A spontaneous potential (SP) sub is interconnected between two metallic housings of a wellbore apparatus and is lowered into a wellbore. A spontaneous potential (SP) of an earth formation trasversed by the wellbore is measured by the SP sub, and a log is generated from the sub which is representative of the spontaneous potential of the formation, the log being substantially free of a special type of distortion which typified the prior art SP measurements taken by prior art SP measurement apparatus. The SP sub includes a measurement electrode, monitoring electrodes placed on both sides of the measurement electrode, a bucking electrode placed on both sides of the monitoring electrodes, current driving circuitry connected to the bucking electrodes, and receiving circuitry connected to the monitoring electrodes. The current driving circuitry delivers a current of sufficient magnitude to each bucking electrode such that the voltage potential between the monitoring electrodes is approximately equal to zero. The current from each bucking electrode is grounded via its own respective metallic housing and not via a surface oriented electrode. The receiving circuitry monitors the voltage between each of the monitoring electrodes and looks for a zero potential difference between the monitoring electrodes. When the receiving circuitry locates the zero potential difference at a moment in time between its monitoring electrodes, the measurement of the spontaneous potential taken by the measurement electrode at that same precise moment in time is received and recorded. A plurality of such measurements made by the measurement electrode represents a log of spontaneous potential of the earth formation traversed by the wellbore which is substantially free of the distortion which typified the prior art SP log measurements.

The subject matter of the present invention relates to a measurement apparatus adapted to be connected between metallic housings of a wellbore apparatus for measuring the static spontaneous potential (SP) of an earth formation traversed by the wellbore.
An earth formation traversed by a wellbore contains flowing currents which are generated by a naturally occuring electromotive force (emf) of electrochemical origin present within the formation. Attempts have been made to measure this electromotive force, however, the flowing currents have interferred with the acquisition of an accurate measurement of this electromotive force.
For example, as noted in FIG. 12, a single measurement electrode placed downhole on an insulated mandrel will not accurately produce a true reading of this electromotive force and therefore a distortion will appear in the spontaneous potential (SP) measurement.
As noted in FIG. 13, a measurement electrode is disposed between two metallic housings of the downhole tool. The measurement electrode does not produce a true reading of the electromotive force. More particularly, a spontaneous potential (SP) sub is connected between metallic housings of a wellbore apparatus and the wellbore apparatus is lowered into the wellbore for the purpose of measuring the spontaneous potential of the earth formation. However, the quality of the measurement is adversely affected by the proximity of the metallic housings of the wellbore apparatus disposed on both sides of the SP sub. The SP sub includes a measurement electrode designed to measure the spontaneous potential of the earth formation. The metallic housings of the wellbore apparatus are positioned on both sides of the measurement electrode. The currents generated by the formation's emf flow in the formation. However, since the metallic housings are located on both sides of the measurement electrode, the metallic housings short circuit the flowing currents to ground potential and, in doing so, cause such currents to flow near general vicinity of the measurement electrode of the SP sub. This causes a distortion in the SP measurement. In order to reduce the above referenced distortion, the spontaneous potential (SP) sub was reconnected to the absolute bottom end of the wellbore apparatus so that no metallic housing was present on one side of the measurement electrode. As a result, since one metallic housing was not disposed adjacent the measurement electrode, the quality of the SP measurement was somewhat improved. Nevertheless, since it is always necessary to connect the SP sub to the absolute bottom end of the wellbore apparatus prior to lowering it into the wellbore, the SP measurement is still somewhat distorted.
In addition, as noted in FIG. 4, one partial solution to this problem is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,125 to Doll, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference into this specification. This partial solution is also discussed in an article entitled "Selective SP Logging", by H. G. Doll, Petroleum Transactions, AIME, vol 189, 1950, the disclosure of which is also incorporated by reference into this specification. This partial solution (hereinafter known as the "Doll Approach") involves the placement of two electrodes G and A on both sides of the measurement electrode M, and driving the A electrode with a current which is sufficient to counteract the naturally occuring flowing currents in the formation and therefore maintain the potential difference between the M and G electrodes at approximately zero potential. As a result, the flowing currents, flowing in the vicinity of the measurement electrode M, are nearly zero. Therefore, at least some of the distortion in the SP measurement, created by these flowing currents, is removed. However, another problem exists with respect to the partial solution suggested by Doll Approach. Although the A electrode is driven with a current sufficient to maintain the M-G electrode potential difference at approximately zero, the current generated by the A electrode must flow via the earth formation to a return or ground electrode located at the surface of the wellbore. In fact, the Doll Approach fails to recognize that the return or ground electrode could be the metallic housing itself. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, a basic instability is inherent in the model of the Doll Approach. The measurement electrode does not produce a true reading of the electromotive force of the formation and therefore a distortion still appears in the SP measurement.
If the Doll Approach were utilized when the SP sub is connected between the two metallic housings of the wellbore apparatus, the return or ground potential would then be the metallic housings themselves and not the surface oriented electrode. With this new configuration, the basic instability of the Doll Approach is eliminated. With this new configuration, the SP sub could be interconnected between two metallic housings of the wellbore apparatus tool string, still maintain the M-G electrode potential difference at approximately zero, and there would be substantially no distortion in the SP measurement.

Spontaneous potential measurement apparatus connected between metallic housings of a wellbore apparatus for measuring the spontaneous potential of an earth formation


A method, computer program and database system are disclosed for performing an exclusion join of at least a first table T1 and a second table T2, where each of the tables has an associated Star Map, S1 and S2, respectively. Each Star Map includes bitmap entries having locations indexed by the hash of one or more values associated with one or more join key columns of its associated table. The method, computer program, and database system include a) performing one or more Boolean operations using the bitmap entries of the Star Maps S1 and S2 to produce bitmap entries in a Star Map SJ where there is a corresponding set bitmap entry in S1 and no corresponding set bitmap entry in S2; b) using SJ to identify qualifying rows from the first table T1; and c) providing the qualifying rows as an exclusion join result.

Relational DataBase Management Systems (RDBMS) using a Structured Query Language (SQL) interface are well known in the art. The SQL interface has evolved into a standard language for RDBMS software and has been adopted as such by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO). In an RDBMS, all data is externally structured into tables. A table in a relational database is two dimensional, consisting of rows and columns. Each column has a name, typically describing the type of data held in that column. As new data is added, more rows are inserted into the table. A user query selects some rows of the table by specifying clauses that qualify the rows to be retrieved based on the values in one or more of the columns.
The SQL interface allows users to formulate relational operations on the tables either interactively, in batch files, or embedded in host languages such as C, COBOL, etc. Operators are provided in SQL that allow the user to manipulate the data, wherein each operator performs functions on one or more tables and produces a new table as a result. The power of SQL lies in its ability to link information from multiple tables or views together to perform complex sets of procedures with a single statement.
The SQL interface allows users to formulate relational operations on the tables. One of the most common SQL queries executed by the RDBMS is the SELECT statement. In the SQL standard, the SELECT statement generally comprises the format: "SELECT <clause> FROM <clause> WHERE clause> GROUP BY<clause> HAVING <clause> ORDER BY<clause>." The clauses generally must follow this sequence, but only the SELECT and FROM clauses are required.
Generally, the result of a SELECT statement is a subset of data retrieved by the RDBMS from one or more existing tables stored in the relational database, wherein the FROM clause identifies the name of the table or tables from which data is being selected. The subset of data is treated as a new table, termed the result table.
A join operation is usually implied by naming more than one table in the FROM clause of a SELECT statement. A join operation makes it possible to combine tables by combining rows from one table with another table. The rows, or portions of rows, from the different tables are concatenated horizontally. Although not required, join operations normally include a WHERE clause that identifies the columns through which the rows can be combined. The WHERE clause may also include a predicate comprising one or more conditional operators that are used to select the rows to be joined.
An exclusion join operation selects rows in a first table having values in specified columns where the values cannot be found in a specified column of a second table. A database system may execute such a query by excluding entries in the first table that match entries in the <second table.

