Protective circuit and a method for operating said protective circuit in particular for overvoltage protection for an electronic control system for a motor vehicle protective circuit, comprising a control unit (1) and a switch unit, with the switch unit monitoring an input voltage of a voltage regulator (2), which is directly or indirectly associated with the supply voltage (VCC) of the control unit (1). If this input voltage (UBAT) exceeds a predetermined threshold voltage (USCHWELLE), the control unit (1) switches in one or more loads. If the control unit has an idle mode and an operating mode, it is switched from idle mode to operating mode and if necessary a further load (RL) is switched in.

In order to prevent malfunction or destruction of a microprocessor, it is necessary to limit the signals at the signal and voltage inputs of the microprocessor.
A measure known by companies for limiting input signals is known as signal "clamping". For this purpose an input of the microprocessor, as shown in FIG. 2, is connected via a first diode (D1) to the voltage supply (VCC) to the microprocessor. The anode of the diode is connected to the input. The anode of a second diode (D2), the cathode of which is connected to the input, is earthed. This means that the maximum input voltage is equal to the sum of the supply voltage and a threshold voltage of the respective diode. The electric current flowing into the input of the microprocessor is limited by means of a resistor.
One disadvantage of this circuit arrangement is that the supply voltage to the microprocessor increases, once the latter is in an inactive mode and can no longer consume the current fed in via the protective circuit.
Companies also know how to supplement this circuit arrangement with a Zener diode (D3), which is connected between earth and the supply voltage (VCC)—as shown by the broken line in FIG. 2. The Zener diode (D3) becomes conductive once a threshold voltage is exceeded. This prevents a build-up of supply voltage (VCC).
Because of the frequently strict voltage tolerances of a microprocessor, it is however usually not possible to use a Zener diode (D3), as the predetermined voltage thresholds mean that there is either a significant idle current or the voltage is no longer limited within a permitted operating voltage range.
FIG. 3 shows a third protective circuit for a microprocessor known to companies. With this circuit arrangement a transistor stage is connected before each microprocessor input; this transistor stage, comprising a transistor (T5), a diode (D5) and three resistors (R5, R6 and R7), has the function of potential isolation. The transistor stage means that the voltage at the input of the microprocessor is never greater than the supply voltage at the microprocessor.
It is a disadvantage here that the connections to every input mean that a significantly larger number of components have to be used and every transistor in turn has to be protected against overvoltage.
A method and device for protecting one or more vehicle control devices connected to a motor vehicle on-board network against overvoltage pulses are known (DE 197 42 391 C1). With these, a sensor is used to detect an overvoltage pulse and one or more consumer units are enabled when such overvoltage occurs. In this way the overvoltage pulse is degraded quickly and before it reaches its maximum value and the electronic circuits and control devices in the motor vehicle are therefore protected. With the known device external loads, such as dipped headlights, an interior light, air conditioning unit, regulating motor or central locking are activated, to compensate for an overvoltage pulse.

Protective circuit and method for operating said protective circuit, in particular for overvoltage protection for an electronic control system for a motor vehicle


The structure of a buried bit line. A substrate is provided and a trench is, formed within the substrate. Next, a trench insulating layer is located on a portion of the trench surface to expose a top corner of the trench. Then, a first conductive layer is fills the trench and forms a surface. Afterwards, a second conductive layer is formed on the surface and fills the trench, wherein the second conductive layer makes contact with the top corner, and a shallow junction region is located at the top corner and makes contact with the second conductive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the structure of an integrated circuit and more particularly to the structure of a buried bit line, which reduces the space between bit lines, reduces the resistance and increases the integration of integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory is widely applied in the integrated circuit industry and plays an especially essential role in the electronic industry. As the industry develops, the demand for high-density memory increases and correlative industries research and develop high-density memory to satisfy the demand. Therefore, how to keep the lower resistance of the quality as device dimension is scaled down is now a major problem for the industry to overcome.
For the storage of digital data, the capacitance of the memory is called a "bit" and the unit for data storage in a memory is called a "memory cell". The memory cell is arranged in an array, consisting of columns and rows. A set of a column and a row represents a specific address. Memory cells in the same column or the same row are coupled by a common wiring line, which is called a word line. The vertical wiring line related to data transmittance is called a bit line. Usually, memory is located on chiastic plan of wiring lines that are parallel, buried under bit lines and vertically ranked on the substrate. An obvious case of this is Read-Only Memory (ROM).
FIG. 1 is a top view of a portion (four memory cells) of ROM. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ROM shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a mask ROM is formed on a P-type substrate 10 and includes buried bit lines 12, 14, 16 which are arranged and formed by selectively doping the substrate 10 to form N-type bit lines. The word lines 18, 20 are arranged in parallel on the substrate 10 surface and perpendicular to the bit lines 12, 14. 16. There is a silicon oxide layer separating the word lines 18, 20.
Mask ROM is a kind of structure having participative bit lines. Bit lines 12, 14, 16 are the source/drain regions of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), word lines 18, 20 are the gates of MOSFET and the channel region 22, 24, 26, 28 of MOSFET are under the word lines 18. 20 and adjacent to the bit lines 12, 14. 16. However, data storage is achieved by varying transmittance of respective transistors. In other words, data stored in the transistors can be changed by adjusting the threshold voltage of a transistor. Therefore, selecting a different array of transistors with distinct threshold voltage can accomplish ROM programming.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional ROM at the dashed line 2-2' in FIG. 1. The conventional method of forming a buried bit line is to cover the substrate 10 with a suitable mask (not shown) and then implant N-type ions into the substrate 10 to form bit lines 12, 14, and 16. As semiconductor integration increases, the cross-sectional area also decreases and therefore electrical resistance rises. The way to solve this problem is to increase the concentration and the depth of the buried bit lines in the substrate. However, as the device dimension is scaled down, it is easy to produce punch through and junction breakage under the normal operative voltages, whether or not the concentration or depth of the buried bit lines in the substrate is increased. The substrate 10, with dopant, is then put into an oxidation environment with high temperature in order to activate impurities in the bit lines and thus an oxide layer is formed on the substrate 10. The oxide layer includes a thinner gate oxide layer 30 located on the channel region 22, 24 and a thicker oxide layer 32 over the bit lines 12, 14, 16. The oxide layer is thicker because the diffusion rate of the heavy doping N-type ions in the bit lines is far higher than the diffusion rate of the light doping P-type ions in the channel 22, 24. But as the gate oxide layer 30 is formed by thermal oxidation, impurities in the buried bit lines are diffused outward under these high temperatures. Therefore, the bit lines cannot be allowed to get too close. The drawback of memory devices with buried bit lines is that the device dimension cannot be scaled down indefinitely. After the oxide layer is completed, a layer of polysilicon, with dopant, is formed to cover the oxide layer 32 and is patterned to form a MOSFET gate electrode 18. The gate electrode 18 serves as a word line of ROM.
As the size of ROM shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is reduced, the width of buried bit lines 12, 14, 16 becomes smaller and the space between the bit lines is also narrower. The smaller the bit line, the higher the resistance. This reduces the reading and writing speed of ROM. Because the space between bit lines becomes narrower, punch through is more easily produced under normal operative voltages and if punch through occurs, the transistor may be out of control and this constrains the dimension of transistors. Furthermore, impurities in the buried bit lines diffuse outwardly as the gate oxide layer is thermally formed. Thus, it is necessary to fabricate a device structure with reduced dimension which does not affect device performance.


A system fetches consistent datasets in batches for a given period of time and provides the ability to retrieve each batch. Batches of data may be fetched for an interval of time. The present system may fetch new or changed data from different cloud/on-premise applications. It will store this data in the cloud or on-premise to build data history. As the system fetches new data, existing batches of data will not be overwritten. New batches of data are created as new versions so that change history is preserved. Past batches of data for a past time period may be provided to one or more tenants.

Businesses must process large amounts of data to make strategic decisions and be successful. The data is often provided in formats such as reports. To build a meaningful report, businesses are relying on multi-tenanted software as a service (SAAS) analytic companies. Building and providing meaningful analytics typically require a large amount of resources and have a high cost.
In order to reduce cost, more and more businesses are adapting to cloud based SAAS application models. For example, businesses may store sales data in "Salesforce" applications, accounting data in "NetSuite" applications, and billing data in "Zuora" applications. It is important to have detailed information about a company's performance and positions, both present and past. Unfortunately, most services that process SAAS data do not keep track of past data, but rather overwrite past data with the most current information available. What is needed is an improved data collection system.


A golf club head, particularly for putting, includes a main body having a leading section and a trailing section where the leading section has a top edge and a bottom edge and the trailing section has a top edge and a bottom edge. A sole portion interconnects the bottom edge of the leading section and the bottom edge of the trailing section. A heel portion and a toe portion each include a weight disposed therein. In addition, a third weight is disposed in the trailing section of the club. The weighting is such that the moment of inertia of the club head is increased over known putters.

