An endless drive belt storage and display module enables a plurality of endless drive belts of different sizes to be placed circumferentially, one inside the other, in a way that makes optimal use of available space, causes minimal belt bending, enables easy removal and replacement of any given belt, maintains organization among the belts placed therein, and protects the belts from exposure to elements such as dust and sunlight.

This disclosure relates to the general field of mercantile storage and display, and in particular, to the storage and display of industrial endless belts such as so-called "V-belts."
Industrial machines and devices such as, but not limited to, automobiles, lawnmowers, washing machines, drill presses, tillers, snow blowers, compressors, pumps, saws, conveyor systems, crushers, tree debarkers, combines, hay bines, unloaders, sprayers, etc., make widespread use of endless drive belts, such as so-called V-belts, to transmit various driving forces from one drive element to another. These endless industrial drive belts are manufactured in a vast variety of sizes, e.g., diameters, widths, and depths, depending on their intended use, such that a merchant who carries these belts often has a great deal of difficulty storing and displaying them in an organized and compact fashion.
Additionally, these belts 1 are often stored in a manner that causes them to be bent into an overly-tight curvature radius at various positions around their circumference, such as, but not limited to, when they are commonly packaged as shown in FIG. 1. These types of substantially asymmetric belt storage methods can cause belt to stretch unnaturally in certain regions (such as at the opposite end regions of FIG. 1) and become deformed and misshapen, which can damage the belt and limit its useful lifetime. While such belts are manufactured to be bent when inn use, the storing of a belt for a long period of time with a severe bend in one portion of the belt can be harmful to the belt by unduly stressing the cords at that bent belt portion and causing premature failure of that belt. The natural configuration of such belts is circular or nearly circular (i.e., ovular), with a convex curvature around the entire outer circumference of these belts, and its is desirable to store these belts in a manner that does not deform these belts too much from such a natural configuration.
The prior art reveals a limited number of efforts to provide for the storage of endless drive belts, all of which are unsatisfactory in various way. U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,745, for example, illustrates a belt packaging tray. Although this tray appears to provide a compact means for shipping a plurality of endless drive belts, these belts are tightly and unnaturally wound in a way that can deform their natural shape. In particular, this tray causes some regions of the outer circumferences of these belts to be unnaturally bent with a concave curvature, such as in the region of FIG. 1 surrounding reference numeral 14c. This concave bending of a belt opposite to the natural bend with which it is manufactured and used is particularly harmful to belt life. In addition, the packaging of U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,745 causes other outer circumference belt regions to be bent convexly, but too tightly relative to the natural radius of curvature, such as in the upper left and upper right regions of FIG. 1. This too is harmful to belt life. Also, it does not appear to be possible to easily remove and replace any one belt from this tray without disrupting all of the other belts in the tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,637 similarly discloses an endless belt package which unnatural curvatures into the belts, and also, which wastes valuable space that might otherwise be used for compact and efficient belt storage, such as the spaces in FIG. 3 that enclose reference numerals 31, 22, 35, and 27. Here too, it does not appear to be possible to easily remove and replace any one belt from this tray without disrupting all of the other belts in the tray.
A related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,009, is for packaging endless fabrics, rather than drive belts. However, if the teachings of this patent were applied to the non-analogous art area of drive belts, the unnaturally-tight bending illustrated in this patent, while perhaps suitable for fabrics, could again be damaging if applied to drive belts. Similarly, removal and replacement of any one fabric without disrupting the remaining fabrics appears to be impossible.
Also of background interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,730, insofar as the device disclosed therein appears to be used to hold several different sizes of elastic bands such as rubber bands.
However, none of these references addresses the fundamental concern of compactly storing and displaying a large variety of endless drive belts in a systematic, organized manner, for mercantile use, without introducing unnatural and possibly-deforming bends into these belts.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a system, apparatus and method that enables drive belts of a wide range of sizes to be easily and compactly stored in an organized manner.
It is further desirable for the same system, apparatus and method that stores these endless drive belts to also be usable to display these belts without having to remove the belts from storage, thereby enabling a drive belt merchant to easily convert between the storage and the display of his or her drive belts.
It is further desirable to enable individual drive belts to be removed from storage or display, and later replaced back into storage or display, easily, quickly, and without disrupting the remaining belts which are not removed.
It is further desirable to ensure that drive belts are stored and displayed in a manner that does not cause unnatural bending, either by bending the outer circumference of the belts concavely, or by bending the outer circumference of the belts convexly with a curvature radius that exceeds their natural radius of curvature by more than 2 to 1, or 3 to 1, or 4 to 1, or 5 to 1, or, at the outer limit, 6 to 1.
It is further desirable for drive belts to be stored in a way that enables identifying labels on the sides of these belts to be easily viewed while the belts are in storage.
It is further desirable to ensure that drive belts are stored in an environment where they are protected from exposure to elements such as dust and sunlight.

Endless belt mercantile storage and display system, apparatus and method


A vehicle accessory control circuit includes a processor electrically connected to a power source and a memory, the processor executing computer readable instructions stored on the memory to configure the accessory control circuit and an accessory control output. The control circuit includes at least one capacitive touch assembly having an electrically conductive conduit shielded by a portion of a steering mechanism of the vehicle. The capacitive touch assembly is connected to the power source and the processor such that the conduit is configured to transmit a capacitance input data signal to the processor to adjust the accessory control output. The capacitance input data signal is varied by a conductive touch object such as a human finger or palm to manipulate the output from the accessory system.

Vehicles currently incorporate numerous control switches into a steering wheel area of a vehicle to give the driver a safe and convenient way to manipulate various vehicle systems while driving. These systems include, but are not limited to, a horn output, a windshield wiper system, a cruise control system, an audio system, a video system, and/or a lighting system. Control panels for these kinds of systems currently utilize various push button and toggle switch circuitry installations installed onto a steering wheel mechanism of the vehicle and may be configured for installation alongside a driver air bag module, a cover for the driver air bag, or along any other portion of a steering assembly within a vehicle.
For example, the driver air bag module may be secured onto a frame of a hub of a steering wheel in the vehicle. The driver air bag module may include an electrical contact that completes an electrical circuit of a horn system, or other vehicle accessory systems. Using a commonly known vehicle horn as one non-limiting example of current technology, the steering mechanism in most vehicles allows for horn actuation when the air bag module is moved toward a corresponding electrical contact on the steering wheel frame. Typically, the contact on the driver air bag module is biased away from the contact on the steering wheel frame using springs, and the vehicle operator must push the driver air bag module with sufficient force to overcome the biasing force of the springs. The horn signal produced by completing the circuit is an on/off signal. In addition, depending on the location and number of the contacts, the force required to actuate the horn in the center of the driver air bag module may be higher than the force required to actuate the horn from the periphery of the driver air bag module. Furthermore, the horn may be actuated inadvertently if the vehicle is subjected to vibration, such as off road conditions.
Other well-known vehicle accessory systems operated from the steering mechanism of a vehicle include the lighting system, windshield wipers, cruise control, Bluetooth® systems, stereo systems, and the like. These systems also incorporate electro-mechanical switches, potentiometers, or other hardware to physically manipulate a respective output signal.
Drivers today, however, expect high levels of convenience, durability, and aesthetic appeal in the driver's area of new vehicles. Traditional gauges, buttons, dials, switches, and common hardware used in vehicles are outdated as more individuals are accustomed to the convenience of technology incorporated into personal devices, such as smart phones, tablets, and personal computers. Given the fast paced nature of these personal devices, there is a need in the art for an improved way to give drivers access to vehicle systems from the driver's seat of a vehicle while simultaneously allowing the drivers the familiarity of modern computing technology.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for more convenient and user friendly control panels for vehicle control circuits, particularly for drivers utilizing accessories available in modern automobiles.


A hydraulic cooling system for a heavy-equipment machine, with the heavy-equipment machine including a frame supported on the ground by a ground-drive assembly, a cab extending upward from the frame, and an attachment tool for performing work. The hydraulic cooling system comprises a main housing and a cooling assembly housed at least partly within the main housing, with the cooling assembly being configured to reduce a temperature of hydraulic oil flowing through the hydraulic cooling system. The hydraulic cooling system further comprises an attachment assembly for attaching the main housing to the cab of the heavy-equipment machine. The main housing is configured to extend rearward from the cab.

