A linear encoder characterized as having a few number of parts including a light source that directs a beam of light onto the grating of a movable scale where reflected diffracted beams from two locations on the scale interfere with one another to form light fringe bands on a plane. In one embodiment, a Ronchi grating is located on the plane having lines with a spacing equal to the spacing of the light fringe bands. The combination of the Ronchi lines and the bands of the fringe pattern form a Moire pattern which is transmitted through the Ronchi grating and whose spatial distribution of intensity moves as the scale is moved and is detected by a photodetector array. The photodetector array converts the signal from the Moire pattern to a sinusoidal expression of displacement whose phase is used to determine displacement of the scale.

A number of apparatuses have been disclosed for measuring displacement which utilize detection of shifts of light fringe patterns of diffracted light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,220 Kobayashi et al discloses a light from a source radiated onto a diffraction grating to generate diffracted lights of different orders of diffraction permitting detection of light and dark stripes. Movement is measured by direct detection of movement of the stripes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,923 to Mitchell et al discloses a grating which concentrates light having a preselected wavelength into + and - first orders while minimizing the zero order. The diffracted orders of light illuminate a polyphase detector plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,600 discloses a grating concentrating a preselected wavelength into positive and negative first orders. A polyphase periodic detector has it sensing plane spaced from the scale at a location where each detector element responds to the positive and negative first orders without requiring redirection of the diffracted light.
These devices do not provide the inherent precision as can be achieved with the present invention, and are generally expensive where fine resolution is required. The expense is due to the requirement to assemble these parts in precise locations relative to one another.

Linear encoder using diverging light beam diffraction


A method and system for determining a location of a user equipment using RTT measurements from a connected node B and RTT measurement of other node Bs which are not connected to the user equipment. The radio network controller of a network measures RTT of a connected node Bs and then measures RTT of non connected node Bs. Based on the RTT measurement, the distances of the user equipment from each node B is determined. Circles having radii equal to the distances of the user equipment from the nodes are used to determine the user equipment location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to determination of a location of user equipment in a third generation wideband code division multiple access network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Third Generation (3G) mobile communication systems include LoCation Services (LCSs) which measure radio signals to determine the geographic location of a User Equipment (UE). The location information may be requested by and reported to a client and/or application associated with the UE or an external client in the Core Network (CN) of the 3G mobile communication system. Furthermore, the location information is also used by the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) of the 3G mobile communication system to facilitate location assisted handovers or to support other features, such as home location billing.
The LCSs for 3G mobile communication systems are based on methods that have been used for the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) which include Time of Arrival (TOA), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA), and Global Positioning System (GPS). These positioning methods are described in technical specification GSM 03.71, version 7.2.1. The TOA method comprises transmitting a signal from a UE and measuring the time of arrival of the signal at three or more measurement units. The difference in times of arrival is determined by pair-wise subtraction of the measured times of arrival. The mobile position may then be calculated via hyperbolic trilateration. However, to determine the actual time differences, the real time difference (RTD) between the three measurement units must be known or determined.
The OTDOA method of LCS measures the difference in time of arrival at the UE of the signals from several nodes or Base Station Transceivers (BTSs). This method also requires that the RTD between the BTSs be determined. The determination of the RTD for both the TOA and OTDOA methods of LCS is complex and therefore reduces the efficiency of the system.
However, the GPS assisted method of location requires that the UE have a GPS receiver. This requirement thus adds both bulk and cost to the UE.
Another method for determining a geographic location of the UE in a 3G wireless network includes measuring a round trip time (RTT) between the UE and at least three radio transmission nodes of the wireless network. The RTT is the time required for a downlink (DL) transmission from a node to a UE to the reception of an uplink (UL) transmission at the node from the UE in response to the DL transmission. FIG. 8 illustrates the RTT. At time t1 a node-B of a wireless network begins transmission of a DL transmission in a dedicated physical channel (DPCH) path. The node-B is a logical node responsible for radio transmission and/or reception in one or more cells with the UE and is similar in function to a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in GSM. It will be generically referred to as a transceiver node in the following discussion. The DL transmission is received by the UE at time t2, which is a one-way propagation delay Tp after the time t1. After the passage of time equal to a nominal transmission timing delay T0, the UE begins transmission of a UL transmission in the DPCH path at time t3 in response to the DL transmission. After another one-way propagation delay Tp, the transceiver node receives the UL transmission at time t4. Therefore, the RTT comprises a first one-way propagation delay, the UE reception to transmission time delay (UE Rx-Tx) (also referred to as a transmission timing delay), and a second one-way propagation delay or RTT=Tp+T0+Tp. The nominal value of the transmission timing delay T0 is defined as a constant value of 1024 chips. A chip is the longest duration of a spread spectrum signal in which signal parameters are approximately constant, i.e. the duration of time of the most elemental component of a spread spectrum signal when it is decompressed in time.
An RTT measured by a transceiver node in a 3G mobile communication system is roughly defined by the time difference between t1 and t4. Since the nominal value of the transmission timing delay or DL-UL timing offset T0 at the UE (t3-t2) is known, the round trip propagation delay (RTPD), which equals 2Tp can be calculated by subtracting To from the RTT. Since RTPD is related to the distance (i.e., time x velocity), the location of the UE can be estimated if the UE is connected to three or more nodes of the UTRAN whose locations are known.
However, in a 3G network, the transmission timing difference, which is the time between reception of the DL transmission at the UE and transmission of the UL transmission from the UE (i.e., t3-t2), is not a fixed time period and may be different from the nominal transmission timing delay T0 when (1) the UE is moving relatively fast (i.e., an automobile at highway speed) toward or away from the BTS, (2) the propagation paths vary, and (3) there is, or has been, a soft handover of the UE from one cell to another. Accordingly, a geographic location based on the RTT using the nominal transmission timing delay T0 can be significantly inaccurate (the maximum inaccuracy in a location is typically greater than a cell radius).
The inaccuracy in determining the propagation delay associated with the RTT measurements caused by the difference between the actual transmission timing delay and the nominal transmission timing delay To may be corrected by separately measuring the RTT for each cell in active communication with the UE. This prior art method eliminates the requirement for determining the real time difference (RTD) between the various nodes used for measurement. However, it requires more than one transceiver node in active communication with the UE, i.e., connected to the UE.

Network-based method and system for determining a location of user equipment in CDMA networks


Apparatus and method for detecting and identifying hazardous material in a mail stream in which hazardous particulates or material in or on mail pieces in a mail stream are detected and the mail piece bearing the hazardous material is identified. A bar code applicator applies a unique bar code to the wrapper of each mail piece identified as potentially containing hazardous material. The bar code applicator is an ink jet which applies the bar code on-the-fly. The bar code applied is encoded with specific information about the detection parameters at the time of the event in addition to specific information about the date, time of day, machine identification, temperature and humidity conditions, etc. present at the time of the event.

