A method of manufacturing semiconductor device having a structure in which the potential of a gate interconnection is not affected by that of a bit line when a dummy pad contact is formed at an end portion of a memory cell, in which no steps are formed in the vicinity of a memory cell end are obtained. The semiconductor device includes dummy pad contacts arranged in a dotted line, which are smaller than a first pad contact in the memory cell body and are opened using a self-alignment method, and a conduction is cut-off in a path leading from the dummy pad contact to the bit line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. More particularly, the invention relates to a semiconductor device in which a short-circuit between gate interconnections and bit lines caused by a dummy pad contact formed at an end of memory cells using a self-alignment method is avoided, and to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device in which a step produced between memory cells and their peripheral portions can be eliminated by forming and polishing a dummy pad contact at the end of memory cells.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, the degree of integration of semiconductor devices has been enhanced and memory cells have been reduced in size, so that it has been difficult to form contacts in the gap between interconnections only by photo-resist masking without short-circuiting the interconnections. One of the methods used for forming contacts in gaps of interconnections without short-circuiting is a so-called self-alignment method. FIG. 28 shows a sectional view of a pad contact hole opened in an interlayer oxide film using this self-alignment method. In FIG. 28, a silicon interconnection 902 which comes to be a gate interconnection is formed on a semiconductor substrate 910 with an insulating film 901 interposed, and is coated with nitride layers 903, 904. On an interlayer oxide film 905 deposited on these layers, a pad contact hole 915, where a pad contact is formed for conducting an active region 911 and a top layer portion, is opened.
The self-alignment method in general is now described in order. First, a silicon interconnection is deposited on a semiconductor substrate with an insulating film interposed. A nitride film protecting the silicon interconnection is then formed on the top and the side surfaces of the silicon interconnection. In this step, the silicon interconnection comes to be coated with the nitride film. Thereafter, an interlayer oxide film is deposited and then the interlayer oxide film is etched to open a contact hole using a photoresist mask on a desired position. When the interlayer oxide film is etched with selective ratio of the oxide film (i.e., the interlayer oxide film) to the nitride film being greater than prescribed value, the silicon interconnection can be protected from etching, by the nitride film on the top and the side surfaces. Thus, if the opening diameter of pad contact hole 915 is larger than the interval between silicon interconnections, as shown in FIG. 28, the opening diameter would be overlapped with the silicon interconnections. No short-circuit occurs, however, as the silicon interconnection is protected by the nitride layer. Therefore, as shown in the sectional view of FIG. 29, the nitride films 903, 904 on the top and the side surfaces of the silicon interconnections are left with a sufficient thickness, even when the pad contact hole 915 is opened. With this method, the pad contact can be formed without short-circuiting the silicon interconnection and the pad contact.
On the other hand, from the reason described in the following, at end portions of memory cells, a dummy pattern such as a dummy pad contact is generally provided. Since the continuity (repetition) of the pattern is lost at the end of the memory cells, the pattern at the end-most portion, especially the contact diameter, is reduced due to an optical proximity effect. To dissolve this inconvenience, a dummy contact is provided around a body of the memory cells. By providing the dummy contact, though the dummy contact diameter becomes small due to an optical proximity effect, the memory cell body contact formed inner than the dummy contact can have an intended size. In this case, it is very difficult to control the size of the pattern in the end-most portion. For example, even when the size of the mask is set a little larger than that of the pad contact in the memory cell, the diameter of pad contact 921 at the end may possibly be oversized, resulting in short-circuiting with adjacent pad contact 920 positioned inside. In FIG. 30, there is also shown an arrangement of a gate interconnection 930 and another pad contact (the second pad contact) 906 on which a bit line contact is formed. In the following description, pad contact 906 formed overlapped with the bit line when viewed two-dimensionally will be referred to the second pad contact, and is distinguished from pad contact 921 (the first pad contact) formed between the bit lines. Furthermore, in particular, when referred simply as xe2x80x9ccontactxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpad contactxe2x80x9d, it will include both pad contacts.
Thus, as it is difficult to control the size of the pad contact at the endmost portion, as shown in FIG. 31, a mask opening 924 of the first pad contact in the dummy and a mask opening 925 of the first pad contact of the memory cell body are normally formed to have the same size. In FIG. 31, there is also shown a mask opening 926 for the second pad contact 906. As a result of setting mask opening 924 of the first pad contact in the dummy, the diameter of first pad contact 921 of the dummy becomes smaller than that of first pad contact 920 of the cell body, as shown in FIG. 32.
The above-described self-alignment method has the following problems. When a contact hole is opened using the self-alignment method and the hole diameter of the photo-resist to be an etching mask is small, the tip portion of the etching gas opening the interlayer oxide film will not contact in wide area with the nitride film on the top and side of the interconnection. When the etching gas contacts in wide area with the nitride film coating the interconnection, the etching selective ratio of the oxide film (i.e., the interlayer oxide film) to the nitride film is high in etching so that the etching gas will not much etch the nitride film. The reason for this is as follows: C4F8, C5F8, CH2F2 and so forth are used as etching gas species, and these plasma gas etch the interlayer oxide film and the nitride film while depositing a film of polymer including C on the nitride film. Thus, when the contact area between the nitride film of the gate interconnection coating and the etching gas is wide, the nitride film is etched while the sufficient deposition film being deposited. When only a corner of the gate interconnection coating and the etching gas contacts, however, the deposition does not much proceed while the etching only proceeds. Therefore, when the diameter of the contact hole is small, the etching selective ratio of the oxide film to the nitride film in the etching will be low. At the end portion of the memory body, the diameter of the contact hole becomes smaller due to an optical proximity effect, so that the etching selective ratio of the oxide film to the nitride film on the etching will be low. Thus, if the dummy pad contact is formed at the end of the memory cells using the self-alignment system, the remaining nitride film will be thinner as shown in the circle A in FIG. 33. Therefore, at the step in which the nitride film at the contact bottom is eliminated, the interconnections are exposed at the top and the side wall of the interconnections, as shown in the circle B in FIG. 34. As a result, filling a plug to form a pad contact causes short-circuit with the pad contact.
Today, as the sizes of semiconductor devices and contacts thereof are more and more being reduced, the frequency of such short-circuits tends to be increasing. In the case of a contact in a memory cell body, a mask opening may be so provided as to enable the etching gas to somehow contact in a wide area with the nitride film on top and side wall portions of the interconnections. With respect to a dummy pad contact which is smaller in size due to an optical proximity effect, however, the contact area with the nitride film is smaller so that the nitride film is, in fact, easily eliminated by etching. Thus, when a pad contact is formed between gate interconnections using the self-alignment method, the first dummy pad contact being smaller in size has higher possibility of short-circuiting with the gate interconnections. FIG. 35 is a plan view of an end portion of a memory cell showing the first dummy pad contacts 921 formed at the end portion of the memory cell. The diameter of first dummy pad contact 921 formed at the end portion of the memory cell is smaller than that of the first pad contact 920 of the inner memory cell body. In FIG. 35, bit line 908 is conducted with an active region via a bit line contact 909 and the second pad contact 906. FIG. 36 is a sectional view taken along line XXXVIxe2x80x94XXXVI of FIG. 35. As shown in FIG. 36, if first dummy pad contact 921 was short-circuited with gate interconnection 902 at section B, the short-circuited gate interconnection 902 would be conducted with bit line 908 via active region 911. As a result, the electric potential of bit line affects that of the gate interconnection, causing malfunction of the device. Thus, the structure and the size of the first dummy pad contact have come to present such problems that were previously not experienced, because the self-alignment method is used for opening and forming contacts.
Further, aside from the above, the following problem arises in connection with a boundary portion of a memory cell area and a peripheral area thereof. FIG. 37 shows an arrangement of various portions of an end portion of a memory cell. FIG. 38 is a sectional view taken along line XXXVIIIxe2x80x94XXXVIII of FIG. 37, showing a structure in which an inter-layer insulating film is formed. It is understood that an inter-layer insulating film 905, formed across both regions of the memory cell and its peripheral portion, reflects the under-layer structure, so that the inter-layer insulating film of the memory cell is positioned higher than that of the peripheral area thereof, resulting in a step at the boundary portion 950. The step C could not be eliminated by polishing through CMP(Chemical Mechanical Polishing) method, as shown in FIG. 39. This causes variation in sizes of bit line contact and a photo-resist of the bit line of upper layers.
An object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor device with a structure in which no short-circuit occurs between dummy pad contacts and gate interconnections when dummy pad contacts are formed at an end portion of a memory cell, or semiconductor device with a structure in which bit lines would not affect the electric potential of gate interconnections even if a short-circuit occurred between the dummy pad contacts and the gate interconnections. Furthermore, another object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, in which no large steps are produced on an inter-layer insulating film in the vicinity of an end-portion of a memory cell.
According to one aspect of the invention, a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, an active region formed by introducing an impurity onto a main surface of the semiconductor substrate, a gate interconnection deposited on the main surface of the semiconductor substrate with an insulating layer interposed, a gate interconnection coating formed of a nitride film protecting the gate interconnection, a bit line formed above the gate interconnection crossing the gate interconnection when viewed two-dimensionally, and an inter-layer oxide film covering the main surface of the semiconductor substrate and the gate interconnection coated by a gate interconnection coating. The semiconductor device further includes a memory cell having a first pad contact formed, penetrating through the oxide film, between the gate interconnection and the bit line, when viewed two-dimensionally, and conducting the active region and the upper-layer portion, and a second pad contact formed, penetrating through the oxide film, overlapped with the bit line, when viewed two-dimensionally, between gate interconnections, conducting the active region and the bit line via a bit line contact. The semiconductor device further includes first dummy pad contacts formed between gate interconnections, using a self-alignment method, along with an end portion of a memory cell in a dotted line, and means for interrupting an electric conduction occurred between the first dummy pad contact and the bit line somewhere in a path leading from the first dummy pad contact through the active region, the second pad contact and the bit line contact all the way to the bit lines.