Many types of heavy-equipment machines, such as tractors or skid-steer loaders, include a hydraulic system (1) for facilitating movement (e.g., via a ground-drive assembly) of the machines, (2) for actuating components of the machines (e.g., via cylinder-actuated lift arms), and/or (3) for operating attachment tools associated with the machines. For example, certain skid-steer loaders can include a ground-drive assembly with a hydrostatic transmission that use hydraulic power to generate movement of the skid-steer loader (e.g., via wheels or tracks). Such hydraulic power is also commonly used to actuate the lift arms of the skid-steer loader. Furthermore, certain attachment tools that can be associated with the skid-steer loader may use the skid-steer loader's hydraulic system to enable operation of the attachment tools. Examples of such attachment tools include brooms, augers, rotary cutters, tillers, mulchers, rock wheels, stump grinders, breakers, vibratory rollers, or the like.
Generally, a hydraulic system for a skid-steer loader will include a primary cooling system for cooling the hydraulic oil that is used during movement of the skid-steer loader. Such cooling is required as the hydraulic oil becomes heated due to use by the skid-steer loader's ground-drive assembly. However, when the skid-steer loader uses an attachment tool that requires a significant amount of hydraulic power to operate (i.e., a high oil flow demand), the primary cooling system may be inadequate to maintain the hydraulic oil at a sufficiently-cool operating temperature. In such cases, certain previously-used skid-steer loaders have been known to include a secondary cooling system that functions to cool the hydraulic oil when the skid-steer loader use attachment tools. However, such previously-used secondary cooling systems have numerous drawbacks.
For instance, such previously-used secondary cooling systems would generally be positioned on a top of the skid-steer loader, such as on top of a cab of the skid-steer loader. In such cases, the secondary cooling systems would extend significantly above the skid-steer loader, which would inhibit overhead clearance of the skid-steer loader and restrict movement in confined spaces. In addition, positioning the secondary cooling systems on the cab of the skid-steer loader can inhibit air flow through the secondary cooling system, which decreases cooling efficiency and can generate high back pressures. Finally, positioning the secondary cooling systems on the cab of the skid-steer loader makes it difficult to access the secondary cooling system for maintenance, cleaning, and the like.


A label address translating device includes a unit for processing a program and judging, when processing the program, whether or not an address is obtained from a label, and a label address translating unit for reading the address corresponding to the label from a label table in an exception handling, and writing the address to the program. The program, after being processed by the label address translating device, comes into a state where the label is rewritten into the address. The rewriting into the address is performed in the exception handling, and a time needed for processing (compiling) the program is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a label address translating device for obtaining an effective address (an absolute address, i.e., an intra-memory actual address) from a label I a program described in a predetermined language.
2. Related Background Art
In a program described in a computer language such as a C language, a BASIC language, a LIPS language and an APL language, a label address translation for obtaining an effective address from a label is executed with reference to a table showing a relationship between the label and the effective address.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.1-258029 discloses a data processor including a table showing a correspondence between a symbol string (labels) indicating respective identification names with respect to data areas and programs, and storage addresses in a storage device. This data processor obtains the storage address of the program or the data area from the correspondence table, and thus executes the program.
Further, in a program described in an interpreter language of being translated and interpreted per text, a label table showing a relationship between the label and the address is referred to each time the program is executed, and there are obtained effective addresses of a function and a variable which correspond to the label.
Moreover, in a program described in a compiler language in which all the texts are compiled and execution is thereafter done, the effective address is obtained from the label table each time the program is compiled.
The program described in the interpreter language, however, has such a problem that the label table is referred to with an interruption of the fundamental process during the execution of the program, and therefore a speed of executing the program might be delayed.
A problem inherent in the program described in the compiler language is that the compilation of the program takes much time.
A problem of a program described in a language containing the interpreter and compiler languages is that there might be a scatter in the execution speed.


The present invention is a process for modifying the properties of a porous freeform fabricated part by increasing its density and reducing its porosity. The porosity and density of a freeform fabricated part are altered by packing the pores in a freeform part with an infiltrant, such as a preceramic polymer. The process includes drawing a vacuum on or pressurizing the freeform part while it is in an infiltrant bath, thereby forcing the infiltrant into the pores of the freeform part. After removing the densified freeform part from the infiltrant bath, the freeform part is subjected to a treating process, such that the infiltrant within the pores transforms to a ceramic or ceramic-containing phase to thereby increasing the density of the freeform part.

This invention relates to freeform fabricated parts and in particular, to a method for modifying the properties of a freeform fabricated part by increasing its density.
As a result of the demand for ways to improve manufacturing efficiency and the need for rapid prototype development, freeform fabrication has become a popular method for manufacturing parts. Freeform fabrication originated with a process called stereolithography wherein a focussed ultra-violet laser scans the top of a bath of a photopolymerizable liquid polymer plastic material, thereby causing the top of the bath and the area just below the surface to polymerize. The polymerized layer is thereafter lowered into the bath and the laser scanning process is repeated until a second polymerized layer is formed. As the second polymerized layer forms, it bonds to the first layer. This process is repeated until a plurality of superimposed layers form the desired part. The shape of the part is first designed in a computer aided design system (i.e., a CAD/CAM system), which is linked to the machine performing the stereolithography process. Most freeform fabrication processes include a computer aided design system for coordinating the execution of the freeform fabrication process. In the case of stereolithography, the laser beam scans the area of the bath necessary to form the freeform fabricated part (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cfreeform partxe2x80x9d) designed on the computer aided design system.
The ability to produce an actual part directly from a design provides many advantages. One advantage includes eliminating the time traditionally used to develop the necessary tooling to manufacture the freeform part. Another advantage includes reducing the amount of machining, such as grinding, milling, drilling, etc., required to complete the part because the freeform fabrication process produces a substantially readily usable final product. Minimizing the amount of hands-on machining, therefore, translates into reducing the amount of potential human error and increasing efficiency. The amount of time saved in preparing for manufacturing also makes the freeform fabrication process attractive for rapid prototype development, which has been one of the main interests surrounding this technology in recent years. The benefit of rapid prototyping includes the ability to manufacture various configurations in a short amount of time, thereby providing designers with actual models of their designs.
Another method of freeform fabrication includes a technique called Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP), which consists of depositing a powdered material (e.g., a powdered ceramic, powdered metal, powdered plastic, or combination thereof) in sequential layers, one on top of the other. After depositing each layer of powdered material, a liquid binder is selectively supplied to the layer of powdered material using a type of ink-jet printing technique in accordance with a computer model of the three-dimensional part being fabricated. Following the sequential application and binding all of the required powder layers, the unbound powder is removed, thereby resulting in the formation of the designed three-dimensional part.
A third method of freeform fabrication includes Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). SLS includes a process whereby a powder dispenser deposits a layer of powdered material into a target area. A laser control mechanism, which typically includes a computer that houses the design, modulates and moves the laser beam to selectively sinter a layer of powder dispensed in the target area. Specifically, the control mechanism operates to selectively sinter only the powder disposed within the defined boundaries of the design. The control mechanism operates the laser to selectively sinter sequential layers of powder, producing a completed part comprising a plurality of layers sintered together yielding the completed design.
A fourth method of freeform fabrication includes Ballistic Particle Manufacturing (BPM). BPM uses an ink-jet printing apparatus wherein an ink-jet stream of liquid polymer or polymer composite material is used to create three-dimensional objects under computer control, similar to the way an ink-jet printer produces two-dimensional graphic printing. The device is formed by printing successive cross-sections, one layer after another, to a target using a cold welding or rapid solidification technique, which causes bonding between the particles and the successive layers.
An additional freeform fabrication technique, includes Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). FDM consists of building solid objects in a layering fashion from polymer/wax compositions by following the signals produced by a computer aided design system. Specifically, FDM builds structures by extruding a fine filament of plastically deformable material through a small nozzle. The computer aided design system appropriately directs the nozzle over a build surface in the x, y and z directions, thereby creating a three-dimensional object that resembles the design.
Another method of freeform fabrication includes a technique called Photochemical Machining, which uses intersecting laser beams to selectively harden or soften a polymer plastic block. The underlying mechanism used is the photochemical cross-linking or degradation of the material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,962 provides a detailed summary of each of the above mentioned freeform fabrication techniques and is hereby incorporated by reference.
The specific processes described above as being suitable for forming products of the present invention are inherently free of fiber reinforcement. In the main, these processes result in the manufacture or production of a freeform based on particulate material. As distinct from the prior art directed to making preforms, articles made by the present invention do not use fiber reinforcement and therefore are fiber free.
The methods described above, however, often result in the fabrication of a porous freeform part, thereby creating undesirable mechanical properties for the freeform part. A freeform part having inadequate strength, unsatisfactory hardness, low temperature tolerance, low abrasion resistance, rough surface finish, poor bonding of individual layers or poor bonding of powder particles within the layers presents a significant limitation to the types of applications in which freeform parts can be utilized. Therefore, what is needed is a means for increasing the mechanical, thermal or other physical properties of freeform parts.
The present invention exploits the porosity of a freeform fabricated part by packing the pores of a freeform part with an infiltrant that is capable of transforming to a ceramic or a ceramic-containing phase. The infiltrant comprises a preceramic polymer, which is selected to bond with the freeform part such that the resulting composition improves the mechanical, thermal and other characteristics of the freeform part. Packing the pores of the freeform part, therefore, increases its density and concomitantly decreases its porosity. Particularly, increasing the density of the freeform part increases one or more or all of the following properties: mechanical strength, hardness, temperature resistance, abrasion resistance, thermal conductivity, and erosion resistance. These properties may be enhanced by carefully fabricating the freeform part such that a certain porosity is imparted, selecting particular infiltrants with various concentrations that add the desired properties to the freeform part, and repeating the infiltration process until the desired density is achieved.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is a process for modifying the properties of a porous freeform part comprising the steps of depositing a porous freeform part in an infiltrant bath, drawing a vacuum on the porous freeform part and the infiltrant bath such that the infiltrant enters the pores within the freeform part, and removing the densified freeform part from the infiltrant bath. The infiltrant is normally a preceramic polymer that is capable of transforming to a ceramic or a ceramic-containing phase. Furthermore, the preceramic polymer is preferably a polymer capable of nanocrystalline ceramic phase growth such that the preceramic polymer can enter the pores within the freeform part. Upon being removed from the infiltrant bath the density of the freeform part increases because the previously empty pores now contain infiltrant, and the infiltrant within the pores of the freeform part transforms to a ceramic or a ceramic-containing phase. Subjecting the freeform part to multiple infiltration processes further decreases the porosity of the freeform part and concomitantly increases its density.
A second embodiment of the present invention includes pressurizing the infiltrant as an alternative to or in conjunction with drawing a vacuum on the porous freeform part and the infiltrant bath such that the infiltrant enters the pores within the freeform part.
A third embodiment of the present invention includes heating the infiltrant while pressure is being applied.
A fourth embodiment of the present invention includes placing the porous freeform part in a vacuum dessicator, applying a vacuum and allowing an infiltrant to enter the vacuum dessicator such that the infiltrant enters the pores within the freeform part.
A fifth embodiment of the present invention includes subjecting the densified freeform part to a series of post-processing steps upon being removed from the infiltrant bath such that the infiltrant within the pores of the densified freeform part transforms to a ceramic or a ceramic-containing phase. The post-processing steps may include one or more or all of the following steps: curing the infiltrant, heating the infiltrant at a rate, duration and temperature such that the infiltrant transforms to a ceramic or ceramic-containing phase within the pores of the freeform article, annealing the transformed infiltrant and cooling the freeform fabricated part and the transformed infiltrant.
A still further embodiment of the present invention includes a freeform fabricated part having pores therein comprising a ceramic or a ceramic-containing phase disposed within a portion of the pores with the freeform part.