In the game of golf, prior art golf club designs have attempted to improve the impact between a golf club and a golf ball. In particular, manufacturers of golf clubs have attempted to increase the moment of inertia of the club. The moment of inertia is a measure of the tendency of an object to resist rotational or twisting changes. To improve the directional accuracy of a swing, a high moment of inertia is desired, which will reduce the twisting change in the club when the ball is struck. This applies to all golf clubs, including putter heads.
Accuracy also depends on hitting the ball at a central area of the strike face, also known as the "sweet spot". When the ball is struck at the sweet spot, the putter head is prevented from twisting about the axis defined by the golf club shaft. However, when the sweet spot is missed, the inertia offered by the ball imparts a torque to the golf club shaft
A putter head having a high moment of inertia resists the torque caused by missing the sweet spot. Putter heads having high moments of inertia are typically very wide and have weights attached to their outermost points. Most golfers prefer to play, however, with normal-sized, attractive putter heads such as blade-style putters, rather than over-sized putter heads. Blade-style putters have a relatively narrow or blade-like head.
The sweet spot of a club can be increased by appropriately weighting the club head. Typically, this is accomplished by way of heel/toe weighting. However, prior art weighting systems for putter heads have only yielded moments of inertia typically in the range of 3000 grams cm2 to 4000 grams cm2.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an attractive looking putter that has an increased moment of inertia.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention relates to methods and arrangements that make it possible to control the delay for the UEs to access the EUL resources in the Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state procedure, independently from the delay for the UEs to access ordinary UL resources in the RACH procedure. This is achieved by a solution where the timing of entering (or re-entering) a transmission procedure for Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state is controlled with the help of a transmission control parameter defined specifically for this transmission procedure, instead of using the same parameter as for the RACH procedure.

The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), also referred to as the third generation (3G) system or the wideband code division multiplexing access (WCDMA) system, is designed to succeed GSM. UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is the radio access network of a UMTS system.
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPDA) is an evolution of UTRAN bringing further enhancements to the provisioning of packet-data services both in terms of system and end-user performance. The downlink packet-data enhancements of HSDPA are complemented with Enhanced Uplink (EUL), also known as High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). EUL provides improvements in the uplink capabilities and performance in terms of higher data rates, reduced latency, and improved system capacity, and is therefore a natural complement to HSDPA. HSDPA and EUL are often jointly referred to as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA).
FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communications system, such as a HSPA system, including a radio access network such as the UTRAN. The UTRAN architecture comprises at least one radio base station (NodeB) 130, connected to one or more Radio Network Controllers (RNC) 100. The UTRAN is connected over an interface to a Core Network (CN) 120. The UTRAN and the CN 120 provide communication and control for a plurality of user equipments (UE) 150. The UEs 150 are wirelessly connected to at least one NodeB 130, and they communicate with each other over downlink and uplink channels.
In a UTRAN, the dedicated transport channel is called Dedicate Channel (DCH). The DCH carries all the information to/from a specific UE from/to higher layers including the data for the actual service and higher layer control information. In a UTRAN with HSPA, the HSPA enhancements are implemented through new dedicated transport channels: the High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) for HSDPA and the Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH) for EUL.
Packet-data is often transmitted in bursts, which gives occasional periods of transmission activity and no transmission activity in between these periods. From a user performance perspective, it is advantageous to keep the HS-DSCH and E-DCH configured to rapidly be able to transmit any user data. At the same time, maintaining the connection in uplink and downlink comes at a cost. From a network perspective, there is a cost in uplink interference from the control data transmission even in absence of data transmission. From a UE perspective, power consumption is the main concern; even when no data is received the UE needs to transmit and monitor control data. To reduce UE power consumption, UMTS/WCDMA has several connected mode states which define what kind of physical channels a UE is using: Cell_DCH 220, Cell_FACH 210, and Cell_PCH/URA_PCH 200, schematically illustrated in FIG. 2, with arrows defining the possible state changes.
The lowest power consumption is achieved when the UE is in one of the two paging states Cell_PCH/URA_PCH 200. For exchange of data, the UE needs to be moved to the Cell_FACH 210 or Cell_DCH 220 state. The high transmission activity state is known as CELL_DCH 220. In this state, a dedicated physical channel is allocated to the UE and the UE can use e.g. HS-DSCH and E-DCH for exchanging data with the network. This state allows for rapid transmission of large amounts of user data, but also has the highest UE power consumption. In order to avoid a waste of UE battery, the UE is switched to CELL_FACH 210 state if there hasn't been any transmission activity for a certain period of time. In Cell_FACH 210 state, the UE can transmit small amounts of packet data as part of the random access procedure on the Random Access Channel (RACH). The UE also monitors common downlink channels (Forward Access Channel (FACH)) for small amounts of user data and Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalling from the network.
The RACH is an uplink transport channel intended to be used to carry control information from the UE, such as requests to set up a connection. RACH is mapped on the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). As stated above, the RACH procedure can also be used to send small amounts of packet data from the UE to the network in the Cell_FACH state.
The following paragraphs outlines the Layer 2 (L2) Medium Access Control (MAC) description for controlling the transmissions in the RACH procedure, as described in the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) technical specification TS 25.321. The RACH transmissions are controlled by the UE MAC sublayer, hereinafter referred to as UE (MAC). The UE (MAC) receives the following RACH transmission control parameters from the Radio Resource Control (RRC):                a set of Access Service Class (ASC) parameters, which includes for each ASC, i=0, . . . , NumASC an identification of a PRACH partition and a persistence value Pi (transmission probability);        maximum number of preamble ramping cycles Mmax;        range of back-off interval for timer TBO1, given in terms of numbers of transmission time (10 ms) intervals NBO1max and NBO1min.
When there is data to be transmitted, the UE (MAC) selects the ASC from the available set of ASCs, which consists of an identifier i of a certain PRACH partition and an associated persistence value Pi. Based on the persistence value Pi (used in a persistency test), the UE decides whether to enter the Layer 1 (L1) PRACH transmission procedure in the present transmission time interval (TTI) or not. If transmission is not allowed, a new persistency test is performed in the next TTI, and the persistency test is repeated until transmission is allowed. When transmission is allowed, the PRACH transmission procedure—starting with a preamble power ramping cycle—is entered. The UE (MAC) then waits for access information from L1.
When the preamble has been acknowledged on the Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH), L1 access information with parameter value "ready for data transmission" is indicated to the UE (MAC). The data transmission is then requested, and the PRACH transmission procedure is completed with transmission of the PRACH message part according to L1 specifications. When no acknowledgement on AICH is received while the maximum number of preamble retransmissions is reached, a new persistency test is performed in the next TTI. The timer T2 ensures that two successive persistency tests are separated by at least one 10 ms time interval.
If a negative acknowledgement is received on AICH, a back-off timer TBO1 is started. After expiry of the timer, a persistency test is performed again. Back-off timer TBO1 is set to an integer number NBO1 of 10 ms time intervals, randomly drawn within an interval 0≦NBO1min≦NBO1≦NBO1max (with uniform distribution). NBO1min and NBO1max may be set equal when a fixed delay is desired, and even to zero when no delay other than the one due to the persistency test is desired.
Before a persistency test is performed it shall be checked whether any new RACH transmission control parameters have been received from RRC, and the latest set of RACH transmission control parameters shall be applied. If the maximum number of preamble ramping cycles Mmax is exceeded, failure of RACH transmission shall be reported to higher layer.
The RACH procedure has to cope with the near-far problem, as there is no exact knowledge of the required transmission power when entering the transmission procedure. As indicated above, this is solved with a preamble transmission procedure with power ramping. In the following, a summary of the different UE steps of a RACH procedure will be described with reference to FIG. 3a.
The UE decodes the broadcast channel 301 to find out the available RACH sub-channels and their scrambling codes and signatures, as well as the transmission control parameters (see above). Based on the persistence value Pi, the UE decides whether to enter the transmission procedure in the present TTI or not. This so called persistency test 302 is explained with more details below. If the persistency test allows transmission 303/YES, the UE selects randomly one of the RACH sub-channels. If the persistency test does not allow transmission 303/NO, the UE needs to wait for the next TTI before a new persistency test 302 is performed. This is repeated until transmission is allowed.
The downlink power level is measured and the initial RACH power level is set 304 based on this measurement (according to the open loop power control). A first preamble is transmitted 305. The UE decodes the Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH) 306 to see whether the NodeB has detected the preamble. In case no AICH is detected 306/NO, the UE increases the preamble transmission power 304 by a step given by the NodeB. The preamble is retransmitted 305 in the next available access slot. If the maximum number of preambles has been reached, a new persistency test 302 is performed.
When an acknowledgement (ACK) from the NodeB is detected on AICH 306/ACK, the UE transmits the message part of the RACH transmission 307. In the case of a blocking situation (e.g. two UEs requesting a connection at the same time) the NodeB will transmit a NACK on the AICH 306/NACK to one of the UEs. This will force the UE to exit the RACH procedure and re-enter it after a certain delay controlled by the timer TBO1 308. After expiry of the timer, a new persistency test 302 is performed to check if the UE is allowed to re-enter the procedure.
During the persistency test 302, referred to above, the UE generates a random value between 0 and 1 and checks whether this value is within the interval given by the persistency value Pi. A UE generating a random value below a threshold defined by the persistency value Pi, will be allowed to start the RACH procedure. By configuring the persistency value parameter, the probability of a UE entering the preamble transmission procedure can be controlled. As an example, if the persistency value is set to 0.9, there is a 90% probability that the UE will initiate the RACH procedure, which means that the delay is typically rather short, while with a persistency value of 0.1, there is only a 10% chance of the UE initiating the procedure, thus typically giving a longer delay.
The network steps in the RACH procedure are described below with reference to FIG. 3b. The RNC configures the transmission control parameters and transmits them via layer 3 signalling. The NodeB broadcasts the available RACH sub-channels and their scrambling codes and signatures, as well as the transmission control parameters 311. When the UE has reached the needed preamble transmission power level, the NodeB will receive the preamble 312. NodeB will then check for available resources 313, and will transmit an ACK and the resource allocation 314 when resources are available 313/YES. After having received the message part of the RACH transmission 315, the resources will be released by the NodeB 316. If the resource availability check is negative 313/NO, a NACK will be transmitted on the AICH instead.
In the 3GPP, the transmission procedure in the Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state has been discussed, and it has been agreed to use a preamble transmission procedure with power ramping with the same transmission control parameters as in the ordinary RACH procedure (as described above), and to use a specific AICH or EUL AICH (E-AICH) sequences indicating EUL resources to the UE. This procedure will hereinafter be referred to as Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state procedure.
A disadvantage of this solution, is that the delay for the UEs to access the EUL resources in the Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state procedure, is the same as the delay for the UEs to access ordinary UL resources in the RACH procedure. Since both procedures serve quite different purposes, an equal delay will give sub-optimal performance of the Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state procedure. Solutions for a reduced delay for the Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH state procedure has been discussed in 3GPP, and it has been proposed to re-enter the preamble transmission with the power level of the latest preamble transmission before NACK, alternatively with the power level minus a small power back-off of the latest preamble transmission before NACK.

