An apparatus for measuring black powder dislodgment and entrainment velocities. The apparatus comprises an inlet section including a first gas source having a test gas, a second source having an additional gas, and an inlet pipe coupled to the first and second gas sources, a plenum having an inlet plate coupled to the inlet pipe for receiving the test gas or the additional gas and distributing the received gas into a steady flow, and a plurality of test sections extending from the plenum, each test section including a particle generation spool at which black powder is generated from the test gas via a condensation process, and a filtration spool downstream from the particle generation spool having at least one membrane element for filtering out black powder from the test gas flow and also having pressure gauges from which black powder dislodgment and entrainment velocities can be determined.

In the gas industry, the term "black powder" describes material that collects in gas pipelines having a black or near-black color. The black powder is composed of various forms of iron sulfide, iron oxide and iron carbonate, mechanically mixed or chemically combined with various contaminates such as elemental sulfur, salts, sand, clay, silt, metal debris, liquid hydrocarbons, etc. These products are formed inside natural gas pipelines as a result of corrosion of the internal walls of the pipeline by reactions of iron (Fe) present in ferrous pipeline steel with water containing oxygen (O2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Black powder formed in pipelines can be "wet" with a tar-like or sludge-like texture, or "dry" in the form of fine powder. The powder products tend to have a high density (e.g., approximately 4 to 5.1 g/cm3), and are abrasive and difficult to remove in cleaning operations, particularly when wet (for example, mixed with TEG and/or compressor oil).
Black powder particles, particularly when they start to move, can have a number of adverse impacts on pipeline operations and product quality. For example, black powder particles can present major health and environmental hazards, can cause under-deposit pitting corrosion of pipelines, trigger erosion and/or clogging of control valves and metering instrumentation, delay inspection runs and reduce the accuracy of the inspection data, reduce the flow rates in the gas transmission pipelines, lower compressor efficiency, and impact customer operations and product quality in numerous ways. These together lead to significant increases in costs.
Case histories have shown that large quantities of black powder can be generated inside pipelines. Over a period of years, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of black powder can accumulate at pipeline filter stations. The need to manage such black powder cost accumulation can add millions of dollars in operating expenditures including repair & maintenance of control valves, pipeline cleaning, handling and disposal of black powder, as well as require much more in capital expenditures including installation of new filters, etc.
As alluded to above, it is when black powder particles move due to fluid velocity that they become particularly problematic. Therefore, knowledge of the dislodgment and entrainment velocities of black powder solids can significantly assist gas operators in designing the proper filtration systems and in providing advance warning to downstream operations of incoming black powder particles.

Laboratory apparatus and method to measure black powder particle dislodgment and entrainment velocities and solids loading


A liquid crystal display (LCD) and a method of manufacturing the same in which the color filter remains in a boundary portion between pixel electrodes on a storage electrode line or the pixel and common electrodes to prevent residuals of the pixel electrode from shorting the pixel electrodes when the color filter is removed.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display and, more particularly, to an LCD to which a color filter on array structure is applied and a method of manufacturing the LCD.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprises a lower substrate with thin film transistors (TFTs), pixel electrodes and the like formed thereon, an upper substrate with a common electrode and the like formed thereon, and a liquid crystal layer formed between the lower and upper substrates. When a voltage is applied to pixel and common electrodes of such an LCD, an electric field is generated in the liquid crystal layer due to the potential difference applied between the two electrodes. The alignment of liquid crystal molecules are changed in accordance with the intensity of the electric field. A change in the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules causes the polarization of the light passing through the liquid crystal layer to be changed, which leads to a change in the light transmittance due to a polarizer provided on the outer surface of the substrate.
In a conventional LCD, the lower substrate is formed with TFTs, pixel electrodes and the like, and the upper substrate is formed with color filters, a black matrix, a common electrode and the like. However, since the color filters and TFTs should be formed on different substrates, the manufacturing process of such an LCD is complicated. It has been suggested that a structure known as the COA structure be used which provides the color filter on the same substrate with the TFT array.
In an LCD having a COA structure, the color filters may be formed on top of an organic insulation film formed on the lower substrate Alternatively, the color filters may be formed singly in place of the organic insulation film. Where color filters are singly formed, the color filters should be formed to be about two or more times thicker than the usual photoresist. Since the dielectric constant of the color filters is similar to that of the organic insulation film, the color filters are formed with a thickness of 3.0 μm or so, the same as the organic insulation film would be. Further, contrary to the conventional LCD in which color filters are formed on an upper substrate, when the color filters are formed on the lower substrate, the data lines serve as the black matrix and the respective red, green and blue color filters should be formed to overlap the data lines whose width is designed to be 10 to 15 μm or so, as for a conventional LCD.
Such a COA structure has been applied to S-PVA (Super-Patterned Vertical Alignment) display apparatus. In the S-PVA, each pixel is configured to have two sub-pixels and differential voltages are applied to the respective sub-pixels so as to improve the side gray level rounding or reversal, thereby enhancing side visibility. In the LCD having the S-PVA structure, two transistors and two pixel electrodes are provided in a pixel region for expressing one color. The LCD having the S-PVA structure naturally expresses gray levels using a method of applying different peak voltages to the respective pixel electrodes in order to alleviate the side visibility distortion phenomenon.
In an LCD using COA and S-PVA structures, a color filter is not formed on top of the storage electrode of the lower substrate. Accordingly, only a protection film and a gate insulation film exist in such a region of the storage electrode with which to form the dielectric of the storage capacitor between the pixel and storage electrodes.
The color filters for the LCD using COA and S-PVA structures, are formed to have a thickness of 3 μm or more. However, since the photoresist for patterning pixel electrodes is formed to be thinner than the color filters, the thickness of the photoresist changes rapidly at the boundary between a region in which the color filters are formed and a region in which the color filters are not formed. The photoresist formed in such a step portion may not properly be exposed during the light exposing process and the photoresist may not be completely removed in the photoresist developing process. When the photoresist remains in the step portion of the color filters, the conductive layer for forming the pixel electrodes remains in the subsequent wet etching process of the pixel electrodes. Therefore, there is a problem in that two sub-pixels are shorted to each other due to the conductive layer remaining in the step portion between a region in which color filters are formed and a region in which the color filters are not formed.

Liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same


A manufacturing management system and method for cross-site lot handling is provided. The system includes a management unit and a target manufacturing site. The target manufacturing site receives a lot, checks whether a lot handling request indicating the lot and the target manufacturing site exists in the management unit, and registers the lot handling request for the lot before the lot being processed if the lot handling request exists.

The invention relates to manufacturing management, and particularly to a manufacturing management system and method for cross-site lot handling.
In semiconductor manufacturing, several manufacturing layers including FAB (Fabrication), CP (Circuit Probe), BP (Bumping), CF (Color Filter), ASM (Assembly), FT (Final Test), and others are required to the complete manufacturing. Additionally, several manufacturing sites may be provided for each manufacturing layer. Conventionally, each manufacturing site is controlled by one MES. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional manufacturing procedure. In this procedure, the manufacturing site FAB 112 in manufacturing layer FAB 110 is controlled by MES 111, CP 122 in manufacturing layer CP 120 is controlled by MES 121, and FT 130 in manufacturing layer FT 130 is controlled by MES 131. One wafer may go through several manufacturing layers to become final products. After a lot is completed from manufacturing site FAB 112, the lot information is then transmitted from MES 111 and created in MES 121.
Future lot handling, such as Future Hold, is important and fundamental for quality control in a foundry MES (Manufacturing Execution System). Future Hold is a fundamental function for holding wafers or lots at a specific operational stage or step for inspection or further special manufacturing instruction. After the wafer scheduling process is complete and released to the MES, Future Hold can be registered by users or by the MES. The prerequisite for future lot handling, however, is that wafers should be first created in the MES. There is no way to perform future lot handling for wafers which have not been created in the MES.
In the CP manufacturing layer, for example, wafers typically come from the FAB manufacturing layer with a short cycle time. Conventionally, CP users cannot register a lot handling record for these wafers prior to creation thereof in the CP MES. Since the cycle time is short and there is no sufficient lead time to set a lot handling record, client special inspection instructions may easily go unheeded, resulting in damage to product quality, and raises client complaints. Further, since the operation is performed manually, it is manpower and time-consuming.
Furthermore, some clients may have their own manufacturing plans after they send orders to the supplier. Setting a lot handling record is a trigger point for their manufacturing plans. Conventionally, clients have to continuously monitor whether their wafers have been released to production or not. Only after wafers are released to production can the lot handling record be registered. The monitoring process for clients is inefficient.

