to key mechanisms and, particularly to key mechanisms for portable electronic devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Key mechanisms of portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, are usually formed on the sidewalls of housings of portable electronic devices.
FIG. 2 shows a typical key mechanism 10 including a key body 12, a resilient metal sheet 14, a circuit board 16, and a main board 17 connected to the circuit board 16. The resilient metal sheet 14 is positioned between the key body 12 and the circuit board 16. For comfortable touching, a soft film 18 is provided between the resilient metal sheet 14 and the key body 12, and adheres to the elastic sheet 14. The circuit board 16 has a first switch 162 and a spaced second switch 164. During pressing the key body 12, the soft film 18 deforms to electrically connect the resilient metal sheet 14 to the first switch 162 and the second switch 164.
However, the key body 12 is usually made of metallic material, which may generate static electricity. To remove the static electricity, a conducting layer 19 can be placed around the soft film 18, and the conducting layer 19 connects with grounding points 166 of the circuit board 16. Such arrangement increases manufacturing cost of the key mechanism.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Key mechanism for portable electronic device


This invention refers to an improved solar fluid heater with respect to the one submitted in patent application MX/a/2010/005129, which main improvement consist of a protective elastic membrane in the solar collector, allowing for the heating of any kind of liquid besides water, in which the solar collector design allows for the reception of solar radiation in its surface both, vertical and horizontal, wherein the horizontal surface heat is conveyed to the fluid through a central tubular axle with ribs, in which the air in the gap between the solar collector and the transparent cover has been replaced by argon, wherein the check valves have been designed with an anti-clogging system, that the cold and hot water supply system have been optimized and wherein the overpressure system is now powered by a photovoltaic panel built-in the solar heater object this invention. The purpose of this invention is to simplify and improve the design submitted in patent application MX/a/2010/005129, allowing for its commercialization at a more affordable price to the consumer than the current solar fluid heaters.

This invention represents an evolution of the solar water heater claimed by Patent application MX/a/2010/005129 and comprises an improved solar water heater embedding an electrical backup allowing for the continuous supply of hot water to the user independently of the weather conditions and that, with a vertical cylinder shape, embeds all the essential elements in a single compact assembly that works under atmospheric pressure and comprises therein a floodlight in the north facing side, which allows for the reception of the direct solar radiation and reflected in the 360° of the solar collector during daytime.
The object of this invention is to improve the functionality of the solar heater claimed by patent application MX/a/2010/005129, increasing the efficiency of the solar radiation collection system, of the heat to liquid conveyance medium system, of the heated liquid heat retention system and of the heated liquid supply system and changing the design of the solar heater such that the apparatus allows not just for water heating, but other liquid fluids heating.


The present invention relates to software used in conjunction with the BIOS POST process to preserve certain messages (referred to as "safeguarded messages") displayed on a video screen, while other messages, which are considered disposable messages, are not preserved on the screen. In one embodiment, prior to displaying a message, the software determines whether the generated message is a safeguarded message. The software then displays safeguarded messages and disposable messages on the video screen on preselected lines assigned to each category. Once the video screen is full of disposable messages and an additional message is to be displayed, a disposable message is removed from the screen leaving a character display line empty. The additional message is displayed on the newly-empty character display line. During the removal of a disposable message and the displaying of the additional message, the safeguarded messages are preserved on the screen.

When a personal computer initially is turned on, a Basic Input/Output System ("BIOS") program is enabled. The BIOS program controls the keyboard, disk drives, and other devices. This program runs a process called Power On Self Test ("POST"). The POST program performs a diagnostic routine for the computer.
During this BIOS POST routine, a series of messages is displayed on a video screen. One such message is an instruction ("instructional message") to the user on how to access a BIOS setup program ("BIOS SETUP"). A BIOS SETUP is a computer program that allows a user to determine and, if the user so desires, to modify the system parameters. That is, through the BIOS SETUP program, the user may change the configuration of the computer.
Currently, when the video screen is full of messages generated during the BIOS POST process, the instructional message, which appears early in the BIOS POST process, is written over by other messages. This overwriting of the instructional message makes it wholly or partially unviewable and may prevent the user from knowing how to enter the BIOS SETUP program. Moreover, a partially overwritten, corrupted message is unsettling and may suggest to the user that there is a malfunction. Clearly, it would be desirable to preserve instructional messages on the display screen during the BIOS POST process or other messages of continuing interest.