This arrangement prevents the serial conduction of the path leading from the first dummy pad contacts to the bit lines. Thus, no short-circuiting would occur, even when the first dummy pad contacts formed at an end portion of a memory cell comes to have smaller size because of an optical proximity effect, and as a result, an etching selective ratio of the oxide film (i.e., inter-layer insulating film) to a nitride film becomes smaller in etching and the nitride film is eliminated or formed extremely thin. Thus, the potential of the bit line would not affect that of the gate interconnection, even if any one of the first dummy pad contacts arranged in a dotted line is short-circuited with the gate interconnection. The bit line of the above-described semiconductor substrate may be a bit line provided in a memory cell body. Alternatively, it may be dummy bit lines provided in order to form bit lines in the body side of an intended size. Furthermore, bit lines can be both of the above. As a constant potential is applied to the dummy bit line, when a short-circuit occurs, the influence of the dummy bit line on the potential of the gate interconnection is larger than that of the bit line of a memory cell body.
According to one aspect of the invention, the above-described conduction is blocked when, for example, the first dummy pad contacts arranged in a dotted line are all formed on a region other than the active region of a main surface on a semiconductor substrate so as to cut-off the electric conduction between the first dummy pad contacts and the active region. In this case, it is desirable that the region other than the active region is the region of an isolating insulating film.
Because the above-described arrangement cuts-off the electric conduction between the first dummy pad contact and the active region, the potential of the bit line will not affect the electric potential of the gate interconnection.
Furthermore, in order to form the first dummy pad contacts at the end-most portion of a memory cell on the isolating insulating film in a dotted line, it is desirable to form the first dummy pad contacts in two dotted lines at an end portion of a memory cell, with the first dummy pad contacts at the end-most line of the memory cell being arranged on a region of the isolating insulating film in a dotted line.
Such arrangement ensures opening of the first dummy contact holes of the outer-most line on the isolating insulating film. As a result, no problems will be caused, even if the size and the selective ratio of an oxide film to a nitride film are reduced when opening the first dummy pad contact holes in the out-most line, and the first dummy pad contacts and the gate interconnections are short-circuited due to the loss or the thinness of the nitride film. Therefore, the conduction between the first dummy pad contacts and the active region of the main surface on the semiconductor substrate will not occur, and the potential of the gate interconnection would not affect that of the bit line.
In another example in which the above-described conduction does not occur, a bit line may be formed detouring a bit line contact to avoid an electric conduction between the bit line contact and the bit line. This arrangement also prevents the influence on the potential of the gate interconnection, caused by that of the bit line.
Another example in which the above-described conduction does not occur is that the first dummy pad contacts are formed within the inter-layer oxide film and not reaching the gate interconnection coating, cutting off the electric conduction between the first dummy pad contact and the active region. The bit line contact may be formed within the insulating film, not penetrating the insulating film formed on the above-said inter-layer oxide film, cutting off the electric conduction between the bit line contact and the second pad contact.
A semiconductor device according to another aspect of the invention includes a semiconductor substrate, an active region formed on a main surface of the semiconductor substrate with an impurity introduced, a gate interconnection deposited on a main surface of the semiconductor substrate with an insulating film interposed, a gate interconnection coating formed of a nitride film, which encloses and protects the gate interconnection, a bit line formed above the gate interconnection crossing the gate interconnection when viewed two-dimensionally, and an inter-layer oxide film covering the main surface of the semiconductor substrate and the gate interconnection coated with the gate interconnection coating. The semiconductor device also includes a memory cell having a first pad contact formed, penetrating through the oxide film, between the gate interconnection and the bit line, when viewed two-dimensionally, conducting the active region and the upper-layer conducting interconnection, and a second pad contact formed, penetrating the inter-layer oxide film, overlapped with the bit line, when viewed two-dimensionally, between gate interconnections, conducting the active region and the bit line via a bit line contact. The semiconductor further includes first dummy pad contacts formed between gate interconnections, using a self-alignment method, along with an end portion of a memory cell in a dotted line, the interconnection coated with a gate interconnection coating having an extended width, when viewed two-dimensionally, at the end portion of the memory cell where the first dummy pad contacts are provided.
When a contact hole for the first dummy pad contact is formed, the size of the contact area between etching gas and a nitride film, which is a protective layer for the gate interconnection, is enlarged because of the above-described arrangement. This prevents reduction of the etching selective ratio of the oxide film (i.e., an inter-layer insulating film.) to the nitride film in etching. For this reason, etching of the nitride film (i.e., a gate interconnection coating) by larger amount can be avoided. As a result, the conduction between the first dummy pad contact and the gate interconnection will not occur, and the potential of the gate interconnection will not affect that of the bit line.
In a semiconductor device according to a further aspect of the invention, the effect of widening the gate interconnection at an end portion of the memory cell can be seen from the following examples. The first dummy pad contacts arranged in a dotted line all have more than a half of the lower end portions, not reaching the main surface of the semiconductor substrate, when viewed two-dimensionally. More than a half of the lower end portions contact with and stop at the top and side surfaces of the gate interconnection, and none of the first dummy pad contacts arranged in a dotted line conducts with the gate interconnections. This prevents the electric potential of the gate interconnections from influencing that of the bit lines, since no short-circuit occurs between the first dummy pad contact and the gate interconnection.
In the semiconductor device according to another aspect of the invention, all of the lower end portions of the first dummy pad contacts may contact with and stop at the gate interconnection coating layer which coats the gate interconnection.
The above-described arrangement prevents the reduction of the etching selective ratio of the oxide film to the nitride film in etching the oxide film, when the first dummy contact holes are formed. Thus the nitride film remains thick, and short-circuit between the first dummy contact holes and the gate interconnections can be avoided. For another reason from above, even if the short-circuit occurred between the first dummy pad contacts and the gate interconnections, the electric potential of the gate interconnections would not be influenced by that of the bit lines, as the first dummy pad contact does not reach the active region.
Further, in the semiconductor device according to a still further aspect of the invention, the gate interconnection coated with the gate interconnection coating preferably has its width increased at one side, when viewed two-dimensionally, to include the first dummy pad contact in the end portion of the memory cell where the dummy pad contacts are provided.
The above-described arrangement permits the tip of the first dummy pad contacts to be completely and securely held on the gate interconnection coating layer, even if the reduction in the size of the first dummy pad contacts or some misalignment in the contacts occurred. In a semiconductor device, where more than a half of the lower end portions of all the first dummy pad contacts contact with and stop at the gate interconnection coating on the top and the side of the gate interconnection and where the conduction between any of the first pad contacts and the gate interconnection is avoided, the gate interconnection coated with the gate interconnection coating is preferably made wider at both sides thereof to overlap with the first dummy pad contacts, when viewed two-dimensionally, at the end portions of the memory cell where the first dummy pad contacts are provided.
As described above, because of the gate interconnection widened at opposite sides at the end portion of the memory cell, the contact area between etching gas and the nitride film can be enlarged and the reduction of the etching selective ratio of the oxide film to the nitride film can be prevented. Thus, the progress of etching on the nitride film can be suppressed and short-circuit between the first dummy pad contacts and the gate interconnection can be prevented.
In the semiconductor device according to yet another aspect of the invention, the gate interconnection coated with the gate interconnection coating, formed at the end portion of the memory cell where the first dummy pad contact is provided, is preferably a dummy gate interconnection coated with the gate interconnection coating.
The dummy gate interconnection can be formed primarily for suppressing the progress of etching, better than the gate interconnection formed on the memory cell body, and yet eliminating possibility of short-circuit, depending on manufacturing processes.
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a yet further aspect of the invention includes the steps of forming a memory cell including an array of gate interconnections on a main surface of the semiconductor, forming an inter-layer insulating film over regions of a memory cell and the continuing peripheral region thereof, providing a dummy pad contact holes, each at a gap between a gate interconnection and a bit line, in a dotted line along an end portion of the memory cell, forming a plug at each dummy pad contact hole, and continuously polishing to planarize the inter-layer insulating film at the regions of a memory cell and the continuing peripheral region thereof.
When a dummy pad contact is not provided, the inter-layer insulating film usually becomes thicker at the memory cell body side and thinner at the peripheral portions thereof, causing a large step around that portion. If the step portion is polished after providing the dummy pad contact as described above, however, the area contacting with the polishing cloth at the end portion of the memory cell is reduced and the polishing rate at the memory cell body side is increased, allowing elimination of the step. It is preferable that the polishing is performed by the CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) method because, it can easily attain the high degree of flatness.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


