A communication system includes a number of communication devices coupled to a data network using communication servers. The communication system supports communication sessions between a variety of networks and devices using, at least in part, XDSL communication techniques. Specifically, information associated with a session passes between a device and an associated server using a modifiable number of XDSL modems and associated twisted pair lines.

The invention relates in general to data communication, and more particularly to data communication using a modifiable number of XDSL modems.
A communication server provides access to communication facilities. For example, a communication server having a bank of modems may provide subscriber access to the modems for data communication. A communication server may be associated with its own dedicated network or with an existing network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
As networks provide greater connectivity and access to information, there is an increasing demand for data communication at higher rates. For example, Internet sessions may require high data rates to accommodate multimedia information. One solution to provide increased data rates replaces existing twisted pair wiring with high bandwidth media, such as coaxial cable or fiber optic links. Other solutions adopt improved transmission techniques using the existing hardware infrastructure. For example, digital subscriber line (XDSL) technology provides higher bandwidth data service over existing twisted pair wiring.
Data rates supported by a single XDSL line may still be inadequate for demands. One solution involving integrated services digital network (ISDN) bundles multiple lines with the same data rate to increase data capacity for a session. However, this known technique lacks the flexibility or intelligence to provide reliable and economical high bandwidth data communication service using XDSL technology.
In accordance with the present invention, the disadvantages and problems associated with data communication have been substantially reduced or eliminated. The present invention provides a communication system that modifies the number of XDSL modems for communicating data in response to loading information and threshold information.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a communication system for communicating data associated with a session includes a number of twisted pair lines. A first communication device has a number of first XDSL modems coupled to the twisted pair lines. The first communication device communicates data associated with the session using the twisted pair lines. A second communication device has a number of second XDSL modems coupled to the twisted pair lines that communicate with the first XDSL modems. The second communication device determines the number of second XDSL modems for communicating data associated with the session based on loading information and corresponding threshold information of at least one of the second XDSL modems.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a communication device for communicating data associated with a session using a number of twisted pair lines includes a number of XDSL modems coupled to the twisted pair lines. The communication device also includes an interface and a router for communicating data between the interface and the second XDSL modems. A controller coupled to the XDSL modems and the router receives loading information from at least one of the XDSL modems, compares the loading information to stored threshold information, and determines the number of XDSL modems for communicating data associated with the session.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method for communicating data using a number of XDSL modems coupled to a number of associated twisted pair lines includes: determining loading information of at least one XDSL modem; comparing the loading information to threshold information; and determining the number of XDSL modems for communicating data associated with a session in response to the comparison.
Still another embodiment of the present invention includes a method of segmenting a packet of data for communication by a number of XDSL modems, the method comprising: receiving a packet; determining the size of the packet; and segmenting the packet into subpackets based on proportionality factors associated with the XDSL modems to communicate the subpackets.
Important technical advantages of the present invention include a communication device that modifies the number of XDSL modems used in a session. The modification is accomplished by comparing loading information with corresponding threshold information associated with the data rate capacity of the XDSL modems. If the data rate increases to a predetermined percentage (e.g., 80%) of the capacity of an XDSL modem, the communication device requests service from another XDSL modem. Similarly, if the data rate decreases to a predetermined percentage (e.g., 30%) of the capacity of the XDSL modem and more than one XDSL modems are servicing the session, the communication device requests suspension or termination of service from a selected XDSL modem. The communication device may then support a session having a range of data rate needs while optimizing the use of a number of XDSL modems.
Another important technical advantage of the present invention includes the selection of lines based on a variety of characteristics and factors, such as: different upstream and/or downstream data rate capacities, varying times needed to prepare the line for data communication, cost to operate the lines, minimum billing increments for line usage, and other operational parameters. The communication device maintains an activity table to determine status information on twisted pair lines and XDSL modems. In one embodiment, the table contains information on the minimum time each modem should be active for efficient use, the actual time each modem has been in an active state, a priority rank for each modem, fixed and/or adjusted data rate capacity, threshold values to remove or add a modem, and loading information detailing current data rates (e.g., packet rate, bit rate, error rate).
Another important technical advantage of the present invention includes the segmenting of data in proportion to the data rate capacity of active modems. After receiving a data packet from a network, one embodiment of the present invention determines the packet size and then divides the packet into subpackets based on proportionality factors derived from the capacity of active modems serving the session. The communication device addresses the subpackets using virtual circuits supported by a suitable multipoint protocol. Proportionality factors may change dynamically with modifications to the number of modems in active use and adjustments in the current data rate capacity of the modems. Other important technical advantages are readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

Data communication using a modifiable number of XDSL modems


A content delivery system coupled to a computer network can provide large volumes of content to large numbers of recipients. The content is collected into digests and individual articles to be sent in email via an email channel established by the content delivery system to the recipients through the computer network. Content producers submit content for aggregation into various email deliveries and submit initial scheduling information. The scheduling information may specify target characteristics of preferred recipients of the content as well as general and initial scheduling preferences for email delivery. The content delivery system utilizes the initial scheduling information as a starting point for scheduling email deliveries. The system measures levels of content interaction by the recipients to gauge corresponding interest levels in the content. Using recipient interest levels as feedback, the content delivery system is able to modify and extend scheduling details to optimally schedule further deliveries of content.

The Internet has provided a means for companies to expand their business by making large numbers of online connections with ever-increasing numbers of customers made available to companies through extensive online communication networks. Whether a business is involved in e-commerce, social media, or online gaming, the pervasive nature of Internet connections provides a large audience of recipients in the form of shoppers, users, and customers. As business expands, companies have expanding volumes of information to communicate with these increasing numbers of recipients. The information may include offers, updates, communications with other users, news, and general information, to name just a few of the types of messages, which may collectively, be referred to as content to be delivered to the recipients.
As business expands through the communication leverages the Internet offers, a company may soon face a challenge of communicating large volumes of content to a significant number of recipients. Generally, email or the "email channel" may provide the mainstream of this flow of content. Connecting with recipients through email has become one of the most pervasive means of communicating information between users of the Internet. Through the increasing volume of communication by email, the company and the recipients desire having content that is meaningful and directed towards business goals. Amidst all Internet communication, the concept of delivering a targeted email having the best content for the recipient is a key aspect of the company maintaining a relationship with customers that nurtures business. It directly follows that the requirements of a delivery system may be to determine optimal content for a large number of recipients and to deliver the large volume of content to those recipients via the email channel.

Automatic scheduling of content delivery


A method for creating an ordered reading list of predetermined length of relevant topics from a hyperlinked database source of information website for a user. The method includes determining at least one topic of interest based on a plurality of methods and choosing a topic ordering algorithm from a plurality of topic ordering algorithms. A top-down schematic algorithm includes a page rank calculation performed by iterating until a convergence. A bottom-up schematic algorithm includes a linear parameterization of a ratio of an order from a plurality of source topics to a plurality of sink topics of an article, and a horizontal schematic algorithm includes an order parameterization by absolute differences of a log of a plurality of ranks and an absolute difference of a plurality of distances with analogous cutoff methods. The method also includes calculating one of a plurality of topic ordering algorithms based on the topic of interest and a user, updating the hyperlinked database source of information, forming a reading list and ranking the list based on the topic ordering algorithm, and outputting the ranking and the list of reading materials to an interface depending on an outcome of the topic ordering algorithm.

The present invention generally relates to a method for creating a reading list of information, and more particularly, a method for automatically creating, in real-time, a topical reading list with corresponding web-based links of relevant information according to a topic of interest.
Today, researching is generally conducted either using textbooks or using the World Wide Web. There are a variety of search techniques on the Internet that push different bits of information using various search engine queries. The Internet contains what appears to be infinite amounts of information. Locating information is not always easy, and usually, search engines return large quantities of irrelevant and useless information.

Method for creating a topical reading list


An electrical card connector (100) includes an insulating housing (30), a metal shield (10) shielding over the insulating housing for defining a card receiving space, a plurality of contacts (32) received in the insulating housing and a base (20) assembled at a side of the metal shield. The insulating housing has a body portion (31) and first and second assembling boards (301, 302) formed at two ends of the body portion. The first assembling board defines a first retaining hole (35) and the second assembling board defines a second retaining hole (37). The base includes a guiding portion (21), an extending portion (22) at a front part of the guiding portion and a protruding portion (23) bending laterally from a distal end of the extending portion. The metal shield forms a first fastening element (15) received in the first retaining hole. A second fastening element (27) is retained by the protruding portion and is received in the second retaining hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical card connectors, and more particularly to an L-shaped Express Card connector having an ejector.
2. Description of Related Arts
With the development of the technologies, the standard cards are highly needed to be improved in many aspects, such as transmitting capacity and transmitting speed. Therefore, an Express card is defined by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) and an Express Card connector for receiving the Express card and transferring information between the Express card and a circuit board occurs timely. The Express Card connector has two types in configuration, one is rectangular and another is L-shaped. Generally, the L-shaped Express Card connector forms an ejector for ejecting the card out of the connector and a base for receiving the ejector. A pair of fastening portions, usually screws in most embodiments, is formed on a metal shell of the connector and screwed into the holes defined on the insulating housing which is assembled on a front part of the metal shell. Indeed, in assembly, the base with the ejector is assembled onto a side of the metal shell prior to the assembling of the metal shell onto the insulating housing, and because both the fastening portions are formed on the metal shell, the base is baffled by an adjacent fastening portion possibly. Furthermore, the fastening portions provide retaining force only between the metal shell and the insulating housing. No retaining force provided between the base and the insulating housing causes a bad ejection effect of the ejector.
Hence, an improved electrical card connector is desired.