Optimizing an exclusion join operation using a bitmap index structure


A core waveguide having a substantially rectangular cross section, with the width thereof greater than the thickness thereof, is provided in a cladding formed on a substrate, and a rare earth element-doped layer is provided in the core waveguide along the waveguiding direction of the waveguide. With the width of the core waveguide set greater than the thickness of the core waveguide, good optical confinement in the width direction of the waveguide is obtained, which enables light to be absorbed by the rare earth element-doped layer efficiently and concentratedly. It is thereby possible to achieve a marked improvement in the excitation efficiency of excitation power. Thus, an enhanced excitation efficiency is achieved with less addition of a rare earth element, and a high-gain optical amplification waveguide free of concentration extinction is provided.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to an optical waveguide for optical amplification, particularly a rare earth element-doped optical waveguide having a core waveguide doped with a rare earth element, and to a process for producing the same.
2. Background Art
Optical fiber amplifiers and fiber lasers in which the core layer of an optical fiber is doped with a rare earth element, such as Er (for amplification at wavelengths around 1.55 .mu.m) and Nd (for amplification at wavelengths around 1.3 .mu.m), are vigorously studied at present for use thereof as optical amplifiers. The optical fiber amplifiers and fiber lasers have the advantages that (1) the core diameter thereof as small as 10 .mu.m ensures an enhanced excitation power density, leading to a higher excitation efficiency, (2) they permit a longer interaction length, (3) they show a very low loss when a silica optical fiber is used therein, and so on.
However, when the optical fiber amplifiers and fiber lasers are mounted together with semiconductor lasers, photodetection devices, optical modulation circuits, optical branching/coupling circuits, optical switching circuits, optical wave mixing/separating circuits or the like to construct a system, there arises the problem that, because of the discrete component parts, it is difficult to obtain a system with a smaller size and a lower loss. In addition, the discrete component parts should be arranged with adjustments of the respective optical axes of the component parts. The adjustments require a very long time, leading to a higher cost, and bring about reliability problems.
Recently, therefore, attention has come to be paid to rare earth element-doped silica optical waveguides (the rare earth element being Er or Nd in most cases) for their potential use as future-type optical amplifiers, in view of the probability that the doped silica optical waveguides can be made smaller and integrated, as contrasted to the optical fiber type amplifiers.
There has been known a process for producing a silica optical waveguide as shown in FIG. 12 (K. Imoto, et al., "Guided-wave multi/demultiplexer with high stopband rejection", Applied Optics Vol. 26, No. 19, October 1987, pp. 4214-4219). The process comprises a series of the following steps (1) to (8):
(1) providing a core glass film 25 (SiO.sub.2 -TiO.sub.2 glass) on a substrate 1 (SiO.sub.2 glass) [FIG. 12(a)], with the refractive-index difference between the glass film 25 and the substrate 1 being about 0.25% and with the thickness T of the glass film 25 being about 8 .mu.m;
(2) heat-treating the thus obtained assembly at a high temperature of about 1200.degree. C. to make the film 25 denser [FIG. 12(b)];
(3) providing a WSi.sub.x film 26 which, to be used for etching the core glass film 25, is about 1 .mu.m thick [FIG. 12(c)];
(4) applying a photoresist to the WSi.sub.x film 26 and patterning the thus formed photoresist film 27 by photolithography [FIG. 12(d)];
(5) patterning the WSi.sub.x film 26 by dry etching, with the patterned photoresist film 27 as a mask [FIG. 12(e)];
(6) patterning the core glass film 25 by dry etching, with the patterned photoresist film 27 and the patterned WSi.sub.x film 26 as a mask [FIG. 12(f)];
(7) removing the photoresist film 27 and the WSi.sub.x film 26 [FIG. 12(g)]; and
(8) providing a clad layer 28 (SiO.sub.2 -P.sub.2 O.sub.5 -B.sub.2 O.sub.3 glass) over the substrate 1 so as to cover the patterned core glass film 25, thereby producing a silica optical waveguide having a substantially rectangular shaped core waveguide 3 in the cladding.
It is difficult for an optical waveguide with a planar structure to be formed into an elongate shape, as in the case of an optical fiber. To obtaining a better excitation efficiency, therefore, an increased amount of a rare earth element should be added to the core of the optical waveguide. It has been found, however, that doping with a large amount of a rare earth element causes concentration extinction, thereby making it impossible to obtain the desired lasing or amplifying function.
The above-mentioned conventional process for producing a silica optical waveguide can be used, with no special problems, where the core glass film 25 is not doped with a rare earth element such as Er and Nd. It has been found, however, that where the core glass film 25 is doped with a rare earth element the conventional process results in roughening of side surfaces of the core waveguide in the step of patterning the core glass film 25 by dry etching, shown in FIG. 12(f). The roughened side surfaces of the core waveguide cause scattering of the propagating light, leading to an energy loss and a lowered optical amplification efficiency. FIG. 13(a) shows an SEM photograph of a rare earth element-doped core waveguide formed by the conventional process, and FIG. 13(b) shows an SEM photograph of a core waveguide not doped with a rare earth element. The photographs show how the side surfaces of the core waveguide doped with a rare earth element is roughened, and also show the deposition of a product, which is considered to be a compound of the rare earth element, on the surfaces of the waveguide.
This is because the rare earth element added to the core glass film 25 is left unetched after the step of patterning the core glass film 25 by dry etching. For instance, when an Er-doped core glass film is dry etched by use of CHF.sub.3 as a reactive gas, Si and Ti are converted into reaction products of high vapor pressures through the reactions: EQU Si+4F*.fwdarw.SiF.sub.4 .uparw. EQU Ti+4F*.fwdarw.TiF.sub.4 .uparw.
and are thereby etched away. On the other hand, Er is converted into a reaction product of a low vapor pressure through the reaction process: EQU Er+3F*.fwdarw.ErF.sub.3
and the reaction product ErF.sub.3 is left unetched. The symbol "*" is used here to indicate that the same discussion applies to the cases where a chlorine-containing etching gas other than CHF.sub.3 is used.

Rare earth element-doped optical waveguide and process for producing the same

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


When the connector of an electronic card device is mated with the connector of a host device with the main power supply of the host device being turned off, a power supply control unit in the host device starts the supply of power to the card device. When no operating command is received from the host device within a fixed period after the start of reception of power, a central processing unit of the card device determines that the main power supply of the host device is turned off and starts radio communication using a radio communication unit on the basis of operating commands stored in an information storage unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic device, such as a cellular phone, and an expansion unit, such as a card type of modem, that can be plugged into the cellular phone, and more specifically to an electronic device and an expansion unit which increase the efficiency in supply of electric power from the electronic device to the expansion unit and thus significantly reduce the power dissipation of the electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been significant advances in information processing and communications technologies. In addition, there have also been marked improvements in techniques to manufacture precision parts, typically semiconductor integrated circuits. Based on these technical advances and improvements, various battery-powered electronic devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), that have radio communications functions built in have recently been developed.
Most of such electronic devices are equipped with an expansion slot in order to meet the needs of users. That is, by allowing each user to plug one of various expansion units into the slot according to his or her requirements, the devices are enabled to have only basic functions built in. This allows the electronic devices to be reduced in size and weight.
The expansion unit operates from electric power supplied from the electronic device into which it is plugged. On the other hand, the electronic device is configured to apply electric power to the expansion unit only when its main power supply is turned on.
The expansion unit can operate by itself on power supplied from the electronic device. Even in employing only the function that the expansion unit provides, the user is required to turn on the main power supply of the electronic device.
In other words, the supply of power to the expansion unit results in the supply of power to the entire electronic device and consequently in wasteful power discharge of the battery.

Electronic device having power saving function and extension unit


A retractable vehicle cover apparatus for covering a vehicle comprises an elongated, hollow housing, and axle disposed therein for rotation about a central axis, and an elongated cover having a proximal end coupled with the axle and also having a distal end. The housing includes wall structure having an elongated aperture defined through the wall structure. The cover is fed through the aperture for selective movement between a retracted position where the cover is wrapped around the axle, and an extended position where a substantial portion of the cover extends from the housing. The cover includes an outer layer of aligned cover strips, a middle, elastic layer and an inner layer of aligned padding strips. The elastic layer biases the cover toward a rest width substantially the same length as the aperture to facilitate extension and retraction of the cover, and permits selective expansion of the cover in order to more fully cover the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a car cover stored in a canister that is deployed to cover a car, protecting the car from natural elements. More particularly, the present invention includes a novel cover that assists in facilitating deployment and storage of the cover.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Retractable car covers are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,842 to Ross et al., discloses a retractable car cover that is stored in a canister for selective deployment. The cover disclosed in the Ross reference is constructed from fabric commonly used in the art of car covers and is necessarily significantly wider than the canister. As a result, as the cover is retracted into the canister, the canister must mechanically gather the sides of the cover. This may result in unwanted bunching of the cover that will in turn result in the cover becoming jammed within the canister.
Other references, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,643 to Cheng et al., disclose alternative retractable car covers. The cover of the Cheng reference includes side panels that are folded over a middle panel for preparing the cover for storage. The folded cover is then reeled in and stored about a drum located in the trunk of the car. During retraction, the user must insure that the side panels remain flat against the middle panel to prevent unwanted bunching of the cover. As the cover in the Cheng reference is configured to be stored in the trunk of a car, deployment and retraction of the cover requires the trunk of the car to be opened. In addition, the cover only covers the cabin and forward hood areas of the car, leaving the trunk area unprotected.
There is a need in the art of retractable car covers to provide a cover incorporates many of the benefits of the prior art car covers while addresses the concerns noted above. The present invention addresses these concerns.


The present invention discloses novel multi-action copper complexes which are used for reversible vapochromic detection of polar solvents as well as anion sensing in both aqueous and non-aqueous media.