Modified freeform fabricated part and a method for modifying the properties of a freeform fabricated part


A system for collaborative shopping comprising shopping devices interconnected by a network and respectively used by shoppers in a collaborative shopping session, and virtual shopping carts respectively associated with the shopping devices for sharing information on items of interest among the shoppers and enabling the shoppers to collaborate on the shopping.

The invention relates generally to computer-based shopping, and more particularly, to systems and methods for collaborative shopping across multiple shopping channels using shared virtual shopping carts.
Shopping on the Web and in physical stores are two common shopping modes. However, it is generally not practical for customers using these shopping channels to collaborate on their shopping, particularly at the same time when they shop. A customer who begins shopping on the Web typically stays on the Web to complete a purchase online. The same is true for a customer who enters a physical store to shop as such a customer generally does not interact with other shopper who may be shopping online at the same time and have similar shopping needs. The main reason for this practice is the lack of synchronization and the inability to have a single view of the shopping basket seen by the online shopper and the physical shopping cart used by the shopper in the store. Shopping is currently expanding to other channels such as those using telephones, mobile Web devices, and so on. However, these channels mostly operate independently from each other and do not readily support collaborative shopping.
Collaborative shopping by shoppers who use different shopping channels would provide several benefits such as the sharing of shopping information, combining individual purchases into joint transactions, quickly locating the best items at the best prices, and determining the best methods for receiving the items.

Collaborative shopping across multiple shopping channels using shared virtual shopping carts

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Methods, apparatus and application platforms for updating application object attribute are provided herein. In an exemplary method, a task for updating an attribute of an application object corresponding to an application can be established via task configuration, to obtain task configuration information of the task and form a task list. The task can be extracted from the task list. The task configuration information can be parsed, to obtain source attribute information and destination attribute information of the application. The application object can be found in a database, according to the source attribute information of the application. Current attribute information of the application object can be modified into the destination attribute information. After the modifying, the destination attribute information can be written into the database as the current attribute information of the application object.

Online game trading platform, as an automated trading platform for online game items or roles, enables a game player to release merchandise or product directly on the platform, and to purchase on the platform merchandise released by another game player. Transfer of game items or roles is all done automatically without intervention of a third party.
Merchandise released by a game player on an online game trading platform has an attribute, including region and server. The attribute of the merchandise needs to be maintained consistent with the attribute within a game in order to ensure normal transactions. Typically, due to operational needs of the online game, from time to time, certain regions (or servers) are merged into one region (or server), and such operation is called a region/server merger. In this case, the region/server of merchandise that belongs to the merged regions (or servers) needs to be consistent with the region/server within the game. Therefore, the region/server of the merchandise needs to be merged along with the regions/servers within the game.
Conventionally, the region/server merger of merchandise is mainly operated by a developer. First, the developer obtains information of a region/server merger from a carrier. Next, the developer operates a database, backs up data, then manually modifies region/server information of the merchandise, and verifies the region/server information of the merchandise after the modification. Such a manual operating process consumes significant time and labor. In addition, manually operating the database is subject to tremendous data security risks. The disclosed methods, apparatus, and application platforms are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems,

Method, apparatus, and application platform for updating application object attribute

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A method for fabricating a flash memory is provided. The method contains sequentially forming a tunnel oxide layer, a first polysilicon layer, and a silicon nitride layer on a semiconductor substrate. A shallow trench isolation (STI) structure is formed in the substrate to define an active area. During the formation of the STI structure, the first polysilicon is simultaneously pre-patterned. The silicon nitride layer is removed. A dielectric layer and a second polysilicon layer are sequentially formed over the substrate. The second polysilicon layer, the dielectric layer, the first polysilicon layer, and the tunnel oxide layer are patterned to form a desired strip structure on the substrate. A remaining portion of the first polysilicon layer serves as a gate of a memory cell. An interchangeable source/drain region is formed by ion implantation at each side of the gate structure, in which a source line parallel to the strip remaining structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly to a method for fabricating a flash memory device.
2. Description of Related Art
An erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) device is often used in a computer or various electronic products. It has a advantage that all information including, for example, program codes or data stored in the (EPROM) device are not erased in a normal operation. The stored information can only be erased by exposing the EPROM device in an ultraviolet (UV) light for a certain time. Then, new desired information can be written in again. However, once the EPROM device is exposed to the UV light, all stored information is erased in once. Another writing-in process has to be performed from the beginning to the end, even though it may just have very few modifications only for the new updated information. In other words, it takes long for each modification or update. This causes a time consumption. Recently, the Intel company has developed a flash EPROM device, or called a flash memory, which allows the information to be erased and written-in block by block, so that the stored information can be locally modified without a need to repeat whole erasing and writing-in processes. A special memory cell used in the flash EPROM is called a EPROM with tunnel oxide cell (ETOX cell).
FIG. 1A is a top view of a portion of a substrate, schematically illustrating a conventional layout of a flash memory. FIG. 1B, is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a substrate taken along a line 1--1 in FIG. 1A, schematically illustrating the flash memory structure. FIG. 1C, is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a substrate taken along a line II--II in FIG. 1A, schematically illustrating the flash memory structure.
In FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, a field oxide layer 104 formed by local oxidation process (LOCOS) is located on a semiconductor substrate 100 so as to define an active area 105. A tunnel oxide layer 102 is formed on the active area 105. A strip polysilicon layer 106 is formed over the substrate to cover an active area 105. A strip polysilicon layer 110 and a strip dielectric layer 108 are formed to vertically cross over the strip polysilicon layer 106. During the formation of the strip polysilicon layer 110, the substrate 100 at a portion other than the strip polysilicon layer 110 is exposed by continuous etching. The polysilicon layer 106 therefore is also etched during the formation of the strip polysilicon layer 110. A remaining portion of the polysilicon layer 106 becomes the polysilicon layer 106a. Also referring to FIG. 1C, an active area 105a, which originally is not covered by the strip polysilicon layer 106, is over-etched during etching the polysilicon layer 106. This over-etching effect causes that a trench 118 is formed in the substrate 100. After an ion implantation process, a source line 120, parallel to the strip polysilicon layer 110, is formed in the substrate 100. Since the source line 120 includes the trench 118, it may cause a electrical discontinuity that further causes a poor conductivity of the source line 120 and an even causes a failure of the source line 120. Moreover, since the field oxide layer 104 has a very large dimension, it is difficult to increase the memory integration.