A pre-fabricated reinforcement cage is constructed of at least two cage frames spaced apart from each other. The cage frames include preferably axially extending steel plates and axially extending sleeves preferably having an internal threading pattern that is complimentary to the external threading pattern of a plurality of longitudinal reinforcing bars. The cage frames are optionally also provided with lifting bar guide collars to receive a lifting apparatus comprised of one or more lifting bars. The cage frame plates, sleeves and lifting bar guide collars are fastened together. The longitudinal reinforcing bars, having continuous, external thread-like deformations along their length are installed into the internally threaded sleeves or into threads of locking nuts holding the bars within optional smooth sleeves during the fabrication.

The present invention relates to building construction technologies. In particular, the present invention relates to the fabrication and installation of reinforcing bars for members of concrete structures, such as columns and walls, among other things. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for the safe, efficient and economical pre-fabrication and erection of assemblies of reinforcing bars used in the construction of concrete structures.
In multi-level concrete construction, it is a common practice to place longitudinal steel reinforcement rods individually. Pre-fabrication of assemblies of longitudinal reinforcing bars is sometimes employed to limit the on-site labor associated with the placement of individual bars. These assemblies generally utilize wire ties or other common bar ties to form an assembly, or module, of typically four or more reinforcing bars. Such assemblies are also often provided with some or all of the transverse reinforcement installed.
Recent advances in concrete reinforcement technology have led to the increased use of threaded reinforcing bars. So-called threadbar reinforcement has continuous thread-like deformations along the length of the bar, and are typically provided with compatible hardware with complimentary internal threading, such as nuts, couplers, anchors, etc. Threadbar reinforcement has been used for many decades and is available from domestic and international suppliers such as Dywidag Systems International, Williams Form Engineering and SAS Stressteel, to name a few.
Threaded reinforcing bars are typically connected with internally threaded couplers. Coupling of the bars generally requires rotating, or spinning, of the couplers along the bars, as well as rotating, or torquing, one or both of the so connected bars for full engagement of the coupler. This requires that one or both of the threaded bars being connected be free to rotate. The use of conventional prefabricated cages, or modules, is generally not suited for this purpose, because in creating a rigid cage for installation, the free rotation of the bars is typically impeded. This represents a significant disadvantage of conventional prefabrication techniques. Another disadvantage of conventional pre-fabricated reinforcement cages is that during their installation the rigging is attached to the permanent cage at the top, thus requiring a worker to climb up the cage to release the hoisting leads.
Alternatively, the prior art patents of Ferrer (U.S. Pat. No. 8,375,678) and Ferrer (U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,479) teach a method and apparatus for the prefabrication of modular reinforcement cages for concrete structures, wherein longitudinal threaded reinforcing bars are held in formation by a set of flat, two dimensional templates with apertures cut at the location and corresponding diameter to the reinforcing bars that are subsequently charged through the apertures. The flat planar templates of Ferrer '678 and Ferrer '479 are provided perpendicular to the axis of the reinforced bars, impeding aggregate material concrete flow therethrough. The apertures are provided with enough clearance from the reinforcing bars to permit free movement of the bars with respect to the template. The reinforcing bars are then locked in place against the template by use of opposing internally threaded lock nuts. Standard set screws are then installed into the lock nuts to provide a temporary locking mechanism to prevent inadvertent rotation, or spinning, of lock nuts during fabrication, transportation and erection. Such locking mechanisms must obviously be removed in order to rotate the bars. The use of internally threaded lock nuts is intended to permit the free rotation of the threaded reinforcing bars through the template and lock nuts, thus allowing the bars to be rotated in the field during installation. The flat, two dimensional templates of Ferrer '678 and Ferrer '479 are intended to provide accurate spatial relation of the longitudinal bars, as well as rigidity for the module when being lifted.
Although the prior art patents of Ferrer '678 and Ferrer '479 are intended to overcome one of the primary disadvantages of conventional pre-fabricated reinforcement cages, they possess certain additional shortcoming and disadvantages, including, but not necessarily limited to:                1. The flat, two dimensional template of Ferrer '678 and '479 occupies a significant sectional area of the concrete element being reinforced, and thus impedes the flow of concrete during placement.        2. The template of Ferrer '678 and '479 occupies a significant sectional area of the concrete element being reinforced and thus also results in a significant discontinuity in the transmission of stress between the concrete on opposite sides of the flat, two dimensional template. This significant discontinuity also facilitates the development of undesirable shrinkage cracks in the concrete.        3. The perpendicular weak-axis orientation of the flat, two dimensional template of Ferrer '678 and '479 with respect to the longitudinal direction of the reinforcement requires a substantial quantity of material to achieve any significant strength and stiffness of the cage.


A method and apparatus is described herein for fault resilient booting of a platform. Upon booting the platform, any boot routines marked are skipped. A current boot routine to be executed in a boot sequence is registered in nonvolatile memory. An attempt to execute the current boot routine is made. If the attempt is successful, the next boot entry is determined and skipped or executed, based on whether it is marked. However, if the execution fails the current boot routine is marked and, upon subsequent execution of the boot sequence, skipped.

As computers advance, integration of platforms and their components become a larger and more complex task. Designers of computer systems prefer platforms to be modular and upgradeable, so pieces of the platform may be updated without having to replace the whole system. In light of this industry model, there are countless add-in cards, components, and modules that are connected to a system at any given time.
Unfortunately, designers do not have the capacity to test every combination of components in a system. Therefore, it is not uncommon, upon booting a system, to run into an unconventional setup that was not anticipated in the test phase, which results in unpredictable behavior in the system. This system behavior, in many instances, leads to a system hang or an improperly configured platform.
Unfortunately, in a platform boot environment, unlike starting and operating system (OS), if the system hangs there currently is no process to recover the system. In fact, many times the user is left only with calling the manufacturer or carrying the system into a dealer for service.
Some systems attempt to recover from numerous hangs in the boot sequence, by resetting factory defaults. However, if a newly placed component, such as an add-in card or memory, is causing the system to hang, resetting the defaults will not change the result. Furthermore, the user is not able to gather any information about what is causing the system to crash, and will have to rely on a service call to fix the problem.


A drawer Buffer includes: the base, cylinder and plate with the guide rod projected in the front end; the cylinder of which is fixed in the base and there is a projecting column on the front end of its piston rod; in the middle of the guide rod, there is a sliding chute for the move of piston rod; in the outer side of the guide rod, there is a guideway to coordinate with the projecting column, the front end of the guideway is linked with a positioning slot; on the plate, there is the guiding slot for traction and pushing the projecting column into the positioning slot; the section shape of the mentioned cylinder sleeve and piston rod of the cylinder is similar to the ellipse, the tail of the cylinder sleeve is linked with the head of piston rod via the spring. The buffer can be used with a drawer slide rail for drawer moving reposefully.

The drawer is a common component of furniture, it is installed in the drawer cavity by the slide rail on furniture; ordinary drawers are easy to slide out because of the vibration, and the goods in them will be dropped out; in addition, the drawer tends to make loud noises when being closed, and affects the feeling of the user and people around it. To solve this problem, various types of drawer buffers were developed by the personnel in the industry; among others, there is one type of drawer buffer consisting of the base, cylinder and plate with projected guide rod on the front end; the cylinder is fixed in the base and the base is fixed on the outer wall of the drawer by screws which enables it to move with the drawer during opening and closing; the plate is set on the inner wall of the drawer cavity which, because of the damping action of the cylinder, makes the drawer hard to slide out completely when being vibrated; the loud noises is also prevented because the damping action prevented the cylinder from colliding with the back wall with a rush. The drawer buffer can either be fitted into the drawer by consumer themselves, or fixed on the drawer slide rail in advance and sold to consumers together with the slide rail by the manufacturer for the consumers' convenience.
At present, the section shape of cylinder sleeve and piston rod of buffers used for drawer buffers and drawer slide rails with drawer buffer in the market are all round; the air capacity of the cylinder sleeve is small, the buffering power is insufficient and the stroke of the piston rod is limited; furthermore, the cylinder of them consists of only one part of cylinder sleeve and one part of piston rod, and the stroke of the piston rod is relatively small; the applicability of the product is not satisfying in practical use because the limited stroke of the piston (less than 60 mm).

Drawer buffer and drawer slide rail with drawer buffer


Disclosed is a holster for concealment inside a waistband of a lower garment of a user. The holster includes a support sheet having first and second surfaces and made of at least first and second layers of different material. The first layer comprises a pliable leather material and the second layer comprises a resilient elastomeric cushion material. The second layer is positioned inward toward the user relative to the first layer when the holster is in use. A rigid shell member is attached to the support sheet and forms, with the first side of the support sheet, a pocket configured to encase a portion of a handgun. At least one garment attachment member is provided on the support sheet and is configured to support the holster inside a waistband of a lower garment of a user. In one example, the resilient elastomeric cushion material may be neoprene.

