Engines and engine systems for managing blow-by gas and/or moisture therein, and methods of operating the same are disclosed. The engine systems may include an air intake system including a compressor such as a turbocharge and a charge air cooler. The engine system may also include an engine such as combustion engine have a crankcase. During combustion blow-by gas may be captured in the crankcase and recirculated back to the air intake system. The blow-by gas may be diluted by additional air such as fresh air prior to being recirculated. The system may also include a pump to facilitate recirculation.

Engine systems are prevalent throughout modern life. Engine systems convert other forms of energy into mechanical energy. But engine systems often rely on ambient air as fuel and/or for cooling. During combustion, combustion gases may leak or slip past the piston/cylinder head and may be collected in the crankcase. These gases may include oil and water. The composition of ambient/external air and/or blow-by gases may vary based on weather conditions, location, and numerous other factors.

Pump driven crankcase ventilation system


The invention relates to an electronic device with a housing to accommodate a support substrate, provided with an electronic circuit, whereby the electronic circuit makes contact with at least one electrical line, leading out of the housing. The electrical line is connected to a rigid contact element on a contact holder and the contact element is introduced into the support substrate to make contact with the electronic circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic device having a housing for accommodating a support substrate which supports an electronic circuit, with at least one electrical line, which is routed out of the housing, making contact with the electronic circuit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In motor-vehicle electronics, the electronic circuits for controlling individual vehicle functions are arranged on a printed circuit board which is arranged in a housing directly at the location of the actuating drive to be controlled. In this case, the electronic circuit is connected to the vehicle-body side by means of cables. The cable ends make contact with the printed circuit board by the individual lines of the cable being threaded through holes in the printed circuit board and then soldered.
In mass production, this leads to a high error rate in the production of such control units. A further disadvantage is that the soldered connections become loose on account of the high vibration requirements in the motor vehicle, and this leads to electrical breakdowns.


Systems, devices and methods are presented for downloading content to a mobile terminal, during periods when the mobile terminal is outside of the home network; i.e. when the terminal is roaming. The invention provides for downloading of the content without utilizing the cellular network, thereby, circumventing the additional surcharges that may be associated with providing for downloading outside of the home network environment. In addition, the invention provides for methods and systems that may be implemented automatically, without the user having to interface with the device or system to implement the change in download techniques. Also, the content can be downloaded during normal download schedules so that the user is not adversely affected by their travel schedule and can be assured scheduled program downloads throughout the travel period.

An increasing amount of mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like are equipped with multimedia capability. In this capacity, the multimedia equipped mobile devices are able to execute all types of multimedia files, such as video files, audio files and the like. In addition to multimedia capability, mobile devices are consistently expanding in terms of memory capacity. For example, cellular telephones are currently available with 16 mega byte (Mbyte) and 32 Mbyte local memories. An alternative or additional capability, mobile devices may have built-in flash memory and or memory capacities of mobile devices may be expandable with external multimedia card (MMC) slot for user data. The need to expand memory capacity is essential in the multimedia equipped mobile device because the typical multimedia file is a large volume file that requires ample storage space to execute the file and/or store the file. However, as the multimedia functionality of the mobile device increases, so too, will the memory capacity and the user is assured that next generation mobile devices will customarily be available with sufficient memory capacity to support all facets of multimedia capabilities.
The deployment of advanced high bit-rate mobile networks has opened up new opportunities for delivering a host of services in a way that was not possible with earlier second generation wireless networks. Recent systems including third generation (3 G) systems, such as those specified for use with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) wireless standard, enable the delivery of new digital services such as video calls and the playback of multimedia applications that are comprised of audio and video clips. In this regard, the increased bit rates of 3 G systems widen the possibilities for providing digital services. Please also refer to current 2 G and 2.5 G systems hence content is already widely transferred using e.g. GPRS.
As the ability to send multimedia content over wireless networks, such as cellular and non-cellular networks and the like, becomes more commonplace, the prospect grows for numerous content delivery or content download models that will greatly benefit the mobile device user. For example, one model has been discussed whereby the mobile device user subscribes to a service that provides for programs to be downloaded to the mobile device on a regular schedule. In this model, a user may subscribe to a service that provides e.g. daily, weekly or monthly delivery (i.e., download) of a program, such as a soap opera, a talk show or the like, typically transmitted by a television network. The user of such a service benefits from having the programming automatically downloaded to the mobile device, assuring that the user does not miss an episode of the program. In addition, since the programming is provided to a mobile terminal the active user can view the program at any time or at any place
However, content downloading of large data files, such as multimedia files and the like, typically requires ample download time or bandwidth to transmit the file from the source to the mobile device. Download time presents problems in the wireless communication realm; such as, the cost associated with transmitting a large multimedia file and the actual time for downloading which may limit the users ability to otherwise communicate via the cellular network. In order to address these concerns, it is envisioned that the majority of content downloading would occur during off-peak hours, i.e., typically during the night time or during any other suitable time defined by the service or content provider This allows content providers to offer the service at economical delivery rates and would not greatly impact the device user's ability to otherwise communicate via the network.
While night-time content downloading addresses problems associated with the mobile device user, it does not address all of the economical problems associated with content downloading in mobile devices and, specifically problems encountered by the user when the mobile device "roams", i.e., travels outside of the home network. Typically, the user of the cellular network is provided service to a home network and the ability to roam outside of the home network to other networks is provided if the service provider has appropriate agreements in place with the other networks. Generally, the ability to roam to another network comes at an additional cost to the user, either the costs are built in to the user's service agreement or the costs are in addition to the user's service agreement.
FIG. 1 provides a block diagram depiction of a home network and a corresponding roaming network, in accordance with the prior art. The home network 10, typically a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network includes Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 20, a Base Station Controller (BSC) 30. The BTS receives and terminates wireless communications transmitted from and to Mobile Station(s) (MS A) 40, i.e. mobile terminals, such as cellular telephones and the like. The BSC is the functional entity within the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication that is responsible for Radio resource (RR) allocation to a Mobile Station, frequency administration and handover between the BTS controlled by the BSC. The BSC provides an interface to the Packet Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) 50 and the GPRS core network 60. A Mobile Switch Center (MSC) 70 is communication with the BSC and PSTN and provides an exchange within the network that is capable of interworking with location databases. The MSC is in communication with a Home Location Register (HLR) 80 that maintains user subscription information for home network subscribers. A Packet Control Unit (PCU) 90 is in communication with the BSC and a Service GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 100 and is responsible for the radio related aspects of the GPRS. The SGSN keeps track of the location of an individual MS and performs security functions and access control to the GPRS core network. Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSN) 110 supports the edge routing function of the GPRS network acting as an Internet Protocol (IP) router to the Internet 120.
The GPRS Core network 60 will typically include one or more Border Gateway 130 that provide edge routing to neighboring networks. In this illustration the BG provides routing a connecting network 140, which in turn provides connection to the GPRS roaming network 150. GPRS roaming network is similarly configured with architecture that resembles the GPRS home network. In addition, the GPRS roaming network will include a Visitor Location Register (VLR) 160 that includes all subscriber data required for call handling and mobility management for mobile subscribers currently located in the area controlled by the VLR, i.e., the roaming network area. As such when the Mobile Station 40 travels outside of the home network to the area of the roaming network, the VLR will provide call handling and management for the MS, designated in FIG. 1 as MS-C.
In the business model proposed above, in which a subscriber is provided content downloading of a program on a regularly scheduled basis; hourly, daily, weekly or the like, if the user chooses to travel, the roaming charges that may incur may make content downloading highly undesirable. The user will be faced with paying an exorbitant rate to download while they are outside the home network or, more likely, will be forced to suspend the service during periods of travel. Suspending or stopping the service is to the disadvantageous of both the user and the service provider. The user of the service will be disappointed by not being able to habitually receive and view the program on the normal schedule and the service provider will lose revenue if the user suspends or otherwise cancels the service during the periods of travel.
Thus a need exists to develop a system and corresponding methods for providing content downloading to mobile terminals when the terminal is outside of the realm of the home-network, i.e. when the mobile device is roaming or when the device is about to roam but is still within the home network. The desired system and method will avoid connection to a roaming network and will, therefore, eliminate the need to incur costs related to accessing the roaming network. In addition, the desired system and methods will provide the mobile device user with a convenient means for downloading content in the roaming, i.e., travel, environment. Moreover, the desired methods and systems should provide for roaming or travel to occur on regular schedules or for a user travel profile to exist, such that the system recognizes when content downloading should be altered from the normal home-based downloading to the travel or roaming mode of content downloading and can automatically switch modes based on the user's schedule.