Method for fabricating a flash memory with shallow trench isolation


A paper feeding device comprises a storage surface for a stack of papers and being adapted to be move vertically between a first, lower end position and a second, upper end position, and a feeding roll for feeding papers from their position on the storage surface and imparting an uppermost sheet of paper a horizontal displacement. A first mounting device comprises a first vertically movable, preferably pivotable housing adapted to mount or suspend a first end of the feeding roll, and a second mounting device comprises a second vertically movable, preferably pivotable housing adapted to mount or suspend a second end of the feeding roll opposite to the first end of the feeding roll. By providing the first and second housings pivotable independently of each other and an intermediate axle, the feeding roll adapts to a non-uniform stack of papers, improving the reliability of the feeding.

There are essentially two types of feeders for use for after-treatment of sheets of paper in printing machines and copiers, viz. friction feeders and vacuum feeders. In friction feeding devices or feeders, individual sheets are picked from piles of sheets by the fact that a rotary feeding roll is abutted against and pulls the top sheet from the pile, wherein a subjacent separations or friction block normally retains subjacent sheets of the pile. Friction feeders are robust and in general reliable in operation, but occasionally more than one sheet at a time may happen to be picked mistakenly. The feeding rolls may also leave marks in the sheets. In vacuum feeders, sheets are picked from piles by the fact that the top sheet of the pile is sucked against a conveyor belt for transportation of the sheet to subsequent further processing. The vacuum feeder has not the disadvantages mentioned above of the friction feeder, but the function thereof is more sensitive and a vacuum feeder is considerably more expensive than a friction feeder.
A problem in friction feeding devices or friction feeders is to pull the uppermost sheet of paper in a straight direction, since the height of the stack of papers may not be uniform across the stack. This is the case when one side area of the stack of papers is higher than the opposite side area. This can be due to the printing process used giving the sheets of paper a wave shape or for other reasons.


A method of preserving the structure of a font character being scaled comprises analyzing the font character to determine if the font character is complex. If the font character is complex, information concerning the strokes forming the font character is extracted. The strokes are then scaled to a desired size using the extracted stroke information thereby to form a scaled font character.

Scalable font technologies that allow characters to be printed or displayed (i.e. rendered) at a variety of different sizes with great accuracy, are well known in the art. Although a number of scalable font technologies exist, TrueType developed by Apple Computers Inc. has become widely used and accepted due to its ability to offer font developers a high degree of control over precisely how fonts are rendered.
The TrueType font specification requires fonts to be stored in files that include the information necessary for the graphics processor and the operating system software to render the font characters so that font characters are displayed and/or printed as intended. TrueType font files are made up of a series of tables, some of which are mandatory (i.e. glyph tables) and some of which are optional. Glyph tables define the outlines of font characters and are made up of straight line segments and quadratic Bézier curves. For this reason, TrueType is known as an outline font format. In addition to the shapes of the font characters, TrueType font files also include tables storing information describing how font characters should be spaced vertically and horizontally within a block of text, how font characters should be mapped (i.e. the variety of characters included in the font and the keystrokes needed to access them), and more.
The user never actually sees the font character outlines stored in the font files. When a font character is to be rendered, the font character outline in the table associated therewith is scaled to the desired size through a simple mathematical operation. The graphics processor then generates a bitmap of the font character by turning on the pixels encompassed by the scaled outline, a process commonly referred to as scan conversion or rasterization.
By storing font character outlines, only one outline per font character is needed to produce all of the sizes of that font character that are required. This enables the same font character to be displayed on monitors of different resolutions, and/or to be printed at significantly differing sizes with great accuracy.
Although TrueType facilitates rendering of font characters at arbitrary sizes, issues do arise. In some cases, when a font character is scaled to a smaller size and rendered, font character information can be lost. For example, subtle features of a font character can be merged with other font character strokes or can disappear. In more severe cases, the font character can become indistinguishable from other font characters or as a font character itself. These problems are more common with Asian script characters due to their complexity. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a complex Asian script character that has been resized without regard to font structure. As can be seen, distinction between adjacent horizontal and vertical strokes of the resized Asian script character is lost, reducing the recognizability of the script character.
When a font character is printed via a dot-matrix printer, a translation is performed between the rasterized font character and the dot pitch of the printer. Generally, a rectangle of two pixels by two pixels is represented by a single dot printed by a dot-matrix printer having a low horizontal dot-pitch resolution. In such a dot-matrix printer, the resolution in the vertical direction is typically twice the resolution in the horizontal direction. When printing the font character at the maximum speed, it is not possible for the printhead of the dot-matrix printer to strike the paper twice to print two sequential horizontal pixels due to the limited speed of the printhead. As a result, only the first pixel will result in the printhead striking the paper to print the dot. The second pixel will be ignored. For example, if a 16-pixel line is to be printed, only 8 dots will actually be printed. In the vertical direction, the print speed is much slower and thus, full resolution is possible (i.e. a dot can be printed for each pixel). As a result of this reduced resolution, in the case of complex font characters portions the complex characters, such as relatively thin diagonal strokes can appear, broken.
As mentioned above, dot sizes on a dot-matrix printer cover approximately a two pixel by two pixel area. As a result, if breaks are to appear in horizontal and vertical character strokes being printed, a spacing of at least three pixel positions between the strokes should be provided. In addition, in the case of a dot-matrix printer having a printhead comprising eight pins, with this printhead pin density, it is not possible to print horizontal dots separated by a half-dot gap. Vertical half-dot spacing is however supported under this density. As will be appreciated, the above dot-matrix printer characteristics reduce the amount of detail that can be represented in the given space.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a portion of a font character having a diagonal stroke with a horizontal width of two pixels, and its printed form using a dot-matrix printer having a horizontal dot-resolution equal to two (2). As can be seen from FIG. 2B, the diagonal stroke represented by printed dots 200A appears disjoint and broken when printed. Gaps 204A in the diagonal stroke are apparent. The gaps 204A occur due to the fact that the printhead of the dot-matrix printer strikes the paper only once when two adjacent horizontal pixels are detected.
When complex font characters are printed via thermal printers, there are different considerations. Unlike reduced resolution dot-matrix printers, the resolution of thermal printers is very similar to that of rasterized font characters. As is known, thermal printers have a row of heating elements that are activated and deactivated in order to heat the thermally-sensitive paper that is being fed along the paper path proximal to the heating elements. After the heating elements have printed the required dots along one row, they remain hot for a period of time as the paper continues to be fed through. In some cases, the cooling period is relatively long and as a result, "bleed" occurs at the bottom of each printed dot. This is especially true where the heating elements are heated for longer periods of time, such as is required during printing of vertical font character strokes. As a result, printed horizontal lines of dots tend to have a correspondingly larger width than printed vertical lines of the same thickness.
A number of solutions have been proposed for preserving font structure information. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,725 to Fu discloses a method of storing and scaling fonts. Characters are created using "composite strokes", or combinations of strokes. Each stroke is defined using stroke identification information to identify the type of stroke, skeleton point data that identifies the skeleton of the stroke and identification information to identify characteristics of all of the tips in a stroke. In order to reproduce a character, each stroke of the character is regenerated separately. A separate non-linear scaling coefficient table for each stroke allows for preservation of the stroke shape during scaling. The skeleton point data is used in conjunction with the stroke identification information to map out the main portion of the stroke. The identification information for each stroke tip is then used to customize the stroke. Other stroke shape control coefficients can be adjusted to further customize the stroke.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,750 to Choi et al. discloses a method of transforming and rendering a character using the outline shapes of characters. By using an outline of a basic character, the medial axes, radii of maximal inscribed circles and corresponding contact points of the circles with the outline, are determined. This information is stored and used to scale and/or reproduce the character.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,278 to Stamm et al. discloses a method and system for displaying images on a flat panel display device, such as a liquid crystal display. During display of a character, the origin point of the character is positioned at a fractional position of a pixel grid, and is then overscaled (stretched). The overscaling allows for the character to occupy whole number pixel positions instead of fractional pixel positions along a striping direction of the display device. The character is then supersampled. The supersampling allows for samples to be mapped individually to pixel subcomponents (i.e. red, blue and green). As a result, characters can have their origin at pixel subcomponent positions (one of red, green or blue) rather than only at whole pixel positions, which allows for an increase in the resolution of the display device.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0006749 to Fux et al. discloses a method and system for creating font format data based on source font data. Font format data of text may be stored as a stroke font that is defined by a skeleton of characters, or glyphs, in a font. The skeleton comprises elements that may be common with other glyphs, or unique to a certain glyph. Description data of the glyph includes shape data, coordinate shifting and a scaling factor for given shapes so that the glyph can be constructed from its component strokes. A rendering engine then applies style, thickness and other characteristics of a typeface. To generate font format data, a source font undergoes glyph dissection, midline extraction, element analysis and conversion. Glyph dissection begins with contour analysis, whereby points are located along the outline of the source glyph. The located points are analyzed and connected in order to form contours. Strokes are then generated to represent the glyph and the strokes are merged. Midline extraction is performed by comparing points on one stroke to their nearest point on another stroke. By repeating this process over multiple points, the midline is extracted. The combination of midlines of the glyph makes up the skeleton.
Although the above references disclose various methods of preserving font structure, improvements in the preservation of font structure are desired. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for preserving the structure of a font character being scaled.