Methods and arrangements in a wireless communications system


The invention relates to an injection device comprising an elongate housing and a cap removably mounted over a forward end of the housing. The cap comprising at least one slot extending forwardly from its rear edge; the at least one slot being configured to engage with an outwardly projecting protrusion on an outer surface of the housing when the cap is mounted on the housing. A rearward portion of the cap includes rearwardly extending engagement features provided on each side of the at least one slot, the engagement features being configured to locate within a cavity in the housing when the cap is mounted on the housing. The cavity is provided with corresponding surfaces which align with the cap engagement features so as to hold the outwardly projecting protrusion within the cut-out.

Injection devices are used for the convenient administration of medicaments. For example, injection devices (which may typically be in the form of a pen injector) may be used for providing a single metered dose of a medicament, such as Epinephrine, in an emergency or for providing regular metered doses of a medicament, such as Insulin. Such devices may be either single use "disposable" devices in which the device is typically provided with a syringe already installed, and which is not user-replaceable, or "reusable" devices which allow the user to replace the syringe when the medicament has been used.
It may be noted that whilst the term "syringe" is used herein for clarity and consistency, this term is not intended to be limiting. In some arrangements the syringe may for example be a cartridge (which, for example, may be arranged to receive a disposable needle) or other medicament container. In some arrangements the syringe/cartridge/medicament container may formed integrally with the (or part of the) injection device.
Injection devices may be provided in the form of an "autoinjector" device in which, in addition to automating the delivery of the medicament, the device is also arranged to automate the insertion of a needle into the skin prior to the delivery of the medicament.
Injection devices generally comprise a delivery mechanism which is arranged to automatically deliver a dose from the syringe, and optionally (in the case of an autoinjector) to first displace the syringe within the housing to cause needle penetration. The delivery mechanism is typically released from an energised (or primed) position and may, for example, include one or more drive springs. The delivery mechanism may act upon a plunger which includes or acts against a piston (also referred to as a "bung") which is slidably provided within the syringe. In the case of an autoinjector the initial stiction between the piston and syringe may resist forward movement of the piston relative to the syringe such that initially the drive mechanism moves the syringe into the needle insertion position (whereupon further movement of the syringe is blocked and the drive mechanism will continue to move forward thus moving the piston).
Injection devices, such as autoinjectors, have a main elongate body having a forward end through which a needle extends during the injection. For safety reasons, they are generally provided with removeable caps that are mounted over the forward end of the main body to protect the user from accidental needle stick injury. Such caps must be held securely on the device. Known caps include inwardly projecting dimples on the inner surface the cap which engage with corresponding recesses on the outer surface of the main body. This type of arrangement only provides a reasonably light connection between the cap and injection device but the cap can easily be accidentally be removed, for example, when the device is dropped or banged against a surface, such as the floor. This may be a particularly important issue with pressure activated injection devices, in which the user presses a forward portion of the device against the injection site to release a mechanical interlock and fire the device. In pressure activation devices, a large impact can cause inertial forces within the device which release interlock and cause the device to fire unintentionally.
An improved cap connecting arrangement is described in the applicant's earlier Published International Patent Application WO2013/038166, in which two opposite sides of the main body of the device are provided with bulb shape projections, each projection having a rear neck portion and a wider head portion. The cap is provided with two correspondingly shaped and positions cut-outs. When the cap is mounted onto the body, each projection slides into and is received in the corresponding cut-outs, thereby holding the cap on the body. Embodiments of the invention seek to provide further improvements over this arrangement.
Embodiments of the invention seek to provide needle shield assemblies which overcome some or all of these problems.


A method and system for vapor deposition on a substrate that disposes a substrate in a process space of a processing system that is isolated from a transfer space of the processing system, processes the substrate at either of a first position or a second position in the process space while maintaining isolation from the transfer space, and deposits a material on said substrate at either the first position or the second position. Furthermore, the system includes a high conductance exhaust apparatus configured to be coupled to the process space, whereby particle contamination of the substrate processed in the deposition system is minimized. The exhaust apparatus comprises a pumping system located above the substrate and an evacuation duct, wherein the evacuation duct has an inlet located below the substrate plane.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a deposition system and a method of operating thereof, and more particularly to a deposition system having separate regions for material deposition and transfer.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, during materials processing, when fabricating composite material structures, a plasma is frequently employed to facilitate the addition and removal of material films. For example, in semiconductor processing, a dry plasma etch process is often utilized to remove or etch material along fine lines or within vias or contacts patterned on a silicon substrate. Alternatively, for example, a vapor deposition process is utilized to deposit material along fine lines or within vias or contacts on a silicon substrate. In the latter, vapor deposition processes include chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).
In PECVD, a plasma is utilized to alter or enhance the film deposition mechanism. For instance, plasma excitation generally allows film-forming reactions to proceed at temperatures that are significantly lower than those typically required to produce a similar film by thermally excited CVD. In addition, plasma excitation may activate film-forming chemical reactions that are not energetically or kinetically favored in thermal CVD. The chemical and physical properties of PECVD films may thus be varied over a relatively wide range by adjusting process parameters.
More recently, atomic layer deposition (ALD), and plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD) have emerged as candidates for ultra-thin gate film formation in front end-of-line (FEOL) operations, as well as ultra-thin barrier layer and seed layer formation for metallization in back end-of-line (BEOL) operations. In ALD, two or more process gases, such as a film precursor and a reduction gas, are introduced alternatingly and sequentially while the substrate is heated in order to form a material film one monolayer at a time. In PEALD, plasma is formed during the introduction of the reduction gas to form a reduction plasma. To date, ALD and PEALD processes have proven to provide improved uniformity in layer thickness and conformality to features on which the layer is deposited, albeit these processes are slower than their CVD and PECVD counterparts.
In any vacuum deposition process, contamination is a concern. The walls of a process space may hold remnants of previous processes which are unwanted during a subsequent deposition process. Thus, the smaller the process space, the lower the amount, in general, of contaminants adhered to the walls of the process space. Further, the smaller the process space, the less time required to evacuate and add process gas to the process space. However, small process spaces are generally more difficult to plumb due to space constraints.
Contamination can be reduced by aggressively evacuating the process chamber, but care must be taken not to negatively affect the deposition process.

Exhaust apparatus configured to reduce particle contamination in a deposition system


Certain embodiments of the disclosure provide one or more methods and/or systems to provide for determination of valid fastener zones that meet certain design rules. A method may include selecting at least one fastener having a preselected size and providing a first structural member and second structural member each having preselected sizes and shapes. The method may include determining a first fastener placement zone in the first structural member and determining a second fastener placement zone in the second structural member, where the respective first and second fastener placement zones are determined as a function of the structural design rules. The method may include determining a final fastener zone by identifying an overlap of the first and second fastener zones.