It is known to make concealable handgun holsters from certain combinations of materials. For example, a pocket to hold the handgun may be formed on one side from a relatively rigid thermoplastic material, such as KYDEX®, which is secured to a relatively more flexible sheet of material, such as leather, to form an opposite side of the pocket and to extend outwardly beyond the periphery of the rigid portion for mounting belt clips made of plastic or spring steel. Examples of such holsters are shown in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0181353 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,672,201. Carrying a handgun for personal protection is often done in a concealed manner. Doing so provides for desired accessibility and protection without being ubiquitous to others in your vicinity. A variety of holsters have been developed to accommodate concealed carry of a handgun and/or accessories, such as an extra ammunition magazine or flashlight.
A typical belt holster can securely and conveniently hold a handgun and/or accessory item, but relies on some form of cover garment to make it concealed. A more easily concealable type of handgun holster is one worn inside the waistband (IWB) of a lower garment (such as pants or a skirt) and is held tightly against one's body by a belt or the waistband of the garment. Typically, an IWB holster includes one or more attachment clips which support the holster (and the handgun or other accessory held by it) on the belt or waistband. In order to minimize the thickness and bulk added by a holster to the item being concealed, these clips are typically positioned lateral to the pocket that receives the item. Other extensions of an IWB holster may provide a shield to prevent the muzzle or grip of the handgun from directly contacting the wearer's body.
Leather is a traditional material from which holsters have been constructed for many years. However, the pocket of an IWB holster made entirely of leather will usually collapse under the compression force of the waistband or belt when the handgun or other item is removed, making reholstering more difficult. In some cases, an extra layer of leather or some other stiffening material is used to keep the mouth of the pocket open and resist collapse. A more recently developed and popular design for IWB holsters has been to attach a rigid outside encasement member to a sheet of leather, together forming the holster pocket. The pliable leather sheet rests against the user's body and extended areas of the leather sheet provide attachment locations for one or more belt clips, allowing the holster to conform to the curved shape of the user's body. The rigid outer shell is formed to fit the handgun or other item being held and maintains its shape even when the handgun is removed.
Unless "finished" on both sides, natural leather typically has a rough side and a smooth side. In IWB holsters, the rough side of the leather sheet is typically positioned toward the user's body with the smooth side toward the handgun in order to allow the handgun to be removed from the holster pocket with less friction and to help keep the holster in place on the user's body as the handgun is being drawn.
While leather is quite durable and resists stretching, while allowing a suitable amount of flexure, the rough side of the leather can be uncomfortably abrasive when held directly against the user's skin or undergarment. Leather is also not particularly breathable, causing perspiration to accumulate between the holster and the user's body or absorbing the perspiration moisture, which undesirably exposes the handgun to moist and corrosive salts.
An IWB holster is needed, made of materials that retain all of the desired qualities described above while minimizing or eliminating the undesirable qualities.


A process is provided to produce a catalyst system. The process comprises blending a first component and a second component. The first component of the catalyst system comprises chromium on a support. The amount of chromium on the support is from about 0.05 to about 5 weight percent based on the weight of the support. The support comprises fluorided alumina. The support has a surface area from about 200 to about 550 square meters per gram and a pore volume from about 0.7 to about 2.5 cubic centimeters per gram. The first component is activated at a temperature in the range of about 500xc2x0 C. to about 900xc2x0 C. The second component is a transition metal halide catalyst. A process comprising polymerizing ethylene or copolymerizing ethylene and at least one other monomer using the catalyst system to produce ethylene polymers is also provided.