Method for preserving and displaying text on a PC BIOS boot screen


There is provided a concurrent driving capacitive touch sensing device including a drive end, a capacitive sensing matrix and a detection end. The capacitive sensing matrix includes a plurality of drive electrodes and sense electrodes crossing to each other. The drive end is configured to concurrently input cycle data of encoded and modulated drive signals into the drive electrodes. The detection end is coupled to one of the sense electrodes and configured to acquire a predetermined number of sampled values corresponding to the cycle data associated with the coupled sense electrode and generate a response signal to the drive end according to the sampled values, wherein the drive end resends the cycle data according to the response signal.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure generally relates to a sensing device and, more particularly, to a concurrent driving capacitive touch sensing device capable of resending drive signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Capacitive sensors generally include a pair of electrodes configured to sense a finger. When a finger is present, the amount of charge transfer between the pair of electrodes can be changed so that it is able to detect whether a finger is present or not according to a voltage variation. It is able to form a sensing matrix by arranging a plurality of electrode pairs in matrix.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show schematic diagrams of the conventional capacitive sensor which includes a first electrode 91, a second electrode 92, a drive circuit 93 and a detection circuit 94. The drive circuit 93 is configured to input a drive signal to the first electrode 91. Electric field can be produced between the first electrode 91 and the second electrode 92 so as to transfer charges to the second electrode 92. The detection circuit 94 is configured to detect the amount of charge transfer to the second electrode 92.
When a finger is present, e.g. shown by an equivalent circuit 8, the finger may disturb the electric field between the first electrode 91 and the second electrode 92 so that the amount of charge transfer is reduced. The detection circuit 94 can detect a voltage variation to accordingly identify the presence of the finger.
Principles of the conventional active capacitive sensor may be referred to U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0096193 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,514.
Referring to FIG. 1C, the detection circuit 94 generally includes a detection switch 941 and a detection unit 942, wherein the detection unit 942 can detect a voltage value on the second electrode 92 only within the on-period of the detection switch 941. However, signal lines of the sensing matrix in different touch panels can have different capacitances, and the drive signal inputted by the drive circuit 93 can have different phase shifts corresponding to different sensing matrices. Therefore, the on-state of the detection switch 941 has to be adjusted corresponding to different touch panels or it is not able to detect correct voltage values. And this adjustment process can increase the manufacturing complexity.
In addition, when the capacitive sensor is applied to some systems (e.g. the liquid crystal display system), serious noise problems may exist. Accordingly, how to suppress the noise is also an important issue of this field.

Concurrent driving capacitive touch sensing device capable of resending drive signals


Bicomponent elastomeric extruded netting having bidirectional elasticity is formed of one set of relatively elastic, extruded strands in one direction and another set of transverse, relatively elastic extruded strands. The strands are formed of relatively elastic resins.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to plastic netting, and more particularly to an extruded bicomponent elastomeric netting having bidirectional elasticity, that is elasticity in both the machine direction and the transverse direction. Such netting is sometimes referred to as fiber formed netting because the strands making up the netting are individually extruded from a die.
2. Description Of The Related Art
For purposes of the present invention, the terms "cross machine direction" and "transverse direction" are synonymous and referred to as "TD", as are the terms "longitudinal direction" and "machine direction", referred to as "MD". Current production of elastomeric roll goods, such as scrims, sheets, films, foams, nettings, nonwovens, fibers, threads and the like are basically isotropic, exhibiting essentially the same properties in all directions of their two dimensional plane. However, in many applications, different elastomeric properties are desired in different directions, i.e., in the MD and TD. Although numerous patents exist describing netting, woven and non-woven fabrics, meshes and chain nets with bicomponent materials, they do not provide any suggestion to modify the prior art such as is done in the present invention with respect to extruded plastic net. Existing technology does not include an extruded bicomponent elastomeric netting with bidirectional elasticity. A bicomponent netting is a netting in which the two sets of strands (MD and TD strands) are made up and fed by two separate (and possibly different) polymer melt streams.
Nets, wovens and nonwoven reinforcements made of more than one material are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,419 to Madsen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,123 to Shih, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,633 to Kobayashi et al. In addition, a netting die fed by two separate polymer streams is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,784 to Arechavaleta.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,419 issued to Madsen et al. on Jan. 13, 1987 discloses a "Net and Method of Producing Same" which employs a combination of side by side extrusion streams, transversal embossment, and splitting to produce netting composed of a regular array of longitudinal ribbon-formed continuous polymer filaments and a regular array of transverse stems or strands of a different polymer matter. It is disclosed that the use of two different polymer substances in two directions affords netting of interesting and unusual properties (col. 2, lines 12-25 and 30-31). In Example 1, the cross machine component comprises Nylon 6 and the machine direction component comprises polypropylene (col. 11, lines 13-31). It is disclosed that elastomeric netting may be prepared by the method of this patent, and preferred materials as well as a suitable application for such netting is disclosed (col. 9, line 67 through col. 10, line 7). Bidirectional elasticity in net as-extruded is neither disclosed nor suggested.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,123 issued to Shih on Dec. 23, 1980 discloses non-woven netting wherein a first group of melting monofilaments are die extruded and a second group of monofilaments or a yarn is crossed, pressed, and welded to form a welded plastic netting (col. 3, lines 8-12).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,633 issued to Kobayashi et al. on Jul. 17, 1984 discloses a nonwoven reinforcement for resinous composites made of bundles of non-twist or soft twist yarns as warps on both sides of bundles of non-twist or soft twist yarns as wefts, warps and wefts being bonded by an adhesive agent impregnated into the wefts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,227 issued to Sekiguchi et al. on Dec. 25, 1990 discloses a stiff, netlike sheet of heat bonded five layer and three layer polyolefin yarns which exhibits retention of its sheet-like shape due to its stiffness. Although heat bonding of polyolefin materials is mentioned, neither an extruded net nor the use of another material to produce bidirectional elasticity is disclosed or suggested.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,784 to Arechavaleta discloses an extrusion die fed by two separate polymer streams. Although Arechavaleta suggests that two different materials may be extruded, it is not suggested that the die be used to produce a resulting netting structure which will possess good strand to strand bond, uniform transverse direction strand spacing, or a high transverse direction packing density, i.e., transverse direction strandcount, nor is a net having bidirectional elasticity suggested.
Fabrics, meshes, chain nets, and support materials with elastic properties are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,371 issued to Dean, U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,015 issued to Andreasson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,565 issued to Fontana, U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,739 issued to Gretzinger, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,872 issued to Brosseau et al. These products are expensive to produce, and are significantly different from a fiber formed extruded netting product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,371 issued to Dean on Aug. 15, 1978 discloses a fabric woven of plastic-coated yarn and polymer strands that is relatively stiff in one direction and relatively flexible in the other direction. This differs from the present invention in that it does not disclose, teach or suggest making an extruded net from two different polymer compositions as between crossing strands.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,872 issued to Brosseau et al. on Sep. 28, 1982 discloses a unidirectional stretch mesh laminate used in an orthopaedic traction harness. A commercially available DuPont unidirectional stretch mesh is discussed at col. 3, lines 12-18 as a component of the invention. No patent was found disclosing said mesh.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,739 issued to Gretzinger on Sep. 4, 1984 discloses an oriented woven furniture support material made in part from an elastomer monofilament and in part from polymeric material or natural yarn. Unlike the extruded bicomponent elastomeric netting of the present invention, this material is woven rather than a fiber formed extruded product, and is not of a polymeric material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,015 issued to Andreasson on Jun. 16, 1987 discloses a chain net which may include links of elastically deformable material. It is suggested that although warp and weft strands are usually made of links of similarly elastic material, the weft strands may alternatively be made of other material (col. 2, lines 49-64). This patent does not disclose an extruded net.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,565 issued to Fontana on Mar. 1, 1988 discloses an elastic support member for supporting stuffing of furniture pieces comprising an elastic net or belt formed of a net or honeycomb fabric or a woven fabric comprised of rubber threads arranged in at least one of the transverse and longitudinal directions. This patent is an improvement of Italian Patent No. 955,134. Although the appearance of rubber threads in at least one direction suggests elasticity, this patent neither discloses nor suggests an extruded net as in the presently disclosed invention.
The art described in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is "prior art" with respect to this invention, unless specifically designated as such. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent prior art information exists.


