There is provided an accumulator unit for insertion into a portable electronic device. The accumulator unit has an integrated charging unit and a charging port. The charging port is freely accessible in the inserted and non-inserted condition of the accumulator unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an accumulator unit and a portable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable electronic devices require a battery or a rechargeable accumulator for the power supply. In that respect, both devices in which the accumulators have to be removed from the electronic device to be recharged and also electronic devices in which the accumulator unit is provided fixedly in the device and the accumulator is charged in the installed condition are known.

Rechargeable battery unit and portable electronic appliance


A spark plug for a gas-powered internal combustion engine having: a spark plug body; an insulator; a center electrode; a ground electrode support that is attached to the spark plug body and supports at least one ground electrode that forms a spark gap with the center electrode; a swirl chamber located at the front end of the spark plug whose wall surrounds the center and ground electrodes; the wall of the swirl chamber is formed by a cylindrical sleeve which has an open front face and radial perforations; the ground electrode support includes an annular base part and at least one arm that supports the ground electrode; the arm starts at the base part and extends within the swirl chamber. The arm of the ground electrode support increases in cross-section starting from the ground electrode it supports toward the annular base part of the ground electrode support.

In contrast to spark plugs with swirl chambers, in which the ground electrodes or ground electrode supports are arranged on the wall of the swirl chamber so that the current flowing during ignition is dissipated by the ground electrode through the wall of the swirl chamber to the spark plug body, such as are known from EP 1,265,329 A1, for example, the spark plugs of the present type have the advantage that the ground electrodes and their supports represent a system independent of the wall of the swirl chamber on account of the arms of the ground electrode support that extend within the swirl chamber. This ensures a defined and uniform carrying of current through the ground electrode support without any dissipation of current through the wall of the swirl chamber. Moreover, simple adjustment of the ground electrodes is made possible so that a spark gap that has changed due to electrode consumption resulting from use can be corrected. With regard to thermal considerations, the dissipation of heat from the ground electrodes through the arms of the ground electrode support, which are shielded from the wall of the swirl chamber, is better than when the ground electrodes are attached to the swirl chamber wall. These distinctions are addressed in EP 2,208,268 B1 and WO2012/113002 A1.
An object of the present invention is to further improve a spark plug of the type mentioned at the outset while preserving the stated advantages.

Spark plug for a gas-powered internal combustion engine


A scraper constituting a blade which is yieldingly deformable in such a manner as to be curved from a linear state to an arch shape is held by a holding groove of a holder. The holding groove of the holder is formed by a substantially parallel rail like holding groove which is gradually apart from an axis extending to a transverse direction of the belt as the holding wall goes from both ends of the belt to a central portion thereof. The scraper comprises a leg portion inserted into the holding groove of the holder, an extended standing portion projecting from the holding groove so as to be in contact with the surface of the belt and a head portion formed by thickening a thickness of said extended standing portion more than a thickness of the leg portion toward a returning direction of the belt, in which a jaw portion projecting beyond a side surface of the leg portion is formed by a lower portion of said head portion. Accordingly, the jaw portion covers over a top end of one of the rail like holding walls of the holder in a state that the leg portion of the scraper is inserted into the holding groove of the holder.

A prior art cleaner for a conveyor belt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,470 wherein the conveyor belt includes a plurality of cleaner means disposed thereon in the transverse direction of the conveyor belt at the return side of the same. Each cleaner means has a scraping portion thereof which intends to come into contact with the belt surface, while all of which are arranged in linear relationship. More specifically, a scraper having, at uppermost end, a scraping portion thereof comprising of tip members is yieldingly supported by a resilient member so that the scraping portion thereof becomes in contact with the belt surface under pressure by the resilience of the resilient member.
It is known that an endless conveyor belt, which is fitted for running in a circle between a drive pulley and an idler pulley, is supported on the forward side thereof by a plurality of guide rollers arranged at "trough" angles so as to be formed in a bow-like cross sectional shape in order to carry the transferring material in a stable manner. In other words, on the forward side of the running belt transferring the material thereon forward, the belt is supported so that the lengthwisely extending central region thereof can arcuately be deflected downward. The transferring materials are consecutively transferred generally on the central region of the belt, which will result in intensive wear on the central region of the belt surface rather than on both sides regions of the same.
Because of its tendency to deflection (termed generally as a "trough" tendency), the belt is deflected upward at a point midway between the side ends thereof thus to form an arch shape in cross section on the return side of the belt where the belt runs backward opposite to the forward direction thereof after discharging the transferring material therefrom. In such an arrangement of the known cleaner, the scraping portions of the cleaner means arranged in linear relationship are prevented from matching the belt surface when coming into close contact with the same. More specifically, there is a clearance between the scraping portions arranged linearly in said cleaner and the central region of the belt. The clearance becomes greater when the amount of wear on the central region of the belt surface is increased. Consequently, it will appear that the leavings of material on the central region of the belt surface cannot positively be scraped off by the scraping portions of the cleaner. Since the leavings of material adhered to the belt are substantially greater in amount at the lengthwisely extending central region of the belt surface than the side region of the same, some of the scraping portions disposed in the center get worn intensively in proportion to the amount of scraped material. This allows the clearance between the centrally mounted scraping portions and the belt surface to become greater gradually.
Each of the cleaner means has a scraper thereon which is supported yieldingly by the resilient member thus to be biased independently. When one of the scrapers is tilted laterally, a mass of the scraped material becomes trapped between the scraper and its adjacent scraper. This prevents the adjacent scraper from being biased independently, which will result in a stop of the returning movement of the scraping portion of the scraper from its biased position to its rest position for coming into contact with the belt surface.
Under the circumstances, an improved type of belt cleaner was developed by Nippon Tsusho Kabushiki Kaisha and is now sold under the product name "U-Type Cleaner" to which European Patent Nos. 0289659B1 and 0338118B1 (hereinafter referred to as the first EP and the second EP respectively) have granted.
In the cleaner for a conveyor belt according to the first EP, the scraper is adjustably supported for rotary displacement about the axis extending in the transverse direction of the belt and has the scraping portion thereon which intends to be in contact with the belt surface and is outwardly deflected a maximum from the common axis at a point midway between the side ends of the belt. Accordingly, when the scraper is turned upward about the axis to its standing position, the scraping portion thereof will arch its central region as lifted upward. This allows the scraping portion of the scraper to remain in close contact with the belt surface without clearance even if either the belt is trough-shaped in cross section or the lengthwisely extending central region of the belt surface gets worn, whereby the leavings on the belt surface will be scraped off in an optimum manner.
While according to the second EP, the scraper is formed of belt-like shape by a resilient board in which support members are embedded in a row, said resilient board comprises a cover wall extending integrally along over the aligned support members and covering the surfaces thereof, hinge portions connecting each two adjoined support members flexibly with each other so as to allow the scraper to be bent in a curved form thereby but not to allow the support members to separate with each other. The holder provides holding means which holds said scraper in its curved form via said hinge portions to deflect a maximum at a point midway between both ends of the belt from an axis extending transversely of the belt, the scraper is resiliently held by the holding means via said cover wall of the resilient board. The scraper is flexible to match the arcuate shape of the holding means in the holder. It is thus unnecessary for the scraper to have a shape corresponding to the arcuate shape of the holding means, which facilitates its fabrication.
However, according to the belt cleaner disclosed in the second EP, when the scraper scrapes the leavings of material on the conveyor belt, the leavings of material scraped and dropping down accumulate on the scraper and the holder. Then, since the deposit is plugged up in the holding means of the holder and solidified, the scraper and the holder are fixedly attached to each other. Accordingly, at a time of replacing the scraper which is consumed by using for a long time, it is hard to extract the scraper from the holder.
Further, according to the scraper of the second EP, the lower portion of the supporting member is held by the holding means of the holder, the upper portion thereof is stood up from the holding means and the scraping portion at the upper end thereof is come into contact with the running conveyor belt. Accordingly, a moment is produced on the supporting member toward a returning direction of the belt. The supporting member is fixedly attached to the yieldingly deformable resilient board and is opposed to the moment through the resilient board. However, since the resilient board may be compressed and deformed by the supporting member at that time, the supporting member is finally forced to become an inclined posture inclining toward the belt running direction from an erect posture. Accordingly, a biased abrasion is produced in the scraping portion. Further, since the conveyor belt does not generally run at a uniform manner but runs with vibrating at a wavy manner, compression of the resilient board are repeated. As a result, the supporting member vibrates between the erect posture and the inclined posture so that the biased abrasion in the scraping portion becomes remarkable.
Further, when the supporting member vibrates with repeating the compression of the resilient board as mentioned above, a tiredness of the resilient board is invited at an early time so that there is a risk that a crack is produced in the resilient board. Particularly, a crack is easily produced at the hinge portions formed between the adjacent supporting members which are independently vibrated to each other. When the hinge portions are separated by such a crack, a gap is produced between the scraping portions in the adjacent supporting members so that there is a risk that the scraped leavings of material is plugged up there.