Anion recognition continues to be a major research goal for many supramolecular chemistry groups around the world. As the field matures there is an increasing emphasis on synthetic receptors that operate in aqueous solution. This is because most of the important biomolecular targets such as peptides, nucleotides, phospholipids, and carbohydrates are anionic compounds. However, anion recognition in water is an extremely challenging task for a number of reasons. For a start, anions are strongly hydrated and any complexation process that involves anion dehydration will likely have to pay a large energetic penalty. Common anions, such as halide ions (fluoride, chloride, bromide, and iodide), sulphide, sulphate, chromate, phosphate, oxalate, and nitrite, play vital roles in the environment, industry and biology. Some of these common anions are essential for our life. Anions play an important role in health, food, biomedical and defense industries. Their release in the environment cause hazardous effects to living system by drastically affecting the food and water quality. This necessitates the development of highly sensitive anion sensor materials for monitoring the presence of these toxic pollutants. There is an immense upsurge in last 2-3 decades in designing and synthesizing suitable anion sensors. Classical methods for detection of these hazardous anions which include spectroscopic, electrochemical and chromatographic are very expensive and time consuming. Therefore, in recent years, the investigation on anions sensing methodologies is focused on exploring rapid, versatile, cost-effective and optical detectors.
Vapochromic materials suitable for sensing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by the alteration of auro- and metallophilic attractions have attracted considerable attention. Whereas these systems often include metallophilic Pt—Pt, Au—Tl, Au—Au, and Au—Ag interactions, complexes with Au—Cu metal centers are generally less common, and such vapochromic complexes are understood to have not been reported.
Vapochromic materials have recently been incorporated in chemical sensor devices. For example, [Au—(PPh2C(CSSAuC6F5)PPh2Me)2][ClO4] has been used in the development of an optical fiber VOC sensor. A vapochromic light emitting diode and a vapochromic photodiode have also been built using tetrakis(p-dodecylphenylisocyano) platinum tetranitroplatinate and bis(cyanide)-bis(p-dodecylphenylisocyanide)platinum(II), respectively.
Anion sensors are broadly classified into two main categories based on their anion binding mode, 1) Binding via non-covalent interactions: anion sensor recognizes or detects anions through donor acceptor non-covalent interactions which include electrostatic, hydrophilic, hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding and π . . . π interactions; 2) Linkage through covalent bond: the analyte directly ligates to the metal based coordination complexes through coordinate bond. Designing non-covalently interacting anion sensing receptors suffer major challenges for their usage in aqueous media due to strong water-anion interaction through H-bonding. Higher energy requirement of receptor binding to hydrated anions also makes it an unfavorable process. Covalently bonded metal based receptors can overcome this problem by strongly interacting with anions through coordinate bond. The binding process can be monitored by visible changes in colour or changes in fluorescence intensity.
Article titled "Anion Recognition and Sensing by a New Macrocyclic Dinuclear Copper (II) Complex: A Selective Receptor for Iodide" by J S Mendy et al. published in Inorg. Chem., 2010, 49 (16), pp 7223-7225 reports a macrocyclic dinuclear copper complex, [Cu2II(1)Br3(H2O)]Br synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography, in which the macrocycle is folded to form a bowl-shaped cavity. The sensing ability of the receptor was studied for halides by UV-VIS spectroscopy in water-acetonitrile (1:3 v/v) and water. The article mentioned reported a macrocyclic dinuclear complex [Cu2 II(1)Br3(H2O)]Br, which showed a strong affinity only for iodide anion. However, the media used for binding studies is not completely aqueous but the mixture of aprotic solvent CH3CN and water (3:1). Complete aqueous media (100% water) may inhibit efficient binding with metal binding sites that are not the case for C1/C2. Additionally reported macrocyclic compound is completely soluble in media used for the study so it is not the solid state detection and has limited applicability for its use for removing anions.
Article titled "Colorimetric sensing of anions in water using ratiometric indicator-displacement assay" by L Feng et al. published in Analytica Chimica Acta, 2012, 743, pp 1-8 reports use of colorimetric indicator-displacement assay (IDA) array for the determination of ten anions in water. The color changes in IDA array provide facile identification of these anions with no misclassification. The sensor array consists of different combinations of colorimetric indicators and metal cations. The colorimetric indicators chelate with metal cations, forming the color changes.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,008,090B2 discloses vaprochromic coordination polymers useful for analyte detection. The vapochromism may be observed by visible color changes, changes in luminescence, and/or spectroscopic changes in the infrared (IR) signature. In one particular embodiment a new class of [Metal(CN)2]-based coordination polymers with vapochromic properties is described, such as Cu[Au(CN)2]2 and Zn[Au(CN)2]2 polymers, wherein said analyte is a volatile organic compound. The compound show differential behaviour when exposed to a variety of solvent vapours e.g. DMSO, water, etc. However, they have not been explored for detection of analytes in a solution state
Article titled "Structure, Luminescence, and Vapochromism of Bridged Cationic Copper(I) Dimers and Polymers" by D E Royzman et al. published in Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials, January 2014, 24 (1), pp 66-77 reports the dimeric complex of Cu(I) [Cu2(PPh3)4(MeCN)2(Bpy)](BF4)2 (1a, Bpy=4,4′-dipyridyl) self-assembles in CH2Cl2 or acetone and shows intense photoluminescence (excitation λmax=356 nm, emission λmax=486 nm, φ=0.47).
Article titled "Colorimetric response to anions by a "robust" copper(II) complex of a [9]aneN3 pendant arm derivative: CN− and I− selective sensing" by MA Tetilla et al. published in Chem Commun (Camb), 2011, 47 (13), pp 3805-3807 report a 1:1 complex [Cu(L)](BF4)2.MeCN (1) of the tetradentate ligand 1-(2-quinolinylmethyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane (L) selectively changes its colour in the presence of CN− in H2O and MeCN (without undergoing decomplexation from the macrocyclic ligand). The same complex in MeCN assumes different colours in the presence of CN− or I−. However sensing in solid state and completely aqueous media (100% water) is not investigated.
Article titled "Luminescence vapochromism in solid materials based on metal complexes for detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)" by X Zhang et al. published in J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 11427-11441 reports that vapour-triggered luminescence colour changes are mostly relevant to a variation of weak interactions such as metal-solvent bonds, metallophilic contacts, π-π stacking, hydrogen bonding, host-guest affinity or reversible isomerization etc.
It has now become essential to find highly sensitive, broad spectrum, cost-effective anion sensors which can detect wide range of anions in aqueous as well as non-aqueous media via optical detection methods. The feasibility of anions sensors as solid state detector makes it more convenient to use in the sensing devices. Solid state thin film of sensors after recognizing anions can transduce signal which can be detected by optical, electrochemical and electrical methods. Metal based anion receptors have shown enigmatic potential for their uses as anion detector. Metals can 1) act as a part of the colorimetric or luminescent reporter group; 2) they can provide template for anion induced self-assembly and 3) provide anion binding site due to Lewis acidity. Tailor made designing of structurally dynamic 1D or 2D coordination framework where metal provides site for analyte interaction which in turn offers switchable flexibility thereby rendering efficient solid state sensing method. Therefore, there is a need for designing novel coordination complexes for effective vapochromic and anion sensing property.

Metal coordination complex for detection of vapors and anions and process for the preparation thereof

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


Embodiments of a closed-contact electroplating cup are disclosed. One embodiment comprises a cup bottom comprising an opening, and a seal disposed on the cup bottom around the opening. The seal comprises a wafer-contacting peak located substantially at an inner edge of the seal. The embodiment also comprises an electrical contact structure disposed over a portion of the seal, wherein the electrical contact structure comprises an outer ring and a plurality of contacts extending inwardly from the outer ring, and wherein each contact has a generally flat wafer-contacting surface. The embodiment further comprises a wafer-centering mechanism configured to center a wafer in the cup.

Electroplating is commonly used in integrated circuit manufacturing processes to form electrically conductive structures. For example, in a copper damascene process, electroplating is used to form copper lines and vias within channels previously etched into a dielectric layer. In such a process, a seed layer of copper is first deposited into the channels and on the substrate surface via physical vapor deposition. Then, electroplating is used to deposit a thicker copper layer over the seed layer such that the channels are completely filled. Excess copper is then removed by chemical mechanical polishing, thereby forming the individual copper features.
Current electroplating systems may be classified as "open contact" and "closed contact." Open contact plating systems are systems in which the wafer contacts that deliver electric current to the seed layer during plating are exposed to the plating solution. Likewise, closed contact plating systems are those in which the contacts are not exposed to the plating solution.
When fabricating integrated circuits, it is generally desirable to utilize as much wafer surface as possible for the fabrication of devices to increase a quantity of devices per wafer. However, electroplating systems generally utilize electrical contacts and other structures that contact the wafer during deposition, and therefore limit an amount of surface area that can be plated. For example, in open contact plating systems, because the electrodes are exposed to the plating solution during a plating process, the electrodes are plated to the substrate surface during the process. Removal of the electrodes exposes unplated regions where the electrodes contacted the substrate. Further, removal of the contacts may cause damage to the copper layer in the vicinity of the electrodes, rendering, for example, 2 mm or more of the outer perimeter of the wafer unsuitable for integrated circuit fabrication.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Closed contact electroplating cup assembly


A press die assembly is efficiently produced by: fabricating a press die pattern having therein grooves extending along concave corner portions thereof corresponding to concave corner portions of a product forming surface in the die of the press die assembly; fabricating a cast blank of the die by a full-mold method by using the press die pattern; and machining and finishing the product forming surface of the cast blank by utilizing the grooves as clearance space for the machining and finishing tools to obtain the finished die. In the press forming operation of the press die assembly, the grooves permit the sheet blank being press formed to slip thereby to eliminate local stretching, whereby high-quality pressed products are obtained. The grooves enables an easy machining by a tool.