A protector for covering a wire harness is simplified and is enabled to be used commonly with other types of vehicles. Provided is an outer cover structure for a wire harness that is routed from a front portion of a vehicle interior toward a vehicle rear portion along an upper surface side of a sill side panel, only a narrow region of a floor harness from a position where a kicking plate is arranged to a rear tire house being covered with a protector that is small-sized, the narrow region corresponding to a rear end of the kicking plate, the protector having a shape of a small rectangular box with a shallow bottom, including only one clip for fixation that is provided projecting, and being used commonly with other types of vehicles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to outer cover structures for a wire harness, and in particular to an improvement in an outer cover member such as a protector for protecting a wire harness that is routed on the lower surface side of a side sill of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wire harness that is routed in an automobile is protected in a region where this is required by a protector made from a resin molded article through which the wire harness passes. By being covered with the protector, the wire harness is protected from external interfering substances, is limited in its route, and is limited in its shape such that, for example, its cross-sectional shape is flattened, so that the wire harness is capable of being inserted into a routing space.
Also, in a region where the wire harness needs to be protected not by the protector but by a simple protection or the like, the wire harness is inserted into an outer cover member such as a corrugated tube or a circular tube that is made from a resin molded article.
A number of such protectors for covering the wire harness have conventionally been proposed, for example, by JP H06-165339A, and JP 2000-236609A.
Among the wire harnesses that are routed in an automobile, there is a wire harness that is connected to a junction box mounted in a front portion of a vehicle interior and routed to the rear of the vehicle along a sill panel. This wire harness is hereinafter referred to as "floor harness", although it is also often referred to as "body harness".
Under doors of lateral side openings of the automobile, the floor harness is routed on the inner side of a sill side flange on a sill side panel. At positions under the side doors where kicking plates are arranged, the wire harness that is routed below is liable to be subjected to impact loads due to stepping of a driver or passenger, dropped baggage, or the like. Conventionally, therefore, the floor harness is covered with and protected by a protector so that no impact load is applied to the floor harness.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, a floor harness W/H needs to be protected, to be limited in its route, and to be limited in its shape, particularly from a region S1 underneath a side door to a region S2 within a rear wheel house 4 where the floor harness is routed. Accordingly, a relatively elongated protector 100 for these three-dimensional regions is provided so as to cover the floor harness. The protector 100 needs to be provided in different shapes for left and right sides, that is, the protector 100 needs to be provided as a left side protector 100A or a right side protector 100B as illustrated in FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B) depending on whether, for example, it is for a left-hand drive vehicle or a right-hand drive vehicle. The protector 100 (100A, 100B) has a three-dimensional shape and, therefore, needs to be fixed to the vehicle body at a plurality of locations. Therefore, there is a problem that, due to the complicated shape of the protector, the costs for the production of metal molds are high, resulting in high manufacturing costs, and it is time-consuming to mount the protector on the vehicle body.
Further, it is necessary to manufacture the protectors according to the shapes of vehicles, that is, to manufacture the protectors independently for each type of vehicle or each of a left-hand drive vehicle and a right-hand drive vehicle. Accordingly, many types of protectors are needed, causing a problem of a significant increase in cost.
In order to solve the above-described problem that provision of many types of protectors results in high costs, it is an object of the present invention to provide an outer cover structure for a wire harness that can employ a protector that is used commonly with vehicles that have different shapes depending on, for example, the type of vehicle or whether it is a left-hand drive vehicle or a right-hand drive vehicle, and that have different three-dimensional routing paths of a floor harness from an under portion of a side door to a rear tire house.