In various industries such as the aircraft industry and the automotive industry, various structural assemblies may include multiple structural parts that need to be secured together. The structural parts may be secured together utilizing one or more fasteners between the parts. In designing a structural part, an engineer may be required to evaluate several factors that drive the design parameters. This process may be difficult, timely, tedious, costly and/or inaccurate, and/or other problems may arise. For example, various structural parts/assemblies exist, such as those on an airplane, where the combinations of the fastener types that may be used and the potential fastener placement locations may number in the thousands. Further, when securing parts together to form an assembly, certain rules may need to be followed concerning the placement of the fasteners in the assembled parts. Some rules may concern, for example, the placement of fasteners relative to nearby edges, fillets and thickness changes in relation to the holes to be provided for insertion of the fasteners in the assembled parts. The rules may depend on the material type of the structural parts and the type of fastener (e.g., bolts, screws, rivets, studs and the like). Further, the rules may depend on the sizes of the particular fasteners and the spacing between fasteners. Current available methods may involve checking (e.g., to determine whether rules have been followed) the location or potential location of holes (e.g., for fasteners) in a structural part after the location of the hole has been selected or determined. These methods may be referred to as "reactive" solutions. Current available methods do not offer a "proactive" method for determining the optimal placement of fasteners. A method and system using a proactive method is needed which may solve one or more of the existing problems.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for identifying fastener placement zones


A hard disk drive having an air flow accelerator for improving taking-off and landing of a slider on a surface of a disk. The hard disk drive includes a spindle motor and a disk for storing data which is rotated by the spindle motor. The slider includes a magnetic head for recording and reproducing data and is mounted on a pivotable actuator. The air flow accelerator is provided within an inner circumference of the disk and rotates together with the disk. The device may be formed integral with a disk clamp, the spindle motor, a disk spacer, the disk, or as a separate member. At least one blade extends in a radial direction from a center of rotation of the disk with the blade being curved in a direction opposite a rotation direction of the disk. The accelerated air flow restricts damage of the magnetic head and the disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hard disk drive, and more particularly, to a hard disk drive having an air flow accelerating device to improve a feature of taking-off and landing of a slider where a magnetic head is mounted.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive is one of auxiliary memory devices of a computer, to read out data stored in a magnetic disk or record data on the magnetic disk by using a magnetic head.
FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a conventional hard disk drive. FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a landing zone of the disk shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional hard disk drive includes a magnetic disk 20 that is a recording medium for recording data, a spindle motor 30 installed on a base plate 10 for rotating the disk 20, and an actuator 40 having a magnetic head 41 for recording and reproducing data with respect to the disk 20.
The disk 20 is typically provided as one or a plurality of disks separated a predetermined distance from each other and installed to be rotated by the spindle motor 30. A landing zone 21 where a slider 42 having the magnetic head 41 mounted thereon is accommodated when power is turned off is provided within an inner circumference of the disk 20. A data zone 22 where a magnetic signal is recorded is provided outside the landing zone 21.
The actuator 40 is pivotable around a pivot shaft 47 installed on the base plate 10 by a voice coil motor 48. The actuator 40 includes an arm 46 pivotably coupled around the pivot shaft 47. The magnetic head 41 is integral with the slider 42 and a suspension 44 is installed at the arm 46 for supporting and elastically biasing the slider 42 toward a surface of the disk 20.
In the conventional hard disk drive having a structure as described above, during recording/reproducing of data, lift generated by rotation of the disk 20 and an elastic force provided by the suspension 44 act on the slider 42 having the magnetic head 41. Accordingly, the slider 42 maintains a lifted state above the data zone 22 of the disk 20 at a height where the lift and the elastic force are balanced and the magnetic head 41 records and/or reproduces data to/from the disk 20. When power is turned off and the disk 20 stops rotating, since the lift acting on the slider 42 disappears, the slider 42 should be out of the data zone 22 of the disk 20 in advance of the loss of lift to prevent damage of the data zone 22 as the slider 42 contacts the data zone 22. That is, if the arm 46 of the actuator 40 pivots to be moved above the landing zone 21 before the rotation of the disk 20 completely stops, damage to the data zone 22 when the disk stops rotating completely is preventable.
When the power is turned on and the disk 20 begins to rotate, the lift is generated so that the slider 42 is lifted. The lifted slider 42 is moved to the data zone 22 of the disk 20 as the arm 46 pivots so that the magnetic head 41 performs recording and/or reproduction of data on/from the data zone 22 of the disk 20. To facilitate lift of the slider 42 by reducing a contact area between the slider 42 and the landing zone 21 of the disk 20, a plurality of bumps 21a, each having a crater shape, may be formed on the landing zone 21 by a laser, as shown in FIG. 2.
FIGS. 3A through 3C show a sequence of lifting the slider 42 having the magnetic head 41 mounted thereon by the rotation of the disk.
Referring to FIG. 3A, the slider 42 rests on the bumps 21a formed on the surface of the disk 20 before the disk 20 rotates. When the power is supplied to the hard disk drive and the disk 20 is rotated, the slider 42 is gradually lifted by receiving the lift generated by the rotation of the disk 20 so that the contact area with the bumps 21a decreases, as shown in FIG. 3B. Since a side of the slider 42 to which air is supplied by the rotation of the disk 20 is lifted first, the slider 42 is initially slightly inclined at a small angle. When the rotation speed of the disk 20 reaches a regular rotation speed after a few seconds, the slider 42 is completely lifted to maintain a predetermined distance from the surface of the disk 20, as shown in FIG. 3C. In the completely lifted state, the slider 42 is moved to the data zone 22 of the disk 20 as the arm 46 shown in FIG. 1 pivots. However, when the power of the hard disk drive is turned off, the rotation of the disk 20 is stopped and the slider 42 will be urged toward the disk 20 by an elastic force B of the suspension 44.
In a contact start stop type magnetic head loading/unloading system, when the disk 20 rotates again after being stopped, the slider 42 is abraded by the surface of the rotating disk 20 until the slider 42 is completed lifted by the lift generated by the rotation of the disk 20.
The abrading problem also occurs when the disk 20 stops rotating and the slider 42 is accommodated in the landing zone 21 of the disk 20. That is, as the rotation speed of the disk 20 is gradually reduced, the lift lifting the slider 42 decreases. Thus, the slider 42 is lowered and contacts the surface of the disk 20. The slider 42 is abraded by the surface of the disk 20 for a long time so that the magnetic head 41 mounted on the slider 42 may be damaged, thus deteriorating reliability of the hard disk drive. Also, particles are generated due to the abrasion. If a lift height of the slider 42 is gradually reduced, a distance between the bumps 21a and the slider 42 gradually decreases and the above problems become more serious.

Hard disk drive having air flow accelerating device


Methods and structure for automatic creation of Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) volumes are provided. The system comprises A RAID controller that includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores information describing storage devices of a storage system. The processor is able to receive a request to generate a RAID volume, to access the memory to identify a first group of storage devices that each have a first storage capacity, and to determine an expected size of a volume implemented by the first group. The processor is further able to access the memory to identify a second group of storage devices that each have a second storage capacity, to determine an expected size of a volume implemented by the first group and the second group, and to select one or more of the groups to create the requested volume based on the expected sizes.

In order to store data for a host system, storage systems can include multiple storage devices. The storage devices can be operated together to form RAID volumes which enhance the speed of data retrieval and also ensure a level of redundancy for the data if a storage device should fail. Currently, RAID volumes can be defined based on input from a user specifically defining which storage devices to use and what level of RAID to implement. For example, a user may indicate that they wish to use a set of five specific disks to implement a RAID level 5 volume.

Redundant array of independent disks volume creation

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte Ltd


A method and system for lighting merchandising aisles, in particular check-out aisles, is disclosed. A control unit activates lighting of the aisles automatically when the presence of a cashier is detected. Communicative links between control units in adjacent aisles allow lights to be controlled despite aisle space between the control unit and lighting hardware. The communicative link may be wireless. Frequency switching or encoding may be used to pair sets of controllers for a given aisle to the exclusion of others. Override switches are also provided as are power output for the lighting hardware and other ancillary hardware. The invention may also be adapted to merchandizing gondolas and end caps.