The present invention relates to a press die assembly and a method for producing the press die assembly particularly to a shape.
In general, a sheet metal constituting a structure such as an automobile body has surfaces of three-dimensional curvature or double curvature. In many cases, such a structure is fabricated by press forming.
In the press forming of such panel structures, the press die is an important part. The press die usually comprises a punch and a die. A panel as a workpiece is laid on the press die and formed by the punch.
As will be described in detail hereinafter, a recessed surface portion of the press die often has a concave corner portion extending linearly or with a curvature. On the other hand, the punch has a convex corner portion matched to the concave corner portion of the press die. Conversely, the recessed surface portion of the press die has a convex corner portion while the punch has a concave corner portion.
In either case, the concave and convex corner portions tend to interfere with each other unless they are precisely machined so as to avoid any interfering engagement therebetween when the punch plunges into the recessed surface portion of the die. However, precise machining of the concave and convex corner portions requires machining tools of different sizes for different machining processes from a rough machining to a finished machining. Precise machining further requires a numerically controlled three-dimensional machining under various machining conditions such as different cutting speeds for different tools. This is inefficient and time consuming.

Press die assembly and method for producing the same


A conveyor mat comprises a number of plastic modules succeeding each other in a conveying direction and whose top sides form a conveying face and provided with converging hinge loops which have equal basic forms and which alternately extend forwards and rearwards relative to the conveying direction and successive modules are coupled by means of hinge pins, such that the forwardly extending hinge loops of the rearmost module can slide between the rearwardly extending hinge loops of the next module between a slide-out position and a slide-in position, a sidewall of a forwardly extending hinge loop is provided with a projection which in the slide-out position cooperates with the top of the adjacent, rearwardly extending hinge loop, and the sidewall of the adjacent hinge loop is provided with a recess in which the projection can be received during sliding into the slide-in position.

The invention relates to a conveyor mat comprising number of plastic modules succeeding each other in a conveying direction and whose top sides form a conveying face, said modules each being provided, in a transverse direction thereof, with a number of hinge loops which have equal basic forms and which alternately extend forwards and rearwards relative to the conveying direction and converge from a base to a top, said hinge loops being provided, adjacent the top thereof, with slotted holes, said modules each being further provided with a number of interspaces formed to be at least partially complementary to the hinge loops and at least partially bounded by the sidewalls of two hinge loops extending in the same direction, the successive modules of said conveyor mat being coupled by means of hinge pins extending through the slotted holes, such that the forwardly extending hinge loops of the rearmost module can slide between the rearwardly extending hinge loops of the next module between a slit-out position in which the hinge pins abuts against a top-proximal wall of the slotted hole and a slid-in position.
It is observed that whenever the conveying direction is mentioned in this context, the direction is meant in which a particular module can travel along a conveying path. It is further observed that the module can move along the conveying path in two opposite conveying directions and that, accordingly, the terms xe2x80x98forwardsxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98rearwardsxe2x80x99 depend on the conveying direction chosen.
Such conveyor mat is known from practice and is referred to as xe2x80x98bend matxe2x80x99. By sliding the hinge loops in and out, the conveying path followed by the modules of the conveyor mat can make a bend in the conveying plane, such as a bend in the conveying track.
For assembling a conveyor mat, a smallest possible minimal radius R of a bend lying in the conveying plane is
aimed at. For a conveyor mat of a given width, the minimal radius R is less according as the hinge loops can slide relative to each other through a larger distance. The distance through which the hinge loops can slide relative to each other may be larger according as the pitch of the modules in conveying direction is chosen to be greater, i.e. according as the modules in conveying direction are of longer design. However, in view of the conveyor mat deforming into a polygon, a greater pitch increases the minimal radius R of a bend that can be made by the conveyor mat in a plane perpendicular to the conveying plane and extending in conveying direction. Such a bend is made when the mat travels around a return wheel at an end face of a conveyor mat extending along an endless path. Preferably, the radius R is as small as possible, to enable the end face of such endless conveyor mat to be placed as close as possible against a following conveying member.
The above conditions have together resulted in a band mat of the type as set forth in the preamble, wherein a maximal slide-in distance is realized at a minimal pitch.
A drawback of the known conveyor mat is that the successive modules in their slid-out position can slide relative modules in their slid-out position can slide relative to each other transversely to the conveying direction. This involves the chance of the conveyor mat sliding away transversely to the conveying path and/or the longitudinal axes of a number of modules not being perpendicular to the conveying direction. This may cause increased wear of and damage to the conveyor mat. Moreover, the conveyor mat may become damaged when the hinge pins, during travel around a return wheel, do not extend transversely to the conveying direction.
In addition, WO-A 95/28343 discloses a xe2x80x9cbendxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cradiusxe2x80x9d type conveyor mat according the preamble of claim 1, having a projection/recess assembly for blocking lateral movement of the modules in slid-out position. In particular, the forwardly extending hinge loops are provided, between the base thereof and the top-proximal wall of the slotted hole, with a projection in the form of an alignment tab which, in the slid-out position, cooperates with the top of the adjacent, rearwardly extending hinge loop. The side wall of the adjacent hinge loop is provided with a recess, formed as a slot, in which the alignment tab is received during sliding into the slid-in position.
WO-A 91/01261 describes a xe2x80x9cbendxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cradiusxe2x80x9d type conveyor mat having the basic lay out of the mat disclosed in WO-A 95/28343. In slid-out position, however, the protrusions of the blocking mechanism cooperate with additional protrusions located near the tops of the rearwardly extending hinge loops.
A problem associated with the alignment tab/slot assembly of WO-A 95/28343 or WO-A 91/01261 is that, when the conveying face is to travel through a bend perpendicular to the conveying plane, e.g. when the mat is to travel around a return wheel, the modules must be in the slid-out position. When travelling through such a perpendicular bend in the slid-in position, the guide tab extends into the slot and will block bending out of the plane of travel. This may lead to breakage of the guide tab or damage to the material surrounding the slot.
Starting from WO-A 95/28343, the objective technical problem is to provide a projection/recess assembly for blocking lateral movement of the modules in the slid-out position, which allows the modules to bend out of the plane of travel when they are in or near the slid-in position.
The object of the invention is to provide a conveyor mat wherein the above drawbacks are avoided while the advantages are retained.
To that end, the conveyor mat according to the invention is characterized by the feature of claim 1.
At least one sidewall of at least one forwardly extending hinge loop is provided, between the base thereof and the top-proximal wall of the slotted hole, with a projection which in said slid-out position cooperates with the top of the adjacent, rearwardly extending hinge loop, and that the sidewall of the adjacent hinge loop is provided with a recess in which the projection can be received during sliding into the slid-in position.
The effect thus achieved is that in said slid-out position, the projection, through cooperation with the top, considerably impedes displacement in transverse direction, while a maximal slide-in direction is maintained.
By constructing the hinge loops at the location of the recesses in the side walls and the projections free of overlapping parts in at least the slid-in position, it is possible for conveyor mat to travel through a bend perpendicular to the conveying plane in or near the slid-in position, without the risk of damage occurring to the projections of the recesses.
The projection and the corresponding recess in the sidewall of successive modules are designed so that between the projection and the sidewall, in a direction substantially transverse to the conveying plane, sufficient space of movement is present for enabling the successive modules to move, from slid-in position and from the conveying face, through a bend in a plane transverse to the conveying face and extending in conveying direction, without damage being caused to the projection and/or the sidewall adjacent the recess. It is thus provided that the occurrence of damage can be avoided when successive modules, when they travel around a divert wheel from the conveying face, are not in the slid-out position, for instance due to the fact that the longitudinal axes of the successive modules do not extend entirely parallel, or that the successive modules are stuck or clamped in slid-in position.
The projection and the sidewall at the location of the recess, viewed in a direction transverse to the conveying face, are free of any overlapping parts and/or the projection and the sidewall at the location of the recess lie substantially next to each other. It is thus provided that in a simple manner, a relative movement in two directions transverse to the conveying face is enabled and that the chance of fouling of the projection and/or the recess is reduced. In particular the recess is formed by one or more guide faces extending substantially transversely to the conveying face, from the bottom side to the top side of the hinge loop.
In a next embodiment, both sidewalls of a forwardly extending hinge loop are provided with a projection between the base and the top-proximal wall of the slotted hole, and the sidewalls of the opposite, rearwardly extending hinge loops are each provided, adjacent the top thereof, with a corresponding recess.
Accordingly, in said slid-out position, displacement in transverse direction is further obstructed.
In another embodiment, the conveyor mat according to the invention is characterized in that the hinge loops located in a part located adjacent a lateral side of the conveyor mat comprise substantially flat sidewalls. It is thus provided that the minimal section of the hinge loops which, when traveling around a bend in the horizontal plane, are subjected to a heavier load, is greater, while the hinge loops located more at the center the conveyor mat and which are subjected to a less heavy load, obstruct the displacement in transverse direction.
In again another embodiment, the conveyor mat according to the invention is characterized in that the hinge loops bounding a lateral side of the conveyor mat have, in transverse direction of the module, a greater width than the other hinge loops. It is thus provided that the tolerance of the length of the hinge pins can chosen to be greater.
In yet another embodiment, the conveyor mat according to the invention is characterized in that at least a part of the hinge loops bounding a lateral side of the conveyor mat are provided, adjacent their top, with a recess that extends substantially transversely to the conveying direction and that intersects the slotted hole. It can thus be provided that in the recess, a locking member can be received for retaining the hinge pin that is inserted from the conveying face.
The locking member can be elegantly provided with preferably spring-loaded, laterally extending parts which, in mounted condition, can extend into the slotted hole. Further, the locking member may comprise an edge which, in mounted condition of the locking member, is accessible from the lateral side of the conveyor mat via the slotted hole. In this manner, the locking member can readily be removed from the recess by means of a screwdriver. It is observed that the locking member can also be advantageously applied to other types of modular conveyor mats.
In a following embodiment, the conveyor mat according to the invention is characterized in that a number of modules are each provided, at the bottom side thereof, with an outwardly extending guide member for cooperation with a guide mounted on a conveying path, which guide member has a lateral side thereof provided with a face beveled transversely to the conveying direction. In this manner, displacement in transverse direction is further obstructed, while at the same time, the conveyor mat is prevented from rising when traveling through a bend in the conveying plane.
Further, the face of the guide members that is foremost and/or rearmost in conveying direction is preferably provided with a bevel extending in rearward or forward direction respectively. It is thus provided that the guide members can project sufficiently far outwards without increasing the minimal radius R of a bend that can be made by the conveyor mat in a plane perpendicular to the conveying face the extending in conveying direction. It is observed that such guide members can also be advantageously applied to other types of modular conveyor mats.
Further elaborations of advantageous embodiments of the conveyor mat according to the invention are described in the subclaims.


