A manual release apparatus for disengaging a king pin on a truck trailer from a fifth wheel of a truck cab, including an elongated lever arm, a first end of which is pivotally attached to a side of the fifth wheel at a location spaced from the opening through which the release rod extends, a second end of which is spaced away from the fifth wheel extending horizontally from the first end, whereby the lever arm is attached to the release rod, such that a manual movement of the second end of the lever arm will cause the lever arm to be pivoted horizontally about the first end, thereby causing the release rod to be pulled outwardly to disengage the king pin from the fifth wheel. The elongated lever arm is provided with an adjustable extension arm so that the length of the lever arm can be adjusted to an extent desired to best facilitate manipulation thereof.

Semi-trailer trucks are well known throughout the world in which an independent truck trailer can interchangeably be connected to practically any desired truck cab for transporting the trailer and it contents to any desired location. While the truck cab and truck trailer can take any one of a large variety of different forms and sizes, depending on the intended use and intended load to be transported, the interconnection between the cab and trailer has developed into a uniform standard design so that the cabs and trailer can readily be interchanged according to need. Pursuant to this standard form, the truck cab is normally provided with a chassis structure such that a portion of the truck frame extends rearwardly of the cab with one or more drive axles, upon which wheel and tires are mounted, supporting the truck cab on the road surface under the rearwardly extending portion of frame structure. A tiltable, steel disk, commonly referred to as the "fifth wheel", is horizontally disposed on the upper side of the rearwardly extending frame portion, with the fifth wheel having a diverging "V" slot extending rearwardly from an aperture at the axial center.
The truck trailer, on the other hand, is normally provided with one or more rear axles, to which wheels and tires are mounted, for supporting the rear-end of the trailer on the road surface. When interconnected, the front end of the tuck trailer is supported on the fifth wheel mounted on the rearwardly extending portion of the cab frame such that the rear cab axle or axles support the load in the front-end portion of the trailer. A king pin extending downwardly from the under surface of the trailer near the front thereof is adapted to be engaged within the aperture on the fifth wheel, so that the trailer can be pivotally connected to the cab and pulled thereby in an articulated manner. For friction reducing purposes, the upper surface of the fifth wheel is normally greased heavily, as in its articulating action, the forward portion of trailer undersurface must be free to pivotally rotate against the upper surface of the fifth wheel. To support the truck trailer in the absence of a cab, the front end of the trailer is normally provided with a crank-down support means disposed rearwardly of the king pin, which can be manually operated to lower the support means to a vertical orientation, to thereby support the forward end of the trailer.
To connect the truck cab to the truck trailer, the front end of the trailer must be supported on the crank-down support means, or other such support, such that the king pin extends downwardly from the front of the trailer floor spaced above the road surface by a distance sufficient to permit the fifth wheel on the cab to be backed under the king pin. The diverging "V" slot in the fifth wheel is designed so that upon driving the truck cab in reverse, the driver can guide the "V" slot around the king pin extending downwardly from the front end of the trailer, and guide it to the aperture at the axial center, where a spring loaded locking mechanism secured to the lower side of the fifth wheel will lock the king pin in place within the aperture, thereby also holding the forward undersurface of the trailer against the upper surface of the fifth wheel. When so locked together, the truck cab and truck trailer can readily function as an articulated semi-trailer truck. The locking mechanism on the undersurface of the fifth wheel is well known in the art and need not be described here.
To disconnect the truck trailer from the track cab, an elongated release rod is horizontally disposed at the under surface of the fifth wheel which emerges through an opening in the side wall of the fifth wheel. One end of the release rod is connected to the above-mentioned spring-loaded locking mechanism, with its other end extending through the side wall opening on the fifth wheel, and having an eyelet at its outer end, to which a release tool can be attached. The release rod is normally transverse to the center-line of the truck cab, so that the side wall opening and eyelet are normally located on the left side of the cab between the upper surface of the cab's left-rear tire or tires and the under surface of the trailer resting on the fifth wheel.
To physically and manually release and disengage the truck trailer from the fifth wheel, a release tool, which comprises an elongated steel rod having a hook at one end and a hand-grip at the other, is hooked into the eyelet at the outer end of the release rod, and the tool manually pulled so that the release rod will pull on the locking mechanism to disengage the trailer king pin. When so disengaged, the truck cab can be driven in a forward direction from under the trailer. Obviously, the crank-down support means under the trailer must first be positioned so that the front end of the trailer will be supported on the road surface when the cab is driven away therefrom, and in ready position to permit the same or another truck cab to later be attached thereto.
While such a disengaging effort is not particularly difficult, it is not as simple and easy as could be hoped for. For example, to engage the release tool into the release rod eyelet, the truck operator must normally stoop over so that he can see the eyelet which is normally positioned under the bottom surface of the trailer and over the cab's rear tire or tires, and then reach therebetween to engage the hook into the eyelet. This can be unpleasant and complicated in the darkness of night, or during fowl weather situations where snow and/or ice may be packed in and around the fifth wheel or between the cab rear tires and the trailer. In addition, it is not uncommon for the release tool hook to slip from the release rod eyelet when not properly engaged, causing the driver to injure his back, hit his head on the trailer, or hit his knuckles or arm against the trailer or tires. In addition further, it is not uncommon for the release tool to be lost, stolen or misplaced, making it impossible to release the trailer until a release tool is located. Because of the grease that must be utilized between trailer and fifth wheel interfaces, the area in and around the fifth wheel is often rather greasy and mixed with road dirt, so that in addition to mud that may be on the cab tire surfaces, the above described release effort can also be a rather messy task.
In addition to the above problems, it should be noted that many of the prior art release rods are provided with a stop bar welded to the underside which functions as a lock to prevent unintentional pulling of the release rod. Specifically, the stop bar is of shorter length than the release rod so that the outer blunt end thereof will abut against the edge of the hole through which the release rod extends to thereby prevent the release rod from being pullable outward unless it is also lifted upwardly to an extent sufficient to permit the stop bar to also fit through the hole. That is to say, the hole is normally elongated in the vertical direction so that when lifted, both the release rod and stop bar will easily fit therethrough. In a like manner, the opposite blunt end of the stop bar will abut against the outer hole edge to thereby prevent the spring loaded locking mechanism from pulling the release rod inward, which in essence locks the release mechanism in the king pin "release" position. It should be apparent, that it is rather difficult to effect the required lifting action together with the pulling action when using the conventional release tool merely hooked to the eyelet of the release rod, particularly in view of the rather restricted space that may exist between the truck cab rear tires and the bottom of the trailer.
Our co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 08/584,421, filed Jan. 22, 1996, teaches a new and improved apparatus intended to be permanently mounted to the fifth wheel of a truck cab for quickly, easily and more safely disconnecting a trailer king pin from the fifth wheel of the truck cab. Accordingly, the apparatus of that invention eliminates the need for a separate tool; i.e., a release tool, thereby avoiding the complications and lost time that can result from a lost, stolen or misplaced release tool, and further eliminates the sometimes complicated or unpleasant task of hooking the release tool to the eyelet on the release rod, as noted above. In addition, that apparatus, in using a lever arm to pull the release rod outwardly, can very easily be utilized to effect the necessary lifting action to disengage the stop bar as described above, making the entire release activity an effortless task. More importantly, that inventive apparatus further eliminates the possibility of injury that can result to the operator when the release tool hook slips from the release rod eyelet during the disengaging effort.
In essence, the apparatus of that invention comprises an elongated, rigid lever arm, a first end of which is pivotally attachable to a side of the fifth wheel at a location spaced from the opening through which the release rod emerges, and a second end adapted to be spaced away from the fifth wheel extending generally horizontally from the first end, and including means thereon for attaching the lever arm to the elongated release rod, such that a manual motion applied to the lever arm at the second end, can cause the lever arm to be pivoted generally horizontally at the first end, thereby causing a levered pulling action on the release rod so that the release rod is pulled outwardly sufficient to disengage the king pin from the fifth wheel.
While the inventive apparatus described above has been shown to provide very significant advantages over the prior art, some shortcomings have been noted. Specifically, it has been found that the desired length of the lever arm varies depending upon the size of the truck cab and the number of drive axles at the rear of thereof. With a single drive axle, lever arm lengths of about 4 to 5 feet are quite adequate. On the other hand, such lever arms on truck cabs having tandem drive axles or tri-axles tend to be unnecessarily short so that the user must still reach under the trailer, not only to grasp the lever arm, but even when fully pulled outward it may still not sufficiently clear the trailer and cab rear axles to avoid all difficulties.
In addition to the above, it has also been noted that the moment of inertia resulting from the weight of the lever arm extending from the single bolt holding the apparatus against the side of the fifth wheel, tends to cause the apparatus to sag and twist at the bolt, thereby loosening the bolt and intensifying the sagging movement so that the entire apparatus can quickly become excessively loosened.
As a third problem, it had been observed that the elongated release rod as attached to the original lever arm was attached at a fixed single point so that the pivotal movement of the lever arm caused an arcuate displacement of that fixed single point. As a result, the arcuate displacement of the lever arm pulling the release rod out from the fifth wheel has tended to bend the release rod somewhat which may interfere with its being drawn back inward by the spring loaded lock mechanism.


