A mechanically activated bypass valve apparatus for allowing fluid being pumped through the pipe or coiled tubing string to be bypassed around a tool string and into the wellbore. Activation of the bypass valve is accomplished by applying weight-on-bit to the apparatus to shear a set of shear screws, allowing the mandrel to move axially relative to the tubular housing. Lowering the pipe string and setting down weigh on bit misaligns fluid bypass ports in the mandrel and housing, thus forcing fluid to continue to flow through the bore of the tool and to the toolstring below the bypass tool. Picking up on the pipe string aligns corresponding ports in the mandrel and housing and allows fluid to flow from the bore of the tool to the wellbore annulus, thus bypassing other tools downhole of the apparatus.

During the drilling, work over, or plug and abandonment of oil and gas producing wellbores, a variety of down hole tools may be attached to a pipe or coiled tubing string and utilized to perform various functions within the wellbore. Circumstances arise making it desirable to bypass flow around the downhole tool string within the wellbore. The toolstring is often referred to as a bottom hole assembly (BHA). These may consist of a variety of tools. Most frequently it will contain a downhole mud motor. These mud motors have a maximum flow rate rating which must not be exceeded otherwise damage to the mud motor will occur. Thus, if a flow rate is required by an operator which is in excess of the mud motor rating, a portion of the fluid being circulated must be bypassed or diverted to the wellbore. Other circumstances can include lost circulation where lost circulation material (LCM) must be pumped, well control issues, and others of the like which require the flow of fluid within the pipestring to be bypassed around the toolstring or BHA.
In many wells being drilled today, hydraulic fracturing is being utilized to maximize the output of the wells. Hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, requires multiple stages to be perforated and fractured with a composite bridge plug set between each stage. These composite bridge plugs must be subsequently drilled out using a mud motor and drill bit. These mud motors have flow rate limitations which are oftentimes not high enough to properly clean the drilled debris (bridge plug parts) out of the wellbore. Thus a bypass valve apparatus must be utilized above the mud motor to divert a portion of the fluid being circulated directly into the wellbore and therefore avoiding exceeding the mud motor's flow rating.
There are currently two common types of bypass valves on the market. The first is known as a dual circulation sub (DCS) and can only be activated once with no means to deactivate. The DCS contains a piston which blocks fluid exit ports and is held in place via shear screws. A steel ball must be pumped from surface which lands and seals upon the piston. Pressure is then applied until the shear screws fail and the piston shifts downward, revealing the fluid exit ports. At this point, all fluid being circulated is directed into the wellbore. There is no means to reclose the fluid exit ports.
A second bypass valve device, (known as a PBL® Multiple Activation Bypass System), employs a deformable ball to activate the bypass valve, allowing fluid to travel into the wellbore and around the tool string. A second, metal ball(s) is employed to close the bypass valve off and allow circulation to continue through the tool string. This device allows the operator to perform this function several times while the device is in the wellbore. There are two main disadvantages to this process. The first is that the balls that are pumped down are captured in a "basket", thus preventing further balls to be circulated to devices below this bypass device. This is very important as many downhole tools require ball activation. If two ball activated devices are run simultaneously, the uppermost device must utilize a larger ball for activation than the lower device. In this case, the PBL® disallows balls to continue through it once the first ball has been captured. The second disadvantage is that pumping a ball through a pipe or coiled tubing string is a very time consuming, and thus costly process, especially through a coiled tubing string where the ball must travel through the entire spool of coiled tubing before it even reaches the vertical column within the wellbore, and eventually land in the intended device.
Consequently, there is a need for a mechanically activated bypass valve apparatus which does not utilize any balls to either activate or deactivate and also has the ability for balls to be circulated through this device to activate other tools run lower in the toolstring.

Mechanically activated bypass valve apparatus and method


One embodiment of the present invention includes a microcontroller that enables its on-chip microprocessor to write data into a register of an on-chip programmable analog circuit even though the two circuits may be operating at different frequencies. Specifically, the microcontroller includes a write synchronization circuit that helps facilitate the write operation between these two circuits. For example, the write synchronization circuit is coupled to receive write cycle signals from the microprocessor and is also coupled to receive trigger signals based on a clocking signal received by the programmable analog circuit. Therefore, upon receiving a write cycle signal, the write synchronization circuit has the ability (if needed) to stall the microprocessor's operations until the optimum time for writing data into the register for controlling the programmable analog circuit. As such, the write synchronization circuit dynamically synchronizes the microprocessor's write operation with the programmable analog circuit's optimum timing condition for receiving data.

Modern research and technology have provided society with a wide variety of different devices. It is appreciated that some of these modern devices are very powerful and useful to their users. For example, some of the modern devices that fall into this category include: computers which occupy large office space down to computers which are held in one's hand, satellites which orbit around earth relaying a multitude of communication signals, global positioning system (GPS) devices capable of determining the specific locations of their users on the earth, microwave ovens capable of quickly cooking food, cellular phones which enable their users to communicate wirelessly with other people, to name a few. Additionally, it should be appreciated that some modern devices also provide entertainment to their users. For instance, some of the modern devices which fall into this category include: portable and fixed televisions which provide a wide variety of visual and audio programming to their users, video cassette recorders (VCRs) which enable their users to record television shows for later viewing and also enable them to watch (for example) prerecorded movies on a television set, portable and fixed radio receivers which provide their users music along with a wide array of different audio programming, video game consoles which challenge their users with varying situations within different virtual realities, and portable and fixed compact disc (CD) players which provide music to their users.
One of the enabling components of several of the above mentioned modern devices is a microcontroller or MCU. Specifically, the microcontroller is typically defined as a single chip (integrated circuit) that includes a processor, volatile memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), non-volatile memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), clocking source, and an input/output control unit. As such, the microcontroller is a computer on a chip. It should be appreciated that microcontrollers have been utilized in various applications for many years. Primarily, microcontrollers are used in control-oriented applications that are interrupt-driven, sensing and controlling external events. Microcontrollers are frequently found in a wide variety of devices and applications.
For example, microcontrollers may be found in appliances such as microwave ovens, refrigerators, televisions, VCRs, and stereos. Furthermore, microcontrollers may also be found within computer equipment such as laser printers, modems, and disk drives. Additionally, microcontrollers may be found within automobiles (e.g., engine control, diagnostics, climate control), environmental control devices (e.g., greenhouse, factory, home), aerospace, and thousands of other uses.
It should be understood that microcontrollers may be fabricated to provide particular functionality. As such, there are many different microcontrollers for many different functions. However, there is also an advanced microcontroller which includes one or more digital and/or analog programmable blocks which enable the microcontroller to be specifically programmed to perform different functions. As such, an advanced microcontroller with programmable blocks is typically able to be utilized for a wider variety of different applications than a microcontroller having a fixed functionality.
There are different ways to implement programmable blocks within a microcontroller. For example, the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) has become very popular in recent years, even being utilized in several microcontroller applications. One reason for its popularity is the shortage in design cycle time that may be achieved by using programmable devices. Furthermore, FPGAs can be programmed to realize different digital functions. In particular, many FPGAs have programmable look-up tables to realize different digital functions. Usually, a FPGA contains from a few to tens of thousands of programmable logic blocks and an even greater number of flip-flops, each programmable logic block having a look-up table, multiplexers, and flip-flops. Therefore, by using programmable blocks within a microcontroller, the microcontroller may be programmed so that it can be utilized for a wide variety of different applications.
However, there are disadvantageous associated with microcontrollers that include one or more programmable analog blocks. It should be understood that a programmable analog block may be a block that contains analog circuits (e.g., switch-capacitor circuitry) and registers or latches that control the analog circuits. One disadvantage is that a microprocessor and a programmable analog block typically operate at different frequencies. As such, if data is written from the microprocessor to the programmable analog block at an inopportune time, the analog output may be corrupted. In order to ensure a proper write operation from the microprocessor to the programmable analog block, the write operation has to be properly timed to allow the analog signals in the programmable analog block to fully settle. If control data is received and stored before the analog signals have settled, the analog output from the programmable analog block may be corrupted thereby rendering it useless for most practical purposes.
One typical solution for this write operation timing problem is to utilize a dual port memory device (e.g., FIFO) wherein the microprocessor is able to write data to one of its ports at one frequency while one or more registers of the analog programmable block are able to read data from the other port at a different frequency. However, there are disadvantages associated with this dual port memory solution. For example, a dual port memory consumes too much chip space and it involves complex circuitry.