The present invention relates to a reservoir tank for an automobile, which is provided with a height-adjustable sub filler neck so as to be retracted when not in use and extracted when filling coolant, whereby the reservoir tank can be disposed low in the automobile. The reservoir tank forming a cooling module together with a condenser, a radiator and a fan and shroud assembly is disposed at a carrier, and includes a filler neck for filling coolant and a cap for closing the filler neck, and is communicated with a radiator so as to control an amount of the coolant in the radiator, wherein the reservoir tank is integrally formed with a shroud of the fan and the shroud assembly, and the filler neck is formed with a sub filler neck which is retracted into and extracted from the filler neck.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reservoir tank for an automobile and, more particularly, to a reservoir tank for an automobile, which is provided with a height-adjustable sub filler neck so as to be retracted when not in use and extracted when filling coolant, whereby the reservoir tank can be disposed low in the automobile.
2. Description of Related Art
In an automobile having an internal combustion engine, generally, heat generated in the engine is transferred to a cylinder head, a piston, a valve and the like. Thus, if temperature of such components is excessively increased, the strength of the components is lowered due to thermal expansion and deterioration thereof, and the durability of the engine is reduced, and knocking or pre-ignition phenomenon occurs due to a poor combustion state and thus the engine power is reduced.
In addition, if the engine is not cooled sufficiently, an oil film formed on an internal surface of a cylinder is stopped, thereby degenerating lubrication performance. Further, engine oil is deteriorated, and thus the cylinder may be worn out abnormally. Furthermore, the piston may be bonded to the inner surface of the cylinder.
In order to cool the engine, the automobile is typically provided with a water-cooled cooling apparatus.
The water-cooled cooling apparatus functions to lower temperature of the cylinder block and the cylinder head, while the coolant is circulated therethrough by a water pump. The water-cooled cooling apparatus includes a radiator for radiating heat of the coolant, a cooling fan and a thermostat.
Meanwhile, a reservoir tank 10 forming a cooling module together with a condenser, a radiator 1 and a fan and shroud assembly is provided at a carrier. This is called as a front end module.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional reservoir tank 10, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional reservoir tank 10.
Referring to FIG. 1, the radiator 1 functions to cool the coolant of which temperature is increased while being passed through an engine. The radiator 1 basically includes an upper/lower tank assembly 2, 2′, and a radiator core 3 having a tube 3a and a fin 3b interposed between the fins 3b.
The upper/lower tank assembly 2, 2′ may be formed by a header 2a which is coupled with the tube 3a of the radiator core 3, and a tank 2b which encloses the header 2a so as to form a passage.
Meanwhile, internal pressure of the radiator 1 may be excessively increased due to change in temperature and volume of the radiator 1 while the coolant is flowed therein. Also there may be not sufficient coolant in the radiator 1.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the radiator 1 is communicated with the reservoir tank 10 (subsidiary tank) such that the coolant in the radiator 1 is discharged to the reservoir tank 10 when the internal pressure of the radiator 1 is excessively increased, and the coolant is supplied to the radiator 1 when the internal pressure or temperature is lowered.
The reservoir tank 10 is formed with a filler neck 4. In general, an overflow pipe 4a is formed at the side of the filler neck 4 and connected with the radiator 1.
At the filler neck 4, there is provided a radiator cap which has a pressure vale for closing an opened portion.
More detailedly, referring to FIG. 2, an upper tank 11 and a lower tank 12 of which a lower portion and an upper portion faced to each other are opened are coupled with each other so as to form a coolant storing portion 13.
A coolant discharging port 11a is formed at a side of the upper tank 11 so as to discharge the coolant to an outside when the coolant stored in the reservoir tank 10 is over a desired amount, and a filler neck 11b for injecting the coolant is formed at an upper side of the upper tank 11 so as to be protruded more than an upper surface thereof.
The coolant discharging port 11a is connected with a drain hose 11c, and the filler neck 11b is closed by a detachable cap 14. A cap sealing portion 14a is provided at an inner surface of the cap 14 so as to be closely contacted with the filler neck 11b, thereby preventing the coolant from being leaked.
A coolant inlet port 12a is provided at a side of the lower tank 12 and connected with the overflow pipe 4a (referring to FIG. 1) of the filler neck 4.
However, in the conventional reservoir tank for an automobile, the filler neck 11b is integrally formed with the reservoir tank 10. If the filler neck 11b has a too low height, it is not facile to inject the coolant due to a narrow space. But if the filler neck 11b has a too high height to enhance user's convenience, it requires many spaces in an engine room, and thus there is a problem in layout.
Moreover, if the filler neck 11b has a too low height, it may cause increased injuries to an accident victim when a car accident occurs.
Recently, there has been proposed a method in which the reservoir tank is disposed at the fan and shroud assembly in order to increase space efficiency in the engine room and also to improve productivity.
However, in case that the reservoir tank is disposed at the shroud assembly, the cooling module is installed in the carrier, and the reservoir tank is thus moved to the side of the carrier. Therefore, it is difficult by an upper member of the carrier to secure a space for forming the filler neck, and also since a distance from the filler neck is spaced apart due to a height of the upper member, it is further difficult to inject the coolant.


The present invention relates to a water-soluble azo compound for yellow represented by the following formula (1)

In the recording method by means of an ink jet printer which is one of typical methods among various color recording methods, various methods for discharging ink have been developed, where ink droplets are generated and adhered onto various record-receiving materials (such as paper, film and cloth) to perform recording. This method has been rapidly prevailing lately and is expected to continue growing remarkably in the future because of such features as quietness without noise generation due to no direct contact of a recording head with a record-receiving material and as easiness in downsizing, speedup and colorization. Conventionally, as an ink for fountain pens, felt-tip pens or the like and an ink for inkjet recording, inks by dissolving a water-soluble dye in an aqueous medium have been used, and in these water-soluble inks, a water-soluble organic solvent is generally added to prevent ink from clogging at a pen tip or an inkjet nozzle. These inks are required to provide recorded images with sufficient density, not to clog at a pen tip or an inkjet nozzle, to dry quickly on record-receiving materials, to bleed less, to have good storage stability and so on. In addition, recorded images formed are required to have fastnesses such as excellent water fastness, moisture fastness, light fastness and gas fastness.
Meanwhile, images or character information on color displays of computers are generally expressed by subtractive color mixing of 4 color inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) for color recording by an ink jet printer. In order to reproduce, as faithfully as possible, images expressed by additive color mixing of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) on CRT (cathode ray tube) displays and the like, through images by subtractive color mixing, it is desired that coloring matters to be used for ink, especially Y, M and C, respectively have hues close to their standards and vividness. In addition, it is required that inks are stable in storage for a long period of time, and images printed as mentioned above have a high concentration and are excellent in fastnesses such as water fastness, moisture fastness, light fastness, and gas fastness. The gas fastness here means durability against the phenomenon that oxidizing gases such as nitrogen oxide gas and ozone gas having oxidizing effect, which exist in the air, react with a coloring matter (dye) on or in recording paper having recorded images to incur discoloration or fading of printed images. In particular, the ozone gas is regarded as a main causative substance to promote the phenomenon of discoloration of inkjet recorded images. As this phenomenon of discoloration or fading is characteristics of inkjet images, improvement of ozone gas fastness is an important technical challenge in this field. In particular, porous white inorganic substance is used for many of ink receiving layers provided on the surfaces of inkjet professional paper to obtain photo quality in order to dry ink sooner and to make bleeding less in high image quality, resulting in that on such recording paper, discoloration or fading by the ozone gas is noticeably observed. Along with recent diffusion of digital cameras and color printers, there are more opportunities to print images obtained using digital cameras and the like at home, and fading of images caused by oxidizing gases in the air during storage of printed materials obtained is often considered as a problem.
As an example of the compounds with excellent water-solubility and vividness which has been conventionally used as a yellow coloring matter for inkjet, C.I. (color index) Direct Yellow 132 can be cited (for example, see Patent Literatures 1 to 3).    [Patent Literature 1] JP H11-70729 A    [Patent Literature 2] JP 2000-154344 A, Examples A1 to 5    [Patent Literature 3] JP 2003-34763 A, Page 11, Example 4

Water-soluble azo compound, ink composition, and colored article

Abstract: wherein, A represents a hydroxy group, a morpholino group, an amino group, an aliphatic amine residue which may have a substituent, an aromatic amine residue which may have a substituent, a phenoxy group which may have a substituent, or an alkoxy group which may have a substituent, R1 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R2 represents a hydrogen atom, a nitro group or a hydroxy group, and n represents an integer number of 1 to 3, respectively as a free acid, and an ink composition containing the same; said ink composition has good stability and is suitable for inkjet printing; and printed matters therewith have very high fastness such as ozone fastness and the like.