Systems, devices, methods and computer program products for downloading content to mobile devices in a roaming environment


Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to electronic dispersion compensation (EDC). The interaction between the frequency chirp and the fiber dispersion is newly analyzed. The linear and nonlinear properties of the chirp-dispersion are separately analyzed. A pre-compensating transmitter may consist of a phase interpolator (PI), a 2 tap data generator, a pulse widening CLK generator, a rising pattern detector, 4:1 Mux and an output driver. A post-compensating receiver may consist of linear equalizer for the rabbit ear compensation, nonlinear equalizer for tilting compensation, typical high frequency boosting equalizer (EQ) and limiting amp (LA).

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a distributed feedback-directly modulated laser (DFB-DML).
2. Discussion of the Background
Recently, LTE backhaul is fast-growing market and the market is expected to support 100 million mobile devices by 2015. As the number of subscribers increases, efforts to decrease the cost per subscriber increase. A considerable portion of the cost is occupied by a laser source. Therefore, a low-cost distributed feedback-directly modulated laser (DFB-DML) is a good candidate for cost-effective optical networks. The DFB is a type of laser diode where an active region of the laser is periodically structured of diffraction grating. The grating provides optical feedback for the laser and reflects only a narrow band of wavelengths. Therefore, the DFB produces a single longitudinal lasing mode and has high Q-factor.
In comparison with externally modulated lasers (EMLs), the directly modulated lasers (DMLs) have many advantages of cost, power consumption and size. However, direct modulation induces frequency chirp. Over the data rate of 3 Gb/s, the frequency chirp combined with fiber dispersion degrades system performance. Therefore, several investigations have been conducted to compensate the penalty due to the frequency chirp. Some research have devised optical domain solutions such as specially designed chirp-managed lasers using optical spectrum reshaper (OSR) filter and dispersion compensation fiber (DCF).

Electronic dispersion compensation for low-cost distributed feedback-directly modulated laser

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


A distributed backwards-wave balun comprising first and second pairs of coupled transmission line sections having one line section of the first coupled pair connected in series with one line section of the second coupled pair. A differential port is connected across the outer ends of the series-connected line sections and a single-ended port is connected to the inner end of the other line section of one of the coupled pairs. The balun includes an inductive load, connected in parallel with the differential port, in which the electrical length of the coupled line sections is less than one quarter of the wavelength of the centre frequency of the operating band of the balun.

This invention relates to a distributed backwards-wave balun for use, for example, in wireless, cellular handsets and radios, and in RF modules therefor.
Differential circuits have been employed in wireless cellular communications handsets and other wireless technologies for many years. The benefits from using differential circuits are lower noise and lower susceptibility to interference. Despite the benefits of differential circuits, some of the components used in a modern wireless communications technologies remain single ended; for example, single ended antennae are more common than differential antennae, and similarly it is often preferred to employ single ended power amplifiers. In cases where wireless communications technologies share single-ended and differential components, it is necessary to include devices which convert the unbalanced signals which are output from the single ended components to balanced signals which can be fed to the inputs of the differential components and vice versa.
Such devices are often referred to as baluns. A balun transforms a signal referenced to ground into two signals with equal amplitude and opposite phase. Figures of merit for describing the electrical characteristics of a balun are the amplitude and phase balance and the return loss and insertion loss.
A balun can be implemented by a number of discrete components. Balun topologies employing discrete components are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,299 and 6,396,632. Baluns can also be implemented using distributed components; such baluns normally employ a number of half- or quarter-wavelength coupled transmission lines. A popular form of the distributed balun is described in N. Marchand: "Transmission Line Conversion Transformers", Electronics, vol. 17, pp 142-145, 1944 and is often referred to as a Marchand balun after the inventor. An alternative distributed balun is described in U.S. Pat. No. 06,292,070 and is often referred to as a backwards-wave balun. The structure of a Marchand balun is depicted in FIG. 1a, and the structure of a backwards-wave balun is depicted in FIG. 1b.
In each case the balun comprises first and second pairs of coupled transmission line sections 10A, 10B and 12A, 12B respectively. Each of the line sections 10A, 10B and 12A, 12B has an electrical length E which is equal to one quarter of the wavelength of the centre frequency of the operating band of the balun. The electrical characteristics of the coupled transmission line sections 10A, 10B and 12A, 12B are described by the electrical length E, by the even mode admittance YE and by the odd mode admittance YO of the coupled line sections. The line sections 10A and 12A are connected in series. In the case of the Marchand balun (FIG. 1a) the differential port 14 is connected across the inner ends of the line sections 10B, 12B and the single-ended port 16 is connected to one outer end of the series-connected line sections 10A, 12A. In the case of the backwards-wave balun (FIG. 1b) the differential port 14 is connected across the outer ends of the series-connected line sections 10A, 12A and the single-ended port 16 is connected to the inner end of one of the line sections 10B, 12B. Such baluns are so well-known that no further description is deemed necessary.
Distributed baluns such as the Marchand balun and the backwards-wave balun offer excellent performance in the areas of amplitude balance, phase balance, return loss and insertion loss; they also have a much wider bandwidth than the discrete balun described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,299.
Distributed baluns can easily be implemented in multilayer substrates using, for example, LTCC (low temperature co-fired ceramic) technology, and offer greater flexibility in the layout than baluns which employ discrete components, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,299 and 6,396,632. For example, a distributed balun can be fabricated in a multilayer LTCC substrate such that the coupled lines are folded over several layers of LTCC and where the metal patterns on each layer are connected to those on higher or lower layers by electrically conducting via holes. This structure can substantially reduce the XY dimensions of the balun if a sufficient number of layers of LTCC are used. On the other hand, the coupled lines can be confined to the surface of a single layer of LTCC, thereby substantially reducing the height of the balun at the expense of increased size in the XY plane. Distributed baluns can readily be matched to a range of input and output impedances without the need for matching components.
As described above, conventional Marchand and backwards-wave baluns comprise 2 quarter-wave coupled-line sections. At 2.45 GHz, the centre frequency for 802.11 b/g Wireless-LAN standards, a quarter-wave transmission line, fabricated on a substrate with a dielectric permittivity of 8 (typical for LTCC), will have a length of 11 mm. For mobile cellular applications, a balun employing a pair of 11 mm coupled line sections is rather large, and it is difficult to incorporate such long lines into a multilayer substrate with dimensions similar to those which are possible with the discrete balun described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,299. However, the wider bandwidth which distributed baluns can offer is increasingly becoming a requirement as cellular handsets and wireless technologies are designed to offer higher rates of data transfer and to operate on wider bands or on a greater diversity of bands. Clearly, there exists a strong demand for a balun which combines the wide bandwidth of the distributed balun described in U.S. Pat No. 06,292,070, together with the small size of the discrete balun described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,299.
Gavela I., Falagan M. A., Fluhr H.; "A small size LTCC balun for Wireless Applications"; Proceedings of the European Microwave Conference 2004; pp 373-376 showed that capacitive loading can offer substantial size reduction of a Marchand balun. Gavela et al found that by connecting capacitive loads to the unbalanced input and to the open circuit end of the series coupled line sections of a Marchand balun, a size reduction of ˜50% was possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,199 also discloses a compact Marchand balun. The size reduction of the balun of U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,199 is achieved through the use of multiple coupling or loading capacitors, as described on page 6, lines 42-51 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,199.
Marchand baluns have the drawback that the differential outputs are connected to ground via the grounded coupled lines. As a result, DC blocking capacitors are required if a DC bias is to be applied to the differential outputs of a Marchand balun—see FIG. 2a. A further drawback is that a pair of DC bias networks are required in order to apply a DC bias to both of the differential outputs—see also FIG. 2a.
On the other hand, a DC bias can be applied to the differential outputs of a backwards-wave balun without the need for DC blocking capacitors, because the differential outputs of the balun are isolated from ground—see FIG. 2b. Furthermore, a DC bias can be applied to both differential outputs of a backwards-wave balun simultaneously by a single DC bias network—see also FIG. 2b.


Disclosed are methods for manufacturing semiconductor devices and the devices thus obtained. In one embodiment, the method comprises obtaining a semiconductor substrate comprising a germanium region doped with n-type dopants at a first doping level and forming an interfacial silicon layer overlying the germanium region, where the interfacial silicon layer is doped with n-type dopants at a second doping level and has a thickness higher than a critical thickness of silicon on germanium, such that the interfacial layer is at least partially relaxed. The method further includes forming over the interfacial silicon layer a layer of material having an electrical resistivity smaller than 1×10−2 Ωcm, thereby forming an electrical contact between the germanium region and the layer of material, wherein the electrical contact has a specific contact resistivity below 10−4 Ωcm2.