Manufacturing management system and method

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


An optical film including: a film base material; and a matte layer formed on one surface of the film base material, wherein the matte layer is formed from a resin composition containing a polyol resin (A), an isocyanate-based curing agent (B) and an antistatic agent having a hydroxyl group (C).

Recently, improvement of the lightness and contrast ratio of color filters, and the use of a backlight which uses light emitting diodes has been attempted to improve the color gamut and reduce the power consumption and the like of a liquid crystal display (for example, PTL 1).
Methods for the generation of white light by backlight units which use light emitting diodes include a method which uses a light emitting diode having the three colors: red, green, and blue to synthesize white light, and a method for converting a blue light obtained by using a blue light emitting diode to white light by passing it through a color conversion material.
When, for example, a GaN-based blue light emitting diode chip is used to convert blue light to white light, YAG phosphors can be used as the color conversion material (for example, see PTL 2).
However, the white light converted using the YAG phosphors has a wide emission spectrum and the match with a liquid crystal color filter is poor, thus, the color gamut is narrow, and the power consumption is not low.
With respect to these phosphors, recently, improvement of the color gamut and reduction of power consumption is ensured by using core-shell luminescent nanocrystals as the color conversion material (see, for example, PTL 3).
The core-shell luminescent nanocrystals are incorporated in a backlight unit as a color conversion film by mixing with a binder resin and coating the mixture on a transparent substrate.
However, the color conversion material made of the core-shell luminescent nanocrystals suffers oxidative damage due to air and moisture, which results in the deterioration of the optical conversion performance.
Therefore, the color conversion film which uses the core-shell luminescent nanocrystals requires a barrier layer for protecting the core-shell luminescent nanocrystals from air and moisture.
Further, in a backlight unit, this kind of color conversion film is often arranged between a light guide plate and a prism sheet, but when a foreign material such as dust is present between these members in the manufacturing process of the backlight unit, flaws and defects are likely to occur. In order to prevent defects associated with the adhesion of foreign material such as dust, it is necessary to impart antistatic properties to the members.
For example, as a method for imparting an antistatic performance to members used in a backlight unit, providing an antistatic agent within the polymer composition constituting the optical layer in the optical sheet in which an optical layer is laminated on the surface of a transparent substrate layer has been proposed (see, for example, PTL 4). Further, forming an antistatic layer by coating the antistatic agent on the surface and/or the back surface of an optical diffusion sheet has been proposed (see for example, PTL 5).

Optical film, method for manufacturing the same, optical barrier film and color conversion film


A zig-zag classifier for separating material to be separated, for example, plastic flakes, including two zig-zag-shaped plates which are arranged oppositely vertical to each other such that a channel is formed between them, where a central vertically disposed zig-zag-shaped separation plate between the two zig-zag-shaped plates is arranged such that the channel is divided into two parallel classifier channels having substantially the same width. Also, a method for separating material to be separated, for example, plastic flakes, using the zig-zag classifier disclosed herein.

A zig-zag classifier is adapted to separate supplied material to be separated in the classifier into a coarse and a fine fraction. It has shown that it is to be aspired for the surface of the classifier channel to have the following ratio: length/width≦4. The angle of the teeth of the zig-zag classifier ideally lies in the region of 120°.
The material to be separated is supplied via a supply device being sealed against the environment into the zig-zag classifier and is distributed across the entire cross-section of the classifier channel. The classifying air generated by the fan flows through the classifier from the bottom to the top, while it is blown through the material to be separated and separates it. As a result of the multiply angled classifier channel, the material to be separated is forced to perform a zig-zag-like motion. At each bend of the classifier channel, the material to be separated must traverse the air stream and then impact the oppositely disposed classifier wall. Air is blown preferably transversely against the constituents of the material to be separated when they change from one channel side to the other and thereby deflects them to a varying degree. In this, heavier constituents drop down into the classifier channel due to the force of gravity. The lighter constituents are carried upwardly by the upwardly directed airflow.
Good separation of lighter and heavier constituents is achieved due to the multiple directional changes in the classifier channel. The dimensions of the classifier channel as well as the speed of the classifying air and the load of material to be separated can vary depending on the materials and the performance. The spacing of the Z-shaped plates in the classifier channel creates a certain flow, where the spacing of the classifier channel for a particular material is approximately uniform. For larger throughputs, the classifier channel is therefore increased in depth so that transferring the material in and out through cellular wheel sluices becomes increasingly difficult.

Zig-zag classifier and method for classifying for separating material to be separated


A composite low frequency high frequency electrical signal from a metal cutting tool in a metal cutting operation is processed through separate high frequency and low frequency systems and the resulting signals digitized and combined for analysis of a tool break event.

This invention relates to tool break detection of metal cutting machine tools, and more particularly to an improved electronic system and method which more clearly isolates a tool break generated electrical signal or signal change from other interfering electrical signals and changes encountered in usual metal cutting operations.
Prior tool break detection systems have utilized an interruption in a certain vibration generated electrical signal, taken from an operating cutting tool, to identify tool breakage. For example, a vibration generated electrical signal, as taken from an operating metal cutting tool, may be appropriately processed and displayed to show a characteristic spike or signal interruption upon tool breakage. Other systems may employ both low frequency and high frequency signals (as well as their mean values) in break detection analysis.
In metal cutting processes and procedures, an electrical signal which is representative of the cutting process and produced for example, by the use of an accelerometer attached to the machine, may be deleteriously affected by extraneous signals generated from normal and abnormal changes in the cutting process such as changes in the tool feed and speed, metal chip buildup, high frequency chatter, etc. These conditions may be components of the electrical signal to be processed and analyzed, and may tend to reduce the clarity and distinguishing characteristics of a spike interruption correlated to tool breakage. For example, low frequency and high frequency signals both contain important information about the cutting process and tool break events. A low frequency signal measures large scale vibrations and may be less sensitive to certain higher frequency components emanating from, for example, metal chips and their distribution as well as from tool break related phenomena. Analysis of one of such signals may lead to errors because the one signal may not contain critical tool break information. Analysis of both low frequency and high frequency signals requires more complex determinations to appraise and dismiss random noise and occurrences which may give erroneous indications of tool breakage.

Metal cutting machine tool break detection


The specification discloses a sports pole including at least two flexible rods, the first of which is held in compression and the second of which is held in tension by the spatial arrangement of the two rods relative to one another and relative to the handle. The tension rod is slidably connected to the handle at one end and fixedly connected to the compression rod at the other end. When the user plants the pole, the movement of the tension rod within the handle allows the compression rod to deflect further, thereby acting as an energy absorbing member. As the user advances through the pole stroke, the energy stored in the pole during planting and pushing is released as the compression rod returns to its original position. This yields a forward force applied to assist the user in forward motion.

The present invention relates to ski poles, though it is applicable to a wide variety of sports and accordingly, is referred to herein as a "sport pole. " Ski poles are used for downhill skiing, cross-country skiing and more recently, in-line skating. Ski poles typically comprise a rod of limited flexibility having a handle on one end and a point on the other end. The pointed end is usually equipped with a basket or some type of stop a couple of inches up from the point. Most of the innovation in ski poles has been related to the selection of materials used in the rod. One manufacturer has apparently placed a cushioning spring in the handle in order to cushion the impact of planting the pole on the user's wrists.