A probe card attaching method makes it easy to attach/detach a probe card to/from a transfer stage. In a wafer inspection apparatus 10, a reference position is determined by moving a transfer stage 18 to align a stage-side camera 28 with a tester-side camera 16 in a tester 15, a first distance from the reference position to a center of a pogo frame 19 in the tester 15 is determined by checking a pin mark 24 in the tester 15 with the stage-side camera 28, a second distance from the reference position to a center of a probe card 20 is determined by checking a target mark 32 in the probe card 20 with the tester-side camera 16. Then, the transfer stage 18 is moved to allow the probe card 20 to face the pogo frame 19 based on the reference position, the first distance, and the second distance.

In order to inspect a wafer on which multiple semiconductor devices are formed, a prober has been used as an inspection apparatus. The prober includes a probe card facing the wafer, and the probe card includes a plate-shaped base member and multiple column-shaped contact probes as contact terminals respectively arranged on a wafer facing surface of the base member to face electrode pads or solder bumps in the semiconductor devices on the wafer (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In the prober, the contact probes of the probe card are brought into contact with the respective electrode pads or solder bumps and an electric current is allowed to flow from the contact probes to electric circuits of the semiconductor devices connected with the electrode pads or solder bumps, respectively, so that the prober can inspect a conducting state of each electric circuit.
Further, in order to improve inspection efficiency of a wafer, there has been developed a wafer inspection apparatus in which multiple probe cards are arranged in an inspection chamber and semiconductor devices on a wafer can be inspected by a probe card while another wafer is transferred to another probe card by a transfer stage. In this wafer inspection apparatus, multiple testers as interfaces for wafer inspection are arranged to be allowed to face the wafer within the inspection chamber, and a probe card is attached to each tester.
In the above-described wafer inspection apparatus, the probe cards need to be replaced due to wear of the contact probes, or the like. When the probe cards are replaced, the transfer stage receives the probe cards from the respective testers and transfers new probe cards or probe cards after the maintenance is completed to the respective testers. At this time, multiple electrodes of a probe card corresponding to respective contact probes need to be accurately brought into contact with pogo pins as a group of multiple contact terminals that are provided in a tester to be connected to an inspection circuit. Accordingly, when a new probe card or a probe card after the maintenance is completed is transferred to a tester, the transfer stage including a positioning pin inserts this positioning pin into a pin hole of the probe card in order for a position of the probe card not to be deviated.
Recently, there has been developed a probe card that inspects multiple semiconductor devices formed on a wafer at the same time. In such a probe card, multiple electrodes corresponding to respective contact probes are densely arranged. Thus, it is necessary to further improve accuracy in positioning the probe card to accurately bring the electrodes into contact with respective pogo pins of a tester. The accuracy in positioning the probe card can be improved by reducing a gap (clearance) between a positioning pin and a pin hole.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2002-022768


