Techniques provide cache service in a storage system. Such techniques involve a storage cell pool, a cache and an underlying storage system. The storage cell pool includes multiple storage cells, a storage cell among the multiple storage cells being mapped to a physical address in the underlying storage system via an address mapping of the storage system. Specifically, an access request for target data at a virtual address in the storage cell pool is received, and the type of the access request is determined. The access request is served with the cache on the basis of the determined type, where the cache is used to cache data according to a format of a storage cell in the storage cell pool. The cache directly stores data in various storage cells in the pool that is visible to users, so that response speed for the access request may be increased.

With the development of data storage techniques, various data storage devices now provide users with increasingly large data storage capacity, and their data access speed has been improved greatly. In storage systems, there has been proposed the concept of storage resource pool. A storage resource pool in a storage system may include a plurality of storage devices, and each among the plurality of storage devices may include a plurality of extents.
At this point, a corresponding storage space in the storage system may be allocated to a user so as to build a user storage system. The user storage system may include a storage cell pool that is visible to the user, and storage cells in the storage cell pool are virtual storage cells which have been mapped by an address mapping in the user storage system to physical addresses in underlying storage systems that provide real storage spaces. In order to provide higher response speed to the user, technical solutions for leveraging caches in the storage system have been developed. Nevertheless, there might exist complex address mapping relationships in the storage system. At this point, it is a research hotspot on how to provide cache service in a storage system more effectively.

Method, apparatus, and computer program product for providing cache service


A bucket or scoop with adjustable capacity has a fixed structure which forms an external rigid element and also has one or several mobile elements, complementary to the fixed structure, which slide inside the same by means of special devices. The special devices are actuators or pistons fixed either to the fixed structure or to the mobile elements, to occasion a reciprocal movement thereof. Sliding guides are arranged parallel to the direction of action of the pistons.

The present invention relates to an adjustable-capacity bucket for backhoe or loader.
According to the prior art, buckets for backhoes or loaders applied to excavators, earth-movers or machines for moving materials in general have a structure that has a constant and non-modifiable capacity.
The main drawback that is observed with conventional buckets for backhoes or loaders is that since their capacity is not modifiable, machines with different capacities are needed for each individual different requirement.
This drawback entails cost burdens arising from the need to have multiple machines available, with considerable waste of time during work when a machine that is different from the one being used is needed due to suspension of work, the request for the appropriate machine, the wait for its delivery on site, and its installation.
These drawbacks have been overcome with the adjustable-capacity bucket for backhoe or loader according to the present invention.

Bucket or scoop with adjustable capacity


The invention is a die comprising a die body. The die body defines an internal cavity and an applicator slot. The cavity is in fluid communication with the applicator slot. A plurality of gas relief passages are in fluid communication with the internal cavity.

Coating a fluid onto a web of material is well known. Extrusion of material so as to form films is also known. Such coating and extruding can often be conveniently done using a die having a cavity communicating with an applicator slot. Liquid under pressure is introduced into the cavity, and is then extruded out of the applicator slot as a film or onto a desired substrate or as a film.
Depending on the exact result desired and circumstances surrounding the coating or extrusion, various aids and orientations of the die may be utilized. For many types of coating or extruding, it is convenient to orient the die so that the applicator slot is disposed towards the top of the die. One reason for orienting the die in this fashion is that any air (or other gas) introduced into the die during operation, or air remaining within the die after the initial introduction of liquid into the cavity of the die tends to bubble upwards towards the applicator slot. This allows air in the die cavity to be eliminated. This is desirable in that residual gas within the coating or extrusion die, acts to reduce the response time to start and stop the emission of liquid through the applicator slot. This unresponsiveness is due to the compressibility of gas, versus a cavity completely filled with incompressible (or substantially less compressible) fluid.
For some extrusion or coating applications, however, it is desirable to dispose the applicator slot towards the bottom of the die (i.e., orient the die such that the applicator slot is disposed downward). This problem is particularly common when the liquid is to be coated onto a substrate in discrete, separated patches, when die responsiveness to starting and stopping of coating is particularly important. The problem of removing residual gas from the coating die when the applicator slot is disposed towards the bottom of the die has been considered by the art. It is known, for example, that when patch coating discrete articles a bleed valve can be provided for the die chamber so that any air coming into the applicator die is bled off through the air bleed valve.
However, pockets of gas can still occur in the die cavity, which are not eliminated by the bleed valve. These pockets of gas can especially occur when the die is particularly wide. Thus, the art still requires some way to assure removal of residual gas that is more generally applicable to varied die geometries with the die oriented in various directions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a semiconductor memory device including a pair of data input/output lines, a data amplifier circuit amplifies voltages at the data input/output lines, and a data maintaining circuit maintains output signals of the data amplifier circuit. A data determination circuit, generates a data determination signal after the data maintaining circuit manintains the output signals of the data amplifier circuit and transmits the data transmitting the data determination signal to the data amplifier circuit, thus suspending the operation of the data amplifier circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, and more particularly, to the dynamic data amplifier circuit thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a DRAM device, a dynamic data amplifier circuit is connected to data input/output lines to amplify the difference in voltage therebetween.
A prior art dynamic data amplifier circuit is constructed by current mirror type differential amplifiers. This will be explained later in detail.
In the above-described prior art DRAM device, however, even after the output signals of the differential amplifiers are determined, the differential amplifiers are still enabled. As a result, the power dissipation is increased. Particularly, in a 1Gbit DRAM device, this increase in the power dissipation cannot be ignored.

Semiconductor memory device having dynamic data amplifier circuit capable of reducing power dissipation


Group-Specific “Career Management Tools” allow groups (a sample of which include: academic departments at colleges and universities, academic groups, campus fraternity chapters, professional group chapters, and any cluster of individuals that identifies itself as a group), to manage their career-related activity on-line, through a tool containing functionality that includes, but is not limited to: a group-specific resume database, a group-specific job database, and a group-specific alumni database. Career Management Tools provide career-related information for group members, and such information is targeted specifically to the group. Information is entered into the Career Management Tool by group members (such as students, faculty, department administrators, group officers, and alumni), or by entities trying to target group members. Career Management Tools are deployed on a group's web site, and are branded to the group site's look and feel and they are accessible from the group's web site.

AfterCollege, Inc. has created a unique Internet recruiting service that greatly facilitates employers' efforts to recruit university graduates and students. It does this by establishing highly targeted recruiting relationships with individual academic departments, as well as academic groups, and professional group chapters, allowing AfterCollege to gather information about, and providing access to, graduating college students who are entering the job market. AfterCollege is using these unique relationships to provide a set of recruiting services to employers that cannot easily be matched by other recruiting services.
In interviews with employers, AfterCollege discovered that the number one need of companies in recruiting entry-level talent is the ability to specifically target the right candidates. Since efficient recruiting is becoming increasingly vital in a time-compressed work environment, employers want to streamline their efforts by targeting only the most qualified individuals. Currently, employers utilize a variety of techniques to recruit college candidates. These include advertising in school newspapers, posting jobs at university career centers, listing jobs on Internet sites, participating in industry career fairs, hosting their own events at targeted schools and establishing special "corporate affiliate" ties with individual academic departments.
Many of these recruiting strategies are not effective in reaching the most qualified candidates. As a consequence, employers are bombarded with resumes, only a few of which match the jobs. Those techniques that are more targeted tend to be expensive. Large companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars visiting campuses nationwide with the hope of attracting highly sought candidates. Often, these on-campus events suffer from low student attendance and/or attendance by unqualified candidates.
Approximately 5 million entry-level graduates and recent graduates pursue a new job each year. Online career services, however, currently contain approximately 750,000 resumes of entry-level job seekers combined (many of them duplicate among different sites), a market penetration of approximately 15%. Furthermore, university career centers, which are dedicated to helping students find employment, only account for 16% of students finding jobs.


Systems and methods obtain information that allows detection of whether a patient suffers from congestion by monitoring a response of the patient to a recumbent position of the patient's body. The patient may be monitored to determine a respiration pattern for a non-recumbent position such as standing and a respiration pattern for a recumbent position such as lying down. The two patterns may be compared, either by a processing device or a physician, to determine a difference in the two respiration patterns. Furthermore, the congestion may be inferred from detecting an amount of time that the patient spends in a recumbent position or from detecting the recumbent angle that the patient obtains, either of which is presumed to indicate whether a recumbent position presents discomfort to the patient due to the presence of congestion.