Method and circuit for synchronizing a write operation between an on-chip microprocessor and an on-chip programmable analog device operating at different frequencies


The object of the invention is to inhibit the axial displacement caused by the insufficiency of a control response angular frequency of a frequency arithmetic unit of a synchronous motor and realize high-precision torque control also in acceleration/deceleration. To achieve the object, the axial displacement of the synchronous motor caused by the insufficiency of the control response angular frequency of the frequency arithmetic unit is estimated in consideration of the control response angular frequency and input Δθc3 (=Δθc1+Δθc2) including an estimated value Δθc2 in addition to an axial displacement operated value Δθc1 to the frequency arithmetic unit is acquired. Hereby, even if the frequency arithmetic unit has an insufficient control response angular frequency, the quantity of axial displacement which will be caused by the insufficiency is estimated as a second axial displacement signal Δθc2, is added and input. Therefore, actual axial displacement Δθc1 of the synchronous motor is stable at a value substantially close to zero.

For the control technique of a conventional type permanent-magnet type synchronous motor provided with a polar position sensor, there is a control device disclosed in a patent document 1. The control device utilizes positional information from the polar position sensor for a limiting value of a rotational phase directed value and prevents the loss of synchronism by the rapid change of a load and others.
Besides, in a patent document 2, for a control device without a position sensor of a synchronous motor, technique for calculating axial displacement based upon a current sensed value and a voltage directed value to a power converter and adjusting an output frequency of the converter based upon the axial displacement is disclosed.
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A 324881/2000 (Abstract, Paragraph 0011 and others)
[Patent Document 2]
JP-A 251889/2001 (Claim 9, Paragraph 0105 and others)
In the prior art of the patent document 1, the axial displacement is operated, however, in a torque control system, the axial displacement is used only for the limiting value of the rotational phase directed value acquired by integrating a frequency directed value given from a host and high-precision torque control cannot be expected.
Besides, in the prior art of the patent document 2, in case it is difficult to give sufficient high-speed responsibility to a frequency arithmetic unit for operating a frequency based upon axial displacement, torque control precision particularly in acceleration/deceleration is not enough.

Control method and control device of permanent-magnet type synchronous motor

Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.


An intermediate for a mailer type business form, and a mailer type business form, are constructed by the simple V-folding of a single sheet of paper, yet provide a return envelope. The return envelope is constructed from pressure sensitive adhesive strips covered with release liner strips and a rewettable glue strip provided on one of the panels of the V-folded sheet, while the panel has printing on its entire inner face. The outgoing address is printed on the second panel near one of the pressure sensitive adhesive strips, and is viewed from the exterior of the mailer through a cutout (with transparent patch) formed in the first panel.

It is desirable to construct mailer type business forms so that they are as simple as possible, provide a return envelope, yet are able to convey as much information as possible to the recipient. These often conflicting requirements are provided according to the present invention by making a reusable mailer out of a single sheet of paper (e.g. a 91/2.times.12 inch sheet) which may be simply V-folded so that substantially the entire inner face of the mailer may be printed with useful information. Despite the simplicity, however, the mailer may be constructed into a return envelope by using dormant strips of adhesive formed on one of the panels of the mailer on the interior surface thereof, which dormant adhesive is activated to form a return envelope. Typically the outgoing address is printed on what becomes the inner portion of the return envelope so that the ultimate recipient of the return envelope will know who it is from. Also, a cutout (typically covered by a transparent patch) is provided in the first panel over the outgoing address so that the outgoing address is visible from the exterior of the mailer.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an intermediate for a mailer type business form is provided which comprises the following elements: A sheet of paper having a rectangular configuration with first and second end, parallel edges; and third and fourth side, parallel edges; and having a first face and a second face. A first fold line parallel to the first and second edges, dividing the sheet into first and second panels of substantially equal dimension, the first panel between the first edge and the first fold line, and the second panel between the second edge and the first fold line. Outgoing address indicia printed on the first face of the second panel adjacent, but spaced from, the second edge. Means defining a cutout in the first panel adjacent, but spaced from, the first edge, the cutout being dimensioned and positioned so that when the first panel is folded about the first fold line to bring the first faces of the first and second panels together, the cutout overlies the outgoing address so that the outgoing address is visible from the exterior of the first panel. Permanent adhesive means disposed on the first face of the sheet adjacent at least the third and fourth edges thereof. And, patterns of dormant adhesive formed on the second panel first face for use in constructing a return envelope from the second panel when detached from the first panel along the first fold line.
Typically a second fold line is disposed perpendicular to the first fold line and extending from the first fold line toward the second edge, in the second panel, and located in a central portion of the second panel.
Also, first and second lines of weakness are typically formed in the sheet parallel to and adjacent the third and fourth edges, the permanent adhesive means including patterns of adhesive disposed between the third edge and the first line of weakness, and the fourth edge and the second line of weakness, respectively. The permanent adhesive means may also comprise an additional pattern of adhesive disposed on the first face adjacent and parallel to one or both of the second and first edges, and third and fourth lines of weakness formed in the sheet parallel to and adjacent the first and second edges, the additional pattern of adhesive disposed between one or both of the first and second edges and the third and fourth lines of weakness.
The patterns of dormant adhesive may comprise a first pattern of dormant adhesive on a first side of the second fold line, parallel to it and adjacent, but spaced from, the first edge on the first face of the second panel. The second and third panels of dormant adhesive may include a second pattern disposed adjacent and parallel to the first fold line on a second side of the second fold line, opposite the first side, and the third pattern is disposed adjacent the second edge, between the second edge and the outgoing address indicia, and parallel to the second edge and on the second side of the first face of the second panel. The first pattern of dormant adhesive may comprise a rewettable strip of adhesive, while the second and third patterns of dormant adhesive comprise strips of pressure sensitive adhesive covered by release liner strips.
Information may be printed on substantially the entire first face of the first panel except at the cutout, and even on the entire first face of the second panel except where the stripe of adhesive are located. The cutout is typically covered by a transparent patch. Reply address indicia may be printed on the second face of the second panel, extending in a dimension perpendicular to the dimension that the outgoing address extends in.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an intermediate for a mailer type business form is provided comprising the following elements: A sheet of paper having a rectangular configuration with first and second end, parallel edges; and third and fourth side, parallel edges; and having a first face and a second face. A first fold line parallel to the first and second edges, dividing the sheet into first and second panels of substantially equal dimension, the first panel between the first edge and the first fold line, and the second panel between the second edge and the first fold line. Permanent adhesive means disposed on the first face of the sheet adjacent at least the third and fourth edges thereof. And, patterns of dormant adhesive formed on the second panel first face for use in constructing a return envelope from the second panel when detached from the first panel along the first fold line. A second fold line disposed perpendicular to the first fold line and extending from the first fold line toward the second edge in the second panel, and located in a central portion of the second panel. First and second lines of weakness formed in the sheet parallel to and adjacent the third and fourth edges, the permanent adhesive means including patterns of adhesive disposed between the third edge and the first line of weakness, and the fourth edge and the second line of weakness, respectively. And, wherein the patterns of dormant adhesive comprise a first pattern of dormant adhesive on a first side of the second fold line, parallel thereto, and adjacent, but spaced from, the first edge, on the first face of the second panel; and second and third patterns of dormant adhesive, the second pattern disposed adjacent and parallel to the first fold line and on a second side of the second fold line opposite the first side; and the third pattern disposed adjacent the second edge, between the second edge and the outgoing address indicia, and parallel to the second edge and on the second side of the first face of the second panel.
The invention also contemplates a mailer type business form which comprises the following elements: First and second end, parallel edges. Third and fourth side, parallel, edges. First and second panels formed from a V-folded single sheet of paper, having inner faces and outer faces. Outgoing address indicia printed on the inner face of the second panel adjacent the second end. Means defining a cutout in the first panel overlying the outgoing address indicia so that the outgoing address indicia is visible through the cutout from the exterior of the first panel. Permanent adhesive means disposed along the side edges for holding the panels together. And, first, second, and third patterns of dormant adhesive disposed on the second panel first face, the first pattern parallel to and adjacent, but spaced from, the third edge; the second pattern disposed adjacent and parallel to the first end of the mailer; and the third pattern disposed between the second edge and the outgoing address, and parallel to the second edge.
Finally, the invention also contemplates a return envelope constructed from a reusable mailer. The return envelope comprises: A single sheet of paper having first and second parallel end edges, and third and fourth parallel side edges, and a fold line parallel to the end edges and defining the sheet into first and second panels, the dimension of the first panel between the fold line and first edge being substantially less than the dimension of the second panel between the fold line and the second edge to define a return envelope flap in the second panel, and each panel having first and second faces. Reply address indicia printed on the second face of one of the panels. Outgoing address indicia printed on the first face of one of the panels, remote from the flap. A first pattern of dormant adhesive disposed on the first face of the second panel, on the flap, adjacent the second end of the sheet of paper. And, means for holding the first faces of the first and second panels together to define a return envelope.
In the return envelope, the means for holding the first faces of the first and second panels together comprise second and third patterns of dormant adhesive disposed along one or both of the first faces of the first and second panels adjacent the side edges of the envelope. The first strip of dormant adhesive is preferably a rewettable adhesive strip, while the second and third patterns of dormant adhesive comprise strips of pressure sensitive adhesive covered by release liner strips. The outgoing address is printed on the first panel adjacent the third strip of dormant adhesive, and the reply address is printed on the second face of the second panel.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple, versatile, and effective intermediate for a mailer type business form, a mailer constructed from the intermediate, and a return envelope constructed from the reusable mailer. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.