A combination capacitor and strip material arrangement includes a capacitor element, a strip material, and two connecting wires each including an angled rear mounting part fastened to the strip material, a front contact part providing two contact surfaces connected in series at a predetermined angle and attached to one of positive and negative electrodes of the capacitor element and a middle conducting part having angled portion connected to the angled rear mounting part and an inwardly and transversely extended extension portion connected to the front contact part. Thus, the capacitor element is firmly held down by the contact surfaces of the front contact parts of the two connecting wires for packaging, preventing the capacitor element from deviation, displacement or falling, and thus the capacitor yield can be greatly increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ceramic disc capacitor technology and more particularly, to a combination capacitor and strip material arrangement, which comprises a capacitor element, a strip material, and two connecting wires fastened to the strip material to hold the capacitor element for packaging, preventing the capacitor element from deviation, displacement or falling.
2. Description of the Related Art
Capacitor is passive two-terminal electrical component consisting of two conductors separated by a dielectric and used to store energy electrostatically in an electric field. Regular capacitors include three types, namely, wound capacitors, multilayer capacitors and electrolytic capacitors. A multilayer capacitor uses a series of alternating metal disks, called plates, and ceramic (talc ceramic, titanium ceramic, barium titanate ceramic) disks, called dielectrics. This type of capacitor is inexpensive, versatile, and widely used in electronics of all types. The multilayer ceramic capacitor is a more recent development and is often used as a replacement for older designs of various capacitors.
Because modern electronic devices have thin, small and high precision characteristics, high pressure resistive large capacitors are not suitable for use in a micro substrate. In order to meet the requirements for small-sized electronic products, mini ceramic disc capacitors are created. A mini ceramic disc capacitor generally comprises a mini ceramic disc, two electrodes formed of a silver glue and respectively coated on opposing top and bottom surfaces of the mini ceramic disc, two connecting wires respectively bonded to the electrodes and suspended at one same lateral side relative to the mini ceramic disc, and a protective coating coated on the connecting wires and the electrodes. Because the two connecting wires are suspended at one same lateral side relative to the mini ceramic disc, this design of mini ceramic disc capacitor is suitable for through-hole mounting but not practical for SMT (Surface Mount Technology) application. For SMT application, a secondary processing process is necessary to bend the connecting wires.
Further, because the connecting wires are round wires, the mini ceramic disc can easily be forced to display relative to or fall from the round tips of the two connecting wires during the processing, resulting in a bonding or packaging failure, or defective product. An improvement is this regard is necessary.

Combination capacitor and strip material arrangement


An electronic device for license plate recognition includes control circuitry and a memory that stores a sequence of image frames. The control circuitry extracts a first set of license plate images from the sequence of image frames and estimates a set of two dimensional (2D) connectionist-temporal-classification (CTC) matrices based on application of a pre-trained CTC-based deep neural network (DNN) on the first set of license plate images. The control circuitry further generates a three dimensional (3D) CTC matrix from the estimated set of 2D CTC matrices and decodes a set of alphanumeric characters of a license plate number of a first license plate. The set of alphanumeric characters are decoded based on a 3D beam search through the generated 3D CTC matrix. The decoded set of alphanumeric characters correspond to maximum likelihood values for the decoded set of alphanumeric characters in the 3D beam search.

Recent advancements in the field of deep learning has led to development of various methods and techniques for character recognition from license plates in live videos. In current solutions, a conventional electronic device may extract a license plate number of a vehicle by use a brute force character recognition approach. In the brute force character recognition approach, the conventional electronic device may apply optical character recognition (OCR) on different image frames of a video and extract a license plate number based on OCR-based recognition of different alphanumeric characters in different image frames of the license plate. Extraction of the license plate number by using conventional OCR techniques on different image frames may be a computationally resource intensive process. Also, due to motion of a vehicle, rolling shutter of camera, or ambient environment may introduce a noise in identification of a correct license number plate. Thus, a conventional electronic device may output different license plate numbers, which may include a correct license plate number and multiple erroneous license plate numbers from different image frames of a license plate. This may further lead to confusion and a bias among different users who need to identify a desired vehicle from the correct license plate number, without manually checking and selecting a correct license plate number from different license plate numbers.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

License plate number recognition based on three dimensional beam search


According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of forming a polyimide film on a substrate is disclosed. Such method can be easily controlled and form a polyimide film applicable as an insulation film. While a wafer is heated at a temperature at which a polyimide film is formed, a cycle, in which the wafer is sequentially supplied with a first processing gas, for example, containing a PMDA-based first monomer, and a second processing gas containing a non-aromatic monomer, for example, an HMDA-based second monomer, is performed for a predetermined number of times. When the processing gases are switched, a replacement gas is supplied into a reaction tube so that the monomers are not mixed together under the atmosphere in the reaction tube.