A heat pump system including a water-cooled type heat exchanger, which is a heat supply means, mounted on a first bypass line bypassing a second indoor heat exchanger to collect waste heat of vehicle electric devices to thereby enhance a heating efficiency of the heat pump system. The heat pump system for a vehicle includes: a branch line for connecting a refrigerant circulation line of the second indoor heat exchanger and the first bypass line with each other; a second bypass line, which bypasses an outdoor heat exchanger; and a control part that controls a flow of the indoor air to be introduced into an air-conditioning case, whereby the heat pump system can minimize influences of the outdoor air of low temperature even when the outdoor temperature is below zero, enhance the operation and the heating performance of the heat pump system by collecting waste heat of the vehicle electric devices and heat sources of the indoor air, and increase the mileage of the vehicle by minimizing operation of an electric heater.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat pump system for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a heat pump system for a vehicle that includes: a water-cooled type heat exchanger, which is a heat supply means, mounted on a first bypass line, which bypasses a second indoor heat exchanger (evaporator), for collecting waste heat of vehicle electric devices; a branch line for connecting a refrigerant circulation line of the second indoor heat exchanger and the first bypass line with each other; and a second bypass line, which bypasses an outdoor heat exchanger.
2. Background Art
An air conditioner for a vehicle generally includes a cooling system for cooling the inside of the vehicle and a heating system for heating the inside of the vehicle. The cooling system exchanges heat between air, which passes through the outside of an evaporator near the evaporator of a refrigerant cycle, and refrigerant, which flows inside the evaporator, to thereby change the air into cold air, so that the cooling system can cool the inside of the vehicle. The heating system exchanges heat between air, which passes near the outside of a heater core of a cooling water cycle, and cooling water, which flows inside the heater core, to thereby change the air into warm air, so that the cooling system can heat the inside of the vehicle.
In the meantime, differently from the air conditioner for the vehicle, but a heat pump system that selectively carries out cooling and heating by converting a flow direction of refrigerant using one refrigerant, cycle is applied to the vehicle. For instance, the heat pump system includes two heat exchangers: one being an indoor heat exchanger mounted inside an air-conditioning case to carry out heat-exchange with air blown to the inside of the vehicle; and the other being an outdoor heat exchanger mounted outside the air-conditioning case to carry out heat-exchange, and a direction-switching valve which can convert a flow direction of refrigerant.
Accordingly, in the case that a cooling mode is operated according to the flow direction of refrigerant by the direction-switching valve, the indoor heat exchanger serves as a heat exchanger for cooling, but in the case that a heating mode is operated, the indoor heat exchanger serves as a heat exchanger for heating.
There are various kinds of heat pump systems for vehicles, and FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the heat pump systems.
The heat pump system for a vehicle illustrated in FIG. 1 includes: a compressor 30 for compressing and discharging refrigerant; a high pressure heat exchanger 32 for radiating heat of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 30; a first expansion valve 34 and a first bypass valve 36, which are mounted in parallel and selectively passes the refrigerant passing through the high pressure heat exchanger 32; an outdoor unit 48 for heat-exchanging the refrigerant, which passes through the first expansion valve 34 or the first bypass valve 36, outdoors; a low pressure heat exchanger 60 for evaporating the refrigerant that passes through the outdoor unit 48; an accumulator 62 for dividing the refrigerant, which passé through the low pressure heat exchanger 60, into a gas phase and a liquid phase; an indoor heat exchanger 50 for exchanging heat between refrigerant supplied to the low pressure heat exchanger 60 and refrigerant returning to the compressor 30; a second expansion valve 56 for selectively expanding the refrigerant supplied to the low pressure heat exchanger 60; and a second bypass valve 58 mounted in parallel with the second expansion valve 56 for selectively connecting an outlet of the outdoor unit 48 with an inlet of the accumulator 62.
In FIG. 1, the reference numeral 10 designates an air-conditioning case having the high pressure heat exchanger 32 and the low pressure heat exchanger 60 therein, the reference numeral designates a temperature control door for controlling an amount of mixing between cold air and warm air, and the reference numeral 20 designates an air blower mounted at an inlet of the air-conditioning case.
In the conventional heat pump system for the vehicle having the above structure, when a heat pump mode (heating mode) is operated, the first bypass valve 36 and the second expansion valve 56 are closed but the first expansion valve 34 and the second bypass valve 58 are opened.
Moreover, the temperature control door 12 is actuated as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 30 passes through the high pressure heat exchanger 32, the first expansion valve 34, the outdoor unit 48, a high pressure part 52 of the indoor heat exchanger 50, the second bypass valve 58, the accumulator 62, and a low pressure part 54 of the indoor heat exchanger 50 in order, and then, is returned to the compressor 30.
That is, the high pressure heat exchanger 32 serves as a heater and the outdoor unit 48 serves as an evaporator.
When an air-conditioning mode (cooling mode) is operated, the first bypass valve 36 and the second expansion valve 56 are opened, but the first expansion valve 34 and the second bypass valve 58 are closed. Furthermore, the temperature control door 12 closes a passage of the high pressure heat exchanger 32.
Accordingly, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 30 passes through the high pressure heat exchanger 32, the first bypass valve 36, the outdoor unit 48, the high pressure part of the indoor heat exchanger 50, the second expansion valve 56, the low pressure heat exchanger 60, the accumulator 62, and the low pressure part 54 of the indoor heat exchanger 50 in order, and then, is returned to the compressor 30.
That is, the low pressure heat exchanger 60 serves as the evaporator and the high pressure heat exchanger 32 closed by the temperature control door 12 serves as the heater like in the heat pump mode.
However, in the heat pump mode (heating mode) of the conventional heat pump system for the vehicle, the high pressure heat exchanger 32 mounted inside the air-conditioning case 10 carries out heating as the heater and the outdoor unit 48 mounted outside the air-conditioning case 10, namely, in front of the engine room of the vehicle, serves as the evaporator to exchange heat with the outdoor air.
In this instance, when the outdoor temperature is low, the outdoor unit 48 serving as the evaporator cannot supply sufficient waste heat to the high pressure heat exchanger 32 serving as the heater because exchanging heat with the outdoor cold air. If a heat source is not secured in the condition that the outdoor temperature is low, the heating performance is deteriorated, and particularly, heat-exchange efficiency between refrigerant and the outdoor air is decreased due to a frost accumulation of the outdoor unit 48, so that the heating performance and the efficiency of the heat pump system are reduced.
Furthermore, in order to solve the problem of degradation of performance in the condition that the outdoor temperature is low, there is an attempt to install an electric heater (not shown) inside the air-conditioning case 10 as a main heating device or an auxiliary heating device, but in the case that the electric heater is used as the heating device, because there is a limit in electric energy to be supplied to an electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle, the conventional heat pump system for the vehicle has a problem in that a mileage of the vehicle by a battery drops sharply due to an excessive power consumption by the operation of the electric heater.