Shaped articles of superconducting YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 are made by a sol-gel process from a sol that is a mixture of an aqueous solution of barium hydroxide, a compatible aqueous solution of copper carboxylate, and at least one of a compatible aqueous solution of yttrium carboxylate and an aqueous suspension of colloidal oxide of yttrium. The sol has a Y:Ba:Cu molar ratio of approximately 1:2:3. After adjusting the concentration of the sol, it is formed into a shaped article which is dried and then fired to convert it into orthorhombic superconducting YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns superconductive ceramic and particularly concerns superconductive ceramic having the formula YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 that can be produced as a shaped article such as a continuous fiber or a thin film by a sol-gel process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beginning in 1986, there were reports of a new class of ceramic oxide materials which exhibit superconductivity at unprecedentedly high temperatures. Among these is orthorhombic YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.x (where x is typically between 6.5 and 7.2) which is often called "YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 " or "123 superconductive ceramic" by virtue of its metallic molar ratios. It is the first material known to exhibit superconductivity above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen (77.degree. K. or -196.degree. C.). The historical development of these ceramic oxide materials is described in Clarke, "The Development of High-Tc Ceramic Superconductors: An Introduction," Advanced Ceramic Materials; , Vol. 2, No. 3B, pp 273-292, (1987).
Other articles in that same special issue of Advanced Ceramic Materials describe preliminary studies of the crystallography, physical properties, processing, and theory of these new ceramic oxide materials. Most of these studies report fabrication of bulk ceramic samples by conventional ceramic processing methods. For example, Johnson et al. (pp 364-371) describe mixing, milling, calcining (900.degree. C.), and regrinding of oxide and carbonate powders to yield YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 powder that was formed into bulk ceramic samples which were then sintered at 950.degree.-990.degree. C. for 3-8 hours. A few of the studies report liquid chemical methods for preparing these new ceramic oxide materials.
For example, Dunn et al. (pp 343-352) synthesize YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 powder by the amorphous citrate process, a well known technique for synthesizing perovskite compounds. After dissolving nitrate salts of Y, Ba and Cu, citric acid was added and water was evaporated from the solution until it became a viscous liquid which was further dehydrated to form an amorphous solid precursor that was then fired to form the desired compound. The large volume of fugitive combustion products formed during pyrolysis would convert the dried precursor into a powder during the firing.
Johnson et al. (pp 337-342) form YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 powder by freeze-drying aqueous solutions of Y, Ba and Cu nitrates.
Cima et al. (pp 329-336) are primarily concerned with improving the microstructure of YBa.sub.2 CuO.sub.7 and report high density samples made from powders produced by solid state reaction. However, at page 332, they state that they "have synthesized Y.sub.1.2 Ba.sub.0.8 u(OH).sub.x by preparing an emulsion of an aqueous solution of Y, Ba, and Cu salts in heptane and coprecipitating the hydroxides in the emulsion droplets (microreactors) by bubbling ammonia through the emulsion."
Dagani, C&E News, May 11, 1987, pages 7-16, also reports studies of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 and says (pp 13-14):
"Because these ceramics tend to be brittle and fragile, they cannot be drawn out to form wires as copper and other ductile metals can. . . (W)ires are made by filling hollow metal wire (such as silver) with Y-Ba-Cu-O powder and drawing out the wire to the desired diameter . . . At 77 K, they measure a current density of about 175 amp per sq cm. Jin (of Bell Labs) admits this is `rather low,` but he says it's consistent with typical bulk superconductors. PA0 "Another approach is to mix the ceramic powder or its ingredients with an organic binder and then extrude a thin `noodle` of the plastic material through a die. At that stage, the extruded wire can easily be bent or deformed. But it must be fired to burn off the binder and sinter the powders into a current-carrying filament." PA0 Clarke (pp 280) says concerning YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 : "The first films to exhibit complete superconductivity above liquid nitrogen were prepared by electron beam evaporation through a partial pressure of oxygen onto sapphire and MgO substrates maintained at typically 450.degree. C. . . . More recently a number of groups have been successful in producing thin films by d.c. magnetron sputtering . . . and also by ion beam sputtering."
At the same page, Clarke discusses fibers, including attempts to pull fibers from a gel and then fire them to convert the gel to superconducting form.
Clarke says (p 277) "that any rare earth element (other than La) could be used to substitute, wholly or in part, for the yttrium without markedly altering the superconducting transition temperature". Dagani says (p 12) researchers have found that "when yttrium is replaced by samarium, europium, gadolinium, dysprosium, holmium, or ytterbium, the ceramic still becomes superconducting around 90 K."