Agonists and antagonists to nicotine are used as smoking deterrents.. The nicotinic antagonists have the following structural requirements:. (1) Aromatic, cycloalkyl, and heterocyclic carbamic acid esters of di- and trialkylaminoalkyl alcohols. PA1 (2) Aromatic, cycloalkyl, and heterocyclic thiocarbamic acid esters of di- and trialkylaminoalkyl alcohols. PA1 (3) Aromatic, cycloalkyl, and heterocyclic carboxylic acid esters of di- and trialkylaminoalkyl alcohols. PA1 (4) Aromatic, cycloalkyl, and heterocyclic carboxylic acid esters of heterocyclic amino alcohols. PA1 (5) Lobelia alkaloids: lobeline, lobelanine, and lobelanidine. PA1 (1) methylcarbamic acid esters of di- and trialkylaminoalkyl alcohols. PA1 (2) methylthiocarbamic acid esters of di- and trialkylaminoalkyl alcohols.. The nicotinic agonists (nicotine-like) have the following structural requirements:

The field of the invention is tobacco and antismoking products (deterrents) and the present invention is particularly concerned with agonists and antagonists to nicotine.
The state of the art of tobacco smoking deterrents may be ascertained by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,276,890 and 4,311,691 of FICHERA and U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,858 of FERNOE et al, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Fernoe et al are aware of the prior art nicotine containing chewing gums as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 865,026; 940,521; 3,877,468; 3,901,248 and 3,845,217 and state that it seems particularly difficult to find other smoking substitutes equivalent to or as effective as these nicotine containing chewing gums. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,858 discloses a smoking substitute composition for application directly into the nose, consisting essentially of an aqueous solution of nicotine or a physiologically acceptable acid addition salt thereof, having a pH value of 2 to 6, containing 10 to 0.5% w/v of nicotine calculated as the free base, containing a nasally-acceptable thickening agent, having a viscosity not less than 100 centipose, and having about 0.5 to 5 mg nicotine per every 0.05 to 0.5 ml thereof and a method of diminishing the desire of a subject to smoke, which comprises the step of administering to the subject intranasally this smoking substitute composition.
The patents of Fichera disclose that the approach used by Fernoe et al has the difficultly that a physiological dependence upon nicotine remains and that until this dependence is overcome, the opportunity to resume smoking is very high. U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,691 defines a composition for inhibiting tobacco smoking comprising a gamma pyrone and an inert physiologically acceptable carrier capable of providing sustained release of the gamma pyrone in the mouth over a time period of at least ten (10) minutes, in unit dosage form containing from 20 mg to 300 mg of gamma pyrone per unit dose and a chewing gum composition for inhibiting tobacco smoking comprising a chewing gum base having particulate ethyl maltol distributed uniformly throughout, providing 100 mg to 300 mg ethyl maltol per stick of gum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,890 defines the method of inhibiting tobacco smoking of smokers without physiological symptoms of nicotine withdrawal comprising smoking while awake during the waking hours of the day and administering to such a smoker 500 mg to 1500 mg total daily dose of ethyl maltol or maltol as a gamma pyrone divided into several incremental doses during the waking hours of the day, each incremental dose being retained in the smoker's mouth and released therein over a period of at least 10 minutes, for at least about 5 to 10 days, for a total of about 20 to 30 days or at least until there results either of a gradual decrease in the number of cigarettes smoked and the length of time they are smoked or until such point as the lowered tobacco consumption rate becomes obvious.
Fichera has contributed the discovery that the administration of maltol or ethyl maltol at appropriate dosage levels and rates, significantly reduces the tobacco consumption of habitual smokers.

Agonists and antagonists to nicotine as smoking deterrents


An apparatus and method for the automated positioning of a collimator exchange assembly with a gamma camera system is described. A collimator exchange assembly is coupled to a base. During operation of the gamma camera system, the exchange assembly is positioned to the side of the gamma camera system. Prior to transferring collimators between the exchange assembly and the detector heads of the gamma camera system, the exchange assembly rotates into close proximity with the gamma camera system to allow the transfer of collimators between the exchange assembly and the gamma camera system. Once the collimators have been transferred, the exchange assembly then rotates back to the side of the gamma camera system such that the exchange assembly does not interfere with the gamma camera system during the gamma camera study.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of gamma cameras used in nuclear medicine. More specifically, the present invention relates to the field of collimator exchange mechanisms for exchanging collimator devices used in conjunction with gamma camera detector heads in clinical imaging sessions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nuclear or scintillation cameras (also called gamma cameras) are responsive to radiation emitted from a radiopharmaceutical injected into a patient during an imaging study. A radiopharmaceutical is typically selected that will target a particular organ or tissue of interest. In computed tomography studies, a detector head (or pair of heads) revolves around the patient and collects the emissions at various angles in order to generate an image of the targeted organ or tissue. In total body studies, the detectors may translate at a fixed or variable altitude along the patient.
In Emission Computed Tomography (ECT) studies, the image data collected at each angle is merged together into a database that is representative of a three dimensional image of the targeted organ or tissue by a mathematical procedure called reconstruction tomography. A computer process and system perform the image data collection and tomography, and the resultant images may be displayed in a variety of fashions on a computer controlled display screen. Gamma camera detectors are also used in many types of studies that do not employ tomography for image generation, such as total body studies.
Each detector head of a gamma camera utilizes a collimator placed in front of the detector mechanism to respond to the incident emissions. The collimator is a device for collimating the incident radiation emissions and for filtering out certain types of unwanted radiation emissions. A collimator is typically manufactured from lead material and is composed of an array of parallel tubes and as such resembles a lead xe2x80x9choney comb.xe2x80x9d Each individual collimator may weigh from 100 to 250 pounds or more and is mounted on the receiving end of the gamma camera detector to cover the imaging surface. Each collimator must be securely fastened to the detector head during gamma camera studies to prevent collimator separation from the imaging surface as the detector heads revolve or rotate.
Different collimators have particular characteristics suited to the patient study and the energy of the radiation emissions from the ingested radiopharmaceutical. For instance, some collimators are better suited for gamma studies of a given energy range, a given emission exposure duration, or a given radiopharmaceutical. As such, there is a need to exchange collimators associated with the detector heads for different ECT or total body studies. It would be advantageous, then, to provide an automated mechanism for quickly and correctly exchanging collimators associated with the camera detectors in between gamma camera studies. The present invention provides such capability.
In the prior art, collimators were mounted on trays, trolleys, or carts that were manually positioned or aligned adjacent to a detector head and then manually transferred and fastened to the camera. The manual positioning and/or transferring of the collimators required a great deal of manual exertion due to the extreme weight and awkward size of the collimators. The typical gamma camera technicians often could not perform the exchange process alone and required additional personnel to perform the manual exchange. Not only did the manual exchange require additional time and personnel (adding to the overall expense of the gamma camera study), but by using manual alignment and exchange means there was a risk of the collimators being installed improperly or misaligned. These factors contribute to the quality, reproducibility, and precision of data collected (and the resultant image) during a gamma camera study.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,223, issued to Hug et al. on May 21, 1996, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, provides for the automatic exchange of one or two collimators for a camera system with a dual detector head arrangement. The exchange assembly is stored to the side of the gantry structure during a gamma camera study and must be manually positioned adjacent to the gantry structure before the collimator exchange can occur. Once the exchange assembly is in position, a drawbridge is lowered to extend within the gantry and a carriage rolls along the drawbridge to position itself within the pair of detector heads on the gantry structure. The collimators are then transferred from the detector heads to the carriage. Once the collimators have been transferred to the carriage, the carriage rolls back along the drawbridge into the exchange assembly and unloads the collimators. An elevator repositions the then empty carriage within the exchange assembly, and new collimators are loaded onto the carriage. The loaded carriage then rolls back across the drawbridge into the gantry structure and transfers the new collimators to the detector heads before returning to the exchange assembly. Once the collimators have been exchanged, the drawbridge is raised and the exchange assembly is manually moved away from the gantry structure so that the gamma camera study may continue.
It would be advantageous to automate the initial alignment of the exchange assembly with the gantry structure in preparation of the exchange of collimators and to further reduce operator interaction. An automated positioning and alignment of the exchange assembly with the gantry structure will eliminate the need for the gamma camera technician to manually position the exchange assembly near the gantry structure. Further, an automatic positioning of the exchange assembly will result in a more consistent alignment process by consistently returning the exchange assembly to the same position for the exchange process. Thus, an automated positioning of the exchange assembly with the gantry structure in preparation for the exchange of collimators will provide a more cost-effective and efficient method of exchanging collimators, while also improving the quality and reproducibility of data collected during a gamma camera study.
Further, it would be advantageous to provide an apparatus and method that simplifies the automatic collimator exchange itself by eliminating the need for a drawbridge, elevator, and carriage within the exchange assembly. The initial automated positioning of the exchange assembly will allow the exchange assembly to be more closely aligned with the detector heads for the collimator exchange, thus eliminating the need for a drawbridge. By storing the collimator pairs within the exchange assembly such that the position of each collimator pair corresponds to the operating position of the detector heads when used with that particular pair of collimators, the collimators may slide directly from their storage rack within the exchange assembly to the detector heads without the use of a drawbridge or carriage. The simplified exchange assembly of the present invention eliminates the need for a drawbridge, elevator, and carriage, while automating the initial positioning of the exchange assembly.
An apparatus and method for the automated positioning of a collimator exchange assembly with a gamma camera system is described. The present invention includes a collimator exchange assembly coupled to a base. In particular embodiments, during operation of the gamma camera system, the exchange assembly is positioned to the side of the gamma camera system. Prior to transferring collimators between the exchange assembly and the detector heads of the gamma camera system, the exchange assembly rotates into close proximity with the gamma camera system to allow the transfer of collimators between the exchange assembly and the gamma camera system. Once the collimators have been transferred, the exchange assembly then rotates back to the side of the gamma camera system such that the exchange assembly does not interfere with the gamma camera system during the gamma camera study.
The exchange assembly includes a storage rack having multiple parallel and stacked drawers for holding collimators. Each collimator pair is stored within the exchange assembly such that its relative position within the exchange assembly corresponds with the operating position of the detector heads when that particular collimator pair is in use. Once the exchange assembly is in position for the collimator transfer, the collimator pair slides from their respective drawers within the exchange assembly directly onto the detector heads of the gamma camera system.