Non-ohmic or high resistivity contacts, having a contact resistivity higher than 10−4 Ωcm2 are a roadblock to applications of germanium (Ge) despite its high potential for e.g. Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) transistors or memory elements. Both CMOS applications on Ge and Ge selector diodes for memory elements need low contact resistivity.
Low resistive ohmic n-type contacts on Ge are difficult to form because of strong Fermi-level pinning on germanium (barrier height is about 0.49 to 0.64 eV for a wide range of metal work function). Ge shows a depinning factor of about 0.05 and a charge neutrality level of 0.09 eV, which means Fermi level pinning close to the top of the valence band.
Secondly, n-Ge contacts are difficult to form because of low activation limits and concentration enhanced diffusion of n-type dopants in Ge. Barrier height lowering by means of thin oxides/nitrides was reported, but the contact resistivity obtained was about 1×10−2 Ωcm2.
Therefore it is desirable to further lower the contact resistivity of the contacts formed on n-type Ge.

Method of manufacturing low resistivity contacts on n-type germanium

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K.U. LEUVEN R&D


Provided is a singulation method of a semiconductor device that can perform a sawing process while protecting a pad. In the singulation method for forming a semiconductor device including a scribe lane region and a chip region, pads are formed in the chip region. Photoresist patterns exposing the scribe lane region and covering the pads are formed, and a substrate in the scribe lane region is cut and a washing solution is sprayed on the scribe lane region. According to the method, wafers can be stably separated from each other while pads of a semiconductor device are protected, so that stabilization in the fabrication process can be realized and pad corrosion caused by DI water is prevented during a sawing process. Accordingly, a defective device is minimized and reliability of a device can improve.

The present disclosure relates to manufacturing of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a singulation method of a semiconductor device that allows a sawing process to be performed while protecting a pad.
Generally, a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device can be divided into a fabrication (FAB) process and a packaging process.
The FAB process is a process for forming fine patterns in a silicon wafer to form circuits, and the packaging process is a process for processing the wafer in which the fine patterns have been formed to allow electricity to be supplied to individual chips of the wafer.
Here, the packaging process is a technology for separating only normal chips (or dies) as individual chips and forming them in packages. This is done so that they have electrical and physical characteristics to protect the chips from external, mechanical, physical, and chemical impacts, and allows them to be mounted in a printed circuit board (PCB).
A metal pad opening and bonding process of a semiconductor device will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a sawing process of a semiconductor device according to a related art, and FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a pad portion in the case where a sawing process of a semiconductor device according to a related art is applied.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a packaging process includes: a wafer-mount operation of classifying chips into normal chips and defective chips at a wafer level when FAB-out is completed; a sawing operation of singulating chips from a wafer with reference to a scribe lane; a bonding operation of bonding a singulated chip to a lead frame using epoxy, which is a conductive adhesive, and connecting gold wires of high purity as capillaries, for electrical connection between metal pads of the chip and leads of the lead frame; molding an outer portion of the chip using a thermoset resin to protect a wire bonding-completed chip from an outside physical impact or a chemical change.
The metal pad pattern is opened using a photolithography process before the sawing process.
After that, fine patterns (not shown) forming a chip circuit are formed on a semiconductor substrate 100 using a thin film forming process, a diffusion process, a photolithography process, and an etching process.
Metal pads 103 are formed on an interlayer insulating layer in pad forming regions of a first wafer A and a second wafer B including the fine patterns.
The metal pads can be formed of aluminum (Al).
Also, a passivation layer 101 is formed using a nitride layer or an oxide layer to protect devices and circuits formed of various metals formed on the semiconductor substrate 100 from outside contaminating sources, and to prevent corrosion.
To open the metal pad 103 for connection with an outside power source, a photoresist is coated on an entire surface and selectively exposed and developed to form a photoresist pattern including a pad open region.
An exposed passivation layer 101 is selectively etched through an etching process using plasma using the photoresist pattern as a mask to open the metal pad 103.
A sawing process is performed on the above-manufactured semiconductor substrate.
A first wafer A and a second wafer B are separated from each other through the sawing process.
In detail, the wafer is cut along a scribe lane using a sawing wheel 125 to separate semiconductor devices existing in the circular silicon wafer.
At this point, deionized water 113 is sprayed using a spraying nozzle 123 simultaneously with the cutting to remove silicon powder 111 generated when the wafer is cut during the sawing process.
The above-described metal pad forming process and sawing process of the semiconductor device according to the related art have the following limitations.
While the metal pad 103 is exposed to the outside through a hole 130 of the passivation layer 101 and the sawing process is performed, corrosion is generated at the metal pad 103 due to deionized (DI) water used for removing byproducts 150 such as silicon powder 111.
Also, according to the related art, the metal pad 103 of the semiconductor device is contaminated by the silicon powder 111 generated during the sawing process.
These limitations generate defective semiconductor device leading to reduced yield.

Singulation method of semiconductor device


The method achieves a reduction of the required transmission capacity. This occurs in that pixels of pixel-based image parts (PB) and corresponding pixels of computer image parts (CB) that overlap are already merged in the transmission unit according to the blue part of the pixel of the pixel-based image part (PB) and according to the computer model attributes, so that a key signal (K) is no longer transmitted. The key signal (K) usually indicates the ratio in which the pixel of the pixel-based image part (PB) should be merged with the pixel of the computer image part (CB). In known methods, this information is not binary. In the receiver unit, thus, the only thing decided is whether the pixel is taken from a partially mixed image sequence (TGB) or from the computer image parts (CB).

In the encoding of image sequences that represent a combination of computer image parts, for example image parts that are constructed from computer graphics, and pixel-based image parts, for example image parts that are registered by a camera, it is known to separately encode and transmit the input data of the computer graphics (script files with associated data) and the pixel-based image parts. It is only at the receiver that the graphics models are then rendered and mixed with the pixel-based image parts. Since the mixing is not a binary operation, the information about the ratio in which the mixing should be carried out must be additionally transmitted for each pixel. This information is stored in a key signal and is acquired by a color segmenting from the camera signal in traditional television (F. Fechter et al., "Signal processing for a digital HDTV chromakey mixer", Signal Processing: Image Communications 5, 1993, pp. 417-423 and T. Sprague, "Merging Digital Technology into an Analog World", SMPTE Journal, February 1994, Vol. 103, No. 2, 1994, pp. 100-104).
Methods are known for transmission that separately encode computer image parts and pixel-based image parts in a transmission unit, together with what is referred to as a key signal that indicates the ratio in which a pixel of a computer image part is to be respectively mixed with the corresponding pixel of the pixel-based image part. In blue box exposures, for example, the key signal is acquired from the pixel-based image parts by a color segmenting. The intensity of the blue coloration thereby indicates the later mixing ratio in which the pixel information of the pixel of the computer image part is mixed with the corresponding pixel information of the pixel-based image part in the receiver unit. The mixing of the two pixel information in the receiver unit is not a binary mixing.
Since the mixing is not binary, much information for the respectively mixing ratio must be transmitted for every dot with the assistance of the key signal. The key signal thus requires a considerable amount of transmission capacity. However, the information of the key signal has no additional informational content for the image itself but merely the information about the ratio in which the images should be mixed together in the receiver unit.

Process for coding image sequences in a transmitter unit


An antenna device having a substantially cylindrical shaped case to house the antenna part and a stopper to seal a case opening tightly, wherein the stopper has the first waterproof on the outer periphery to contact the case and the second waterproof on the inner periphery to contact the lead wires. The first waterproof and the second waterproof are disposed on a same location. The present invention can provide the antenna device capable of preventing water immersion into the case simply and reliably without using any filler.