A consumer economy is driven by the purchases of consumers. To that end, many studies, strategies and methods have been performed and developed in order to encourage consumer spending on various products. It is also commonly known that customer service is a large factor in generating the good will of consumers and that good will generates purchases. To this end, providing an intuitive and expected shopping experience encourages both good will and sales.
One aspect of the common consumer experience is the check-out aisle. The check-out aisle is essentially a queue, or a number of queues, for customers to interact with cashiers and tally their items for payment. The usual construction is a plurality of parallel islands, each one headed with a cashier's station. These parallel islands form aisles therebetween. By convention, the sides of the aisle are named in accordance with a customer's perception as he is walking down the aisle towards the cashier, with the side on the customer's right side being termed "customer right" and conversely the other side being "customer left." The cashier may be located on either the customer right or customer left sides. Check-out aisles are commonly disparaged in the culture and any improvement to the experience is generally noticed. One common failing is the indication of which aisles may or may not be open. In practice, most merchants with multiple check-out aisles have some sort of indicator, a sign or light, to tell consumers when an aisle is open or closed. Often, the aisle may be lit when open or not when closed as a further indicator. However, a system is only as good as the human operating it. Many times, the cashier may or may not get the proper signage or lighting activated or deactivated to adequately let consumers know the aisle's status. While this may prove a minor annoyance when an aisle is open and indicated as closed, it can become a major inconvenience when the aisle is closed and is indicated as being open, which can happen if the cashier takes a quick break. What is needed then is an automated indication of an aisle's status. Such indication may desirably activate or extinguish the aisle lighting and should have an override system for human intervention. The system may also be adapted to the center-of-store aisles, or "gondolas," and aisle end caps.
It is also well known in the art that appropriate lighting may enhance the display of product. It is for this reason that showrooms were developed to showcase items like automobiles, large appliances, and larger furniture. However, lighting systems in the art of grocery merchandizing is far behind other arts—being limited to utilitarian lighting to make sure people can see product. Interactive lighting displays are not generally utilized in grocery aisles.
The present invention is a method by which an aisle is automatically indicated as being open or closed and the system and components necessary for the method to work. The present invention represents a departure from the prior art in that the method and system of the present invention allows for automatic status indication of a given aisle as either being ready for business or closed. The system is keyed to the physical presence of a cashier so that an aisle may be automatically indicated as open or closed without intentional human intervention. It is important to note that the aisle indication is that the product in the check-out aisle is lit, thereby automatically drawing a customer's attention to the product as an open aisle is identified. This lighting enhances the customer experience and showcases product in the "impulse buy" region of the store where customers must go and spend some time before being checked out, thus increasing the likelihood that a customer will buy an impulse item.

Method of automatically providing aisle lighting and apparatus to perform the same


The present invention relates to a technique for reducing the on-voltage of the semiconductor device by increasing the concentration of minority carriers in the deep region (26) and the intermediate region (28). A semiconductor device according to the invention comprises an electrode, a top region (36) of a second conductivity type connected to the electrode, a deep region of the second conductivity type, and an intermediate region of a first conductivity type connected to the electrode. A portion of the intermediate region isolates the top region and the deep region. The semiconductor device further comprises a gate electrode (32) facing the portion of the intermediate region via an insulating layer. The portion facing the gate electrode isolates the top region and the deep region. The semiconductor device according to the invention further comprises a barrier region (40) that is formed within the intermediate region and/or the top region.

An IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) is known in which a MOS structure is provided in a surface face portion of a bipolar transistor. This type of semiconductor device is provided with a pair of electrodes and a gate electrode for turning on and turning off a current flowing between this pair of electrodes. When on-voltage is applied to the gate electrode, electron carriers are injected into a semiconductor region from one of the electrodes, and hole carriers are injected into the semiconductor region from the other of the electrodes. By this means, conductivity modulation occurs in the semiconductor region, and low on-voltage is realized.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication H8 (1996)-316479 (see FIG. 3 in particular) sets forth a technique for reducing on-voltage (voltage between the electrodes when a voltage for turning on the semiconductor device is being applied to the trench gate).
The semiconductor device set forth in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication H8 (1996)-316479 is schematically shown in FIG. 17 (in the specification below, this configuration will be termed the conventional configuration). A semiconductor device 15 shown in FIG. 17 is provided with a trench gate 332 for turning on and off a current flowing between a pair of electrodes (in this case, an emitter electrode E and a collector electrode C).
The semiconductor device 15 is provided with: an n+ type emitter region 336 connected with the emitter electrode E, a p+ type body contact region 334 connected with the same emitter electrode E, a p− type body region 328 that surrounds the body contact region 334 and the emitter region 336, an n− type drift region 326 located below the body region 328, an n+ type buffer region 324 connected with the drift region 326, and a p+ type collector region 322 connected with the buffer region 324. The collector region 322 is connected with the collector electrode C.
A trench that extends to the drift region 326 passes through the emitter region 336 and the body region 328. A trench gate 332 is formed within this trench. This trench gate 332 is covered by a gate insulating layer 333, and faces, via this gate insulating layer 333, the body region 328 that isolates the emitter region 336 and the drift region 326.
An n+ type barrier region 340 is formed between the body region 328 and the drift region 326. The concentration of impurities in the barrier region 340 is higher than that of the drift region 326.
The semiconductor device shown in FIG. 17 comprises the electrode E, a top region 336, a deep region 326, a dense portion 334, and a main portion 328. The dense portion 334 and the main portion 328 have the same conductivity type and a common voltage, and may be collectively called an intermediate region. A portion of the intermediate region 328 isolates the top region 326 and the deep region 326. The semiconductor device 15 also comprises the trench gate 332 facing the portion of the intermediate region 328 via the insulating layer 333.
The operation of the semiconductor device 15 in an turned on state will be described. When the emitter electrode E is earthed, positive voltage is applied to the collector electrode C and to the trench gate 332, the portion of the body region 328 facing the trench gate 332 is then inverted to the n type and forms a channel. Thereupon, electron carriers are injected, via this channel that was inverted to the n type, from the emitter region 336 to the barrier region 340 and the drift region 326, and accumulate in the buffer region 324. When the electron carriers accumulate in the buffer region 324, the contact potential difference between the buffer region 324 and the collector region 322 decreases, and hole carriers are injected from the collector region 322 to the buffer region 324, the drift region 326, and the barrier region 340. By this means, conductivity modulation occurs in the buffer region 324, the drift region 326, and the barrier region 340, and low on-voltage is realized.
The hole carriers injected from the collector region 322 recombine with the electron carriers and disappear, or are discharged to the emitter electrode E via the body region 328 and the body contact region 334.
In the semiconductor device 15, the barrier region 340 that has a higher concentration of impurities than the drift region 326 is formed above this drift region 326. Consequently, the potential barrier formed in a boundary face between the barrier region 340 and the drift region 326 operates to suppress the hole carriers from escaping to the emitter electrode E. The barrier region 340 increases the density of the hole carriers within the drift region 326 (see FIG. 17). As a result, the concentration of hole carriers between the emitter and the collector electrodes increases, and the on-voltage of the semiconductor device 15 decreases. The barrier region 340 impedes the flow of the hole carriers from the drift region 326 to the emitter electrode E.


A swag holder including a unitary body having a generally C-shaped front portion and an upper rear portion extending downwardly at a rear side of the front portion and a lower rear portion extending upwardly at a rear side of the front portion and a head on the upper rear portion for mounting the body on a curtain rod. The holder is supported on a wall mounting bracket including a generally horizontal bracket member and an upwardly opening U-shaped saddle on a forward end of the bracket member for receiving the head on the upper rear portion of the body. The saddle supports the swag holder body with the bracket member at a level above the lower end of the upper rear portion and with the upper end of the lower rear portion spaced below the saddle.

Various different swag support systems have heretofore been made for supporting a fabric swag or festoon over a window opening. Some such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,236,017 and 2,244,129 mount festoon rings on a curtain rod or on the curtain rod brackets at the end of the rod. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,606,733, upwardly opening U-shaped swag support brackets are mounted at the front side of a curtain rod. U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,203,469; 3,417,807 and 3,901,303 disclose swag holders that are mounted by independent brackets and arranged so that the swag hangs in front of the curtain rod to conceal the rod. In swag supports using ring-type swag holders, it is necessary to insert an end portion of the fabric through each ring and some difficulties are encountered in forming the desired fold or configuration in the rings while equalizing the length of the side drops of the swag and forming the desired curve or drape between the rings. The swag holders in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,203,469; 3,417,807 and 3,901,303 provide fingers in the rear side of the holders to form slots for receiving folds in the fabric to facilitate pleat formation.