Halla Visteon Climate Control Corporation


A mask pattern useful for preventing the pattern distortion caused by light transition is disclosed, including a transmissive substrate; a first light-shielding line pattern formed to have an oblong form on the transmissive substrate; second and third light-shielding line patterns of an oblong form spaced apart from a long side of the first light-shielding line pattern and having a width of narrower than a width of edge portions of the first light-shielding line pattern, wherein a space at right to the side of the first light-shielding line pattern is formed between the second and third light-shielding line patterns; and a concave region formed at the long side of the first light-shielding line pattern facing the space between the second and third light-shielding line patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mask patterns and, more particularly, to mask patterns useful for preventing the pattern distortion caused by light transition.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Development of semiconductor chips, i.e., integrated circuits, has been achieved with technology of the process for micro circuits. Also, due to high packing density and high performance of semiconductor devices, complex structures for semiconductor devices have been introduced. As a result, technology of forming micro patterns in a semiconductor device is highly demanded.
The development in the processing technology of minute patterns has enabled many circuits to be integrated in a given chip area so that heightened packing density and capacitance are brought about and delay time is reduced. Consequently, processing ability is improved.
In 1950s when semiconductor chips were first developed, the micro circuits-processing technology produced 15 .mu.m chips. Currently, chips of submicron of less than 0.5 .mu.m are commonly used. In addition, chips having a line width of less than 0.35 .mu.m are commonly used.
Through the development of the micro circuits-processing, a packing intensity of chips has been doubled for every two years. This trend gets accelerated.
Lithography technique is basic in process for micro circuits. This technique is classified into photo lithography, electron beam lithography, and X-ray lithography.
Generally in case a design rule is more than 0.7 .mu.m, a g line photo stepper having an output wavelength of 436 nm is used. In case of sub-micron lithography technology, an I-line photo stepper having an output wavelength of 365 nm is used. In case of a lithography technology of less than a sub-micron lithography technology, used is an excimer stepper using PSM (phase shift mask) with shifting a light phase by 180 degrees is used. Optical proximity correction mask (OPC) is being considered as a very reliable technology. In this technology, the distortion of an optical lens is corrected, and an original mask pattern is distorted in a direction opposite to the direction of the distortion of a lens. That is, a complementary auxilary pattern is additionally added to each corner of a general mask pattern in order to correct the distortion of a lens.
This technology has an advantage that, since an OPC mask includes a light-shielding layer and a transmitting layer in comparison with a PSM, low production cost, good delivery, and good effectiveness are realized.
Such a conventional mask pattern will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1A is a layout of a conventional pattern mask, FIG. 1B illustrates areal image distribution obtained by computer-simulating the mask pattern of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a graph of distance vs. intensity of light transmitting through the mask pattern of FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a first light-shielding line pattern 2 having a predetermined width is formed on a transmissive substrate 1, and second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 facing each other are spaced apart from the first light-shielding line pattern 2. Oblong is the center portion C of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 where a center portion C and both edge portions E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are defined. The edge portions E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are diagonally connected with the center portion C, and are in symmetry to each other. The second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 have an oblong form at right angle to one long side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding pattern line 2. At this time, the space between the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 is designated a first space 6 which is at right angle to the long side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2. That is, the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 are oblong in the direction of the space. Fourth light-shielding line patterns 5a and 5b are formed at outer long sides of the second and third line patterns 3 and 4, respectively. And fourth light-shielding line patterns 5a and 5b are spaced apart from the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4, respectively, by third spaces 8a and 8b, respectively. Short sides D.sub.2 of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 face the long side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2. The space between the sides D.sub.1 and D.sub.2 is designated a second space 7. The second space 7 horizontally formed is at right angle to the first and second spaces 6 and 8a and 8b. In this case, the ratio of the width W.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 and the width of each of the first, second, and third spaces 6, 7, and 8a and 8b is 2:1.5.
The second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 are formed to have a width that is almost close to the width W.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2. The aforementioned first light-shielding line pattern 2 is used as a mask pattern for patterning gate electrodes.
A conventional mask pattern is a binary mask including a transmissive substrate 1 having almost 100% transmitivity rate and first, second, third, and fourth light-shielding line patterns 2, 3, 4, and 5a and 5b made of a light-shielding material such as chrome. Thus it is advantageous for production cost, delivery, effectiveness, etc.
Referring to FIGS. 1B and 1C, the result of computer simulation and the graph of distribution of light intensity vs distance of the conventional mask pattern shown in FIG. 1a will be described.
In condition that the ratio of the width W.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 shown in FIG. 1A and the width of the first, second, and third spaces 6, 7, and 8a and 8b is 2:1.5, the continuous line, shown in FIG. 1B, indicates an image contour having the same width as the critical dimension (CD) of the first, second, and third light-shielding line patterns 2, 3 and 4. An alternate long and short dash line 12 and an alternate long and two short dashes line 13 and dotted line 14 indicate overexposure. The image contours of the alternate long and short dash line 12 and the alternate long and two short dashes line 13 and the dotted line 14 have light distribution of less than 0.7 which is not related with the resolution of photo resist film (not shown) in the light distribution according to light intensity shown in FIG. 1C. That is, in order that the photo resist film reacts to the exposure light, light having intensity corresponding to 0.7-1 in Y axis should be exposed.
In the aforementioned condition, the peak point in exposing light using first, second, and third mask patterns 2, 3, and 4 is not placed at the center portion A between the first light-shielding line pattern 2 and the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4, yet moves to sides D.sub.2 of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4. Thus the moved peak point A' is at the sides D.sub.2 of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4.
In other words, among peak points of light transmitting through the first, second, and third spaces 6, 7, and 8a and 8b, the peak point between the first space 6 and the side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 is not placed at 2/D, "A" that is the center of the side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 and the edge portion D.sub.2 of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 facing the side D.sub.1. But it is placed at "A'". It is because the compensation for light transmitting through the first and third spaces 6 and 8a and 8b corresponding to the side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 is caused.
Referring to FIG. 1B, as the result of the peak point shift, a convex portion "B" is formed at a place corresponding to the first space 6 among the side D.sub.1 of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 in the areal image distribution. Also, the areal image distribution passing through the corners of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 adjacent to the peak point A' by influencing the corners of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 causes proximity effect of increasing the rounding errors, so that it is difficult to pattern desired forms when a photoresist film (not shown) is patterned with an exposure and development process using real mask patterns.
FIG. 2 is a layout of another conventional mask pattern, which looks similar to the mask pattern shown in FIG. 1A. Fourth light-shielding line patterns 5a and 5b formed beside the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4 formed at one long side of the first light-shielding line pattern 2 are formed to be connected to the second and third light-shielding line patterns 3 and 4, respectively. Accordingly, the third spaces 8a and 8b shown in FIG. 1A don't exist in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, a first light-shielding line pattern 22 having a predetermined width is formed on a transmissive substrate 21. Second and third light-shielding line patterns 23 and 24 are formed at one long side of the first light-shielding line pattern 22 and spaced apart from the first light-shielding line pattern 22.
The center portion of the first light-shielding line pattern 22 is designated C and its edge portions are E.sub.21, and E.sub.22. The center portion C has an oblong form. And the edge portions E.sub.21 and E.sub.22 are diagonally connected to the center portion C, and they are in symmetry to each other.
The second and third light-shielding line patterns 23 and 24 are formed at right angle to one side D.sub.21 of the oblong center portion C of the first light-shielding line pattern 22. At this time, a first space 26 between the second and third light-shielding line patterns 23 and 24 is at right angle to the long side D.sub.21 of the first light-shielding line pattern 22.
One side D.sub.22 of each of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 23 and 24 faces the long side D.sub.21 of the first light-shielding line pattern 22. And there is a second space 27 between the sides D.sub.21 and D.sub.22. The ratio of the width W.sub.21 of the center portion C of the first light-shielding line pattern 22, the width W.sub.22 of the second and third light-shielding line patterns 23 and 24, and the width of the first and second spaces 26 and 27 is 2:5:1.5. The first and second spaces 26 and 27 form a T shape.
The peak point of light in performing an exposure process using the conventional mask pattern moves to a direction opposite to the conventional mask pattern of FIG. 1A. That is to say, a light peak point is not at the very center portion between the sides D.sub.21 and D.sub.22, yet moves toward the first light-shielding line pattern 22. As a result, the contour of the side D.sub.21 of the first light-shielding line pattern 22 corresponding to the first space 26 has a concave region (not shown) in performing an exposure process using the aforementioned mask pattern.
The areal image distribution of the aforementioned conventional mask pattern is obtained through experiment using FAIM that is a lithography simulator. The above described problem is generated in light source of less than g-line (436 nm) or I-line (365 nm).
Conventional mask patterns have the following problems Since the peak point of light moves, the CD width of light-shielding line patterns changes and the round error is generated in which the corners of the light-shielding line patterns are rounded, thus deteriorating the reliability of mask patterns in highly packed semiconductor device. Moreover, since the light distribution is uneven, adjacent patterns are distorted.


A sphincterotome having a pair of ribs that are disposed equidistant from each other about an outer surface of a tubular member of the sphincterotome is disclosed. The pair of ribs is oriented perpendicular to a radial direction in which a cutting edge of a cutting wire disposed at a distal portion of the tubular member extends.

The biliary tree is an anatomical path that transports bile secreted from the liver to the duodenum of the small intestine. The bile empties into the duodenum at the duodenal papilla. Problems occurring in the biliary tree, such as the formation of bile duct stones or papillary stenosis, are treated using medical devices that are delivered into the biliary tree. In order to access the biliary tree, the medical devices must pass through the sphincter of Oddi, a muscular valve surrounding the papilla that controls the flow of pancreatic juices and bile into the duodenum. The sphincter of Oddi is constrictive in nature, making passage through the sphincter of Oddi difficult. In order to ease passage through the sphincter of Oddi, the sphincter muscle is cut through a medical procedure called a sphincterotomy.
A sphincterotomy is performed using a medical device called a sphincterotome. An example of a sphincterotome is found in United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0043259, and is incorporated herein by reference. A sphincterotome comprises an elongate tubular member with a plurality of lumens extending therethrough. Typically, a cutting wire that is used to cut the sphincter muscle is disposed within one of the lumens. In addition, a wire guide is disposed within another lumen, and a third lumen may be used to inject contrast at the cutting site.
The cutting wire is disposed within one of the lumens except at a distal portion of the tubular member. At the distal portion, the cutting wire is exposed outside of the lumen and along the tubular member. The portion of the cutting wire outside of the lumen, called the cutting edge, is used to cut the sphincter muscle.
A sphincterotomy generally involves a two-part process: cannulation of the biliary tree and cutting the sphincter muscle by sending an electric current through the cutting wire (i.e, electrocautery). Cannulation of the biliary tree involves inserting the distal portion of the tubular member into the papilla and using the distal portion and the cutting edge to lift the upper portion (i.e., the roof) of the papilla. In particular, after the distal portion is inserted into the papilla, the roof of the papilla is lifted by proximally pulling the cutting wire taut. Proximally pulling the cutting wire taut causes the distal portion of the tubular member to bow and form an arc. The cutting edge, being taut, forms a secant of the arc and lifts the roof of the papilla.
Lifting the roof of the papilla, as opposed to moving other portions of the papilla, is optimal for cannulating the biliary tree because the cutting edge and the distal portion can enter the biliary tree without injuring the duodenal wall or pancreatic duct. Accordingly, the distal portion of the tubular member is inserted into the papilla with the cutting edge radially extending upward because ideally, the distal portion curls in the direction in which the cutting edge radially extends. However, in practice, the distal portion may not curl in the direction that the cutting edge faces. The size, shape, and position of the lumens within the tubular member affect the center of moment of the tubular member and ultimately the curling direction of the distal portion. As a result, even if the distal portion is inserted into the papilla with the cutting edge facing upward, the distal portion may not curl upward to lift the roof of the papilla when the cutting wire is proximally pulled.