The invention is an imaging device having a high fill factor. The high fill factor is achieved by constructing the light sensors in a vertical fashion in the imaging device. The control circuitry of the light sensor is then contained inside the integrated circuit chip, rather than taking up area that could otherwise be used for light collection. The majority of the area on the surface of the IC chip is made up of light sensing elements, since the control circuitry is embedded in the IC chip. The control circuitry is connected to the light sensing devices through vias in the IC chip. The control circuitry of the chip is mainly contained within the die, rather than on it.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to imaging sensors and the associated imaging devices. In particular, the invention is directed towards a more compact imaging sensor providing for more efficient operation of an imaging device and providing for denser pixel structure on the imaging device.
2. Related Art
Conventional image technology usually places most acquisition and control elements near the surface of a wafer. A pixel structure occupies an area on the wafer or integrated circuit (IC) chip. This area is divided between area used for elements actually acquiring the image and elements controlling the functionality of the image sensing element.
Typically, a light sensing element, such as a photodiode, takes up an area on a surface of the IC chip housing the imaging device. The area of the diode on the surface of the IC chip generates a signal indicative of the light striking the area.
However, the total pixel structure requires control circuitry for controlling the actions of the overall photodetector and the transmission of the signal from the photo-sensing element to the remainder of the imaging device. These control functions include select circuitry, amplifier circuitry, and reset circuitry. This control circuitry is typically made up of transistors and metal interconnect lines that take up space on the surface of the IC chip.
Thus, the total area for a single image detector cannot be used for light detection. The ratio of the light sensing surface to the total area required for the light detector structure including the detection circuitry and the control circuitry is known as the fill factor. Conventional imaging sensors generally have a low fill factor ratio. For a typical conventional sensor, the fill factor may range from 20% or so to 40% in higher end sensors.
With lower fill factors, the number of pixels per imaging device is lower. As such, fewer sensors may be placed in a given area, and the density of the light sensors on the IC chip is decreased.
With higher densities of imaging sensors on an IC chip, the total size of an imaging device may be reduced with the same number of pixels. Or, higher granularity or sensitivity may be obtained by putting more imaging sensors in a constant area.
Additionally, greater color clarity and color discrimination may be achieved with higher pixel or imaging sensor density. In some conventional color imaging devices, a coating may be used on an individual imaging element to selectively activate that imaging element for a particular wavelength of light.
In a red-green-blue (RGB) color scheme, for example, a single pixel or light sensor may be manufactured to be responsive to blue light. Other adjoining or nearby pixels or light sensors are manufactured to be responsive to red and green light, respectively. As for the pixel that is activated solely by blue light, the red and green components for the blue pixel may be estimated by using values of nearby pixels activated by red and green light, respectively.
Thus, for example, assume a fill factor of 25% for an older imaging sensor. If the fill factor can be improved to one of 75%, an imaging sensor could directly measure the red, green, and blue components of a target image in the area of an older single pixel, which also needs estimations from other adjoining pixels for missing color components. Thus, the color clarity of a target image may be improved with denser image sensors without sacrificing granularity. Correspondingly, an image of a finer granularity can be derived from a higher fill factor.
Thus, when the fill factor can be raised, more efficient imaging devices may be constructed. A higher fill factor means that the pixel structures or the individual imaging sensors may be placed closer together. Thus, a higher fill factor leads to having higher density of imaging devices per wafer. This leads to sharper images due to more imaging sensors, or to smaller IC chips for the same sensitivity of imager.
Many other problems and disadvantages of the prior art will become apparent when schooled in the art after comparing such prior art with the present invention described herein.
Various aspects of the invention may be found in a light imager. The light imager is contained on an integrated circuit (IC) chip or die. The light imager has one or more light sensors. Each of the light sensors has a light sensing element and control circuitry.
In the individual light sensors, the control circuitry is communicatively coupled to the light sensing element and controls the functions of the light sensing element. The control circuitry is substantially disposed within the IC chip, freeing the additional top area of the die for the light sensing elements.
In an alternative embodiment, the light imager has a processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is communicatively coupled to the one or more light sensors. The processing circuitry may also have an application program executing on it.
The placement of the control circuitry within the IC chip allows for a higher fill factor associated with each light sensor. As such, the fill factors of the light sensors can be greater than 50%.
The control circuitry of the invention may be such things as a reset transistor or an amplifier transistor. These components may be manufactured within the IC chip.
In another embodiment of the invention, a light imager is contained on an integrated circuit die. The light imager has one or more light sensors, the light sensors having a fill factor, or a ratio of the area used for collection of light to the total area of the light sensor.
The light sensors have a light sensing element and a control circuitry. The control circuitry is communicatively coupled to the light sensing element, and controls the operation of the light sensing element. Additionally, at least some of the control circuitry is disposed within the integrated circuit die.
In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the light imager is contained on an integrated circuit chip. The light imager has one or more light sensors. The light sensors have control circuitry coupled to the light sensing elements.
Each of the light sensors is disposed on a corresponding sensor area on the integrated chip. The sensor area has a light sensing area, where the light is collected by a light sensing element. The light sensing area makes up at least 50% of the sensor area.
The light sensor may also have a processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the one or more light sensors. Additionally, the light sensor may also have an application program executing on the processing circuitry.
Aspects of the invention may also be found in a light sensor. The light sensor is disposed on and within an integrated circuit chip. The light sensor has a fill factor, meaning the ration of the area used for light collection to the total area of the sensor. The light sensor has a light sensing element and control circuitry. The control circuitry is communicatively coupled to the light sensing element and controls the output of the light sensing element. The control circuitry is disposed substantially within the integrated circuit chip. As such, the fill factor of the light sensor is at least 50%. Portions of the control circuitry that may be disposed within the IC chip are a reset transistor and an amplifier transistor, among others.