The present invention relates to a system and method for detecting hazardous materials on or inside articles and, more particularly, to a system and method for detecting hazardous materials inside mail and marking them.
All economies depend upon the physical shipment of materials for their functioning including the shipment of mail, merchandise, raw materials, and other goods.
In some circumstances, it is desirable to subject the goods to some type of inspection to determine the presence of hazardous or impermissible materials, including biological and chemical materials. In general, sophisticated sensing systems are known for the detection of hazardous biological and chemical materials. For example, such systems can include conventional laboratory facilities as well as mobile or semi-mobile units that can automatically or semi-automatically detect the presence of the undesired substance or substances. Others include sensor or detectors for hazardous chemicals, explosives, illicit drugs, radioactive particles, and other hazardous materials. These sensors can be used single, or in combinations, to detect as many types of hazardous particles or vapors as required.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,758,712 for detecting apparatus discloses an arrangement for the detection of pin holes in tin plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,006 for sorting and identifying sources of work-pieces discloses an arrangement for sorting articles using marker apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,830 for recognition apparatus discloses an arrangement for recognizing mail bearing luminescent markings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,277 for article monitoring and reject apparatus discloses which scans articles for defects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,498 for apparatus and method for coding objects discloses an arrangement for coding envelopes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,687 for barcode translation for deferred optical character recognition mail processing discloses an arrangement for reading standard bar codes as well as other bar codes without the need for using a particular sequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,611 for sampling and determining the presence of compounds in containers discloses use of compressed air to displace at least a portion of any contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,882 for sampling and determining the presence of salts in containers discloses the detecting of contaminants in bottles using chemiluminescence detection techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,811 for detecting the presence of a hard object in an item of mail discloses an arrangement for detecting a hard object is present inside an envelope.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,040 for work-piece conveying apparatus used with work-piece inspection device discloses the detection of defective wire bonding of work-pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,677 for automated processing of ATM envelopes discloses printing of information on an envelope to provide an audit trail for subsequent processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,257 for postage metering system that utilizes secure invisible bar codes for postal verification discloses using an invisible secure message in bar code form over the usual postage meter print out.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,397 discloses an arrangement for sorting mailings in which identification information is printed on non-processable mailings.
U.S. Published Application No. US 2002/0126008 published Sep. 12, 2002 and filed Oct. 31, 2001 discloses use of sensors at various locations within a typical mail processing system to sense the presence of a harmful agent.
U.S. Published Application No. US 2002/0124664 shows a mail processing system which includes the screening of mail for contamination by biological or chemical agents.

Chemical/biological hazard trigger with automatic mail piece tagging system and method


Disclosed is a spatial image information method and system for rapid and efficient storage in a relation type database and retrieval and management of spatial images acquired by a combined system of a global positioning system (GPS), an inertial navigation system (INS), and an image acquisition device (i.e., CCD camera). The spatial image acquired by the GPS/INS/CCD camera combined system is combined with an exterior orientation composed of a camera position (x,y,z), accelerated velocity, slope and direction at the moment the image is acquired and an interior orientation acquired by a camera calibration, so that calculation of a specified spatial coordinate information becomes possible. The spatial image information system includes a section for efficiently storing a chain of still spatial image sequences acquired by the GPS/INS/CCD camera combined system, the exterior orientation, and the interior orientation in the relation type database, a section for storing spatial information recognized as the same object by a user as maintaining the relationship with the stored still spatial image sequences, a section for efficiently retrieving images that satisfy a certain spatial information operation from the still spatial image sequences, and an interface section for external systems.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for efficient storage and retrieval of a chain of spatial images, and more particularly, to a spatial image information method and system capable of efficiently retrieving spatial images by storing in a database the spatial images acquired through an image acquisition device, in which a global positioning system (GPS) and an inertial navigation system (INS) are combined, along with an interior orientation and exterior orientation, and maintaining meta information and indexes of the stored spatial images.
2. Background of the Related Art
Recently, as diverse services using a geographic information system (GIS) have widely been highlighted, there is an increasing interest in a spatial image information system for more efficient storage and retrieval of acquired spatial images. In order to construct the geographic information system is used a navigation system for acquiring spatial position information. The inertial navigation system (INS) and the global positioning system (GPS) are the widely used navigation systems.
The INS is a system for finding navigation information of an object using an accelerometer and a gyro, and is used in a flying object or a ship. This INS is not affected by an external environment, and has the advantage in that it provides very accurate and sequential navigation data for a short period of voyage, while it has the disadvantage in that errors are accumulated for a long period of voyage.
Meanwhile, the global positioning system (GPS) is a system for acquiring the position, speed, etc., of an object by measuring the distance between the object and at least four satellites among 24 orbiting satellites going round the earth. This GPS has the advantage in that errors are not accumulated with the lapse of time and it is inexpensive, but has the disadvantage in that its performance deteriorates if at least four orbiting satellites are not secured. Accordingly, researches for combining the two systems are actively in progress since the two systems are complementary.
The term 'spatial image' means an aerial image or a satellite image acquired by an airplane or a satellite that mounts the GPS or INS, or an image acquired by an image acquisition device such as a CCD camera of a moving vehicle such as a GPS van that mounts a GPS/INS combined system. Such a spatial image has the advantage in that it is possible to measure spatial information within the image by way of an exterior orientation composed of a camera position (x,y,z), accelerated velocity, slope and direction at the moment the image is acquired, and an interior orientation acquired by a camera calibration. Since this spatial image is of a large capacity, a spatial image information system for the efficient storage and management thereof is required.
However, the conventional spatial image information systems have the problems in that they use a method of simply storing related data in a file system in the unit of a file or a directory, or simply use only an interface of a database system as they cannot support an effective retrieving method for the spatial images even though they use the database, thereby deteriorating the their performance.

Spatial image information system and method for supporting efficient storage and retrieval of spatial images

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A semiconductor laser that includes a single mode semiconductor laser coupled to a flared power amplifier is provided, the device including an internal or an external optical element that reinforces the curved wave front of the flared section of the device through phase-matching. By reinforcing the curved wave front via phase-matching, the device is less susceptible to thermal and gain-index coupled perturbations, even at high output powers, resulting in higher beam quality. Exemplary phase-matching optical elements include a grating integrated into the flared amplifier section; an intra-cavity, externally positioned binary optical element; and an intra-cavity, externally positioned cylindrically curved optical element.