A single vend newspaper vending machine having an elevator system mounted within the machine housing, the elevator system including a vertically movable inclined newspaper support plate and a ratchet system for ratcheting the vertically movably plate upwards and a newspaper thickness sensing device for sensing the thickness of the topmost paper. The elevator system is operative to elevate the next paper on the stack of papers to the same height as the former topmost paper as determined by the newspaper thickness sensing device so that paper may be engaged by one or more pusher bars which engage the topmost paper and move it to or towards a dispensing position. The topmost paper then disengages from the stack and may fall forward into the newspaper vending chute or may be pushed forwards by the pusher bars to a dispensing position.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to newspaper vending machines and, more particularly, to a single-vend, single-fold newspaper vending machine having an elevator system mounted within the machine housing, the elevator system including a vertically movable inclined newspaper support plate and a ratchet system for ratcheting the vertically movably plate upwards, the elevator system operative to elevate the next paper on the stack of papers to a particular position where that paper may be engaged by one or more pusher bars which engage the topmost paper moving it rearwardly, such that the topmost paper disengages from the stack and may fall forward into the newspaper vending chute.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most newspaper vending machines on the market today are coin actuated and the insertion of a coin into the machine enables the prospective purchaser to open a door to gain access to the entire supply of newspapers within the machine. While the majority of customers will at that time only remove a single newspaper, there are some individuals who will remove multiple newspapers from the machine either for resale or distribution to others. Obviously, there is a need for a newspaper vending machine which will prevent the theft of newspapers from the machine.
Prior attempts have been made to overcome this problem by designing vending machines to dispense only a single copy of the newspaper in response to the insertion of coins in the machine. The scarcity of single copy newspaper vending machines is the best evidence of the failure of the prior art designs for single copy newspaper vending machines to address and solve the problems presented.
Various attempts have been made in the prior art to make single vend newspaper vending machines. For example, Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,120, discloses a newspaper vending machine which features an article holder which supports a newspaper stack. The reference also includes a pusher which frictionally or by piercing will engage each newspaper at the top of the stack and move it up and out of contact with the presser where upon the paper falls into a dispensing tray. The major disadvantage found in Moore, obviously, is that the intricate nature of the pulley system and movable nature of the pusher arrangement will almost certainly lead to numerous breakdowns and malfunctions while the invention is being used. Furthermore, there is no means by which the papers held within the machine can be seen to enable a potential purchaser to decide whether he or she should make that purchase.
Another example of a newspaper vending machine found in the prior art is shown in Godley, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,461, which discloses a newspaper vending machine having a vertically moveable platform and a dispensing wedge. A drive shaft rotates to raise or lower the platform in response to rotation of an external crank thus vending the next newspaper on a stack. While Godley certainly presents a more simple and efficient system for vending newspapers than Moore, Godley includes several features which can be improved upon. For example, the dispensing mechanism for the newspaper involves the raising the stack of newspapers above a dispensing wedge thus allow the topmost newspaper to slide off of the top of the stack and thus be dispensed. However, some vended newspapers are of a narrow thickness and, therefore, as the platform is cranked upwards, the height added to the newspaper platform may cause two or more newspapers to fall from the top of the stack, thus resulting in the entire purpose for the invention being destroyed. Also, the crank handle as shown in Godley may be more prone to malfunctions due to the various connected elements within Godley. There is therefore a need for reliable and efficient single vend newspaper vending machine which will correctly vend even newspapers of narrow thickness.
Various other inventions have been proposed in the prior art which attempt to address and resolve the problems inherent in single vend newspaper vending machines. Included among these are such devices as Gunzler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,665, Wingate, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,448,328, and 4,506,800, and Hennessy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,513. Each of these inventions, however, include inherent problems which do not fully address and solve the problem of producing an efficient and reliable single vend newspaper vending machine.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved single vend newspaper vending machine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which includes an elevator system for raising a stack of newspapers to a predetermined height for engagement by a pushing mechanism which will lift the topmost paper from underneath a paper restraining tongue and allow the top most paper to fall forward into a dispensing chute.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which is capable of vending papers of varying thicknesses one at a time.
Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide a single vend newspaper vending machine which is safe, durable and efficient in use.


A method for simulating a drilling tool assembly having a drill string and a drill bit. The method includes simulating a dynamic response of the drill string; simulating a dynamic response of the drill bit; and resolving the dynamic response of the drill string and the dynamic response of the drill bit into a dynamic response of the drilling tool assembly.