In recent years, a remote-control system has being widely used to control locking/unlocking vehicle doors from a distance by communicating between a mobile device and an antenna device installed in the vehicle.
The conventional antenna device for use in such a remote-control system is described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of conventional antenna device 10. Substantially box-like case 1 formed from a non-conducting material has opening 1A in the top surface, and extended terminals 2A and 2B are embedded in the left hand side of case 1 as shown in FIG. 6. Extended terminals 2A and 2B are molded integrally with case 1.
Case 1 includes antenna part 3. Antenna part 3 includes: ferrite core 3A; coil 3B wound on the outer periphery of ferrite core 3A; and capacitor 3C connected in series with coil 3B. The winding start of coil 3B is connected to extended terminal 2A and the winding end of coil 3B is connected to an end of capacitor 3C. The other end of capacitor 3C is connected to extended terminal 2B.
Extended terminals 2A and 2B are respectively connected to lead wire 5 outside case 1. The joints of extended terminals 2A and 2B to lead wire 5 are respectively covered by heat shrinkable tube 9 to prevent external exposure and the other end of lead wire 5 is connected to an in-vehicle unit (not shown) installed in a vehicle via a junction connector (not shown).
Antenna part 3 is sealed into case 1 using filler 6 such as silicon resin or epoxy resin. Filler 6 filled into case 1 is cured at a predetermined temperature to secure antenna part 3 inside case 1.
Lid 4 has locking holes 4A on both sides. Hooks 1B engage with locking holes 4A to cover opening 1A of case 1 by lid 4.
The operation of antenna device 10 is described next.
Antenna device 10 with above configuration is installed for instance inside a vehicle door handle. When a user who has a mobile device approaches the vehicle, the mobile device receives signal waves from antenna device 10. The mobile device decodes the signal waves received and transmittes a responding signal to antenna device 10. The in-vehicle unit installed in the vehicle decodes the responding signal received by antenna device 10 and controls locking/unlocking of the vehicle doors. The user can thus control locking/unlocking the vehicle doors by only carrying the mobile devic.
For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Application No. 2001-345615 discloses such a conventional art.
However, since the conventional antenna device 10 is housed inside a door handle or the like and is therefore apt to getting wet by raindrops or water drops in vehicle washing, the waterproofing is necessary for antenna part 3 in antenna device 10. After antenna part 3 is housed, therefore, case 1 is filled with filler 6 and is then cured to secure antenna part 3 inside case 1.
However, merely filling and curing filler 6 is not sufficient to obtain good water proofing performance. Filler 6 must be kept under an atmosphere of reduced pressure such as vacuum or the like to release air trapped in filler 6 during the filling process before filler 6 is cured so as not to form residual bubbles. As described above, conventional antenna device 10 needs a long time and complicated processes for production.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Vaccine vectors and methods for enhancing resistance to Campylobacter infection or for enhancing the immune response to Campylobacter are provided herein. The vaccine vectors include a first polynucleotide which encodes an antigenic polypeptide selected from SEQ ID NO: 7-9 or a fragment thereof. The vector may also include an immunostimulatory polypeptide. The methods include administering the vaccine vectors to a subject.

The repertoire of safe and cost-effective vaccines for generation of mucosal immunity against a variety of agents is limited. The leading bacterial cause of human gastrointestinal disease worldwide is Campylobacter. Bacterial gastroenteritis continues to pose a significant threat to the general public in the United States and abroad for the foreseeable future. Infections with Campylobacter jejuni occur more frequently than the more publicized infections from Salmonella species or Escherichia coli O157:H7. The actual burden of illness of Campylobacter gastroenteritis nationwide is 500-850 infections/100,000 persons per year.
Not only is Campylobacter the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, but C. jejuni has been associated with the neuropathological disease Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). This life-threatening disease may be an immune response to ganglioside-like structures on certain C. jejuni strains leading to an autoimmune response against nerve cells. Although GBS is the most important chronic sequelae, Campylobacter infection is also associated with a reactive arthritis, which may progress to Reiter's syndrome.
Vaccination against Campylobacter has had limited success using killed whole-cell or protein based vaccines. In addition, there are concerns regarding the development of Guillain-Barré syndrome or other sequelae from killed whole-cell vaccination. A successful vaccine would need to be cost-effective, safe, orally effective, and be produced in large quantities in a very short time-period. At the present time there is no such vaccine.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vaccine and methods to reduce campylobacter infection

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS


A position adjustment method includes forming a plurality of bores on a tray, forming a plurality of through holes in a mounting plate corresponding to the bores on the tray, installing a plurality of screws into the through holes, and threading a plurality of nuts onto the screws, so as to fasten the screws to the mounting plate. The method also includes threading the screws into the corresponding bores so as to fasten the mounting plate to the tray and adjusting depths of the screws in the bores so as to adjust the position of the mounting plate relative to the tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a position adjustment mechanism and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a mechanism and method for adjusting the position of a mounting plate relative to the tray of an optical disk drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, personal computers have changed from calculation oriented to multimedia oriented. Therefore storage devices for storing a big amount of video information are improved continuously. An optical disk drive that can read and write information to optical disk has become a mainstream product in the market. A pickup head of the optical disk drive emits laser beams with specific wavelengths and power to read information stored in the optical disk or write information into the optical disk. In specification, the main products of optical disk are compact disks (CD) and digital versatile disks (DVD). The optical disks also can be divided into read-only optical disks, write-once optical disks, and rewritable optical disks in application. The optical disk drives can also be divided into video disk players and CD burners.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a main body 10 of an optical disk drive according to the prior art. The main body 10 comprises a mounting plate 12, a spindle motor 14 positioned on the mounting plate 12 for providing a motive power to rotate an optical disk put on the spindle motor 14, a main guide bar 16 and a sub guide bar 18 positioned in opposite side on the mounting plate 12, and a pickup head 20 connected to the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 by a sliding way along the direction of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 to read or write information to the optical disk. Following is the description of the operation method of the optical disk drive by explaining the theory of reading information manner.
When the optical disk drive is going to read information of a specific track on the optical disk, the pickup head 20 will slide along the direction of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 to a corresponding position and emit laser beams having a wavelength, with the spindle motor 14 rotating, to read the information from the specific track. However, an inaccuracy may occur during fabricating the optical disk drive, so that the two ends of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 will have different heights. As a result, the distance between the pickup head 20 and the surface of the optical disk will be indefinite when the pickup head 20 slides along the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18. The indefinite distance results in that the emission power of the pickup head 20 is hardly controlled, even in errors or failures of reading information.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a reverse side of the main body 10 shown in FIG. 1, wherein an optical disk is positioned on the spindle motor 14, and FIG. 3 is a section view of the main body 10 shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, assuming that the two ends of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 have different heights, there is an angle θ1 between the sliding direction of the pickup head 20 (the dual-arrow 26) and the horizontal surface of the optical disk. As shown in FIG. 3, the distance between the pickup head 20 and the surface of the optical disk as the pickup head 20 slides to a position close to the spindle motor 14 is different from the distance as the pickup head 20 slides to a position far away from the spindle motor 14.
In the prior art, to solve the problem resulting from the indefinite distance between the pickup head 20 and the optical disk, a plurality of height adjusting mechanisms are installed on the ends of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18, such as three tuning screws 22 in FIG. 1. After the main body 10 of the optical disk drive is assembled, those tuning screws 22 will be adjusted individually according to the different heights of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 to insure that the directions of both of the main guide bar 16 and the sub guide bar 18 are parallel with the surface of the optical disk so as to prevent the problem of the indefinite distance between the optical disk surface and the pickup head 20.
However, the inaccuracy occurred during the fabrication and assembling process of the optical disk drive not only results in the angle θ1 between the sliding direction of the pickup head 20 and the surface of the optical disk, but also results in other problems when the main body 10 is further assembled to a tray of the optical disk drive. Please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the tray 28 of the optical disk drive. The main body 10 is assembled onto the tray 28. The assembling method is to install a plurality of screws through the dampers 24 (such as rubber pads) and corresponding through holes, to thread nuts onto the screws, and to thread the screws into the corresponding bores 30 on the tray 28 so as to fasten the mounting plate 12 to the tray 28, as shown in FIG. 5, which is a schematic diagram of the assembled main body 10 and the tray 28.
Please refer to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram in a reverse side of the main body 10 and the tray 28 shown in FIG. 5 wherein the optical disk is positioned on the spindle motor 14. FIG. 7 is a section view of the main body 10 and the tray 28 shown in FIG. 6. Another problem resulting from the inaccuracy of the assembling process is that an error angle between the main body 10 (including the mounting plate 12 and the spindle motor 14) and the tray 28 occurs. It results in an angle θ2 between the surface of the optical disk located on the spindle motor 14 and the tray 28, which causes the outer portion of the optical disk to collide with the tray 28 when the optical disk rotates. The above-mentioned problem is especially serious in thin-type optical disk drives of common notebook computers because the space in a thin-type optical disk drive is especially small.

Position adjustment and damper mechanism for an optical disk drive


The presently disclosed subject matter provides an approach to address the needs for microscale control in shaping the spacial geometry and microarchitecture of 3D collagen hydrogels. For example, the disclosed subject matter provides for compositions, methods, and systems employing N-sulfosuccinimidyl-6-(4′-azido-2′-nitro-phenylamino)hexanoate (“sulfo-SANPAH”), to prevent detachment of the hydrogel from the anchoring substrate due to cell-mediated contraction.