Semiconductor lasers may utilize any of a variety of different designs, the selected design typically driven by the requirements of the intended application. Unfortunately it is often difficult to find a device design that meets all of a specific application's requirements since many times one device characteristic, such as output power, may influence another device characteristic, such as beam quality. For example, ridge-waveguide (RW) lasers offer nearly diffraction limited beam quality but are only able to achieve output powers of approximately 1 watt. Conversely, broad-area lasers are able to reach high output powers, on the order of 20 watts, but suffer from poor beam quality.
One approach that has been investigated recently as a means of achieving both high output power and acceptable beam quality is the use of a master oscillator with a power amplifier (MOPA). In this type of system, the output from a single mode laser is injected into a power amplifier. These two components may be separate or combined on to a single device, the latter approach eliminating many of the alignment difficulties associated with the former approach.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional flared semiconductor laser integrated on to a single substrate, this structure utilizing two separate electrical contacts. FIG. 1 provides a perspective view while FIG. 2 provides a top view of the same device 100. Semiconductor laser 100 is comprised of two components; a single mode ridge waveguide (RW) laser 101 that is coupled at one end to a high power flared section 103. RW 101 may be either a gain-guided structure or an index-guided structure. The non-coupled end surface 105 of RW 101 is typically coated with a high reflectivity (HR) coating. Alternately, RW 101 may utilize a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) or a distributed feedback (DFB) section in which case surface 105 is coated with an anti-reflection (AR) coating. The outer, flared edge 107 of section 103 is typically coated with an AR coating.
To date, high power broad area lasers with a 100 μm aperture have been limited to around 10-15 watts of power with a beam quality factor, M2, of 1 in the transverse direction and an M2 of 15 (beam parameter product (BPP) of approximately 17 mm-mrad) in the lateral direction. In the recent past, tapered lasers utilizing the design shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have shown higher beam quality than non-tapered broad area lasers, achieving a beam propagation ratio, M2, of 1.2 at output powers of up to about 5 watts in continuous (CW) operation. However, at higher output powers the beam quality in the lateral direction begins to experience degradation. This degradation is due to phase front distortion arising from optical feedback and subsequent gain-index coupling. Additionally, at high output power beam quality degradation in this type of laser can be caused by thermal gradient-induced index of refraction variations.
Accordingly, what is needed is a means for reducing beam quality degradation at high output powers in semiconductor lasers utilizing a tapered design. The device structure of the present invention achieves these goals.

High power semiconductor laser with phase-matching optical element


A plasma system which eliminates damage derived from charged particles in the plasma and which is able to perform uniform plasma CVD and plasma etching on a large area substrate, wherein a mesh plate having a plurality of holes is placed at the interface of a plasma generation chamber and a substrate treatment chamber which holds a substrate, a high frequency electrical field being applied between an upper electrode in the plasma generation chamber and the mesh plate so as to disassociate the plasma forming gas by electrodischarge so as to cause the generation of plasma. By this, the plasma is isolated from the substrate. On the other hand, source gas supply ports are opened near the holes of the mesh plate, the source gas being introduced from there being brought into contact with the plasma through the holes, whereby the reaction product can be uniformly produced in a broad area. If the reaction product is a deposit-like substance, plasma CVD becomes possible, while if of the etching type, plasma etching becomes possible.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma system using the remote plasma method of separation of the plasma and substrate. More particularly, this invention relates to a plasma system for performing uniform plasma CVD or plasma etching on a large area substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of plasma treatment which reduces the damage caused by the plasma, there is known the remote plasma method. When this remote plasma method is applied to plasma CVD, the plasma generation chamber and the film deposition chamber are separated, a source gas is decomposed by the plasma near the interface between the two, and the reaction product produced at that time is deposited on a substrate placed in the film deposition chamber. By isolating the substrate from the plasma in this way, it is possible to lessen the damage to the substrate caused, mainly, by the charged particles in the plasma.
As a structure for separating the plasma generation chamber and the substrate treatment chamber, there is known, for example, an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma treatment apparatus such as is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Published Patent Application No. 1-168027. In this apparatus, in the plasma generation chamber, the cyclotron angular frequency w.sub.c of the electrons engaged in cycloid motion due to the Lawrence force in the magnetic field and the angular frequency w of the microwave field are made to match (to establish ECR conditions) and the microwave energy is made to be absorbed resonantly in the electrons to cause the production of ECR plasma. At that time, an antimagnetic effect appears due to the cyclotron resonance circular motion of the high energy electrons and a plasma flow is formed in the weak magnetic field direction due to the interaction with the dispersed magnetic field, so the substrate treatment chamber is provided in the weak magnetic field direction and ECR plasma treatment is performed on the substrate placed in the same.
In a conventional CVD apparatus based on the remote plasma method, however, generally the plasma generation chamber is small and, further, there is only one location where the source gas for the film formation can be broken down. Therefore, it was considered difficult to form a uniform film on a large area wafer such as one having an 8 inch diameter or a 12 inch diameter.
On the other hand, in the ECR plasma treatment apparatus described in the above publication, the openings in the source gas introduction system were located both near the leadout plate of the plasma and near the substrate so as to try to achieve uniform plasma treatment. The ECR plasma generated at the plasma generation chamber, however, was led out to the substrate treatment chamber along the dispersed magnetic field, and the ECR plasma acted directly on the substrate, so damage due to irradiation of the substrate by the ECR plasma could not be avoided.

Plasma system comprising hollow mesh plate electrode


A user interface system for a toy includes a power drive unit, an encoder and a processor coupled with the power drive unit and with the encoder. The power drive unit actuates a drive element of the toy according to moving instructions received from the processor. The encoder detects motion of the drive element, and the processor sets a mode of operation of the toy according to the motion of the selected drive element and the moving instructions.

User interfaces are known in the art, usually they include push buttons, knobs, proximity sensors, visual sensor, audible sensors and the like. Other types of user interfaces includes touch screens, which can be modified to present availability for various functionalities, based on temporal information presented to the user (e.g., a pushbutton, a slider).


A temperature compensating device is provided for a purge gas pressure monitoring system in which a piezometer line has an outlet end for submerging in a medium to be monitored and an opposite end for connection to a suitable pressure responsive instrument, with a purge gas supply connected to the line so as to supply purge gas as bubbles from the outlet end of the tube. A temperature detector device runs the length of the piezometer line to produce an output signal proportional to an average of the temperature along the length of the line. This may be a resistance temperature detector in the form of a U-shaped conductive wire with opposite legs of the U wound spirally in opposite directions along the length of the line with the connected end of the U being located at the outlet end of the tube. This provides a variable resistance which varies as a function of the average temperature, and which can be connected to conditioning circuitry for producing a desired temperature dependent output.