A method is provided wherein when an auxiliary device is being powered by the PTO driveline the PTO clutch is periodically slowly ramped down in pressure until slippage is detected in the clutch. Slippage is determined by monitoring the shaft speed into the clutch as well as the shaft speed downstream of the clutch. By determining the commanded pressure where slippage occurred, the equivalent engine power that is going to the auxiliary function is calculated. With this information, the proportion of the engine load signal that is going to the auxiliary function versus the drive wheels is determined. After slip is detected in the PTO clutch, pressure is ramped back up in the clutch so as to minimize the amount of slippage.

Conventionally, when shifting gears, many powershift transmissions use solenoid controlled valves to control pressure to each clutch and rely on a signal that is representative of engine load to determine the pressure applied to the on-coming clutches.
A problem that may occur is that the engine load signal may be misleading. For example, in agricultural tractor applications, there are conditions where much of the engine load may be used to power auxiliary functions such as a hydraulic pump or PTO implements. This may cause problems where the shift quality is harsh because the oncoming clutch pressure is commanded at high pressure when instead it should have been commanded low because there was actually only a small amount of the engine power that was going to the drive wheels.
A method of overcoming this problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,292. In this reference the load signal from the engine is adjusted to assume that part of the load is going to any auxiliary function that is engaged. The load signal is continuously adjusted automatically based upon the resulting shift characteristics. If the tractor slows down excessively during a shift, it is an indication that the assumption of engine load that is going to the wheels is too low. If the tractor speeds up during a shift, it is an indication that the assumption of engine load that is going to the wheels is too high. The problem with this method is that it can only react to a bad shift. It does not prevent the bad shift from occurring in the first place.
Another problem is that vehicle drivetrains must be designed to handle maximum engine power. However, in some cases some of the engine power is going to auxiliary functions such as PTO implements or hydraulic pumps. In, these cases, it may be desireable to increase engine power because the limiting factor (the drivetrain) is not being loaded to it's capabilities.
A method of determining the power going to the PTO implement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,459. In this method the PTO clutch pressure is brought down and maintained at a pressure that produces a constant small amount of slip in the clutch. By knowing the commanded pressure that caused slip, the amount of power going through the PTO clutch can be calculated. Besides providing torque measurment, this method also provides a method of protecting the PTO driveline from shock loading. This primary disadvantage of this system is the power loss that is inherent with continuously slipping the clutch.
Accordingly, there is a clear need in the art for a method of determining the amount of engine load going to an auxiliary function that avoids the foregoing problems.

Method of using a PTO clutch for auxiliary load measurement


A nonvolatile memory circuit is formed on a substrate. Spaced apart first, second and third source/drain regions are formed in the substrate, the third source/drain region disposed between the first and second source/drain regions, the first, second and third source/drain regions having a generally elongate shape. A first row of floating gate electrodes are formed on the substrate, disposed between the first and third source/drain regions. A second row of floating gate electrodes is formed on the substrate, disposed between the second and third source/drain regions. A plurality of insulated word lines is formed on the substrate, a respective one of the insulated word lines overlying a respective one of the first row of floating gate electrodes and a respective one of the second row of floating gate electrodes and running in a direction transverse to the first, second and third source/drain regions. A plurality of channel stop regions may be formed in the substrate, a respective one of the plurality of channel stop regions being disposed between a respective pair of floating gate electrodes in a respective one of the first and second rows of floating gate electrodes.

As is well-known to those skilled in the art, integrated circuit memory devices include random access memory (RAM) devices, which generally do not retain stored information when power is interrupted, and read only memory (ROM) devices, which generally retain their stored information despite power failure. For this reason, the latter devices art often referred to as nonvolatile memory devices. Nonvolatile memory devices include "flash" electrically-erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) devices, which may be electrically erased and programmed. Flash EEPROMs are widely used for computers, memory cards, and the like.
Conventional flash EEPROMs may utilize various kinds of memory cells. The conventional cell structures used include simple stack-gate cells, as described in Tam et al., "A High Density CMOS 1-T Electrically Eraseable Non-Volatile (Flash) Memory Technology," VLSI Technology, 1988, IV-4, pp. 31-32. A stack-gate cell typically includes a transistor having source and drain regions, and a gate including a floating gate electrode and control gate electrode, with the floating gate serving to store data and the control gate serving to control the data stored by the floating gate. Typically, an erase operation lowers the threshold voltage of the stack-gate cell by tunneling electrons from the floating gate electrode to the source and drain regions, while a program operation increases the threshold voltage of the cell by injecting hot electrons generated in a channel region between the source and drain regions into the floating gate electrode using potentials at the gate electrode and drain regions that are higher than a potential supplied to the source region. A read operation reads the state of the cell.
The simple stack-gate cell has several disadvantages in its structure and operations. As programming is typically performed by hot electron injection, the cycling endurance of the erase/program operations may be sharply lowered, which may degrade cell performance. Non-selected cells may be disturbed during program or read operations, and cells may become over-erased, i.e., may be put into a state in which they have a threshold voltage lower than 0 V.
Stacked-gate cells typically have structural features which may complicate fabrication. Although only one single transistor may be used for each cell, a bit line may be required for every two cells. Also, since the source regions of cells typically are commonly connected in an active region, a corner rounding phenomenon may occur during oxidation to form a field oxide layer, thereby increasing the threshold voltage dissipation of the cell after erase and program operations.
A DINOR (DIvided bit line NOR) cell has been proposed to avoid some of the problems associated with the stack-gate cell, as described Kobayashi et al., "Memory Array Architecture and Decoding Scheme for 3 V Only Sector Eraseable DINOR Flash Memory," VLSI Circuits, 1993, pp. 97-98. FIGS. 1 and 2 are a schematic diagram and a cross-sectional view of a conventional flash EEPROM utilizing a DINOR cell, respectively. The DINOR cell includes word lines WL1 through WLi for selecting a desired cell transistor, a select transistor line 3 having select transistors 3a, main bit lines 1 connected to the drain of a select transistor 3a, and sub bit lines 5 connected to the source of the select transistor 3a, typically formed as a polysilicon layer. A DINOR cell typically has a string-like structure wherein adjacent cell transistors are connected in parallel through the sub bit lines 5 connected to the drains of the transistors and source line 7 connected to the sources of the adjacent transistors. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a unit block A includes a select transistor 3a, eight memory cells, and one sub bit line 5 connected to main bit line 1 through the select transistor 3a.
To erase a cell, approximately 10 V is applied to a word line W/L1, and approximately 8 V is applied to source line 7 and the p-well or substrate upon which the cell is formed, thereby causing tunneling of electrons from the well or substrate to the floating gate electrode and increasing the threshold voltage to approximately 6-7 V. Programming may be achieved by applying a negative voltage of about -8 V to the word line W/L1 and applying approximately 5 V to a bit line 1, thereby tunneling electrons from the floating gate electrode to the drain of the cell and decreasing the threshold voltage. Fabrication of DINOR cells typically is complex, involving a large number of process steps. Typically, a self-aligned source, a self-aligned bitline contact and a tungsten plug must be fabricated in addition to the basic structures of the stack-gate cell. In forming the self-aligned bit line contact and sub bit lines, a stringer may be generated, thus reducing yields. Also, during etching of a thick field oxide layer to form the self-aligned source, the surface of the silicon substrate may be damaged, thereby degrading the cell characteristics due to leakage current. In addition, as the sources of cells are commonly connected in the direction of adjacent word lines, the resistance of the source line generally is increased and an extra circuit for decoding the source may be necessary, complicating the design and increasing the size of the row decoder.
An AND cell has been proposed as an alternative to the stack-gate cell, as described in IEDM, pp. 991-993, 1992 and IEDM, pp. 921-923, 1994. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a unit block B includes a plurality of memory cells connected in parallel, a local data line 11 for connecting the drains of the memory cells, a local source line 13 for connecting the sources of the memory cells, data and source select transistors ST1, ST2 for selecting the local data lines 11 and the local source lines 13, global data lines 15 (D0-Dn) connected to the data select transistors ST1, and a common source line 17 connected to the source select transistor ST2.
To erase a cell, approximately 0 V is applied to the source and drain of the cell, as well as to the well or substrate upon which the cell is formed. Approximately 13 V is applied to the associated word line, thereby tunneling electrons from the well or substrate to the floating gate electrode and increasing the threshold voltage of the cell to approximately 6-7 V. Programming is achieved by applying a voltage of approximately -9 V to the word line and applying approximately 3 V to the drain of the cell, thereby tunneling electrons from the floating gate to the drain and decreasing the threshold voltage of the cell to approximately 1-2 V.
The local source line 13 and local data line 11 typically are doped n.sup.+ -diffusion layers. This may simplify fabrication in comparison to a DINOR structure, in that the space and processes used for forming bit lines may be eliminated. As illustrated in FIGS. 4A-4B, the floating gate 19 typically is composed of a double stack of polysilicon layers, underlying word line 19 and insulation layer 21. Isolation between channels of the cell is achieved by using a self-aligned junction layer 25 formed by ion implantation. The parallel structure in the direction of the global data lines 15 can help increase density, but two source/drain regions 23a, 23b, typically diffusion layers, as well as a field insulation layer 27 typically lie between adjacent floating gate electrodes 16. This may limit the density which may be achieved, as reducing the size of the source/drain regions 23a, 23b tends to increase resistance and degrade cell performance.