Light sensing system with high pixel fill factor


A method of filtering a differential signal. The method includes receiving the differential signal. Transitions of the differential signal are accelerated after the differential signal has passed through a cross-over point to create an accelerated differential signal. A delayed differential signal is created that is a delayed version of the accelerated differential signal delayed by a predetermined amount of time with respect to the accelerated differential signal. The accelerated differential signal is amplified to create an amplified accelerated differential signal. The delayed differential signal is amplified to create an amplified delayed differential signal. The amplified delayed differential signal and the amplified accelerated differential signal are combined to create an output signal.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of high-speed data communications. In particular, the present invention relates to a circuit and method for amplifying a laser signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In high speed optical communication systems, laser signals may be used to transmit information. For example, a laser signal, transmitted by a remote device, may be detected by a photo detector, amplified by a trans-impedance amplifier circuit, and filtered by a filter circuit. After the laser signal is filtered, it is then amplified by an amplification circuit and converted to a digital format for further processing or storage.
Traditionally, the amplification circuit may be implemented with differential amplifiers consisting of pairs of transistors. One of the design goals of the amplification circuit is to decrease the settling time of the laser signal during a signal transition. This design goal may be accomplished by using a differential amplifier having a higher amplification gain to drive the laser signal in order to ensure a fast signal transition. Another design goal of the amplification circuit is to minimize the electromagnetic interference created by the higher order harmonics of the laser signal during signal transitions. This design goal may be accomplished by using a differential amplifier having a lower amplification gain to drive the laser signal. As a result, a design tradeoff has to be made to choose between having a higher or lower amplification gain. The design is comprised because it has either the adverse effect of electromagnetic interference or lower design margins for signal settling time during signal transitions. The adverse effect of electromagnetic interference may lead to additional system costs employed to reduce the interference problem. The adverse effect of lower design margins for signal settling time may lead to lower signal quality and may also lead to transmission errors.
Therefore, there is a need for a laser amplification circuit which can increase the settling time margin during signal transitions and at the same time minimize the electromagnetic interference generated from such signal transitions.

Amplification circuit for driving a laser signal


An information handling system includes one or more processing units, a memory management unit, connected to the processor, and to a memory system, a cache management unit, one or more levels of cache memory associated with the one or more processors, an I/O controller connected to a bus which connects to the processing units and to the memory systems and to cache, the I/O controller controlling various input/output devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a display device, communications adapters and the like, and a remote storage controller for controlling one or more direct access storage devices. Cache management unit further includes an optimized block transfer circuit for identifying starting and ending addresses of modified segments of data blocks and the cache unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems, and more particularly to information handling systems requiring data block transfer such as between caches or between caches and main memory.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art there are many techniques for handling data block transfers. However, the prior art techniques all have one or more shortcomings which result in a slower block transfer than is desirable.
Examples of prior art cache memory management systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,846 entitled "Cache Providing Caching/Non-caching write-through and Copy Back Modes for Virtual Addresses and Including Bus Snooping to Maintain Coherency" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,384 entitled "Memory Address Translation System Having Modifiable and Non-modifiable Translation Mechanisms." The two patents which seem to disclose different aspects of the same system, are directed to a cache and a memory address translation system.
The 846 Patent teaches a computing system, having a cache memory management system, which provides selectable access modes for addressable memory, providing cachable and non-cachable access modes, definable on a fixed page boundary basis. The various access modes can be intermixed on a page by page basis within the translation logic of the cache memory management system. The system provides high speed virtual to real address translation along with associated system tag data defining access priorities and access modes associated with each respective address translation.
The 384 patent which deals with cache memory management system features a high speed virtual to real address translation technique. Address translation logic including mutually exclusive modifiable and non-modifiable translation logic selectively provides real address output in response to the externally supplied virtual address from a processor. A cache controller selectively accesses main memory on cache memory misses to load translation information and other data from main memory to the cache memory.
Although the patents generally teach cache memory systems and address translation for use in cache memory systems, neither patent teaches the invention as taught and claimed herein.
An article published in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Volume 26, No. 2, July 1983, entitled "Optimized Data Transfer Function for Memory Cell Map Buffers" teaches a technique for optimizing data transfer using registers which store a first failing address and a last failing address and comparators for determining whether a particular address falls within the first and last address or outside of the range of the first and last address.
Although the TDB article contains some fundamental similarities to a portion of the present invention as shown and claimed herein, the TDB article does not provide a technique for transferring only a modified segment of a data block as is shown and claimed herein.

System for identifying memory segment bounded by previously accessed memory locations within data block and transferring thereof only when the segment has been changed

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a new and improved bumpering system for guarding the channels (gutters) of a conventional bowling lane. The bowling lane is of the type having a longitudinal bowling lane bed, a pair of elongated channels parallel to and abutting each side of the bowling lane bed, an approach and foul line at one end of the bowling lane bed and a pin deck at the other end thereof. The bumpering device comprises deflection means permanently mounted within the channel, the deflection means having associated therewith extension and retraction means for extending the deflection means to an upright position thereby abutting the bowling lane bed for deflecting bowling balls that may be directed toward the channel and retracting the deflection means to a nested position within the channel thereby permitting bowling balls directed toward the channel to fall thereinto.

Bowling requires a great deal of skill to perfect. Usually after a certain age the skill is developed and enjoyment can be had. However, when a Youngster or physically disabled person bowls on a conventional bowling lane, the ball tends to go into the gutter an unusually large number of times, providing for a low score and less enjoyment.
Bowling lane bumper systems have heretofore been proposed to enhance the score of the individual bowling e.g., young children, the physically handicapped, and may also be used for adults during recreational activities. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,933 to Conklin et al., discloses a convertible bowling lane which includes a movable means operated by a complex control system, that when extended provides a ball deflection device.
Further examples of bumpering systems for bowling lanes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,330,122 and 4,420,155 to Sheinberg et al., wherein various deflection devices as taught that are removably disposed in the gutter of a bowling lane for deflecting bowling balls. The devices are conveniently stored when removed from the gutters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,136 to Dulisse, discloses a convertible bowling alley wherein a deflection device is removably disposed longitudinally along both sides of the lane outside the gutters for deflecting a bowling ball rolled down the lane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,024 discloses a bowling alley bumper system wherein elongated bumpers are mounted along side and parallel to each alley gutter and which are provided movable supports that permit the extension of bumpers to guard the gutters when desired and retraction of the bumpers to expose the gutters when normal alley operation is desired.
While the above mentioned bumper systems for bowling lanes may perform effectively, it has been found that the problems of disposing them in the desired locations (i.e. gutters) or blowing them up (in the case of air bag types of bumpers) involves time, trouble and substantial expense which makes these types of bumper systems unsatisfactory. Furthermore, bumpering systems of the type described above are heavy, clumsy to carry and install and require a large amount of storage space. Also, such devices are prone to punctures from loose nails and slivers of wood in the gutters during repeated installation and removal. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that is permanently positioned, does not interfere with normal operation of the lanes and can be automatically employed to the desired position while at the same time being economical and easy to operate.