An improved method for generating non-linear multimedia effects by employing two or more tweens. Specifically, a second tween mapping is chained to a first tween mapping. A first time signal is received. The first tween is employed to map the first time signal into a second time signal. The second tween mapping is employed to map the second time signal into an output that varies in a non-linear fashion with respect to the first time signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the creation, integration, and publication of digital media and more particularly to an improved method to generate non-linear effects, such as acceleration of an object and the fading in and out of a volume level, by chaining two or more tweens.
2. Description of the Related Art
The assignee of the present invention has developed Quicktime™, an award-winning industry-standard software architecture that allows developers to create, integrate, and publish all types of digital media. As applications increase in sophistication, and consumers demand increased realism in multi-media products, developers are increasingly turning to generate non-linear effects to create added realism.
In addition, many human perceptions and senses, such as the auditory perception of sound and the visual perception of object motion (e.g., acceleration) can only be described mathematically as a non-linear function. Unfortunately, these non-linear mathematical functions are typically very difficult to describe, mathematically or otherwise. The versions of Quicktime™ up through release 2.5 do not allow a developer to specify a custom specific non-linear effect. For example, although a developer can use a predetermined fade-in or fade-out of a volume level, the Quicktime™ architecture does not allow developers to customize or specify other fade-in or fade-out relationships or functions besides the predetermined relationships, supported by the Quicktime™ architecture.
As a result, developers were left to one of two undesirable choices. The first choice is to attempt to describe a non-linear mapping by employing a mathematical function. However, as stated previously, many of the non-linear functions are difficult, if not impossible, to describe mathematically. The second choice is to employ a table that is, at best, an estimate of the non-linear performance or behavior of a particular parameter such as volume level or an object's speed. The second choice suffers from the disadvantage that the table typically approximates to a first order the mathematical function, but is not the same as the mathematical function. Accordingly, a loss of realism occurs. Moreover, different developers develop their own tables, resulting in non-uniformity in the industry. For example, different software products can describe non-linear effects, such as acceleration of an object or the fading in and out of a volume level in very different ways. Furthermore, because there is no consistent way to describe non-linear effects, developers cannot build enhancements to their existing models or other developer's models. Nor can developers share or port the models to others.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the industry for an improved method to provide multimedia non-linear effects that overcomes the disadvantages set forth previously.

Method and apparatus for chaining two or more tweens to provide non-linear multimedia effects


Automatic photographing condition setting is achieved with accuracy. For example, when a shutter button is half-pressed, preliminary photographing is carried out under different photographing conditions to acquire preview images. Then, each of the preview images is subjected to a face detection process. Photographing conditions for photographing a person are automatically adjusted to be suitable for a face area in one of the preview images from which a face has been detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of automatically setting photographing conditions of a photography apparatus for photographing a person, and a photography apparatus using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In photography apparatuses such as digital cameras, automatic adjustment of focus and diaphragm has conventionally been carried out. Further, in recent years, photography apparatuses have been proposed, which detect a human face in a preview image acquired before photographing, and automatically adjust the focus to the detected face (eyes) (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-128156). In the invention disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-128156, human eyes are detected from image data acquired through photographing by an image taking unit, and information representing the position and the size of the detected eyes are obtained. Then, a focus frame is set based on the detected human eyes and the position and the size thereof. Thereafter, the focusing lens is controlled so that the face within the set focus frame is focused.
The above-described face detection uses luminance information and edge information of images. In this face detection process, if luminance information and/or edge information of a face area in an image do not represent characteristic structures of a face, the face cannot be detected. When a person is photographed using, for example, a digital camera, the face of the person can be detected from an acquired image if photographing conditions, such as focus and exposure, are suitable for photographing the person. However, if the photographing conditions are not suitable for photographing the person, the face within the image may not have characteristic structures that make the face discriminable as the face, and therefore, the face may not be detected automatically.
Therefore, in the invention disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-128156, if an image used for the first face detection is acquired with the focal position and/or exposure condition not being optimal, the face in the image may not have edge information and/or luminance information that are characteristic to a face. This makes it difficult to detect the face in the image and to set the focal position using the detected face, and sometimes a face of a person may not be correctly focused when photographing the person.

Method of setting photographing conditions and photography apparatus using the method


A client receives encrypted content from content server. The header of the content includes license-identifying information for identifying a license required to utilize the content. The client requests a license server to transmit the license identified by the license-identifying information. When receiving the request for a license, the license server carries out a charging process before transmitting the license to the client. The client stores the license received from the license server. The stored license serves as a condition for encrypting and playing back the content. As a result, content can be distributed with a high degree of freedom and only an authorized user is capable of utilizing the content.

In general, the present invention relates to an information processing method, an information processing apparatus, a program storage medium and a program. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information processing method and an information processing apparatus which are used for preventing content from being copied and used illegally without a license from the owner of the copyright in the content, a program for implementing the information processing method and a program storage medium for storing the program.
In recent years, users have provided musical data they own to other users and have received musical data they do not own from other users through the Internet in content-exchanging system that allows a plurality of users to exchange musical data free of charge.
In such content-exchanging system, theoretically, music or another content owned by one user can thus be enjoyed by other users. Therefore, many users do not have to purchase such a piece of music or such content. As a result, since such a piece of music or such content does not sell well, the owner of the copyright in the content loses the opportunity to gain a royalty for the use of the piece of music or the content accompanying the sales of the piece of music or the content.
In society, there is thus a demand to prevent content from being copied and used illegally.

Information processing method, information processing apparatus and recording medium


The invention provides a wire cover, a wiring method and an electrical connector that can ensure routing of wires even in a limited space. The connector includes a housing, a lever, and a wire cover. The lever is mounted to the housing, and the wire cover is mounted to a side of a back surface of the housing. The wire cover includes a cover body, a wire routing passageway, and a hood portion. The cover body includes a plurality of wire receiving passageways positioned in one direction, while the wire routing passageway is directed into an inside of the cover body. The hood portion protrudes from a circumference of the wire routing passageway and provides a leading direction out of the wire routing passageway. The hood portion extends in a direction other than a direction of extension from a front surface and the back surface of the cover body.

In recent years, electrical connectors used in the field of automobiles have an increasing number of terminals. In an electrical connector having multiple terminals, multiple wires according to the number of terminals are positioned into a housing of the electrical connector.
The multiple wires are positioned into the housing through a wire receiving passageway formed in the housing, and a terminal positioned at an end of each wire is secured to a terminal receiving passageway formed in the housing.
There is also a connector such that multiple wires are placed along a hood portion formed in a housing, and the hood portion and the multiple wires are secured by a securing member such as a securing band or a cable tie (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-92888). In such a structure, the multiple wires can be bound easily and neatly by securing the multiple wires with the securing band or the like.
However, a control unit for an automobile is installed in a limited space in a vehicle. As a result, it is difficult for to ensure space for routing a cable with tied multiple wires in an electrical connector or the like that connects to a control unit for an automobile. Furthermore, if the cable has a small curvature and routed in a narrow space, a load is applied to the cable, which may cause problems in power and durability of wire coating.

Wire cover, wiring method of wires and electrical connector


The invention relates to a composition consisting of a melamine solid suspended or dispersed in a resole resin. The method of the invention favors the intermolecular condensation polymerization reaction between phenol and melamine, rather than homopolymerization between phenol molecules or between melamine molecules. This invention reduces formaldehyde emissions by favoring a reaction whose by-product is water rather than formaldehyde. The compositions are useful for bonding glass fiber mats used for thermal and acoustical insulation.