Memory devices containing dual-string NOR memory arrays therein


A method and apparatus for estimating a pressure transition zone in a borehole is disclosed. A parameter indicative of formation fluid pressure at a plurality of borehole depths is measured. A global trend of the parameter is determined over a first depth interval and a local trend of the parameter is determined over a second depth interval. A relation is determined between the global trend and the local trend, and the pressure transition zone is determined from the determined relation between the determined global trend and the determined local trend.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is related to identifying fluid pressure zones in a formation during drilling of a borehole.
2. Description of the Related Art
When drilling a borehole, it is important to monitor formation fluid pressure to avoid problems that can occur due to pressure imbalances downhole. Such problems can include kicks and blowouts, to name a few. In addition, monitoring formation fluid pressure enables a drilling operator to obtain various pressure-dependent parameters, i.e. the fracture gradient and the shear failure gradient, that describe the stability of a borehole. These stability parameters are typically influenced by changes in formation fluid pressure which may occur, for example, due to drilling or by natural geological variations. Real-time knowledge about the formation fluid pressure in various regions of the drilled formation is therefore useful for safe drilling. The present disclosure enables a drilling operator to identify transition depths, pressure zones or regions and characteristics of the identified pressure zones by providing analysis of fluid pressure data and generation of various parameters and alerts related to fluid pressure downhole.

System and method for determining pressure transition zones


An energizing circuit and methods and systems for same are described. One exemplary energizing circuit incorporated into a fluid ejecting device includes a piezoelectric actuator configured to selectively eject fluid from the fluid ejecting device. The circuit also includes an avalanched device electrically coupled to the piezoelectric actuator and configured to be triggered at a predetermined voltage level, and wherein the triggering of the avalanche device causes the piezoelectric actuator to be activated sufficiently to cause fluid to be ejected from the fluid ejecting device.

Existing ink jet printing devices employ complex circuitry and components to enable hundreds of fluid-ejecting devices to be fired cooperatively to achieve a desired image. However, many applications for fluid-ejecting devices have remained undeveloped because of the expense of such circuitry and components. Many applications for fluid-ejecting devices do not utilize the selective control utilized in an ink jet printer. Similarly, many potential applications can employ fewer, or in some cases, a single fluid-ejecting device(s). For such applications the existing circuitry and components for energizing the fluid-ejecting devices can be unnecessarily complicated and prohibitively expensive.

Fluid ejecting methods and related circuits

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Method for representing seismic data as a spatially varying, second-order tensor field (23). The spatial relationships expressed in these tensors are exploited to link, classify, or separate neighborhoods (22); or to infer global or relational properties among them, thereby suggesting geobodies despite a noisy background. The tensors may be decomposed into their fundamentals that may either be used directly as derivative datasets or attributes, or may be used to facilitate linkage, classification, or separation of neighborhoods or analysis of linkage patterns. Decomposition may be by eigenvalues, with the eigenvalues used to define attributes called ballness, plateness and stickness (24). Alternatively, connections may be made between points in the data where the tensor has been computed, called tokens (21), based on tensor voting and polarity. Or, the connections may be based on a distance measure between tokens.

Seismic data volumes are three-dimensional images of the subsurface that are computed from seismic recordings for the purpose of locating and characterizing hydrocarbon reservoirs. These images show both geophysical and geological features. A traditional representation of seismic data is based on individual samples or voxels without accounting for larger structures in a direct manner. It has been recognized that a different representation for the seismic data may allow discovery of spatial relationship between neighboring samples, even capture these relations and facilitate operations over spatially related samples.
A first step in this direction may be the generation of a tensor representation for seismic data. One example of computing a seismic tensor to represent the orientation of seismic data is disclosed by Luo et al. ("Computation of Dips and Azimuths with Weighted Structure-Tensor Approach," Geophysics 71, 2006) who use the structure tensor to the derive dips and azimuths that characterize seismic reflections. Another example is disclosed by Engelsma and Hale ("Painting seismic images in 3D," SEG Expanded Abstracts 29, 1271-1275, (2010), doi:10.1190/1.3513075) who also use the structure tensor to compute geologic bodies in seismic data.
A second step may be exploitation of the tensors for discovery of spatial relationships within the data. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,953,675, Medioni and Mordohai disclose a method for grouping unorganized data with a known technique called tensor voting. Specifically, they present a form of tensor voting for data of very high dimensionality. Similarly, U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0060307 by Ghanem and Liang describes another method and system for facilitating a tensor voting scheme that describes the context of particular receiver points defined in multidimensional data by accumulation of local information.
The term tensor voting refers to a method of data discovery that groups data points in a multidimensional space first by congregating points within a local neighborhood into a "tensor" that summarizes the alignment of the points in said neighborhood, i.e., the local trend. In the following "voting" step, these local alignments or trends are integrated to regional trends. Each local tensor broadcasts or radiates its trends to neighboring tensors. Similar local trends reinforce each other and form regional trends, while dissimilar local trends cancel each other. U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0060307 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,953,675 both disclose specific procedures for performing this voting step. Tensor voting methods have been used to heal gaps in line segments such as blood vessels in x-ray tomographic images or pen strokes in handwriting letter recognition, but tensor methods have apparently not been used to heal seismic-geologic objects such as channels.
A main embodiment of the inventive method disclosed herein is not based on tensor voting, and has application to, among other things, discovery and reconstruction of geological features that are at least partially obscured in the seismic data by noise. Instead, different methods for accumulating information encoded by tensors are used. In addition, novel variations of traditional tensor-voting methods are disclosed.

Tensor-based method for representation, analysis, and reconstruction of seismic data


A damascene structure and method for forming the same in a multi-density dielectric insulating layer the method including providing a substrate; forming at least a first layer comprising silicon oxide according to a first process having a first density; forming at least a second layer comprising silicon oxide according to a second process over the first layer having a second density less than the first density; etching a damascene opening through a thickness portion of the at least a first and the at least a second layer; and, filling the damascene opening to form a metal filled damascene.

In forming damascene structures in integrated, circuit manufacturing processes, the surface condition of the damascene opening is critical for achieving acceptable adhesion and coverage of overlying layers. The damascene opening, for example a dual damascene opening is formed in an inter-metal dielectric insulating layer in a series of photolithographic patterning and etching processes, followed by formation of a barrier layer and a metal filling process.
Increasingly, low-K layers are required to reduce signal delay and power loss effects as integrated circuit devices are scaled down. One way this has been accomplished has been to introduce porosity or dopants into the dielectric insulating layer, also referred to as an inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer.
As a result, the need for lower dielectric constant materials has resulted in the development of several different types of organic and inorganic low-k materials. In particular, incorporation of low-k materials with dielectric constants less than about 3.0 has become standard practice as semiconductor feature sizes have diminished to less than 0.2 microns. As feature sizes decrease below 0.2 microns, for example to 0.13 microns and below, materials with dielectric constants less than about 2.5 will be required. Several different organic and inorganic low-k materials have been developed and proposed for use in semiconductor devices as insulating material having dielectric constants less than about 3.0.
For example, porous silicon oxide based materials are formed by including a carbon based moiety which forms an Si—O—C type structure which then forms a porous structure following deposition and curing or treatment processes, In prior art processes the entire IMD layer has been deposited in a single step process where the entire IMD layer has about the same density or porosity volume throughout the IMD layer.
One problem with using porous low-k materials has been the difficulty of adapting conventional plasma assisted etching processes to reliably and consistently etch openings in an IMD layer. For example, the selectivity including the anisotropicity of the etching process becomes more complex as more porosity is introduced into the IMD layer to achieve lower dielectric constants. As a result, etching profiles of high aspect ratio openings, for example greater than about 4 to 1, have become more difficult to control. In addition, as the IMD layer becomes less dense, the distribution of pores may increasingly vary to the extent that etching rates vary upon etching through a thickness of the IMD layer.
Another problem related to etched openings in low-K IMD layers having an increased porosity to achieve lower dielectric constants, is the presence of a relatively rough surface due to the penetration of pore openings at the surface of the etched opening. The micro-roughness at the surface adversely affects the adhesion and coverage of overlying deposited layers, for example barrier layers. As a result, thicker barrier layers, with increased series resistance are required in order to avoid forming barrier layers having pinholes which undesirably allow electromigration of metal into the IMD layer. Further the deposition of seed layers may be non-continuously formed, thereby adversely affecting electro-chemical deposition processes. The various problems are exacerbated in higher aspect ratio holes such as via portions of a dual damascene. The various problems with low-K IMD layers including an etching profile and etched opening surface condition therefore undesirably affect yield and reliable electrical operation of an IC device.
There is therefore a need in the integrated circuit manufacturing art to develop a manufacturing process whereby porous low-K dielectric layers may be formed to improve the reliability of formation of etched openings including an etching profile and surface roughness to improve integrated circuit device yield and reliability.
It is therefore among the objects of the present invention to provide a manufacturing process whereby porous low-K dielectric layers may be formed to improve the reliability of formation of etched openings including an etching profile and surface roughness to improve integrated circuit device yield and reliability, while overcoming other shortcomings of the prior art.