A patient suffers from congestion when filling pressure of the heart, which results from the return of blood from the body to the heart, is relatively high due to the heart's inability to effectively pump blood back out to the body. Thus, congestion is indicative of heart failure and is one factor that should be closely monitored for a heart failure patient. Congestion may be manifested in several ways in the heart failure patient's body.
One condition highly correlated with congestion is respiratory distress upon lying down. Congestion often results in the lungs becoming partially filled with fluid once the patient lies down, and the lungs maintain the partially filled state until the patient becomes upright. This filling causes the patient to have difficulty breathing while in the recumbent position, and the respiratory distress that may result from the lungs remaining filled with fluid is a good indicator of congestion.
Attempts have been made to assess congestion from observation of a patient's posture relative to his average trans-thoracic impedance, which decreases as the lungs fill with fluid. However, the average trans-thoracic impedance masks any change that might occur in the patient's respiratory patterns. Thus, average trans-thoracic impedance measurements fail to indicate the patient's level of respiratory distress that results from the recumbent position.

Detection of congestion from monitoring patient response to a recumbent position


An unnecessary through current is suppressed and insufficiency of an output electric potential and increase in power consumption are suppressed in a power supply circuit using a charge pump method. In order to suppress a reduction in an output electric potential VPP as well as suppressing transient through currents I1 and I2 when a clock DCCLK is inverted, resistances R1 of a wiring 11, R2 of a wiring 12 and R4 of a wiring 14 are set so as to satisfy relations R4>R1 and R4>R2. That is, the through currents I1 and I2 can be suppressed by reducing the resistances R1 and R2 so that electric potentials V1 and V2 are quickly inverted when the clock DCCLK is inverted. Also, the through current I1 can be suppressed to suppress the reduction in the positive output electric potential VPP by setting the resistance R4 to be larger than either of the resistances R1 and R2.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a power supply circuit and a display device provided with the power supply circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an active matrix type liquid crystal display device that is manufactured by a low temperature polysilicon TFT (Thin Film Transistor) technology, a power supply circuit that generates an electric potential to control turning on/off of pixel TFTs has been formed on a glass substrate of a liquid crystal panel in order to reduce a cost of a driver IC (Integrated Circuit).
The power supply circuit includes a positive power supply generation circuit that doubles an inputted positive power supply electric potential VDD by a charge pump method to generate 2VDD and a negative power supply generation circuit that multiplies the positive power supply electric potential VDD by (−1) by the charge pump method to generate a negative power supply electric potential −VDD.
The positive power supply generation circuit and the negative power supply generation circuit are provided with a plurality of charge transfer transistors connected in series and a flying capacitor connected with a connecting node between the charge transfer transistors. Electric charges are transferred from an input side to an output side through the charge transfer devices by switching the charge transfer transistors in synchronization with a clock applied to the flying capacitor.
The active matrix type liquid crystal display device that incorporates the power supply circuit described above on the glass substrate is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-146082.
With the power supply circuit described above, however, there is a case in which an unnecessary through current flows through the charge transfer transistor when the clock is inverted. When the unnecessary through current flows, an efficiency of the power supply circuit is reduced, resulting in insufficiency of output electric potential and increase in power consumption.

Power supply circuit and display device therewith


Disclosed is a liquid crystal display mainly including a liquid crystal layer having negative dielectric anisotropy sandwiched between two substrates treated by vertical alignment process, and first and second domain regulators for regulating orientation of the liquid crystal layer such that the liquid crystal molecules are aligned obliquely when a voltage is applied, so that the orientation will include a plurality of first and second directions. The first directions are different from the second directions. Each pixel is provided with one of the first and second domain regulators in a manner that every two adjacent pixels or every two adjacent R pixels, two adjacent G pixels or two adjacent B pixels are provided with different domain regulators.

Vertically-aligned (VA) LCD is a mode using a negative liquid crystal material and vertical alignment film. When no voltage is applied, liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a vertical direction and black display appears. When a predetermined voltage is applied, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a horizontal direction and white display appears. Comparing to the twisted nematic (TN) LCD, the vertically-aligned (VA) LCD provides higher contrast, higher response speed, and excellent viewing angle characteristics for white display and black display. However, the VA LCD still has a critical drawback of a narrow viewing angle. This poses a problem that the application of the VA LCD is limited.
It is known that viewing angle performance of a VA LCD can be improved by setting the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules inside pixels to a plurality of mutually different directions. European Patent Publication Number 0884626-A2 discloses a multi-domain vertically aligned (MVA) LCD having domain regulators for regulating the orientation of a liquid crystal in which liquid crystal molecules are aligned obliquely when a voltage is applied so that the orientation will include a plurality of directions within each pixel.
FIG. 1 shows a pixel layout of a conventional MVA LCD 100 illustrating four pixels thereof. As shown, as the domain regulators, pixel electrodes 120 on a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) substrate are provided with slits 130, and the common electrode on a CF (color filter) substrate is provided with protrusions 140. Note that the domain regulator is provided in each pixel. When a voltage is applied, electric fields oblique to the surfaces of the substrates are produced near the slits 130 and the edges 120a of the electrodes. The inclined surfaces of the protrusions 140 and the oblique electric fields generated between the substrates determine the directions of the liquid crystal molecules in which the liquid crystal molecules are tilted. In each of the pixels, the orientation of the liquid crystal is divided into four directions (as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG. 1) thereby improving viewing angle performance. In the LCD 100, disclination occurs at some particular regions within the pixel that appear darkened (darkened regions are hatched in FIG. 1).
FIG. 2 shows a pixel layout of another conventional MVA LCD 200 illustrating four pixels thereof. As shown, a plurality of slits 230 and protrusions 240 are provided in a pixel for dividing the orientation of the liquid crystal into eight directions (as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG. 2) thereby improving viewing angle performance. In the LCD 200, disclination also occurs at some particular regions within the pixel that appear darkened (darkened regions are hatched in FIG. 2). Note that the total darkened regions in FIG. 2 substantially have twice the total area of the darkened regions in FIG. 1. Therefore, the LCD 200 has a better viewing angle performance but has a lower aperture ratio (i.e., the ratio of the area that can transmit light to the total pixel area).
It is apparently known from those described above that, the more directions into which the orientation of the liquid crystal is divided, generally the better the viewing angle performance can be, but the total area of the darkened regions are also significantly increased.