The present invention relates generally to pressure monitoring systems of the purge gas type in which purge gas is injected into media to facilitate measurement of media pressure. In such systems, a piezometer tube runs from a pressure measuring instrument into a medium to be monitored, and pressurized gas is passed along the tube to escape as bubbles at the end of the tube submerged in the monitored medium. The pressure of the gas escaping from the tube is a function of the pressure of the medium into which it is bubbled, and this pressure is monitored via a remote instrument such as a pressure transducer or balance beam manometer to provide an indication of variations in the depth, density, or other parameters of the medium. The invention is particularly concerned with a temperature compensating apparatus for a purge gas pressure monitoring system.
Purge gas pressure monitoring systems are used in various applications, including monitoring of water depth in rivers, reservoirs and other large bodies of water (commonly known as hydrologic water stage monitoring), monitoring of fluidized bed pressures, pressure monitoring of gases, liquids, and mixtures of liquids and gases, density monitoring, and so on. One error which typically arises in such systems is a result of temperature variations along the piezometer line.

Purge gas pressure monitoring system with temperature compensation


An EDS tester is combined with an employee identifier and recording monitor so as to provide and audit trail of compliance with the fact of ESD testing and, if desired, a record of the ESD test results such as body resistance or charge. In one illustrative embodiment, a fingerprint identifier pad is used together with the ESD test to identify a unique biological characteristic of the worker being tested. In addition, the feature of providing physical contact with the workers body typically required for ESD testing may be combined with the fingerprint identifier pad thereby enabling the ESD test results to be correlated with a specific individual.

In many high technology manufacturing operations, such as those involving the production of metal oxide silicon (MOS) transistor circuits, it is essential that plant personnel carefully observe rules requiring them to rid themselves of all static electric charges. In a typical manufacturing plant, employees may be required to test their ESD overshoes and log the results of the test every time they enter and leave their work area. Unfortunately, this task takes time, employees are sometimes lax in complying and some consider the task onerous and intrusive.
A number of prior art patents have addressed the problem of discharging static electricity accumulation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,255 discloses a testing wristlet seat which uses an oscillator circuit to test a test lead which is grounded to discharge the static electricity produced in a manufacturing procedure. The oscillator generates a frequency to sound an alarm when the user breaks the ground connection. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,384 the worker wears a conductive wrist strap, circuitry monitors the electric field at the operator's wrist, sounds a warning and records when a problems occurs. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,420 a voltage-controlled oscillator senses the voltage on a discharge capacitor, generates high voltage pulses the effect the removal of charge by means of air ionization. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,992 the integrity of ground connections to conductive workbench, floor mats and wrist straps are monitored and alarms are generated when the resistance to ground approaches a set value. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,374 conductive wrist bands, touch pads and shoe plates are monitored for resistance and indicator lights provide a display of whether a safe or hazardous condition exists. U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,519 discloses details of a stretchable wrist strap having two or more sections of conductive material and circuitry for monitoring whether any of the sections of conductive material are in contact with the wearer or if the connection to ground is broken.
While all of the foregoing devices operate satisfactorily, they are not quite adequate to assure, in a commercial environment, the ideal standard of conduct to which Paracelsus may have had in mind when he uttered the timeless words. "That we devote ourselves to God, is seen In living just as through no God there were". Simply stated, the prior art devices operate anonymously and therefore do not accommodate the requirements of management for assurance that each individual worker remain in compliance with ESD standards. In short, an identifiable audit trail of ESD compliance is required.


A semiconductor integrated circuit device is provided, which includes a semiconductor layer formed via an embedded insulation film on a substrate and an FBC (Floating Body Cell) which stores data by accumulating a majority carrier in a floating channel body formed on the semiconductor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device including a first semiconductor layer formed on a substrate via an embedded insulation film and an FBC (Floating Body Cell) for storing majority carriers in a floating channel body formed in the first semiconductor layer and thereby storing data.
2. Related Art
It may become difficult to fabricate a DRAM cell composed of a conventional one transistor and a trench capacitor or a stacked capacitor, as the DRAM cell becomes finer. As a memory cell that can be used instead of such a DRAM cell, a new memory cell FBC that stores majority carriers in a floating body of an FET formed on a SOI (Silicon on Insulator) or the like and thereby stores information has been proposed (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2003-68877 and 2002-246571).
First, the principle of FBC writing and reading will now be described by taking an N type MISFET as an example. The state in which there are a large number of holes in the channel body is defined as "1", and the state in which there are a small number of holes in the channel body is defined as "0". The FBC includes an n-FET formed on a SOI substrate. The FBC is connected at its source to GND (0 V), connected at its drain to a bit line (BL), and connected at its gate to a word line (WL). The channel body of the FBC is electrically floating.
For writing "1", the transistor is operated in the saturation state. For example, the word line WL is biased to 1.5 V and the bit line BL is biased to 1.5 V. In such a state, a large number of electron-hole pairs are generated near the drain by impact ionization. Among them, electrons are absorbed to the drain terminal, but holes are stored in the channel body having a low potential.
In a state in which a current of holes generated by impact ionization balances a forward current of a pn junction between the channel body and the source, the channel body voltage arrives at the equilibrium state. The channel body voltage is approximately 0.7 V.
On the other hand, for writing "0" data, the bit line BL is pulled down to a negative voltage, for example, to −1.5 V. The channel body formed of a p-region and an n-region connected to the bit line BL are biased largely in the forward direction by the operation, and most of the holes stored in the channel body are emitted into the n-region. The state in which the number of holes in the channel body has decreased is "0".
For reading data, for example, the word line WL is set equal to 1.5V and the bit line is set equal to 0.2V to cause the transistor operate in the linear region. By using the effect (body effect) that the threshold voltage Vth of the transistor differs due to difference in the number of holes stored in the channel body, the current difference is sensed to discriminate "1" and "0".
The reason why the bit line voltage is set to a low value (for example, to 0.2 V) when reading data is as follows: if the bit line voltage is set higher and the transistor is biased into the saturation state, there is a likelihood that the data may be disguised as "1" by impact ionization when reading "0" and "0" will not be able to be sensed correctly.
When reading data, the cell current flowing through the FBC is minute. In order to discriminate "1" and "0" accurately, therefore, typically a reference cell having the same structure as the FBC has is provided and a current difference between a cell current flowing through the FBC and a cell current flowing through the reference cell is sensed to discriminate "1" and "0" in data.
In some cases, however, the threshold value Vth in a large number of FBCs in the memory disperses largely due to parameter variations in the device fabrication process. For example, if the channel length L of the transistor in the FBC disperses, the threshold value Vth disperses largely due to the short channel effect. Furthermore, due to the dispersion in the channel width, the narrow channel effect works and the threshold value Vth disperses.
In the future, it is expected that dispersion in positions and the number of impurity atoms existing in the channel largely affects the characteristics of the transistor as the transistor becomes finer. Inevitably, there is a likelihood that the threshold value Vth may largely disperse.
If the dispersion in threshold value Vth exceeds a certain tolerance, it becomes difficult in the sense scheme using the reference cell as described above to discriminate data "1" and "0" accurately. The reason is as follows: if Vth in the FBC largely differs from Vth in the reference cell, both of the potential obtained at the sense node when the data is "1" and the potential obtained at the sense node when the data is "0" become higher or lower than the potential VREF at the reference node. Therefore, the data "1" and "0" cannot be discriminated accurately.
The following sense amplifier is also conceivable. In order to conduct comparison with the reference cell, a reference cell for data "1" and a reference cell for data "0" are provided. By using the average of cell currents flowing through the reference cells of the two kinds as a reference current, comparison with the cell current flowing through the FBC is conducted.
However, a reference word line connected to the reference cell for the data "1" and a reference word line connected to the reference cell for the data "0" become necessary, and the number of word lines in the cell array increases. This results in a problem that current consumption increases. In order to cope with the increase of the current consumption, the mirror ratio in a current mirror circuit in the sense amplifier must be set equal to 2 and the circuit area of the sense amplifier increases. In addition, as a major problem, unbalance in capacitance between the bit line and the reference bit line cannot be avoided and it becomes impossible in the dynamic sense scheme to sense data normally, if the reference cell for data "1" and the reference cell for data "0" are provided.
In the above-described conventional FBC, one bit is formed of one transistor. As compared with the conventional DRAM cell in which one bit is formed of one transistor and one capacitor, the cell area becomes small and the conventional FBC is advantageous for realizing a large capacity. However, there is a likelihood that the finer transistor technique will not be advanced unlike heretofore due to physical limits.