This invention is related to the field of processes that produce polymers, where said polymers comprise polymerized ethylene. The phrase xe2x80x9cethylene polymersxe2x80x9d as used in this application includes homopolymers of ethylene, and copolymers of ethylene with another monomer.
There are many production processes that produce ethylene polymers. Ethylene polymers are utilized in many products, such as, for example, films, coatings, fibers, and pipe. Producers of such ethylene polymers are continuously conducting research to find improved ethylene polymers.
This invention provides ethylene polymers with improved properties.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process to produce a catalyst system.
Magnesium dihalides, particularly magnesium dichloride is preferred for the metal halide component because it is readily available and relatively inexpensive.
The transition metal is generally selected from titanium, zirconium and vanadium. Titanium tetrahydrocarbyloxides are the preferred titanium compounds for combining with the metal halide compound. Suitable titanium tetrahydrocarbyloxide compounds include those expressed by the general formula Ti(OR)4 wherein each R is individually selected from alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, alkaryl, and aralkyl hydrocarbon radicals containing from about 1 to about 20 carbon atoms per radical and each R can be the same for different. Titanium tetrahydrocarbyloxides in which the hydrocarbyl group contains from about 1 to about 10 carbon atoms per radical are most often employed because they are more readily available. Suitable titanium tetrahydrocarbyloxides include, for example, titanium tetramethoxide, titanium dimethoxydiethoxide, titanium tetraethoxide, titanium tetra-n-butoxide, titanium tetrahexyloxide, titanium tetradecyloxide, titanium tetraeicosyloxide, titanium tetracyclohexyloxide, titanium tetrabenzyloxide, titanium tetra-p-tolyloxide and titanium tetraphenoxide. Of the titanium tetrahydrocarbyloxides, titanium tetraalkoxides are generally preferred and titanium tetraethoxide is particularly preferred.
The molar ratio of the transition metal compound to the metal halide compound can be selected over a relatively broad range. Generally the molar ratio is within the range of about 10:1 to about 1:10, preferably between about 3:1 and 0.5:2, however, the most common molar ratios are with the range of about 2:1 to about 1:2. When titanium tetrahydrocarbyloxide and magnesium dichloride are employed, a molar ratio of titanium to magnesium of about 2:1 is presently recommended as most all of the magnesium compound apparently goes into solution easily.
The metal halide compound and the transition metal compound employed are normally mixed together by heating, e.g. refluxing, these two components together in a suitable dry (essential absence of water) solvent or diluent, which is essentially inert to these components and the product produced. By the term xe2x80x9cinertxe2x80x9d is meant that the solvent does not chemically react with the dissolved components such as to interfere with the formation of the product or the stability of the product once it is formed. Such solvents or diluents include, for example, n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane, methylcyclohexane, toluene, xylenes and the like. It is emphasized that aromatic solvents are preferred, such as for example xylene because of the solubility of the metal halide compound and the transition metal compound is higher in aromatic solvents as compared to aliphatic solvents.
The first component produced from contact of the metal halide and transition metal compound is treated with an organometallic precipitation agent. Generally this is an organoaluminum halide compound which includes for example, dihydrocarbylaluminum monohalides of the formula Rxe2x80x22AlX, monohydrocarbylaluminum dihalides of the formula Rxe2x80x2AlX2 and hydrocarbylaluminum sesquihalides of the formula Rxe2x80x23Al2X3 wherein each Rxe2x80x2 in the above formulas is individually selected from linear and branched chain hydrocarbyl radicals containing from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms per radical and can be the same for different and each X is a halogen atom and can be the same or different. Some suitable organoaluminum halide compounds include, for example, methylaluminum dibromide, ethylaluminum dichloride, ethylaluminum diiodide, isobutylaluminum dichloride, dodecylaluminum dibromide, dimethylaluminum bromide, diethylaluminum chloride, diisopropylaluminum chloride, methyl-n-propylaluminum bromide, di-n-octylaluminum bromide, diphenylaluminum chloride, dicyclohexylaluminum bromide, dieicosylaluminum chloride, methylaluminum sesquibromide, ethylaluminum sesquichloride, ethylaluminum sesquiiodide, and the like. Ethylaluminum sesquichloride, ethylaluminum dichloride, and diethylaluminum chloride are preferred.
The above-described mixing of the catalyst component solution and the precipitating agent can be carried out under an olefin atmosphere. The olefin atmosphere employed can be an aliphatic mono-1-olefin having from 2 to about 18 carbon atoms per molecule. Thus, the olefin can include such as, for example, ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, 1-nonene and 1-decene and mixtures of one or more thereof.
The solid catalyst component is subjected to a halide ion exchanging source either before or after the prepolymerization step. The halide ion exchanging source can be a halide of a transition metal. Some examples of suitable halide ion exchanging sources that can be employed are titanium tetrahalides, such as titanium tetrachloride.
It is another object of this invention to provide said catalyst system.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process to use said catalyst system to polymerize ethylene, or to copolymerize ethylene with at least one other monomer, to produce ethylene polymers.
It is another object of this invention to provide said ethylene polymers.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a process to use said ethylene polymers to produce a manufacture.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a manufacture comprising said ethylene polymers.
In accordance with this invention a process is provided. This process comprises blending a first component and a second component to produce a catalyst system wherein:
(1) said first component of said catalyst system comprises chromium on a support, and wherein the amount of said chromium on said support is from about 0.05 to 5 weight percent based on the weight of said support, and wherein said support comprises fluorided alumina, and wherein said support has a surface area from about 200 to about 550 square meters per gram, and wherein said support has a pore volume from about 0.7 to about 2.5 cubic centimeters per gram, and wherein said first component has been activated at a temperature in the range of about 500xc2x0 C. to about 900xc2x0 C.; and
(2) said second component is a transition metal halide catalyst.
In another embodiment of this invention, a composition comprising said catalyst system is provided.
In another embodiment of this invention, a process is provided comprising: polymerizing ethylene, or copolymerizing ethylene with at least one other monomer, to produce ethylene polymers, wherein said polymerizing is conducted in a polymerization zone, and wherein said polymerizing is conducted using said catalyst system, and wherein said polymerizing is conducted in the presence of a first cocatalyst and a second cocatalyst, and wherein said first cocatalyst comprises trialkyl boron, and wherein said second cocatalyst comprises trialkyl aluminum.
In yet another embodiment of this invention, said ethylene polymers are provided.
In yet another embodiment of this invention, a process for using said ethylene polymers to produce a manufacture is provided.
In still another embodiment of this invention, a manufacture is provided comprising said ethylene polymers.
These and other objects of this invention will become more evident from the following description and claims.
A process comprising blending a first component and a second component to produce a catalyst system, is provided.
Said blending can be accomplished by any means known to those skilled in the art. Said first component and said second component can be premixed prior to being utilized in a polymerization zone or said first and second component can be routed into a polymerization zone individually in specified portions. For example, said first and second components can be dry blended together in a mixer or added to a feed stream that leads to a reactor.
Said first component of said catalyst system comprises chromium on a support. The amount of said chromium on said support is from about 0.05 to about 5 weight percent, preferably about 0.1 to about 3 weight percent, and most preferably from 0.8 to 2.5 weight percent, where such weight percents are based on the weight of the support. The chromium is usually in the form of chromium oxide.
The support comprises fluorided alumina.
The phrase xe2x80x9cfluorided aluminaxe2x80x9d is meant to describe an alumina treated with a fluorine-containing compound, in order to add fluoride to said alumina. Reaction of the fluorine-containing compound with an alumina can take place on impregnation or on activation. Generally, the fluoride is added to said alumina by forming a slurry of the alumina in a solution of the fluoriding agent and a suitable solvent such as alcohol or water. Particularly suitable are one to three carbon atom alcohols because of their volatility and low surface tension. A suitable amount of the solution is utilized to provide the desired concentration of fluoride on the alumina after drying. Drying can be effected by any method known in the art. For example, said drying can be completed by suction filtration followed by evaporation or drying under vacuum. The alumina can also be calcined prior to being treated with fluoride and/or chromium, such as in air at about 200 to about 800xc2x0 C.
Any organic or inorganic fluorine-containing compound which can form a fluoride with alumina can be used in this invention. Suitable fluorine-containing compounds include, but are not limited to, hydrofluoric acid (HF), ammonium fluoride (NH4F), ammonium bifluoride (NH4HF2), ammonium fluoroborate (NH4BF4), ammonium silicofluoride ((NH4)2SiF6), and mixtures thereof. The most preferred fluorine-containing compound is ammonium bifluoride, due to ease of use and availability. The amount of fluoride on said support is generally in the range of about 1 to about 10, preferably about 3 to about 8 weight percent fluoride, based on the weight of the support.
The support should have a surface area from about 200 to about 550 square meters per gram. It is more preferred when the support has a surface area from about 225 to about 425 square meters per gram, and it is most preferred when said support has a surface area from 250 to 400 square meters per gram.
The fluorided support should have a pore volume from about 0.7 to about 2.5 cubic centimeters per gram. It is more preferred when the support has a pore volume from about 0.8 to about 1.8 cm3/g, and it is most preferable when said support has a pore volume from 1 to 1.7 cm3/ gram.
Methods of producing said first component are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,900,457; 4,081,407; 4,392,990; 4,405,501; 4,735,931; 4,981,831; the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Said first component should be activated in an oxidizing ambient at a temperature from about 500 to about 900xc2x0 C. It is even more preferred when the temperature is from about 550 to about 700xc2x0 C., and it is most preferred when the temperature is from 550 to 650xc2x0 C. Currently, the preferred oxidizing ambient is air. This activation is carried out for a time period of about 1 minute to about 50 hours. This allows for at least a portion of any chromium in a lower valance state to be converted to a hexavalent state.
Said first component after being activated is preferably reduced. This reduction converts at least a portion of the hexavalent chromium to a lower valent state. Carbon monoxide is preferably used in this reduction. In general, this reduction is conducted at a temperature in the range of about 200 to 500xc2x0 C., preferably 300-400xc2x0 C., for about 1 minute to about 24 hours. After this reduction the first component is flushed with nitrogen to remove the reducing agent.
Said second component comprises a transition metal halide catalyst as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,837, herein incorporated by reference. Generally, said transition metal halide catalyst comprises a metal halide compound and a transition metal compound. Said metal halide compound is selected from the group consisting of metal dihalides and metal hydroxyhalides. Currently, titanium is the preferred transition metal and magnesium dichloride is the preferred metal halide.
Optionally, said second component can further comprise an anti-caking agent. Generally, said anti-caking agent comprises a famed refractory oxide. Said fumed refractory oxide can be selected from the group consisting of fumed silica, fumed titanium dioxide, and fumed alumina. Fumed refractory oxide is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,178, herein incorporated by reference. Said anti-caking agent can be added to said second component in an amount ranging from about 2 weight % to about 20 weight % based on the weight of the second component.
In another embodiment of this invention, a process is provided comprising polymerizing ethylene, or copolymerizing ethylene and at least one other monomer, to produce an ethylene polymer.
Said xe2x80x9cat least one other monomerxe2x80x9d can be olefins having from 4 to about 16 carbon atoms per molecule. Suitable monomers, that can be polymerized with ethylene to produce copolymers with excellent properties, include, but are not limited to, 1-butene, 1-pentene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene.
This polymerizing is conducted in a polymerization zone. Polymerization can be carried out in any manner known in the art such as gas phase, solution or slurry polymerization conditions. Said polymerization zone includes any reactor known in the art. For example, a stirred reactor can be utilized for a batch process, or the polymerizing can be carried out continuously in a loop reactor.
A preferred polymerization technique is that which is referred to as a particle form, or slurry process, wherein the temperature is kept below the temperature at which the polymer becomes soluble in the diluent. Such polymerization techniques are well known in the art and are disclosed, for instance, in Norwood, U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,179, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Two preferred polymerization methods for the slurry process are those employing a loop reactor of the type disclosed in Norwood and those utilizing a plurality of stirred reactors either in series, parallel or combinations thereof wherein the reaction conditions are different in the different reactors.
Said polymerizing is conducted at a temperature from about 80 to about 110xc2x0 C. However, it is preferred when said polymerizing is conducted at a temperature from about 85 to about 95xc2x0 C.
Said polymerizing is conducted in the presence of a first cocatalyst and a second cocatalyst. Said first cocatalyst comprises trialkyl boron. In general, the alkyl groups of the trialkylboron cocatalyst should have from about 1 to about 10 carbon atoms and preferably 2 to 4 carbon atoms. Examples include, but are not limited to, triethylboron, tripropylboron, and trimethylboron. However, most preferred is triethylboron. The amount of trialkylboron used in a polymerization, stated in parts per million by weight, based on the weight of the diluent in the reactor, is from about 0.01 parts per million to about 20 parts per million. Preferably, it is from about 0.05 parts per million to about 10 parts per million, and most preferably it is from 0.5 parts per million to 8 parts per million.
Said second cocatalyst comprises trialkylaluminum. Generally, the alkyl groups of the trialkylaluminum cocatalyst should have from about 1 to about 10 carbon atoms and preferably, 2 to 4 carbon atoms. Examples, include, but are not limited to, triethylaluminum, tripropylaluminum, and trimethylaluminum. However, most preferred is triethylaluminum. The amount of trialkylaluminum used in the polymerization, in parts per million by weight, based on the weight of the diluent in the reactor, is from about 0.01 parts per million to about 20 parts per million, preferably, it is from about 0.05 parts per million to about 10 parts per million. Most preferably, it is from 0.5 to 8 parts per million.
Hydrogen is present in the polymerization zone. Currently, about 0.5 to about 3 mole percent hydrogen is used. However, it is preferred when about 0.8 to about 2.5 mole percent is present in said polymerization zone, and it is more preferred when 1.2 to 2.2 mole percent of hydrogen is present in said polymerization zone. These mole percents are based on the moles of the diluent in said polymerization zone.
Said ethylene polymers can be used to produce manufactures. Said ethylene polymers can be formed into a manufacture by any means known in the art. For example, said ethylene polymers can be formed into a manufacture by blow molding, injection molding, and extrusion molding. Further information on processing said ethylene polymers into a manufacture can be found in MODERN PLASTICS ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1992, pages 222-298.
One important application for said ethylene polymers is the production of pipe. Pipe produced from said ethylene polymers typically are formed from an extrusion process. Further information on manufacturing pipe can be found in PLASTICS MATERIALS AND PROCESSES, 1982, pp. 591-592.
It is preferred when said ethylene polymers have a HLMI of about 2-20, preferably about 5-15, and most preferably 8-13 grams per ten minutes.
It is also preferred when said ethylene polymers have a density of about 0.945-0.955, preferably about 0.947-0.953, and most preferably 0.948-0.951 grams per cubic centimeter.
It is also preferred when said ethylene polymers have a shear ratio (HLMI/MI) of greater than about 300, preferably greater than 400, and most preferably greater than 500.
It is also preferred when said ethylene polymers have a polydispersity (Mw/Mn) of greater than about 40, preferably greater than 50, and most preferably greater than 60.
It is also preferred when the ethylene polymers have a pent test of greater than about 500, preferably greater than 1000, and most preferably greater than 2000.