Provided is an automatic tracking method for a golf swing, the following steps of: attaching colored marks onto a golfer and a golf club; adopting a specific still image as a reference image to store reference color information and coordinate data of each of the marks; setting, on a search range, which is a region including the position of the mark predicted on the next image and setting a color range of each mark that is an allowable range, in which colors can be regarded as the same as reference color information regarding a pixel, as a position of a mark, in a case where the absolute value of a difference between the still image being considered on which a differential processing has been conducted with the background image in the search range and the reference color information falls within the color range and is the minimum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic tracking method for a golf swing, and in particular, to a method for automatically tracking a colored mark attached to a shaft of a golf club or/and a body of a golfer on a camera photographed image.
2. Description of the Background Art
A motion-diagnosing apparatus as shown in FIG. 7 has been conventionally disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2794018 as an apparatus for analyzing a golf swing.
The motion-diagnosing apparatus includes: a TV camera 2 photographing a swing motion of a person 1 to be diagnosed; a processing apparatus 3 connected to the TV camera 2 and a CRT 4 displaying a result of the diagnosis, wherein provided on the person 1 to be diagnosed are movement points P1 to P6 at which reflecting tapes are adhered.
The processing apparatus 3 includes: means for converting image data transmitted from the TV camera 2 to digital signals; means for extracting coordinates of movement points P1 to P6 from the image data; means for conducting an arithmetic operation on the coordinates of the movement points P1 to P6 into numerical data showing characteristics of the motion; means evaluating the obtained numerical data by comparing it with numerical data of comparative reference; and means for diagnosing the swing based on evaluation values.
The movement points P1 to P6 on the image data are individually provided with respective window frames enclosing them so that each of the movement points P1 to P6 is recognized in a corresponding window frame and individually tracked.
In swing analyzing apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-614 and 9-154996, sensors capable of measuring an axial direction are attached to a wrist or the like to obtain a wrist joint angle or the like and to thereby detect a motion of a player and analyze a swing thereof.
According to a motion-diagnosing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2794018, however, a risk arise that a background image other than the movement points P1 to P6 is erroneously recognized as the movement points P1 to P6 in a case where in the background image other than the movement points P1 to P6, there are present sites close to the movement points P1 to P6 in luminance and color. Furthermore, a problem arises that if a person 1 to be diagnosed actually conducts a swing motion, the movement points P3, P4 and P6 attached to a shoulder, a hip and the like are hidden by movement of an arm to thereby cause tracking error in regard to the movement points P1 to P6, thereby reducing a measurement precision.
Moreover, not only does a problem arise that in a case where the different movement points P1 to P6 are superimposed one on another when viewed from the TV camera 2, as well, a failure occurs in tracking of the movement points P1 to P6, but a risk also occurs that in a case where the movement points P1 to P6 become close to one another in position when viewed from the TV camera 2, though not being superimposed, plural ones of the movement points P1 to P6 are detected in a window frame, leading to an erroneous recognition of the movement points P1 to P6.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-614 and 9-154996, not only is it hard to measure many of points because of use of a sensor, but a possibility also arises that a swing different form an essential swing of a person to be diagnosed is sensed under an influence of a sensor being attached to the body of the person to be diagnosed even if a movement of one site is measured.

Automatic tracking method for golf swing


The present invention provides a cleaning device resistant to liquid backsplash comprises an upper casing and a lower casing. The upper casing moves upward and downward relative to the lower casing. The upper casing comprises an inner wall, an outer wall, and a hollow cavity formed therebetween. The inner wall is provided with a plurality of liquid inlet apertures which are communicated with the hollow cavity. Through the liquid inlet apertures and the hollow cavity provided in the cleaning device and the cleaning system of the present invention, the chemical liquids and/or particles used are introduced into the hollow cavity via the liquid inlet apertures and discharged via the liquid discharging apertures during the high speed rotation of the wafer so as to achieve better cleaning device.

With the increase of the wafer diameter and the decrease of the critical dimension, the surface cleanliness of the wafer becomes more demanding. Currently, the cleaning apparatus achieves the cleaning effects through spraying cleaning solutions to the surface of the high speed rotating wafer. However, during the high speed rotation of the wafer, the cleaning solution will be flung off the wafer surface and collide with a surrounding process chamber wall under the centrifugal force, then backsplash may occur, which may result in the cleaning solution being returned to the wafer surface and contaminating the wafer. Such contamination will degrade the cleaning process performance. Prior art attempts to prevent such contamination by increasing the structural complexity of the process chamber through providing additional components in the process chamber. However, it becomes difficult to perform the subsequent cleaning processes in the process chamber.

Cleaning device resistant to liquid backsplash and cleaning system therewith


The present invention relates to murine monoclonal antibodies C, F and H which target major neutralizing epitopes of influenza H5 hemagglutinin of clade 2.3 and active fragments thereof. The present invention also relates to methods and compositions for the prophylaxis and treatment of H5N1 influenza using murine monoclonal antibodies C, F or H or active fragments thereof. The present invention additionally relates to methods and compositions for providing universal protection against H5 influenza viruses using murine monoclonal antibodies C, F or H or fragments thereof together with complementary murine monoclonal antibody or active fragments thereof. The present invention further relates to methods and compositions for the characterization and quantification of H5 expression using these murine monoclonal antibody or fragments thereof.

The present invention relates to the murine monoclonal antibodies C, F and H specific to a major neutralizing epitope of influenza H5 hemagglutinin of clade 2.3 and active fragments thereof. The present invention also relates to methods and compositions for the prophylaxis and treatment of H5N1 influenza using murine monoclonal antibodies C, F or H or active fragments thereof. The present invention additionally relates to methods and compositions for providing universal protection against H5 influenza viruses using murine monoclonal antibodies C, F or H or fragments thereof together with a complementary murine monoclonal antibody or active fragments thereof. The present invention further relates to methods and compositions for the characterization and quantification of H5 expression using these murine monoclonal antibody or fragments thereof.
The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention or provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference, and for convenience are respectively grouped in the Bibliography.
The recent emergence of H5N1 strains of influenza A virus and the high mortality caused by them in humans has raised concerns for the possibility of a future influenza pandemic. Preventive and therapeutic measures against circulating H5N1 strains have received a lot of interest and effort globally to prevent another pandemic outbreak. Present vaccine strategies have been hindered by antigenic variation of the influenza strains. Present vaccine strategies requiring endogenous synthesis of antibodies will not provide immediate protection against H5N1 infections in the event of a pandemic. Currently licensed antiviral drugs include the M2 ion-channel inhibitors (rimantidine and amantidine) and the neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir). The H5N1 viruses are known to be resistant to the M2 ion-channel inhibitors (Biegel et al., 2005). Newer strains of H5N1 viruses are being isolated which are also resistant to the neuraminidase inhibitors, i.e, oseltamivir and zanamivir (Le et al., 2008; de Jong et al., 2005). The neuraminidase inhibitors also require high doses and prolonged treatment (de Jong and Hien, 2006), increasing the likelihood of unwanted side effects. Hence, alternative strategies for treatment of influenza are warranted.
Passive immunotherapy using monoclonal antibodies has been viewed as a viable option for treatment of many infectious diseases. Currently, there has been a lot of focus on therapeutic approaches using neutralizing antibodies against the HA1 protein of the influenza virus. This protein is easy to target as it is on the surface of the virus and antibodies against this protein can neutralize the virus efficiently. Hence, monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) against neutralizing epitopes of H5 hemagglutinin (HA) may be an attractive alternative to active vaccination of humans, in particular for those individuals who are at high risk from influenza infection, viz. the immuno-compromised patients or the elderly who do not respond well to active immunization. It is important that any Mab product should offer broad protection against circulating strains of H5N1 influenza and should prevent the selection of neutralization escape mutants in vivo. One technique to increase protection against circulating strains of H5N1 influenza and to prevent escape mutants is a combination therapy using complementary Mabs (Prabakaran et al., 2009).
It is desired to identify monoclonal antibodies that target major neutralizing epitopes of influenza H5 hemagglutinin of clade 2.3. It is also desired to identify monoclonal antibodies that can be used for the prophylaxis and treatment of H5N1 influenza. It is further desired to identify monoclonal antibodies that can be used to provide universal protection against H5 influenza viruses. It is also desired to identify monoclonal antibodies that can be used for the identification, characterization and/or quantification of H5 expression.