Floating body cell memory and reading and writing circuit thereof


A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery including positive and negative electrodes capable of occluding and releasing lithium and a nonaqueous electrolyte and in which the negative electrode includes a foamed metal containing silicon as an active material therein.

Portable equipment has recently had greater power requirements. These requirements have created a demand for batteries having higher energy density. Silicon is attractive as an active material for a negative electrode for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery because it forms an alloy with lithium and has a high charge and discharge capacity, i.e., 4,100 mAh/g. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-223220 discloses a nonaqueous electrolyte battery using silicon particles as an active material of a negative electrode.

Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery


Compensation for one or more effects of impedance mismatch between a power amplifier (PA) and at least one filter is discussed. One example system that compensates for impedance mismatch with at least one filter comprises a PA, a measurement component, and a feedback component. The PA is configured to receive PA stimuli comprising a supply voltage and a radio frequency (RF) signal to be amplified, wherein a PA output is configured to be coupled to the at least one filter. The measurement component is coupled to the PA and configured to measure an output signal from the PA, wherein the output signal comprises a forward signal associated with the PA and a reflected signal associated with the at least one filter. The feedback component is configured to receive the output signal and to adjust one or more of the PA stimuli based at least in part on the output signal.

An efficient way to optimize the power amplifier (PA) current consumption in a wireless system across the entire output power range is the use of a DC-DC converter to provide a variable PA supply voltage to a PA. Depending on the RF output power, for example, the output voltage of the DC-DC converter to the PA is adjusted. As the output power lowers, the PA supply voltage to the PA also lowers as a result. Due to a voltage conversion from the battery voltage down to the lower PA supply voltage, the battery current is reduced. Alternatively, the DC-DC converter output voltage can be fixed based on the target RF power (average RF power), which is expected in a next period of time. This procedure is sometimes called average power tracking (APT), in which a constant voltage is supplied to the PA.
Envelope tracking DC-DC (ET DC-DC) converters or envelope tracking modulators are capable of envelope tracking to further reduce the battery current in various situations. Envelope tracking describes an approach to RF amplifier operation, for example, in which the power supply voltage applied to the power amplifier is constantly adjusted to ensure that the amplifier is operating at or close to peak efficiency for the given instantaneous output power requirements.
A feature of envelope tracking is that the supply voltage of the power amplifier is not constant. The supply voltage of the power amplifier depends on the instantaneous envelope of the modulated baseband signal or radio frequency (RF) input signal, which is input into the PA. For example, an ET DC-DC converter follows the instantaneous envelope of the RF signal, which removes the voltage headroom and further increases the system efficiency (composite efficiency of the power amplifier and the DC-DC converter). An ET DC-DC converter, for example, can reduce the battery current of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) signal by roughly 20+% at maximum output power relative to a standard DC-DC converter, which simply follows an average power or a constant power supply.

Adjusting power amplifier stimuli based on output signals


An optical delay between a first fiber and a second fiber is temperature compensated by combining fibers with different thermal path length changes. In some examples, fibers with different buffer coatings exhibit different path length changes per unit length and temperature. Combining such fibers in a fiber array provides a path length difference that is substantially independent of temperature.

Coherent laser radars provide distance measurements and surface profiles based on a heterodyne frequency resulting from interference of measurement and local oscillator optical beams. Typically, one or more frequency chirped laser beams are used to form a measurement beam, and the detected heterodyne frequency depends on the chirp rate. A distance is measured based on the detected heterodyne frequency and the chirp rate.
In many cases, optical systems used in laser radars produce numerous internal reflections that are unrelated to targets of interest. These reflections can mask or interfere with target measurements. To avoid the undesirable effects of these internal reflections, some laser radars include an optical delay in a measurement beam path so that these reflections will have disappeared before data acquisition begins. Unfortunately, variations in this optical delay produce unacceptable target distance errors. The disclosure addresses these and other shortcomings of conventional laser radars.

Thermally compensated fiber interferometer assembly


Some VLSI fabrication steps can cause degradation of the useful properties of many high dielectric constant materials that will likely be used in future high density integrated circuit devices. The presence of hydrogen, for example, can readily reduce (i.e. remove oxygen from) oxygen-containing dielectric materials. In general, there exists a critical oxygen activity value below which an oxygen-containing dielectric material will become conductive or otherwise unacceptable. Reduction of the oxygen-containing material during VLSI processing is prevented by providing a nearby sacrificial source of oxygen. Generally, the oxygen source is reduced to a lower oxidation state (i.e. the material loses oxygen) at an oxygen activity level that is larger than the critical oxygen activity value. The required placement of the oxygen source material relative to the oxygen-containing dielectric material is in general determined by the requirement that the oxygen partial pressure over the entire volume of the oxygen-containing dielectric material not fall below the critical value during subsequent VLSI processing steps. The presence of these sacrificial oxygen source materials (e.g. 56) elevates the partial pressure of oxygen in the vicinity of the oxygen-containing dielectric material (e.g. barium strontium titanate 46) such that the oxygen partial pressure during subsequent fabrication steps does not fall below the oxygen partial pressure at which the oxygen-containing dielectric material is reduced. Structures wherein the sacrificial oxygen sources are part of capacitor electrodes (e.g. RuO.sub.2 44) are presented, as well as structures wherein volumes of sacrificial oxygen source materials 56 are formed nearby to integrated circuit capacitors.

Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with the fabrication of high density dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices.
Heretofore, in this field, thin film capacitors in DRAMs have used SiO.sub.2 or Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 as the dielectric material. As the density of integrated circuits (number of devices per square centimeter) increases, the capacitors which store electrical charge in each DRAM memory device are generally required to decrease in size while maintaining approximately the same capacitance. Referring to the following equation, C is the capacitance of a planar capacitor, .epsilon. is the dielectric constant, .epsilon..sub.0 is the dielectric permittivity of free space (a constant), A is the area, and d is the thickness of the dielectric. ##EQU1##
It is seen that the capacitance is directly proportional to the dielectric constant and inversely proportional to the dielectric thickness. Therefore, to build smaller capacitors while maintaining the same capacitance, one must increase .epsilon. and/or decrease the dielectric thickness d.
One method of allowing a decrease in the area of capacitors in DRAM cells is to make use of materials with a much higher dielectric constant than SiO.sub.2 or Si.sub.3 N.sub.4. The dielectric constant for both of these materials is less than ten. An important class of high dielectric constant materials is the perovskites (e.g. BaTiO.sub.3, SrTiO.sub.3, and (Ba,Sr)TiO.sub.3). The dielectric constants of these materials may be as high as 10,000 when they are fabricated as bulk ceramics. Other classes of materials with high dielectric constants are also being considered for use as the dielectric material in DRAM capacitors. To be useful in the manufacture of VLSI capacitors, these materials should be tolerant to the many VLSI processing steps which are used in the fabrication of DRAM cells.

Sacrificial oxygen sources to prevent reduction of oxygen containing materials


A cleaning method for peeling and removing photoresists from a semiconductor by applying ultrasound to a cleaning solution comprising a mixture of an organic solvent diluted with pure water and halogenated alkali metal salts, hydrofluoric acid, or ammonium fluoride. The cleaning method removes organic film such as a photoresist or the like at room temperature, not by dissolving, but rather by peeling. The cleaning liquid does not degrade over a long period of time and, moreover, has a strong cleaning effect yet chemical vapors and water vapors are essentially not generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning method and a cleaning apparatus, and more particularly relates to a cleaning method and a cleaning apparatus which are capable of peeling off and removing a photoresist or the like at room temperatures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in the wet processes of semiconductor or liquid crystal display manufacture, the peeling off of the resist was conducted by mixing sulfuric acid and an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution and conducting high temperature treatment within a range of 100.degree.-150.degree. C. Alternatively, methods were employed in which, after treatment at high temperatures with an organic solvent at a high concentration, the organic solvent deposited on the substrate was further treated by means of a different organic solvent. Furthermore, when ion implantation or reactive ion etching is conducted using the photoresist as a mask, large amounts of ions are irradiated onto the resist surface, and the resist material itself is essentially carbonized, so that removal can not be conducted by means of chemicals, and thus a method is introduced in which plasma treatment is conducted by means of an oxygen plasma or by means of UV rays and ozone gas, and after the carbonized portions of the resist have been removed by incineration; the remainder of the resist is removed by chemicals.
However, the method in which sulfuric acid or hydrogen peroxide is employed has many defects, in that the operability of the cleaning fluid and silicon wafer conveyance is poor because the treatment is conducted at high temperatures, and furthermore, since the hydrogen peroxide in the cleaning liquid breaks down, there is difficulty in the management of the fluid, so that chemical and water vapors are generated in large amounts and large amounts of clean air are required for the removal thereof, and scrubbers are necessary for the removal of the chemical vapors from the exhaust air, and the like, so that the costs both in terms of power consumption and machinery are high, and there are costs involved with the treatment of the sulfuric acid waste liquid.
The method in which organic solvents are employed also has poor operability, since it is also conducted at high temperatures, and the treatment of waste liquid is also troublesome. Whether treatment is conducted by means of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide or by means of organic solvents, the peeling mechanism does not involve the peeling of the resist, but rather the dissolving of the resist. Since the resist on the substrate surfaces of the semiconductor and the like; which is applied on all surfaces to a depth of 1-2 .mu.m, is completely dissolved, the degradation of the peeling agent is extremely severe.
The plasma treatment method has problems in that after treatment, contaminants contained in the resist, such as metals and microgranules and the like, remain on the wafer.

Cleaning method for peeling and removing photoresist


A virion expression system for a desired protein packaged in an envelope derived from a retrovirus useful in administering proteins which cross cell membranes in order to serve their function. Preferred virions are those that carry an RNA sequence that encodes cytokines or lymphokines, and includes IL-2, multiple drug resistance protein, and TNF.