A film deposition process for depositing an amorphous metal oxide film, for example, an amorphous tantalum oxide film and a film treatment process for improving film quality of the amorphous tantalum oxide film in the state in which an amorphous state of the amorphous metal oxide film is being maintained by a high-density plasma radiation treatment based upon ion and radical reactions and which contains at least oxygen at an ion current density higher than 5 mA/cm2 are carried out, whereby a low-temperature treatment in the whole process is made possible. In addition, since the amorphous metal oxide film, which is excellent in film quality, can be deposited, the amorphous metal oxide film can be made high in reliability and can be produced inexpensively. The amorphous tantalum oxide film which is excellent in film quality can be manufactured inexpensively by a low-temperature treatment. Also, when a capacitance element having an amorphous metal oxide film and a semiconductor device are manufactured, the amorphous metal oxide film which is excellent in film quality can be deposited by a low-temperature treatment and highly-reliable capacitance element and semiconductor device can be manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing amorphous metal oxide films and methods of manufacturing a capacitance element having an amorphous metal oxide film and a semiconductor device having an amorphous metal oxide film, e.g., methods of manufacturing an electrostatic capacitance element using an amorphous metal oxide film formed of an amorphous tantalum oxide thin film as a dielectric insulation film, e.g., a semiconductor device including an amorphous tantalum oxide thin film.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices, e.g., semiconductor integrated circuit devices, generally use a nitride silicon film (Si3N4 film) as a capacitive insulation film of an electrostatic capacitance element. As demand for the microminiaturization of semiconductor devices and the demands for increased degrees of integration and increased operation speeds for semiconductor devices progressively increase, various studies and developments for depositing Al2O3 films, oxide tantalum films, BaSrTiO films, SrTao films and PbTiO3—PbZrO3 films have been made so far. Of these metal films, tantalum oxide films have received remarkable attention. When a capacitance element having an MIS (metal-insulator-semiconductor) structure is formed, the following method is now frequently used to deposit a tantalum oxide film of its capacitive insulation layer, for example. FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart to which reference will be made in explaining a method of depositing a tantalum oxide film. As shown in FIG. 1, a substrate, e.g., a semiconductor wafer, is introduced into a low-pressure CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method system at a step S1, whereafter a tantalum oxide film is deposited at a step S2. In general, when most of the tantalum oxide film is deposited, pentaethoxytantalum (Ta(OC2H5)5) is used as a raw material, vaporized and then reacted with oxygen at a heat energy of about 450° C. under reduced pressure.
However, according to this film deposition method, a large amount of carbon (C) and hydroxyl group remains in the deposited film. Moreover, there is deposited a film which is in short of oxygen so that Ta and O cannot be coupled sufficiently.
As a result, only by this deposited film, there cannot be obtained sufficient electric characteristics, in particular, a leakage current characteristic, a withstand voltage characteristics, a dielectric constant and so forth.
To solve these problems, it is necessary to carry out a film quality improvement treatment. In this film quality improvement treatment, the deposited film is conveyed from the above-mentioned low-pressure CVD system into a film quality improvement system, e.g., an ultraviolet-ray radiation anneal treatment (so-called UV-O3 treatment) system, at a temperature ranging from 400° C. to 500° C. in the atmosphere of ozone at a step S3, wherein the deposited film is annealed at a step S4. Then, the wafer thus annealed is taken out from this treatment system at a step S5 and is then further annealed at a temperature in excess of 600° C. in an atmosphere of oxygen at a step S6.
The above-mentioned film is deposited by a general multi-chamber CVD system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic arrangement of such a multi-chamber CVD system. As shown in FIG. 2, this multi-chamber CVD system includes four chambers 101a to 101d at maximum prepared for a substrate, for example, a wafer conveying chamber in which a substrate or wafer is deposited. The substrate is transported from substrate cassette load-lock chambers 102 by a transportation robot 103 into the respective chambers 101a to 101d and vice versa.
Then, in this system, the two chambers are configured as film-deposition chambers and the remaining two chambers are configured as UV-O3 chambers serving as chambers in which wafers are treated after oxidation. A tantalum oxide film is deposited by any one of the film-deposition chambers and is treated by a post-treatment process in any one of the UV-O3 chambers.
The tantalum oxide film thus treated by the post-treatment process is then annealed at a temperature higher than 600° C. in the oxygen atmosphere containing at least oxygen and thereby can be improved in quality.
However, in recent years, semiconductor devices have been required to operate at higher speeds. Hence, there is a trend that necessary layers such as electrode layers and interconnection layers should be formed of metal layers progressively. In accordance with the above-mentioned increasing demands and trends, in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, it is requested that a heat-treatment process be made at lower temperatures. For example, there is an increasing demand that a capacitance element serving as a circuit element in a semiconductor integrated circuit introduce a so-called MIM (metal-insulator-metal) structure obtained when an electrode layer or an interconnection layer is formed of a metal layer.
When the capacitance element having the MIM structure or the like is formed under the above-mentioned circumstances, if a metal oxide film such as a tantalum oxide film is formed as a dielectric insulation layer by the above-mentioned film-deposition method which requires the above-mentioned high-temperature treatment, then problems will arise in the characteristics and reliability of the capacitance element, i.e., the semiconductor device.
Specifically, in the stage in which the metal film that requires the above-mentioned high-temperature treatment is formed, when the metal layer has already been existing, i.e., a metal layer has a structure in which an electrode metal layer of a lower layer has already been existing in the MIM structure, this metal layer has to be formed of high-melting point metals which are rich in heat-resisting properties and which are low in resistivity, e.g., expensive metals such as Pt (platinum) and Ru (ruthenium). However, these metals inevitably encounter poor workability obtained when these metals are formed as microminiaturized patterns. Moreover, it is unavoidable that these metals require complex manufacturing processes and complex manufacturing facilities, such that the metal layers become expensive.
On the other hand, as a substitute technology for the above-mentioned post-treatment with high temperature, there has been examined so far a method in which a metal layer is processed by an O2 plasma oxidation treatment after the metal layer had been deposited. FIG. 3 is a flowchart to which reference will be made in explaining the above-mentioned substitute technology. As shown in FIG. 3, a substrate, e.g., a semiconductor wafer, is introduced into a low-pressure CVD method system at a step S10, whereafter a tantalum oxide film is deposited on the semiconductor wafer at a step S11. Then, the deposited film is transported from the above-mentioned low-pressure CVD system into the film quality improvement system, e.g., ultraviolet-ray radiation anneal treatment system, at a temperature ranging from 400° C. to 500° C. in the atmosphere of ozone at a step S12, wherein the deposited film is processed by an O2 plasma treatment at a step S13. Then, the semiconductor wafer thus processed by the O2 plasma treatment is taken out from this treatment system at a step S14. However, a plasma oxidation treatment executed by a general diode parallel plate plasma treatment system fails to provide sufficiently high film characteristics.
Furthermore, in this case, it is necessary to prepare both a CVD system for depositing films and a high-density plasma system. Even when these systems are formed as a single system, it is unavoidable that metal layers should be produced expensively.

Method of manufacturing amorphous metal oxide film and methods of manufacturing capacitance element having amorphous metal oxide film and semiconductor device


Providing for workflow and finishing solutions for printing are disclosed herein. By way of example, disclosed workflow provides grouping and managing a stream(s) of digital images across a substrate width, for maximizing print productivity and profitability. Digital images are re-sized according to print instructions and oriented into a print stream. Multiple print streams can be organized onto the substrate width, to improve substrate packing. Moreover, disclosed finishing solutions provide for outputting streams of prints according to an output format, in conjunction with rendering the digital images in physical form.

Retail photofinishing has historically involved small scale commercial or even large scale industrial print shops, which rendered captured images onto physical media. Analog photography utilizing photographic film is developed by applying developing chemicals to the photographic film under certain ambient conditions, to make a negative of the film. The negative could then be reduced to re-create a captured photograph on a more permanent media, such as photography paper, or the like.
With the advent of digital photography, film development was replaced by direct printing of digital images. By digitizing an image, the image could be re-created with a dot printer or other suitable printing device on physical media. One great advantage of digital photography is that printers suitable to render a fair to good quality image can be manufactured very cheaply, particularly compared to costs of photographic labs for developing photographic film. Accordingly, digital photography rapidly overtook film-based photography for many applications, particular consumer photography.
Digital photography quickly became a turn-key end-user process, in which the end-user could purchase equipment to digitally capture, store and render their photographs. These digital pictures are easy to share with friends via electronic communication, print out for display, or save for long periods. However, end-user equipment does not achieve the quality that professional printing or finishing can produce, and with recent advancements in high definition photography, the disparity in quality became more pronounced; disparities in printing quality for high definition images are often detectable even by the average photographer. Although commercial photofinishing still provides high quality prints for high definition photographs, the conveniences of printing within one's own home or office are not quite matched by the average retail store experience. Thus, mass consumer use of commercial photofinishing had been somewhat limited. However, Internet commerce has significantly changed this paradigm.
Recent technological advancements in size and cost of data storage, as well as advancements in last-mile Internet bandwidth to the consumer, have enabled web-based photofinishing to flourish. Photographers can now upload digital photographs to a website, and have those images stored for sharing, later viewing, or downloading. Moreover, uploaded photographs can be provided to a commercial printer electronically, with little more manual overhead than printing out a photograph on a digital printer attached to a computer. Photographs, once rendered physically, can be mailed to consumers by the commercial printer. Utilizing electronic communication then, consumers now had access to high quality, high definition printing, with conveniences that approach home digital printing. As a result, much of modern retail photofinishing is directed toward rapidly and cost effectively generating print photographs from electronic digital images.

Work flow and finishing for print production of photograph images


The present disclosure provides a battery module, which comprises a plurality of battery arrays, a first end plate, a second end plate and a separating plate. Each battery array comprises a plurality of batteries sequentially arranged in a longitudinal direction, the plurality of battery arrays are sequentially arranged in a transversal direction. The first end plate and the second end plate are respectively positioned at two ends of the plurality of battery arrays in the longitudinal direction. The first end plate has a passage. The separating plate is provided between two adjacent battery arrays, one end of the separating plate in the longitudinal direction is fixed with the second end plate, the other end of the separating plate in the longitudinal direction extends into the passage and is fixed with the first end plate. In the passage, the separating plate has a bending portion not parallel to the longitudinal direction.

A battery module generally comprises a plurality of batteries, the plurality of batteries are clamped by end plates respectively positioned at two ends of the batteries. When the plurality of batteries are arranged in multiple rows, and the batteries in each row are arranged in an array, it needs to provide a separating plate between two adjacent rows of batteries, and the separating plate needs to be welded with the end plates. The conventional method is to provide an end plate hole penetrating the end plate, then insert an end portion of the separating plate into the end plate hole, and weld along a boundary between the separating plate and the end plate by laser. In order to ensure assembling performance, a fitting gap is left between the separating plate and the end plate in the end plate hole; if the fitting gap is too large, the laser may be emitted into the inside of the battery module via the fitting gap, thereby burning the batteries. If the fitting gap is decreased, it may lead to difficulty of assembling, reduce the production efficiency and increase cost of production.