Monoclonal antibodies targeting neutralizing epitopes on H5 influenza virus of clade 2.3

Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Limited


A liquid flow restrictor in the supply line of an eductor or other dilution or dispensing device has a rotatably mounted disc with opposite faces and a plurality of apertures or holes, which provide different flow restrictions between the faces, and a pair of flow conduits sealingly engaging against the faces, whereby on rotation of the member the zones are selectively brought into communication with the conduits to provide a desired flow restriction.

In many organisations, for example in industry, in large kitchens and in large hotels where many rooms need to be cleaned regularly, small containers, such as easily portable bottles, are frequently refilled with cleaning and sanitising liquids from bulk containers held at a filling station. The dispenser is typically of the type described in EP 0868137. This describes a manually operated dispenser for dispensing measured single shots of fluid from a reservoir into a container positioned beneath the outlet. The containers being filled are typically labelled or coloured, in order to indicate the liquid which they should contain. There are obvious risks of errors here, that a liquid might be filled into a container for which it was not intended, particularly when many people frequently visit a filling station. Simple colour coding systems, whilst helpful, do not remove the possibility of human error.
Attempts have been made to overcome this problem by electronic automated filling systems, but these tend to be very complex, involving for example the reading of bar code labels. Such systems are expensive, they require expert set-up and maintenance and are prone to the occurrence of faults.
Document US-B1-6,279,836 describes a fluid dispenser in which the insertion of containers for which the dispenser is not intended is prevented by providing inwardly facing projections on the sides of a container receiving portion of the dispenser which engage complementary grooves in the side of the container as it is inserted into the dispenser for filling. Once the container is inserted to its full horizontal depth, it can be raised whereby the projections follow a "T" arm of the groove in the container side. Raising the container brings the container mouth to a position where it surrounds a filling nozzle, and at the same time the container mouth raises a slider which operates the fluid dispenser main valve.


A component positioning and securing bracket assembly includes a front rail, a rear rail, and a bottom rail to define a front, a rear, and a bottom boundary of the component positioning and securing bracket assembly. The front rail, the rear rail, and the bottom rail define a structure into which is received the component in a first direction of movement, and a lever provides leveraged motion in a second direction of movement to connect a port of the component to a component connector and to secure the component in the component positioning and securing bracket assembly. The component positioning and securing bracket assembly is in an array of a plurality of components, in which any one component can be installed or removed without installing or removing any other component in the array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer network and network system components, and more specifically to a component device bracket assembly that provides for the component device to be installed into and removed from an array of component devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer network server system and related components are typically housed in racks configured to house and to assimilate the functions of a plurality of component devices. System racks provide efficient organization for the plurality of components for ease of access, serviceability, expandability, power distribution, cooling, etc.
In a system rack, generally accepted and standardized sizes for the various component devices provide for efficient space utilization, ease and predictability of system configuration, serviceability, and facility location. A "rack unit" is generally accepted as being approximately 1.75 inches in height, and 17.5 inches in width, with a depth ranging from approximately 18 inches to approximately 36 inches to accommodate a plurality of component devices. A plurality of component devices are typically stacked, arrayed, or otherwise arranged within the rack, often with component devices in trays or drawers having a dimension of some multiple of a rack unit.
As is known, various system and network component devices require electrical connection as well as data connections to implement RAID array, mirroring, or other such redundancy of data and power. In the example of disk drives, the component devices are being developed in smaller and smaller dimension while accommodating more and more data. Concurrently, networks and network systems are being called on to accommodate and to process more and more data. Disk drive components, once having a form factor of 5.25 inches, have evolved to current industry standards of 3.5 and 2.5 inch form factors. An exemplary three rack unit tray can therefore house a correspondingly greater number of disk drive components in the available space. Efficient use of the space, while providing for necessary access and airflow, presents continuing challenges to the configuration and arrangement of disk drives, and other component devices within a system rack.
Disk drives of 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch form factors are typically arranged in a linear array within a system rack tray, also known as an array chassis. The disk drives are usually attached to a mid-plane or to one or more back-planes to provide the necessary electrical and data connections, and in a typical orientation of the component, the disk drive components are horizontally oriented and plugged into a vertically oriented mid-plane or back-plane. As used herein, a "horizontal orientation" describes a disk drive or other component device having a length "L" and a height "H", oriented in a space so that length L is the longer of the two dimensions L and H, and is positioned so that length L is parallel to the plane of the floor or base of the space in which the disk drive or other component device is positioned. Height H is therefore oriented perpendicular to the plane of the floor or base, and the horizontal orientation therefore positions the disk drive or other component device with a height H oriented vertically and being shorter than the length L.
In order to achieve more efficient use of system rack space, and correspondingly more robust networks and network systems, multiple component devices may be configured to a removable mid-plane or to one or more back-planes to provide both horizontal and vertical access for insertion and removal of individual component devices and a more dense arrangement of device arrays. In typical configurations, however, access to a single component device within an array requires a plurality of component devices to be taken off line. When returned to on line, the component devices may require data to be re-built to restore desired system processing and function. Such data re-build can take excessive amounts of time, which increases with the increasing numbers and capacity of component devices that can be accommodated on a single mid-plane spanning an array chassis due to smaller sizes of the component devices.
In consideration of the foregoing, what is needed is an efficient network and network system component device array, and method of connecting and arranging a plurality of component devices to increase device density, capacity, serviceability, and to achieve a maximum economy of space.


The present invention provides a system and method for integrated reclosing of circuit breakers in a power substation by providing a programmable controller which is programmed to detect the opening of a circuit breaker and initiate a reclosing window during which time it can generate a command signal to the opened circuit breaker commanding it to close.

Power substations typically include a plurality of buses each having a plurality of feeders coupled thereto. The feeders are coupled to and supply power typically to industrial and residential customers. Each feeder typically has at least one circuit breaker and a relay associated with that circuit breaker. The relay detects a predetermined condition, such as a fault, and sends a signal to open or "trip" the circuit breaker associated with that relay so that the feeder can no longer deliver power to the load coupled to it.
As a safety precaution, backup protection must be provided for relay and circuit breaker failure or malfunction. Conventionally, backup protection used in power substations required dedicated backup devices and dedicated wiring which increased the cost of providing backup protection and increased the amount of space required to implement such backup protection. In addition, conventional backup protection systems indiscriminately rendered more of the substation inoperable than was necessary. For example, conventional backup protection for the failure of the relays in the feeders included at least one additional relay located upstream of the feeder relays. If a fault occurred on a particular feeder and the relay associated with that feeder malfunctioned or failed to detect the fault, the upstream relay would eventually detect the fault and trip all of the circuit breakers downstream of it. Thus, all of the feeders would be disabled, not just the feeder in which the relay failed.
Conventional backup protection for circuit breakers in a power substation typically provided backup protection for the transformer's circuit breakers and not the individual circuit breakers located in the feeders. Backup systems required one device, such as a breaker failure relay per circuit breaker to detect the malfunction or failure of the circuit breaker associated with the device. The device would monitor the status of a circuit breaker associated with the device and start a timer. If the circuit breaker was not open when the timer expired, the device, which was typically externally wired to additional devices that would be wired to trip additional circuit breakers, would generate an output signal to the other devices to trip the additional circuit breakers. Alternatively, some devices monitored the current flowing through the circuit breaker associated with the device to determine if the circuit breaker failed to open. Because of the need for additional devices and wiring, the space required to implement such backup protection systems increased as well as the cost of implementing such systems.
In addition, to reclose circuit breakers once the predetermined condition had been cleared, conventional systems utilized a separate device such as a reclosing relay associated with each circuit breaker. The device would start a timing sequence any time the circuit breaker associated with it opened. When the timing sequence expired, and assuming other supervisory conditions were satisfied, the device would output a signal to close the circuit breaker associated with it. As already discussed with reference to the backup protection for circuit breaker failure, because one device was associated with each circuit breaker, the same disadvantages regarding space and cost exist.
It is thus desirable to provide a control system that detects the failure of a relay in a feeder and generates a backup command to trip only the circuit breaker associated with the failed relay thereby leaving the other feeders in which no failure or malfunction has been detected unaffected. It is also desirable to provide a control system that is integrated and provides one time reference to allow for a more uniform response. It is also desirable to provide a control system that allows for more accurate and uniform reclosing of circuit breakers after a fault has been cleared Finally, it is desirable to provide a control system that requires minimal space for its implementation, that is less expensive than conventional backup protection systems and can be easily reconfigured to changing requirements.