High water solubility is a key feature of prior art glass fiber bonding resins used in the preparation of resinated glass wool. High water solubility is normally provided by formulating these resins (e.g., phenol/formaldehyde-resole resins or melamine/formaldehyde resins) with high formaldehyde to phenol molar ratios or with high formaldehyde to melamine molar ratios (near or above 3:1 in either case). Reaction products are respectively monomeric methylol phenols and methylol melamines. The methylol melamines are normally stabilized by further reaction with methanol to form the water soluble methoxy methyl melamine derivatives.
A high content of unreacted formaldehyde is therefore often found in prior art resins of these types as a consequence of the high formaldehyde ratios employed to prepare them.
Application of heat to thermally set (polymerize) these types of conventional resole resins in curing operations also causes the release of additional amounts of formaldehyde from condensing methylol groups in the resole resins and from condensing methoxy methyl groups in the melamine resins.
The release of irritating formaldehyde gas from resin impregnated, also called resinated, glass wool or glass fabrics during molding and shaping operations may be objectionable both from an environmental, and industrial hygienic point of view.
Formaldehyde release during curing of the resin is also a problem with the well-documented use of mixtures of these two types of resins. It has therefore been necessary and common industrial practice to control formaldehyde evolution into the environment and work place during curing and B-staging operations, by compounding these methylol phenol and methoxy methyl melamine binders, or mixtures of the two, with significant amounts of urea and/or ammonia. Urea and ammonia have very high reactivities towards free or uncombined formaldehyde and readily affect its capture from aqueous A-stage solution compositions. The products from such scavenging reactions are dissolved methylol urea monomers and hexamine (also called hexamethylenetetramine), respectively. Mixtures containing methylol ureas may still be problematic, however, as the thermally-induced condensation reaction between methylol ureas also releases formaldehyde.
Additionally the use of urea and particularly ammonia as formaldehyde scavengers results in the formation and release of undesirable trimethyl amine through various, thermally-induced decomposition reactions. The formation of trimethyl amine from ammonia and formaldehyde is a well-documented reaction. Trimethyl amine, although possibly not as volatile or irritating as formaldehyde, does have an objectionable, foul smelling "fishy" odor. Trimethyl amine also has a low human threshold odor limit in the low parts per billion range.
The trimethylamine problem is particularly pronounced in high density molded articles prepared with high binder contents as the curing operation traps evolved gasses inside the mold, and subsequently inside the glass fiber resin matrix, which gives the finished article a long-lasting unpleasant trimethylamine odor. Less dense articles, such as residential thermal insulation that are cured by blowing heated air through the resinated glass wool blanket, may have less odor in the finished article. The escaping trimethylamine gas purged from the curing blanket by the hot air flow nonetheless ends up in the environment. The use of urea and/or ammonia to scavenge or capture formaldehyde in these binders therefore may not satisfy environmental restrictions on fiberglass plants and the increasing quality (odor free) standards for finished products.
These decomposition reactions occur as a result of the inherent thermal instability of urea and its reaction products with formaldehyde and the very high curing temperatures employed; (often above 500.degree. F.) to mold or permanently shape resinated glass wool.
Another objectionable problem with binders and resinated wool containing urea is their propensity to burn, blacken and smoke during 500.degree. F. molding operations. Urea has, in fact, been added to prior art binders as an antipunk agent to reduce thermal oxidative degradation.
A need therefore exists in the art for phenolic binder compositions that cure above 500.degree. F. without the liberation of offensive odors, smoke or other volatile organic pollutants.
The art has previously recognized the outstanding high temperature and antipunk properties of binders prepared from melamine added to a phenolic resole. All known prior art binders, however, which specify compositions containing melamine use either a high formaldehyde containing-resole where a methylol melamine derivative is formed, or the melamine has been added to the phenol as a methoxy methyl melamine derivative. These approaches have provided dissolved melamine resin solutions or water soluble melamine-containing binders. The prior art often uses the term "melamine" to include both melamine per se and also derivatized melamine, such as methylol melamine. Thus, herein the term "melamine crystal" means melamine, per se, and underivatized in powder, crystalline, or flake form. This shall include, for example, and not by way of limitation, MCI's GP (General Purpose), non-recrystallized grade of melamine powder. Melamine crystal herein shall also mean 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine; 2,4,6-triamino-S-triazine; and cyanurotriamide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,826, issued Oct. 2, 1990 to Walisser, teaches binder compositions comprising resole resins copolymerized with melamine. The materials of U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,826 are prepared by mixing the alkaline high formaldehyde containing resole and melamine preferably at elevated temperatures and resulted in dissolving all of the melamine in the resin (column 11, line 4). This produced a clear very high solids resin solution as a one-piece binder system, which however suffered from pre-cure, or advancing of the resin during application. A dispersion was not taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,826.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,108, issued Jul. 12, 1988 to Walisser, teaches binder compositions comprising resole resins reacted with urea. The resulting resin solution was clear with no undissolved components, and did not utilize melamine.
The teachings of Deuzeman U.S. Pat. No. Re. 30,375 fundamentally advance the concept of a high formaldehyde ratio to achieve high phenol conversions. This results, however, in finished products with, for the purpose of the current invention, undesirably high levels of free or uncombined formaldehyde.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,073, issued Nov. 15, 1988 to Farkas, et al., teaches melamine-phenol-formaldehyde resole modified compositions. The compositions of Farkas, et al., however, are produced using mildly alkaline conditions at pH 7.2 to 8.5, unlike the strongly alkaline compositions of the present invention. Furthermore, Farkas, et al. requires the presence of a glycol or glycol derivative unlike the present invention.

Resole melamine dispersions as adhesives


A supporting frame for supporting decorative materials to be formed into a wreath or the like, comprises a frame member, preferably ring-shaped, having a first substantially horizontal portion which is provided with means for retention of the decorative material and prevention of its movement in the plane of the ring-shaped member after the material has been fastened thereto. A second vertical portion of the ring member forms a lip extending along the outer periphery of the first horizontal portion and is designed to increase the strength of the frame and prevent the decorative materials from rolling off the face of the ring-shaped member.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of wreaths, such as evergreen Christmas wreaths or desert wildflower wreaths, and specifically to supporting frames for mounting thereon decorative materials from which wreaths, and the like, are made.
In manufacturing wreaths, various wire frames have commonly been used to provide support for boughs which are assembled to form a wreath.
One typical example of a supporting frame for wreaths known on the market is a single wire ring with a plurality of U-shaped crossbars spot-welded to the ring, and equally spaced along its circumference. The greens are arranged into the U-shaped crossbars and then the legs of the U are brought together to secure the greens to the ring. Since the crossbars are uniformly spaced, this requires much labor to trim the twigs of the greens to the proper uniform length. When the U-shaped crossbar is squeezed together, the bunch on the wire becomes narrow and tall which results in an unattractive looking wreath. Also, as the U-shaped crossbars are squeezed together, the points protrude through the opposite side, further distracting from the appearance of the wreath and presenting a safety hazard. Furthermore, the manufacturing cost of the ring is relatively expensive.
Some other frame structures including, for example, single wire zigzags with no crossbars are also available on the market. These are relatively inexpensive, but the greens tend to roll off the face of the ring so the wreath does not retain its shape and the appearance of the wreath becomes deteriorated.
Other types of known supporting frames include double-wire rings with crossbars which serve to space the rings apart. Such structure of the supporting frame allows to form thereon a more attractive looking, flat and full wreath. The greens do not tend to roll off the face of the ring. However, the labor involved in securing the greens on such a frame is relatively high because they tend to slip around the ring in the process of assembly. Also, the cost of manufacturing the double wire ring is relatively high.


The present invention realizes a medical device guidance system capable of improving propulsion control characteristic. The capsule guidance system 1 includes a rotating electromagnetic field generating device 4 for generating a rotating electromagnetic field for applying from the outside of a subject into the subject; a capsule 3 to be inserted into the body cavity of the subject; a magnet 16 provided in this capsule 3 and acting on the rotating electromagnetic field generated by the rotating electromagnetic field generating device 4; a spiral projection portion 12 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the capsule 3 and converting the rotational movement generated by the magnet 16 into a thrust; a controller 6 for controlling the rotating electromagnetic field generating device 4 to continuously change the state of the rotating electromagnetic field generated by rotating electromagnetic field generating device 4; and a capsule rotational direction pattern generator 41 for interchanging the rotational directions of the rotating electromagnetic field generated by the rotating electromagnetic field generating device 4 for each set rotational direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical device guidance system suitable for rotating, propelling, and guiding a medical device main body inserted in a body cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional examples of systems for propelling a micromachine in a subject by a rotating magnetic field are set forth in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2001-179700 and 2002-187100. These conventional examples each disclose a movement control system for a movable micromachine, the system including magnetic field generating sections for generating a rotating magnetic field; a robot main body rotating under this rotating magnetic field and obtaining a thrust by the rotation; a position detecting section for detecting the position of the robot main body; and magnetic field modifying means for modifying the orientation of the rotating magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generating sections, for directing the robot main body toward the direction such that the robot main body reaches a target destination, based on the position of the robot main body, detected by the position detecting section.
On the other hand, a capsule type medical device, typified by a capsule endoscope, is now applied to a gastrointestinal organ (mainly, small intestine).
Such being the case, as set forth in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-275170, a capsule type medical device guidance system that guides a medical device by providing a guidance mechanism for this capsule type medical device, is disclosed.
Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-229922 discloses a capsule endoscope having a spiral structure section and being rotationally propelled. In this Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-229922, studies about the height of a spiral, the pitch thereof, the number of threads of the spiral are disclosed.


A binaural beamformer comprising two beamforming filters may be communicatively coupled to a microphone array to generates two beamforming outputs, one for the left ear and the other for the right ear. The beamforming filters may be configured in such a way that they are orthogonal to each other to make white noise components in the binaural outputs substantially uncorrelated and desired signal components in the binaural outputs highly correlated. As a result, the human auditory system may better separate the desired signal from white noise and intelligibility of the desired signal may be improved.

Microphone arrays have been used in a wide range of applications including, for example, hearing aids, smart headphones, smart speakers, voice communications, automatic speech recognition (ASR), human-machine interfaces, and/or the like. The performance of a microphone array largely depends on its ability to extract signals of interest in noisy and/or reverberant environments. As such, many techniques have been developed to maximize the gain of the signals of interest and suppress the impact of noise, interference, and/or reflections. One such technique is called beamforming, which filters received signals according to the spatial configuration of the signal sources and the microphones in order to focus on sound originating from a particular location. Conventional beamformers with high gain, however, suffer from a lack of ability to deal with noise amplification (e.g., such as white noise amplification in specific frequency ranges) in practical situations.


An apparatus for inspecting warpage of a sheet-like member includes a conveyance device for conveying a glass substrate in a substantially horizontal attitude and a non-contact displacement meter for measuring a distance to a surface of the glass substrate. The apparatus is configured to preset an upper limit waveform and a lower limit waveform based on an ideal waveform of surface shape displacement of the glass substrate in a conveyance direction, which is determined based on a characteristic of the conveyance device; and determine whether or not an actual waveform of the surface shape displacement of the glass substrate in the conveyance direction during conveyance, which is obtained based on the distance measured by the non-contact displacement meter, falls within a range between the upper limit waveform and the lower limit waveform.