Recapitulating native three-dimensional (3D) organ microenvironments is a fundamental challenge in the development of biomimetic models of human physiology and disease. Microenvironmental cues such as local architecture, mechanical forces, and biochemical signals can define the physiological, or pathological situation in vivo. The extracellular matrix (ECM), serving as both a structural scaffold and cell adhesion substrate, possesses a tissue-specific composition and topology that can instruct diverse processes including growth, differentiation, and tissue morphogenesis/remodeling. In polarized tissues, such as the epithelium and endothelium, cells can interact with a planar layer of ECM called the basement membrane, while in tissues such as muscle and connective tissue/stroma, the cells reside in a truly 3D milieu of ECM and surrounding cells. By reconstituting the microenvironment, 3D models can facilitate investigation of-relevant human physiological and pathophysiological processes involving tissue elements such as stroma and their interfaces with epithelial and vascular components.
3D culture platforms have been developed that aim to model the native tissue microenvironment. Specific examples include hydrogels derived from native ECM or synthetic materials, solid state polymeric scaffolds, and matrix/scaffold-free systems such as spheroid cultures, with ECM gels being the most commonly employed. While such 3D hydrogel-based models can reconstitute the composition and mechanical properties of the native tissue microenvironment, critical aspects of organ structure such as patterned tissue-tissue interfaces and dynamic mass transport are absent in these models.
One approach to meet these challenges is to leverage biomimetic microengineering techniques to develop microphysiological models of human tissues and organs, termed "organs-on-chips." Comprised of 3D arrangements of perfusable microchannels, human organs-on-chips can allow for precise control of dynamic flow conditions and application of physical stimuli to cells and engineered tissues equivalents. Researchers have sought to create systems that incorporate 3D ECM gels, which mimic the in vivo stromal compartment to facilitate the study of angiogenesis, tumor cell invasion, and metastasis.
There remains a need to be able to control the spatial geometry and microarchitecture of the ECM hydrogel in these 3D culture organ-on-a-chip systems in order to develop improved microphysiological models. Furthermore, there remains a need to be able to prevent detachment of the ECM gel from the anchoring substrate due to cell-mediated contraction, resulting in the loss of the originally defined construct geometry and limited timeframes of experimentation.
The problem of cellular contraction of hydrogel matrices and detachment during 3D culture is a common obstacle to hydrogel anchorage in traditional cell culture models. A technique is needed that enables culture and maintenance of living cells in a 3D ECM environment for prolonged periods of time without causing significant changes to the volume of hydrogel and preventing loss to its structural integrity.

Systems and methods for immobilizing extracellular matrix material on organ on chip, multilayer microfluidics microdevices, and three-dimensional cell culture systems

THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA


A multimedia content delivery apparatus for delivering graphical information across a network to a client device, the apparatus including an environment engine controlling a virtual environment responsive to user commands, an object transformation unit transforming original object data of objects in the environment into compressed object data, a data management unit transmitting compressed data to the client device for decompression to output a sequence of images of the environment on the device, and a handler unit receiving commands from the device and providing the user commands to the environment engine.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of systems for delivering multimedia content, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a method and apparatus for delivering graphical information across a network.
2. Description of Related Art
It is desired to deliver rich and entertaining multimedia content to users across a network such as the Internet. However, there are technical restrictions concerning the transmission of data, such as bandwidth and delay. Also, there are difficulties regarding capabilities of the hardware devices that supply and receive the multimedia content, such as the need for specialised graphics hardware (e.g. a dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU)) and limitations on delivering content to multiple users simultaneously from the same source hardware.
As one example, US2005/104,889 of Clemie et al. shows that it is well known to deliver multimedia content from a server device to a client device over a network. Most often, a stream of audio and video (AV) data is provided, known as video-streaming. The client device can begin playback of initial portions of the AV data, e.g. to begin playing a video clip or movie, while still receiving other portions of the AV data to be played later. This AV data typically includes two-dimensional moving image data (2D video data), and many encoding and compression schemes have been developed in recent years, such as MPEG, to reduce the bandwidth required to carry such AV data and improve delivery of the content.
As well as delivering pre-made movies or other content that can be prepared in advance, it is also now desired to deliver games and games programs to be actively played on a client device. However, games generally are more technically challenging, because the game should respond to actions and commands by the user and each game session is usually unique to that user. As one option, a game is delivered on a physical carrier such as a CD or DVD optical disc, which the user must purchase and physically transport to a client device such as a games console. The purchased game can then be supplemented with additional content, such as additional characters, levels or missions. The additional content can be delivered across a network, either as a download package or by streaming. Another option, again as discussed in US2005/104,889, is to deliver game code (application code) to a client device across a network. Delivering the whole game takes a long time, but has proved to be a relatively acceptable approach in commercial systems. The game code can be streamed, so that game play can begin while later sections of a game are still being downloaded. In each case, the application code runs on the client device and the graphical data is rendered at the client device, which means that the client device must be relatively powerful and resourceful, like a PC or games console. Yet another option is to provide a centralised game server running the game code, while delivering a relatively lightweight stream of AV data to the client device (i.e. a video stream) which allows a greater range of client devices to participate in the delivery of rich multimedia content. Games and games programs generally still place intensive demands on the underlying hardware and network infrastructure. Even gaming based on video streaming places significant workload on the central server, and this workload increases yet further when serving tens or thousands of individual client devices. Hence, it is still desired to explore and develop other approaches to gaming.
It is known to deliver 3D graphical objects across a network. Generally, these 3D graphical elements represent an object as a geometric structure (such as a polygonal wire-frame geometry or mesh) with an overlying surface (texture). The 3D object data is then reconstructed by a renderer at the client device, to produce video images for a display screen. the video images are then typically output in combination with a coordinated audio stream. As one example, FAMC coding (Frame-based Animated Mesh Compression), has been proposed in the context of MPEG-4, to try to reduce bandwidth consumption for animated 3D graphical elements.
It is now desired to provide a multimedia content delivery system which addresses these, or other, limitations of the current art, as will be appreciated from the discussion and description herein.


A medical snap electrode having a conductive tape portion disposed between the cover material and conduction layer of the electrode. The conductive tape portion becomes part of an electrical connection from a top snap, positioned above the cover material, to the conductive tape then to the conductive layer. The conductive tape includes conductive adhesive on at least one of its surfaces and thereby provides a more robust electrical connection from a top snap to a conductive layer in the electrode and ultimately to a subject's skin. Viewing of the snap through the conductive film layer is prevented. The conductive tape thus provides an improved conduction path for distributing electrical current from the top snap to a subject's skin in addition to the conduction path through bottom snap. The improved conduction path can prevent heating or apprehension of potential heating by a subject or clinician.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a biomedical snap electrode and method of manufacturing a biomedical snap electrode for delivering electrical current to a subject. More particularly, a biomedical snap electrode and method of manufacturing a biomedical snap electrode for electrical stimulation of muscle tissue or nerves is disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical snap electrodes are well known in the medical field for use in measuring and monitoring the condition of a subject by interpreting various types of electrical signals monitored through the skin of the subject. Some well known applications which use medical snap electrodes include electrocardiography and electroencephalography. In those applications small signals are received though electrodes that are attached to the subject's skin. A lead wire provides a connection between the electrode and the monitoring equipment, which amplifies and displays or interprets the small signal.
Other well known applications of snap electrodes include electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and biofeedback. In EMS and TENS applications, for example, electrical current is applied through the skin to stimulate a subject's muscles for therapeutic purposes or nerves for pain reduction purposes and for physical training.
One commonly used method for fabricating a snap electrode by attaching a snap assembly into a stimulating electrode is described with reference to FIG. 1. A conductive top snap 10 and a conductive bottom snap 12 designed to mate with the top snap 10 are pressed together to secure the bottom snap 12 against a conductive layer 14 and to secure the top snap 10 against a cover layer 16 on the electrode. The conductive top snap 10 is typically made from metal and the conductive bottom snap 12 is typically made from metal or plastic with a conductive layer deposited thereon. The conductive layer 14 can be a conductive film or a layer of thin metal such as aluminum or tin, for example. The cover layer is typically made from a non-conductive material such as polypropylenes, polyethylene, polyurethane or other flexible material.
When the top snap 10 and bottom snap 12 are pressed together, portions of the bottom snap 12 make electrical contact with portions of the top snap 10 by at least partially penetrating the conducive layer 14 and the cover layer 16. An electrical connection is thereby made between the bottom and top snap. The electrical current flow for an electrode using this construction follows a path from a stimulating device (not shown) to a lead wire (not shown) to the top snap 10 to the bottom snap 12 and then to the conductive layer 14. A conductive gel (not shown) is usually applied to the bottom surface 15 of the conductive layer 14 to improve electrical contact with an area of a subject's skin.
Another commonly used method for fabricating a snap electrode is described with reference to FIG. 2. A conductive top snap 18 and a non-conductive bottom snap 20 designed to mate with the top snap 18 are pressed together to secure the bottom snap 20 against a conductive layer 22 and to secure the top snap 18 against a cover layer 24 on the electrode. The conductive top snap 18 is typically made from metal and the non-conductive bottom snap 20 is typically made from plastic. The conductive layer 22 is typically a conductive film or a layer of thin metal such as aluminum or tin. The cover layer 24 is typically made from a non-conductive material such as polypropylenes, polyethylene, polyurethane or other flexible material.
In snap electrodes that are assembled using the method described with reference to FIG. 2, an opening 26 larger than the snap is cut through the cover layer 24 to allow the top snap 18 to rest directly on the conductive layer 22. The electrical current flow for an electrode using this construction follows a path from a stimulating device (not shown) to a lead wire (not shown) to the top snap 18 to the conductive layer 22. A conductive gel (not shown) is typically applied to the bottom surface 28 of the conductive layer 22 to improve electrical contact with an area of a subject's skin.
In some cases, applications of electrical energy to a subject for EMS and/or measurement of electrical signals causes some apprehension due to the subject's perception that the electrode can burn or otherwise cause discomfort to the subject. Such apprehension can be enhanced when a snap connector is visible by viewing the bottom surface of an electrode which contact's the subject's skin. Each of the commonly used methods of constructing electrodes described above with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 include visible snaps on their bottom surface. Even though any substantial heating of the electrode or snaps is highly unlikely, it can be envisioned that a defective conductive layer could potentially cause a hot spot touching the patient's of the skin. Accordingly, many patients and/or practitioners avoid use of appropriate medical electrodes. It would therefore be desirable to provide a medical snap electrode that prevents viewing of a snap through the conductive layer of the electrode to reduce apprehension of burning or discomfort.