Method and apparatus for preserving font structure


This invention configures a semiconductor memory device in the following manner. The semiconductor contains a first memory part and more than one redundant circuit that is used when the first memory part is faulty, and each redundant circuit memorizes in its status memory part whether a second memory part which becomes a spare cell is in a not-in-use status, in an in-use status or in an out-of-use status, which means that a failure exists in the second memory part. If a second memory part is in the out-of-use status, its access is prohibited, and the other second memory part without a failure is accessed. With this configuration, when a spare cell is confirmed to have a failure after the spare cell is programmed, the spare cell is put in the out-of-use status, thereby preventing the spare cell from being accessed. Consequently, the yield of the semiconductor device is increased.

This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a redundant circuit in such semiconductor memory device.
Recently, an internally equipped redundant circuit has been demanded to increase the yield of a semiconductor device. This will soon also become necessary for a PROM and a mask ROM. Since a mask ROM cannot use a spare cell for its redundant circuit, a PROM is used as a substitute for the spare cell.
This redundant circuit is used when the main cell is faulty, and a higher yield is expected if the device is equipped with more than one redundant circuit. In this example, the device is assumed to be equipped with two redundant circuits.
When it is equipped with two redundant circuits, the semiconductor memory device can still operate when the main cell has one or two failures. When the main cell has no failure, both redundant circuits are in the not-in-use status. When it has one failure, one of the two redundant circuits is put into the in-use status while the other is left in the not-in-use status. When it has two failures, both redundant circuits are put into the in-use status. In all of these cases, the semiconductor memory device is operable.
Since failures occur randomly, they may occur in the main cell or in the redundant circuits. If a failure occurs in one of the redundant circuits, there is no problem, providing a failure does not occur simultaneously in the main cell, since in this case neither of the redundant circuits would be put into the in-use status anyway. If a failure occurs simultaneously in the main cell, a problem may arise, since the failed redundant circuit may be put into the in-use status. However, a problem does not arise if the non-failing circuit is put into the in-use status.
Thus, when a failure occurs in the main cell, the failed circuit is put into the in-use status and the non-failing circuit is put into the not-in-use status, the failure of the main cell is not cured and the device remains faulty.
Therefore, it is desirable to prohibit the use of a failed redundant circuit and to put the non-failing circuit into the in-use status.

Semiconductor memory device having a redundant memory which can be selectively placed in a not-in-use status


A control apparatus includes a manipulated variable output unit, calculation unit, first lower limit setting unit, first upper limit setting unit, second lower limit setting unit, second upper limit setting unit, and controlling element. The manipulated variable output unit outputs first and second manipulated variables to an object to be controlled. The calculation unit calculates a limit cycle auto-tuning control parameter. The controlling element performs feedback control calculation based on the control parameter for the deviation between a set point and a controlled variable to calculate the first manipulated variable, and outputs the calculated first manipulated variable to the object. In executing limit cycle auto-tuning, the calculation unit outputs to the object the second manipulated variable having the second lower limit value as the lower limit value and the second upper limit value as the upper limit value, calculates the control parameter of the controlling element on the basis of a control response corresponding to the manipulated variable output, and sets the calculated control parameter in the controlling element.

The present invention relates to a process control technique and, more particularly, to a control apparatus having a limit cycle auto-tuning function of outputting a manipulated variable with a constant amplitude to an object to be controlled and adjusting a control parameter on the basis of a control response corresponding to the controlled variable output.
A general-purpose temperature controller or the like has an auto-tuning (self-tuning) function in order to easily complete adjustment of PID parameters. A typical method of the auto-tuning function is a limit cycle auto-tuning method of setting upper and lower limit values for a manipulated variable MV to be output to an object to be controlled, generating a limit cycle having a constant manipulated variable amplitude, and adjusting PID parameters (reference: Kazuo Hiroi, "Fundamentals and Applications of Digital Instrumentation Control System", Kogyougijutsusha, ISBN4-905957-00-1, pp. 156-159, October 1987).
An example of limit cycle auto-tuning will be described. First of all, a manipulated variable lower limit set point OL_AT which designates the lower limit value of the manipulated variable MV to be output to an object to be controlled in executing limit cycle auto-tuning, and a manipulated variable upper limit set point OH_AT which designates the upper limit value of the manipulated variable MV are set in advance.
In executing limit cycle auto-tuning, a controlled variable PV and set point SP are compared (step S401 in FIG. 7). If the controlled variable PV is larger than the set point SP, the lower limit value OL_AT of the manipulated variable MV is output to the object (step S402). If the controlled variable PV is equal to or smaller than the set point SP, the upper limit value OH_AT of the manipulated variable MV is output to the object (step S403).
Extreme value increment/decrement detection processing of detecting the extreme value of the controlled variable PV is performed (step S404). Processes in steps S401 to S404 are performed every control cycle. If four extreme values of the controlled variable PV are detected, detection ends. A deviation Er between the set point SP and the controlled variable PV is given byEr=SP−PV  (1)
As shown in FIG. 6, a first extreme value deviation Er1 represents a deviation in the latest extreme value out of four detected extreme values; a second extreme value deviation Er2, a deviation in the second latest extreme value; and a third extreme value deviation Er3, a deviation in the third latest extreme value.
A first manipulated variable switching elapsed-time Th1 is a time interval between time t5 at which the sign of the deviation Er is reversed immediately before the first extreme value deviation Er1, and time t6 at which the first extreme value deviation Er1 is obtained. A second manipulated variable switching elapsed-time Th2 is a time interval between time t3 at which the sign of the deviation Er is reversed immediately before the second extreme value deviation Er2, and time t4 at which the second extreme value deviation Er2 is obtained.
PID parameters including a proportional band Pb, integral time Ti, and derivative time Td are calculated by equations (2) to (4). The calculated PID parameters are set in the controlling element of the control apparatus (step S405).Pb=250|Er2−Er1|/(OH—AT−OL—AT)  (2)Ti=6(Th1+Th2)  (3)Td=1.2(Th1+Th2)  (4)
Thereafter, limit cycle auto-tuning ends.
Some general-purpose temperature controllers directly use an upper limit set point OH and lower limit set point OL of the manipulated variable MV that are output to an object to be controlled during actual control, as the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH_AT and manipulated variable lower limit set point OL_AT which are used to execute limit cycle auto-tuning. In general, OH=100% and OL=0%. In auto-tuning, therefore, the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH_AT=100%, and the manipulated variable lower limit set point OL_AT=0%.
For a heat-insulating object to be controlled, the manipulated variable MV necessary to maintain the controlled variable PV around the set point SP is as low as MV=20% or less. In this situation, if auto-tuning at MV=0% to 100% is executed with the setting of OH_AT=100%, the temperature rises quickly and drops slowly (the object is hardly cooled because of a high heating insulating property). Compared to the case of FIG. 8A in which limit cycle auto-tuning is properly executed, the limit cycle takes a long time, as shown in FIG. 8B.
In conventional limit cycle auto-tuning, it is also possible to change the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH and manipulated variable lower limit set point OL to proper values, and execute auto-tuning. If, however, the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH and manipulated variable lower limit set point OL are changed in executing auto-tuning, they must be reset at the end of auto-tuning.
In particular, an object to be controlled which must be frequently auto-tuned by the operator on site frequently requires cumbersome setting operation, greatly decreasing the workability.
The manipulated variable upper limit set point OH and manipulated variable lower limit set point OL are not always set to OH=100% and OL=0%, and may be set to other values. In the worst case, the operator on site may set the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH_AT used to execute limit cycle auto-tuning to be higher than the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH during actual control and the manipulated variable lower limit set point OL_AT used to execute limit cycle auto-tuning to be lower than the manipulated variable lower limit set point OL during actual control. To the contrary, the operator may erroneously set the manipulated variable upper limit set point OH and manipulated variable lower limit set point OL in resetting them.

Control apparatus having a limit cycle auto-tuning function


An electronic chassis supports a plurality of modules each provided with a small pin-point light such as a light emitting diode which will be energized only so long as the module is functioning. A back panel for the chassis in turn is provided with a plurality of observation openings respectively dimensioned and directed to be in line of sight alignment with the light emitting diodes on the plurality of modules. The arrangement is such that no ambiguity exists as to an opening and its associated module. Indentifying characters either numbers or letters are provided on the modules so that they can be visually distinguished from each other and corresponding identifying numbers or characters are provided on the back panel adjacent to the opening so that each opening has an identification corresponding to the identification of only that module whose light emitting diode is in the line of sight of the opening. A consumer can thus immediately observe through the openings which one or ones of the modules are mal-functioning by the absence of light and immediately identify such module by the identifying information adjacent to the opening on the panel from which no light is visible so that a new module can be ordered without having to remove the back panel until such time as the module is to be replaced.