According to one embodiment of the present invention, the article or piece of clothing includes a hat having a crown and a bill extending outwardly from the crown. A wrap-around shoulder-length sun shade or sun screen is releasably coupled, by separating zippers, to the crown and bill of the hat. If the separating zippers are closed, the wrap-around shade or wrap around screen is connected to the crown and bill. If the separating zippers are open, the wrap-around sun shade or sun screen can be detached from the crown and/or the bill.

The present invention relates to an article of clothing for protecting the upper body (including head, neck, and face) from radiation generated by the sun or other sources, and more specifically, to hats with sun shades.
The sun as an effective source of vitamin D is well established in the literature. However, it has also been established that too much sun can be detrimental to the health of human. Skin cancer is one of the adverse effects or disease cause by exposure to too much sun or other types of radiation. There are many types of skin cancers; but, it is believed, melanoma is the deadliest or most lethal. It is also believed to be the fastest growing type of cancer in the world. It is also believed that people with certain predisposed conditions make them more susceptible and put them at greater risk to develop skin cancer than others. For those people, even minimal exposure to the sun may result in developing skin cancer. Some predisposed conditions include genetics, fair skin, red or blonde hair, and light colored eyes. Another group of people that is susceptible are those recovering or recovered from the disease. Those people need to take special precaution to prevent recurrence. In order to minimize the risk of contacting a sun born disease, such as skin cancer, all people should limit exposure of their skin to sunlight.
There are several ways to protect one's skin from the sun. Probably, the simplest and straightforward way would be not to go into direct sunlight. This way appears impractical and unnecessarily limits one's activities to those that can be performed in shade or times when the sun is not shinning. This way would be most difficult for children who like to play and ride bicycles in daylight, when the sun is shinning. This way may also be difficult for and unacceptable to fishermen and fisherwomen who, by the nature of the sport, have to practice fishing in daylight, when the sun is shinning.
Another way to protect the skin from direct sunlight would be spending limited time in the sun. Even though limited time in the sun may be effective in protecting one's skin from direct sun light, it may not be suitable for people with predisposed conditions that make them vulnerable to develop skin cancer even with limited exposure to sun light. Still another way to protect the skin from direct sun light is to cover it with clothing. Stated another way, clothing may be used to protect the skin from deleterious effect of sun light. The clothing should be practical and does not restrict activities of the wearer. Clothing that meets these criteria and provides complete protection of the upper body could not be found and is deemed unavailable. The disclosed embodiment of the present invention, set forth below, meets these criteria and provides clothing that protects the entire upper body. As used in this document, clothing should be given broad interpretation including cap, hat or any type of garment used to cover the body of wearers.


A ball glove includes a concave webbing which forms a ball-receiving pocket. The webbing is secured to spaced-apart finger and thumb sections of the glove and is formed from a plurality of flat panels. The combined area of the flat panels is greater than the area of the space between the finger and thumb sections. The panels have curved side edges which are secured together so that the panels assume a concave configuration before the panels are secured to the finger and thumb sections.

This invention relates to ball gloves such as baseball gloves and softball gloves. More particularly, the invention relates to a ball glove with a concave webbing which facilitates catching a ball.
Typical youth gloves have a catching pocket which is too small. Young players have a difficult time catching a standard size youth baseball or softball.
The invention provides a ball glove with a concave pocket which creates a large pocket which has a shape similar to the spherical shape of a standard size youth ball. The webbing is formed from a plurality of flat panels, and the combined width and the length of the panels is greater than the width and length of the space between the thumb and first finger of the glove. When the webbing is attached to the thumb and finger, the webbing forms a concave pocket for the ball.


A seat arrangement is provided for a motor vehicle with a first vehicle seat and a second vehicle seat that is arranged adjacent to the first vehicle seat in the transverse direction. The vehicle seats include, but are not are not limited to a seat part and a back rest. The first vehicle seat can be displaced in the transverse direction from a first position into a second position in which the first vehicle seat is offset in the direction of the second vehicle seat. The second vehicle seat can furthermore be folded from a service position into an idle position. The seat part of the second vehicle seat is lowered in the idle position such that the seat part of the first vehicle seat is arranged above the seat part of the second vehicle seat in the second position.

Various seat arrangements known from the state of the art serve for protecting the vehicle occupants during a side impact of the motor vehicle. For example, DE 42 12 091 A and DE 195 16 913 A describe seat arrangements with two vehicle seats that are arranged adjacent to one another. The two vehicle seats can be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and are also guided on transverse rails. The transverse rails make it possible to displace the motor vehicle seat transverse to the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle in case a side impact occurs. In such instances, the corresponding vehicle seat of the seat arrangement is displaced toward the center of the motor vehicle in order to prevent the vehicle occupant from being injured by the indented side wall of the motor vehicle.
In addition to the above-described seat arrangements, there also exist seat arrangements that make it possible to transversely displace the corresponding vehicle seat independently of a side impact in order to achieve a particularly flexible arrangement of the vehicle seats within the interior of the vehicle. For example, EP 0 940 288 B1 describes a seat arrangement that has two vehicle seats that can be independently displaced in the transverse or lateral direction of the motor vehicle. To this end, the motor vehicle floor is provided with transverse rails, in which corresponding guide elements of a substructure of the vehicle seats are guided. The substructure furthermore features longitudinal rails, in which guide elements of the corresponding motor vehicle seat are guided. A similar seat arrangement is also described in a DE 60 2004 000 159 T2.
The known seat arrangements for realizing a flexible arrangement of the corresponding vehicle seats have been tried and tested, but still have the disadvantage that a vehicle seat can only be conditionally displaced in the transverse direction because the displacement path is restricted by the other vehicle seat situated adjacent thereto. This means that a particularly flexible arrangement of the vehicle seats of known seat arrangements cannot be realized in the vehicle interior. In addition, the displacement mechanisms of the vehicle seats have a particularly elaborate design such that the installation of known seat arrangements is complicated.
In view of the foregoing, at least one objective exists for developing a seat arrangement for a motor vehicle with a first and a second vehicle seat that has a simple design and also allows a particularly flexible arrangement of the vehicle seats within the interior of the vehicle. In addition, embodiments aim to develop a motor vehicle with such an advantageous seat arrangement. Furthermore, other objectives, aims, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Seat arrangement for a motor vehicle and motor vehicle with such a seat arrangement


An apparatus for supporting a musical instrument comprises a stand comprising a plurality of legs comprising a forward leg and two rear legs, and a center block having a plurality of apertures for receiving the legs. Each of the legs comprises a top end and a bottom end. The legs are pivotally attached to the center block and held within the apertures, and the apertures are shaped such that the legs are moveable between a folded configuration and a splayed arrangement wherein the bottom ends of the rear legs are laterally displaced and the bottom end of the forward leg is forwardly displaced.