CONTEMPORARY AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY CO., LIMITED


The present invention concerns a device for amplifying target nucleic acids, reaction cartridges for use in the device, and modes of use of the device.

Detecting target nucleic acid sequences is a technique that is being used to a greater and greater extent in many fields, and the range of applications of that technique is predicted to widen as it becomes more reliable, cheaper and faster. In the human health field, detecting certain nucleic acid sequences can in some cases provide a reliable and rapid diagnosis of viral or bacterial infections. Similarly, detecting certain genetic peculiarities can allow susceptibilities to certain diseases to be identified, or provide an early diagnosis of genetic or neoplastic diseases. The detection of target nucleic acid sequences is also used in the agroalimentary industry, in particular to provide product traceability, to detect the presence of genetically modified organisms and to identify them, or to carry out food checks.
Detection procedures based on nucleic acids almost systematically involve a molecular hybridisation reaction between a target nucleic acid sequence and one or more nucleic acid sequences complementary to that target sequence. Such processes have a number of variations, such as techniques known to the skilled person as "transfer techniques" (blot, dot blot, Southern blot, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism, etc.), or such as miniaturised systems on which the complementary sequences of the target sequences are previously fixed (microarrays). Within the context of such techniques, complementary nucleic acid sequences are generally termed probes. A further variation, which can in itself constitute the basis of a diagnostic procedure or may simply be a supplementary step in one of the techniques mentioned above (in particular to increase the concentration of the target sequence and thus, the sensitivity of the diagnosis), consists of amplifying the targeted nucleic acid sequence. A number of techniques that can specifically amplify a nucleic acid sequence have been described, the most popular technique being the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Within the context of that technique, complementary nucleic acid sequences of target sequences, termed primers, are used to amplify those target sequences.
PCR reactions involve repeated cycles, generally 20 to 50 in number, and each is composed of three successive phases, namely: denaturation, primer annealing, strand elongation. The first phase corresponds to transforming double-stranded nucleic acids into single-stranded nucleic acids; the second phase is molecular hybridisation between the target sequence and the complementary primers for said sequence, and the third phase corresponds to elongation of the complementary primers hybridised to the target sequence, using a DNA polymerase. Those phases are carried out at specific temperatures: generally, 95° C. for denaturation, 72° C. for elongation, and between 30° C. and 65° C. for annealing, depending on the melting temperature (Tm) of the primers used. It is also possible to carry out the annealing and elongation steps at the same temperature (generally 60° C.).
Thus, a PCR reaction consists of a sequence of repetitive thermal cycles during which the number of target DNA molecules acting as the template is theoretically doubled for each cycle. In practice, the PCR yield is less than 100%, so the quantity of product Xn obtained after n cycles is:Xn=Xn−1(1+rn), where
Xn−1 is the quantity of product obtained in the preceding cycle, and rn is the PCR yield in cycle n (0<rn≦1).
Assuming the yield to be a constant, i.e., identical for each cycle, the quantity of product Xn obtained after n cycles from an initial quantity X0 is:Xn=X0(1+r)n   (A)
In practice, the yield r reduces during the PCR reaction, due to a number of factors such as a limiting quantity of at least one of the reagents necessary for amplification, deactivation of the polymerase by its repeated passes at 95° C., or its inhibition by pyrophosphates produced by the reaction.
Because of this reduction in yield, the PCR reaction kinetics firstly exhibit an exponential phase (where r is a constant), which then changes into a plateau phase when r reduces.
During the exponential phase, equation (A) above applies, and can also be written as:log(Xn)=log(X0)+n log(1+r)
Thus, in the exponential phase of the PCR, the curve showing the quantity of product on a logarithmic scale as a function of the number of cycles is a straight line with slope (1+r) which intersects the ordinate at a value equal to the logarithm of the initial concentration.
Real-time measurement of the quantity of product obtained can thus provide the initial concentration of the template, which is of particular importance in a large number of applications, for example when measuring the viral charge in a patient, or to determine the variability of a transcriptome.
Generally, the PCR employs reaction volumes of 2 μl to 50 μl and is carried out in tubes, microtubes, capillaries or systems known in the art as "microplates" (integral assemblies of microtubes). Each batch of tubes or equivalent containers must thus be successively heated to the three temperatures, corresponding to the different phases of the PCR, for the desired number of cycles.
Using tubes or similar systems obliges the operator to carry out many manipulations to prepare as many tubes and solutions (known in the art as mix PCR) as there are target sequences to be amplified, even when using a single sample of nucleic acids, with the exception of multiplex amplification procedures, which amplify a plurality of target sequences simultaneously in the same container, either using low specificity primers that can hybridise with a plurality of target sequences, such as RAPD—random amplified polymorphism DNA, or using specific primers in larger numbers, where each pair of primers used amplifies a single target sequence. Multiplex amplifications correspond to particular cases and are not in routine use. Further, they do not guarantee freedom from interactions of one amplification reaction with another, and because of possible hybridisations between primers, can only be very limited in the number of target sequences amplified per container.
Those different manipulations cause a number of disadvantages.
Firstly, they are time consuming. Secondly, they are not risk-free as regards possible contamination from one tube to another or from the external environment (dust, bacteria, aerosols or other contaminants that may contain nucleic acid molecules or molecules that may influence the efficacy of the amplification reaction). Further, homogeneity of volume and reagent concentration from one tube to another is not guaranteed. Finally, the volumes are necessarily manipulated manually and are generally greater than 1 μl, which affects the costs of carrying out PCR as the reagents employed are expensive.
The use of devices designed for at least partial automation of such manipulations can overcome some of those disadvantages. However, those instruments are relatively expensive and their use is, therefore, only economically justified when carrying out many PCR amplifications, for example for genome sequencing.
Some instruments also exist that can carry out kinetic PCR amplifications. As seen above, kinetic PCR necessitates real-time, specific quantification of the amplified target sequence. The use of a fluorescent reporter in the reaction mixture allows the increase in the total quantity of double-stranded DNA to be measured in that mixture. However, that method cannot discriminate amplification of the target sequence from background noise or from possible non specific amplification. Several probe systems have recently been described that specifically measure amplification of a set target sequence. They are based on complementary oligonucleotides of that sequence, and bonded to pairs of fluorophore groups or fluorophore/quenchers, such that hybridisation of the probe to its target and the successive amplification cycles cause an increase or reduction in the total fluorescence of the mixture, depending on the case, proportional to the amplification of the target sequence.
Examples of probes that can be used to carry out kinetic PCR that can be cited are the TaqMan™ (ABI®), the AmpliSensor™ (InGen), and the Sunrise™ (Oncor®, Appligene®) systems.
The system in most widespread use is the TaqMan™ system.
That procedure combines activities of DNA polymerase and the 5′→3′ nuclease of Taq polymerase during PCR. The principle is as follows: in addition to the two primers with a sequence complementary to that of the target to be amplified, a probe, the reporter probe, is added to the reaction medium. It has the ability to hybridise with the target in the body of the amplified sequence, but cannot itself be amplified. A phosphoryl group added to the 3′ end of the probe prevents it from being extended by Taq polymerase. A fluorescein derivative and a rhodamine derivative are incorporated into the-probe, respectively at the 5′ and 3′ ends. The probe is small, so the rhodamine derivative located close to the fluorescein absorbs the energy emitted by the fluorescein when it is excited (quenching).
Once the primers are hybridised to the target, during the elongation reaction, Taq DNA polymerase attacks the probe via its 5′ nuclease activity, releasing the quencher group and thus re-establishing fluorescence. The intensity of the emitted fluorescence is then proportional to the quantity of PCR products formed, which provides a quantitative result. The emitted fluorescence is proportional to the initial number of target molecules. The fluorescence development kinetics can be followed in real-time during the amplification reaction.
That technique has the advantage of being capable of ready automation. An instrument that can carry out the technique, the ABI Prism 7700™, is sold by Perkin-Elmer. That instrument combines a thermocycler and a fluorimeter. It can detect the increase in fluorescence generated during a quantification test using the TaqMan™ procedure, by means of optical fibres located under each tube and connected to a CCD camera that detects, in real-time, the signal emitted by the fluorescent groups liberated during PCR. Quantitative data are deduced by determining the cycle at which the signal from the amplification product reaches a certain threshold determined by the operator. Several studies have demonstrated that the number of cycles is proportional to the quantity of initial material (Gibson, Heid et al., 1996; Heid, Stevens et al., 1996; Williams, Giles et al., 1998).
The number of potential applications of such an instrument is considerable, in human health, in the agroalimentary field and in quality control. Unfortunately, the ABI Prism 7700™ and the several other competing instruments currently on the market are extremely expensive. Further, they can only be used by a trained operator. In practice, such instruments are only used in certain highly specialised areas.
Thus, there is a need for a nucleic acid amplification system, if necessary measuring in real-time, which does not have the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above.