A electronic device (100) includes a removable chip card (40) for carrying information, comprise a housing (10) and a ejecting mechanism (30). The housing (10) defines a chamber (12) and a base (14) formed adjacent to the chamber. The chamber (12) is used for accommodating a battery (20) therein. The base (14) is used for receiving the chip card (40) therewith. The ejecting mechanism (30) is mounted in the housing (10) and includes a sliding member (32) and an elastic member (36). When the battery (20) is accommodated in the chamber (12), the chip card (40) is secured between the sliding member (32) and the battery (20). When the battery (20) is removed from the chamber (12), the elastic member (36) biases the sliding member (32) to eject the chip card (40) outwardly from the base (14).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic devices having chip cards, and particularly to an electronic device having a mechanism for ejecting a chip card.
2. Description of Related Art
Commonly, portable electronic devices such as mobile phones use chip cards retained by a holder.
Typically, chip card holders define a receiving groove for receiving the chip card. The chip card is partly received in the receiving groove to electronically connect to a circuit of the device employing the chip card, and partly exposed so that it may be gripped for removal. However, the exposed part of the chip card is usually small and therefore difficult for a user to grasp in removing the chip card from the holder.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industry Co., Ltd.


In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a calcium removal method capable of reducing operation cost. A solution L2 containing potassium or/and sodium, and calcium is passed through an ion-exchange resin 35 to separate the solution into a solution containing potassium or/and the sodium, and a solution containing calcium. Operation cost can remarkably be decreased since potassium carbonate is not required to remove calcium as before. Timing for changing a calcium-containing water L3 and a salt water L4 discharged from the ion-exchange resin can be performed based on at least one measurement result selected from the group consisting of: a calcium or chlorine concentration; electrical conductivity; and pH of a fluid which is discharged from said ion-exchange resin. The solution may be a filtrate L1 that is obtained by washing a chlorine bypass dust D generated in a cement burning process, or a leachate W of a final disposal site 50.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a calcium removal method, and more particularly to a method of removing calcium contained in filtrate and others, which are obtained by washing chlorine bypass dust collected by a chlorine bypass system attached to a cement manufacturing facility.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chlorine bypass systems have been used to remove chlorine that may cause troubles such as preheater clogging in cement manufacturing facilities. In recent years, recycling of waste through conversion to cement raw material or fuel has been promoted, which increases the quantity of volatile matters such as chlorine, and the quantity of chlorine bypass dust generated as the quantity of the treated waste increases, which necessitates developments of methods for effectively utilizing the chlorine bypass dust.
From the above-mentioned point of view, in a treatment method through conversion to cement raw material described in Patent Document 1, to wastes containing chlorine is added water to allow the chlorine in the wastes to be eluted and filtrated; desalted cake obtained is utilized as a cement raw material; and waste water is purified and is discharged as it is or salt is recovered from the waste water, which makes it possible to effectively utilize the chlorine bypass dust without causing environmental pollution.
However, in this method, when desalting the chlorine bypass dust, in order to reduce selenium concentration in waste water to a safety level, for instance, to 0.1 mg-Se/l when discharged to sewage, ferrous chloride (FeCl2) as a reducing agent is required more or equal to 8000 mg-Fe2+/l, so that a large amount of reduction agent is consumed to remove selenium, resulting in a problem of skyrocketing operation cost.
Then, in order to resolve the above-mentioned problems, the applicant proposed, in Patent Document 2, a method of treating dust contained in extracted cement kiln combustion gas as shown in FIG. 9.
The treating method roughly divided into a washing process for washing the chlorine bypass dust to remove chlorine component, a waste water treatment process for removing heavy metals such as selenium from a filtrate, and a salt recovery process for recovering salt from concentrated salt water to obtain industrial salt.
In the washing process, a hot water generated in a boiler 61 is fed to a dissolution tank 63 through a hot water tank 62 so as to be mixed with the chlorine bypass dust. With this, water soluble chlorine component contained in the chlorine bypass dust dissolves in the hot water. A slurry discharged from the dissolution tank 63 is solid-liquid separated in a belt filter 64, and a primary cake from which chlorine component is removed is returned to cement kilns or the like to utilize it as a cement raw material. On the other hand, a primary filtrate containing chlorine component and heavy metals such as selenium is temporally stored in a storage tank 65.
In the waste water treatment process, the primary filtrate, which is stored in the storage tank 65, containing chlorine component, heavy metals such as selenium, and calcium is supplied to a chemical liquid reaction tank 66, and hydrochloric acid as a pH adjuster is added thereto to adjust pH in the chemical liquid reaction tank 66 below or equal to 4. After reducing and depositing selenium as a heavy metal contained in the waste water with ferrous sulfate, calcium hydroxide is added thereto to increase pH between 8 and 11, and ferrous hydroxide generated by adding ferrous sulfate is flocculated and deposited.
Next, a slurry discharged from the chemical liquid reaction tank 66 is solid-liquid separated by a filter press 67, and the secondary cake is returned to cement kilns or the like to utilize it as a cement raw material, and the secondary filtrate is mixed with potassium carbonate in the chemical liquid reaction tank 68 to remove calcium in the secondary filtrate.
Next, a slurry discharged from the chemical liquid reaction tank 68 is solid-liquid separated by a filter press 69, and the tertiary cake is returned to cement kilns or the like to utilize it as a cement raw material, and the tertiary filtrate is adjusted in pH in a storage tank 70 by adding hydrochloric acid, and iron, residual heavy metals and suspending substances (SS) are removed by an iron removal tower 71, a chelating resin tower 72 and a filtering device 73.
A waste water from the filtering device 73 is fed to an electrodialysis device 74, and in the electrodialysis device 74, selenium acid (SeO42-) in the waste water is included in a desalted water, and chlorine component is included in a concentrated salt water. The desalted water from the electrodialysis device 74 is returned to the hot water tank 62 in the washing process through a circulation route not shown (refer to symbol A).
Further, in the salt recovery process, the concentrated salt water is heated in a heater 76 with vapor from the boiler 75 to perform crystallization in a crystallizer 77. In the crystallizer 77, solute in the concentrated salt water is deposited as crystals, through a centrifugal separator 80, industrial salt with potassium chloride as a main ingredient is recovered, which can be utilized as an industrial raw material. On the other hand, moisture which evaporated in the crystallizer 77 is cooled in a condenser 78 to recover drainage, which is returned to the washing process. A filtrate separated in the centrifugal separator 80 is returned to the crystallizer 77 through a filtrate tank 79. It is also possible to release the concentrated salt water without collecting salt therefrom.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Publication Heisei 11-100243 gazette.
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Publication 2004-330148 gazette.
However, in the method of treating dust contained in extracted cement kiln combustion gas described in the Patent Document 2, after removing heavy metals in the chemical liquid reaction tank 66, in the chemical liquid reaction tank 68 is removed calcium in the secondary filtrate by adding potassium carbonate, the expense for adding the potassium carbonate increases, which causes a problem of skyrocketing operation cost.
the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems in the conventional art, and the object thereof is to provide a calcium removal method and so on which makes it possible to decrease cost for chemicals to remove calcium and suppress operation cost.


The present invention provides a detecting element which can stably detect a substance with high sensitivity; a detecting device therefor; and a detecting method therefor. The detecting element and the detecting device according to the present invention have a plurality of planes having a plurality of mutually-separated metallic structures arranged thereon. The detecting method according to the present invention includes making a detecting light irradiate the detecting element so that the light can intersect a plurality of the planes. Thereby, the detecting light is more frequently absorbed in the vicinity of the metallic structure and the detecting device can stably detect a slight change of a spectrum originating from a trace change of a refractive index occurring in the vicinity of the metallic structure, with the high sensitivity.

In recent years, with the increasing awareness of health issues, environmental issues and issues of safety on food, methods for detecting substances related to these issues (so-called chemical substances like substance related to living body (hereafter referred to as a target substance)) have been demanded.
A detecting technique with high sensitivity is often required for detecting a target substance. This is because a collectable amount of a sample containing the target substance is often very small, and furthermore, even the sample occasionally contains only a trace amount of the target substance among variously mixed substances, as in the case of protein in blood. For this reason, a technique for detecting the target substance has been demanded which has such a high sensitivity as to be capable of detecting a trace amount of the target substance contained in a trace amount of an analyte.
One technique for responding such a demand is a measurement method with the use of a plasmon resonance phenomenon occurring around a metallic particle, which is being developed.
Japanese Patent No. 3,452,837 discloses a technique of detecting how much substance has been absorbed by or has deposited on a fine metallic particle fixed on a substrate, by using a plasmon resonance phenomenon occurring around the fine metallic particle, measuring the change of an absorption spectrum of a light having passed through a medium, and detecting the change of a refractive index of the medium.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-283556 discloses a technique of measuring a change of an absorption spectrum for a transmitted light at high sensitivity, by projecting measuring light into a narrow duct having a plurality of fine metallic particles arranged therein.
In the technique according to Japanese Patent No. 3,452,837, it is assumed that a substrate having a lower density of fine metallic particles would more easily detect a change of an absorption spectrum, because the measured absorption spectrum shows only the absorption spectrum of a single fine metallic particle and is hardly affected by interaction between the fine metallic particles. However, it is also assumed that when the substrate has a lower density of fine metallic particles thereon, an absolute absorbance of a spectrum decreases, because the number of fine metallic particles per unit area becomes few. When the absorbance of the spectrum decreases, it becomes difficult to measure characteristics of the absorption spectrum, and consequently to stably detect the change of the spectrum at high sensitivity with a detector, which is a problem.
On the other hand, the technique in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-283556 can increase the absorbance of the spectrum. However, the technique has a problem that it is difficult to produce such an element that gives rise to less interaction between metallic nanoparticles.