FIG. 1 shows one example of a conventional drilling system for drilling an earth formation. The drilling system includes a drilling rig 10 used to turn a drilling tool assembly 12 which extends downward into a wellbore 14. The drilling tool assembly 12 includes a drilling string 16, and a bottomhole assembly (BHA) 18, attached to the distal end of the drill string 16.
The drill string 16 comprises several joints of drill pipe 16a connected end to end through tool joints 16b. The drill string 16 transmits drilling fluid (through its hollow core) and transmits rotational power from the drill rig 10 to the BHA 18. In some cases the drill string 16 further includes additional components such as subs, pup joints, etc.
The BHA 18 includes at least a drill bit 20. Typical BHAs may also include additional components attached between the drill string 16 and the drill bit 20. Examples of additional BHA components include drill collars, stabilizers, measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tools, logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools, and downhole motors.
In general, drilling tool assemblies 12 may include other drilling components and accessories, such as special valves, such as kelly cocks, blowout preventers, and safety valves. Additional components included in a drilling tool assembly 12 may be considered a part of the drill string 16 or a part of the BHA 18 depending on their locations in the drilling tool assembly 12.
The drill bit 20 in the BHA 18 may be any type of drill bit suitable for drilling earth formation. Two common types of earth boring bits used for drilling earth formations are fixed-cutter (or fixed-head) bits and roller cone bits. FIG. 2 shows one example of a fixed-cutter bit. FIG. 3 shows one example of a roller cone bit.
Referring to FIG. 2, fixed-cutter bits (also called drag bits) 21 typically comprise a bit body 22 having a threaded connection at one end 24 and a cutting head 26 formed at the other end. The head 26 of the fixed-cutter bit 21 typically comprises a plurality of ribs or blades 28 arranged about the rotational axis of the bit and extending radially outward from the bit body 22. Cutting elements 29 are embedded in the raised ribs 28 to cut formation as the bit is rotated on a bottom surface of a wellbore. Cutting elements 29 of fixed-cutter bits typically comprise polycrystalline diamond compacts (PDC) or specially manufactured diamond cutters. These bits are also referred to as PDC bits.
Referring to FIG. 3, roller cone bits 30 typically comprise a bit body 32 having a threaded connection at one end 34 and a plurality of legs (not shown) extending from the other end. A roller cone 36 is mounted on each of the legs and is able to rotate with respect to the bit body 32. On each cone 36 of the bit 30 are a plurality of cutting elements 38, typically arranged in rows about the surface of the cone 36 to contact and cut through formation encountered by the bit. Roller cone bits 30 are designed such that as a drill bit rotates, the cones 36 of the bit 30 roll on the bottom surface of the wellbore (called the "bottomhole") and the cutting elements 38 scrape and crush the formation beneath them. In some cases, the cutting elements 38 on the roller cone bit 30 comprise milled steel teeth formed on the surface of the cones 36. In other cases, the cutting elements 38 comprise inserts embedded in the cones. Typically, these inserts are tungsten carbide inserts or polycrystalline diamond compacts. In some cases hardfacing is applied to the surface of the cutting elements to improve wear resistance of the cutting structure.
For a drill bit 20 to drill through formation, sufficient rotational moment and axial force must be applied to the bit 20 to cause the cutting elements of the bit 20 to cut into and/or crush formation as the bit is rotated. The axial force applied on the bit 20 is typically referred to as the "weight on bit" (WOB). The rotational moment applied to the drilling tool assembly 12 at the drill rig 10 (usually by a rotary table) to turn the drilling tool assembly 12 is referred to as the "rotary torque". The speed at which the rotary table rotates the drilling tool assembly 12, typically measured in revolutions per minute (RPM), is referred to as the "rotary speed". Additionally, the portion of the weight of the drilling tool assembly supported at the rig 10 by the suspending mechanism (or hook) is typically referred to as the hook load.
During drilling, the actual WOB is not constant. Some of the fluctuation in the force applied to the bit may be the result of the bit contacting with formation having harder and softer portions that break unevenly. However, in most cases, the majority of the fluctuation in the WOB can be attributed to drilling tool assembly vibrations. Drilling tool assemblies can extend more than a mile in length while being less than a foot in diameter. As a result, these assemblies are relatively flexible along their length and may vibrate when driven rotationally by the rotary table. Several modes of vibration are possible for drilling tool assemblies. In general, drilling tool assemblies may experience torsional, axial and lateral vibrations. Although partial damping of vibration may result due to viscosity of drilling fluid, friction of the drill pipe rubbing against the wall of the wellbore, energy absorbed in drilling the formation, and drilling tool assembly impacting with wellbore wall, these sources of damping are typically not enough to suppress vibrations completely.
Up to now, vibrations of a drilling tool assembly have been difficult to predict because different forces may combine to produce the various modes of vibration, and models for simulating the response of an entire drilling tool assembly including roller cone bit interacting with formation in a drilling environment have not been available. However, drilling tool assembly vibrations are generally undesirable, not only because they are difficult to predict, but also because they can significantly affect the instantaneous force applied on the bit. This can result in the bit not operating as expected. For example, vibrations can result in off-centered drilling, slower rates of penetration, excessive wear of the cutting elements, or premature failure of the cutting elements and the bit. Lateral vibration of the drilling tool assembly may be a result of radial force imbalances, mass imbalance, and bit/formation interaction, among other things. Lateral vibration results in poor drilling tool assembly performance, overgage hole drilling, out-of-round, or "lobed" wellbores and premature failure of both the cutting elements and bit bearings.
When the bit wears out or breaks during drilling, the entire drilling tool assembly must be lifted out of the wellbore section-by-section and disassembled in an operation called a "pipe trip". In this operation, a heavy hoist is required to pull the drilling tool assembly out of the wellbore in stages so that each stand of pipe (typically pipe sections of about 90 feet) can be unscrewed and racked for the later re-assembly. Because the length of a drilling tool assembly may extend for more than a mile, pipe trips can take several hours and can pose a significant expense to the wellbore operator and drilling budget. Therefore, the ability to design drilling tool assemblies which have increased durability and longevity, for example, by minimizing the wear on the drilling tool assembly due to vibrations, is very important and greatly desired to minimize pipe trips out of the wellbore and to more accurately predict the resulting geometry of the wellbore drilled.
Simulation methods have been previously introduced which characterize either the interaction of a bit with the bottomhole surface of a wellbore or the dynamics of a bottomhole assembly (BHA). However, no prior art simulation techniques have been developed to cover the dynamic modeling of an entire drilling tool assembly. As a result, the dynamic response of a drilling tool assembly or the effect of a change in configuration on drilling tool assembly performance can not be accurately predicted.
One simulation method for characterizing interaction between a roller cone bit and an earth formation is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/524,088, entitled "Method for Simulating Drilling of Roller Cone Bits and its Application to Roller Cone Bit Design and Performance", and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. This application discusses general methods for predicting cutting element interaction with earth formations. The application also discussed types of experimental tests that can be performed to obtain cutting element/formation interaction data. Another simulation method for characterizing cutting element/formation interaction for a roller cone bit is described in Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Paper No. 29922 by D. Ma et al., entitled, "The Computer Simulation of the Interaction Between Roller Bit and Rock".
Methods for optimizing tooth orientation on a roller cone bits are disclosed in PCT International Publication No. WO00/12859 entitled, "Force-Balanced Roller-Cone Bits, Systems, Drilling Methods, and Design Methods" and PCT International Publication No. WO00/12860 entitled, "Roller-Cone Bits, Systems, Drilling Methods, and Design Methods with Optimization of Tooth Orientation.
Similarly, SPE Paper No. 15618 by T. M. Warren et. al., entitled "Drag Bit Performance Modeling" discloses a method for simulating the performance of PDC bits. Also disclosed are methods for defining the bit geometry, and methods for modeling forces on cutting elements and cutting element wear during drilling based on experimental test data. Examples of experimental tests that can be performed to obtain cutting element/earth formation interaction data are also disclosed. Experimental methods that can be performed on bits in earth formations to characterize bit/earth formation interaction are discussed in SPE Paper No. 15617 by T. M. Warren et al., entitled "Laboratory Drilling Performance of PDC Bits".
While prior art simulation methods, such as those described above cover either the interaction of the bit with the formation or the BHA dynamics, no prior art simulation technique has been developed to cover the dynamic modeling of the entire drilling tool assembly. As a result, accurately predicting the response of a drilling tool assembly has been virtually impossible. Additionally, the change in the dynamic response of a drilling tool assembly when a component of the drilling tool assembly is changed is not well understood.
In view of the above it is clear that a method for simulating the dynamic response of an entire drilling tool assembly, which takes into account bit interaction with the bottom surface of the wellbore, drilling tool assembly interaction with the wall of the wellbore and damping effects of the drilling fluid on the drill pipe, is both needed and desired. Additionally, a model for predicting changes in drilling tool assembly performance due to changes in drilling tool assembly configuration, and for determining optimal drilling tool assembly designs and/or optimal drilling operating parameters (WOB, RPM, etc.) for a particular depth, formation, and/or drilling tool assembly is desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Simulating the dynamic response of a drilling tool assembly and its application to drilling tool assembly design optimization and drilling performance optimization


A method for sub-port multicasting in an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching system, including inserting multicast fan-out port information for sub-ports of each of a plurality of switch ports into a multicast cell at an ingress port card, transmitting the multicast cell to an egress port card, reading the multicast fan-out port information from the multicast cell at the egress port card, and performing multicasting for the sub-ports corresponding to the multicast fan-out port information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sub-port multicasting in an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching system and, in particular, to multicasting by extracting the sub-port fan-out information inserted in the local header of cells.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, the ATM method divides user information into packets of a particular size, inserts destination information into header parts of packets, transfers packets in the form of cells of a fixed size, and restores original information from communicated packets. The ATM switching system provides a header address value, among the destination information, to a user terminal. The header address value is attached to the front of the user information, before transmission. Thus, the switching system may easily recognize the user information, convert it into cell unit packets, and then transfer them to the next destination.
The overall structure of such an ATM switching system is illustrated in FIG. 1. The ATM switching system is composed of a plurality of input modules (11) that process the input of user cells, a plurality of output modules (14) that process the output of user cells, a control module (13) that controls signal processing or call processing, etc., and a switch module (12) that performs switching into a relevant output module (14), by selecting the output path of cells according to path selection information attached to the front of the cell headers inputted from input module (11).
Input modules (11) and output modules (14) are subscriber boards, which physically access the subscriber lines.
Switch module (12) connects input modules (11) and output modules (14), which are the subscriber boards, through a plurality of switch fabric ports (hereinafter, "switch port") and performs switching between input modules (11) and output modules (14). According to the relevant related art, if a plurality of sub-ports with narrow bandwidths exist in one switch port, multicasting for the sub-ports is implemented by maintaining a sub-port multicast table and referring to the table using the connection ID. The connection ID is reserved at the local header of a cell that is transmitted transparently through the switch fabric.
As shown in FIG. 2, the related art sub-port multicasting of an ATM switching system operates as follows. The illustrated ATM switch system includes egress port cards (40) and ingress port cards (20), each having four sub-ports. Each sub-port is implemented with a 1 giga port device at the switch port of a switch fabric (30), which has 4 giga interfaces. In the related art sub-port multicasting method, a unique connection identifier is reserved in advance, at system level, and used for the purpose of the sub-port multicasting.
The multicasting for switch ports of the switch fabric (30) is performed by assigning a connection ID, for the ATM connection, to each switch port at the ingress port card (20) of the ATM switch system. Additionally, a virtual connection parameter table is stored and maintained in memory that has the connection IDs and fan-out port information, so that the multicast fan-out port information may be referred to through a connection ID. That is, multicasting is performed using the fan-out port information inserted into the local headers of multicast cells.
The structure of the multicast cell is illustrated in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the fan-out switch port information is the information in the 'PortBitMap' field and the connection ID is the information in the 'Connection ID[15:8][7:0]' field.
The virtual connection parameter table for switch-port multicasting, as shown in FIG. 4, includes the Connection ID field, which is assigned to each switch port for ATM Virtual Channel (VC) connection, and the PBM field (PBM [7:0]˜PBM [31:24]), which sets forth fan-out switch port information. The fan-out switch port information indicates the egress port that is to perform the switch-port multicasting, using the connection ID in the bitmap format. If the connection ID indicates a unicast cell, 1-bit fan-out switch port information for the unicast cell output is set at the PBM field. If the connection ID indicates a multicast cell, fan-out switch port information of 1 or more bits is set at the PBM field.
Also, for multicasting to sub-ports, the egress port card (40) shown in FIG. 2 must store and maintain in memory the sub-port multicast table (41), which has the same number of entries as the number of connection IDs that are reserved, as illustrated in FIG. 5. If a cell transmitted transparently to the switch fabric (30) is a multicast cell, the ATM switching system refers to the sub-port multicast table (41), using the connection ID included in the local header of the relevant cell. Then, the ATM switching system copies the cell for each of the fan-out sub-ports, according to the result of the reference to the table, and outputs the copied cells to relevant subscribers through a multiplexer (42).
In other words, in a sub-port multicasting ATM switching system of the related art, not only is a virtual connection parameter table used for switch port multicasting at the side of the ingress port card (20), but also a separate sub-port multicast table (41) is used at the egress port card (40). For each switch port, a sub-port multicast table (41) is maintained by reserving in advance a restricted number of connection IDs, for the purpose of the multicast connection.
For the sub-port multicasting operation in an ATM switching system of the related art, the ingress port card (20) assigns connection IDs for the pre-reserved multicast area, at the time the multicast connection is set-up, and then sets the virtual connection parameter table and the sub-port multicast table (41) for each fan-out switch port in accordance with the relevant connection ID.
Thereafter, when a cell is inputted into the port device where a virtual connection parameter table is located, the connection ID is retrieved using the value of the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI)/Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) and the Multiple Physical Device (MPHY) information inserted in the header of the relevant cell. Then, the cell is checked to determine whether it is a multicast cell.
If it is determined that the cell is a multicast cell (in other words, if a cell having an associated connection ID assigned for multicasting is inputted), the fan-out switch port information is recorded in the bitmap format at the local header of the relevant cell and the multicast indicating field is set to indicate that the relevant cell is a multicast cell. Then, the cell is transmitted to the egress port card (40) through the switch fabric (30).
Thereupon, the egress port card (40) extracts the connection IDs and the multicast indicating field from the local header of the cell transmitted through the switch fabric (30). Then, the egress port card (40) obtains the fan-out sub-port information for multicasting, by referring to the sub-port multicast table (41), using the extracted connection ID as an index. Then, cells are copied and outputted for the relevant fan-out sub-ports using the fan-out sub-port information extracted from the relevant sub-port multicast table (41).
Recently, as the amount of high-quantity multimedia information increases, the capacities of switches and switch ports that handle the large amount of multimedia information become larger. According to the increase of the capacity of the switch port, the number of sub-ports increases, and thus it is made possible to match multiple subscriber boards to one switch port.
Also, the demand of multicast connection increases as the use of teleconference and Video On Demand (VOD) services increases. Under this network environment, the ATM switching system of the related art has a problem in that the number of connections available for multicasting is limited, because multicast connection IDs corresponding to sub-ports at the side of the egress ports should be reserved in advance for the multicasting connection. Moreover, the sub-port multicast table, which has as many entries as the maximum number of reserved sub-port multicast connections, should be stored and maintained for every egress port, which causes significant hardware overhead in the given system.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.