Method for forming a multi-layer low-K dual damascene

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A heat engine includes a plurality of heating side expansion chambers and cooling side expansion chambers, positioned on opposite sides of an axis, for providing rotation of an apparatus about its axis when the fluids inside the chambers expand and contract on the same side and plane of a rotational axis. This is accomplished by, shifting the weight of fluids off-balance, or a weight, when the fluid, expands and exerts a pressure on an elastic wall inside an expansion chamber and contracts and reduces pressure on an elastic wall inside an expansion chamber, or by moving an element or ring, through actuators, when fluids expand and contract in the expansion chambers. The engine further includes a heat source and a structure for supporting the expansion chambers and heat source, and providing direction of a desired motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat engine, and more particularly to a heat engine that shifts weight off-balance, or moves actuators, to provide a rotational motion.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are various converters known for transforming heat energy into mechanical energy. One type known in the art is a differential-temperature heat engine that operates on the basis of a vapor pressure differential between two chambers. The operation requires gravitational forces to provide motion that occurs when evaporation of the liquid in one chamber is condensed back into another chamber. The increasing weight of the condensed liquid causes the pivoting of the system about a rotational axis. However, in engines utilizing a liquid that is transferred from one side to the opposite side of the rotation axis, there is a need to make use of a connecting channel between diametrically opposed chambers of the engine. This complicates construction of the engine because this channel is associated with structural elements supporting the chambers that must have the means for pivoting the assembly of the chambers, as well as the supporting structural elements about a pivot shaft. Furthermore, the liquid transfer through this channel results in a pressure drop that decreases. Accordingly, the power produced by this engine that is based on the transfer of liquid under pressure results in severe leakage problems. What is needed is a heat engine that is simple to construct and free of maintenance problems that reduce the operating ability of the engine.
3. Objects and Advantages
It is an aspect of the claimed invention to expand or contract a fluid on the same side and plane of a rotational axis, to shift a weight off-balance that allows the engine to pivot about the axis from gravitational forces.
It is yet another aspect of the claimed invention to provide an engine that is simple to construct and easy to maintain.


A method for treating a volume of porous contaminated material is described. A combustible mixture (24) comprising a porous matrix and a distributed combustible contaminant is conveyed to a reaction vessel (12) having an ignition system (16). The ignition system is activated to initiate a smoldering combustion process in the reaction vessel and an oxidizer is distributed into the reaction vessel to sustain the smoldering combustion process. The porous matrix may comprise drill cuttings (324) with residual drilling fluid.

A commonly encountered problem is the need to remediate soils or other materials such as drilling cuttings that have been contaminated with industrial chemicals such as oily wastes. Soils are often contaminated with hydrocarbons such as oil and fuels. In some instances the contaminants may include materials such as asbestos.
Various thermal treatments for remediating contaminated land have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,569 describes an in-situ thermal desorption system that is used to mobilize and remove non-volatile and semi-volatile hydrocarbons from contaminated soil. Combustion is initiated in a burner underneath the contaminated soil zone and persistent hydrocarbons are thermally desorbed by direct heating of the contaminated zone. The generated soil vapors are collected and the desorbed vapors axe processed in a hydrocarbon recovery and treatment assembly.
German patent application 2 020 612, filed on 28 Apr. 1970, describes a method and device for eliminating oil that has penetrated into the soil. A borehole is drilled in the earth down to the contaminated region. The oil in the soil is brought to a combustion temperature. Once the oil has reached its combustion temperature and is burning automatically, then it is only necessary to supply oxygen to sustain the combustion. The oil is thus incinerated within the earth at its location, i.e. in-situ treatment.
A similar process is described in German application DE 36 19 494 A1, filed on 6 Oct. 1986. Injection torches are introduced into the soil to generate a high temperature, using added air at the deepest point of the injection hole. This heats the ground sufficiently such that combustible substances such as waste oils and the like are ignited, thus achieving in-situ incineration of the soil contamination. There may be combustion of the contaminated soil up to the surface.
A further such process is described in the International application WO 2007/066125, filed on 8 Dec. 2006. Land contaminated with combustible materials may be cleaned or remediated by combusting the materials in-situ (i.e. within the ground). Combustion of the material may be self-sustaining in that it may only be necessary to supply sufficient energy to ignite the material. Once ignited, combustion may proceed in the presence of oxygen. This is contrasted with known thermal remediation processes which require continuous energy input to sustain the incineration.
There is an ongoing need for cost-effective methods of treating contaminated material.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Thermal treatment of a contaminated volume of material


An operational amplifier amplifies a signal received through its input terminal connected directly to a piezoelectric device. A bias voltage generating section includes a voltage divider between the power supply terminal and the ground terminal. The drain and source of a p-channel MOSFET are connected to the input terminal of the operational amplifier and the ground terminal. Since the voltage divider applies a bias voltage to the gate and the backgate, the p-channel MOSFET maintains the OFF state. Since a drain-backgate parasitic diode clamps the drain potential to the bias voltage, the bias voltage is applied to the input terminal of the operational amplifier. Then, the drain-backgate resistance is extremely high. The p-channel MOSFET is embedded on a substrate together with other circuits of the amplification device. Thus, the amplification device with an extremely high input impedance is configured as a single integrated circuit.