Shaped and fired articles of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7


A precompression pump for the spraying of a liquid includes a pumping chamber (2) containing a first piston (7) associated with a manipulating element (6), this piston bearing against a first spring (9). A precompression chamber (5) is provided with a second piston (10) bearing against a second spring (11), the precompression chamber communicating with the pumping chamber, their axes of symmetry being offset. A feeder duct (4) is provided with a valve (4a, 15) leading into the pumping chamber. A dispensing element (17) is provided with a nozzle (20) and with a dispensing duct (18) connecting the nozzle and the precompression chamber. The connection between the nozzle and the precompression chamber is interrupted in the rest position of the pump and is established under the action of the manipulating element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a precompression pump for the spraying under pressure of a liquid, and in particular, of a cosmetic product such as a hair lacquer. The invention aims, in particular, to provide a pump of this kind that is operable by hand and of a small size, so that it can be accommodated in the cover cap of a dispenser for liquids.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that the precompression of a liquid contained in the body of a pump can ensure a good spraying quality irrespective of the mode of actuating the pump, and one therefore tries to obtain adequate precompression. Moreover, to maximize precompression efficiency, it is necessary that the loss of pressure during the flow of the liquid from the pumping chamber to the spraying nozzle should be as low as possible.
From Applicant's EP-A 0 437 131 there is known a manual precompression pump comprising, inter alia, a chamber for pumping the liquid that is in communication with a precompression chamber, a spraying nozzle connected by a dispensing duct to the precompression chamber, and a feeder duct provided with a non-return valve leading into the pumping chamber.
The precompression pump of the kind described in the EP-A 0 437 131 has low spraying accuracy because the actuation of this pump is effected by pressing on a push button which includes the spraying nozzle. As a result, it is difficult to target the spot where the spray is to be applied.
Moreover, because of its design, this known pump is difficult to assemble. Indeed, since all the parts making up this pump are aligned on the same axis of symmetry, its size in the axial direction is relatively large, which prohibits its use in many applications using a cover cap.
FR-A-2 634 825 discloses a precompression pump for the pressurized spraying of a liquid. There, a cylindrical body defines a cylindrical pumping chamber. A first piston, or actuating piston, associated with a manipulating element is accommodated in the pumping chamber, this piston bearing against a first resilient restoring means disposed in this chamber. A cylindrical precompression chamber communicating with the pumping chamber is provided with a second piston, or precompression piston, bearing against a second resilient restoring means. A feeder duct is provided with a non-return valve leading into the pumping chamber. A dispensing element is provided with a spraying nozzle and a dispensing duct connects the nozzle to the precompression chamber. The precompression chamber has a sliding means for providing the connection and closure of the dispensing duct, so that the connection is interrupted in the rest position of the pump. This connection is established at the end of the precompression under the action of the manipulating element. The sliding means for providing the connection and closure then frees a passageway between the precompression chamber and the dispensing duct.
This pump has the drawback of requiring a large number of components. Moreover, it is difficult to assemble in an industrial environment. The cost of such a pump is therefore relatively high. Moreover, the connection between the pumping chamber and the precompression chamber is constituted by a relatively long duct having several angles. Because of this, a loss of pressure occurs in the liquid during its dispensing, resulting in a spray of poor quality. Furthermore, the need for a one-way valve in this duct increases the pressure loss still further, thus requiring a considerable force on the user's part for actuating this pump. Finally, this pump has a large bulk, so that its use cannot be envisaged for all the requirements, in particular for the dispensing of liquids contained in containers with a small capacity.

Manual precompression pump for the spraying of a liquid and a dispensing unit fitted with such a pump


The air emission device for growing plants includes a plurality of air emission units for respectively emitting an air flow onto the new leaves growing on a tip of a stem of each plant that has one stem. The transpiration effect on the leaves and suctioning of water and nutrition from the roots of the plants can be promoted. Thus, wilting of leaves can be prevented and the tip burn due to insufficient calcium can be avoided. Provision of the air emission units are effectively arranged to evenly or uniformly supply air onto the new leaves of the each plant.

As a plant cultivating factory equipment, it has been hitherto known that the air-conditioner and the artificial lighting device are used to adjust the cultivating environment for growing plants in the plant cultivating factory.
As an example of known technology, according to Patent Literature 1, the air whose temperature, humidity and concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been adjusted, is supplied from the air suction port provided at the side wall of a cultivating chamber, and thus supplied air is circulated at a predetermined wind speed through the space between neighboring panels formed in chevron shape in cross section by a blast fan provided at the side wall, the plants being cultivated on the panels. By this air circulation, transpiration is promoted and suction of water and nutrients from the roots can be promoted to prevent tip burn (tip rotting) and withering or wilting of leaves caused by shortage of calcium. The photonic synthesis can be promoted by adjusting the concentration of the carbon dioxide to thereby promote growth of plants.


An apparatus for aspirating and analyzing blood, urine or other specimens, in which an operating and display unit is built in the front cover. The operating and display unit is furnished with operation keys and a display screen is rotatably pivoted, at its one end, on the front cover by a the shaft. In this construction, in an automatic analyzer of blood, urine or the like having the operating and display unit built in the front cover, even with the front cover opened, the operation keys may be manipulated and the display screen may be observed easily.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for aspirating and analyzing a specimen, such as blood, urine or the like, and more particularly to an analyzer having an opening cover which is enhanced in its controllability and ease of reading of a display screen. The apparatus includes an analyzer having an operating unit or a display unit attached to the opening cover.
In an apparatus for aspirating and analyzing specimens such as blood, a structure provided with an opening cover has been hitherto known. FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away side view of such a conventional apparatus. Numeral 10 denotes the main body of an automatic analyzer, and 12 is a front cover. The front cover 12 can be opened and closed in the direction of arrow A. The double dot chain line indicates the opened state of the front cover 12. Usually, the apparatus is used in the state where the front cover 12 is lowered, that is, with the front cover 12 in the closed states. Numeral 26 denotes an opening in the front cover 12.
When adjusting the sensitivity, or in the event of maintenance or the like, the front cover 12 is opened, and the work is done, that is, the units built in the main body of the apparatus are adjusted, and the control knobs (volume control knob etc.) of the printed board (electric circuit) as regulated.
Numeral 20 denotes an operating and display unit for displaying measured results and for setting various conditions. The unit 20 is provided inside of the front cover 12, and is designed so that operation keys 24 can be touched, and a display screen 22 read (observed) from outside.
In such an adjustment procedure or the like, while actually measuring, it is sometimes necessary to perform an operation by observing a measured result shown on the display screen 22. Furthermore, on the basis of the display result, the data must be entered from the operation keys 24.
In the conventional apparatus, with the front cover 12 opened, it was not possible to enter the data through the operation keys 24 or read (observe) the display screen 22 from the front side. Accordingly, on every occasion where adjustment or maintenance was required, the front cover had to be opened and closed, which was very troublesome.