Detecting element, detecting device and detecting method


A mold for BGA semiconductor packages which includes a height adjusting member adapted to adjust the height of the top cavity insert of the top mold or the bottom cavity insert of the bottom mold, an elastic member disposed between the height adjusting member and associated insert, clamping regions of different heights formed at its top or bottom cavity insert, or air vents having a width and depth of an optimum ratio to the area and depth of cavities, thereby being capable of maintaining an optimum and uniform clamping pressure between the top and bottom molds for a variety of PCB strips having a thickness deviation among different portions thereof or having various average thicknesses, upon molding resin encapsulants on those PCB strips, thereby achieving an improvement in the quality of finally produced packages while preventing a sweeping phenomenon of bonding wires electrically connecting a semiconductor chip to conductive traces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mold for ball grid array (BGA) semiconductor packages, and more particularly to a mold for BGA semiconductor packages which is capable of applying uniform and optimum clamping pressure to engaging surfaces of top and bottom molds upon molding a resin encapsulant in the portion of a printed circuit board (PCB) where a semiconductor chip is mounted, thereby preventing the PCB from being damaged while achieving an improvement in the quality of packages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
BGA semiconductor packages have been developed to overcome a limitation in fine pitch surface mounting. BGA semiconductor packages achieve a high integration of circuits because they can accommodate a maximum number of input/output terminals per unit area. Such BGA semiconductor packages also have a light, thin, simple and compact structure while exhibiting a superior electrical characteristic and a superior heat discharge characteristic. In addition, the BGA semiconductor packages have advantages in that they achieve a high productivity, an easy extension to multi-chip modules, and a minimized cycle from the designing step to the manufacturing step.
In this regard, BGA semiconductor packages have a high applicability obtained by their high-quality characteristic and high reliance, an easy applicability to a variety of electronic devices having a very compact size, and a high added value obtained by inexpensive manufacturing costs.
Such BGA semiconductor packages include a PCB having a semiconductor chip mounting plate at the upper surface of its central portion. Circuit patterns are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the peripheral portion of the PCB, respectively. The circuit patterns are electrically connected to each other through via holes. A semiconductor chip is attached to the semiconductor chip mounting plate of the PCB. The circuit patterns of the PCB are also electrically connected to the circuit of the semiconductor chip by means of bonding wires. The BGA semiconductor packages also include a resin encapsulant molded to protect the semiconductor chip and bonding wires from the environment such as moisture, dust or impact, and a plurality of solder balls used as input/output terminals for electrically connecting the lower circuit pattern of the PCB to an external device.
The PCB has a multilayer structure essentially consisting of a flat, central resin layer made of a polymer resin such as polyimide or bismaleimidetriazine, signal layers comprised of metal thin films respectively formed over the upper and lower surfaces of the central resin layer while interposing coating layers therebetween, and insulating solder mask layers respectively formed over the signal layers while being externally exposed. The signal layers respectively formed over the upper and lower surfaces of the flat resin layer are electrically connected to each other through via holes. If necessary, the PCB may have at least two laminated flat resin layers on which signal layers are formed. Accordingly, the PCB has an optional thickness.
Typically, the fabrication of BGA semiconductor packages using PCB's having the above-mentioned structure is carried out in the unit of a PCB strip on which a plurality of unit PCB's are continuously arranged in such a manner that they are aligned with one another, taking into consideration the processing at each processing step and the package feeding efficiency between successive processing steps. The fabrication procedure of BGA semiconductor packages involves a semiconductor chip mounting step, a wire bonding step, a molding step, a solder ball fusing step, and a singulation step. At the semiconductor chip mounting step, semiconductor chips are mounted on respective semiconductor chip mounting plates of the unit PCB's of a PCB strip by bonding each semiconductor chip to the associated semiconductor chip mounting plate using an epoxy resin. At the wire bonding step, bond pads of each mounted semiconductor chip are bonded to conductive traces of the associated unit PCB by means of bonding wires, respectively, so that the associated semiconductor chip and PCB are electrically connected. At the molding step, a resin encapsulant is formed using a mold in order to protect each semiconductor chip and associated bonding wires from the environment. At the solder ball fusing step, a plurality of solder balls are fused as input/output terminals on the lower surface of each unit PCB. At the singulation step, the PCB strip processed at the above-mentioned steps is cut into individual unit packages.
Practically, it is very difficult for PCB strips used in the fabrication of BGA semiconductor packages to maintain a uniform thickness at all portions thereof during the package fabrication, in particular, at steps of laminating desired layers and steps of coating a solder mask layer. Each PCB strip has a relatively large thickness deviation because its portions disposed adjacent to cutting lines to be used at the cutting step have an increased thickness due to a generation of burrs, as compared to other portions. As a result, such PCB strips are problematic in that they have a relatively non-uniform flatness.
Since such PCB strips having a non-uniform flatness due to a thickness deviation exhibited among different portions thereof are used in the fabrication of BGA semiconductor packages, various problems occur. For instance, where low clamping pressure is used to engage top and bottom molds in a molding process for forming a cavity where a resin encapsulant is molded as a melted molding resin is injected into the cavity and then cured, the melted molding resin may be flashed between the top and bottom molds at a thinner portion of the PCB. On the other hand, where the clamping pressure is excessively high, a thicker portion of the PCB is severely depressed as compared to other portions of the PCB, thereby causing the PCB to be deformed. In this case, a sweeping caused by a short circuit of wires and a generation of cracks in packages may occur. Air vents may be blocked due to the deformation of the PCB. In this case, it is difficult to easily vent air left in the cavity, thereby resulting in a degradation in the quality of molded packages such as a formation of voids or blisters.
Now, a procedure for molding BGA packages in accordance with a conventional method will be described in conjunction with FIG. 33.
FIG. 33 is a schematic view illustrating a general automatic transfer type molding apparatus TMA having a conventional configuration. As shown in FIG. 33, the TMA includes a mold M comprising a top mold 10 and a bottom mold 20. A feeding unit F is disposed at a position spaced from the mold M by a desired distance. The feeding unit F serves to store PCB strips (denoted by the reference numeral 100 in FIG. 31) and to feed the stored PCB strips. The TMA also includes a transferring unit T for transferring a PCB strip stored in the feeding unit F to the mold M, a guide unit G for guiding the PCB strip during the transfer, and a receiving unit C for receiving molded PCB strips.
In the feeding unit F, PCB strips subjected to the semiconductor chip mounting and wire bonding steps are sequentially stacked. The transferring unit T transfers the PCB strips stacked in the feeding unit F one by one to the bottom mold 20 via the guide unit G. The PCB strip transferred to the bottom mold 20 is positioned in such a manner that its portions (namely, square regions indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 31), where resin encapsulants are to be formed, are received in cavities defined when the bottom mold 20 is engaged with the top mold 10, respectively. As a melted resin is injected into the cavities and then cured, resin encapsulants are formed on the PCB strip. PCB strips formed with resin encapsulants in the above-mentioned manner are sequentially stacked in the receiving unit C. Although not shown in the figures, the PCB strips stacked in the receiving unit C after the completion of the molding step are subsequently subjected to a solder ball fusing step so as to fuse solder balls as input/output terminals on the lower surface of each unit PCB. Subsequently, the PCB strips are subjected to a singulation step in order to cut each PCB strip into package units. Thus, BGA semiconductor packages are obtained.
FIG. 34 is a sectional view illustrating a typical configuration of the conventional automatic transfer type mold M. As shown in FIG. 34, a PCB strip 100, in which mounting of semiconductor chips 103 and bonding of wires 104 have been carried out, is interposed between the top and bottom molds 10 and 20 of the mold M in such a manner that the semiconductor chips 103 are positioned within cavities CA defined between the top and bottom molds 10 and 20. As a melted resin is injected into the cavities CA and then cured, resin encapsulants are formed on the PCB strip 100.
The top mold 10 includes a base 11 provided at the lower surface thereof with a longitudinally extending recess 12, a top center block 30 extending downwardly from the central portion of the lower surface of the base 11, and a top cavity insert 40 fitted in the recess 12 around the top center block 30.
The top cavity insert 40 has a plurality of clamping holes 502 respectively corresponding to a plurality of through holes 501 formed in the base 11 so that it is firmly coupled to the base 11 by clamping members B1 extending through the clamping holes 502 and through holes 501. A top drive plate DP is mounted on the top portion of the base 11 by means of a plurality of clamping members B.
Similarly to the top mold 10, the bottom mold 20 includes a base 21 provided at the upper surface thereof with a longitudinally extending recess 22, a bottom center block 30A extending upwardly from the central portion of the upper surface of the base 21, and a bottom cavity insert 40A fitted in the recess 22 around the bottom center block 30A.
The bottom center block 30A of the bottom mold 20 has a pot (not shown) adapted to melt a molding resin, and a runner (not shown) adapted as an elongated conduit for feeding the melted resin. The bottom cavity insert 40A fitted in the recess 22 around the bottom center block 30A has a plurality of concave portions 41 at the upper surface thereof.
FIG. 35 is a plan view illustrating a conventional configuration of the bottom cavity insert 40A included in the bottom mold. As shown in FIG. 35, the bottom cavity insert 40A has a base 211, a plurality of aligned concave portions 212 formed at the upper surface of the base 211 and adapted as resin encapsulant molding regions, and a plurality of clamping portions 213 extending upwardly from the upper surface of the base 211 at the peripheral edges of the concave portions 212 to have a uniform height. A PCB strip (not shown) to be subjected to a molding process is laid on a portion of the base 211 where the concave portions 212 and clamping portions 213 are formed.