Device for thermo-dependent chain reaction amplification of target nucleic acid sequences, measured in real-time


A method of forming a self-aligned SOI diode, the method comprising depositing a protective structure over a substrate; implanting a plurality of diffusion regions of variable dopant types in an area between at least one pair of isolation regions in the substrate, the plurality of diffusion regions separated by a diode junction, wherein the implanting aligns an upper surface of the diode junction with the protective structure; and removing the protective structure. The method further comprises forming a silicide layer over the diffusion regions and aligned with the protective structure. The protective structure comprises a hard mask, wherein the hard mask comprises a silicon nitride layer. Alternatively, the protective structure comprises a polysilicon gate and insulating spacers on opposite sides of the gate. Furthermore, in the removing step, the spacers remain on the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to integrated circuit technologies, and more particularly to silicon on insulator, electrostatic discharge diodes incorporated in field effect transistor structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, diodes offered in silicon on insulator (SOI) technologies require the use of polysilicon to serve as a self-aligning mask for the anode/cathode and to block silicide formation, preventing shorting between the anode and cathode regions of the device. The standard practice is for the polysilicon gate to remain after processing is completed. However, this approach has two disadvantages; gate oxide breakdown limitations and increased capacitance loading.
An example of a conventional diode structure is illustrated in FIG. 1, wherein the diode is formed on a single area of silicon over a buried oxide insulator 10 over a substrate 5, and in between the shallow trench isolation regions (STI) 15. The polysilicon gate 30 is used to separate the anode and cathode and to provide silicide blocking. The anode connects to the P+ region 20 of the diode, while the cathode connects to the N+ region 27 of the diode. An N− region 25 (often referred to as the n-type body region), which is positioned under the gate 30, separates the P+ 20 and N+ 27 regions from one another. A pair of insulating spacers 40 is attached to the sidewalls of the gate 30, and a layer of silicide 35 is deposited over the upper surfaces of the gate 30, P+ region 20, and N+ region 27.
A typical diode-based ESD protection circuit is provided in FIG. 2, with the diode structures shown in the encircled regions. As shown, the gate of the diode connects to the cathode. Also, an overlap capacitor is formed between the anode diffusion and the gate. During electrostatic discharge (ESD) events, large voltages can develop between the pad and ground, which can lead to gate oxide breakdown. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the diodes are used in the circuit to protect against the Human Body Model/Machine Model (HBM/MM) and Charged Device Model (CDM), which are well-known models of ESD events. resistors may be added in the circuit in order to have the correct output impedance for the desired I/O performance (impedance matching).
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0080386 published on May 1, 2003, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, describes creating an ungated SOI diode that has the PN junction formed between lightly doped body implant regions. '386 publication describes using a MOS gate to form the diode as is known in the art for creating an SOI diode. in '386, the P-well and N-well are implanted in separate processing steps and have to be aligned to each other, and the same is true for the P+ and N+ implants in the non-gated diode.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,589,823 issued on Jul. 8, 2003, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, describes adding a backside contact ("plug") to SOI diodes in order to provide a path for heat dissipation. diode is not created in a self-aligned fashion as implant masks for N+ and P+ must be aligned to each other in separate lithographic steps, and the silicide blocking mask must also be aligned after the implants are complete. suggests that the resistance characteristics of the diode may suffer because the silicide region is not proximate to the diode junction.
Thus, there is an identified need for a process of manufacturing an SOI diode which solves gate oxide breakdown limitations, and includes decreased capacitance loading and optimally reduced on-resistance. While the conventional devices and methods are adequate for the purposes they were designed to solve, there remains a need for a novel method for processing a self-aligning low capacitance SOI ESD diode, which does not include a polysilicon gate in the final diode structure.

Method for creating a self-aligned SOI diode by removing a polysilicon gate during processing

International Business Machines Corporation


Data frames, such as Controller Access Network frames, that are to be programmed into a FLASH memory device, are sent from a programming station to a target device via a relatively high-speed bus and stored temporarily at the target device in numbered frame buffers. Each frame carries a payload. Before a frame is sent, an identifier is assigned to it, or an identifier is appended to the frame. The identifier identifies a particular buffer in the target device where the frame is to be stored in the target device until the target device is able to process the frame and write its payload into a FLASH memory device.

As used herein, a bus is considered to be one or more conductors in a computer system that form a main transmission path for electrical signals that represent information. The Controller Area Network or C.A.N. is a well-known bus standard that was originally designed to allow microcontrollers and related devices to communicate with each other within a vehicle without a host computer arbitrating the communications. The C.A.N. is a message-based protocol designed specifically for automotive and transportation applications but also now used in other areas such as industrial automation and medical equipment. Information is carried over a C.A.N. bus in frames, the structures of which are defined in the C.A.N. specification. A "frame" is considered to be a collection of binary digits or "bits" representing a block of data. Behrouz A. Forouzan, "Data Communications and Networking," Fourth Ed., pp 1082.
FIG. 1 depicts an example of a C.A.N. data frame 100. The frame 100 is comprised of several different fields 102, some of which are single-bit fields, others being multi-bit fields. The first field 104 is a single-bit start-of-frame field located in the first bit position. The next eleven bits are an identifier field 106, which is typically used to represent the priority of the data frame 100. The next three bits comprise three individual fields, 108, 110 and 112, which are a remote transmission request or RTR bit/field, and identifier extension bit or IDE bit/field and a reserved bit/field. They are followed by a four-bit field denominated as the data length code field 114. The data length code or DLC field of four bits represents the number of bytes of data in the next field which is the data field or payload field 116. Under the C.A.N. standard, the data field or payload field 116 can be up to 64 bits or eight, 8-bit bytes. A cyclic redundancy check or CRC field 118 of 15 bits follows the payload field 116 and is followed by various other "housekeeping" bit fields 120, 122 and 124. The frame 100 ends with an end-of-frame field 126 of seven bits.
C.A.N.-based communications are commonly used to program devices found in automobiles and other transportation equipment. Such programming typically involves transmitting files from a programming station to a microcontroller. Programming frequently includes writing or programming one or more files into a FLASH memory device. According to the I.E.E.E. Standards Dictionary of 2011, a FLASH memory device is an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) in which clearing and programming can be performed only on blocks or the entire array.
As used herein, a file is considered as being a collection of related data, i.e., binary digits, examples of which include text or a program, which is treated by a computer as a single unit, especially for purposes of input and output. Files include representations of executable instructions for a computer or other processor as well as data.
The inventor has identified shortcomings associated with transmitting files over a C.A.N. bus, including that programming a FLASH memory device takes a significant amount of time. The time required to program a FLASH memory device with even a few hundred bytes of data usually takes much more time than it does to send those few hundred data bytes over a C.A.N. bus. As a result, a C.A.N. bus is frequently used inefficiently by having to wait for a FLASH programming device to receive C.A.N. data frames, extract the payload information from them and copy or write that information into a FLASH memory device. A method and apparatus by which a C.A.N. bus could be used more efficiently to transfer especially large data files would be an improvement over the prior art.