As is well known, strict quality requirements against surface shape displacement (warpage) are actually imposed on glass sheets to be used for flat panel displays (hereinafter referred to as "FPDs"), such as a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, a field emission display (including a surface emission display), an electroluminescent display, and an OLED display, and sheet-like members typified by tempered glass to be used for touch panels.
Hitherto, the warpage of the sheet-like member of this type has been generally measured under a state in which the sheet-like member is set stationary. Various methods for measurement in such a stationary state have been proposed or put into practical use.
Specifically, in Patent Literature 1, there is disclosed a configuration in which a member to be measured such as a glass substrate for an FPD is placed and held on a measurement stage (measurement base stone surface plate), and a plurality of air scanners for measuring surface shape displacement of the member to be measured in a non-contact manner are provided at predetermined intervals. The configuration includes a drive mechanism for moving the air scanners in directions of the X and Y axes.
Further, in Patent Literature 2, there is disclosed a configuration including holding means for holding, for a predetermined period of time, a sheet-like member stopped at a predetermined position of a roller conveyor for conveying the sheet-like member, a frame arranged below the sheet-like member at the predetermined position and is capable of ascending and descending, and height measurement means such as dial gauges, which are arranged on the frame to measure height positions of the sheet-like member at a plurality of points.

Apparatus for inspecting warpage of sheet-like member and method for inspecting warpage of sheet-like member


A process cartridge, an image forming apparatus having the cartridge, and a method for mounting and dismounting the process cartridge in and from an image forming apparatus body are provided. The process cartridge includes at least one photosensitive body on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, and a developing member for developing the electrostatic latent image, and a housing receiving and supporting at least one photosensitive body and the developing member. The housing includes first and second guide outwardly extending protrusions on a first surface and a second opposite surface of the housing in order to position the process cartridge in the image forming apparatus body, and a mount and dismount supporting part formed on a third surface to rotate the housing to mount and dismount the process cartridge from the image forming apparatus body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a digital copier, and a facsimile. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process cartridge, an image forming apparatus incorporating the cartridge, and a method for mounting and dismounting the process cartridge in and from an image forming apparatus body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a digital copier, and a facsimile comprises a process cartridge including a developing unit or integrating a photosensitive body unit and a developing unit into a single module. A photosensitive body of the photosensitive body unit is exposed to a laser to form an electrostatic latent image thereon. The developing unit supplies developer to the photosensitive body to form a developer image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image.
Generally, the process cartridge is detachably mounted in an image forming apparatus body to easily repair or replace all parts of the cartridge.
FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B are views of a general process cartridge 1 in which the photosensitive body unit and the developing unit are integrated into a single module.
The process cartridge 1 comprises a photosensitive body casing 2 and a developing casing 8.
In the photosensitive body casing 2, a photosensitive body unit is formed which comprises a photosensitive body 7 having a drumlike configuration, a charging roller 8 for charging a surface of the photosensitive body 7, and a cleaning member (not shown) such as a cleaning roller and a cleaning blade for cleaning the photosensitive body 7.
On an upper portion of the photosensitive body casing 2, a knob 6 is provided to carry and move the process cartridge 1.
A first and a second side members 14a, 14b are provided on the opposite end portions of the photosensitive body casing 2.
On the first and the second side members 14a, 14b are formed a first and a second guide protrusions 24 (only the first guide protrusion is shown) protruding to the outside to be coaxially aligned with an axis of the photosensitive body 7. A third and a fourth guide protrusions 25 (only the third protrusion is shown) protrude outwardly from the side members a certain distance from the first and the second guide protrusions 24.
As the process cartridge 1 is mounted in the image forming apparatus body, the first and the second guide protrusions 24 are guided along a first and a second guide recess 20a (only the first guide recess is shown) of a first and a second guide member 20 so as to be received in a receiving recess 20b of the first and the second guide recesses 20a. The first and the second guide protrusions 24 each are received in the receiving recess 20b so as to position the process cartridge 1 in a mounting position.
As the process cartridge 1 is mounted in the image forming apparatus body 1, the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 are received in the first and the second guide recesses 20a. As the process cartridge 1 is mounted and dismounted in or from the image forming apparatus body, the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 guide the movement of the process cartridge 1 and operate as a hinge point supporting the rotation of the process cartridge 1 in the first and the second guide recesses 20a.
Accordingly, as the process cartridge 1 is mounted in the image forming apparatus and then, pulled or pushed in first and second directions P1, P2 by the knob 6, the process cartridge 1 is minutely rotated in the direction of arrow a, b based on the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 as a hinge point. As a result, the first and the second guide protrusions 24 are received in the receiving recess 20b or separated from the receiving recess 20b of the first and the second guide recesses 20a.
The developing casing 8 may be formed integrally with or detachably from the photosensitive body casing 2.
The developing casing 8 comprises a developing roller 10 contacting the photosensitive body 7 with a certain gap, a supply roller (not shown) supplying the developing roller 10 with developer, and a developer regulating blade (not shown) contacting the developing roller 10 to regulate the thickness of the developing layer.
The process of mounting and dismounting the process cartridge 1 in or from the image forming apparatus body for replacing or repairing the process cartridge 1 will be explained below.
To dismount the process cartridge 1 from the image forming apparatus body, the image forming apparatus body cover (not shown) is opened and the process cartridge 1 is pulled in the first direction P1 by the knob 6.
As a result, the process cartridge 1 rotated in the direction of arrow b using the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 as a hinge point, as shown in FIG. 2B so that the first and the second guide protrusions 24 are moved upwardly and separated from the receiving recess 20b of the first and the second guide recesses 20a.
Then, as the process cartridge 1 is pulled further in the first direction P1 by the knob 6, the four guide protrusions 24, 25 slide along the first and the second guide recesses 20a and are separated from the first and the second guide recesses 20a.
Then, the process cartridge 1 is lifted upwardly and pulled out through the process cartridge body cover to the outside.
After the process cartridge 1 is pulled out of the image forming apparatus body to the outside, the process cartridge 1 is disassembled to repair problematic parts thereof or replaced with new one, if necessary.
After completing the repairing or replacing, the repaired or replaced process cartridge 1 is put through the image forming apparatus body cover into the image forming apparatus body to be mounted therein.
After fitting the first and the second guide protrusions 24 in the first and the second guide recesses 20a, the process cartridge 1 is pushed in the second direction P2 by the knob 6.
As the process cartridge 1 is nearly mounted in the image forming apparatus body, the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 fit in the first and the second guide recesses 20a and then, the process cartridge 1 is pushed further in the second direction P2 by the knob 6. Therefore, the first and the second guide protrusions 24 contact with an end portion wall 20c of the first and the second guide recesses 20a as shown in FIG. 2B.
The process cartridge 1 is minutely rotated in the direction of arrow a using the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 as a hinge point by inertial force and its own weight. Therefore, the first and the second guide protrusions 24 are inserted and received in the receiving recess 20b of the first and the second guide recesses 20a, as shown in FIG. 2A. Additionally, a photosensitive body gear 7a of one end portion of the photosensitive body 7 is meshed with a driving gear 21, transmitting a driving force of a driving motor, of a main gear train of the image forming apparatus body.
However, as the conventional process cartridge 1 with the above structure is mounted in the image forming apparatus body, the four guide protrusions 24, 25 of the first and the second side members 14a, 14b should be simultaneously inserted into the first and the second guide recesses 20a of the first and the second guide members 20. Accordingly, careful operations are required to accurately insert the four guide protrusions 24, 25 into the first and the second guide recesses 20a when the first and the second guide protrusions 24 are inserted in the first and the second guide recesses 20a and when the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 are inserted into the first and the second guide recesses 20a after the first and the second guide protrusions 24 are inserted in the first and the second guide recesses 20a. Additionally, in order to completely fit the first and the second guide protrusions 24 in the receiving recess 20b of the first and the second guide recesses 20a, the process cartridge 1 should be continuously pushed in the second direction P2 by the knob 6 so as not to be freely moved.
Further, as the conventional process cartridge 1 is dismounted from the image forming apparatus body, the first through the fourth guide protrusions 24, 25 should be completely separated from the first and the second guide recesses 20a of the first and the second guide members 20 to pull the process cartridge 1 out of the image forming apparatus body 1 to the outside. Accordingly, as the process cartridge 1 is dismounted and mounted in or from the image forming apparatus body, the time required to remove the process cartridge 1 from the image forming apparatus body is delayed by the length of the first and the second guide recesses 20a. Additionally, if the process cartridge 1 is pulled out by force, the first and the second guide protrusions 24 and/or the third and the fourth guide protrusions 25 may be damaged.

Cartridge, image forming apparatus, and method for mounting and dismounting the cartridge in and from a main body of the image forming apparatus