This invention relates to amplification devices, in particular, amplification devices connected to signal sources with high internal impedances.
Vibration sensors are sensors for detecting forces exerted on an object to be measured, in other words, for detecting accelerations of the object, and for converting the magnitudes of the forces into electric signals. The range of uses of vibration sensors is wide, which include, for example: monitoring of abnormal vibration in motors etc.; control of a balance of lathe etc.; monitoring of conditions of air conditioners etc.; measurements of characteristics of HDDs etc.; medical diagnoses and treatments using ultrasonically vibration etc.; hand movement detection for digital video cameras etc.; and sound detection for cellular phones etc. In many of those uses, both of miniaturization and high reliability are demanded of vibration sensors.
The vibration sensors of miniature size widely used in general are of the piezoelectric types, which use piezoelectric devices. In addition, especially as sound sensors, capacitive microphones such as electret condenser microphones (ECM) are frequently used. Such vibration sensors, in general, have high internal impedances, which are determined mainly by their capacitive reactance components; for example, a piezoelectric device has an equivalent capacitance within the range from several picofarads to several tens of picofarads, in general. Therefore, the internal impedances are especially high in the low frequencies.
The output signals of vibration sensors are amplified at a rate within the range from a few tens to several hundreds of times, in many cases. Furthermore, for uses of vibration sensors with particular emphasis on the low frequencies of the output signals such as sound detection, in general, the lower limit of the frequencies of the output signals to be amplified is usually set at the order of 10 Hz. For such amplifications, in general, multistage amplification devices are widely used. In particular, the first stage of the amplification device is connected directly to a vibration sensor. The first stage of the amplification device requires a high input impedance, when the vibration sensor has a high internal impedance. In an amplification device with a high input impedance, its bias circuit requires some contrivance. In a conventional amplification device 100 connected to a piezoelectric vibration sensor acting as a signal source, for example, a bias circuit 20 is configured as follows. See FIG. 7. In this bias circuit 20, two resistors 2H and 2L are connected in series between a power supply terminal VDD and a ground terminal, thereby constituting a voltage divider. The node J between the two resistors 2H and 2L, that is, the output terminal J of the voltage divider 2V is connected through a third resistor 2R to an input terminal IN of the operational amplifier 1. The resistance value of the third resistor 2R is set at a value far higher than any of the resistance values of the two resistors 2H and 2L. Furthermore, the operational amplifier 1 has a high input impedance because of its MOSFET input stage. Accordingly, direct currents hardly flow in the third resistor 2R, and thus, voltage drops hardly occur across the third resistor 2R. Therefore, the potential of the output terminal J of the voltage divider 2V is applied to the input terminal IN of the operational amplifier 1 for use as a bias voltage. Thereby, the output terminal OUT of the operational amplifier 1 is maintained at a potential a predetermined-ratio times as high as the potential of the input terminal IN. In FIG. 7, the potential of the output terminal OUT is equal to the potential of the input terminal IN, since the operational amplifier 1 is of a voltage-follower type.
Especially for the alternating signals provided from the piezoelectric device 3, the voltage divider 2V acts as a constant voltage source. See FIG. 8. The internal impedance Z of the piezoelectric device 3 is determined mainly by its capacitive reactance component. Actually, the internal impedance Z is expressed by the following equation:Z=1/(2πfC),where C and f represent the equivalent capacitance and output frequency of the piezoelectric device 3, respectively. Furthermore, the level Vin of the input signal of the operational amplifier 1 is lower than the level Vs of the output signal of the piezoelectric device 3 by a predetermined coefficient. The coefficient depends on the equivalent capacitance C and output frequency f of the piezoelectric device 3 and the resistance value R of the third resistor 2R. In particular, the coefficient decreases with decrease of the output frequency f since the internal impedance of the piezoelectric device 3 increases. Accordingly, the amplification device 100 offers a lower gain. For example, when the output frequency f is equal to the threshold value f0=1/(2πRC), the level Vin of the input signal of the operational amplifier 1 is lower by 3 dB than the level Vs of the output signal of the piezoelectric device 3.
It is desirable to reduce the threshold value f0 for the output frequency f of the piezoelectric device 3 as much as possible in order to maintain the gain of the amplification device 100 high enough even in low frequencies. This requires the product of the resistance value R of the third resistor 2R and the equivalent capacitance C of the piezoelectric device 3 to be large enough. For example, when the equivalent capacitance C of the piezoelectric device 3 is of the order of 10 pF, the resistance value R of the third resistor 2R is required to be 1.6 GΩ or more for the 10 Hz or less threshold value f0 of the output frequency f.
It is desirable for miniaturization that the amplification device 100 is configured as a single integrated circuit. In that case, however, the third resistor 2R must be added externally as a discrete element separate from the other elements. There is an upper limit for sheet resistances, which is usually of a few tens of kilo ohms, due to a limit of control over impurity concentration. If a resistance element of 1.6 GΩ were configured in the region with a sheet resistance of 10 GΩ, for example, the aspect ratio L/W (the ratio of the length L to width W of the pattern) of the resistance element would reach 160,000. In other words, the length L would reach 160 mm even if the width W were 1 μm. Embedded resistance element of such a huge size would not be realistic. Accordingly, the third resistor 2R cannot be embedded at least on the substrate where the other elements inside the amplification device 100 are embedded. Therefore, for the conventional amplification device 100, miniaturization by further higher integration is difficult.
Integrated circuits are susceptible to adverse influences of the surrounding electrostatic discharge (ESD) through terminals connected to the outside. ESD protection circuits are, in general, provided around the pads for the purpose of the protection against the adverse effects of ESD, especially the prevention of the element destruction. The ESD protection circuits include diodes or transistors. The diodes and transistors are maintained in the OFF states under normal conditions, and on the other hand, turned on at the occurrence of an ESD surge, then connecting the pads to the ground or the power supply. Since the surge energy is absorbed into the ground conductor or the power supply, the adverse effect of the surge on the other elements is avoided.
The ESD protection circuit mounted on the substrate includes a reverse-biased PN junction. The PN junction of a larger area has a larger capacity for the surge currents, and thus provides higher reliability for the ESD protection circuit. However, a minute leak current flows in the reverse-biased PN junction. The leak current increases in proportion to the PN junction area, and in addition, drastically increases with temperature rise; for example, the amount of the leak current increases by nearly one order of magnitude for every 25 to 30 degree in temperature. In a thermal design for a semiconductor integration circuit, for example, heat generation of amplification devices or the like is considered, and accordingly, the guaranteed maximum value of the substrate temperature is set at a value, usually 125° C. or 150° C., sufficiently higher than the upper limit of a desired, guaranteed temperature range, usually of the order of 75 to 80° C. When the substrate temperature rises from 25° C. to 125° C., for example, the leak current increases by 1,000–10,000 times. In a PN junction designed for a area practical for an ESD protection device, the amount of the leak current is of the order of 10 pA at normal temperatures, and reaches 100 nA at approximately 125° C. When the leak current flows in the third resistor 2R, a voltage drop occurs. In the case of the resistance value of the third resistor 2R is 1.6 GΩ, the voltage drop reaches 16 V even if the amount of the leak current is 10 nA. On the other hand, a line voltage used for a miniature vibration sensor is restricted usually to 5V or less, and hence, the upper limit of the input dynamic range of the amplification device 100 is restricted to the order of 5V. Accordingly, the variation of the bias voltage due to the above-described voltage drop is excessive for the input dynamic range of the amplification device 100. Such an excessive variation of the bias voltage is undesirable since it can interfere with the operation of the amplification device 100, and further, it can cause the potential of the output terminal OUT of the amplification device 100, that is, the bias voltage for the next-stage amplification device to vary excessively. Accordingly, severe restrictions can be imposed on the design of the following amplification devices. Therefore, it is difficult to further improve the reliability of the whole of the multistage amplification device.

Amplification device with a bias circuit

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Telecommunication services are provided to subscriber-provided radiotelephones (50) residing inside an aircraft (20). Telecommunication services are provided while the aircraft (20) is flying and utilize the aircraft's air-to-ground communication system (48) to access a radiocommunication link (34). Base stations (40) residing in aircraft (20) are configured to transmit at least two independent overhead control data pilot signals (54, 58) in response to instructions from a single controller (44). The control data pilot signals (54, 58) capture and control the subscriber-provided radiotelephones (50). Controlling methods are employed to force autonomous registration of radiotelephones (50) and to instruct radiotelephones (50) to transmit at minimum power levels.

Cellular radiotelephones have become increasingly popular with users due in part to their convenience, greater area of coverage, and improved audio quality. In addition, increasing competition in the industry has created a climate where cellular radiotelephones have lost their stature as an instrument for the wealthy and have become affordable to the general public. As a result, greater numbers of people subscribe to cellular services and consequently carry subscriber-provided radiotelephones that may be borrowed, leased, or owned by the subscriber.
Due to the greater area of coverage and extended roaming agreements within the cellular industry, it has become practical and even necessary for subscribers to bring their radiotelephones with them while traveling. Thus, greater numbers of air travelers have their radiotelephones while flying. In accordance with current methodologies, an air traveler may be able to place a call from a subscriber-provided radiotelephone while the aircraft is on the ground prior to take-off and after landing, however, this capability does not extend to in-flight use.
The use of conventional cellular radiotelephones in-flight has not been allowed in part because the aircraft is flying through multiple cells supported by land-based cellsites. These land-based cellsites would most likely instruct radiotelephones to transmit at high power levels. These high power levels pose a danger of interference with standard aircraft transmissions and control.
To allow passengers in-flight to communicate with someone on the ground, many aircraft are equipped with air-to-ground communications systems. One currently existing system, known as Airfone.RTM., uses a network of ground stations to provide telecommunications for a plurality of aircraft. Each ground station conducts communications with passengers on aircraft within its range, on specific FCC allocated radiofrequency channels, using one or more pilot channels and up to 31 additional voice channels that accompany each pilot channel. The pilot channels carry information necessary for an aircraft to select an optimal ground station as determined by its position and flight direction, and subsequently to utilize unoccupied voice channels associated with that ground station. Following ground station selection, the voice channels carry encoded conversations between the aircraft, through the selected ground station, to called numbers on landline networks.
Two types of telephone systems, cordless and corded, have been utilized inside the aircraft in air-to-ground communication systems. One telephone system includes cordless telephones located at paystations within the passenger cabin of the aircraft. In this type of telephone system, the passenger leaves his seat and walks to a paystation. Once the passenger is at the paystation, the passenger inserts his or her credit card into the paystation to activate the telephone system. The passenger may then return to his seat with the cordless telephone to place the call, while leaving his credit card in the paystation for validation and billing. Upon return of the cordless telephone, the passenger retrieves this credit card. While providing the passenger with the freedom to take the telephone back to his seat, this system may suffer from inferior signal quality. Additionally, passengers leaving their seats to retrieve telephones may increase the quantity of unrestrained passengers moving about in the cabin, which raises safety concerns. If the passenger is unable to leave his or her seat, the flight attendant could obtain the passenger's credit card, insert it in the paystation, and deliver the telephone to the passenger. However, this imposes additional responsibilities on already busy flight attendants. In addition, many credit card holders feel uncomfortable about relinquishing their credit card to someone else.
Another type of air-to-ground communication system utilizes corded telephones. These telephones are wired into the seatback of one of a set of two or three seats. Instead of the passenger moving to the paystation, the paystation has been moved to the passenger. This system results in better signal quality of the call. In addition, this system results in added passenger convenience and safety. However, a disadvantage of the corded telephone is the significant expense to wire up the seatbacks, as well as to functionally maintain the large number of corded telephones.
While the previously discussed systems provide a method for passengers to have air-to-ground communications during a flight, these systems do not support seat-to-seat communications. Seat-to-seat communications may be desired if two passengers who are not sitting together would like to speak with each other but are unable to move about in the cabin. In addition, the two passengers may want to jointly teleconference with someone at a ground site. Thus, there is a need for an improved method of providing telecommunication services to aircraft passengers that cost-effectively provides reliable signal quality, greater convenience to the passenger, and increased calling options.