A method and system selects antennas in a wireless network including a base station and user equipment (UE) transceivers. The base station specifies times and frequencies to transmit sounding reference signals (SRSs), and antennas to use to transmit the SRSs for the specified times and frequencies. The transceivers transmit the SRS according to the specified times, frequencies, and antennas. The stopping and starting of the SRS are specified implicitly. The base station selects subsets of the set of available sets of antennas, and indicates the selected subset of antennas to the transceiver.

OFDM
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier communication technique, which employs multiple orthogonal sub-carriers to transmit parallel data streams. Due to the relatively low symbol-rate on each of the sub-carriers, OFDM is robust to severe channel conditions, such as frequency attenuation, narrowband interference, and frequency-selective fading. By prepending a cyclic prefix (CP) in front of each symbol, OFDM can eliminate inter-symbol interference (ISI) when the delay spread of the channel is shorter than the duration of CP. OFDM can also simplify frequency-domain channel equalization because the inner-carrier sub-carriers are orthogonal to each other to eliminate inter-carrier interference (ICI).
OFDMA
When OFDM is combined with a multiple access mechanism, the result is orthogonal frequency division multiplexed access (OFDMA). OFDMA allocates different sub-carriers or groups of sub-carriers to different transceivers (user equipment (UE)). OFDMA exploits both frequency and multi-user diversity gains. OFDMA is included in various wireless communication standards, such as IEEE 802.16 also known as Wireless MAN. Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) based on 802.16 and the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE), which has evolved from Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), also use OFDMA.
SC-FDMA Structure in LTE Uplink
The basic uplink (UL) transmission scheme in 3GPP LTE uses a single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) with cyclic prefix (CP) to achieve uplink inter-user orthogonality and to enable efficient frequency-domain equalization at the receiver side. This allows for a relatively high degree of commonality with the downlink OFDM scheme such that the same parameters, e.g., clock frequency, can be used.
Antenna Selection
The performance of the system can be enhanced by multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology. MIMO increases system capacity without increasing system bandwidth. MIMO can be used to improve the transmission reliability and to increase the throughput by appropriately utilizing the multiple spatially diverse channels.
While MIMO systems perform well, they may increase the hardware cost, signal processing complexity, power consumption, and component size at the transceivers, which limits the universal application of MIMO technique. In particular, the RF chains of MIMO systems are usually expensive. In addition, the signal processing complexity of some MIMO methods also increases exponentially with the number of antennas.
While the RF chains are complex and expensive, antennas are relatively simple and cheap. Antenna selection (AS) reduces some of the complexity drawbacks associated with MIMO systems. In an antenna selection system, a subset of an set of the available antennas is adaptively selected by a switch, and only signals for the selected subset of antennas are processed by the available RF chains.
Signaling and Protocol Design for Antenna Selection
In order to indicate one antenna out of two possible antennas (A and B), one scheme uses 1 of bit information, either explicitly or implicitly, into an "uplink scheduling grant" message, which indicates the antenna selection decision, 0 means antenna A, and 1 indicates antenna B.
In the prior art, antenna selection is typically performed using pilot signals. Furthermore, antenna selection has been performed only for small-range indoor wireless LANs (802.11n), and where only a single user is on a wideband channel at any one time, which greatly simplifies antenna selection.
In the prior art, sounding reference signals (SRS) and data demodulation (DM) reference signals are only used for frequency dependent scheduling.
A protocol and exact message structure for performing antenna selection for large-range, outdoor OFDMA 3GPP networks is not known at this time. It is desired to provide this protocol and message structure for performing antennas selection for an uplink of an OFDMA 3GPP wireless network.

Wireless networks incorporating implicit antenna selection based on received sounding reference signals

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


This invention relates in part to processes for producing one or more substituted or unsubstituted aldehyde acid salts, e.g., epsilon caprolactam, which comprises subjecting said one or more substituted or unsubstituted unsaturated acid salts, e.g., pentenoic acid salts, to hydroformylation in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, to produce one or more substituted or unsubstituted aldehyde acid salts and/or one or more substituted or unsubstituted epsilon caprolactam precursors. This invention also relates in part to reaction mixtures containing one or more substituted or unsubstituted aldehyde acid salts as the principal product(s) of reaction.

Formylvaleric acid and formylvalerate esters are valuable intermediates which are useful, for example, in the production of epsilon caprolactam. The processes currently used to produce formylvaleric acid and/or formylvalerate esters have various disadvantages. For example, the prior art processes to formylvaleric acid and/or formylvalerate esters exhibit catalyst stability problems. Also, formylvaleric acid and/or formylvalerate ester selectivities may not be as high as desired. Accordingly, it would be desirable to produce epsilon caprolactam precursors by a process which does not have the disadvantages of prior art processes.

Process for producing aldehyde acid salts

Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation


Embedded addressing information is identified in a packet by providing a database including a plurality of records. Each record is operable to identify a packet having embedded addressing information and the embedded addressing information in the packet. Packets are compared to the database records to determine whether the packets include embedded addressing information. In response to determining that a packet includes embedded addressing information, the embedded addressing information is identified in the packet for translation between disparate addressing systems.

Due to the success of the Internet, the Internet Protocol (IP) has become the primary networking protocol. Major concerns of the Internet community are the depletion of global IP address space (IPV4) and the complexity of configuring hosts with global IP addresses for Internet access. To extend the life of current IP address space and provide configureless access, network address translation (NAT) and its extension port address translation (PAT) have been employed.
Network address translation supports connectivity between the Internet and hosts using private addressing schemes. This connectivity provides configureless access to the Internet in that hosts may have independently assigned, globally non-unique addresses that need not be coordinated with the Internet Address Numbering Association (IANA) or other Internet registry. Network address translation pairs up the private addresses to public addresses so that the inside IP addresses appear as legally registered IP addresses on the Internet.
Port address translation allows a number of private network addresses and their ports to be translated to a single network address and its ports. Thus, multiple hosts in a private network may simultaneously access the Internet using a single legally registered IP address. The registered IP address is typically assigned to a router that translates addressing information contained in message headers between the addressing schemes.
A problem with Network and Port Address Translation is that some applications embed addressing information in their message payload data. This embedded addressing information is also to be translated when the packet is crossing the boundary. Unfortunately the translation function does not have the knowledge of the application packet format nor does it know if the packet has embedded addressing information. Therefor it is not possible for the translation function in the border routers to translate such data packets without specific knowledge of such applications and their packet formats. The mechanism to translate such packets is to be implemented in the translation function. Translation functions fail as soon as a new such application is developed or used with the router. Normally vendors of such translation functions in the routers develop new versions to handle the newly discovered applications that embed addressing information in their packets and make new release of the software and update all the affected installed systems. This is time consuming, expensive and cumbersome besides user application downtime.