Analyzer having cover with an operating and display unit


A system and method of browsing electronic catalogs from a plurality of merchants. The electronic catalog system emulates the portability and usability of a traditional paper and ink catalog, especially when realized on a tablet or mobile device. Product data feeds from multiple merchants are collected and processed to build a product database. A server retrieves product data and serves it to users browsing the electronic catalogs. Users can request more detailed information and order products through the server and merchant websites. Users communicate with the server and merchant websites either through a standalone software application or via a standard web browser. Merchants are able to update the contents of their electronic catalogs through a merchant portal.

Traditionally, catalogs have taken the form of printed paper bound and distributed to customers. Even in the age of the Internet, printed catalogs abound where although the merchant publishing the catalog may have an extensive e-commerce website where they offer their products for sale over the internet, the catalog they publish and distribute is paper based.
In addition, since publishing a catalog using traditional methods involving ink and paper can be very costly, smaller merchants may choose to not publish a catalog altogether. An electronic catalog is typically much cheaper to produce, thus opening up additional marketing opportunities to smaller companies that may not have published a catalog otherwise.
There is thus a need for an improved electronic catalog system that emulates the traditional experience of browsing paper and ink based catalogs. In particular, a need exists for a system that enables a user to easily and quickly browse, view and order products from multiple merchant catalogs on a mobile device or web browser. In addition, the system should enable merchants to provide their own product feed and update their electronic catalogs on a periodic basis.

System and method for automatically distributing and controlling electronic catalog content from remote merchant computers to a catalog server computer over a communications network


A solid state driver circuit that is compatible with either a low frequency mains or magnetic ballast supply or a high frequency electronic ballast input is presented. An input detection circuit detects the frequency of the supply and selectively adjusts the drive circuit to act as a linear regulator when an electronic ballast is detected, or as a switched mode regulator when mains or a magnetic ballast is detected. There is also provided a method of driving a solid state lamp. The method has a step which receives an input power supply. The method also has an enabling operation of a switching regulator or the shorting of a switching regulator according to the frequency of the input power supply.

Solid-state lamps are replacing fluorescent and incandescent lamps due to their superior efficiency. The lighting element in a solid state lamp comprises semiconductor material where light is emitted by electroluminescence. Various types of lighting element may be employed such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) of various types (including silicon, organic and polymer LEDs). The present disclosure will discuss in particular the case of an LED but it will be appreciated that it applies in general to other types of solid-state lamps.
The current through a solid state lighting element needs to be controlled to ensure that a minimum amount of power is provided so that light of the required brightness is emitted, but also that a maximum amount of power is not exceeded in order to prevent damage to the element and the circuit. To take care of this, an LED driver circuit is provided.
Ballasts are also often used in lighting systems. A ballast is a device or circuit which limits the amount of current supplied to a load. They are commonly used in devices which exhibit a negative resistance characteristic such as gas discharge lamps, where limiting the current is important to prevent the lamp being destroyed or failing. However, ballasts are also useful for limiting the current in ordinary positive resistance circuits, including for use with solid state lamps. The ballast is usually integrated with a luminaire housing, for coupling with the driver circuit of a solid state lamp via suitable electrical connectors when the solid state lamp is inserted into a socket of a luminaire housing.
FIG. 1 illustrates an LED lighting system 100 where an LED driver circuit comprises a linear regulator 102, which supplies power to a series of LEDs 104 shown generally as LED1 through LEDn. The linear regulator 102 is coupled with the mains supply 106 provided by an electrical grid (or alternatively by an off grid power supply). A linear regulator can be connected to a mains AC supply, but has a low efficiency and high power loss, leading to high heat dissipation. When connected to a ballast, the linear regulation needs to be adjusted in order to balance the input and output power of the LED driver circuit.
FIG. 2 illustrates a lighting system 200 in which a switching regulator 202 is used to control the power supplied to the LEDs 104. The switching regulator has a switching element that acts to selectively charge or discharge an energy storage element and to selectively couple the energy storage element with the load, to regulate voltage or current characteristics and control the power supplied to the load. Various different circuit topologies are known, including without limitation a buck converter, a boost converter, a buck-boost, and a single ended primary inductor converter (SEPIC). A switching regulator 202 is more energy efficient than a linear regulator.
A switching regulator 202 works well with an AC mains power supply or with a magnetic ballast, which operates at a similar frequency. However, when directly connected to an electronic ballast, the switching regulator 202 can cause flickering, incorrect output voltage and current, unstable and unreliable operation, or even damage to the circuit. This is because switching regulators are designed to work with an AC input or a magnetic ballast, both of which are voltage sources. However, an electronic ballast acts as a current source and so when connected to a ballast the input energy and further the input voltage of the switching regulator 202 depends on its output part. If there is any mismatch between the input power and the output power, the switching regulator 202 will see either insufficient input voltage or excessive input voltage.
Therefore it can be understood that existing LED driver circuits are designed to be used either exclusively with a mains supply or with an electronic ballast. If an LED driver circuit is designed for use with a mains supply it will not function properly with a ballast, and vice versa.
This creates a problem for lamp interoperability, and for retrofitting of lamps. A solid state lamp is usually provided in a bulb housing and includes the driver circuit and the light emitting element. A lighting system may comprise a luminaire which has a housing and a socket for receiving a lamp. A ballast will normally be provided as part of the luminaire for electrical connection with a lamp which is inserted, via appropriate mating electrical connectors provided by the bulb housing and the luminaire socket.
A major concern with installing and maintaining lighting installations is interoperability of lamps with different types of ballasts. A luminaire may or may not have a ballast fitted, and the driver circuit of a solid state lamp may or may not be compatible with a ballast. So this means the compatibility of the lamps and light fixtures must be checked carefully. This increases inconvenience for users, and introduces complexity for manufacturers who must manufacture, administer and support multiple different products to account for the various combinations that are possible.

System and method for controlling solid state lamps


A system, method and wireless earpieces for determining a status of the wireless earpiece. Sensor measurements are made utilizing sensors of the wireless earpieces at a first location. The sensor measurements are analyzed. Data is extrapolated for one or more other locations utilizing the sensor measurements from the first location within the wireless earpiece.

I. Field of the Disclosure
The illustrative embodiments relate to wireless earpieces. More specifically, but not exclusively, the illustrative embodiments relate to determining the status of a wireless earpiece including battery temperature utilizing a distributed sensor array of the wireless earpiece.
II. Description of the Art
The growth of wearable devices is increasing exponentially. This growth is fostered by the decreasing size of microprocessors, circuit boards, chips, and other components. Even with the advancements, the footprint available for the wearable devices may be very limited. As a result, designing and manufacturing the wearable device with sufficient sensors and other components to enhance operation may be challenging.

Analytical determination of remote battery temperature through distributed sensor array system and method


A method and a network system capable of enhanced transmission of data signals in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system using a double-layer coordinated beamforming are disclosed. A first layer precoding matrix is obtained from long-term channel state information between user equipment and network equipment, and a second layer precoding matrix obtained from the first layer precoding matrix and from real-time channel state information between the user equipment and the network equipment. The real-time channel state information for the second layer precoding matrix determination includes a predetermined signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and/or a predetermined power value associated with a single antenna of the user equipment, which are used as optimization parameters. The first and second layer precoding matrices are combined for the double-layer coordinated beamforming. The present disclosure allows to enhance the coordinated beamforming of the prior art by adding some constraints during the optimization of the second layer precoding.