A polyimide film is known as one of organic-based thin films used to manufacture a semiconductor device. The polyimide film is formed, for example, by dehydration condensation of two kinds of monomers. Specifically, as illustrated later in FIG. 2, a bifunctional acid anhydride, e.g., PMDA (C10H2O6: pyromellitic dianhydride), and a bifunctional amine, e.g., HMDA (C6H16N2: hexamethylenediamine) are used as the monomers. A polyimide film is formed by mixing the monomers in a solution to produce a polyamide acid solution that is a precursor solution and then by applying the precursor solution to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a "wafer") and simultaneously heating the wafer.
However, increasingly, the semiconductor devices are demanded to be miniaturized for electronic devices such as a cellular phone and the like. As such, the configuration has been suggested to stack a plurality of wafers each having such semiconductor devices formed thereon, and simultaneously, electrode portions of the respective devices are vertically connected to each other. The inventors have considered the following aspect in forming such three-dimensional configuration.
That is, for example, a hole-shaped concave portion is formed in such a manner that a device is formed on a surface of a wafer and dry etching is performed from the back side of the wafer so that an electrode portion on the underside of the device is exposed. Then, a conducting portion such as copper is buried in the concave portion. Simultaneously, disposing another wafer having a device formed thereon on the back side of the wafer, so that both the devices are electrically connected to each other through the conducting portion (specifically, including a bump and the like disposed between the wafers). Accordingly, a plurality of wafers is sequentially stacked, thereby forming the integration structure of devices. Practically, although a process of forming the concave portion or a process of burying the conducting portion is performed while turning the wafer over, the surface of the wafer is here described as a side having the device formed thereon for convenience of illustration.
The aforementioned concave portion is formed to have a depth (e.g., 50 micrometers) until the device is reached from the back side of the wafer. Meanwhile, the concave portion is formed to have an opening dimension (diameter), e.g., a small diameter of 5 micrometers, so as not to interfere with a conducting portion of another integrated structure adjacent to the concave portion, i.e., so as to highly density the integrated structure as much as possible. Therefore, the concave portion has an extremely large aspect ratio (i.e., the ratio of the diameter to the depth of the opening).
In this case, since the wafer is made of silicon (Si), an insulation film is necessarily formed along an inner wall of the concave portion before the conducting portion is buried therein so that the wafer and the conducting portion are not electrically connected to each other through the inner wall of the concave portion (so that the wafer and the conducting portion are insulated from each other). Thus, the inventors attempt to apply the polyimide film as the insulation film. FIG. 13 used in an after-mentioned embodiment shows the configuration described above, wherein reference numeral 1 designates a polyimide film, reference numeral 10 designates a concave portion, reference numeral 11 designates a device, reference numeral 14 designates a temporary fixing material, and reference numeral 15 designates a support substrate.
However, the polyimide film has a relative permittivity, for example, of about 3.5, which is higher than that of other materials, so that it is difficult to use the polyimide film as the insulation film. There is a method of forming an alignment film in such a manner that a precursor is formed by depositing monomers on a substrate heated between 38 degrees C. and 75 degrees C., the deposition of the monomers is stopped, and then, the precursor is imidized by heating the substrate up to 200 degrees C. However, according to the method, the concave portion as described above cannot be satisfactorily buried, and it is necessary to elevate the process temperature of the latter stage in which there is a high difference in temperature during a film forming process.


A surfactant composition comprising compounds of the general formula: ##STR1## wherein R(CO).sub.n -- and R.sub.1 (CO).sub.n can be the same or different and comprise a C.sub.1 to C.sub.30 alkyl, or alkyl aryl and R.sub.2 is a C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 alkylene, arylene and the hydroxy-substituted derivatives thereof, a polyether (--O(R.sub.4 O).sub.x --) wherein R.sub.4 is a C.sub.2 to C.sub.4 alkyl and x is a whole number of from 1 to about 100; --S--, --SO.sub.2 --, --O--, --S--S--, --O--R.sub.5 --O-- or --S--R.sub.5 --S wherein R.sub.5 is a C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 alkyl, aryl or alkyl aryl, --N(R.sub.6)-- or --(NR.sub.6) R.sub.7 (NR.sub.6)-- wherein R.sub.6 is a C.sub.2 to C.sub.6 alkyl and R.sub.7 is a C.sub.2 to C.sub.6 alkyl or aryl with the further stipulation that R.sub.6 and R.sub.7 may form a heterocyclic ring, X is O or NZ wherein Z is a C.sub.1 to C.sub.10 alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl or hydrogen, and Y and Y.sub.1 represents an alcohol-containing group having at least two and preferably more hydroxyl groups.