Method and system for identifying embedded addressing information in a packet for translation between disparate addressing systems


A liquid immersion lithography system including a projection optical system for directing electromagnetic radiation onto a substrate, and a showerhead for delivering liquid flow between the projection optical system and the substrate. The showerhead includes an injection nozzle and a retrieval nozzle located at different heights. The liquid flow is tilted relative to the substrate. A direction from the injection nozzle to the retrieval nozzle is tilted at approximately 1 to 2 degrees relative to the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to liquid immersion lithography, and more particularly, to efficient recirculation of liquid in immersion lithography systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
An integrated circuit ("IC") integrates a large number of electronic circuit elements, including transistors. The circuit elements are manufactured and interconnected on a semiconductor substrate, e.g., on a single crystalline silicon wafer. During manufacturing, the wafers undergo cycles of film deposition and lithography, in addition to other processing. Film deposition is the process of depositing a layer of material, e.g., insulating or metallic, over the entire substrate; lithography is the process of patterning the deposited layer. The first step in lithography involves coating the wafer with photoresist that is sensitive to particular radiation, typically ultra-violet light. During the next step—exposure—the substrate is exposed to a radiation pattern stored on a mask, also called a reticle. Radiation locally changes the physical or chemical properties of the photoresist, and the exposed (or unexposed) areas are selectively dissolved during a developing step that leaves behind a pattern of photoresist. The patterned photoresist provides a pattern for a subsequent etching step. The etching step removes undesired areas of the deposited layer, leaving behind structures associated with circuit elements, such as wires, resistors and transistors, and the like.
Highly integrated circuits require small circuit elements. Since the radiation pattern shapes the circuit elements, the smallest feature size depends on the resolution achieved in the lithography exposure step, or the resolution of the projection device used to project the radiation pattern onto the substrate.
According to the Raleigh criterion, this resolution is proportional to the wavelength λ of the projected light and to an adjustment factor k1, and inversely proportional to the sine function of the marginal, or capture, angle θ of the projection optics, where:Resolution =k1*λ/sin(θ)
The resolution can be decreased, i.e., improved, in one of three ways. First, the wavelength λ of the projected light can be decreased. A shorter wavelength, however, may require new photoresist and a number of changes in the projection device, such as using a different light source and light filters, and special lenses for the projection optics. Second, the resolution can be decreased by decreasing the adjustment factor kl. Decreasing k1 may also require the use of different photoresist and high precision tools. Third, the marginal angle θ can be increased by increasing the size of the projection optics. The effect of this increase, however, is limited by the sine function above.
One way to reduce the wavelength λ of the projected light is through the use of immersion lithography, where a liquid is injected between the projection optics and the wafer, taking advantage of the higher refractive index of the liquid compared to air (and, therefore, resulting in a smaller effective wavelength λ).
One of the persistent problems in immersion lithography relates to ensuring purity and lack of contamination of the immersion liquid. The immersion liquid is generally recirculated, using some form of an injection system to inject the liquid into the volume between the projection optics and the substrate, and extracted using some form of a extraction, or suction system to extract the liquid from the exposure area back into recirculation. However, the liquid can get contaminated, for example, due to pickup of particles from the air, or due to pickup of material from the photo resist that is being exposed. Normally, filtering systems are in place to remove the contaminants. However, not all of the liquid that is injected into the exposure area can actually be recirculated. This is due to the surface tension that exists between the liquid and the substrate surface. Although most of the liquid can be extracted, using the suction pressure of the extraction/recirculation system, some droplets of liquid remain on the surface of the way of the substrate, together with their contaminants. Increasing the suction pressure generally does not help past a certain point, since this will increase the recirculation speed, but will not address the problems caused by the surface tension of the liquid.
Even with the current designs, many liquid injection and extraction systems utilize a fairly complex showerhead design to deliver and extract the immersion liquid. However, even in such complex designs, the problem of the surface tension of the liquid is not entirely solved.
Accordingly, what is needed is an approach that ensures that all of the injected liquid is collected by the extraction system in an immersion lithography tool.

Liquid immersion lithography system with tilted liquid flow


A displacement device with a first part (1) and a second part (3) which are mutually displaceable in a displacement direction. The first part (1) comprises a number of contact bodies (7) which are pressed against the second part (3) against a pretensioning force which is present between the first part (1) and the second part (3). The contact bodies (7) are movable stepwise relative to the first part (1) and are also displaceable perpendicularly to the displacement direction. A stepwise movement of the contact bodies (7) causes the first part (1) and the second part (3) to be displaced relative to one another in the displacement direction under the influence of a friction force present between the contact bodies (7) and the second part (3), while the first part (1) and the second part (3) are supported in an accurate position relative to one another perpendicular to the displacement direction through a displacement of the contact bodies (7) perpendicular to the displacement direction. The contact bodies (7) thus have a dual function.. In a special embodiment, the contact bodies (7) have a spherical contact surface (23), the stepwise movement of the contact bodies (7) being a pure rolling motion of the spherical contact surface (23) over the second part (3).. The displacement device according to the invention is used in an X-Y table provided with an object table (99) which is displaceable relative to a base (95) parallel to an X-direction and parallel to a Y-direction which is perpendicular to the X-direction by means of the displacement device.. The displacement device according to the invention is further used in a spindle device provided with a shaft (121) which is rotatable in a bearing bush (117) and is displaceable in an axial direction relative to the bearing bush (117) by means of the displacement device.

The invention relates to a displacement device provided with a first part comprising at least two contact bodies which can be pressed against a second part and are movable stepwise relative to the first part by means of an actuator such that the first and the second part are displaceable relative to one another in a displacement direction under the influence of a friction force present between the contact bodies and the second part.
The invention also relates to a displacement unit suitable for use in a displacement device according to the invention.
A displacement device of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph is known from EP-A-0 592 030. The first part in this known displacement device comprises a holder, and the second part comprises a shaft which is displaceable relative to the holder in an axial direction. The contact bodies of the first part each comprise a clamping member which can be clamped against the shaft. The first part further comprises a transport member which is fastened to the holder and by means of which a distance present in axial direction between the clamping members can be changed. The shaft is displaceable stepwise in the axial direction in accordance with a displacement cycle by means of the clamping members and the transport member. A first one of the two clamping members is clamped against the shaft at the start of a displacement cycle. Then the distance between the clamping members is increased by means of the transport member, so that the shaft is displaced in axial direction by the first clamping member. Subsequently, the second clamping member is clamped against the shaft, and the first clamping member is deactivated. The distance between the clamping members is reduced again now by means of the transport member, so that the shaft is displaced farther in axial direction by the second clamping member. Finally, the first clamping member is clamped against the shaft again, while the second clamping member is deactivated, whereupon the displacement cycle is repeated. The clamping members and the transport member are manufactured from piezoelectric material, so that very accurate displacements of the shaft relative to the holder in the axial direction are achieved.
A disadvantage of the known displacement device is that a position in which the shaft is present relative to the holder, as seen perpendicular to the displacement direction, is not accurately defined. The shaft is supported by the clamping members perpendicularly to the displacement direction. The positions of the clamping members relative to the holder perpendicular to the displacement direction, however, are dependent on inter alia the diameter of the shaft and are influenced by deviations of the shaft diameter in the displacement direction and by local deviations in the shaft surface. The known displacement device thus does not have an accurate bearing support function, with the shaft occupying an accurately defined position in a direction perpendicular to the displacement direction. This disadvantage renders the known displacement device unsuitable for a large number of applications.

Displacement device with a modular system of displacement units


A method, device and computer-readable storage element for dynamically changing a maximum access channel rate at a site in a communication system. The method includes setting a maximum access channel rate for an access channel at a site, which comprises a coverage area for a base station. The method further includes determining a first access probe success rate that measures a rate at which first attempt access probes sent from the terminals on the access channel are received, and changing the maximum access channel rate based on the first access probe success rate.

A wireless communication system such as a 3rd generation Code Division Multiple Access (3G CDMA) system is capable of enhancing end-user connectivity by providing a high speed "always on" wide area mobile environment. Push to talk (PTT) communication technology for 3G CDMA systems allows users to connect instantaneously with other PTT users anywhere in the world with just a press of a button. In addition, PTT enables one-to-one (private) and one-to-many (group) calls over the 3G CDMA network.
Presently, the PTT application uses a static maximum access channel rate assignment, where the default maximum access channel rate is set to a highest static rate, e.g., 38.4 kbps, to facilitate faster network access. The default maximum access channel rate is not changed over time. However, for the 38.4 kbps maximum access channel rate, PTT users in weak RF environments experience poor call set up time. On the other hand, if the maximum access channel rate is statically set to a lower rate, e.g., 9.6 kbps that remains constant over time, users in a good RF environment experience a delay in call set up.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for dynamically changing a maximum access channel rate to, for example, accommodate users in varying RF environments of the communication system.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Method and apparatus for dynamically changing a maximum access channel rate


An automatic balancing apparatus is disclosed. The automatic balancing apparatus includes a plurality of magnets, magnetic fluid, and a rotatable housing. The magnets function as balancers. The rotatable housing has a moving path disposed along a peripheral direction of the rotation. Each of the magnets is moved through the moving path. The rotatable housing accommodates the magnets and the magnetic fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic balancing apparatus that balances the rotation of an object, a rotating apparatus on which the automatic balancing apparatus is mounted, a disc drive apparatus, and a balancer that is mounted in an automatic balancing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a disc such as a record medium is rotated on a turn table of a disc drive apparatus such as an optical disc drive apparatus or a magnetic disc drive apparatus that records and/or reproduces for example data, the rotation of the disc may be unbalanced. As a result, the stability of recording/reproducing may decrease.
A technology of improving the balance of the rotation of a disc has been proposed for example in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei4-312244, paragraph (0006), FIG. 1. In this related art reference, a disc-shaped member having a space portion that accommodates magnetic fluid as a balancer is disposed so that it is rotated together with a motor shaft. The disc-shaped member has a boss portion. A ring magnet is mounted on a side circumferential surface of the boss portion. Thus, when the rotation rate of the rotation shaft is low, the magnetic fluid is attracted by the ring magnet so that the disc-shaped member is not unbalanced.