System and method for providing integrated reclosing of circuit breakers in a power substation


Methods and computer systems related to image-based data analysis such as mass spectrometric data analysis. Methods and computer systems herein utilize multiple micro-processes operating concurrently to carry out rapid, efficient, and automated analysis of mass spectrometry data.

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique capable of identifying molecules in a sample by ionizing the molecules and evaluating their mass to charge ratio. High throughput mass spectrometry involves analyzing complex mixtures composed of thousands of molecular species. The volume of data involved in such analysis complicates the development of faster and more efficient data analysis workflows.


The invention provides a technique that saves rate conversion accompanying complicated calculations and shares an analog filter for anti-aliasing in a sampling device. The sampling device employs an anti-alias filter having a fixed cutoff frequency, an A/D converter and a D/A converter each having a clock signal input, which are capable of varying a sampling frequency, and a PLL circuit capable of varying the frequency of a clock signal; and it sets the sampling frequency not lower than an integral multiple of a signal bandwidth and double the cutoff frequency for sampling.

Many radio systems have been made with different communication protocols. In such circumstances, there is a radio system that varies the system function by varying the software program and reconfiguring the hardware to implement the radio system function with plural systems on the common platform, which is generally called the software defined radio system. Many efforts toward the software defined radio system have been introduced with various treatises and so forth. As an example, the collective treatise B, Vol. J84-B, No. 7, pp 1112-1119 (2001/7) from the Japanese Electronic Information Communications Association describes the status quo and future of the software defined radio system.
In view of the flexibility produced by varying the software program and reconfiguring the hardware, it is preferred to make up the software defined radio system so as to perform main processing with software, while reducing as many analog circuits as possible and using digital circuits or processors. However, the operation speed of digital circuits, the throughput of processors, and the conversion speed of AD converters and DA converters have their limits. And there are problems in the price and the power consumption. Therefore, it is not realistic to implement all the functions of the software defined radio system with the software processing using digital circuits and processors.
Accordingly, the allocation of analog circuits and digital circuits becomes extremely important in the software defined radio system. It is very important to allocate the sampling unit that administers the conversion of analog signals and digital signals to which part of the radio system. That is, to perform the sampling in the RF band (radio frequency band), or to perform it in the IF band (intermediate frequency band), or to perform it in the base band (BB) will give great differences in the circuit scale of analog circuits, the circuit scale of digital circuits, the sampling frequency, and the sampling accuracy and so forth. Here, the sampling unit represents an AD (Analog to Digital) converter that converts an analog signal into a digital signal, a DA (Digital to Analog) converter that converts a digital signal into an analog signal, and a part made up with an anti-aliasing filter which becomes necessary with the above converters.
In the case of performing the sampling in the RF band, the radio system is made up with full digital circuits, becomes easy to reconfigure the hardware, and becomes a realistic software defined radio system that can easily conform it to any communication protocols of the radio system. However, the sampling frequency becomes some ten GHz in this case, and the AD converter and DA converter having such a high frequency are not realistic in the price and power consumption. Not only for the sampling frequency, has it required about 20 bits as the quantization bit number.
In the case of performing the sampling in the IF band, the sampling frequency can be reduced to a lower frequency in comparison to the sampling in the RF band. However, in view of the price and power consumption, it is not yet realistic in the radio system such as a mobile phone and a wireless LAN available to general users. The high-speed data communication as seen in the wireless LAN and the like is expected widespread in the future. However, since the high-speed data communication requires a wide base band, it is impossible to lower the IF band.
Assuming the sampling in the RF band or the IF band, there is another method of taking on the undersampling that performs the sampling with a sampling frequency not higher than the Nyquist sampling frequency. In this case, the input band width of the AD converter and the frequency accuracy of the sampling are required in the same level as the sampling in the RF band and the IF band. The sampling in the base band is regarded as a general makeup, and many software defined radio systems called the multimode wireless device take on this configuration.
The software defined radio system is required to transmit/receive the signals having different bandwidth for different protocols. In the sampling in the base band, there appears a necessity of sampling with multiple different sampling frequencies. In that case, the cutoff frequencies of the anti-aliasing filters have to be varied in correspondence with the multiple different sampling frequencies.
The JPA No. 300017/1993 describes a traditional method of varying the sampling frequency and the bandwidth of the anti-aliasing filter, in correspondence with the frequencies of the analog input signals. And the JPA No. 198257/2003 describes a traditional method of fixing the sampling frequencies and the cutoff frequencies of the anti-aliasing filters, and performing the rate conversion to the data sampled by the fixed sampling frequencies by means of the digital signal processing.