Massive Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology has attracted much attention in wireless communications, because it offers significant increases in data throughput and link range without an additional increase in bandwidth or transmit power. Both theoretical and measurement results indicate that massive MIMO is capable of significantly improving the Spectrum Efficiency, while simultaneously improving energy efficiency.
In Massive MIMO systems (also known as Large-Scale Antenna Systems, Very Large MIMO, Hyper MIMO, Full-Dimension MIMO and ARGOS) a base station is equipped with a very large number of antennas (e.g., hundreds or thousands) that are operated fully coherently and adaptively according to a multi-user MIMO scheme.
Considering such a multi-user MIMO scheme where a plurality of users are respectively located in a plurality of cells of a communication network, inter-cell interference (ICI) and intra-cell interferences degrades the performance of massive MIMO system.
The reduction of inter-cell interference (ICI) can be achieved by using properly configured precoders at the transmitter side (i.e. at the side of at least one base station), in other words by choosing carefully beamforming vectors, or precoding weights, before the transmission of the signal to multiple users.
Among the known beamforming techniques, the coordinated beamforming (CBF) requires only a modest amount of signaling overhead and, for the sake of implementation, is classically proposed to improve system performance.
Different structures of coordinated beamforming can be implemented. In particular, a hierarchical structure of coordinated beamforming is disclosed by A. Liu in "Hierarchical interference mitigation for massive MIMO cellular networks", IEEE Trans. Signal Process., vol 62, no.18, pp. 4786-4797, September 2014.
More precisely, according to such a structure, explicitly, each evolved Node B (eNB) consists of two layers: on the one hand a first precoder, called a "cell-layer precoder" in the following of the disclosure, and a second precoder, called a "user-layer precoder" on the other hand.
In general, as disclosed by A. Liu in "Two-stage subspace constrained precoding in massive MIMO cellular systems", IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol 14, no. 6, pp. 3271-3279, June 2015, the user-layer precoder supports data transmission to the active user terminal (UEs) by exploiting the knowledge of the time-variant channel state information (CSI). As far as the cell-layer precoder is concerns, it exploits the remaining spatial degree of freedom for mitigating the ICI by relying only on the knowledge of the long-term variant channel state information (CSI).
Although coordinated beamforming (CBF) relying on hierarchical structure needs little signal backhaul overhead, there are two main drawbacks of the existing coordinated beamforming hierarchical-structure: on the one hand, these existing schemes of the prior art are not suitable for implementation in practical massive MIMO system. Indeed, in the existing hierarchical-structure coordinated beamforming schemes, clusters of user equipments (UEs) are formed, and user equipments (UEs) in the same cluster have the same long-term channel state information (CSI), which is impractical.
On the other hand, although the cell-layer precoder of existing hierarchical-structure coordinated beamforming (CBF) schemes is adjusted to reduce Inter-Cell Interference with low complexity, the user-layer precoder of the prior art is settled as ZF precoder, and considers power allocation issue in precoding, which may result in more intra-cell interference.
Therefore, there is a need for an alternative precoding scheme, which overcomes the drawbacks of the above-mentioned method and can offer improved performances in terms of power consumption of all evolved Node B (eNB).


A hand-written information processing apparatus is provided by which such correction as to directly deal with a design drawn on a paper sheet or the like can be performed.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand-written information processing apparatus, a hand-written information processing method and a hand-written information processing program.
Description of the Related Art
A hand-written information processing apparatus called, for example, digitizer or tablet apparatus is known. For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 5137150), the hand-written information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus including a display screen, a coordinate inputting apparatus connected to and used together with, for example, a display apparatus or a coordinate inputting apparatus connected to and used together with a computer including a display apparatus.
The hand-written information processing apparatus is used together with a position indicator in the form of a pen (hereinafter referred to as stylus). If indication inputting (writing operation) by a stylus is performed on a position detection face (hereinafter referred to as inputting face) for detecting two-dimensional position information, then the writing operation is detected through an interaction with a stylus detection sensor and the position coordinate is supplied as writing information to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus generates display image information corresponding to the hand writing input by the stylus from the position coordinate (writing information) based on the indication inputting by the indication member, the position coordinate being received from hand-written information processing apparatus, and displays the display image information on the screen of a display apparatus.
Some hand-written information processing apparatus of the type described above includes various processing functions for moving, rotating, enlarging/reducing or scrolling an image generated by a hand writing input and displayed on the screen of the display apparatus or by changing a display color of a rendered image. The user can perform a writing operation with the stylus while utilizing the processing functions described above to render a fine drawing, an animation image or the like while confirming a display image displayed on the display screen.

Hand-written information process apparatus, hand-written information processing method and hand-written information processing program

Abstract: The hand-written information processing apparatus includes a stylus detection sensor, a connection interface for outputting writing information corresponding to a writing operation of a stylus to an external apparatus which includes a display screen for displaying an image, and a display image processing information generation circuit for generating display image processing information for performing a given image operation process based on an operation input accepted by an operation input acceptance unit to the display image. An inputting face is configured such that a sheet member on which writing corresponding to a writing operation of a stylus can be visually formed can be placed thereon. In addition to a normal stylus, an ink stylus which can form a writing trace visually on a sheet member can be utilized. The hand-written information processing apparatus has a first mode for the normal stylus and a second mode for retaining writing information by the ink stylus into a memory.


A coal burner with impeller for a furnace has a housing containing a plurality of sets of blades which direct the fuel from the coal nozzle into a plurality of non-intersecting flows directed obliquely towards the longitudinal axis of the housing. The non-intersecting flows create a fuel-rich devolatilization zone and an air-rich char burnout zone within the furnace and limit the flame length of the burner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to pulverized coal burners used in a furnace, and in particular, to a new and useful arrangement for controlling the flow of combined pulverized coal and primary air through the burner nozzle, in a manner which results in low emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x) and improved combustion efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pulverized coal-fired burners produce NO.sub.x emissions as a consequence of oxidation of fuel bound nitrogen found in coal (fuel NO.sub.x), oxidation of nitrogen in the combustion air at elevated flame temperatures (thermal NO.sub.x), and intermediate reactions of hydrocarbons with atmospheric nitrogen (prompt NO.sub.x). The largest source of emissions is from fuel NO.sub.x. These emissions can be reduced by altering the combustion process. Fuel nitrogen is released during the combustion of pulverized coal, during devolatilization and during char burnout. Fuel NO.sub.x is readily formed during devolatilization unless countermeasures are used, due to the high temperatures and abundance of oxygen available in the flame root. Fuel NO.sub.x formation tends to be less during char burnout since flame temperatures tend to decrease and oxygen partial pressure is reduced.
Conventional burners produce high levels of NO.sub.x. These burners allow rapid complete mixing of the coal and combustion air, favoring NO.sub.x formation. Some of the most effective pulverized coal-fired burners for reducing NO.sub.x emissions are designed to control and limit oxygen availability during devolatilization. In essence the fuel is separated from the majority of the combustion air during this brief period, and then introduced downstream in the flame. Two examples of such burners are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,788,796 and 4,836,772. These burners typically reduce NO.sub.x emissions by 40 to 60% below uncontrolled levels.
Known low NO.sub.x burners, however, tend to have elongated flames due to the axial injection of the fuel jet and staged introduction of combustion air. This can result in flame impingement on furnace walls opposite the burner location, and associated problems with slagging and or furnace tube corrosion. In addition, low NO.sub.x burners tend to produce higher levels of unburned carbon due to delayed and/or incomplete mixing of air and fuel. Unburned carbon directly contributes to a reduction in boiler efficiency and increased operating costs. Elevated levels of unburned carbon can also substantially increase ash disposal costs.
In order to reduce these tendencies, some low NO.sub.x burner designs employ mixing devices at or near the exit of the burner nozzle. These devices, many of which are referred to as impellers, deflect the coal outwardly away from the burner centerline. These devices may impart radial deflection, swirl, or some combination thereof, on the flame.
A patent which discloses a flow diverting mechanism at the end of a burner nozzle, is U.S. Pat. No. 2,380,463, which uses conically diverting vanes for diverting the mixture of primary gas and pulverized coal outwardly away from the axis of the nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,170 discloses the use of a tapered tip in a burner for confining the flame used in conjunction with diverters for dividing secondary combustion air around the flame. However, there is no use of crossing streams of primary air plus pulverized coal immediately downstream of the burner nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,295 teaches directing air radially inwardly with a slight tangential component, toward a flame to shape and shorten the flame. A distinctive swirling and violent mixing effect would be achieved. A similar mixing effect would be achieved with the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,529.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,937 discloses dividing a fuel/air mixture into multiple streams which do not rapidly mix with each other for the purpose of enhancing the conditions that reduce NO.sub.x formation.