Automatic balancing apparatus, rotating apparatus, disc drive apparatus, and balancer


A semiconductor package substrate has top and bottom surface buildup layers disposed on a thermally conductive substrate core. A portion of the substrate core may be exposed at a top surface of the package substrate to allow a heat spreader to be thermally coupled to the substrate core. An integrated circuit may be mounted on a top surface of the package substrate, with a top surface of the integrated circuit facing down. A heat spreader may be attached to the package substrate. The heat spreader may be thermally coupled to the substrate core and to a backside surface of the integrated circuit.

Within the integrated circuit industry there is a continuing effort to increase integrated circuit device density and speed. As integrated circuits become smaller, the number of interconnections and the amount of heat generated per square inch may increase accordingly. Increased heating of an integrated circuit device may affect the performance of the device and may cause permanent damage. Further, electromagnetic emissions may also increase with faster switching speeds which may increase the need for shielding to prevent electromagnetic interference (EMI) to adjacent or nearby devices and equipment. Semiconductor packages may be designed to address some of these issues.
For example, a flip chip package, also known as control collapse chip connection (C4) package, may accommodate interconnection requirements of high-density integrated circuits. In a typical flip chip package, an integrated circuit (a chip) may be mounted to the top surface of a package substrate that serves as an interconnection device. The package substrate typically consists of top and bottom surface buildup layers of interconnect circuitry disposed on a substrate core. As current is passed through the top and bottom buildup layers, heat may be generated, which may cause the package substrate to self-heat. The substrate core is typically made of an organic material that is not thermally conductive, and so acts as a thermal insulator to the buildup layer.
A current solution to remove heat from a flip chip package is to attach a heat spreader in thermal contact with a backside surface of the integrated circuit. The heat spreader is typically attached to a solder area around the perimeter of the top buildup layers. Because the solder resist area is not thermally conductive, there may be no path for heat transfer from a self-heated package substrate to the heat spreader. Therefore, the heat spreader may do little to remove heat from the self-heated package substrate. Further, because the solder resist area is not electrically conductive, the heat spreader may not be grounded and may not provide adequate EMI suppression.

Method of making a semiconductor package with integrated heat spreader attached to a thermally conductive substrate core


A component, designed so that the longitudinal grain which experiences the greatest stress has a larger grain width than the other grains, is provided. This longitudinal grain is usually on the edge of the component. The component includes longitudinal grains that are directionally solidified in a rod-crystalline form along the longitudinal axis of the component.

Many components for use in the high-temperature range have a single-crystal (SX) structure or one which is solidified in a columnar form (DS).
This leads to further increase in the mechanical strength compared with a nondirectionally solidified component (CC).
Column-solidified components are more economical to produce than single-crystal components.
However, these directionally solidified components have disadvantages in terms of mechanical strength compared with single-crystal components.

Elongate component having longitudinal grains with different widths


A first bearing member and a second bearing member fit in a first side and a second side of a rotating shaft in the axial direction, respectively. The first bearing member is held by a supporting portion provided in a casing on a side corresponding to an emplacing member of an image carrier drum. The second bearing member is held by fitting in a fit-in portion from inside. A wall surface that regulates a charging roller in a longitudinal direction is formed on the second bearing member to protrude from a wall surface rotatably and pivotally supporting the charging roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging-roller bearing member, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus for use in an image forming apparatus to be used as electrophotography-applied output recording equipment, such as a copier, printer, or facsimile.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, printer, facsimile machine, or printing machine, a process cartridge may be used having accommodated therein at least one of a charging unit, a developing unit, and a cleaning unit among a latent image carrier and devices for an image forming process. Such a process cartridge is removably provided to an image forming apparatus body. By taking the process cartridge outside of the apparatus at the time of replacement and maintenance inspection, the work in a narrow space within the apparatus is reduced. Also, such a configuration of the process cartridge has been known in which, for example, a photosensitive drum, which is a drum-shaped latent image carrier, is rotatably supported in a casing forming the cartridge and a charging roller that performs a charging process onto this photosensitive drum is mounted inside the casing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-214885 (hereinafter, "first patent document") discloses a configuration, as a supporting configuration for the charging roller, in which both ends of a rotating shaft of the charging roller in an axial direction are supported via a bearing by both side walls of the casing of the cartridge.
However, as disclosed in the first patent document, when both of the photosensitive drum and the charging unit that performs a charging process, which is an image forming process onto the photosensitive drum, are incorporated in the casing forming the process cartridge, the following problems may occur depending on the supporting configuration of the photosensitive drum.
When the photosensitive drum is used to form not only a single image but also a multi-color image, such as a full-color image, optimization of a starting position for writing an electrostatic latent image of each photosensitive drum forming each color image is critical in preventing an image color shift and density unevenness.
To achieve this, in a configuration for matching write starting positions of the photosensitive drums in a main scanning direction, positional regulation may be performed in an axial direction in parallel with the main scanning direction of the photosensitive drum.
In an example of the configuration, a flange is disposed between a inner side wall of the cartridge and an end face of the photosensitive drum on one side in an axial direction of the photosensitive drum accommodated in the process cartridge, thereby regulating the position in an axial direction, that is, a so-called thrust direction. Also, a gear is formed on an outer perimeter surface of the flange for shared use as a driving-force transmitting unit.
The charging roller is configured in a manner such that both ends in an axial direction are supported with reference to the same center in the axial direction as the center in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum. Thus, in a supporting configuration for the photosensitive drum and the charging roller incorporated in the process cartridge, in the case of the photosensitive drum, for example, both ends thereof in an axial direction are supported by side walls of the casing of the process cartridge so that the length in an axial direction is longer than that of the charging roller with provision of the gear-added flange. On the other hand, since the charging roller has a length in an axial direction enough to cover the length of an image forming area on the photosensitive drum, the charging roller is located in a range shorter than the axial length of the photosensitive drum. For this reason, both ends of the charging roller in an axial direction are supported not by the side walls of the casing but by, for example, supporting brackets newly provided between the side walls of the casing.
In such a supporting configuration for the charging roller, a space on a side where the gear-added flange on a photosensitive drum side is not present is present as a waste portion. Accordingly, with such a superfluous space in an axial direction of the charging roller occupying the inside of the process cartridge, the process cartridge may be disadvantageously upsized. Moreover, the supporting brackets for supporting both ends of the charging roller in an axial direction are provided between the walls inside the casing, thereby not only upsizing the configuration but also degrading workability because an operation of assembling the charging roller is performed within the inner side walls of the casing, which is a limited narrow space. In particular, since the charging roller is a power-supply member, it is important to ensure a power-supply path. However, in the case of a configuration with wiring between the side walls of the casing, not only a wiring operation but also maintenance workability tends to deteriorate.

Charging-roller bearing member, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus


The present disclosure relates to a load assist module for transferring articles onto a downstream conveyor. The load assist module may include a roller conveyor having one or more rollers that together define a conveyor plane, such that the one or more rollers may be actuatable to convey the article along the conveyor plane in a direction of a downstream conveyor. The load assist module may further include a pusher assembly positioned adjacent the conveyor plane. The pusher assembly may include a track-guided vertical popup with a base and a pop-up. The pop-up may be actuatable such that the pop-up extends through the conveyor plane to contact the article. The pusher assembly may drive the track-guided vertical popup toward the direction of the downstream conveyor such that the track-guided vertical popup pushes the article.

In a high-volume distribution and fulfillment center, material handling systems, such as conveyors, vertical conveyors, and the like, are generally used to convey articles, such as, totes, containers, cartons, and the like, for further handling and/or processing. Thus, in a distribution and fulfillment center, articles are regularly transferred from one material handling system to another throughout the processing cycle of the article. Applicant has identified several technical challenges associated with loading of the articles from one material handling system to a downstream system. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified challenges have been overcome by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.