A modified thermostable DNA polymerase having 5% or less of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of the enzyme before modification and a DNA polymerase composition for amplifying nucleic acid, which comprises the modified thermostable DNA polymerase having 0 to 5% of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of the enzyme before modification and an unmodified thermostable DNA polymerase having 3'-5' exonuclease activity or a modified thermostable DNA polymerase having 100 to 6% of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of a thermostable DNA polymerase before modification; a method for amplifying nucleic acid by use of said modified thermostable polymerase or said DNA polymerase composition; and a reagent therefor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modified thermostable DNA polymerase, a DNA polymerase composition for amplifying nucleic acid, and a reagent for amplifying nucleic acid containing said enzyme or composition, as well as a method for amplifying nucleic acid by use of said reagent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a large number of studies have been conducted on thermostable DNA polymerases for use in techniques for amplification of nucleic acid, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) etc. Examples of thermostable DNA polymerases used in PCR are DNA polymerase (Tth polymerase) mostly derived from Thermus thermophilus and DNA polymerase (Taq polymerase) derived from Thermus aquaticus. Other known examples are DNA polymerases derived from a hyperthermophilic archaeon strain, such as thermostable DNA polymerase derived from Pyrococcus furiosus (Pfu polymerase, WO92/09689, Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 328,969/1993) and thermostable DNA polymerase derived from Thermococcus litoralis (Tli polymerase, Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 7160/1994).
The present inventors have previously found thermostable DNA polymerase excellent in thermostability and DNA extension rate derived from Pyrococcus sp. KOD1 (KOD polymerase, Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 298,879/1995).
However, these thermostable DNA polymerases have problems such as insufficient amplification of nucleic acid. Further problems with polymerase derived from a hyperthermophilic archaeon strain such as Pyrococcus sp. KOD1. are that it has a 3'-5' exonuclease activity and there is a limit to PCR conditions including reaction time, enzyme amount, primer concentration etc. Therefore, there is demand for novel thermostable DNA polymerase.
As a result of their eager research, the present inventors have succeeded in creating a modified enzyme derived from Pyrococcus sp. KOD1, said enzyme having the 3'-5' exonuclease activity reduced to 5% or less of the original polymerase before modification while maintaining the DNA extension rate and thermostability of the original polymerase.
The present inventors have further found that the efficiency of amplification using a polymerase before modification is improved by use of its modified thermostable DNA polymerase having a DNA extension rate of at least 30 bases/second and capable of maintaining 60% or more residual activity at pH 8.8 (determined at 25.degree. C. because it was difficult to measure the pH at 95.degree. C.) after treatment at 95.degree. C. for 6 hours, said modified enzyme having the 3'-5' exonuclease activity reduced to 5% or less of the polymerase before modification, and the present inventors thereby completed the present invention.
That is, the present invention is a modified thermostable DNA polymerase having the following physicochemical properties:
action: it has a DNA polymerase activity and has 5% or less of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of the enzyme before modification; PA1 DNA extension rate: at least 30 bases/second; and PA1 thermostability: it is capable of maintaining 60% or more residual activity at pH 8.8 (determined at 25.degree. C.) after treatment at 95.degree. C. for 6 hours.
Further, the present invention is a method for amplifying nucleic acid, which comprises reacting DNA as a template, primers, dNTP and the thermostable DNA polymerase of claims 1 to 3, thus extending the primers to synthesize DNA primer extension products.
Further, the present invention is a reagent for amplifying nucleic acid, which comprises 2 kinds of primer, one of which is complementary to a DNA extension product of another primer, dNTP, said thermostable DNA polymerase, and a buffer solution.
As one of methods for amplifying long chain nucleic acid, there is a report on PCR making use of both Taq polymerase (KlenTaq-278) free of 3'-5' exonuclease activity and Pfu polymerase (or Tli polymerase) having 3'-5' exonuclease activity, or of a DNA polymerase composition containing a mixture of their mutant enzymes (Barns, W. M. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91, 2216-2220).
There is another report on PCR making use of a polymerase composition containing a mixture of Tth polymerase free of 3'-5' exonuclease activity, Pfu polymerase (or Tli polymerase) with 3'-5' exonuclease activity, and thermostable DNA polymerase derived from Thermotoga maritima (Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 38198/1996).
Higher efficiency of amplification can be attained by such a composition than by one kind of DNA polymerase but is still not sufficient because 2 kinds of DNA polymerase having different properties in thermostability and DNA extension rate are used. Hence, there has been demand for a method further excellent in efficiency of amplification.
As a result of their eager research under these circumstances, the present inventors found that PCR excellent in efficiency of amplification can be effected using a DNA polymerase composition for nucleic acid amplification, consisting of a combination of first and second DNA polymerases being almost identical to each other with respect to thermostability and DNA extension rate, the activity of the second DNA polymerase being present at a lower level than that of the first DNA polymerase, specifically a DNA polymerase composition comprising DNA polymerases selected from the group consisting of a modified thermostable DNA polymerase (first polymerase) having 0 to 5% of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of the naturally occurring enzyme before modification and a modified thermostable DNA polymerase (second polymerase) having 100 to 6% of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of a naturally occurring DNA polymerase or of its original naturally occurring enzyme before modification.
That is, the present invention is a DNA polymerase composition for amplifying nucleic acid, which comprises a modified thermostable DNA polymerase having 0 to 5% of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of the original enzyme before modification (first polymerase) and the original enzyme or a modified thermostable DNA polymerase having 100 to 6% of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of its original thermostable enzyme before modification (second polymerase), said first and second DNA polymerases having a DNA extension rate of at least 30 bases/second and capable of maintaining 60% or more residual activity at pH 8.8 (determined at 25.degree. C.) after treatment at 95.degree. C. for 6 hours.
Further, the present invention is a method for amplifying nucleic acid, which comprises reacting DNA as a template, primers, dNTP and said DNA polymerase composition, thus extending the primers to synthesize a DNA primer extension product.
Further, the present invention is a reagent for amplifying nucleic acid, which comprises 2 kinds of primer, one of which is complementary to a DNA extension product of another primer, dNTP, said DNA polymerase composition, divalent ions, monovalent ions, and a buffer solution.

Modified thermostable DNA polymerase derived from pyrococcus sp. KOD and DNA polymerase composition thereof for nucleic acid amplification


A swivel includes: a circular fixed base; and a movable stage capable of rotating relative to the fixed base.

Conventionally, there is known a swivel on which a device is mounted and which changes the orientation of the device.
For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-120963 discloses a swivel capable of supporting various types of devices such as electric equipment while allowing them to turn. Also, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-56608 discloses a swivel for turning a device such as a television receiver, a computer display or the like so that the device can be oriented at an optimum angle. The swivels disclosed in those publications have a fixed stage and a rotatable stage mounted on the fixed stage. The rotatable stage is capable of rotating relative to the fixed stage, and both the fixed stage and the rotatable stage are circular in a plan view.
In broad outline, a conventional swivel is configured to have two layered plate-like stages; a fixed stage and a movable stage. The swivel also has a swiveling mechanism. In order to provide the swivel with necessary strength, the height of the swivel tends to be increased, thereby making the swivel thick and look overwhelming.

Swivel, display device and electronic apparatus


A memory device includes a memory cell array in which plural memory cells are arranged in a matrix manner, and a mode selection part. The mode selection part has at least any two of a first mode, a second mode, a third mode and selects any operation mode. The first mode is for reading and writing 1-bit data with the first memory cell or the second memory cell. The second mode is for reading and writing the 1-bit data with a cell unit including the N first memory cells and the N second memory cells connected to a bit line pair. The third mode is for reading and writing the 1-bit data with a cell unit including the M first memory cells and the M second memory cells connected to the bit line pair. M and N are 1 or more integers which are different from each other.

Currently, most processors have hierarchical cash memories, and operation speeds and data capacities are different from each other per hierarchy level called as L1-L3 cashes. Generally, the data capacity is larger and a required operation speed is lower in a lower hierarchy level than in an upper hierarchy level. The data in the cash memories is treated per block of a predetermined data size (cash line). There are various kinds of measures for managing hierarchical cash memories. For example, data copying of the data per block, so called, block copying may be done between hierarchy levels, for example, when cash error occurs in the upper hierarchy level and cash hit occurs in the lower hierarchy level and the like.
Also, a non-volatile MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) is proposed to reduce power consumption. In particular, an STT (Spin Transfer Torque)-MRAM whose individual memory cell is configured by a circuit in which a magnetic tunnel junction element (hereinafter referred to as an MTJ element) and a cell transistor are serially connected to each other is paid attention.
A capacity variable type memory device using the above-mentioned STT-MRAM is known (for example, see Patent Literature 1). The memory device in Patent Literature 1 is provided with a memory cell array in which plural memory cells are arranged in a matrix with a serial circuit of the MTJ element and the cell transistor as a memory cell. In the memory cell array, a bit line and a source line are arranged per column, and each memory cell in the column is connected between the bit line and the source line. The bit line of each column is provided so as to be connected to one sense amplifier with two bit lines in the adjacent columns as one set, and the sense amplifier is provided every two columns. Also, a word line is arranged per row, and the memory cell in the corresponding row is connected to each word line.
In a memory device of Patent Literature 1, for example, a 1T-1MTJ mode, a 2T-2MTJ mode, and a 4T-4MTJ mode can be selected. The 1T-1MTJ mode is a mode for writing/reading 1-bit data to/from each memory cell, and the 2T-2MTJ mode is a mode for making two memory cells aligned in a row direction in each column of one set into one set, and writing/reading the 1-bit data to the set. Also, the 4T-4MTJ mode is a mode for four cells obtained by increasing one set of memory cells to a cell configuration in the 2T-2MTJ mode into one set, and writing/reading the 1-bit data to the set. In respective modes, an area occupying the 1-bit data gets smaller in the order of the 4T1-4MTJ mode, the 2T-2MTJ mode and the 1T-1MTJ mode, which is advantageous to realize a large capacity, however, operation speed, reliability and the like get higher in the opposite order. Therefore, for example, it is proposed to allocate the cell configuration of the 4T-4MTJ mode to a cash memory in an uppermost hierarchy level, and allocate the cell configuration of the 1T-1MTJ mode to a cash memory in a lowermost hierarchy level.