Musicians often have need of a stable place to put down their instruments, whether for taking a break, switching to another instrument, or other reasons. Various types of stands for holding musical instruments are known in the art. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,671,479, 5,197,701, 6,005,176, 6,283,421, 6,881,884, and 7,291,775.
The inventor has determined a need for improved apparatus for supporting musical instruments.

Apparatus for supporting musical instruments


There is disclosed a method of forming pure white polymers of 2-pyrrolidone when using SO.sub.2 as the activator. The method involves the use of the rubidium or cesium salt of 2-pyrrolidone as the alkaline catalyst in place of the sodium or potassium salt customarily used and which cause the formation of yellow polymer.

This invention relates to the polymerization of 2-pyrrolidone and more particularly to the formation of polymers which are white in color and have thermal characteristics such that they may be melt extruded when SO.sub.2 is used as the chain initiator.
The formation of polymers of 2-pyrrolidone involving the use of alkaline catalysts under substantially anhydrous conditions was first disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,463. The best catalysts are the alkali metal salts of 2-pyrrolidone which are best formed from the alkali metal hydroxides. The lithium salt is very sparingly soluble and therefore is not a good catalyst and since both rubidium and cesium hydroxides are very expensive, in actual practice either the sodium or potassium salt is normally used.
Subsequent patents, for example U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,958, further disclose the need for a co-catalyst or "activator" for the polymerization. U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,951 discloses the use of SO.sub.2 as an activator and U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,652 discloses the use of CO.sub.2. Both of these activators result in the formation of a polypyrrolidone having superior thermal characteristics not found in polymers formed when other activators are used. While the polymer formed when CO.sub.2 is used is white, that formed when SO.sub.2 is used is ordinarily yellow unless carefully controlled amounts of SO.sub.2 are used under certain critical temperatures as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,645. The use of SO.sub.2 is advantageous however in that lower temperatures for the polymerization may be used as well as much smaller amounts of the activator. It is therefore very desirable to provide a method of preventing the formation of yellow polymer since the color greatly limits its use.

Polymerization of 2-pyrrolidone with cesium or rubidium catalyst


A picture holder is disclosed for bayonet connection to a standard right angle wall plug mounted night light. An opaque frame is provided having a transparent convex outwardly exposed arcuate front wall with a defined frame periphery. A corresponding arcuate slot in the front top of the frame provides for insertion and removal of pictures to be displayed. A translucent backing is provided to the frame having an arcuate profile opposite and complimentary to the arcuate transparent profile of the transparent cover. The translucent backing has a profile to intimately surround the partial profile of the lamp to which the frame mounts. The frame with picture mounted can be inserted to the wall plug mounted bulb so that a first portion of the bulb is exposed to the enclosed interior of the frame and a second portion of the bulb is exposed to the wall of a wall mount plug immediately behind the frame. The frame includes as the base portion thereof the bayonet connection to the light.

A so-called Night Light Assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,549,250 and 4,714,984 both issued to Donald Spector. This assembly both holds a picture and provides for the display of a picture as well as the discharge of aromatic vapor due to the heat of the lamp. In Spector '984, the frame is assembled about the night light so as to encase the light completely.
Other representative state of the art patents include Love U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,986 issued Aug. 10, 1971 for TELEVISION AND NIGHT LIGHT (statue in front of illuminated background), Rochford et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,213 issued Jun. 18, 1974 for CAST RESIN GLOW LAMP PRODUCT (distribution and emanation of light from cast covering), Rochford et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,212 issued Jun. 18, 1974 for DECORATIVE GUIDE LIGHT (decorative article having distribution and emanation of light), and Martin FLAT FACE NIGHT LIGHT U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,116 issued Aug. 10, 1982 (plug in night light having flat face).

Decorative night light with replaceable photo holder


A power usage simulator generates, for all the logic cells in a circuit cell library, a power model that characterizes a cell's power consumption behavior as a two-part, piecewise-linear function based on signal slew rates and output load. A logic simulator is modified so that for each signal transition in a specified logic circuit, the logic simulator performs a power usage computation utilizing the power usage model for all cells affected by each signal transition. The power usage value for each signal transition is posted to a power usage output data structure, with each posted power usage value having an associated time value. The posted power usage values are then analyzed by (A) accumulating the posted power usage values to provide a total power usage value, and (B) clocking the accumulation of power usage values with an end user set clock rate so as to produce a power usage profile indicating the time varying rate of power consumption during the simulation time period. The clocked accumulation of power usage enables easy detection of whether the peak rate of power consumption during the simulation time exceeds a specified threshold (e.g., a threshold associated with a particular power bus design). Thus, data generated by the power usage simulation may be used, either directly or indirectly to determine that the simulated logic circuit requires a larger power bus design, or that the logic circuit should be modified so as to reduce its peak power usage rate.

Power consumption is increasingly a subject of concern to integrated circuit designers. Accurate prediction of an integrated circuit's power consumption is important for selection of the proper packaging for the integrated circuit, battery life prediction when the circuit is to be used in a portable or other battery powered device, and chip lifetime prediction. In addition, power consumption prediction can be used to determine the type of heat sink resources needed, if any, for an integrated circuit, since uncompensated thermal effects can lead to performance degradation and chip failure.
Power consumption predictions are also important for designing a proper power distribution network within an integrated circuit. For instance, power busses for an integrated circuit must be sized so as to be able to handle both average and peak current densities, and also to provide sufficient voltage levels to those circuits farthest from the power bus. A power bus, or a power strap to a particular module or section of an integrated circuit may be sufficiently large to handle the maximum sustained power usage expected of a chip, thereby providing sufficient voltage for operation of all portions of the circuit and preventing the power bus from being damaged or destroyed by the buildup of excess heat, while still being insufficiently large to prevent metal migration caused by short current spikes. Thus, it is important to accurately predict both average and peak current usage by an entire integrated circuit and also by portions of the integrated circuit having separate power straps.
Power consumption occurs dynamically (AC)--resulting from the switching of a signal from one voltage level to another, and statically (DC)--when the circuit is "quiet" due to pullups and pulldowns, level shifters, and leakage currents. Most dynamic power consumption is the result of charging and discharging of capacitances in the circuit. Capacitances include pin capacitances, transistor capacitances, and interconnect capacitances. The amount of power consumed by capacitance charging and discharging is represented by the following equation: EQU Power=Capacitance.times.Voltage-Swing.sup.2 .times.Frequency
Dynamic power consumption is also caused by short circuit current, such as the short circuit current that occurs in CMOS inverters for slow ramp signals.
Prior to the present invention, power consumption simulation methods have generally used either (A) power consumption models based upon average switching frequency estimate formulas and prototype evaluation, and (B) analog circuit simulation techniques. Power consumption simulations based upon average switching frequency estimate formulas and prototype evaluation can be used to estimate the power usage of large circuits, but are too inaccurate to be used as the basis for designing an integrated circuit's power network or to accurately analyze tradeoffs (e.g., power usage, speed, and circuit size tradeoffs) between alternate circuit designs. Analog circuit simulation techniques used to determine power usage by proposed circuits are very accurate but use so much computer resources that the simulation of large circuits with hundreds of thousands of logic gates is either impossible or impractical.
A prior logic circuit simulator by Compass, QSIM, included an "unreleased" version of a power simulator, which assigned an average power usage value to each input and output port of each circuit cell, and then during simulation of the operation of the circuit posted a power usage of the assigned amount whenever a signal transition was determined to have occurred on each cell input port. Thus, the prior QSIM power simulation product computed power usage without taking into account the slew rate of the signal on a cell's input port, the logic state of the cell and static power usage. This prior QSIM power simulation product accumulated total power usage for a specified simulation time, but did not provide the tools necessary to detect peak power usage, to perform hierarchical power analyses, and other power usage analyses desired by circuit designers.
It is a goal of the present invention to provide an accurate integrated circuit power consumption analysis tool to provide the designers of ASICs the information needed to make well informed design decisions and evaluate trade-offs.
It is another goal of the present invention to be able to accurately model the power usage of entire submicron ASIC designs having 200,000 logic gates and more.
Another goal of the present invention is to provide a hierarchical analysis capability, allowing the evaluation of power bus widths, design partitioning, clock gating strategies, asynchronous designs, and power bus gating to circuit blocks.
Another goal of the present invention is to provide both AC and DC power consumption analysis, average and peak power consumption analyses, analyses of the dependency of power consumption on input slew rates, output loads, power supply level and temperature, and to provide best, typical and worst case power consumption analyses.
Yet another goal of the present invention is to provide power consumption analyses with simulation execution speeds significantly better than would be possible using an analog circuit simulator.
Finally, it is a goal of the present invention to support the power usage simulation of integrated circuits having multiple power supplies, and to support power usage simulation of integrated circuits using both gate array designs and cell based designs.