Circuits, methods, and apparatus that may provide a separation between a signal ground and an enclosure ground such that EMI and ESD circuits are not bypassed. One example may provide a connector receptacle having fingers for contacting a device enclosure, where the fingers are not directly electrically connected to a shell of the connector receptacle. These fingers may be isolated from the shell along a top-side by an electrically insulating layer. These fingers may be further insulated from the shell along a back side by a nonconductive piece or portion of a housing.

The number and types of electronic devices available to consumers have increased tremendously the past few years, and this increase shows no signs of abating. Devices such as portable computing devices, tablet, desktop, and all-in-one computers, cell, smart, and media phones, storage devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors and other devices have become ubiquitous.
These devices often receive power and share data using various cables. These cables may have connector inserts, or plugs, on each end. The connector inserts may plug into connector receptacles on electronic devices, thereby forming one or more conductive paths for signals, power, and ground.
These signals are voltages that may vary relative to a ground line. The ground line may be referred to as signal ground. One or more signal grounds may be conveyed in a cable along with signals and supply voltages.
These signal grounds may become noisy. For example, frequency components from signals carried in the cable may corrupt the signal ground. Reflections caused by mismatched terminations may also degrade the quality of the ground. Also, signals outside the cable may send frequency components that are carried by the signal ground.
Enclosures or cases for electronic devices are often connected to ground. If a noisy signal ground connects to the device enclosure, the noise from the signal ground may radiate throughout the device, thereby degrading device performance.
To prevent this, circuitry to suppress electromagnetic interference (EMI) may be placed between a signal ground and an enclosure ground. But this circuitry may be bypassed if a signal ground is directly connected to the device enclosure.
Thus, what is needed are circuits, methods, and apparatus that may provide a separation between a signal ground and an enclosure ground such that EMI circuits are not bypassed.


A bone re-angling device may be used in performing an osteotomy. The re-angling device may be a generally wedge-shaped body. The re-angling device maybe coupled to the bone using a fixation member.

There are many occasions in orthopedic surgery when a bone is angled improperly due to congenital deformity, trauma, failed surgeries, and uneven arthritic wear in joints. A surgical operation called an osteotomy is done to correct this misalignment. In an osteotomy the bone is cut and then realigned to correct the improper angle.
In an osteotomy procedure, the surgeon removes a wedge of bone near a damaged joint. The procedure shifts weight from an area where there is damaged cartilage to an area where there either more cartilage or healthier cartilage. In this manner, weight is spread more evenly across the joint cartilage.
Osteotomy is commonly performed on the knee or hip joint. Osteotomy may help correct knee deformities such as bowleg or knock-knee deformities. Osteotomy may also be used to correct damage due to arthritis. For example, osteotomy may be performed in patients too young for a total joint replacement.
It is desirable to provide a new device which both simplifies the re-angling operations and enables correction to be more precise.

Devices, systems and methods for re-alignment of bone


A connect and disconnect assembly for connecting and disconnecting a laser diode having leads to a printed circuit board (PCB). The assembly includes a heatsink that connects with the printed circuit board by providing cap screws through the PCB which are threadably received in spacers connected to the heatsink. A connection assembly made up of a retainer block and screws connects the laser diode to the heatsink. The laser diode is provided through a cutout portion of the PCB, and connects to the heatsink by providing the screws through the retainer block and the laser diode, the screws being threadably received in the heatsink. A pair of fuzz button carriers are interposed between the laser diode and the PCB. Each fuzz button carrier has a body portion, spaced guide portions extending above the body portion, and fuzz buttons extending through the body portion. When the laser diode is connected to the heatsink, the laser diode leads are provided between the guide portions of the fuzz button carriers and contact the fuzz buttons. The fuzz buttons, in turn, electrically connect the laser diode leads to the PCB pads. The assembly provides a convenient mechanism for connecting/disconnecting the laser diode and heatsink to/from the PCB. Further, the laser diode and assembly can be easily disconnected from the PCB so that a modified, repaired, and/or updated laser diode or other component can be quickly and easily inserted into the circuit without damaging or destroying the laser diode or the PCB.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the communications field, and, more particularly to a solderless assembly for quickly connecting and disconnecting a laser assembly made up of a laser diode and a heatsink to a printed circuit board (PCB) used in the communications field.
B. Description of the Related Art
Printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies are used in computers, communications equipment, televisions, and many other products. In a typical PCB assembly, many electrical components are attached to the top and bottom surfaces of a PCB. Since the electronics manufacturing industry is highly competitive, it is important to maximize the throughput of processing PCB assemblies and to attach functional electrical components to the PCBs.
The manufacturing of PCB assemblies involves many processes, one of which is surface mounting components to PCBs. In addition to maximizing the throughput of processing PCB assemblies, it is also becoming important to accurately mount a large number of very small components to the PCB assemblies.
One major problem in mounting components on PCBs and the like is the connect/disconnect function. It is important that various components of the system be removable and/or possible to disconnect so that normal maintenance and testing, as well as changes and updates to the system, can be accomplished. Sometimes components that are permanently mounted onto a PCB (typically via soldering) may be defective. If such permanently-attached components are found to be defective, it is difficult to remove such components for repair without damaging or destroying the component and/or the PCB. Thus, it is essential that such components be easily removed from a PCB, without damaging or destroying the PCB, especially in the case where the component is defective.
One component that is typically permanently fixed (usually via soldering) onto a PCB is a laser diode. A laser diode, also known as an injection laser or diode laser, is a semiconductor device that produces coherent radiation at a center wavelength when current passes through it. Laser diodes are used in, for example, optical fiber systems, compact disc (CD) players, laser printers, remote-control devices, and intrusion detection systems.
Conventionally, a laser diode is provided with a heatsink on either a top or bottom surface of the laser diode. A heatsink is typically just a piece of metal that dissipates the heat generated by an optical or electronic component. There are three ways an object can dissipate heat: radiation, conduction, and convection.
Radiation, as the name suggests, means that the heat is simply radiated away from the object, through electromagnetic radiation (photon transport). This effect is not bound to gas or other substances surrounding the heatsink. Radiation will even take place in a vacuum. How well an object can radiate heat depends upon the material and the color.
Conduction is the exchange of kinetic energy between molecules. Less energetic (lower temperature) particles gain kinetic energy by colliding with more energetic particles (through physical contact). Since direct contact is required, a heatsink (surrounded by air) cannot get rid of significant amounts of heat using conduction. However, conduction is the effect that is responsible for the heat transfer from the hot component to the heatsink.
Convection is heat transfer by movement of a heated substance (gas or liquid). This means that the heat is transferred to the molecules of the gas (or liquid) surrounding the hot object, and then transported away through movement of molecules. If the gas or liquid around the object is forced into movement (e.g. by a fan blowing air across a heatsink), then this is called forced convection.
In a conventional arrangement as described generally in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,387, a laser diode connects to a heatsink (usually with solder or screws), the heatsink connects to the PCB (usually with solder or screws), and the leads of the laser diode are soldered to the PCB to electrically couple the laser diode to the PCB. Once a laser diode is electrically coupled to the PCB, it is desirous to test the laser diode to see if it is functional. If the laser diode is defective or nonfunctional, it is further desirable to remove and repair, or remove and replace the defective laser diode. Unfortunately, if the leads of the defective laser diode are permanently soldered to the PCB, it is very difficult to remove the laser diode from the PCB without damaging or destroying the laser diode and/or the PCB.
Thus, there is a significant need in the art to provide a mechanism that temporarily attaches and electrically connects/disconnects a laser diode (or other electrical or optical component) and a heatsink to a PCB.
The present invention solves the problems of the related art by providing a solderless assembly for quickly connecting and disconnecting a laser diode and a heatsink to a printed circuit board (PCB) used, for example, in the communications field.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention comprises an apparatus for connecting and disconnecting a laser diode having at least one lead to a first side of a printed circuit board, the laser diode extending through a cutout portion of the printed circuit board, comprising: a heatsink connected to a second side of the printed circuit board; a connection assembly connected to the first side of the printed circuit board and connecting the laser diode to said heatsink; a compressible contact carrier interposed between the laser diode and the printed circuit board, wherein a portion of a connection force provided by said connection assembly sandwiching the laser diode and said compressible contact carrier between the printed circuit board and said connection assembly, is transferred through the at least one lead of the laser diode, to said compressible contact carrier, and electrically connects the at least one lead of the laser diode with at least one pad of the printed circuit board.
Further in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention comprises a method of connecting a laser diode having at least one lead to a first side of a printed circuit board, the laser diode extending through a cutout portion of the printed circuit board, comprising: connecting a heatsink to a second side of the printed circuit board; interposing a compressible contact carrier between the laser diode and the printed circuit board; and connecting the laser diode to the heatsink, via a connection assembly, wherein a portion of a connection force provided by the connection assembly sandwiching the laser diode and the compressible contact carrier between the printed circuit board and the connection assembly, is transferred through the at least one lead of the laser diode, to the compressible contact carrier, and electrically connects the at least one lead of the laser diode with at least one pad of the printed circuit board.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.