When the bottom cavity insert 40A of the bottom mold is engaged with the top cavity insert (not shown) of the top mold, the concave portions 212 of the bottom cavity insert 40A form cavities which define resin encapsulant molding regions, respectively. A runner gate RG is formed at one corner of each concave portion 212 to provide a passage for injecting a melted molding resin into the associated cavity. Air vents are also formed at the remaining corners of each concave portion 212 in order to achieve a good filling of the molding resin. Each air vent AV has a predetermined width W2 and a predetermined depth D2 in order to achieve a good air ventilation while minimizing the leakage of the molding resin therethrough (FIG. 37).
FIG. 36 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line F--F of FIG. 35. Referring to FIG. 36, it can be found that the concave portions CV of the bottom cavity insert 40A are deeper than the clamping portions by a depth D1 (corresponding to the height of resin encapsulants) while the air vents AV have a depth D2.
The molding of resin encapsulants on PCB strips 100 using the TMA mentioned above in conjunction with FIG. 33 is carried out as follows. That is, when one of PCB strips 100 stacked in the feeding unit F is transferred to the bottom mold 20 in accordance with an operation of the transferring unit T, the bottom mold 20 is raised to clamp the chip-mounted and wire-bonded PCB strip 100 between the bottom and top molds 20 and 10. At this time, cavities CA are defined between the bottom and top molds 20 and 10 by the concave portions 41 of the bottom mold 20. Thereafter, a molding resin is injected into the cavities CA and then cured. Thus, the molding procedure is completed.
As shown in the enlarged portion of FIG. 34, the top cavity insert 40 is fitted in the recess 22 of the base 11 included in the top mold 10 in such a manner that its lower surface is higher than the lower surface of the base 11 by a height t, thereby forming a step. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the PCB strip 100 laid on the bottom cavity insert 40A of the bottom mold 20 from being over-depressed when the top cavity insert 40 depresses the upper surface of the PCB strip 100.
However, such a PCB strip has a relatively large thickness deviation among different portions thereof. This is best shown in FIG. 14 and Table 2. As a result, clamping pressures respectively applied to different portions of the PCB strip 100 by the cavity inserts 40 and 40A of the clamped top and bottom molds 10 and 20 may be different. That is, non-uniform clamping pressure is applied to the PCB strip 100. This results in a plurality of locally deformed portions on a solder mask layer which is the uppermost layer of the PCB strip. Consequently, a generation of cracks or a degradation in the reliance of finally obtained semiconductor packages may occur.
Furthermore, portions of the PCB strip 100 disposed in the vicinity of the air vents AV of the bottom cavity insert 40A are not supported by the upper surface of the bottom cavity insert 40A during the application of clamping pressure to the PCB strip 100 by the top cavity insert 40. As a result, the PCB strip 100 may be severely deformed by the clamping pressure, thereby resulting in a sweeping phenomenon, namely, a short circuit of wires. In this case, the air vents AV may be partially or completely blocked, thereby resulting in a poor air ventilation of the cavities. As a result, a generation of blisters or voids may increase. When excessively high clamping pressure is applied to the PCB strip 100, the above-mentioned phenomenons are exhibited at all portions of the PCB strip 100.
FIG. 37 is a partially-enlarged plan view illustrating, in a perspective manner, a wire sweeping phenomenon generated in a semiconductor package due to a non-uniform application of clamping pressure upon molding a resin encapsulant (corresponding to an inner region indicated by the dotted line) using the conventional mold. In FIG. 37, the reference numeral 103 denotes a semiconductor chip, 102 conductive traces of a circuit pattern, and 104 bonding wires electrically connecting the conductive traces 102 to the semiconductor chip 103.
FIG. 38 is a schematic view illustrating a poor resin filling profile exhibited after molding a resin encapsulant by use of the conventional mold of FIG. 34 including the bottom cavity insert having the conventional configuration of FIG. 37. As shown in FIG. 38, portions of the PCB strip (not shown) disposed near air vents AV are in a severely deformed state due to clamping pressure applied to the PCB strip. As a result, the air vents AV may be partially or completely blocked. In this case, air left in the cavity concentrates toward air vents AV not blocked, so that venting pressure in the air vent AV increases, thereby generating voids or blisters. As a result, a poor resin filling profile is exhibited as shown in FIG. 38. That is, the quality of the finally produced package is degraded.
Where BGA semiconductor packages are fabricated using PCB strips having a structure including at least two laminated flat resin layers, on which signal layers are formed, it is difficult to adjust the height t of the step shown in the enlarged portion of FIG. 35 when the conventional mold is used. This is because the structure of the above PCB strips has a variable thickness. In this case, a PCB strip thickness less than the height t of the step results in an insufficient clamping pressure for coupling the top and bottom molds to each other. As a result, there is a serious problem in that the molding resin is flashed. On the contrary, where the PCB strip thickness is much greater than the height t of the step, the clamping pressure generated upon coupling the top and bottom molds is excessively high, thereby generating a deformation of the PCB strip or a sweeping phenomenon of bonding wires. Furthermore, the portions of the PCB strip disposed near the air vents AV of the bottom cavity insert 40A are severely deformed due to the clamping pressure from the top cavity insert 40 applied to the PCB strip because they are not supported by the upper surface of the bottom cavity insert 40A. As a result, the air vents AV may be partially or completely blocked, thereby generating voids or blisters.
Table 1 shows results obtained after resin encapsulants are molded on PCB strips having different average thicknesses, respectively, using the conventional mold of FIG. 34 in which its step has a constant height t.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Result of Molding Test Depending on Average Thickness of PCB Strip PCB Molded State of State of Strip Sam- Th. Resin Encapsulant Sweep- ple (mm) Void Flash Flister Deform Crack ing Results ______________________________________ 1 0.336 .largecircle. X .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. Bad 2 0.339 .largecircle. X .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. Bad 3 0.342 .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. Good 4 0.345 .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. Good 5 0.346 .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. .largecircle. Good 6 0.360 X .largecircle. X X .largecircle. X Bad 7 0.360 X .largecircle. X X X X Bad 8 0.363 X .largecircle. X X X X Bad ______________________________________ Not Generated: Generated: X *Molding Condition for Resin Encapsulant Step t: 0.220 mm Molding Resin Injection Pressure: 80 kg/cm.sup.2 Molding Time: 10 to 12 sec. PCB Clamping Pressure: 200 to 250 kg/cm.sup.2
As apparent from the above results, where the step between the lower surface of the top mold 10 and the lower surface of the top cavity insert 40 has a height t of 0.220 mm, the molded state of resin encapsulants is good only for PCB strips having an average thickness ranging from 0.342 mm to 0.346 mm. In this case, the PCB strips maintain a normal state. In the case of PCB strips having a thickness beyond the above-mentioned thickness range, undesirable results are obtained, as shown in Table 1.
FIG. 39 is a bottom view illustrating the top cavity insert 40 fitted in the recess 12 of the conventional top mold 10. Since the entire bottom surface including a packaging region PA of the top cavity insert 40 is roughly surface-treated in accordance with a sanding method, a molding resin outwardly leaked through the runner (not shown) of the bottom mold serving as a resin feeding conduit and air vents (not shown) may be firmly attached to the rough surface of the top cavity insert 40 during the molding process. For this reason, it may be difficult to separate a molded PCB strip 100 from the mold. As a result, the quality of finally obtained packages and the process efficiency are degraded.
Moreover, since the top cavity insert 40 has a configuration integral with the top center block 30, it is difficult to replace the top cavity insert 40 when the top cavity insert 40 is damaged or abraded at its portion corresponding to the packaging region PA. In this case, there is also a problem in that the top mold should be completely replaced by a new one. This results in an increase in costs.
FIG. 40 is an exploded perspective view of top and bottom molds constituting another conventional mold which has a manual transfer-type configuration. In this mold denoted by the reference character M, loading bars 330 are mounted on the bottom mold denoted by the reference numeral 20. A cavity plate 350 provided with cavities for molding resin encapsulants is mounted on each loading bar 330. The top mold, which is denoted by the reference numeral 10, is coupled to the bottom mold 20. The top mold 10 is formed with packaging regions PA.
FIG. 41 is an exploded perspective view of a PCB strip interposed between the loading bar and cavity plate in the conventional mold of FIG. 40 upon its molding. FIG. 42 is a lateral sectional view illustrating a loaded state of the PCB strip shown in FIG. 41.
As shown in FIGS. 41 and 42, the cavity plate 350 defines 4 sides of resin encapsulant molding regions on the PCB strip 100. The loading bar 330 is mounted in a recess 12A of the bottom mold 20. A plurality of uniformly space pins 332 are arranged on the loading bar in such a manner that they are longitudinally aligned with one another. The PCB strip 100 and cavity plate 350 have holes 106 and 351 corresponding in position to the pins 332, respectively. By such a configuration, the PCB strip 100 and cavity plate 350 can be sequentially mounted on the loading bar 330 in a manual manner. The basic configuration of this mold is identical to that of FIG. 34.
In the case of the conventional mold M having the configuration of FIG. 40, the loading bar 330, on which the PCB strip 100 and cavity plate 350 have been mounted, is manually mounted on the bottom mold 20. Thereafter, the bottom mold 20 is raised to be coupled to the top mold 10. In this state, a molding resin is supplied to the cavities defined in the cavity plate 350 and then cured. Thus, molding of resin encapsulants having a desired shape is completed.
In this case, however, it is difficult to manually mount the loading bar 330 on the bottom mold 20 because the loading bar 330 is very heavy due to its thick plate type structure. Since the pins 332 are integral with the loading bar 330, they may be easily damaged upon manually mounting the loading bar 330 on the bottom mold 20. In this case, there is an 20 inconvenience in that the loading bar 330 should be re-machined. Furthermore, a higher clamping pressure is required upon coupling the molds 10 and 20 because of the use of the cavity plate 350. This may result in a deformation of the loading bar 330. Accordingly, a degradation in the stability occurs in the molding of packages.
Where the diameter of the holes 351 formed in the cavity plate 350 is unallowably larger than the diameter of the pins 332 inserted in the holes 351, it is impossible to obtain an accurate setting position, thereby resulting in a degradation in the quality of finally produced packages. Where the pins 332 and holes 351 have substantially identical diameters in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, it may be necessary to forcibly insert the pins 332 in the holes 351. In this case, it is difficult to easily separate the cavity plate 350 from the loading bar 330. Moreover, the pins 332 may be easily damaged.