Internal pitch impeller for a coal burner


In a wiring structure of a semiconductor device, dielectric tolerance of the wiring is improved by preventing diffusion of the wiring material. The wiring structure of the semiconductor device includes a first insulating film having plural grooves, plural wiring films formed protrusively above tops of the first insulating film among the grooves, plural barrier films formed on bottoms of the wiring films and up to a higher position than the tops on sides of the wiring films, first cap films including metal films formed on tops of the wiring films, and a second cap film formed on at least respective sides of the first cap films and the barrier films.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring structure of a semiconductor device and a production method of the device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With progress of miniaturization of the semiconductor device, influence of RC delay (signal delay caused by resistance and capacitance) becomes serious, or becomes a great reason that hinders speed-up of the device operation. To reduce the resistance of the wiring and interconnect capacitance, wiring using copper Cu instead of an aluminum alloy is introduced in a semiconductor device having a wiring width of 0.25 μm or less. Since dry etching is generally difficult in formation of the wiring using Cu, the Damascene method, in which Cu is deposited into grooves for wiring formed on an insulating film and then planarized, is used.
In the formation of the Cu wiring using the Damascene method, the grooves for wiring are formed on a first insulating film, then a barrier film for preventing Cu diffusion and a Cu wiring film are deposited in order in the grooves, and then surfaces are planarized using the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method, and the Cu wiring film and the barrier film are left in the grooves. Subsequently, a cap film comprising silicon nitride SixNy is deposited on the Cu wiring film. This is because Cu is easily oxidized and thus a silicon oxide film can not be directly deposited on the Cu wiring film, therefore the Cu wiring film needs to be covered by the silicon nitride film. However, when an insulating film such as the SixNy is used as the cap film, adhesiveness between the cap film that is the insulating film and the Cu wiring film that is a metal film is bad, and electromigration is apt to occur at a boundary surface between the cap film and the Cu wiring film. Therefore, a method in which the Cu wiring film is selectively coated by a metal film such as CoWP or CoWB film instead of covered by the insulating film is proposed.
The wiring structure in which the Cu wiring film is coated by the metal film is, for example, described in the patent literature 1. In this wiring structure, the barrier film and the Cu wiring film are embedded in the grooves for wiring formed on the first insulating film, then a conductive film (cap film) containing cobalt Co or nickel Ni as a main component is selectively formed on the Cu wiring film by electroless plating, and then CoxSiyPz or NixSiyPz is deposited on the cap film by the electroless plating and made into silicide, thereby an oxidation prevention film is formed.
A wiring structure in which diffusion of Cu ions or spreading of Cu hillocks due to the electromigration are restrained is described in the patent literature 2. In the wiring structure, although the Cu wiring films are embedded in the grooves for wiring on the first insulating film via the barrier films, the Cu wiring films and the barrier films are formed protrusively above the grooves. A cap film comprising an insulating film such as silicon carbide SixCy is formed on an entire surface such that the cap film covers the Cu wiring films and the barrier films protruded from the grooves for wiring. In the wiring structure, top edges of the Cu wiring films that are leakage sources of the wiring material are separated vertically from boundary faces of the first insulating film that are leakage current paths.
Patent Document 1                JP-A-2003-179000 (FIG. 1 on page 5)
Patent Document 2                JP-A-2002-329780 (FIG. 20 on page 15)
In the wiring structure described in the patent literature 1, the top edges of the Cu wiring films that are the leakage sources of the wiring material are close to the boundary faces of the first insulating film that are the leakage current paths through boundary faces between the cap film and the barrier films, and the Cu ions easily reach the leakage current paths through the boundary faces between the cap film and the barrier films, and thus the leakage current may flow into the adjacent Cu wiring films.
In the wiring structure described in the patent literature 2, although the top edges of the Cu wiring films that are the leakage sources of the wiring material are separated vertically from the boundary faces of the first insulating film that are the leakage current paths, since the cap film formed on the Cu wiring films is an insulating film, adhesiveness at the boundary faces between the Cu wiring films and the cap film or at the boundary faces between the barrier films and the cap film is bad. The electromigration is apt to occur on the tops of the Cu wiring films due to the bad adhesiveness at the boundary faces between the Cu wiring films and the cap film, and when influence of the electromigration is large, the Cu ions or the Cu hillocks may reach the boundary faces of the first insulating film that are the leakage current paths from the top edges of the Cu wiring films through the boundary faces between the barrier films and the cap film at which the adhesiveness is bad, resulting in increase of the leakage current or an interconnect short-circuit.

Wiring structure of semiconductor device and production method of the device


An apparatus is employed for forming an attachment of a threaded fastener or other item to a deformable sheet material by a clinching technique, preferably without shearing the sheet material in the area of the interlocking attachment of the fastener with the sheet material. As a result, a secure, interlocked, joint is formed to which other items can be threadably secured, with such joint being leakproof in some embodiments. Such leakproof fastener assembly is especially advantageous in the manufacture of fluid-containing products or other applications where a leakproof construction is necessary or desirable. In other embodiments, however, where such leakproof feature is not needed or is undesirable, the invention still provides an improved, secure, interlocked attachment of a fastener to a sheet material item, wherein the sheet material item is a single layer item or a multiple layer item.