Systems and methods are provided for file searching on mobile devices. A system includes a user interface and a file query system. The user interface is for receiving a user-provided spatio-temporal query for use in searching for a particular file. The user-provided spatio-temporal query is provided by a user of a mobile device. The file query system is for determining information about the particular file responsive to the user-provided spatio-temporal query, and identifying from the information one or more files as a search result for the particular file.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to mobile devices and, more particularly, to file searching on mobile devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The usage of ultra-light mobile computing devices (e.g., smart phones) will continue to increase at a rapid pace. Such devices have already become major conduits for the sharing of multimedia content (e.g., photos and video). As mobile devices become more acceptable and integral to workplace productivity, they will be used for creating, editing, and distributing traditional office documents.
These trends indicate that a fundamental user requirement will be an ability to search and retrieve documents in an intuitive manner on a mobile device. The main problem here is that mobile devices often lack a copy of the document itself. For example, some situations where the mobile device lacks a copy of the document including the following: the document may have been transferred to a laptop or other storage device and deleted from the mobile device; the document may have never been downloaded to the device such as, e.g., if the document is provided to the mobile device via an email and the user does not read/open the document or the attachment on the mobile device; the document may be transient and transcoded to fit the device form; and so forth. Current desktop search tools do not adequately address the problem at hand, as they primarily index files based on file names, contents, and document types which cannot work if the document itself is not available on the mobile device. In addition, the way these desktop search tools index files limits the kinds of queries a user can submit (by date of last modification, creation, filename, directories, words in the file, content type, and so forth). While such queries are useful in many circumstances, they are often frustrating to end-users as these existing tools exclude queries that use easy to remember spatio-temporal events associated with the documents.
Other related prior art proposes to associate files with other files that have been accessed around the same time or lower level system activities related to active application windows. These methods do improve traditional queries as they permit specifications of temporal events into the queries. However, these methods all require files to be present on the device to work and they fail to exploit unique features of the mobile devices that can help in document search.

International Business Machines Corporation


The disclosure relates to a locking mechanism for cases, a large portion of which is contained for operation within a recess located in the lower portion of the case. The locking mechanism includes a latch member for engaging a keeper on the upper portion of the case. A lever length arrangement cooperates with a sliding plate to actuate the latch between locked and unlocked disposition. A spring is secured to the hinge between the latch and the sliding plate to bias the latch toward an unlocked position such that when the lever is moved to an unlocked position the latch will automatically disengage the keeper.

There are a number of locking mechanisms presently in the marketplace for securing the top portion to the bottom portion of a case or container. However, many of these locking systems are relatively complicated, detracting from their use over long periods of time and rendering them relatively expensive to manufacture. In addition a number of interlocking parts extend substantially beyond the surface of the case to be locked. This detracts from the ability of the case to be stacked or otherwise arranged for shipping.
Examples of these devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,528 issued to Jericho, entitled a "Hatch Battening Device". The Jericho patent relates to a battening device for cargo hatches employing a hydraulically operated hook for engaging a pin on the hatch. The hook member is articulated to an upper end of a link, the lower end of which is articulated to the free end of a pivotally mounted arm. The upper end of the link is slidingly guided in an essentially vertical guide member on the coaming. With this arrangement, the hook portion of the hook member, after completion of the circumscribing movement of the hook member, effects a vertical movement downward toward the hatch pin.
Another patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 2,339,537 issued to Wise and entitled "Rear Luggage Compartment Lock". The Wise patent discloses a lock that will draw the lid tightly shut and at the same time, when the lock is released, will draw up and out of the way and retreat beyond the edge of the lid. The lock operates by means of pin and cam slots effecting disengagement from the keeper member. Operation of the mechanism includes a pin moving along a curved portion of a cam and causing movement of the locking arm to a completely raised position. A substantial portion of the movement is in a plane perpendicular to the plane of a case or other elements being locked.
Applicant's invention as described herein has overcome the problems noted above. In this invention a keeper is arranged on the lower portion of the top of a case to cooperate with the lever, which is secured in the dish or recess in the bottom portion of the case. The mechanism includes a spring to bias the latch toward a disengaged position. A sliding plate having a slot therethrough circumscribes a post to define the path of movement for the plate. The lever has one end pivotally fixed to the post and another end exposed for actuation by the user. A link has one end pivotally secured to an eccentric position approximately midway along the length of the lever and its other end pivotally secured to an end of the plate remote from the slot. With this configuration, when the lever is in an open position the sliding plate is in an upward, unlocked position. As the lever is rotated clockwise, movement of the link will force the sliding plate downwardly such that the latch will be locked into the keeper. To unlock the mechanism, the lever is simply rotated in a counter-clockwise direction which effects movement of the sliding plate upwardly, permitting the latch to disengage the keeper.
The above has been a brief discussion of deficiencies in the prior art and advantages of the invention described herein. Other advantages will be appreciated by those skilled in the art from the detailed discussion of the preferred embodiment which follows.


A method and a device for operating an exhaust gas recirculation of a self-ignition internal combustion engine, in particular of a motor vehicle, the internal combustion engine including an air system for controlling the air supply into at least one combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine, and it being provided in particular that a dynamic operating state of the internal combustion engine is detected and, in the event of a detected dynamic operating state, a corrective intervention in the air system of the internal combustion engine is carried out.