So many approaches have been used to effect delivery of proteins, particularly proteins that have medically beneficial applications, to desired target cells that a survey of this field would be both inappropriate and unhelpful. It should be noted, however, that virtually all delivery systems presently employed address the problem of penetrating barriers to the circulatory system of the subject organism and do not address the problem of uptake by particular cells targeted for treatment with the protein. Thus, in the simplest form of ensuring penetration of these barriers, intravenous injection of a solution of an active ingredient, delivery of the protein merely results in the active ingredient circulating in the blood, but without provision for any special mechanism to ensure that the protein will find its way into the cytoplasm or nucleus of a cell that it is expected either to treat or to kill. While a specific cell may be targeted, e.g., through the use of antibody, penetration through cellular membranes is effected by whatever mechanism(s) is normally used by cells, or the appropriate site of treatment is necessarily extracellular.
It is, of course, established that viral particles are capable of introducing foreign nucleic acids and proteins into cells in the normal course of infection. Use of viral particles to transport genetic material into target mammalian cells for purposes of gene therapy appears to be the major approach now being followed to develop this technique. See, e.g., McCormick, D., Bio/Technology (1985) 3:689-693. In addition, Lang, R. A., et al., Cell (1985) 43:531-542 were able to use a similar system with GM-CSF to induce autocrine growth in a murine blood-cell line. In the Lang work, a cDNA-encoding GM-CSF was inserted into a Moloney murine leukemia-based vector under control of the promoter/enhancer of the viral long-terminal repeat, and infectious, helper-free virus was produced by transfecting into the .psi. psi-2-packaging cell line. The GMV virus produced was able to effect GM-CSF production in a hemopoietic cell line. This ability has not heretofore been used to transport designated protein drugs in an intact organism, however.
Retroviruses in particular have been used as vectors for foreign gene insertion, and the biology of retroviruses is, to a significant degree, understood: Retroviruses consist of a single stranded RNA genome encapsulated in a protein envelope. The genome itself, reading from the 5' to 3' end, contains a cap, a 5' untranslated region, a segment of RNA designated ".psi." which is necessary for the RNA to be packaged into protein--i.e., a packaging site, and then the coding sequences for several proteins--the retroviral core protein (gag); reverse transcriptase, to facilitate an intermediate stage consisting of a DNA transcript (pol) and the viral envelope or capsid protein (env), all followed by some 3' untranslated sequences. The three viral proteins are needed for the infectivity of the viral genome; the packaging site is needed to produce additional infective virus.
Retroviruses experience a "proviral" stage which contains a double-stranded cDNA copy of the protein-encoding region of the RNA. However, in this stage, the untranslated 3' and 5' regions are modified to obtain, at either end of this protein-encoding cDNA, a long terminal repeat (LTR) which provides the appropriate promoter and enhancer sequences to effect DNA transcription as well as transcription-terminating sequences at operable positions with respect to the coding portions.
In ordinary infection, the proviral double-stranded cDNA can be integrated into the host cell genome and from there effect the production of additional virus particles containing the RNA genome packaged in its protein capsule. For this procedure to take place, it is critical that the .psi. packaging site be present in the provirus.
It has occurred to others that the protein encoding sequences of the retroviruses could be replaced with those for a desired protein so as to employ the expression systems of the virus when the modified virus infects host cells. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,712 and Lang (supra). However, in order to achieve this, the modified viral genome requires a helper virus capable of synthesizing the capsid proteins and packaging the RNA transcripts of the foreign DNA.
Thus, for "gene therapy" the proviral DNA form is inserted into a suitable vector, replicated and packaged into viral envelopes with the aid of a helper virus. For a general review, see Anderson, W. F., Science (1984) 226:401-409; Coffin, J., "Genome Structure", in RNA Tumor Viruses, Vol 2, Weiss et al., eds, 2d ed, (1985), Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
The most commonly used retroviruses for study of gene therapy have been either the murine sarcoma virus (MSV) or the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV). (Mann, R., et al., Cell (1983) 33:153-159.) The proviral form of these retroviruses is isolated and inserted into more or less standard bacterial cloning vectors for amplification. The proviral insert, which contains the gag-, pol and env-encoding mRNA flanked by long terminal repeats containing the control sequences, along with a packaging site is then manipulated to replace the region containing the protein-encoding RNA with the desired foreign gene. If this DNA is transfected into host cells which have been infected with complete virus or with defective virus lacking only the packaging site, the RNA which is synthesized from the modified provirus is then packaged into virions for reinfection of another cell. This provides a mechanism for introduction of the DNA encoding the desired active ingredient or drug into the cell by infection.
There are two ways to go about this. In one approach, the modified proviral DNA is transfected into cells which bear an infection from the unmodified virus, co-residing in the cell. The normal viral vectors will synthesize the packaging materials and some of the mRNA produced by the modified provirus will be packaged in a manner analogous to the normal viral RNA and then can be used to infect target cell for the production of protein. Along with these commandeered viral envelopes, however, will be a certain number of repackaged normal viral RNAs which, if not separated from the "delivery truck" viruses simply cause additional virus infection in host cells infected with the products of this virion production round.
In a more useful approach, the provirus cloning vector containing the desired gene is used to transfect a cell which has been genetically modified to produce defective viral envelopes which contain no viral genomic RNA--in effect, empty delivery trucks. These cells are obtained by integration of the proviral form of a mutant retrovirus lacking the .psi. packaging site, and several such cell lines are available in the art to all that request them. Two of these lines, designated .psi.-1 or .psi.-2 are extensively described in Mann, R., et al., Cell (1983) 33:153-159 (supra) and are made by transfecting host NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells with a plasmid containing MoMLV proviral inserts from which the .psi. packaging site had been deleted. The .psi.-2 cells apparently produce several empty viral envelopes per cell corresponding to the viral envelope of the native virus in the course of a generation. When these cells are transfected with proviral DNA containing both a foreign gene and the packaging site, .psi., they package the mRNA transcript from the proviral DNA containing the foreign gene into these empty envelopes to generate modified viruses which can infect any cells (murine in this case) which are normally hosts for MoMLV. It should be noted, however, that this recombinant, modified virus is defective in that it cannot cause the production of additional modified (or other) virions in the cell it "infects". It is able to cause the production of the protein the gene encodes in the "infected" cell, but the infection cannot spread to additional cells because no additional virions are produced.
More useful than .psi.-2 for the preparation of medicaments in the present invention are the .psi.-AM lines, which are available from Cone, R. D., et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) (1984) 81:6349-6353. These lines are also obtained by transfecting NIH 3T3 cells, but with a vector designated pMAV-.psi.-. This vector also contains an insert of a defective provirus which lacks the .psi. packaging site. However, pMAV-.psi.- is a hybrid encoding the gag-pol sequences of MoMLV and envelope sequences derived from the amphotropic virus 4070A. The empty capsids produced by these cell lines package RNA transcripts of cotransfected modified proviral DNA to produce pseudo viruses which recognize and infect human, rat, and mouse cells.
It has recently been observed that retroviral vectors carrying gag sequences exhibit higher titers than viruses that lack these sequences. Bender, et al., 1987, J. of Virology, 61(5):1639-1646. Such high titer viruses facilitate efficient infection of various cells/tissues that are targets for gene therapy. It is thought that the high titers of these viruses is related to the presence of gag region sequences that hithertofore were not thought to be involved in packaging of viral RNA into virions, and thus may allow for more efficient packaging. Regardless, such high titer retroviral vectors will have applications in gene therapy.
Thus, the art provides a system for moving genes into susceptible cells which has been, in the past, employed only for gene therapy or for generation of autocrine growth factors. These methods inevitably utilize an ex-vivo exposure of targeted cells to the retroviral vector; for example, in gene therapy, bone marrow cells are removed and treated, and then reimplanted. In the present invention, an analogous system is mustered to deliver pharmaceuticals to target cells using conventional methods of administration to produce a highly dead-end, localized "infection".

Gene fusion encoding a hypersecretor protein


An apparatus is provided that includes a processor configured to maintain a first implicit registration set for a first apparatus, where the first implicit registration set includes a first identity unique to the first apparatus and a shared identity. The processor is also configured to maintain a second implicit registration set for a second apparatus, where the second implicit registration set includes a second identity unique to the second apparatus and the shared identity. In this regard, the first and second implicit registration sets may be maintained to enable registration of the first and second apparatuses with a network such that each of the first and second apparatuses are configured to receive communication requests to the respective first and second identities, and such that both of the first and second apparatuses are configured to receive communication requests to the shared identity.