In theory, the repair of electronic apparatus or electronic circuits is simple; to wit, determine which part is bad or malfunctioning and simply replace it. In actual practice, what was once easy has become over the years difficult, expensive and unreliable. For example, there is involved either moving parts inventories to the defective electronic apparatus or moving the defective apparatus to an electronic workshop and back. Early proposals advocated the use of replaceable building blocks referred to as modules. However, the replacement of modules in present-day systems has to be carried out by trained electronic specialists and by persons having to carry large inventories of modules. Essentially, a "hit and miss" substitution method is undertaken all the while running the risk of carrying a bad module which was either improperly rebuilt or inadvertently replaced at one time.
As a result of the foregoing, the trend presently is to go back to the single, large, cheaply manufactured circuit board with its huge amount of soldered-in components. In other words, the trend is away from the expensive modular technology. This trend in turn nullifies the possibilities of efficient home repairs by even skilled repairers. Essentially, a consumer can do nothing service-wise under such circumstances.

Consumer electronic malfunction alerting system


A nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device features a wide page buffering function. The nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device comprises a single cell array block, a word line driving unit, a plate line driving unit, a wide page buffer unit and a column selecting unit. All cell arrays in the memory device are included in a single cell array block. In a read mode, the wide page buffer unit simultaneously senses and buffers voltages of all main bit lines in the single cell array block and outputs the buffered data to a data buffer unit by a predetermined data width unit. In a write mode, the wide page buffer unit receives write data in a predetermined data width, buffers the write data until the write data corresponding to the all main bit lines are applied, and simultaneously writes the buffered data in the cells. As a result, the cell efficiency is increased, and the data processing speed is improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device having a hierarchical bit line architecture, and more specifically, to a nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device comprising a single large page cell array block including the whole unit cells and a high capacity wide page buffer corresponding to all main bit lines in the page cell array block, thereby improving the efficiency of the memory cell and the data processing speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a ferroelectric random access memory (hereinafter, referred to as 'FeRAM') has a data processing speed as fast as a Dynamic Random Access Memory DRAM and conserves data even after the power is turned off.
The FeRAM having structures similar to the DRAM includes the capacitors made of a ferroelectric substance, so that it utilizes the characteristic of a high residual polarization of the ferroelectric substance in which data is not deleted even after an electric field is eliminated.
The technical contents on the above FeRAM are disclosed in the Korean Patent Application No. 1998-14400 by the same inventor of the present invention. Therefore, the basic structure and the operation on the FeRAM are not described herein.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device.
The nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device of FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of cell array blocks 10 comprising a plurality of cell arrays, a common data bus 20 shared in the plurality of cell array blocks 10 and for transmitting data, and a sense amplifier unit 30 for sensing and buffering data applied through the common data bus 20. Here, a word line driving unit W/L and a plate line driving unit P/L are included in each cell array block 10. Each cell array block 10 is selectively connected to the common data bus 20 in response to a column selecting signal, and reads or writes data.
In the nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device of FIG. 1, since the column selecting signal is selectively activated in each cell array block 10, only data of the corresponding cell array block 10 are applied to the common data bus 20.
In the above-described nonvolatile ferroelectric memory device of FIG. 1, since the word line driving unit W/L and the plate line driving unit P/L are included in each cell array block 10, these driving units occupy a large area in the memory device. In addition, since it is necessary to access the cell array block 10 in every read or write operation, the processing of a great deal of data requires much access time. Furthermore, attention has been more directed to the problem of the access time as memory capacity becomes larger.

FeRAM having wide page buffering function


A battery-powered hand-guided power tool is provided, such as a hammer, includes a tool housing 3 that contains an electric motor M, a grip housing 2 and a rail-and-channel structure 36,37,54,55 for releasable mounting of a rechargeable battery pack 50. The battery pack 50 is locked in an operative position on the housing 3 in which electrical contacts (51) of the battery pack 50 and associated electrical contacts 42 of the tool housing are electrically connected along a contact length extending in a longitudinal direction of the rail-and-channel arrangement. A latch structure 18,19 located on the tool housing 3 is movable between a latched position and a release position. When the latch structure 18,19 is moved from the latched position into the release position, the battery pack 50 can be moved in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the rail-and-channel structure 36,37,54,55 out of the operative position and can be removed from the tool housing 3. Between the battery pack 50 and the tool housing 3 there is arranged a spring 38 which loads the inserted battery pack 50 in a direction of a displacement movement out of the operative position. The distance of travel of the spring 38 is greater than the contact length of the contacts 42,51 and the restoring force of the spring 38 at the contact length is greater than the weight of the battery pack 50.

This invention relates to a battery-powered, hand-guided power tool, and in particular to a hammer, in which a rechargeable battery pack is releasably connected to a tool housing of the hammer via a rail-and-channel structure, and the battery pack is locked in an operative position on the tool housing in which electrical contacts of the battery pack and associated electrical contacts of the power tool are electrically connected along a contact length extending in the direction of a longitudinal extent of the rail-and-channel structure.
A power tool, such as a drilling hammer, is disclosed in German Patent Publication No. DE 195 21 423 (A1) and includes a tool housing. The tool further includes a rail-and-channel structure which is formed on a side portion of the tool housing and extends on a front side of a portion of the housing. The tool housing is also formed with a rear hand grip substantially at right angles to a longitudinal axis of a tool holder supported at the front of the tool. A spring-loaded latch element is located in a lower part of the hand grip, which, when in a locking position and with a battery housing assembled with the tool housing, engages in a latch recess of the battery housing to thus hold the battery pack in its operative position on the tool housing. The latch element is accessible through an opening at the lower end of the hand grip, so that a user may move the latch element, manually against the force of a compression spring, out of the locking position and into a release position.
With structure disclosed in German Patent Application No. DE 195 21 423, a user has to hold the power tool with one hand and use the other hand to move the latch element into a release position to release the battery pack. If, in so doing, the user has oriented the power tool so that the battery pack is able to come free of the power tool under gravity, there is a risk that the battery pack, which the user is unable to hold at the same time, will drop out in an uncontrolled manner, which can lead to damage to the battery pack and perhaps even to injury. If, on the other hand, the user holds the power tool oriented so that, as the latch element is displaced, the battery pack is supported on the portion of the housing forming the hand grip, that is, with the tool holder axis directed upwardly, the battery pack will not move from its position as the latch element is drawn back. When the latch element is subsequently released, it will again enter the latch recess of the battery pack, so that the battery pack continues to be connected to the power tool.
Also, with the structure disclosed in German Patent Application No. DE 195 21 423, if the user inserts the battery pack in the last position mentioned, the electrical contacts of the power tool and the battery pack may come into contact, but the latch element may, unnoticed, fail to lock in the latch recess. Although the power tool can be operated in this position, the battery pack will suddenly become detached from the power tool when this is inclined at a relevant angle, the surprise effect in particular of such an occurrence possibly leading to injury to the user or even to other persons, for instance, if the power tool is being used on a construction site.


A door and panel dolly apparatus has a frame having a telescoping center frame member with a perpendicular wheel frame member on one end and a perpendicular panel support frame member on the other end. Both the wheeled frame member and the floor support frame member have a pair of generally perpendicular panel support post extending therefrom and a swinging door clamp attached thereto. Each swinging panel clamp is positioned to swing from an open position to a closed clamping position for clamping a panel between two clamps or against a perpendicular clamp post. The pair of swinging panel clamps are each attached to a clamp post and have a rod with a clamping surface on one end thereof for threadedly adjusting each of the swinging clamps to clamp a panel of different widths. Each swinging panel clamp is a toggling clamp mechanism.