An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is known to be used for preventing the formation of nitrogen oxides during the combustion of fuel in a self-ignition internal combustion engine (for example, a diesel engine). In the EGR at least a portion of the exhaust gas of the diesel engine is recirculated via an exhaust gas turbocharger (for example, exhaust gas turbine) into the internal combustion engine for renewed combustion. This turbocharger drives a compressor and increases thereby the amount of air flow available for combustion. The turbocharger draws energy from the residual pressure of the recirculated exhaust gas and is used to build up a corresponding boost pressure, with the aid of which the efficiency of the combustion and therefore also the performance of the internal combustion engine is improved.
High demands are placed nowadays on such internal combustion engines due to the constant tightening of the legal limits for pollutant emissions. Corresponding limits exist both in the passenger vehicle sector as well as in the commercial vehicle sector.
The EGR facilitates, in particular, a lowering of the oxygen content in the combustion chambers and in the cylinders of the internal combustion engine, as a result of which the combustion temperature in the combustion chamber changes, and the formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is thereby reduced.
In the case of diesel engines, particle emissions also come into question, for which legal limits also exist. The particle emissions may be reduced in a known manner with the aid of a particle filter, the particles emitted in the exhaust gas system being eliminated via soot oxidation.
A disadvantage of the EGR in the case of a diesel engine is that the level of particle emissions rises as the proportion of recirculated exhaust gas increases. The principle cause of the higher particle emissions lies in the restriction in the oxygen necessary for the aforementioned soot oxidation. The oxygen content of the exhaust gas reduced by the EGR has a diminishing effect on NOx emissions and an enhancing effect on particle emissions. Accordingly, a conflict exists in diesel engines between the aforementioned soot and NOx emissions, for which a compromise must be found.
Due to existing legal requirements for exhaust gas tests, only limited demands are placed on passenger vehicles in terms of reducing pollutant emissions during dynamic operation of an internal combustion engine, i.e., an operation in which dynamic operating cycles are driven which approach the realistic operational conditions of the internal combustion engine.
Such a dynamic operation requires, in particular, rapid (i.e., transient) changes in torque and rotational speed of the internal combustion engine as well as a reversal of the direction of torque (so-called "coasting"). Thus, modern engine testing stations allow only individual operating points of the engine being tested to be set as stationary, the parameters to be measured, in particular the setpoint values of a corresponding EGR control, usually being cited in a stationary engine characteristic map (for example, torque or engine load over rotational speed). Such an EGR control is based in most cases on an air flow regulation or EGR rate control.
In the commercial vehicle sector, a dynamic operation in the stationary exhaust gas tests performed there is actually completely ignored.
Future statutory regulations, particularly in Europe, the United States and Japan, for certifying an exhaust gas recirculation or exhaust gas after-treatment in both the passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle sectors will constitute a significantly larger component of an aforementioned dynamic test, the emissions forming during actual driving operation (real driving emissions=RDE) and fuel consumption, in particular, being included.

Method and device for operating an exhaust gas recirculation of a self-ignition internal combustion engine, in particular of a motor vehicle


Preferred embodiments of the present invention have a nozzle assembly capable of controlling pressure of comestible fluid exiting the nozzle assembly, a refrigeration system in which refrigerant pressure and temperature is controllable to enable control of comestible fluid temperature, heat exchangers connected to cool comestible fluid in the nozzles, an ultraviolet sterilization system for sterilizing locations outside and inside the system, and a hand held comestible fluid dispenser capable of cooling and selectively dispensing one of several comestible fluids supplied thereto. To provide comestible fluid at rack pressure to the nozzles in one highly preferred embodiment, each nozzle preferably has a valve movable through a number of closed positions to change pressure within the nozzle. Prior to fluid dispense, pressure at the nozzle is preferably reduced by actuating the valve through its range of closed positions. To improve temperature control and cooling efficiency, the present invention preferably employs heat exchangers adjacent to the nozzle assemblies. Due to their locations close to the nozzle assemblies, the heat exchangers generate convective recirculation through the nozzle assemblies to cool comestible fluid to the discharge openings thereof. The present invention can take the form of a multi-fluid dispensing gun having such a nozzle and heat exchanger relationship and having the pressure controlling valve as described above. To further improve control of comestible fluid temperature, the present invention preferably has an evaporator pressure regulator to control refrigerant pressure upstream of the refrigeration system compressor and a hot gas bypass valve to control refrigerant temperature.

Despite significant advancements in fluid dispensing devices and systems, many problems that have existed for decades related to such devices and systems remain unsolved. These problems exist in many different fluid dispensing applications, but have a particularly significant impact upon fluid dispensing devices and systems in the food and beverage industry as will be described below. Comestible fluid dispensers in this industry can be found for dispensing a wide variety of carbonated and non-carbonated pre-mixed and post-mixed drinks, including for example beer, soda, water, coffee, tea, and the like. Fluid dispensers in this industry are also commonly used for dispensing non-drink fluids such as condiments, food ingredients, etc. The term "comestible fluid" as used herein and in the appended claims refers to any type of food or drink intended to be consumed and which is found in a flowable form.
A majority of the long-standing problems in the comestible fluid dispensing art are found in dispensing applications for carbonated beverages. First, because the fluid being poured is carbonated and is therefore sensitive to pressure drops, conventional carbonated comestible fluid dispensers are generally slow, requiring several seconds to fill even an average size cup or glass. Second, when flow speeds are increased, the dispensed beverage often has an undesirably large foam head (which can overflow, spill, or otherwise create a mess) and is often flat due to the fast dispense. Some existing devices use hydrostatic pressure to push comestible fluid out of a holding tank located above the dispensing nozzle. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,363 issued to Nelson. Unfortunately, these devices do not provide for pressure control at the nozzle, and (at least partly for this reason) are limited in their ability to prevent foaming and loss of carbonation in the case of carbonated comestible fluids. The working potential of rack pressure in such devices is largely wasted in favor of hydrostatic pressure. By not maintaining rack pressure to the nozzles in these devices, carbonated comestible fluid inevitably loses its carbonation over time while waiting for subsequent dispenses. Also, like other existing beer dispensers, such devices cool and/or keep the comestible fluid cool by the relatively inefficient practice of cooling a reservoir or supply of comestible fluid.
Another problem of conventional comestible fluid beverage dispensers is related to the temperature at which the fluid is kept prior to dispense and at which the fluid is served. Some beverages are typically served cold but without ice, and therefore must be cooled or refrigerated prior to dispense. This requirement presents significant design limitations upon dispensers for dispensing such beverages. By way of example only, beer is usually served cold and must therefore be refrigerated or cooled prior to dispense. Conventional practice is to cool the beer in a refrigerated and insulated storage area. The process of refrigerating a beer storage area sometimes for an indefinite period of time prior to beer dispense is fairly inefficient and expensive. Such refrigeration also does not provide for quick temperature control or temperature change of the comestible fluid to be dispensed. Specifically, because the comestible fluid in storage is typically found in relatively large quantities, quick temperature change and adjustment by a user is not possible. Also, conventional refrigeration systems are not well suited for responsive control of comestible fluid temperature by automatic or manual control of the refrigeration system.
Unlike numerous other comestible fluids which do not necessarily need to be cooled (e.g., soft drinks, tea, lemonade, etc., which can be mixed with ice in a vessel after dispense) or at least do not require a cooling device or system for fluid lines running between a refrigerated fluid source and a nozzle, tap, or dispensing gun, beer is ideally kept cool up to the point of dispense. Therefore, many conventional dispensers are not suitable for dispensing beer. For example, beer located within fluid lines between a refrigerated fluid source and a nozzle, tap, or dispensing gun can become warm between dispenses. Warm beer in such fluid lines must be served warm, be mixed with cold beer following the warm beer in the fluid lines, or be flushed and discarded. These options are unacceptable as they call either for product waste or for serving product in a state that is less than desirable. In addition, because many comestible fluids are relatively quickly perishable, holding such fluids uncooled (such as in fluid lines running from a refrigerated fluid source to a nozzle, tap, or dispensing gun) for a length of time can cause the fluid to spoil, even fouling part or all of the dispensing system and requiring system flushing and cleaning.
Because many comestible fluids should be kept cool up to the point of dispense, the apparatus or elements necessary to achieve such cooling have significantly restricted conventional dispenser designs. Therefore, dispensers for highly perishable fluids such as beer are therefore typically non-movable taps connected via insulated or refrigerated lines to a refrigerated fluid source, while dispensers for less perishable fluids (and especially those that can be cooled by ice after dispense) can be hand-held and movable, connected to a source of refrigerated or non-refrigerated fluid by an unrefrigerated and uninsulated fluid line if desired.
A comestible fluid dispenser design issue related to the above problems is the ability to clean and sterilize the dispenser as needed. Like the problems described above, improperly cleaned dispenser systems can affect comestible fluid taste and smell and can even cause fresh comestible fluid to turn bad. Many potential dispenser system designs cannot be used due to the inability to properly clean and sterilize one or more internal areas of the dispenser system. Particularly where dispenser system designs call for the use of small components or for components having internal areas that are small, difficult to access, or cannot readily be cleaned by flushing, the advantages such designs could offer are compromised by cleaning issues.
The problems described above all have a significant impact upon dispensed comestible fluid quality and taste, but also have an impact upon an important issue in most dispenser applications: speed. Whether due to the inability to use well known devices for increasing fluid flow, due to the fact that carbonated fluids demand particular care in their manner of dispense, or due to dispenser design restrictions resulting from perishable fluids, conventional comestible fluid dispensers are invariably slow and inefficient.
In light of the problems and limitations of the prior art described above, a need exists for a comestible fluid dispensing apparatus and method capable of rapidly dispensing comestible fluid in a controlled manner without foaming or de-carbonating the fluid even between extended periods between dispenses, which is capable of maintaining the comestible fluid throughout the dispensing apparatus cool indefinitely and with high efficiency, which permits quick and accurate temperature control of comestible fluid dispensed by automatic or manual refrigeration system control, which can be in the form of a mounted or hand-held apparatus, which can be easily cleaned and sterilized even though relatively small and difficult to access internal areas exist in the apparatus, and which is capable of monitoring apparatus operation and dispense parameters for controlling dispense pressure, flow speed, and head size. Each preferred embodiment of the present invention achieves one or more of these results.