Surfactants are well known materials which can be generally described as compounds having a hydrophobic moiety and a hydrophilic group per molecule. A wide variety of these materials are known and are classified as anionic, cationic, nonionic and amphoteric. They are well known to have numerous uses such as emulsifiers, detergents, dispersants and solubilizing agents in the field of cosmetics, textile treatment, industrial and personal cleaning preparations, corrosion inhibitors and the like.
Recently, a group of compounds having two hydrophobic moieties and two hydrophilic groups have been introduced. These have become known as "gemini surfactants" in the literature (Chemtech, March 1993, pp 30-33), and J. American Chemical Soc., 115, 10083-10090, (1993) and the references cited therein. Since their introduction, cationic and anionic "gemini surfactants" have been disclosed. Other surfactant compounds having two hydrophilic groups and two hydrophobic moieties have been disclosed but not referred to as gemini surfactants.
Sulfate, phosphate, and carboxylate surfactants are currently disclosed in the literature (See JAOCS 67, 459 (1990); JAOCS 68, 268 (1991); JAOCS 68, 539 (1991); and JAOCS 69, 626 (1992). Naturally derived, non-gemini surfactants are also known in the art. Most are nonionic and consist of a fatty acid chain that is linked to a sugar molecule usually by an ether ester or amide grouping. Being naturally derived from sources such as potatoes, wheat, beet sugar or corn starch, they are more environmentally friendly than conventional surfactants yet provide excellent foaming power, are mild to the skin and are useful in a wide variety of personal care, laundry and dishwashing products.
In nonionic surfactants, the surface-active portion of the molecule bears no apparent ionic charge. Usually polyethoxy chains, glycerides or polyhydroxy functional moieties, e.g. polyglucosides, constitute the hydrophile.
Single chain nonionics can also comprise sucrose esters which are prepared by reacting sucrose with edible fatty acids under controlled conditions in order to esterify the primary hydroxyl group of sucrose. The fatty acids such as stearic, palmitic and lauric can also be further reacted with other sugar moieties to produce di-, tri, and even higher esters.
Alkyl polyglucosides are prepared by one of two methods. In one, a direct process, glucose is reacted with a fatty alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. Excess alcohol is removed after neutralization. In the second method, a lower alcohol and a catalyst is utilized in a two step transacetylization process. When completed, the lower alcohol is replaced with a fatty alcohol.
Finally, glucosamide surfactants are prepared by reacting glucose with mono-methyl amine in the presence of hydrogen to form N-methyl glucamine. This is then reacted with a fatty ester to produce the glucosamide. These are particularly useful as co-surfactants. An anionic derivative of these is the sugar sulfosuccinates which are obtained by reacting ethoxylated .eta.-butyl glucosamide with maleic anhydride which is then sulfated with bisulfite. U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,938 to Wang discloses the use of sugar-based surfactants as carrier compounds for pharmaceutical actives.
Sugar-based gemini surfactants have also been previously described in the literature to a limited extent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,197 to Scheibel et. al. discloses and claims gemini polyhydroxy fatty acid compounds wherein the bridging group consists of a variety of alkyl, aryl, arylalkyl and aminoalkyl compounds having from about 2 to 200 atoms, and the hydrophobic heads are comprised of the same or different alcohol-containing moieties with two or more hydroxyl groups such as glycerol. The surfactants are asserted to be useful as active agents in laundry detergents, fabric cleaners, and personal care.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,922 to Garelli-Calvet et. al. discloses amphiphilic surfactants containing two sugar or sugar-derived head portions. The amphiphilic head portions are long chain aliphatic or branched aliphatic carbon chains. The chains are interrupted by various functional groups such as amines (--NH) and further comprise reducing glucosides comprised of a linear or cyclized carbon chain. The hydrophile is on the ends of the hydrophobe, constituting bola-type surfactants. Bola surfactants are relatively ineffective surface active compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,699 to Conner et. al. discloses and claims poly-(polyhydroxy fatty acid amide) compounds that are asserted to be useful in laundry detergents, cleaning compositions, and personal care. Two identical long chain moieties containing hydroxyl groups are joined by a bridge consisting of polyethyleneimines, and polyethyleneamines with molecular weights below about 50,000 and preferably below 10,000. The hydrophobe is connected via carbonyl groups. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,806 to Briggs et. al. discloses nonionic surfactants consisting of two R-groups consisting of substituted and unsubstituted alkyls, cycloalkyls, aryls or hydrogen that are joined by a carbon bridge to two hydrophilic groups represented by the formula --CH.sub.2 NHCO(CHOH).sub.x CH.sub.2 OH. The compounds are useful in emulsions for photographic light sensitive materials.
EPA 0 688 781 to Adams teaches and claims nonionic surfactants comprised of two polysaccharide sugar moieties that are linked to the central bridge of the molecule by one of their carbonyl groups. The central bridge is comprised of a polyalkyleneamine unit wherein at least one of the amine nitrogen atoms has a hydrophobic, substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group linked thereto. The compounds are disclosed as being useful in aqueous hydrophilic colloid compositions such as light sensitive photographic materials.
PCT Application No. PCT/US95/00767 to Scheibel et. al. discloses and claims a class of gemini polyether fatty acid amides in which two polyethoxy, polypropoxy and/or mixed polyethoxypropoxy moieties of the general formula (CH.sub.2).sub.y O!H are joined by branched or linear alkyl or aryl moieties of from 2-200 carbon atoms. The surfactants may be combined with other nonionic and anionic surfactants and enzymes in soap and laundry detergent formulations.
PCT application No. PCT/US/00769 to Scheibel et. al. discloses and claims another class of polyhydroxy diamine compounds in which two "heads" consisting of reducing sugars such as glycerol, glucose, maltose, maltodextrin and the like are joined together by a unsubstituted, linear or branched alkyl, ether alkyl or amino alkyl consisting of from two to fifteen carbon atoms.
An article by Zhang et. al., J. Colloid. Interface Sci 177 419-426 (1996) discusses the effect of hydrophobic and hydrophilic chain lengths on the surface active properties of novel polysaccharide surfactants. The nonionic saccharide surfactants consist of an amide group that links a hydrophilic saccharide segment such as glucolactone, maltolactone, and dextrolactone to a hydrophobic alkyl segment such as hexylamine, octylamine and decylamine. It was shown that the size of the saccharide segment is important in determining the interfacial surface area of the molecule and hence it's surface activity.
Eastoe et. al., Langmuir. 12, 2701-2705 (1996) discloses nonionic amphiphile surfactants comprised of two .eta.-alkyl chains and two glucamide head groups. Surfactant purity, surfactant-water phase behavior, air-solution surface tension and small angle neutron-scattering characteristics are some of the surfactant characteristics disclosed. A second Eastoe et. al. article, Langmuir 10, 4429-4433 (1994) discusses the properties of nonionic surfactants comprised of two C.sub.6 hydrophobic chains and two glucamide head groups in the same fashion.
An article to Briggs et. al. J. Chem. Soc. 46, 379-380 (1995) briefly discusses the synthesis and properties of nonionic polyol surfactants derived from carbohydrate lactones. The surface properties of these nonionic gemini surfactants are rare and very few are reported in the literature.
Due to the need for new and more effective and efficient surfactants, as well as the need for mild surfactants which are biologically compatible in an ecologically sensitive environment, effort has been made to develop a new class of compounds which demonstrate improved surface-active properties that are further characterized as mild, and environmentally benign.
Single gemini surfactants that contain two hydrophilic heads and two lipophilic chains linked by a small bridge are able to demonstrate very special physical properties such as unusually low critical micelle concentrations (cmc) and pC.sub.20 values in aqueous media. It has been reported that ionic gemini surfactants can lower cmc values about 100 times more efficiently than single chain analogues and are about 1000 times more efficient at reducing the surface tension (pC.sub.20). Beside these outstanding physical properties, nonionic gemini surfactants can be very effective surface active agents, are biodegradable, and to a certain extent, are available from renewable resources such as natural fats and sugars. Therefore, sugar-containing surfactants have attracted considerable attention.
The new type of sugar gemini surfactant generally contains two aliphatic long chains as lipophilic groups and two oligosaccharides as hydrophilic heads. Because sugar molecules are very water soluble, they are superior as hydrophilic heads for gemini surfactants.
Like linear sugar-based surfactants, sugar gemini surfactants can use various forms of sugar as the hydrophilic groups such as glucose, fructose, maltose, lactose, galactose, mannose, xylose and so on. Other types of gemini surfactants generally contain a polyhydroxyl group as the hydrophilic head. Their general structure is shown below. ##STR2##
wherein R and R.sub.1 represent a C.sub.3 to C.sub.21 straight or branched chain hydrocarbyl moiety. See Eastoe, and Briggs, supra.
Sugar gemini surfactants have been prepared that contain two glucose hydrophilic groups and two hydrocarbon chains linked by an ethylene group. However, these bis-monosaccharide gemini surfactants are insoluble in water.