Control of telecommunication services for subscriber-provided radio communication devices residing in a miniature cellular environment


A magnetic recording method is provided where ternary data is recorded on a magnetic recording medium by forming a first area that corresponds to a first value of the data and in which a first magnetization state is continued at least during the minimum write width. A second area that corresponds to a second value of the data in which a second magnetization state is oppositely magnetized as compared with the first magnetization state is continued at least during the minimum write width. A third area that corresponds to a third value of the data in which the magnetic intensity detected by the read head corresponds to a “0.” Accordingly, the ternary data can be recorded using the characteristic that a signal having a width narrower than the detection width of the read head is not detected by the read head.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording method in which data is recorded by changing a magnetization state of a magnetic recording medium, and more particularly, to a magnetic recording method for recording ternary data using a characteristic of a read head, a pre-amplifier circuit, and a magnetic recording apparatus utilizing same.
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0010581, filed on Feb. 3, 2006, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Hard disk drives (HDDs) are recording devices used to store binary information on concentric tracks of a magnetic disk. The disk is rotatably mounted on a spindle motor, and information is accessed by a head attached to an actuator or flexure arm rotated by a voice coil motor (VCM). The VCM rotates the actuator by a VCM driving current, thereby moving the head across the surface of the disk.
The head reads information recorded on the surface of the disk by sensing a magnetic field on the surface or writes information on the disk by magnetizing the surface of the disk. A write current is supplied to the head to write the data, thereby generating a magnetic field from the head. In an HDD using a longitudinal recording method, a magnetic disk is magnetized in one of two opposite directions along the centerline of each track. In a perpendicular recording method, a magnetic disk is magnetized in one of up and down directions along a perpendicular line to the surface of the disk.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional HDD 100 that includes at least one disk 12 rotated by a spindle motor 14 and at least one head 16 located above the surface of the disk 12. Head 16 can read or write information from or to disk 12 by sensing a magnetic field on the surface of the disk 12 or by magnetizing the surface of the disk 12. Head 16 includes a write head for magnetizing disk 12 and a separate read head for sensing a magnetic field on disk 12. The head 16 is mounted on a slider (not shown) combined with suspension arm 20. The slider generates air between head 16 and the surface of disk 12 to maintain head 16 a distance above the disk. Suspension 20 is combined with a head stack assembly (HSA) 22 which is attached to an actuator arm 24 having a voice coil 26. Voice coil 26 is located adjacent to magnetic assembly 28 supporting VCM 30 that supplies a driving current supplied to the voice coil 26 to generate a torque to rotate actuator arm 24 around a bearing assembly 32. The rotation of the actuator arm 24 moves head 16 across the surface of disk 12.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional perpendicular recording method. Head 16 includes a write head 33 recording a signal in a recording layer 36 using a magnetic induction method and a read head 34 reading an electrical signal from the recording layer 36 of disk 12. Write head 33 records a signal by applying a magnetic field in the perpendicular direction corresponding to binary values (i.e. 0 and 1) of data to be recorded to recording layer 36. The magnetization states of recording layer 36 are illustrated using up arrows and down arrows. For example, recording layer 36 may have a magnetization state (a first magnetization state) indicated by an up arrow and a magnetization state (a second magnetization state) indicated by a down arrow. Read head 34 generates an electrical signal by detecting the magnetic flux density and direction of the recorded signal on layer 36. Read head 34 may be, for example, giant magnetic resistive (GMR) head and a tunneling magnetic resistive (TuMR) head.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing a correlation between the detection width PW50 of the read head 34 and the minimum write width PWmin and shows a read signal corresponding to the minimum write width PWmin. The detection width PW50 of read head 34 is designed to be narrower than the minimum write width PWmin of a recorded signal on recording layer 36 of disk 12 (i.e., the minimum length with which the signal is recorded on the surface of the disk), because the intensity and direction of magnetic flux cannot be detected by read head 34 if the detection width PW50 of read head 34 is wider than the minimum write width PWmin. In particular, detection width PW50 of read head 34 is indicated by a pulse width having a magnitude corresponding to 50% of the peak intensity of a read signal corresponding to the minimum write width PWmin. The detection width PW50 is defined as a distance PW50 (pulse width at 50% of peak intensity) between a position corresponding to 50% of the peak intensity in the rising edge and a position corresponding to 50% of the peak intensity in the falling edge of the read signal. Thus, a correlation of PW50<PWmin is satisfied and the recording density of an HDD is determined by the detection width PW50 of read head 34.
FIGS. 4A through 4G are signal diagrams to illustrate a write/read process in a conventional HDD using the longitudinal recording method where, FIG. 4B shows a write current, FIG. 4C shows a magnetization transition state of the recording layer 36, FIG. 4D shows a read signal detected by the read head 34, FIG. 4E shows a differentiated signal obtained by performing differential of first order for the read signal of FIG. 4D, FIG. 4F shows a clock signal, and FIG. 4G shows a data output.
FIG. 4A shows a data clock where period T is determined by the minimum write width PWmin and the detection width PW50 of read head 34. The write current illustrated in FIG. 4B generates a magnetic field corresponding to data to be recorded on the disk surface. A current in a forward direction (first direction), which has a predetermined magnitude, is applied to write head 33 during a period indicated by "1," and a current in a reverse direction (second direction) opposite to the first direction is applied to write head 33 during a period indicated by "0." Thus, opposite magnetic fields are generated from write head 33 by currents in the forward and reverse directions.
The recording layer 36 of the disk 12 is magnetized by the magnetic fields generated by write head 33 as illustrated in FIG. 4C. For example, recording layer 36 is consecutively magnetized in the forward direction during a period in which data has a value of "1" and in the reverse direction during a period in which data has a value of "0." The length of the period in which data has a "1" or "0" is at least greater than the minimum write width PWmin (commonly, in 1 T to 11 T, T denotes the period of the data clock. The magnetization state of recording layer 36 is detected by read head 34. The read signal is reversed at a position (a transition position) at which the magnetization state of recording layer 36 is reversed. Thus, the transition position can be detected from a zero crossing point of the differentiated signal illustrated in FIG. 4E obtained by differentiating the read signal illustrated in FIG. 4D. That is, the data output illustrated in FIG. 4G can be obtained by waveform shaping the differentiated signal illustrated in FIG. 4E and sampling the waveform-shaped differentiated signal by synchronizing it with the clock signal illustrated in FIG. 4F which has the same period T of the data clock.
In conventional recording methods describing above, the recording layer 36 of the disk 12 is consecutively magnetized in the right (forward) or left (reverse) direction during at least the minimum write width PWmin. That is, for the recording layer 36, areas corresponding to the minimum write width PWmin can have only a magnetization state of the forward or reverse direction. Thus, a drawback in conventional recording methods is that an increase in recording density can only be achieved by a decrease in the minimum write width PWmin (i.e., improvement of the detection width of read head 34 or improvement of the quality of disk 12). Thus, data cannot be recorded with recording density higher than that determined by the detection width of the read head 34.

High-density recording method for hard disk drives and a pre-amplifier circuit suitable for use with same


A cooling system includes a fan unit having a terminal receiving a signal representative of a commanded fan speed and a terminal for receiving a signal representative of actual fan speed. A system controller is responsive to temperature and the actual fan speed, for producing control signals for fan to adjust fan speed in accordance with the temperature and the actual fan speed, for producing the control signals in one of a plurality of different predetermined two-wire communication protocols. The system includes a fan controller and a two-line communication bus coupling the control signals between the system controller and the fan controller. The fan controller detects the one of the plurality of predetermined two-wire communication protocols on the two-wire communication bus and provides, in accordance with such detection, one terminal of the fan unit with the commanded fan speed and transmits the signal representative of the actual fan speed to the system controller via the communication bus.