Apparatus and method for sterilizing a fluid dispensing device

Shurflo Pump Manufacturing Company, Inc.


The present disclosure provides a heat exchanger including a holder and a nut. The holder defines a holding space therein. The nut includes a main body, which is inserted into the holding space along an insertion direction, and a protrusion, which protrudes from the main body. The nut defines a threaded hole that extends through the main body and the protrusion. The holder further defines an opening at a first surface of the holder. The protrusion has an end surface that aligns with or protrudes from the first surface through the opening when the nut is inserted into the holding space. The end surface contacts an external component when the external component is fixed to the heat exchanger by inserting a bolt into the threaded hole through the external component.

Conventionally, engine cooling module (ECM) components such as electric fans/shrouds are fastened to a heat exchanger such as a radiator through a bolt-nut combination. The heat exchanger typically has an attachment portion formed in, for example, a tank, and a nut is set inside a space defined in the attachment portion. Then, the ECM component is fixed to the attachment portion by screwing the bolt into the threaded hole of the nut.
However, there has been following concern in such a conventional structure for mounting the ECM component to the heat exchanger. Typically, the ECM component has a receiving surface with a metal insert, whereas the attachment portion of the heat exchanger (the tank) is formed of a plastic material. When the ECM component is fixed to the attachment portion of the heat exchanger, the attachment portion contacts the ECM component, and therefore a fastening force by the bolt acts on the attachment portion of the heat exchanger from the metal insert of the ECM component. In other words, the conventional structure provides a plastic bearing surface in the heat exchanger to receive the ECM component. As a result, due to vibration and/or high temperature during operation of the heat exchanger, plastic creep may generate in the attachment portion, which could lead to bolt loosening.
In view of the above, it is an objective to provide a heat exchanger and a structure that provide a metal bearing surface for fixing an extra component to the heat exchanger.

Heat exchanger and structure for mounting external component to heat exchanger


Electronic system for audio noise processing and noise reduction comprises: first and second noise estimators, selector and attenuator. First noise estimator processes first audio signal from voice beamformer (VB) and generate first noise estimate. VB generates first audio signal by beamforming audio signals from first and second audio pick-up channels. Second noise estimator processes first and second audio signal from noise beamformer (NB), in parallel with first noise estimator and generates second noise estimate. NB generates second audio signal by beamforming audio signals from first and second audio pick-up channels. First and second audio signals include frequencies in first and second frequency regions. Selector's output noise estimate may be a) second noise estimate in the first frequency region, and b) first noise estimate in the second frequency region. Attenuator attenuates first audio signal in accordance with output noise estimate. Other embodiments are also described.

Currently, a number of consumer electronic devices are adapted to receive speech via microphone ports or headsets. While the typical example is a portable telecommunications device (mobile telephone), with the advent of Voice over IP (VoIP), desktop computers, laptop computers and tablet computers may also be used to perform voice communications.
When using these electronic devices, the user also has the option of using the speakerphone mode or a wired headset to receive his speech. However, a common complaint with these hands-free modes of operation is that the speech captured by the microphone port or the headset includes environmental noise such as secondary speakers in the background or other background noises. This environmental noise often renders the user's speech unintelligible and thus, degrades the quality of the voice communication.
Mobile phones enable their users to conduct conversations in many different acoustic environments. Some of these are relatively quiet while others are quite noisy. There may be high background or ambient noise levels, for instance, on a busy street or near an airport or train station. To improve intelligibility of the speech of the near-end user as heard by the far-end user, an audio signal processing technique known as ambient noise suppression can be implemented in the mobile phone. During a mobile phone call, the ambient noise suppressor operates upon an uplink signal that contains speech of the near-end user and that is transmitted by the mobile phone to the far-end user's device during the call, to clean up or reduce the amount of the background noise that has been picked up by the primary or talker microphone of the mobile phone. There are various known techniques for implementing the ambient noise suppressor. For example, using a second microphone that is positioned and oriented to pickup primarily the ambient sound, rather than the near-end user's speech, the ambient sound signal is electronically subtracted or suppressed from the talker signal and the result becomes the uplink. This noise reduction technique using two microphones has an advantage over the noise reduction technique using a single microphone because it can perform a better separation between the user's speech and the ambient noises and thus is better capable of attenuating the ambient noises. However, when the two microphones are placed on a headset or phone held close to user's head, at the ear, the captured speech signal by the two microphones may be negatively affected by the physical aspects of the user's body (e.g., the head, pinnae, shoulders, chest, hair, etc.) and/or other phenomena including reflection, diffusion, scattering, and absorption.

System and method for audio noise processing and noise reduction


A gown is provided for medical and other uses which allows the person wearing the gown or an assistant to quickly and easily tie the straps to close the open gap in the back of the gown. The gown includes an elongated first strap having a first end fixed to a back edge of the gown, and then extending upwardly over the shoulder, with a free end hanging in front of the gown. The elongated strap is releasably and temporarily secured near the shoulder of the gown. The person wearing the gown or the assistant can grasp the loose end of the strap and pull, so as to release the strap from the attachment mechanism, and then pull the strap upwardly to pass around the back of the person's neck and downwardly along the opposite side, and then tying to a second strap at a location in front of their body. The straps eliminate the need to reach behind the person's back to tie the gown.

Gowns, such as medical gowns, are well-known and have long been used to provide personal protection for the wearer, including patients, medical staff, health-care workers, hospital visitors, and others. A common gown design includes a closed front and an open back which allows the user or wearer to place their arms through arm holes or sleeves, and then tying straps on the back of the gown to close the open back. Some gowns also utilize straps on the top back of the gown to tie behind the user's neck, or alternatively, a hook and loop closure. Some gowns utilize waist ties on the back or sides of the gown which can be wrapped to the front or side of the gown for tying. All of these prior art gown designs utilizing the waist tie straps require manipulation by the person wearing the gown to reach behind their back to grasp the waist tie strap, and then tie the straps for closure of the back of the gown and securement of the gown. These manipulations are time-consuming and can be difficult or painful, particularly for persons having back, neck, shoulder injuries or issues. Obese people also may have trouble reaching behind their back to grasp a conventional tie strap. In some instances, the help of a colleague is needed who can pass the waist tie from behind the patient's back to the front to tie the gown closed, which takes additional time, and removes the colleague from other work or care for another person or patient.
Therefore, there is a need for a quick and simple gown design that allows the patient or healthcare professional or worker to put on their own gown, without assistance of another person and without reaching behind their back.
Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a gown having a waist tie which can be easily grasped by the person wearing the gown and manipulated to tie the gown closed, without reaching behind their back.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a medical gown having a pair of tie straps which can be easily reached by the wearer for tying the gown on the front or side.
A further objective of the present invention the provision of a gown having a waist tie strap which is temporarily and releasably secured near a shoulder portion of the gown so as to extend from the back edge upwardly over the shoulder and then downwardly for easy grasping by the wearer from the front of the waist or the chest.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of a gown having an elongated waist tie strap which extends upwardly from a back edge of the gown, over the wearer's shoulder, and downwardly along the front of the gown for gripping by the person wearing the gown or an assistant.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of an open-back medical gown having a waist tie strap which can be grasped on the front of the gown and pulled above the wearer's head, then across and downwardly for tying on the front of the gown, without the wearer reaching behind their back.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an open-back medical gown which can be tied quickly and easily on the front or side to close the open back, without reaching behind the back.
A further objective of the present invention is a provision of a quick tie medical gown which is easy and cost effective to manufacture, durable, safe, and protective in use.
These and other objectives become apparent from the following description of the invention.