Nonionic gemini surfactants having multiple hydrophobic and hydrophilic sugar groups


A method and system for distance measurement in a low or zero intermediate frequency (IF) half-duplex communications loop measures the distance between two transceivers without synchronizing the local oscillators of the two transceivers. Transceiver distance may be measured in systems that use direct conversion (zero IF) or intermediate frequencies that are so low that phase noise significantly reduces the accuracy of the distance measurement. The communications loop demodulates, re-modulates and retransmits a received signal to provide a re-transmitted signal that has the same carrier and modulation frequency as the received signal. A phase-hold circuit provides an analog system for half-duplex operation that retains the frequency and phase information of the received signal for retransmission in a subsequent time slot. Alternatively, a digital implementation provides phase and frequency retention via a sample and delay system comprising an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) subsystem, a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory and a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to distance measuring systems, and more specifically, to a method and system for measuring a distance between transceivers having a low or zero intermediate frequency.
2. Background of the Invention
A multitude of wireless communications systems are common use today. Mobile telephones, pagers and wireless-connected computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptop computers provide portable communications at virtually any locality. As described in the above-incorporated patent applications, the above-listed portable devices as well as other communication systems may be enhanced to provide distance measurement capability within portable or stationary wireless devices.
In particular, BLUETOOTH devices provide a wireless network operating in the 2.4 Ghz Industrial Scientific and Medical band and be enhanced to provide a measurement of distance between connected devices without adding a separate infrastructure as is required with systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), thereby providing distance measurement with low incremental cost (BLUETOOTH is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc., which is an acronym for Bluetooth Special Interest Group—a consortium of wireless device manufacturers).
The techniques described in the above-incorporated patents introduce distance measurement capability within transceivers that are synchronized by a relatively high Intermediate Frequency (IF), but modern Radio Frequency (RF) Integrated circuit (IC) designs may use a very low IF frequency or a direct conversion scheme with no IF frequency at all. In a transceiver implemented using a low or zero IF frequency, synchronization of the devices involved in the distance measurement becomes impractical, and thus the known distance measuring schemes are thwarted by the lack of synchronization.
In particular, the half-duplex techniques described in the above-incorporated patent application "DISTANCE MEASUREMENT USING HALF-DUPLEX RF TECHNIQUES" are techniques that require synchronization of a pair of transceivers to retain phase coherency between reception and transmission intervals of a half-duplex signal. Without synchronization, a phase measurement cannot be made and therefore no distance measurement. In a direct conversion half-duplex system or a half-duplex low IF system where synchronization is impractical, implementation of the known distance measurement techniques is impossible.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and system for measuring distance within a low or zero IF transceiver loop, so that distance between wireless devices may be made without requiring additional infrastructure and without synchronization of local oscillators between wireless devices.

Method and system for distance measurement in a low or zero intermediate frequency half-duplex communications loop