As is known in the art, one technique used to cool electrical components in electrical cabinets is with fans. The amount of airflow (and thus the cooling) through the cabinet is controlled by adjusting the speed of the fans in accordance with the temperature within the cabinet. The individual fan speed (RPM) is typically adjusted by varying the duty-cycle of a Pulse-Width-Modulated (PWM) control signal that is the control input signal to the fan (i.e., a desired fan speed). The actual fan speed (RPM) is monitored with a signal produced by a fan-mounted tachometer.
As is also known in the art, in some cabinets there is a plurality of temperature sensors disposed at various locations with in the cabinet. The PWM signal is generated by a system controller or system microcontroller that responds to the sensed temperatures. The system microcontroller may transmit the desired PWM signal (i.e., desired RPM) directly to the fans and the actual RPM signal produced by the tachometers may be fed directly to the system microcontroller. Thus, the fan unit has a pair of terminals, in addition to power terminal and ground terminal), one terminal for the desired fan speed in PWM from the system microcontroller the other terminal for actual fan speed from the tachometer.
As is also known in the art, there are a variety of different communication protocols used to communicate between devices and a microcontroller. One is Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C), sometimes also referred to as, and hereinafter referred to as, two-wire interface (TWI)) where a pair of lines is provided; one line for data and one line for clock—these two in combination providing the information between the microcontroller and the device (in this case the fans) and another is UART which also has a pair of lines; one for transmitting data (Tx) to the device and the other for receiving data (Rx) from the device.

Cooling system with adaptive protocol cooling unit


A paper or transparency receiving toner to be fixed by heat has an ionomeric resin on its outer surface. For universal application, the outer layer is a blend of non-ionomeric resin, such as styrene acrylate copolymer, and an ionomer, which permits the material of the toner to molecularly intermingle with the blend during heat fixing. Irradiation raises the melting point of the ionomeric resin to prevent delamination. The resulting printing is strongly bonded to the substrate and is of excellent quality.

Imaging processes employing powdered toner are now very common. The toner may be applied as a dry powder or may be applied from a liquid. When applied from a liquid, the liquid portion does not transfer to the substrate in large amounts and solid toner particles carried by the liquid form a dry or damp powder image. To coalesce and bind the toner image to the substrate, one or more steps are taken, known collectively as fixing the image. Although various ways of fixing are known, such as the application of solvent, fixing by heat is very predominant in current technology. Fixing by heat avoids the addition of new materials to the system, which are a separate expense and which must be kept out of the atmosphere or otherwise kept from being an environmental hazard to the users.
However, heat fixing does not necessarily bind the powder firmly to the substrate and does not necessarily preserve well the image being fixed. Where ordinary paper is the substrate, the material of the toner, depending on its composition, may not flow sufficiently under heat to enter the fibers of paper and be firmly fixed. Toners of other compositions may flow too much into the paper and thereby lose edge definition and also appear gray rather than intense in color. Where the substrate has a continuous surface of organic material, such as polyester to function as a transparency, the toner, once again depending on its composition, may not bind well to the substrate or may wet the substrate and lose edge definition.
This invention employs properties of ionomeric resins to achieve exceptional imaging with heat fixing. lonomer resins are organic resins having polar substituents which are cross linked by metals between such substituents. They are known to be tough, scratch resistant, transparent, and readily melted by heat. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,210,138 to Yamamoto et al and 4,968,752 to Kawamoto et al disclose ionomeric resins and their properties. The Yamamoto patent mentions their transparency and their use as packaging skins.
This invention may improve results for virtually any heat fixing application. Fixing of images is particularly difficult in full color systems, in which up to four layers of toner are accumulated (three primary colors and black) and then fixed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,255 to Britto et al and assigned to the same assignee to which this application is assigned, is illustrative of such a imaging system and is directed to heat fixing. Although the fixing is completed in that patent at the transfer step, fixing after the transfer step is clearly an alternative.
Ionomeric resins have been used for their special properties as resins of toners. U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,763 to Tsubuko et al discloses ionomeric resins for both liquid and dry toner and states that "the fixing performance of the toner particles increases as the fused toner particles are cooled and become hard, because of the intensified ionomeric bond." The toners of ionomeric resin are also said to be excellent in development performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,729, to Beach et al and assigned to the assignee of this invention employs a blend of an ionomeric resin and the acid form of that resin in a liquid toner application, and the "Background of the Invention" portion of that patent discloses other such teachings of the use of ionomeric resins. Images from such liquid developer are said to provide good-resolution print and fixing at relatively moderate temperature. Fuse grade, which is resistance to rubbing and scratching, is said to be good. U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,557 to Matsuoka et al is to a liquid developer employing ether liquid as the carrier liquid, and the resins are said to preferably have polar groups including "copolymers of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid or its ester and ethylene, or ionomer of the copolymers which are ionically crosslinked."
Use of an ionomer resin on the paper or other transfer sheet is not known to appear in the prior art.


An apparatus and method of attaching I/O pads of an integrated circuit die to package leads. The attachment is made using conventional assembly processes but without using wire bonding. A leadframe with lead fingers is formed and the lead fingers are aligned with bumps extending from the I/O pads. A connection is made by physical contact, laser spot welding, or other coupling techniques.

This invention relates generally to integrated circuit packaging, and more specifically, to an improved integrated circuit package and method of attaching leads of the package to the I/O pads of an integrated circuit die. The attachments are made using conventional assembly processes, without using wire bonding.
As the speed and complexity of integrated circuits continue to increase, new and improved packaging techniques become necessary. Traditional packaging techniques are not always well suited for some applications. However, because of the high cost of purchasing capital equipment and new manufacturing technologies, it is desirable for a manufacturer to make such improvements without making major changes to the manufacturing process.
One aspect of packaging is the attachment of I/O pads of an integrated circuit die to the leads of the integrated circuit package. A traditional technique for making such an attachment is wire bonding. Wire bonding is a technique by which discrete wires are attached between the I/O pads and the leads. Though the technique is extensively used in the industry, wire bonding has several disadvantages. Among these disadvantages are the cost, the package size, and the heat sink properties of wirebonded packages. Another disadvantage is that the wire placed between an I/O pad and a package pin changes the characteristics of the device. For example, the wire adds inductance to the electrical path.
In some applications, this added inductance is not desirable. For example, the increased inductance will not allow the device to operate at the high switching speed of many of today's integrated circuits. The frequency at which the integrated circuits operate is continually increasing. In the past, the inductance of the wire was not an important factor. However, as speeds increase, it becomes more significant.
Because of these higher operating frequencies, the use of gallium arsenide integrated circuits is increasing in the industry. Gallium arsenide integrated circuits are now often found in many wireless communications, TVs, VCRs, and other similar electronics. Traditional silicon integrated circuits cannot match the high frequencies of gallium arsenide. Silicon reaches its operating peak at around 2.5 MHz. However, gallium arsenide integrated circuits can operate at frequencies approaching 30 GHZ. At such high speeds, traditional wirebonding, with its relatively high inductance, is not a practical packaging technique.
Another packaging technique that has been introduced is TAB (tape automated bonding.) However, TAB has not been well received in the industry. Several factors have contributed to its lack of success. For example, TAB requires its own specialized assembly equipment. This makes it expensive to switch to a TAB processing system. Furthermore, reliability problems are often associated with TAB packaging. For example, humidity may cause tape used in the TAB process to delaminate. Also, TAB technology does not provide any protection to the integrated circuit die during the manufacturing process because the integrated circuit die remains exposed throughout the process.
In light of these and other disadvantages associated with conventional techniques, there is a need for a new technology for packaging integrated circuits. An improved packaging technique is therefore desirable.

Chip on board assembly without wire bonding


Embodiments of the invention include methods, systems, and computer-readable media for processing transactions involving sensitive information, such as a credit card number. Embodiments include a first server authenticating a second server based on a security token and determining whether the security token is expired. Based on the results, the first server may request a transaction token associated with sensitive information. The first server may encrypt the transaction token using a public key of the second server. The first server may send the encrypted transaction token as a parameter to a URL, wherein the URL is configured to cause a browser on a client to send, to the second server, a request for the page and the encrypted transaction token.

When a user and an entity are carrying out a transaction, such as with electronic commerce, the entity often processes and/or stores sensitive information. For example, a merchant may collect, process, and store a credit card number when a user accesses a commerce application, such as a web site, to purchase a good or service sold by the merchant. Collecting, processing or storing such data may subject the entity to costly security audits and regulations. Moreover, an entity may utilize multiple unique deployments of commerce applications for electronic commerce, thereby introducing multiple systems that collect, process, or store sensitive information, such as credit card or debit card numbers for payment processing. Having multiple systems that collect, process or store sensitive information may subject the entity to additional regulatory burdens which may be repetitive across the multiple systems.

System and method for processing transactions