Slew rate based power usage simulation and method


The invention provides a method of generating an adaptive partial report for an observer with an apparatus comprising a display, a user interface, and a processor. The apparatus can be a computer system or an electronic device, for example. The method includes the processor characterizing an iconic memory decay function for the observer. The characterization includes determining a prior for a plurality of parameters. The method further includes the processor determining a first stimulus for a first trial based on the prior for the plurality of parameters, the display generating the stimulus for viewing by the observer, the user interface receiving input for the first trial and in response to the stimulus, the processor revising respective parameter values for the parameters based on the received input, and the processor determining a new stimulus for a next trial based on the revised parameter values.

The invention relates to an adaptive testing method of generating a partial report such as for iconic memory. The invention also relates to an apparatus, such as an electronic device or computer system, for implementing the adaptive partial report procedure.
It has been known that human memory is composed of three sub-storages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the literal, modality-specific neural representation of sensory stimuli in the human brain. Sensory inputs from the environment are initially stored in sensory memory and processed in subsequent stages of perception and cognition. The existence of sensory memory was first demonstrated in the 1960s, in experiments in which three rows of letters were briefly displayed, and observers were asked to report the identity of the letters in one of the rows cued with a high, middle, or low frequency tone after a variable delay.
For example, FIG. 1a is an illustration of screen shots for a partial-report procedure. After a brief presentation of stimulus (a 3×4 array of letters) followed by a blank screen, the observer is given a sound cue. The observer is to report letters of the cued row in the partial report condition. Item recognition in the partial-report condition was compared with the whole-report condition, in which observers were asked to report all items from the display. FIG. 1b provides exemplary results of a partial report experiment. The performance difference between the partial report and whole report conditions is called the 'partial report superiority effect'. The effect demonstrates performance benefits from iconic memory. The number of the estimated available items in sensory memory decreases rapidly with increasing test delay in partial report and approaches the whole-report asymptote in about 200-300 ms.
During the past half-century, sensory memory has been extensively studied and has been widely accepted as a critical component in many theories on human information processing. Recently, one of the inventors of this application compared, as part of a study, iconic memory decay functions of young, old normal, and old observers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The study found that iconic memory decayed much faster in the MCI group than the others (FIG. 2). FIG. 2 is a graph representing a decay function of three groups of observers or subjects. Because more than 80% of people with MCI develop Alzheimer's disease in 10 years, this finding suggested that faster decay of iconic memory might be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease.
Conventionally, the method of constant stimuli (MCS) is used to measure the memory decay function. Subjects' (or observers') responses at a number of pre-selected cue delays are measured with about 100 trials per delay. An empirical memory decay function is obtained by estimating the number of available items in sensory memory at each delay from observers' responses. Often a theoretical curve such as an exponential decay function is fit to the empirical data to characterize the memory decay process. In a typical study, between 600 and 800 test trials (6-8 cue delays×100 trials/delay) are necessary to obtain a good estimate of the sensory memory decay function. It takes approximately one hour for normal young observers but much longer for observers in special populations. The long testing time makes it difficult or even impossible to carry out partial report experiments in special populations.
Many adaptive procedures have been developed to reduce the burden of data collection in psychophysical experiments. Most development has focused on characterizing psychometric functions, including various non-parametric procedures for estimating a single threshold, and Bayesian adaptive procedures for estimating either a single threshold or the threshold and slope of a psychometric function. Recent development in this area has extended adaptive procedures to measure various psychological functions, including the threshold versus contrast function, contrast sensitivity function, and sensitivity and bias parameters in Yes-No tasks. In all these adaptive procedures, the stimulus in the next trial is determined by the observer's previous responses to improve the efficiency of the test.

Method of generating an adaptive partial report and apparatus for implementing the same


A circuit element driver includes a control section and a driving section. The control section receives a number n of instruction values of a first group (where n≧2) and produces and outputs a number p of instruction values of a second group (where (n+1)≦p<2n) in accordance with the n instruction values of the first group. The instruction values of the first group are issued to generate voltages to be applied to n two-terminal circuit elements. The driving section generates and outputs p drive voltages in accordance with the p instruction values of the second group. At least one of the p drive voltages changes with at least one of the instruction values of the first group and is applied in common to two or more of the circuit elements at one terminal thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving circuit elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
To apply voltages to two-terminal circuit elements such as coils or resistors, two interconnections are needed for each of the circuit elements. For example, six interconnections are necessary to apply respective voltages to three coils independently.
A lens driver for use in an optical disk drive is one of such apparatuses for applying respective voltages to a plurality of two-terminal circuit elements independently. For example, according to the technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-65397, the tilt of the optical axis of an optical head with respect to a disk may be corrected by the tilt of an objective lens to be driven by a lens driver.
An apparatus like this drives the objective lens at three degrees of freedom and needs three types of coils. Specifically, this apparatus uses: a tracking coil for driving the objective lens in a tracking direction; a focus coil for driving the objective lens in a focus direction; and a tilt coil for driving the objective lens in such as manner as to tilt the lens with respect to the disk.
These coils are normally energized by way of four electrically conductive springs that support the objective lens thereon. For example, to drive the three coils independently, the tracking and focus coils may be energized by way of the four conductive springs, while the remaining tilt coil may be energized through a fine interconnecting wire that has been extended to an external circuit.
In such a connection, however, the interconnecting wire for energizing the tilt coil unintentionally constitutes a load on the four conductive springs that support the objective lens thereon, thus causing a variation in spring constants disadvantageously. Also, the additional process steps of connecting the interconnecting wire to the tilt coil and fixing the wire in such a manner that the wire places an equal load on the four conductive springs are needed.
This problem may be resolved by connecting the three coils together to a common terminal at one terminal thereof and assigning three interconnecting wires, connected to the those three terminals of the three coils, and one interconnecting wire, connected to the common terminal, to the four conductive springs. In that case, however, the maximum voltage that can be applied to those coils decreases to a half disadvantageously. This phenomenon will be described in further detail below.
Suppose three coils are driven by using a 5 V DC power supply to apply a supply voltage thereto. For example, three coils 102a, 102b and 102c may be connected to three switching elements 101a, 101b and 101c, respectively, as shown in FIG. 18. In that case, six interconnecting wires should be connected in total to the six terminals of the three coils 102a, 102b and 102c. If these switching elements 101a, 101b and 101c are turned ON or OFF so that each of the two terminals of every coil 102a, 102b or 102c may be connected to either the high-potential-level terminal 105H or low-potential-level terminal 105L of the power supply 105, then a voltage of −5 V to 5 V may be created between the two terminals of every coil 102a, 102b or 102c.
On the other hand, where the three coils 102a, 102b and 102c are connected together at one terminal thereof to a reference potential level as shown in FIG. 19, the three coils 102a, 102b and 102c should be connected at the other terminal thereof to switching elements 103a, 103b and 103c, respectively, so that the other terminal of each of the coils 102a, 102b and 102c may be connected to either the high-potential-level terminal 105H or the low-potential-level terminal 105L of the power supply 105. By providing the common terminal, the number of terminals needed to drive the three coils 102a, 102b and 102c decreases from six to four. In that case, however, if the low-potential-level terminal 105L of the power supply 105 is connected to the reference potential level as indicated by the dashed line 107 in FIG. 19, then the voltage that can be applied to each of the elements (i.e., the coils) is from 0 V to +5 V and the voltage cannot be applied in the reverse direction. To make the voltage applicable in the reverse direction also, the intermediate point of the power supply 105 should be connected to the reference potential level as indicated by the solid line 106 in FIG. 19. Then, the voltage that can be applied to each of the elements (i.e., the coils) is from −2.5 V to +2.5 V.
In this manner, if the three coils are driven by the lens driver with one terminal of each coil connected to the common terminal, then the maximum instantaneous voltage that can be applied to each of those coils decreases to one half. As a result, the thrust on the lens being driven by the coils decreases. For example, if a disk having a track eccentricity greater than its regular value is loaded into such a disk drive, then the thrust on the lens being driven will be short of its required level in the tracking direction. Also, if a disk having a fluttering value greater than its regular value is loaded into such a disk drive, then the thrust on the lens being driven will be short of its required level in the focus direction. In these situations, the disk drive cannot read information from such a disk correctly particularly when the information should be read from the disk at a speed several times as high as the normal one.