The invention relates to a self-attaching fastener and more particularly to a threaded fastener, mounting pin or shaft, or other item that is forcibly mechanically interlocked with, or clinchingly attached to, a portion of a sheet material item. The invention also involves an apparatus and a method for forming such an attachment. Such attachment is accomplished in some embodiments without shearing the sheet material item in order to form a leakproof attachment of the fastener.
It is frequently desirable to secure objects to a member formed from a relatively thin sheet material, such as sheet metal, deformable sheet plastics, or other such sheet materials. Because such sheet materials are generally too thin to form adequate threaded holes therein by drilling and tapping, threaded male or female fasteners are frequently welded or otherwise secured to such sheet materials.
In this regard, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,574,453 and 4,574,473, both of which are assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, wherein a method and an apparatus for securing a fastener to a sheet material item are disclosed and claimed. Both of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference herein. The method and apparatus of such patents both involve forcing the fastener or a portion thereof into the sheet material in a manner by which a part of the sheet material is sheared, and an interlocking attachment or connection is made between the fastener and the sheet material. As a result, the attachment formed by such method and apparatus does not result in a leakproof attachment of at least a male threaded fastener to a sheet material item.
The present invention overcomes this disadvantage by allowing fasteners to be attached or secured to a sheet material member without shearing the sheet material at all in some embodiments, thereby providing for such an attachment in areas where a leakproof assembly is necessary or desirable, such as in the production of items that are used to contain fluids, for example. In other embodiments, where shearing is necessary or desirable, such shearing occurs in an area of the joint that does not involve the interlock between the sheet material and the fastener or other item.
According to the present invention, a fastener having an attachment portion with a lateral face and a transverse edge thereon is attached to either a single or multiple layer sheet material item. The apparatus and method for forming such an attachment preferably involves a pair of die means movable relative toward one another in a generally longitudinal direction, with a first of the die means including a number of die members or segments defining an opening therebetween for receiving a punch or ram on the other die means. The die members are generally laterally movable relative to one another, with an anvil being disposed within, and forming the bottom of, the opening.
A press is provided for forcibly moving the die means generally longitudinally (axially) toward one another (with the attachment portion of the fastener and the sheet material disposed therebetween) in order to force the attachment portion and a portion of the sheet material into the opening between the die members without shearing the sheet material, at least in the area of interlocking attachment. The attachment portion and a first part of the sheet material portion are pressed or squeezed generally longitudinally by the punch or ram into the opening and against the anvil in order to compress or laterally deform part of the sheet material portion (and in some cases the attachment portion) outwardly in order to form a longitudinal clinching interlock between the attachment portion and the sheet material. The die members, however, are resiliently biased laterally toward one another, and are forced laterally outwardly away from one another in response to such lateral outward deformation of the sheet material portion.
Preferably the transverse edge of the attachment portion of the fastener includes a surface discontinuity formed by knurling, for example, and a second part of the sheet material portion is forcibly urged into an interlocking engagement with such surface discontinuity. In some embodiments of the present invention, the attachment portion of the fastener is generally conical in shape, with the transverse edge being tapered outwardly in a direction toward the sheet material. In such embodiments, the second part of the sheet material portion is forcibly urged generally laterally inwardly to engage the tapered, transverse edge of the fastener attachment portion in order to form the above-mentioned interlock.
Furthermore, in other embodiments of the present invention, the attachment portion of the fastener can include a recessed area on the lateral face oriented toward the sheet material, and the above-mentioned first part of the sheet material portion is forcibly urged into such recessed area as it is being laterally deformed. The apparatus and method according to the present invention preferably includes the use of a stripper device for holding the interlocked fastener and sheet material portion substantially in contact or in engagement with the die members of the first die means while the second die means is moved longitudinally away after the fastener is attached to the sheet material.
Although the above-described apparatus, with laterally movable die members or segments, is the preferred apparatus for forming the joint or attachment of the present invention, alternate die apparatuses can also be employed. Such alternate apparatuses include those having a first die means that is solid (or non-segmented), and thus does not have laterally movable die members or segments, with the other die means including a punch or ram relatively movable in a longitudinal direction with respect to the first die means in a manner generally as described above. In such examples, the opening in the solid first die means must have outwardly tapered side walls, or at least walls that are parallel to the longitudinal axis, in order to allow the formed joint or attachment to be removed from the first die means. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that although the preferred apparatus described herein provides distinct advantages in forming the attachment or joint of the invention, other solid or laterally displaceable first die means can alternately be used.
Additional objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus for attaching a fastener to sheet material


A new method makes the most efficient use of the scarce spectral bandwidth in a wireless discrete multitone spread spectrum communications system by updating the spectral and/or spatial spreading weights at a rate that is determined by the measured quality of the link. Low quality links require more frequent updates of the spreading weights than do higher quality links. Spreading weights and despreading weights for a station are adaptively updated, depending on the error in received signals. If the error value is less than a threshold error value, then the method maintains the existing spreading weights as the current spreading weights to apply to an outgoing data signal. Alternately, if the error value is greater than the threshold error value, then the method adaptively calculates updated despreading weights at the base station from the first spread signal and calculates updated spreading weights as the current spreading weights from the updated despreading weights to apply to the outgoing data signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention involves improvements to communications systems and methods in a wireless discrete multitone spread spectrum communications system.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless communications systems, such as cellular and personal communications systems, operate over limited spectral bandwidths. They must make highly efficient use of the scarce bandwidth resource to provide good service to a large population of users. Code Divison Multiple Access (CDMA) protocol has been used by wireless communications systems to efficiently make use of limited bandwidths. The protocol uses a unique code to distinguish each user's data signal from other user's data signals. Knowledge of the unique code with which any specific information is transmitted, permits the separation and reconstruction of each user's message at the receiving end of the communication channel.
Adaptive beamforming technology has become a promising technology for wireless service providers to offer large coverage, high capacity, and high quality service. Based on this technology, a wireless communication system can improve its coverage capability, system capacity, and performance significantly. The personal wireless access network (PWAN) system described in the referenced Alamouti, et al. patent application, uses adaptive beamforming combined with a form of the CDMA protocol known as discrete multitone spread spectrum (DMT-SS) to provide efficient communications between a base station and a plurality of remote units. The computation of spectral and/or spatial spreading weights in the PWAN system is intensive. Low quality links require frequent updates of the spreading weights, whereas higher quality links do not. What is needed is a way to update the spreading weights of links at a rate that is determined by the measured quality of the link.

Adaptive weight update method and system for a discrete multitone spread spectrum communications system


Methods and apparatus to bound network traffic estimation error for multistage measurement sampling and aggregation are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises determining a hierarchical sampling topology representative of multiple data sampling and aggregation stages, the hierarchical sampling topology comprising a plurality of nodes connected by a plurality of edges, each node corresponding to at least one of a data source and a data aggregation operation, and each edge corresponding to a data sampling operation characterized by a generalized sampling threshold, selecting a first generalized sampling threshold from a set of generalized sampling thresholds associated with a respective set of edges originating at a respective set of descendent nodes of a target node undergoing network traffic estimation, and transforming a measured sample of network traffic into a confidence interval for a network traffic estimate associated with the target node using the first generalized sampling threshold and an error parameter.

Network traffic measurement typically involves multiple stages of data sampling and aggregation. Examples of such data sampling and aggregation stages include sampling of network data packets and then aggregating the sampled packets into flow statistics at, for example, a router or other network device. Subsequent stages may involve sampling and aggregation of flow statistics into usage records in a network data repository for reporting, query and archiving. Although unbiased estimates of packet, byte and/or flow statistics can be formed for each sampling and aggregation operation, for many applications knowledge of an overall estimation error is desired. Previous network traffic estimation techniques have been limited mainly to analyzing estimator variance for particular sampling and aggregation methods. However, the use of variance as a measure of estimator error assumes that estimator can be approximated by a Gaussian, or normal, distribution.