Mold for ball grid array semiconductor package


A full adder that operates rapidly with low power supply voltage and minimal power consumption, and further, that occupies a small area on a semiconductor element. A sum signal calculation circuit 10 of full adder 1 performs addition of input signals A and B and carry in signal C and outputs sum signal S.sub.out. Carry signal calculation circuit 16 outputs carry out signal C.sub.out corresponding to the combination of the logic values of input signals A and B and carry in signal C. Sum signal calculation circuit (10) is composed of addition signal generation circuit (12) and sum signal generation circuit (14). Addition signal generation circuit 12 performs XOR logic operations on input signals A and B. Sum signal generation circuit 14 outputs the results of full addition operations on inputs signals A and B and carry in signal C as sum signal S.sub.out, based on the results of XOR logic operations by addition signal generation circuit (12) and carry in signal C.

FIG. 8 shows the construction of conventional full adder 8.
Full adder 8 is constructed of PMOS type transistors Q801-Q804, Q810, Q812, Q813, and Q815, NMOS type transistors Q805-Q808, Q809, Q811, Q814 and Q816, and inverters INV801-INV804. Of these, transistors Q809 and Q810, transistors Q811 and Q812, transistors Q813 and Q814, and transistors Q815 and Q816 are respectively transmission gates 800-806.
Full adder 8 performs full addition for input signals A and B and carry in signal C, that are input through input terminals A, B and C, respectively, shown in FIG. 8. The result is that addition results signal (sum signal) S.sub.out obtained is output through output terminal S.sub.out, and carry out signal C.sub.out is output through output terminal C.sub.out.
Full addition can be rapidly performed for input signals A and B and carry input C with full adder 8, shown as the prior art. However, the circuit that calculates sum signal S.sub.out and the circuit that calculates carry out signal C.sub.out are constructed very close together in full adder 8, so that a large number of transistor gates are connected to the signal line related to full addition, and the signals related to full addition will pass through a large number of transistors. Thus, there is the problem that the speed of operation of full adder 8 will be noticeably reduced by the effect of the I/O capacitance of the transistors that are not directly used for the operations because of the combinations of input signals A and B, and carry in signal C.
It is possible that the reduction in operating speed of full adder 8 caused by the transistor I/O capacitance can be improved to some extent by countermeasures, such as making the width of each transistor used for full adder 8 large and operating at high current. When measures such as these are taken, however, the area of each transistor in full adder 8 will become larger, and with this the area occupied on the semiconductor elements of full adder 8 will become larger, with the problem being that ultimately the increase in operating speed will not be what was desired. And simultaneously, there will be the problem of increased power consumption. Thus, the problem is that when conventional full adder 8 is used, it is difficult to realize high speed, high integration, and low power consumption simultaneously in the performance of DSP processing.
In addition, by combining the logic values of input signals A and B and carry in signal C, as will be discussed below with references to FIGS. 3 and 4, a difference in the effective capacitance which appears at the signal lines will occur, so the problem is that there will be significant variation in the operating speed of full adder 8. For example, the full addition time corresponding to combining the logic values of input signals A and B and carry in signal C, in a simulation example performed by the present inventors (evaluation with a power supply voltage of 2.7 V), varied between 1.36-3.57!,"D,|,. The problem is basically that the processing cycle of full adder 8 is kept to a worst value of 3.57.
In addition, in conventional full adders, the circuit for calculating the sum signal is generally more complex than the circuit that calculates the carry out signal. Thus the problem is that the processing time needed to calculated the sum signal is much longer than the processing time needed for calculating the carry out signal.
Recently there has been increased demand for processing all signals with a DSP mounted on digital cellular peripheral equipment which uses batteries as the power supply. Full adders for DSP used for this type of application require high-speed processing with low power supply voltage and low power consumption. Nearly all conventional general full adders, however, use circuit technology with 5 V power supply voltage, and in this case, processing will be severely reduced with power supply voltage of 3 V or less. Thus, the problem has been that DSPs that use conventional general full adders are not suitable for equipment that use batteries as the power supply.
My full adder was devised in consideration of the problems of the prior art discussed above. A first object is to provide a full adder that operates at low power supply voltage with minimal power consumption, even during high-speed processing, and which also occupies a small area on a semiconductor element.
In addition, a second object is to provide a full adder with which variation in the processing time corresponding to the combination of each of the input signals, and the processing time needed for calculating sum signals and for calculating carry in signals can be made smaller by reducing the number of transistor gates connected to the signal line related to processing.
In addition, it is a full adder that can be broadly applied to DSP in equipment that utilizes batteries as the power supply, for example, digital cellular communications peripherals, and in which high-speed operation and low power consumption is possible even with a conventional 5V power supply voltage.


Image processing methods and systems for noise reduction and edge enhancement. A variation detector is provided to evaluate measures of edge existence in a plurality of predetermined directions within pixels of a video signal, and determine a control signal according to a level of variation on the measures of edge existence. A noise reduction circuit and edge enhancement circuit filter and edge enhance the video signal, respectively, according to the control signal.

The invention relates to image processing methods and systems for video signals, and more specifically, to image processing methods and systems providing video noise reduction and edge enhancement.
In image signal processing, reduction of noise and edge enhancement are two important processes. Video signal bandwidth is typically limited as the video signals are compressed by JPEG or MPEG for transmission. Compressed video signals can lose image edges or so called details of image as high frequency components of the signals are attenuated. Noise reduction usually involves averaging, suppression, or blurring, and edge enhancement usually involves an unsharp masking or Laplacian filter (or a high pass filter). Image processing methods for noise reduction usually entail smearing of details, whereas methods for edge enhancement usually enhance unwanted noise and edges simultaneously. The two processes are difficult to reconcile as the noise reduction process requires a further reduction of the video signal band and removal of high frequency components while the edge enhancement process requires increased high frequency components of the signals. A preferred solution is to discriminate noises from edges in image processing such that details can be preserved after noise reduction and only edges are enhanced in edge enhancement.
A video signal processing circuit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,577 performs noise reduction and edge enhancement without considering edge information in the noise reduction process, to reference to prevent details from smearing. Furthermore, noisy signals are provided to the input of the horizontal and vertical edge enhancement signal generation circuits, causing both noise and edge to be enhanced. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,977, a fuzzy logic filter detects edge directions and noise level, and selects a most probable edge direction for edge enhancement without discrimination between smooth areas and areas with edge. The strategy of choosing the most probable edge direction for edge enhancement may not be appropriate for each image area, since, for example, edge enhancement may readily enhance noise in image areas belong to smooth area.

Systems and methods for image processing providing noise reduction and edge enhancement