Apparatus and method for driving circuit elements based on groups of instruction values

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method for producing a rotor of a turbine, particularly a steam turbine, from individual rotor parts being welded together to make a unit, includes assembling parts of a rotor required for a given turbine in a modular system having supply steam shaft ends, single rotor disks, double rotor disks, exhaust steam shaft ends and optionally condensation-end-stage drums, for producing various rotor variants. The parts of the rotor are produced at parallel times according to orders and/or taken from stock. Still required remachining of the assembled rotor during production of the parts, especially machining grooves in final form for receiving rotor blade roots in the remachining step, is minimized. The parts are joined together with low warping with a beam of high power density, preferably an electron beam. Required rotor blades are selected and the rotor disks are equipped with the blades before or after the parts are joined together. The rotor put together from the individual parts is machined in final form. The rotor includes individual rotor parts having associated rotor disks being largely machined in final form and completed grooves for rotor blade roots of a modular system standardizing parts of the rotor and enabling a suitable selection of various thermodynamic and rotor-dynamic requirements. The rotor parts are welded with high power density beam or electron beam weld seams disposed at a greatest possible spacing from a center axis of the rotor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a rotor for a turbine, particularly a steam turbine, including individual rotor parts being welded together to make a unit, and to a method for producing the turbine rotor.
The rotor of a turbine used to generate electrical power, such as a steam turbine, is subjected to severe strains. In order to withstand them and to nevertheless achieve long service times on one hand while keeping production costs within acceptable limits on the other hand, many possible constructions have been conceived of, all of which have certain advantages but naturally also have disadvantages.
An especially sound but also complicated and expensive production method is to forge a one-piece rotor from a solid block. The procurement of material required for production cannot be done until an order has been received and often involves a long delivery time, which is not in the least due to the fact that the number of available shippers is limited. Moreover, prefabrication independently of orders and parallel machining of individual parts are not possible, resulting in long production times. The use of rotor disk blades also presents difficulties, when it involves axially insertable blade roots, since machining the grooves requires a greater axial spacing between the rotor disks, to enable working with suitable tools. However, wide spacings between the rotor disks worsen the rotor dynamics.
Another construction makes it possible to produce suitable rotors with separate, shrink-fitted-on rotor disks. However, in the shrinking process, additional strains arise in the rotor, and moreover there is the danger of corrosion from friction at the joints. It is also known to screw together disks that mesh with one another through a tie rod, but that is not unproblematical either, since over the long term loosening of the screwed connection must be expected.
Some of those disadvantages can be averted by forming individual rotor segments and then welding them together to a unit that forms the rotor. Such rotors are known, for instance, from the BBC Corporate Publication entitled "Geschwei.beta.te Rotoren fur Dampfturbinen" [Welded Rotors for Steam Turbines], Publication No. CH-T 060 072 D, and from German Published, Non-Prosecuted Applications DE 22 35 961 Al and DE 25 22 277 Al. However, the disadvantages of rotors of that type are that conventional welding techniques are employed and that since the individual segments are merely premachined parts, extensive post-machining is required.
That means that the rotor must be machined in final form in the form of a large, heavy single piece, as in the case of a rotor forged from the solid block. The segmentation and further provisions are intended to make the rotor lighter.


This invention is to appropriately separate a bonded substrate stack regardless of some distortion in the bonded substrate stack or the like. This separating apparatus includes a first nozzle which forms a jet with a large width and a second nozzle which forms a jet with a small width. When the outer portion of a bonded substrate stack is to be separated, a jet formed by the first nozzle is used. After that, when a portion inside the outer portion is to be separated, a jet formed by the second nozzle is used.

A substrate (SOI substrate) having an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure is known as a substrate having a single-crystal Si layer on an insulating layer. A device using this SOI substrate has many advantages that cannot be achieved by ordinary Si substrates. Examples of the advantages are as follows:                (1) The integration degree can be increased because dielectric isolation is easy.        (2) The radiation resistance can be increased.        (3) The operating speed of the device can be increased because the stray capacitance is small.        (4) No well step is necessary.        (5) Latch-up can be prevented.        (6) A fully depleted field effect transistor can be formed by thin film formation.
Since an SOI structure has the above various advantages, researches have been made on its formation method for several decades.
As a method, an SOI structure is formed by bonding a single-crystal Si substrate to another thermally oxidized single-crystal Si substrate by annealing or an adhesive. In this method, an active layer for forming a device must be uniformly thin. More specifically, a single-crystal Si substrate having a thickness of several hundred micron must be thinned down to the micron order or less.
To thin the substrate, polishing or selective etching can be used.
A single-crystal Si substrate can hardly be uniformly thinned by polishing. Especially, in thinning to the submicron order, the variation range is several ten %. As the wafer size becomes large, this difficulty becomes more pronounced.
The present applicant has disclosed a new SOI technique in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-21338. In this technique, a first substrate obtained by forming a porous layer on a single-crystal Si substrate and a non-porous single-crystal layer on its surface is bonded to a second substrate via an insulating layer. After this, the bonded substrate stack is separated into two substrates at the porous layer, thereby transferring the non-porous single-crystal layer to the second substrate. This technique is advantageous because the film thickness uniformity of the SOI layer is good, the crystal defect density in the SOI layer can be decreased, the surface planarity of the SOI layer is good, no expensive manufacturing apparatus with special specifications is required, and SOI substrates having about several hundred-Å to 10-μm thick SOI films can be manufactured by a single manufacturing apparatus.
To separate the bonded first and second substrates into two substrates without breaking the first and second substrates, the following methods are available: the two substrates are pulled in opposite directions while applying a force in a direction perpendicular to the bonding interface; a shearing force is applied parallel to the bonding interface (for example, the two substrates are moved in opposite directions in a plane parallel to the bonding interface, or the two substrates are rotated in opposite directions while applying a force in the circumferential direction); pressure is applied in a direction perpendicular to the bonding interface; a wave energy such as an ultrasonic wave is applied to the separation region; a peeling member (e.g., a sharp blade such as a knife) is inserted into the separation region parallel to the bonding interface from the side surface side of the bonded substrate stack; the expansion energy of a substance filling the pores of the porous layer functioning as the separation region is used; the porous layer functioning as the separation region is thermally oxidized from the side surface of the bonded substrate stack to expand the volume of the porous layer and separate the substrates; and the porous layer functioning as the separation region is selectively etched from the side surface of the bonded substrate stack to separate the substrates.
As a method of separating a bonded substrate stack, the present applicant disclosed an epoch-making technique in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45840 (Japanese Patent No. 2,877,800). In the separating method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45840, a bonded substrate stack having a porous layer or ion implantation layer serving as a separation layer is separated into two substrates by injecting a fluid into the side surface of the bonded substrate.
More specifically, in the separating method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-45840, the bonded substrate stack is held by a pair of holders (substrate holding portions) having a smaller size than that of the bonded substrate stack. A fluid is injected into the side surface of the bonded substrate stack while rotating it, thereby separating the bonded substrate stack into two substrates at the porous layer.
In holding the bonded substrate stack by the pair of holders, which have a size smaller than that of the bonded substrate stack, distortion may occur at the outer portion due to its own weight or the like, or the bonded substrate stack may be held with some distortion which has occurred in the manufacturing process remaining without being corrected. Assume that distortion exists in the bonded substrate stack held by holders. In this case, when a fluid is to be injected throughout the perimeter of the bonded substrate stack while rotating it, the fluid may be injected to a position deviated from an appropriate position (e.g., a bonding interface or separation layer).
For the sake of easy understanding, an extreme case will be described. For example, if the bonded substrate stack is largely distorted, a fluid injected from a nozzle, the position of which has been adjusted on the assumption that the bonded substrate stack is not distorted, is not injected to the separation layer or bonding interface of the bonded substrate stack. When this occurs, separation processing may not progress at all. This will be described with reference to FIG. 10.
FIG. 10 shows a state wherein a bonded substrate stack 50 which is largely distorted is separated into two substrates at a separation layer 12. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the position of the actual separation layer 12 largely deviates from that of a separation layer without any distortion (the ideal position of the separation layer). In this case, the position of a nozzle 120 is adjusted on the assumption that the separation layer 12 is arranged at the ideal position. When separation is performed in this state, a fluid from the nozzle 120 is not injected into the separation layer 12, thereby preventing smooth separation. If large distortion exists at the perimeter of the bonded substrate stack 50, separation does not progress speedily. This may result in unsatisfactory separation.
The probability of the above-described unsatisfactory separation would increasingly become higher due to increase in size of a bonded substrate stack along with increase in size of a required SOI substrate.
In addition, in holding a bonded substrate stack by holders, some foreign substance may enter between the bonded substrate stack and holders. In this case as well, a fluid from a nozzle may be injected into a position deviated from the separation layer or bonding interface of the bonded substrate stack.

Method and apparatus for separating member