Method for sub-port multicasting in an ATM switching system


In order to report aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) flexibly even when a user terminal performs radio communication using a plurality of component carriers (CCs) in an HetNet environment, the present invention provides an aperiodic channel sate information reporting method comprising: a step of transmitting in advance, from a pico base station (PeNB) to pico UE, channel state measurement target information having information about presence or absence of reporting of channel state information and a subframe as a measurement target associated with trigger bit information indicating information about presence or absence of reporting of channel state information and a component carrier as a measurement target (step ST401); and a step of reporting channel state information of the subframe and the component carrier designated by the trigger bit information transmitted on a PDCCH, to the pico base station (PeNB) on a PUSCH (step ST406).

In the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Network, LTE (Long Term Evolution) has been under study for the purpose of further increasing data rate, achieving low delay and the like (for example, see Non Patent Literature 1). In LTE, as multi-access schemes, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) based scheme is used for the downlink and SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access)-based scheme is used for the uplink.
In the LTE system, uplink signals are mapped to appropriate radio resources and transmitted from a user terminal to a radio base station apparatus. Specifically, uplink user data is transmitted using a PUSCH (Physical Uplink Sheared CHannel). And, uplink control information (UCI) is transmitted using the PUSCH when it is transmitted together with the uplink user data, or is transmitted using a PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control CHannel) when it is transmitted alone.
Uplink control information (UCI) includes transmission acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) for a PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared CHannel), scheduling request, CSI (Channel State Information) and so on (for example, see Non Patent Literature 2). The channel state information (hereinafter referred to as "CSI") is information based on an instantaneous channel state of the downlink, which includes, for example, channel quality information (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI) and so on. This CSI is reported periodically or aperiodically from a user terminal to a radio base station apparatus.
Aperiodic CSI is transmitted from the user terminal to the radio base station apparatus in accordance with a trigger from the radio base station apparatus. This triggering (aperiodic CSI triggering) is included in an uplink scheduling grant (hereinafter referred to as "UL grant") (DCI format 0/4) transmitted in a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control CHannel). The user terminal transmits the aperiodic channel state information (hereinafter referred to as "A-CSI") using a PUSCH designated by the UL grant in accordance with the trigger included in the UL grant. Such transmission of A-CSI is also called aperiodic CSI (CQI/PMI/RI) Reporting).
In 3GPP, in order to achieve further broadbandization and higher speeds, there has been studied a succeeding system to LTE (for example, LTE-Advanced). In the LTE-A system, it is preferable to realize a broader band while keeping backward compatibility with the LTE system. In the LTE-A system, it has been studied to aggregate a plurality of fundamental frequency blocks (CCs: component carriers) into a broad band (5 CCs are aggregated into a band of 100 MHz), where each fundamental frequency block is a band available in the LTE system (for example, 20 MHz).
In the LTE-A system, at least one cell is provided for one CC and a user terminal is configured to be able to communicate in plural cells of different CCs. In each CC, one cell where the user terminal performs communication mainly is called a serving cell. In the LTE-A system, the user terminal performs radio communication in plural serving cells of different CCs thereby to realize broadbandization of the system band.
In the LTE-A system, when the user terminal performs radio communication in plural serving cells of different CCs, communication states such as interference levels vary among serving cells. When the aperiodic CSI reporting is performed in the LTE-A system, it is preferable to flexibly report aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) of a downlink serving cell required for the network among serving cells.

Aperiodic channel state information reporting method, radio base station apparatus and user terminal