Method and apparatus to reduce FLASH memory device programming time over a C.A.N. bus


A robot wrist mechanism such as those used for painting, sealing and welding operations is disclosed. The robot wrist mechanism comprises an arm rotated by a drive source; a first wrist member rotatably supported on the end of the arm so as to be rotatable about a first rotation axis; a second wrist member supported at another end of the first wrist member so as to be freely rotatable about a second rotation axis. The second axis and the arm axis are arranged to lie in the same plane. A mounting shaft is provided on the second wrist member with an axis of the mounting shaft lying in a plane including the first axis and orthogonal to the second axis. The second wrist member is arranged to protrude upwards with respect to a plane including the first axis and the axis of the mounting shaft. With the robot wrist mechanism of the present invention, the drive mechanism transmitting the drive force of the drive shaft to the mounting shaft protrudes upwards of a line through the mounting shaft and arm. As a result, the operability of a robot having this arm during direct teaching is greatly improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot wrist mechanism of particular application to industrial robots such as those used for painting, sealing and welding operations.
2. Prior Art
Industrial robots for industrial use have been disclosed, for example in Japanese Patent Application first Publication No. 60-48291. The robot of this disclosure is shown in the figures from FIG. 17 to FIG. 19.
With this robot, a first wrist member 71 of an overall L-shape is provided at the end of a second arm 70. The first wrist member 71 is axially supported on the end of the second arm 70, so as to be rotatable about a horizontal first axis of rotation orthogonal to the axis of the second arm 70. A second wrist member 72 is supported on an upper face on the end of the first wrist member 71 with an axis parallel to the upper face, and rotatable about a second axis of rotation orthogonal to the upper face. A wrist end portion 73 is axially supported at the end of the second wrist member 72 so as to be rotatable about an axis of the second wrist member 72.
Plane gears 74, 75, 76 are disposed on the first axis of rotation inside the first wrist member 71 and provide a geared connection between the first wrist member 71 and the second wrist member 72. In this conventional example, as shown in FIG. 17 and 18, the first wrist member 71 is constructed so that when held with the third axis horizontal it protrudes downward with respect to a plane including the first and third axes.
As shown in FIG. 19, transmission of a rotary force to the first wrist member 71, second wrist member 72 and wrist end portion 73 utilizes a wrapped around transmission member 77. In particular, the transmission of the rotary force to the second wrist member 72 and wrist end member 73 utilizes the respective pairs of bevel gears 79a, 79b, and 78a, 78b. The bevel gears 78a, and 79a of the pairs of bevel gears 78a, 78b and 79a, 79b are arranged inside the first wrist member 71 with their pitch cone angles facing in opposite directions.
There is a problem however with the above conventional robot wrist mechanism, in that when it is used for example in a direct teaching type robot where the teaching is carried out with an end-effector such as a paint gun, the teaching becomes difficult. In general, when carrying out direct teaching, then as discussed later with reference to FIG. 5, it is common practice to fit a teaching handle so as to support the weight of the end-effector in a gravitational direction. However, with the wrist mechanism of the conventional robot, when a teaching handle is fitted, the downward protruding portion of the first wrist member 71 becomes an obstacle.
Furthermore, with the direct drive type robot which is ideally suited to direct teaching, it is common to use motors fitted with single rotation type detectors and arranged in series. However in this case, the bevel gears 78a, 79a inside the first wrist member 71 are used in an opposite sense so that their shafts are susceptible to interference with each other, making it difficult to obtain independent wide operating angles about the respective axis of rotation.
Also with wrist mechanisms having the above type of construction, the first wrist member 71 generally swings up and down about the axis orthogonal to the axis of the second arm 70, with the second arm 70 fixed. Hence with this type of construction, it is difficult to avoid mutual interference between the second arm 70, the first wrist member 71 and the second wrist member 72. By providing an appropriate space however between the members, this interference may be minimized. The required size of this space determines the operating angle of the wrist mechanism. For example, although there may be a wide operating range in the up down direction, and the left right direction, it is difficult to ensure this operating range in both the up down and left right directions. Consequently, if an operating range is used in which the range in the up down direction is large with respect to the length of the work, then there will be some range in which left right work is not possible.
With the conventional robot, due to the mutual interference between the first wrist member 71 and the second wrist member 72, there is provided a wrist mechanism suited for use in the up down direction and a wrist mechanism suited for use in the left right direction, so that at least one is suited for a particular direction. Consequently, depending on the work shape, it is necessary to change the wrist mechanism to suit. As a result, not only is time lost in changing the wrist mechanism but also a number of wrist mechanisms must be kept on hand so that operating efficiency is compromised. Furthermore, although there are recent new designs for wrist mechanisms that have a wide operating range in all directions, these designs are generally complicated and involve a large size wrist mechanism.


Rotary tool, such as a drill or milling cutter, having a main tool body, which extends along a center longitudinal axis, which has a flute and which, at a distance from the center longitudinal axis, has an insert seat which is introduced into the flute wall and in which a cutting insert, in particular made of a superhard material such as PCD or PCBN, is fastened integrally, wherein, for fixing both a radial and also an axial position of the cutting insert, the insert seat has an abutment wall which has a contour for positioning the cutting insert in a rotationally locked manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing a rotary tool, and to a rotary tool produced accordingly.
2. Background Information
Hard workpieces, for example, are subjected to cutting machining using drills or milling cutters equipped with special sintered cutting inserts having a cutting-edge region which consists of a superhard material, in particular of PCD (polycrystalline diamond) or of PCBN (polycrystalline cubic boron nitride). Cutting inserts of this type are fastened integrally in a respective insert seat, which is introduced in a main tool body of the rotary tool, in particular by soldering.
A plurality of cutting inserts, for example two or three such cutting inserts, are usually fitted around the circumference of the main tool body. In a stepped tool, for example a stepped drill, further cutting inserts arranged radially further outward are fitted around the circumference in a rear region of the main tool body at a distance from a front tool point. Stepped drills of this type are used, for example, for machining a valve seat and require high-precision orientation of the cutting edges of the cutting inserts.
The main tool body consists, for example, of HSS or hard metal. The insert seats are introduced in a flute wall of a flute introduced into the main tool body and at a distance from a center longitudinal axis of the main tool body. The insert seat in this respect comprises a planar insert support and also an abutment wall arranged at the edge. The insert seat is introduced by a disk-shaped machining tool, for example a side milling cutter or a grinding wheel, such that it assumes an approximately semilunar shape.
A preformed basic cutting insert still to be machined is positioned and firmly soldered into the insert seat. The basic cutting inserts used at present in this respect have an oversize in the range of 3 to 4 mm which is still to be removed. This oversize is the result of the relatively inaccurate positioning and orientation of the prefabricated basic cutting insert in the insert seat shaped like a semilunar circle. The oversize has to be brought to a desired end contour in a subsequent finishing operation. On account of the superhard material of the cutting insert, this is associated with considerable effort. In the case of a tool in this respect, this finishing operation often requires several hours and may last up to ten hours.
The cutting inserts are usually cut out of a so-called blank by means of erosion. Alternatively, laser cutting can also be used for this purpose. The blank is a particular circular unfinished part having a layer structure with a carrier, for example made of hard metal, to which the cutting material (PCD or PCBN) is applied. As an alternative to this, the blank is formed exclusively from the cutting material.
In addition to the intended use described above, in which basic cutting inserts are firstly cut out of the blank and fastened integrally in an insert seat by soldering and then subjected to a finishing operation, such cutting inserts made of a superhard material are also used as indexable cutting inserts, which are fastened in the tool without a further finishing operation. Fine adjustment mechanisms, such as for example adjustment screws, are often provided on the tools in this respect.
A further alternative possible use for such superhard cutting inserts can be gathered from U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,251. According to such document, it is provided that firstly cutting bars with the superhard coating are formed, and these are then inserted into corresponding slots in the main tool body. In this case, the cutting bars extend over the entire tool diameter. This requires a complicated production method for the cutting inserts, however, since the cutting bars have to be equipped with the superhard cutting material on opposing sides over their length extending over the entire diameter. By contrast, simple production of the cutting inserts is made possible in the embodiment variant described above, in which the insert seats are introduced merely on one side and at a distance from the center longitudinal axis.
It is furthermore known from DE 20 2006 002 827 U1 and from EP 2067552 A1 to introduce contours into the surface of such cutting inserts, for example for forming chip breaker grooves.


A method of encoding a digital image using adaptive partitioning in an iterated transformation image compression system is provided. A set of ranges R is initialized to include at least two uncovered ranges. A set of domains D is initialized to include only one member which is the entire image area.. For each uncovered range in the set R: A transformation is generated for each domain in the set of domains. Each domain is transformed into corresponding transformed images to map onto each uncovered range in the set R. Each domain's transformation is optimized and is indicative of a domain's corresponding optimized transformation image for an associated uncovered range. Each optimized transformation image is compared with the associated uncovered range to provide error data as a function of the difference therebetween. The associated uncovered range is redefined as a covered range when the error data for the associated uncovered range is within predefined limits. The covered range is then added to the set of domains D. The associated uncovered range is partitioned into a plurality of non-overlapping image areas. Partitioning is based upon the features of the image bounded by the associated uncovered range and takes place when the error data for the associated uncovered range exceeds the predefined limits. Each of the non-overlapping image areas is added to the set R of uncovered ranges and the associated uncovered range is added to the set of domains D.. The steps of generating, transforming, optimizing, comparing, redefining, partitioning and adding are repeated to select a set of covered ranges, domains and corresponding optimized transformations. The set of covered ranges form a non-overlapping tiling of the image and some iterate of the set of selected transformations is contractive. Information that identifies the set of covered ranges, domains and corresponding optimized transformations is stored compactly in an addressable memory.