The present invention relates to a panel dolly and especially to a panel or door dolly and door mounting tool having swinging panel clamps for rapidly attaching and removing a panel to and from the dolly.
Door support devices have been in use for years for assisting individuals in the installation of doors within door jambs and these devices are frequently in the form of a door dolly which allows the door to be attached thereto and wheeled into position for mounting the door. Carpenters typically have to move doors into position in new construction and have to fit and hang the doors to door openings in buildings. This sometimes requires hanging a door in an existing jamb when only the door needs replacing and at other times requires the installation of a new door jamb and door. The door has to be moved into position and then mounted to the door jamb and this is accomplished by positioning the door in the door opening and then using small wooden door shims and pry bars to raise and position the door to a position for mounting the door. The door must then be mounted to the jamb, again using door shims and pry bars to position the door in the exact position for attaching the hinges.
To accomplish these results, a variety of door dollys and door mounting jigs have been provided in the past. These may be seen in some of the following U.S. patents.
In the Morse U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,662 a combined door carrier and hanging device supports a door panel vertically with the hinged edge of the door in a horizontal position to permit a person to prepare the door for hanging. This door carrier has a frame with a pair of support members having adjustable clamp members mounted on each end of the frame. The carrier has a pair of wheels on one end and a pair of support legs on the other end. Another door mounting apparatus may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,034 to Walker et al. which is a door mounting tool for mounting a door to a door jamb and includes a wheeled frame for supporting the door and rolling the door into position adjacent a door jamb.
In the Deutsch et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,806, a door hanging aid uses a collapsible frame for supporting a door prior to the door being mounted on hinges and frames. In the Carter U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,244, a pivotable dolly for holding and transporting a door holds a rectangular door by one edge to permit the transportation, preparation and final attachment of the door to the jamb. The dolly includes clamps fixed to an elongated frame member to releasably hold the door by its edge and has a wheeled end for moving the door on the door dolly. The Hallman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,844 has a door transporting and support system having a wheeled frame for supporting a door. The Willis U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,141 is a door carrier having a wheeled frame in the nature of a hand cart for carrying a door standing on its edge. The Wilson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,132 is a pivotable hand truck for supporting and installing a door and has a pair of wheels secured to an L-shaped frame and allows the door to be pivoted between horizontal and vertical positions and lifted vertically to adjust to a selected height above a floor surface.
Other U.S. patents include the Augustine U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,192 for a door brace for facilitating hanging and the Bross U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,090 for a door dolly apparatus and the Curran U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,758 for a multiple object paint rack system for doors and shutters. The Coleman U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,671 is for a wheeled door hanger device and the Hedlund U.S. Pat. No. 2,503,388 is for a door hanger and trolley.
The present invention is for a panel dolly for transporting and hanging a door or transporting a panel which has a wheeled frame with an elongated center member telescopably adjustable for different size panels. The panel clamping mechanism has swinging clamps for rapidly clamping and unclamping a door or panel to the dolly and avoiding the time consuming practice of hand threading a clamp to a door when attaching or removing a door from a dolly.


A DOHC engine comprises a cylinder block, and a chain which drivingly interconnects a crankshaft and two camshafts. A water pump mounting lug is integrally formed with the cylinder block, and located at the upper portion of a front wall of the cylinder block and below one of the two camshafts. The chain has a loose side defined by that portion thereof which runs between the crankshaft and the one of the camshafts. A movable chain guide bows the loose side of the chain inwardly to define a mounting site of a water pump.

The present invention relates to a camshaft driving arrangement for a double overhead camshaft (hereinafter referred as to DOHC) engine.
JP 57-83617 discloses a conventional camshaft driving arrangement for a DOHC engine as shown in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIG. 6, a crankshaft 45 is rotatably mounted to a cylinder block 44, whereas two camshafts 42, 43 are rotatably mounted to a cylinder head 41 disposed on the cylinder block 44. A crank sprocket 46, and two cam sprockets 47, 48 are coupled with the crankshaft 45, and the camshafts 42, 43, respectively. Torque is transmitted from the crankshaft 45 to the two camshafts 42, 43 by means of a rubber timing belt 49.
For recirculating an engine coolant, a water pump (not shown) is disposed on a front wall of the cylinder block 44, and includes a pump shaft 51. Coupled with the pump shaft 51 is a pump sprocket 52 with which the timing belt 49 is in engagement. Thus, torque is transmitted to the water pump from the timing belt 49 through the pump sprocket 52.
The timing belt 49 circulates in a direction as indicated by arrows in FIG. 6, and it is pressed, by a movable tensioner roller 53, on a loose side thereof 49b which is positioned between the crank sprocket 46 and the cam sprocket 47.
A problem encountered in such conventional camshaft driving arrangement is that, since the pump sprocket 52 is in engagement with the timing belt 49 on a tension side 49a theareof, the cylinder block 44 should be increased in width for arranging the water pump, resulting in enlarged dimension and increased weight of the engine.

Camshaft driving arrangement for double overhead camshaft engine


The invention relates to an electrolytic copper alloy foil having large mechanical strength in an ordinary state and showing resistant to heat deterioration even when it is heated to 300° C. or more. That electrolytic copper alloy foil, which contains tungsten copper, preferably incorporates tungsten into copper foil as a copper alloy, has a tensile strength at ordinary temperature of 650 MPa, has a tensile strength after heat treatment at 300° C. for 1 hour of 450 MPa or more, and has a conductivity of 80% or more. Further preferably, the electrolytic copper foil has an elongation at ordinary temperature of 2.5% or more and an elongation after treatment at 300° C. for 1 hour of 3.5% or more. The electrolytic copper foil is produced by adding a thiourea compound, tungsten salt, and chloride ions to a sulfuric acid-copper sulfate electrolyte and performing electrolytic deposition.