An optical filter composed of a concatenation of elementary filters consisting of chirped slanted Bragg gratings written on a continuous portion of an optical waveguide, characterized in that the various gratings in the concatenation have the same angle, identical lengths and a linear chirp.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the field of optical filters consisting of Bragg gratings photo-written in waveguides. The invention concerns more particularly gain-equalising filters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Gain-equalising filters, also known by the acronym GFF, standing for Gain Flattening Filter, in general consist of Bragg gratings photo-written on portions of waveguides such as optical fibres or planar guides. A waveguide is conventionally composed of an optical core whose function is to transmit and possibly amplify an optical signal, surrounded by an optical cladding whose function is to confine the optical signal in the core. To this end, the refractive index of the core n1 and cladding n2 are such that n1>n2. As is well known, the propagation of an optical signal in a single-mode waveguide breaks down into a fundamental mode guided in the core and secondary modes guided over a certain distance in the optical core/cladding assembly, also referred to as cladding modes.
The core and/or cladding of the guide can be doped so as to be made photosensitive for a Bragg grating writing, for example with germanium (Ge). The gratings conventionally used for gain flattening are slanted gratings, known by the term SBG, standing for Slanted Bragg Grating, or long-period gratings, known by the term LPG, standing for Long Period Grating. Such gratings are non-reflective and are designed to allow coupling of the fundamental mode in the cladding modes. It is also possible to dispense with the optical isolators which are essential when the gain flattening is achieved with reflective gratings such as straight Bragg gratings.
Gain flattening filters are associated with optical amplifiers regularly distributed along transmission lines. Optical amplifiers do not generally provide equal amplification for all wavelengths of the signals transmitted over the various channels of the same transmission line.
In particular, with the development of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) transmission applications, the disparities in amplification on a given passband have a tendency to be accentuated and the tolerances of the gain flatteners become less and less, that is to say the flattening filter must follow the amplification curve as closely as possible. Thus DWDM applications require the production of narrower and narrower filters exhibiting more and more accentuated contrasts.
The gain flattening profiles are therefore becoming more and more complex and the manufacturing constraints are pushing for minimising the number of writings of gratings per filter.
In the case of slanted gratings (SBGs) for gain flattening applications as presented above, various solutions for writing these gratings can be envisaged for producing a complete flattening filter.
A first known solution consists of writing various SBGs on various waveguides in order to constitute so-called elementary filters each adapted to a portion of the spectral amplification band to be flattened. Several SBGs are then selected, according to the flattening required, and associated with one another in order to form a so-called complex filter. In general, the various SBGs are assembled by welding the various waveguides. Such a technique is however not optimal since the welds on the various elementary filters introduce significant insertion losses.
To mitigate this drawback, it has been proposed to write the various slanted gratings on different portions of the same waveguide. Such a solution is described in the patent application WO 93/24977. The graph in FIG. 1 illustrates the spectrum of the losses of eight uniform SBGs written with an angle of 8° on the same guide portion in order to form a complex filter whose spectral response is the sum of the spectral responses of each SBG. According to the contrast given to each grating, it is thus possible to model the response of the complex filter.
This solution does however require as many writings through as many phase masks as there are elementary filters. The more complex the gain flattening profile, the higher the number of elementary SBG writings necessary for producing the complex flattening filter, which makes the manufacture of such filters more expensive.


A method for the production of a gas diffusion electrode having particles of a platinum group metal deposited on a carbon sheet is disclosed. This method comprises placing a water-repelling carbon sheet into contact with ozone, thereby oxidizing the surface of the sheet and forming a functional group on the surface, then immersing the sheet in a solution containing platinum group metal complex cations as dissolved seeds, thereby inducing ion exchange between the hydrogen ions present in the functional group and the platinum group metal complex cations and deposition of the platinum group metal complex cations on the carbon sheet, and further reducing the platinum group metal complex cations on the carbon into platinum group metal particles.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for the production of a gas diffusion electrode. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for the production of a gas diffusion electrode having a platinum group metal deposited thereon by means of an ion-exchange reaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fuel cells of the phosphoric acid type, the solid polymer type, and the like use a gas diffusion electrode having particles of a precious metal such as platinum dispersed on an electroconductive carbon support. In the case of fuel cells of the solid polymer type, there is a particularly strong need for a technology for depositing fine particles of platinum in a highly dispersed state so as to increase the catalyst surface area and obtain an electrode exhibiting high catalytic activity with only a small amount of deposited catalytic metal. As means for obtaining a gas diffusion electrode for a fuel cell having fine platinum particles of a diameter of not more than 3 nm deposited as a catalyst in a highly dispersed state, a method which resides in causing colloidal particles of an oxide of platinum to be deposited on carbon particles (JP-B-61-1,869), a method using a protective colloiding agent (JP-A-56-155,645), and the like have been proposed. These methods adopt a procedure which comprises depositing platinum on a carbon powder, then mixing the platinum-deposited carbon powder with a dispersion of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and subsequently sheet molding the resultant mixture. The molded sheet thus obtained possesses a water-repelling property. These methods are problematic, however, in the point that, during the sheet molding, the platinum particles agglomerate and lose their catalytic ability or are covered with the carbon particles, PTFE, etc. and prevented from contacting the reaction gas and functioning as a catalyst. As a result, the utilization ratio of catalyst is degraded.
For overcoming this problem, a method which comprises preparatorily forming a sheet electrode possessing a water-repelling property and then impregnating the sheet electrode with, for example, an alcohol solution of chloroplatinic acid (JP-A-05-343,073) has been proposed. With this method, however, it is difficult to attain uniform impregnation of the alcohol solution in the sheet electrode, and the platinum particles are not deposited in a highly dispersed state, because the platinum particles gradually agglomerate.
From the practical point of view, therefore, a strong need is felt for the development of a method enabling easy production of a gas diffusion electrode having particles of a platinum group metal deposited in a highly dispersed state thereon and, at the same time, excelling in catalytic activity.

Method for production of gas diffusion electrode

Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of International Trade and Industry


Provided are: an antistatic resin composition for containers and pipes of organic solvents, which has long-lasting and sufficient antistaticity and whose antistatic performance is not impaired even when the composition is in contact with an organic solvent for a long period of time; and a container and a pipe for organic solvents, which include the same.

Thermoplastic resins are lightweight and easy to process and thus used in containers, pipes and the like of various shapes. Particularly, polyolefin resins are used in, for example, containers for storing organic solvents and pipes for transferring organic solvents therethrough.
However, thermoplastic resins, because of their excellent electrical insulation properties, have a characteristic feature of being easily electrically charged by friction and the like. Such electrification presents a risk of ignition or explosion of an organic solvent or flammable gas that is stored in the containers or passed through the pipes. Further, in the cases of medical containers, pipes and the like (e.g., containers for storing rubbing alcohol), attachment of dust caused by an electrostatic charge is not preferred also from the hygiene standpoint.
Antistatic agents are used for the purpose of inhibiting such electrification of containers and pipes. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe the use of a polyhydric alcohol ester (e.g., glycerin monostearate) as an antistatic agent in a container made of a polyolefin resin.
It is generally known to obtain fibers and filaments from a polyolefin resin, and nonwoven fabrics are produced from such fibers. However, since polyolefin resins have electrical insulation properties, and there is a problem of being easily electrically charged by friction and the like and thereby attracting dust and dirt in the surroundings. Particularly, in workwears and the like using such nonwoven fabrics, attraction of dust and the like is problematic. Further, nonwoven fabrics are used in transport materials and packaging materials of electric/electronic components and instruments, and the generation of static electricity presents a major problem since it causes malfunction and attracts fine dust and the like.
Concerning such problems, Patent Document 3 proposes a nonwoven fabric in which antistaticity is imparted through hydrophilization by mixing a surfactant in the raw materials in advance. Further, Patent Document 4 proposes a polyolefin nonwoven fabric which contains a modified polyolefin and a surfactant as an antistatic agent. Moreover, Patent Document 5 proposes the use of a polymer-type antistatic agent such as polyether ester amide in nonwoven fabrics.

Antistatic resin composition and polyolefin antistatic fiber for container and pipe for organic solvent

Abstract: The antistatic resin composition for containers and pipes of organic solvents contains 3 to 25 parts by mass of at least one polymer compound (E) with respect to 100 parts by mass of a thermoplastic resin, wherein the polymer compound (E) has a structure in which a diol, an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid, an aromatic dicarboxylic acid, a compound (B) which includes at least one group represented by the following Formula (1) and has hydroxyl groups at both ends, and an epoxy compound (D) having two or more epoxy groups are bound via ester bonds:—CH2—CH2—O—  (1).