Advances in computer hardware and software technology have brought about increasing uses of digital imagery. However, the amount of memory necessary to store a large number of high resolution digital images is significant. Furthermore, the time and bandwidth necessary to transmit the images is unacceptable for many applications. Accordingly, there has been considerable interest in the field of digital image compression.
The basic elements of a digital image compression system are shown schematically in FIG. 1, and are referenced by those elements contained within dotted line box 100. A digitized image is processed by an encoder 101 to reduce the amount of information required to reproduce the image. This information is then typically stored as compressed data in a memory 102. When the image is to be reconstructed, the information stored in memory 102 is passed through a decoder 103.
The goal of a good compression method implemented by encoder 101 is to attain a high compression ratio with minimal loss in fidelity. One of the latest approaches to the image compression problem has been put forth by Arnaud Jacquin in a paper entitled "Fractal Image Coding Based on a Theory of Iterated Contractive Image Transformations", appearing in The International Society for Optical Engineering Proceedings Volume 1360, Visual Communications and Image Processing, October 1990, pp. 227-239.
As is known in the art, fractal image generation is based on the iteration of simple deterministic mathematical procedures that can generate images with infinitely intricate geometries (i.e. fractal images). However, to use these fractal procedures in digital image compression, the inverse problem of constraining the fractal complexity to match the given complexity of a real-world image must be solved. The "iterated transformation" method of Jacquin constructs, for each original image, a set of transformations which form a map that encodes the original image. Each transformation maps a portion of the image (known as a domain) to another portion of the image (known as a range). The transformations, when iterated, produce a sequence of images which converge to a fractal approximation of the original image.
In order for a transformation to map onto some portion of the original image within a specified error bound, the transformation must be optimized in terms of position, size and intensity. If the transformation cannot be optimized within the specified error bound for a given set of ranges and domains, predefined subdivisions of the ranges are selected. The search for an optimized transformation then continues using these subdivisions. One method of predefining the subdivisions is known as quad-tree partitioning which divides a square sized range in a fixed way. Essentially, the range is subdivided into four equally sized squares without considering any of the image's features.
Thus, the need exists for a method of adaptively partitioning the image in an iterated transformation system based upon the features of the image. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of encoding a digital image in an iterated transformation system by using adaptive partitioning in determining suitable ranges and domains to encode the image. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of encoding a digital image in an iterated transformation system that adjusts to the features of the image during its partitioning process.

Method of encoding a digital image using adaptive partitioning in an iterated transformation system

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A seam welder for sealing a cover of a surface mount package to its carrier includes a table for receiving a fixture which itself carried surface mount packages to be welded for sealing an electronic component therein. Electrical current to welding electrodes is controlled for resistance welding the cover to the carrier. Electrode temperature and table temperature and monitored. Heat exchangers including a reservoir and heat transfer fluid interface with the electrodes and the table for controlling their respective temperatures and thus the temperature of the fixture and package during the welding of the cover to the carrier. Factors affecting the quality of the weld, including temperature, time/temperature profile, the temperature of the electrode just before current starts to flow, the temperature of the package/cover and carrier combination just before current starts to flow, the difference between the package/cover and carrier combination temperature and the electrode temperature just before current starts to flow, are monitored and controlled. As a result of such monitoring and control, induced stresses typically resulting in a package because of the differing coefficients of thermal expansion for the materials used in the package are reduced during and after sealing the cover to the carrier. Seal quality and integrity is improved and the range of seal parameter tolerances tightened.

It is well known to use a seam sealing process to attach metal covers to the seal surface of ceramic chip carriers to provide a hermetically sealed package for electronic components such as a surface acoustic wave filter. The carriers are normally rectangular or square and have a metal surface to accept the metal cover. The length and width of the cover match the length and width of the sealing surface on the ceramic carrier to within 0.001 inches. The sealing surface on the package is a metal frame that is brazed onto a metallized pattern on the uppermost ceramic layer of the carrier so that the metal seal ring becomes the uppermost surface of the ceramic carrier. The opening in the center of the seal ring typically matches the opening in the ceramic carrier that accepts the electrical components.
In the sealing process the cover is accurately located on the seal ring (typically by placing the cover with a mechanism that is guided by a vision or pattern recognition system). As the cover is placed, it is lightly tack-welded into place in order to maintain the relative position of the cover to the seal ring through seam weld sealing.
The seam sealing process incorporates the use of fixturing to hold a matrix of multiple packages and rotate the matrix of packages 90 degrees in order to obtain seam sealing along the length and width of a rectangular shaped package. Typically, the seam sealer or welder has 2 tapered metal rollers as electrodes that actually contact the cover during seal. The rollers are energized so that electrical current passes from one roller, through the cover and seal ring combination, and finally into the other roller. This electrical current passing through the metal components results in heat generation (current squared.times.resistance=watts-heat energy) within the various metal components.
As heat is generated at various locations during the sealing process the temperature of each component will change relative to the amount of heat, the electrical resistivity, and the heat capacity of the component parts. Since heat flow is driven by temperature differences then the heat flow and temperature changes will be directly effected by the starting temperatures of all components that are subjected to the heat. Thus, it is unlikely that all components will be at the same temperature when serially sealing multiple parts.
By way of example, temperature control of electrodes is known as evidenced in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,089,682 to Davies and 2,407,676 to Munson, by way of example. However, it needs to be understood that sealing parameters such as roller pressure, seal current, roller temperature, fixture temperature, package temperature, roller velocity, current pulse duration and frequency all must be controlled and be repeated from package to package in order to have a truly controlled process that will yield high percentages of hermetically sealed parts within packages without defects in their seal.
In the typical seam sealing scenario, the temperature of all components generally starts low (maybe near room temperature) and climbs slowly (uncontrollably) with each additional package that is sealed. This requires that the seal parameters be modified repeatedly as the sealing process is repeated through some large number of packages that are typical in a hi-volume production situation. By way of example, as the first package is sealed all components (package fixture, carrier, cover, rollers, roller mounts, etc.) are near ambient temperature. With each additional package that is welded the temperature of each component changes. Eventually, the hermetic seal of one of the packages is corrupted by the now out of specification seal parameters so weld parameters must be adjusted to yield a desired seal with all of the new temperatures in the system.
Temperature is important since this is a sealing process that incorporates the melting and mutual reflow of some portion of the cover and seal ring to accomplish the hermetic seal. It is ultimately important to achieve a liquid state in the parts to be joined without the temperature being excessive.
As the components of the sealing system change temperature this means that the optimum seal conditions are only present for a few (maybe only one) packages and that these conditions change as the various temperatures change until the seal conditions are grossly out of spec and the seal quality is poor. After a parameter change to compensate for these new temperature the first few packages may have optimum settings but quickly the sealing or welding conditions will degrade as temperature changes. These temperature changes can be up or down. The temperature will typically go up as parts are sealed one after the other and heat is continually generated within the systems components but the temperature can also go down. By way of example, a welder operator goes to lunch or takes a break and thus creates a situation where the temperature would rise or fall at random.
So, simply stated, desirable sealing conditions exist for only a very small percentage of packages within the matrix of packages being welded, a problem in the art. In addition, a new problem has been identified that compounds the package sealing difficulties. It is the stress that is induced in the cover and carrier combination during and after the welding or sealing process that is caused by a mismatch of the coefficients of thermal expansion of the various materials that make up the carrier and cover. When the carrier and cover are ready for sealing they are each at some temperature and typically they are usually at the same temperature. Although they could be at any temperature for various reasons. By way of example, assume that they are at nearly the same temperature, this being the most common situation.
As the sealing process begins, the temperature of the cover and carrier, the package, begin to rise during this sealing process they will both rise, most likely not the same amount, until they reach their respective maximums and then they cool down after the sealing by the seam welding process has been completed. In this cool down period the cover and carrier are intimately joined and will cool at very near if not exactly the same rate and finally settle somewhere close to an ambient temperature. Since they have differing coefficients of thermal expansion, they did not change dimension or size at an equal rate and thus the ultimate change in size of the cover is not the same as it is for the carrier. So each element is attempting to cause the other to conform to its size. This results in a mechanical stress in the package, the carrier and cover assembly. In other words if you consider that some amount of force is required to cause the package to fracture, this stress induced by the cool down after sealing, attaching the cover to the carrier through a seam welding, has now decreased the total stress from outside sources that would be required to fracture the package.
The total stress required to fracture the package is now typically equal to the total stress minus the seal induced stress. Tests carried out at Sawtek, Inc. have shown this to be the case. Package fracture problems have been observed on surface mount ceramic packages. The ceramic package was subjected to an outside mechanical stress and repeatedly resulted in package cracking. A device was built to accurately reproduce the outside stress and it was found that empty packages without a cover required more mechanical stress to create a fracture than did those packages that had sealed covers in place.
There is a need to reduce and even eliminate the induced stress resulting from the differing coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE).