A copper foil is used in a rigid printed circuit board, a flexible printed circuit board, an electromagnetic wave shield material, acurrent collector of a cell, and other various fields.
Among these fields, in the field of printed circuit boards (flexible circuit boards, hereinafter referred to as "FPCs") which are bonded to a polyimide film, in hard disk (hereinafter, referred to as "HDD") suspension materials or tape automated bonding (hereinafter, referred to as "TAB") materials, improvement of the strength of the copper foil has been requested.
The suspensions which are mounted on HDDs have mostly changed from the conventionally used wire type suspensions to the wiring-integrated type suspensions in which buoyancy and positional accuracy of the flying head to the storage medium of the disk are stable along with the increase of the capacity of HDDs.
This wiring-integrated type suspension includes the following three types.    a. A so-called FSA (flex suspension aggregation) type obtained by working a flexible printed board and using a binder for bonding    b. A so-called CIS (circuit integrated suspension) type obtained by shaping a precursor of a polyimide resin, amic acid, then imidizing it and further plating the polyimide to thereby form wiring.    c. A so-called TSA (trace suspension aggregation) type obtained by etching a laminate comprised of stainless steel foil, polyimide resin, and copper foil to thereby work it to a predetermined shape
A TSA suspension enables easy formation of a flying lead by laminating a copper alloy foil having a high strength and has a high degree of freedom in shaping, is relatively cheap, and is good in dimensional precision, so is being widely used.
A laminate formed according to the TSA method is produced by using as materials a stainless steel foil of a thickness of about 12 to 30 μm, a polyimide layer of a thickness of about 5 to 20 μm, and a copper alloy foil of a thickness of about 7 to 14 μm.
In the production of the laminate, first, a polyimide resin solution is coated on the base member of stainless steel foil. After coating, the solvent is removed by preheating, then heat treatment is further carried out for imidization. Then, the copper alloy foil is superimposed on the imidized polyimide resin layer and the aggregation is hot pressed at a temperature of about 300° C. for lamination to thereby produce a laminate comprised of a stainless steel layer, polyimide layer, and copper alloy layer.
At the time of this heating at about 300° C., the stainless steel foil does not exhibit almost any dimensional change. However, if using a conventional electrolytic copper foil, the electrolytic copper foil is annealed at a temperature of about 300° C., increasingly recrystallizes, and softens, so changes in dimensions. For this reason, the laminate warps after lamination, so the precision of dimensions of the product is lowered.
In order not to cause warping in the laminate after lamination, provision of a copper alloy foil in which the dimensional change at the time of heating is as small as possible has been desired.
Further, in a TAB material, in the same way as the HDD suspension material, raising of the strength of the copper foil and lowering of the roughness of the foil surface have been demanded.
In a TAB product, a plurality of terminals of an IC chip are directly bonded to inner leads (flying leads) arranged in a device hole located at the substantial center of the product. This bonding is carried out by using a bonding system for instantaneous electrical heating and application of a constant bonding pressure. At this time, it suffers from the disadvantage that the inner leads obtained by etching of the electrolytic copper foil are pulled and stretched by the bonding pressure.
Further, if the strength of the electrolytic copper foil is low, it plastically deforms to cause slack in the inner leads. In remarkable cases, there is a possibility of breakage.
Accordingly, in order to make the line width of the inner leads finer, it is demanded that the electrolytic copper foil which is used have a roughened surface which is roughened to a low degree and have a high strength.
In this case as well, it is necessary that the copper foil have a high strength in an ordinary state (ordinary temperature/ordinary pressure state) and have a high strength even after heating. When it is used for TAB, there is used an FPC comprised of two layers or three layers formed by bonding copper foils and polyimide to each other. In a three-layer FPC, when bonding polyimide to the copper foils, an epoxy binder is used and the members are bonded to each other at a temperature of around 180° C. Further, in a two-layer FPC using a polyimide binder, bonding is carried out at a temperature of around 300° C.
Even if the electrolytic copper foil has a large mechanical strength in the ordinary state, there is no meaning if the electrolytic copper foil is softened when bonded to polyimide. The conventional high strength electrolytic copper foil has a large mechanical strength in the ordinary state and does not change much at all in mechanical strength even when it is heated at approximately 180° C. However, when it is heated at about 300° C., it is annealed and increasingly recrystallizes, therefore it is rapidly softened and falls in mechanical strength. Such copper foil is unsuitable for the purpose of TAB.
Further, copper foil is used as a current collector for use for a cell such as a lithium ion secondary cell. A lithium ion secondary cell is basically configured by a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte. The negative electrode is formed by coating a negative active material layer on the surface of the copper foil used as the current collector.
The method of formation of the negative electrode generally carries out by: the method of dissolving a negative active material and binder resin (added for the purpose of binding the active material and copper foil substrate) in a solvent to form a slurry, coating this on the copper foil substrate, drying it at a temperature not less than a curing temperature of the binder resin, and then pressing.
As the binder resin, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), styrene butadiene rubber, and so on are widely used.
Active materials comprised of high theoretical capacity silicon-, tin-, or germanium alloy-based materials and the like have come into focus along with the increase of cell capacity in recent years. These have very large rates of expansion of volume along with insertion/desorption of lithium at the time of charging/discharging. The above-mentioned binder resins are insufficient in strength. Therefore, a polyimide resin, which has a high bonding strength with a copper substrate, has been preferably used. However, a polyimide resin has a very high curing temperature such as about 300° C. unlike the binder resin explained above, therefore a negative current collector (copper foil) durable against this heating condition has been demanded.
In this way, in both of the FPC field and secondary cell field, a polyimide resin having a very high curing temperature such as about 300° C. has begun to be used as the binder, therefore a copper foil durable against this heating condition has been demanded.
On the other hand, to obtain electrolytic copper foil which has a surface to be bonded to the polyimide resin base material with a low profile and which is excellent in mechanical strength as well, various studies such as shown below have been carried out.
For example, Patent Literature (PLT) 1, Japanese Patent No. 4120806, discloses, as a copper foil which is optimal for use for a printed circuit board and use for a negative electrode current collector for secondary cell use, a low roughened surface electrolytic copper foil which has a roughened surface which has a surface roughness Rz of 2.0 μm or less and is uniformly roughened to a low degree and which has an elongation at 180° C. of 10.0% or more.
Further, PLT 1 discloses that the above electrolytic copper foil can be obtained by using an sulfuric acid-copper sulfate aqueous solution as the electrolyte and adding polyethylene imine or its derivative, a sulfonate of active organic sulfur, and chlorine ions.
PLT 2, Japanese Patent No. 4273309, discloses an electrolytic copper foil in which the surface roughness Rz is 2.5 μm or less, the tensile strength at 25° C. measured within 20 minutes from the point of time of completion of electrodeposition is 820 MPa or more, and a rate of fall of the tensile strength at 25° C. measured when 300 minutes have passed from the point of completion of electrodeposition with respect to the tensile strength at 25° C. measured within 25 minutes from the point of completion of electrodeposition is 10% or less.
Further, PLT 2 discloses that the above electrolytic copper foil can be obtained by using an aqueous solution containing copper sulfate and sulfuric acid as the electrolyte and adding hydroxyethyl cellulose, polyethylene imine, a sulfonate of an active organic sulfur compound, acetylene glycol, and chlorine ions.
PLT 3, Japanese Patent No. 3270637, discloses a controlled, low profile electrolytic copper foil comprised of an electrolytic copper foil having a particle structure free from columnar crystals and twin boundaries and having a mean particle size of up to 10 μm wherein the particle structure is a particle structure which is substantially uniform and randomly oriented.
In this electrolytic copper foil, the maximum tensile strength at 23° C. is within a range of 87,000 to 120,000 psi (600 MPa to 827 MPa) and the ultimate elongation at 180° C. is 25,000 to 35,000 psi (172 MPa to 241 MPa).
In the case of the electrolytic copper foils disclosed in the above PLTs 1 to 3, the mechanical strength in the ordinary state is large in all instances, but the mechanical strength remarkably falls in a case where they are heated at a high temperature of 300° C. or more.
In the case of the electrolytic copper foils disclosed in the above PLTs 1 to 3, all use an electrolyte containing copper sulfate and sulfuric acid and all use organic compounds as additives though the types of additives are different (hereinafter referred to as "organic additives").
Many organic additives usually have the effect of suppressing crystal growth. It is considered that the crystals are incorporated into the grain boundaries.
In this case, the larger the amount of the organic additive incorporated into the grain boundaries, the more improved the mechanical strength tends to become that disclosed in Non-Patent Literature (NPLT) 1: Shoji Shiga, Metal Surface Technology, Vol. 31, No. 10, p. 573 (1980)).
When the organic additive which has been incorporated into the grain boundaries is heated at a high temperature of 300° C. or more, the organic additive decomposes. As a result, it is considered that the mechanical strength is lowered.
On the other hand, as copper foil satisfying the above demands, use is made of rolled copper alloy foil. Rolled copper alloy foil is not annealed much at a temperature of about 300° C., has a small dimensional change at the time of heating, and has a small change of mechanical strength as well.
However, rolled copper foil is expensive compared with electrolytic copper foil, and it is difficult to satisfy demands on width, thickness, etc. with it.
Therefore, to obtain electrolytic copper foil which has a surface to be bonded to the polyimide resin base material with a low profile and which is excellent in mechanical strength as well, the present inventors attempted to develop an electrolytic copper alloy foil which is improved in the heat resistance of the copper foil by adding tungsten to the copper foil and is suitable for applications which use a polyimide resin as a binder resin.
However, tungsten is a metal which is very hard to incorporate into electrolytic copper foil.
PLT 4 (Japanese Patent No. 3238278) and PLT 5 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-67693 A1) disclose addition of tungsten to the electrolyte for forming the electrolytic copper foil.
PLTs 4 and 5 relate to copper foil for a printed circuit and disclose in their examples to form foil by an electrolyte obtained by adding 20 to 100 mg/liter of tungsten (W) and chlorine ions (chloride ions) to the electrolyte and that the formed copper foil does not have pinholes, is excellent in adhesion with the resin substrate, and has a high hot-rolling elongation at 180° C. However, there is no description that tungsten was incorporated into the copper foil, that is, that a Cu—W alloy foil was produced.
In this regard, an electrolyte containing copper sulfate and sulfuric acid is used as the electrolyte of the electrolytic copper foil. Various additives are added to the plating bath for the purpose of glossing and smoothing the copper foil surface, reducing stress of the copper foil, and so on. When no additives are used, the surface morphology, mechanical properties, etc. demanded from the copper foil are not obtained, therefore the importance of additives is very high. In particular, a copper sulfate plating bath is a simple acidic solution, therefore has a poor uniform electrodeposition property, so production of a preferred electrolytic copper foil without any additives is difficult. As additives used in the copper sulfate plating bath, chlorine ions, polyoxyethylene-based surfactants, smoothening agents, organic sulfates, or another gloss agents, glue, gelatin, etc. are proposed and used.
Unless chlorine or other additives are added to the copper sulfate plating bath, plating is concentrated at high current portions in which electricity easily flows (portions near anode, end of cathode, tip ends of pointed objects, etc.) and a generally called "burning state (where the plating surface becomes more uneven)" occurs. For this reason, about 20 to 100 mg/liter of chlorine ions are added in the usual copper sulfate plating. When the chlorine ions become less than 20 mg/liter, for the above reason, burning easily occurs. Conversely, when it exceeds 80 mg/liter, the leveling action is too strong, therefore "dull deposition" occurs in low current portions (in small holes etc.).
However, when there are chlorine ions in the electrolyte, it becomes difficult to mix a specific metal into the copper foil to change the characteristics of the copper foil. That is, with an electrolyte free from chlorine ions, it is possible to mix another metal into the copper foil. The characteristics of the copper foil can be changed by mixing (alloying) another metal, but it becomes hard to mix another metal into the copper foil if chlorine ions enter the electrolyte, and it becomes extremely difficult to change the characteristics of the copper foil by another metal.
For example, PLTs 4 and 5 disclose a method of producing an electrolytic copper foil by an electrolyte obtained by adding tungsten into a sulfuric acid-copper sulfate electrolyte and further adding glue and chlorine ions and describe, as the effect thereof, that the production of copper foil having a hot-rolling elongation at 180° C. of 3% or more and a large surface roughness, but with few pinholes is possible.
Therefore, the present inventors repeated the experiment of adding tungsten into the sulfuric acid-copper sulfate electrolyte and further adding glue and chlorine ions and could produce copper foil with the characteristics aimed at by the electrolytic copper foil disclosed in PLT 4 of a hot-rolling elongation at 180° C. of 3% or more, a large roughness of the roughened surface, and few pinholes. However, when heat treating this copper foil at 300° C. for 1 hour, it was learned that the mechanical strength could not be kept. As a result of analysis of this copper foil, it was clarified that tungsten did not form eutectoids in the electrically deposited copper.
That is, in the method of PLTs 4 and 5, the electrodeposition was carried out by an electrolyte obtained by adding tungsten to a sulfuric acid-copper sulfate electrolyte and further adding 10 mg/liter or less of glue and 20 to 100 mg/liter of chlorine ions. Therefore, an electrolytic copper alloy foil in which eutectoids of tungsten did not form in the copper foil and in which a high mechanical strength was kept even if it was heated at 300° C. could not be produced.

Electrolysis copper-alloy foil, method of the same, electrolytic-solution using the production, negative electrode aggregation used the same, secondary battery, and electrode of the same