An integrated circuit, which is configured such that a MOS transistor and a bipolar transistor are integrated at the same time, is formed on an insulating substrate which includes a display device. An electronic device or a display includes a plurality of semiconductor devices which are formed by using a semiconductor thin film and are formed in the semiconductor thin film that is provided on an insulating substrate and is crystallized in a predetermined direction. The plurality of semiconductor devices include a MOS transistor and at least either one of a lateral bipolar thin-film transistor and a MOS-bipolar hybrid thin film transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device, a display device, an interface circuit and a differential amplification device, which are constituted by using thin-film transistors that are formed on insulating substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a display device of, e.g. OA equipment, which displays image information and character information, there is known an active-matrix flat-panel display which uses thin-film transistors (TFTs). In recent years, with the development of multi-media communication technology, attention has been paid to an integrated-function type display as a next-generation display, which is called a "system-on-panel" display. This integrated-function type display is designed for personal use, has a small size and light weight, and has a high resolution and a high image quality. Moreover, peripheral functions relating to image display, such as driver circuits, memory circuits, DA converters and image processing circuits, are integrated on a display panel. As an example of the integrated-function type display, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-18088 discloses a liquid crystal display device having an input function using light from, e.g. a light pen, by providing photoelectric conversion elements in individual pixels.
If the resolution and the number of colors of a display image on a display device increase, the amount of data to be transmitted increases accordingly. However, since the refresh speed of image display is fixed, the clock frequency of a transmission path needs to be increased if the amount of data increases. In this way, if the frequency of the transmission path increases, such a problem arises that unwanted electromagnetic radiation occurs from the transmission path and noise is caused in an external device due to electromagnetic interference (EMI). To solve this problem, a method is adopted in which EMI is reduced by low-voltage differential driving, which is known as, e.g. LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling). An example of this technique is disclosed in, e.g. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-176350. In addition, in recent years, as a transmission scheme that is capable of more effectively reducing EMI, there has been proposed a serial interface by current driving. One example is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-76345.
Conventionally, MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistors, which fall in a category of field-effect transistors, are mainly used as TFTs which are formed on a display glass substrate. The MOS transistors are widely used since the MOS transistors can advantageously constitute digital circuits such as display pixel switches and shift registers of displays.
Examples of patent documents are Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2005-18088, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-176350, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-76345 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-32337.
Examples of technical documents are (1) B. Y. TSAUR, MEMBER, IEEE, D. J. SILVERSMITH, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, J. C. C. FAN, AND R. W. MOUNTAIN; "Fully Isolated Lateral Bipolar-MOS Transistors Fabricated in Zone-Melting-Recrystallized Si Films on SiO2", IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS, VOL, EDL-4, NO. 8, pp. 269-271, AUGUST 1983; (2) JAMES C. STURM, MEMBER, IEEE, JAMES P. McVITTIE, MEMBER, IEEE, JAMES F. GIBBONS, FELLOW, IEEE AND L. PFIFFER, "A Lateral Silicon-on-Insulator Bipolar Transistor with a Self-Aligned Base Contact", 0741-3106/87/0300-0104$01.00 (c) 1987 IEEE; (3) Stephen Parke, Fariborz Assaderaghi Jian Chen, Joe King, Chenming Hu, and Ping K. Ko, "A Versatile, SOI BiCMOS Technology with Complementary Lateral BJT's", 0-7803-0817-4/92$3.00 (c) IEDM92 453-456 1992 IEEE; (4) T. Shino, K. Inoh, T. Yamada, H. Nii, S. Kawanaka, T. Fuse, M. Yoshimi, Y. Katsumata, S. Watanabe, and J. Matsunaga, "A 31 GHz fmax Lateral BJT on SOI Using Self-Aligned External Base Formation Technology"; 0-7803-4774-9/98$10.00(c) IERM 98 953-956 1998 IEEE; (5) Richard McCartney, Jsmes Kozisek, Marshall Bell, "9.3: WhisperBus™: An Advanced Interconnect Link For TFT Column Driver Data", SID 01 DIGEST, pp. 1-4; (6) Jorgen Olsson, Bengt Edholm, Anders Soderbiirg, and Kjell Bohlin, "High Current Gain Hybrid Bipolar Operation of DMOS Transistors", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 42, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER, pp. 1628-1635, 1995; (7) Stephen A. Parke, Chenming Hu, and Ping K. KO, "Bipolar-FET Hybrid-Mode Operation of Quarter-Microm; and (8) Sophie Verdonckt-Vandebroek, S. Simon Wong, Jason C. S. Woo, and Ping K. KO, "High-Gain Lateral Bipolar Action in a MOSFET Structure," IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 38, NO. 11, NOVEMBER, pp. 2487-2496, 1991.

Advanced LCD Technologies Development Center Co., Ltd.


The apparatus has a container, which encloses a crude gas space, and at least one filter projecting into the crude gas space and having a filter axis and a shape-stable casing. This has a support member with two wire fabrics and a filtration member which forms its outer surface and has a wire fabric. The wire fabrics of the support member and of the filtration member are rotationally symmetrical with the filter axis, are adjacent to one another and are sintered with one another at the points of contact. When process gas is passed from the crude gas space through a filter, the process gas deposits dust present in it onto the outer surface of the casing. The or each filter is stable, durable and resistant to high or low temperatures and can be readily cleaned inside the container with a cleaning gas or a cleaning liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for removing dust from gas, in particular from gas passed through a particulate material.
The terms "crude gas space" and "clean gas space" used below are first explained here. The crude gas space is understood as meaning a space which is adjacent to at least one filter and contains the gas to be filtered and to be freed from dust and from which the latter flows into the filter. A clean gas space is then understood as meaning a space which is adjacent to the or at least one filter and which the gas enters after flowing through the filter or the filters.
The apparatus has at least one container enclosing a crude gas space and at least one filter projecting into the crude gas space. The apparatus may have, for example, a material container and may be formed for passing gas through the crude gas space and through a particulate material present therein and for moving and treating the material, it being possible, for example, for the material to be fluidized with the gas and/or to be moved by a rotor which bounds the crude gas space at the bottom and has a disk. The means may serve, for example, for moving and treating a particulate material which is intended for the formation of a drug containing at least one pharmaceutical active ingredient, i.e. at least one active ingredient having a biological effect. The or at least one active ingredient may be contained, for example, in the particulate material introduced in the solid, dry or moist state into the material container. However, it is also possible to spray the particulate material in the material container with a liquid which may contain a dissolved or dispersed active ingredient. In addition to the material container or instead of it, the apparatus may have a downstream dust remover and/or another filtration device with a container which, when used, does not itself contain a particulate material but to which gas to be freed from dust is fed from another material container containing a particulate material. The apparatus may furthermore be formed as a spray dryer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A fluidized-bed apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,520 has a container which contains a fluidizing and crude gas space bounded at the top by an inner wall part. Filters projecting into the crude gas space are fastened to the inner wall part. Each filter has a casing with a cylindrical support member having gas passages, a filtration member arranged on the outside of said support member and supported by said support member, and bands serving for fastening said filtration member to the support member. The filtration member is formed by a flexible hose which has folds and comprises paper or a textile fabric. Each filter bounds a filter interior which is connected to a clean gas space present above the inner wall part by a passage passing through the inner wall part. A cleaning gas inlet which projects from the clean gas space through the passage into the filter interior, almost as far as the lower end of the filter, and has an inflatable bellows for closing the passage if required is present for each filter.
This known apparatus has the disadvantage that the filtration members consisting of paper or of a textile fabric have only low strength and a short service life and furthermore are not resistant to high temperatures. There is in particular a considerable danger that the filtration members will be damaged when the filter is blown out. The cleaning gas must therefore exert only a relative low pressure on the filtration members. However, a low cleaning gas pressure permits only port cleaning of the filtration members. In addition, the folds in the filtration members makes them more difficult to clean. The known apparatus furthermore has no devices for washing the filters inside the container. It would also be virtually impossible to wash the filters of the known apparatus clean inside the container by spraying with cleaning liquid under pressure, because this would even further shorten the service life of the filtration member. The filters must therefore each be removed from the container for washing, which is very time-consuming and may contaminate the environment and the operator.
If a bellows of the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,520 is to close a passage completely, it must be inflated and deformed to a very great extent. The bellows therefore probably closes the passage in practice only poorly, so that a considerable part of the cleaning gas flowing into the filter interior flows through the passage into the clean gas space during cleaning of a filter and does not contribute toward cleaning of the filter. The bellows are subjected to considerable stress during inflation and subsequent contraction and suffer considerable wear and must therefore probably be replaced after only a relatively short operating time. Furthermore, the bellows presumably consisting of natural and/or synthetic rubber are scarcely resistant to high temperatures and are brittle at low temperatures. In addition, the filtration members and bellows formed according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,520 are not sufficiently pressure-, heat- and fire-resistant to withstand any dust and/or solvent explosion which may take place in the crude gas space, so that they will be destroyed by such an explosion and will allow the explosion to spread through the filter.
Other known fluidized-bed apparatuses and other apparatuses for removing dust from gas likewise have filters with filtration members which consist of flexible hoses comprising paper or a textile material and generally have axial or circular or helical folds. These filters have disadvantages substantially similar to those of the filters described above and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,520.

Apparatus for removing dust from gas and for cleaning at least one filter of the apparatus


An information processing cooperation system, comprising: a first information processing terminal mounted on a vehicle; a second information processing terminal having a plurality of types of applications, wherein the first information processing terminal comprises: a condition determination unit configured to determine current conditions of at least one of the vehicle and a user riding on the vehicle; and an activation control unit configured to transmit, depending on the current conditions determined by the condition determination unit, an activation request for activating at least one of the plurality of types of applications to the second information processing terminal, wherein the second information processing terminal comprises: an application activation unit configured to activate an application corresponding to the activation request received from the activation control unit; and an application execution unit configured to execute the activated application in cooperation with the first information processing terminal.

Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to an information processing cooperation system, an information processing terminal and a computer readable medium.
Related Art
An in-vehicle device system comprising an in-vehicle device and a mobile device that are able to intercommunicate with each other has been known. An example of a detailed configuration of such an in-vehicle device system is described, for example, in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2012-191349A (hereafter, referred to as patent document 1). In the in-vehicle device system described in patent document 1, a mobile device stores predetermined information in a storage unit when an application is terminated. When the mobile device is connected to an in-vehicle device, the in-vehicle device determines whether the predetermined information is stored in the storage unit, and if it is determined that the predetermined information is stored in the storage unit of the mobile device, the in-vehicle device transmits an activation request for an application associated with the predetermined information to the mobile device. When the mobile device receives the activation request, the mobile device activates the application associated with the activation request.

Information processing cooperation system, information processing terminal and computer readable medium for the same