Surface mount package seam welder apparatus and method


A preferred embodiment of a device for securing a personal-transport vehicle to a mounting surface includes one of a plow bracket and a bracket member for mounting on one of the personal-transport vehicle and the mounting surface, and a receptacle for mounting on the other of the personal transport vehicle and the mounting surface and for mating with and receiving the one of a plow bracket and a bracket member. The receptacle includes a panel and a docking lever pivotally coupled to the panel and movable between a first position wherein docking lever retains the one of a plow bracket and a bracket member so that the receptacle and the one of a plow bracket and a bracket member remain in a mated condition, and a second position.

Personal-transport vehicles such as power chairs are commonly used by individuals with ambulatory difficulties or other disabilities. Various types of lift and carrier assemblies have been developed to facilitate the transportation of power chairs using passenger cars and other motorized vehicles. Lift and carrier assemblies are typically mounted on a trailer hitch or similar connecting point on the motorized vehicle. The power chair rides outside of the motorized vehicle on a platform or similar-type component of the lift and carrier assembly. The lift and carrier assembly typically includes provisions that permit the power chair to be driven onto the platform at ground level, and then lifted to prevent contact with the road surface during transport.
Lift and carrier assemblies usually include some type of mechanism that automatically secures the power chair in place during transport. For example, the lift and carrier assembly may be equipped with straps. Alternatively, the lift and carrier assembly may be equipped with a lever arm adapted to exert a substantial downward force on the power chair by way of a padded foot or other suitable member. The lever arm may be adapted to automatically rotate the foot into and out of contact with the power chair as the platform is moved between its upper and lower positions.
The use of a lever arm to secure the power chair requires that the power chair have a rigid surface that is within the range of motion of the securing foot. Moreover, the rigid surface must be able to withstand the substantial downward force exerted by the foot. Many contemporary personal-transport vehicles, e.g., power chairs, are typically not equipped with a surface that satisfies these requirements. Hence, securing devices that rely on a lever arm and foot are incompatible with many applications.
Another common means for securing a power chair to a lift and carrier assembly relies on a single, vertically-oriented pin and a receptacle adapted to receive the pin. The receptacle is typically fixed to the platform of the lift and carrier assembly, and the pin is fixed to the power chair. The receptacle is adapted to securely engage the pin when the power chair is in a predetermined position on the platform. The engagement of the pin and the receptacle secures the power chair to the platform.
The restraint provided by a single vertical pin may be unacceptable under certain circumstances. In particular, a single pin generally cannot prevent the power chair from rotating (swiveling) around the pin. This lack of restraint can result in the power chair moving from its stored position on the platform when the transporting vehicle turns at relatively high speed, brakes suddenly, or bounces in response to rough road conditions.
Moreover, the swiveling movement of the power chair, in extreme cases, can result in a potentially catastrophic separation of the power chair from the lift and carrier assembly.
Furthermore, the receptacle of the single-pin restraint is usually mounted in the center of the platform. Hence, the platform cannot be equipped with a ramp or other supporting surface positioned along the center thereof. This constraint precludes the use of the single-pin restraint with personal-transport devices comprising a centrally-located wheel, e.g., three-wheeled scooters. Also, the pin is usually not visible to the individual loading the power chair. Hence, the single-pin restraint does not provide a positive visual indication that the power chair has been properly secured to the lift and carrier assembly.

Device for securing a personal-transport vehicle to a mounting surface


It is described a concept for a service composition which can be carried out in a telecommunication network (100). The described service composition is optimized in view of a composite service execution in a mobile network device (110) having limited resources. According to the described concept, at least one code required for executing the composite service is downloaded from a code storage node (130) to a composition execution agent (112) in response to receiving a corresponding instruction from a service composition node (120), that the service should be composed and/or executed. The actual code to be executed within the network device (110) is selected in response to receiving a service composition command from the service composition node (120). The code selection may take into account local constraints available for the network device (110).

Service composition refers to a technology, where end user services, which are provided to user equipments such as personal computers, laptop computers, or mobile phones of a telecommunications network, are dynamically built by combining constituent services. The selection of the constituent services as components of the composite service may be performed just in time at user request. The needed constituent services are described in terms of required generic properties. Any service that provides the needed properties can be used as part of the composite service. Rather than fixed binding of a particular service any suitable service within a pool of available services can be selected. The pool of available constituent services can change dynamically by adding new services and/or by removing them. A composite service can therefore consist of different constituent services at each invocation. Thus, the set of component services that are actually included into a composite service may not be static, but depending on runtime conditions. The constituent services do not need to be specifically designed for service composition. They can be integrated into a composite service, but they can also work as a single service.
WO 2009/141000 discloses a method of correlating a plurality of service instances by a service composition node, wherein the services are performed by one or a plurality of application servers of a telecommunications network. Thereto, the service composition node performs the steps of invoking a composite service instance corresponding to a service request, and generating a composite service identifier identifying this composite service instance, contacting the one or a plurality of application servers for invoking the plurality of component service instances, wherein the plurality of component service instances are associated to the composite service instance, and sending a first service report comprising an information about the composite service instance to a service supervision system, wherein this information enables the service supervision system to identify reports about the component service instances as being associated to the composite service instance. The service supervision system may be used for charging and billing the user for the composite service(s) provided. For instance for an offline charging, the service composition node might generate a so-called Charge Data Record (CDR) that is transferred to the service supervision system. The CDR might contain the ID of the composite service instance and the IDs of all involved services and sessions. The service supervision system, at the time of processing the record, is then able to correlate the composite service to its components and adapt the resulting charging accordingly.
A special case of execution of composite services or composite applications is given when some or all of the constituent service instances are executed on a network device having only limited hardware and/or software resources. Typically, such resources are often limited when the network device is accessed remotely for instance via the Internet or a cellular network. Further, storage limitations of the network device may prevent it from having all possible services pre-installed and ready to be executed. The latter holds in particular for embedded devices.
In order to overcome storage limitations of the network device it is known to download and install the program code of a service that would be needed to execute some services on the network device. For example, the network device could download and install Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi) bundles for these services when instructed to do so. However, for initiating such a download and installation procedure the network device has to specify exactly what bundle must be installed and later executed.
There may be a need for providing flexible solution for executing composite services in particular on a network device having a limited storage capacity.

Composite services provision with code download on demand


An internal pilot channel branching from a supply port, an external pilot channel leading to an external pilot port, and a pilot input channel for guiding a pilot fluid to a pilot valve are opened in parallel on a channel-switching surface formed in a body. A channel-switching plate having a dent large enough to extend across the openings of two adjacent channels is mounted on the channel-switching surface in such a way that its direction can be changed by 180.degree..

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pilot-operated directional control valve capable of changing between the internal and external pilot methods of introducing a pilot fluid.
2. Description of the Related
The pilot-operated directional control valve is a type of directional control valve used for switching the flow of a pressurized fluid such as compressed air. A pilot-operated directional control valve is composed of a main valve and a pilot valve, and switches a valve disc in the main valve by allowing a pilot fluid supplied from the pilot valve to act on the valve disc.
Such pilot-operated directional control valves are classified into internal and external pilot types depending on the method used to supply pilot fluid. Of the two, internal pilot-operated directional control valves guide part of a main fluid from a supply port in the main valve to the pilot valve; this fluid functions as the pilot fluid. External pilot-operated directional control valves, on the other hand, guide an exclusive pilot fluid (i.e., one distinct from the main fluid) to the pilot valve through an external pipe connected an external pilot port. The type of valve used will depend on the working conditions, so changes in working conditions often require changes between the internal and external pilot types.
To deal with this situation, directional control valves have been proposed that include a directional control mechanism for switching between the internal pilot type and the external pilot type.
As typically described in Japanese Utility Model Laid Open No. 64-17078, the directional control mechanism is composed of a plurality of parts and is integrated into a mounting hole of a complex shape formed in a valve body. As a result, such conventional directional control valves have a complex overall structure and require substantial time and labor for manufacturing or assembly. They are also costly. In addition, the individual parts, the mounting hole, and/or the channel opened in the mounting hole of these valves are all relatively cumbersome to process.

Pilot-operated directional control valve