Memory device that enables direct block copying between cell configurations in different operation modes


There is provided a method of bonding inner leads of lead frames to electrodes of semiconductor chips, including the steps of (a) pictorially recognizing bonding sites of inner leads a semiconductor chip through wires for the certain number of lead frames among a plurality of lead frames and analyzing the bonding sites to obtain coordinate data numerically expressing the bonding sites, (b) calculating statistic about dispersion in the thus obtained coordinate data, (c) judging whether the thus calculated statistic is smaller or greater than a predetermined threshold value, and (d) bonding inner leads of lead frames to electrodes of semiconductor chips for the rest of lead frames in accordance with predetermined bonding site data without pictorially recognizing bonding sites thereof, if the statistic is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value, or bonding inner leads of lead frames to electrodes of semiconductor chips for the rest of lead frames by pictorially recognizing bonding sites in advance for the rest of lead frames, if the statistic is greater than the predetermined threshold value. In accordance with the above mentioned method, it is possible to omit pictorial recognition for the rest of lead frames, if statistic calculated based on dispersion in bonding sites in the certain number of lead frames is smaller than a threshold value, resulting in significant improvement in bonding speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for bonding inner leads of lead frames to electrodes of semiconductor chips through wires, and more particularly to pictorial recognition of bonding sites at which inner leads are bonded to electrodes of semiconductor chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional method of recognizing inner leads, there has been employed a charge coupled device (CCD) camera for recognizing bonding sites located in the vicinity of distal ends of inner leads of a lead frame, and then there has been calculated coordinate values for the bonding sites in a certain coordinate system. Then, a wire-bonding head wire-bonds inner leads to electrodes of a semiconductor chip mounted on a lead frame through wires in a subsequent stage in accordance with the thus calculated coordinate values.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing respective steps of a conventional method. In step 1, inner leads of lead frames successively fed are recognized by a CCD camera in binary or multivalued condition. Then, in step 2, coordinate values in X and Y axes are calculated for bonding sites in a certain coordinate system. Thus, there are obtained coordinate values of bonding sites necessary for wire-bonding a plurality of inner leads to a single semiconductor chip.
Then, in step 3, wire-bonding is carried out in accordance with the coordinate values of bonding sites calculated in step 2. Steps 1 to 3 are repeated until all of inner leads are wire-bonded to electrodes of semiconductor chips, as indicated in step 4.
As is obvious in view of the flow chart in FIG. 1, all of inner leads have been recognized by a CCD camera to calculate coordinate values of all of bonding sites, and then wire-bonding has been carried out in the above mentioned conventional method.
A lead frame having the small number of inner leads often has relatively wide inner leads, and hence dispersion in a position of inner leads can be absorbed in such a wide width of inner leads. Hence, wire-bonding can be carried out in accordance with bonding site data in advance stored in a memory, even if bonding sites in inner leads are not recognized by, for instance, a CCD camera. However, a lead frame having the greater number of inner leads is often made to have small width inner leads or to have complicated shape. Such small width inner leads and complicated shape causes deformation of inner leads when a lead frame is formed, and/or lowers accuracy with which a lead frame is formed. Thus, it was necessary in a conventional method to recognize all of bonding sites in inner leads prior to wire-bonding.
It takes about 2 to 5 seconds per a semiconductor chip for recognition of all of bonding sites. Hence, if four semiconductor chips are to be mounted on a lead frame, it would take 8 to 20 seconds for accomplishing recognition of all of bonding sites in such a lead frame. Thus, if recognition of all of bonding sites in a lead frame is to be carried out, it is not possible to shorten fabrication time, resulting in that the recognition is a bar for improving productivity.


The present invention provides a method of hot switching data transfer rate on the bus to hot switch the data transfer rate of the bus between the control chips without the process of RESET. When the bus between the control chips demands a large amount of data transfer, the bus is hot switched to a higher data transfer rate to fulfill the data transfer requirement. Contrarily, when the bus between the control chips demands less amount of data transfer, the bus is hot switched to a lower data transfer rate to save power consumption.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to data transfer on the bus, and more particularly, to a method of hot switching data transfer rate on the bus.
2. Description of Related Art
In the information explosion era, information processing and information exchange have become more and more important. Since it is so important, how to make the process and information transmission faster is a common objective of present technological development. In the distributed process computer system, between chips that bear different tasks, fast exchange of information is the major factor impacting system performance. Taking the control chips of a computer motherboard as an example, the bus between the north-bridge chip and the south-bridge chip demands a large amount of data transfer. Therefore, its data transfer rate has advanced rapidly. However, while the data transfer rate on the bus has advanced rapidly, power consumption has also increased accordingly. Current computer systems have contradictory needs in data transfer rate and power consumption required to satisfy a sufficient amount of the data transfer rate. Therefore, the data transfer rate on the bus between the control chipsets at present is fixed at a data transfer rate of sufficient amount when the system is up and stable. This data transfer rate has to take into consideration the maximum transfer demand, but when there is no demand for such a large data transfer rate between the control chipsets, power consumption is still high.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of hot switching data transfer rate on bus


Analyzing a strain distribution in a semiconductor structure. One embodiment includes a method including: determining a crystallographic orientation of a portion of the semiconductor structure depicted in a diffraction pattern image, identifying a first and a second diffraction spot in the diffraction pattern image, and detecting an anticipated location of each of a plurality of diffraction spots, based on the first and second diffraction spot, and the determining of the crystallographic orientation. The method includes forming perimeter tiles around the first and the second diffraction spot, and the anticipated location of each of the plurality of diffraction spots, and storing each of the formed perimeter tiles of the diffraction pattern image. Finally the method includes determining the strain distribution in the semiconductor structure based on an actual location of the first and the second diffraction spot, and each of the plurality of diffraction spots within the perimeter tile.

1. Technical Field
The subject matter disclosed herein is related generally to analyzing a semiconductor structure. More particularly, the subject matter disclosed herein is related to analyzing a strain distribution in a semiconductor structure.
2. Related Art
During the manufacturing of conventional semiconductor structures a layer of the structure may be placed under a strain. The strain placed on the predetermined layer may create an increased mobility of the charge carriers of the semiconductor structure. That is, the strain may allow for greater and/or faster electrical connections within the semiconductor structure, which may ultimately increase the operational speed of the semiconductor structure. For example, during the manufacturing of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure, a layer of silicon (Si) may be placed under strain. In order to determine if the strain placed on the Si layer is operationally acceptable (e.g., meets predetermined manufacturing specifications) for the MOS structure, a strain distribution of the Si layer may be analyzed.
Conventionally, the strain distribution of a layer of a semiconductor may be measured using a variety of processes, including nano-beam diffraction (NBD). Conventional NBD is a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique which may examine strain in a layer of a semiconductor using a high-resolution diffraction pattern. Using NBD, a user may capture high-resolution diffraction patterns of different portions of the semiconductor structure including a strained layer. More specifically, the high-resolution images may include a diffraction pattern of the strained layer of the semiconductor structure. The high-resolution diffraction patterns typically are stored and later analyzed to determine the strain distribution within the strained layer of the semiconductor structure. However, in order to analyze an entire semiconductor structure, a plurality of high-resolution images of the portions of the semiconductor structure must be captured and stored. As a result of the large data size and number of high-resolution images used in a NBD process, a significant amount of storage space may be required for analyzing the strain distribution in a semiconductor structure.

Analyzing strain distribution in semiconductor structures using nano-beam diffraction

International Business Machines Corporation