Wireless networks are evolving from circuit-switched networks (e.g., global system for mobile communications (GSM), IS-136, IS-95) to packet-switched networks (e.g., wireless local area network (WLAN), Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS), cdma2000) configured to support multimedia applications to mobile end-users over Internet protocol (IP). General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), which is an evolution of GSM, may support packet data (e.g., web browsing, email) in a cellular environment. Further evolution of GPRS, often referred to as the UMTS, is expected to support real-time multimedia over IP (e.g., voice over IP (VoIP), video over IP, streaming media) in a cellular environment. In addition, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has specified the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) in UMTS to accomplish the control and service functions of wireless IP multimedia. In this regard, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has adopted Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as the signaling protocol in IMS. At the same time, in the cdma2000 world, the 3GPP2 has been developing the IMS, formerly referred to as the IP Multimedia Domain (MMD), to implement the control and service functions of wireless IP multimedia. The 3GPP2 has also adopted SIP into the IMS specification.
And although the IMS provides a number of enhanced features in the provision of IP-based telephony and multimedia services, it is generally desirable to improve upon existing techniques.

Apparatus, method and computer-readable storage medium for registering user identities


A method and device for welding pipe onto a piping network at a joint comprising introducing an inert purging gas under pressure at a substantially constant flow rate at one end of the pipe away from the weld joint, providing a flow restriction at the end of the piping network away from the weld joint, diverting a minor portion of the inert purging gas flowing through the piping network into and through a constant back pressure maintaining device for maintaining a substantially constant back pressure on the inert purging gas in the piping network during the welding, whereby any changes in back pressure occurring in the piping network cause a greater or lesser amount of the inert purging gas to flow through the constant back pressure maintaining device, thereby enabling production of precise and highly reproducible welds with an orbital welder.

Modern plants for the production of electronic components such as semiconductors, integrated circuits and the like utilize a variety of gases and gas mixtures of extremely high purity and corrosivity in the manufacturing processes. The gases are often conducted over relatively great distances in a manufacturing facility from storage cylinders and tanks through various processing rooms for carrying out various operations such as the many etching steps required in the processing of the electronic components. The piping network is a significant component of the manufacturing facility. To produce the piping network, a great many piping components are assembled, and this assembly is generally carried out by welding sections of pipes to each other, to pipe fittings, to valves, and to the other components of the piping network.
Because of the corrosivity of the gases to be conducted through the piping network, stainless steel is the most commonly used material for the piping, fittings, etc., and electropolished stainless steel is the preferred type of material. One concern associated with welding such materials is the likelihood of inducing impurities and corrosion sites at the weld sites due to improper control of the weld. The weld sites are known to be corrosion sensitive points, and therefore the weld sites must be very carefully controlled in order to provide a high quality weld. And because of the great number of welds in any given facility, consistency is a very important factor in any technique used to control the welding process.
Modern welding systems used for welding stainless steels have included tungsten inert gas welding, metal inert gas welding and laser welding, and for pipeline welding, a process known as orbital welding has become very common. Orbital welding is a variation of a tungsten inert gas welding system using an inert gas flowing through the pipeline and through the welding head. The welding electrode is housed in a welding head which encircles the pipe, and the electrode orbits around the pipe within the welding head. Such an apparatus is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,136,134 and 5,223,686 to Benway, et al.
Orbital welding systems also use an inert shielding and/or purging gas for protecting the weld site from oxidation during the welding process. For example, argon is a commonly used gas and is caused to flow through the pipeline during the welding process. The inert gas is also used to flow through the orbital weld head around the weld site on the exterior of the pipeline.
Controlling the flow of the inert gas in the welding process is a very important aspect of the control system used, and a great number of different problems can arise when the inert gas is not properly controlled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,039 to Chevrel et al discloses a system for welding pipelines using an orbital welding technique with high purity argon as the purging gas flowing through the pipeline. U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,492 to Thode discloses another orbital welding process using an inert gas to protect the weld site from oxidation. The patent suggests adjusting the flow rate of the gas flow in response to pressure changes near the weld. Still another such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,776 to Buerkel, et al. This system applies a continuously variable pressure and vacuum within the pipes of the inert gas flowing through the piping network according to the position of the orbiting welding electrode and the spacing between the tip of the welding electrode and the molten weld puddle, in order to compensate for gravitational effects on the molten metal during the welding process.
These prior patents have disclosed techniques for controlling the nature of the welds produced. Industrial facilities often specify standards for welds, and conditions needed in order to attain compliance with the standard. For example, standards such as ANSI B31.3 specify acceptable weld contours and finishes, and defects must be removed and rewelded and re-examined for compliance. Moreover, welds are often cut out randomly for inspection, and if the welds do not comply with the standards, significant lengths of piping may have to be removed and replaced.
The pressure and flowrate of the inert gas flowing in the piping network are two important variables which contribute greatly to the quality of the welds produced in orbital welding systems. For example, a given flow rate must be maintained in order to adequately protect the weld site against oxidation. The actual flow rate is a function of several factors, but primarily the size of the pipe being welded. In addition, the pressure of the inert gas must be maintained within narrow limits during the welding process. While the flow rate may be set at the desired rate and will remain essentially constant, control of the pressure is more difficult in such welding processes for several reasons. For example, with each weld, the pipeline is increasing in length and thus internal volume. In addition, different lengths of pipe sections also provide different internal volumes. Further, for different diameters of pipe, different volumes are encountered. Thus, in order to maintain a uniform sweeping of a weld site by the purge gas, the flow rate of the purge gas may range from about 5 cfh (cubic feet per hour) to almost 600 cfh, depending on the size of the pipe, but the gas pressure must stay within a rather narrow, low pressure range of about 1-5 inches of water.
Leakage from the piping network during the welding is also a significant variable which causes variation in the pressure of the purge gas. For example, during the welding some gas is allowed to leak at the butt joint, but as the weld progresses around the pipe, the joint gradually closes until the leak is stopped. This causes a gradual increase in the pressure.
In a typical welding setup, to help maintain a constant pressure in the piping network, a restrictor is used at the end of the piping network remote from the weld, and a sensitive pressure gauge is used to control the pressure. A commonly used pressure gauge is known as a Magnehelic gauge, and is connected to a T-fitting generally downstream of the weld for monitoring the pressure. Process operators monitor changes in the pressure to enable them to adjust the flow of the purge gas with changes in the monitored pressure. Unfortunately, changing of the flow does not occur quickly enough in many cases to compensate for changing pressures. As a weld progresses around the pipe, any fluctuation in the pressure can also cause a sag in the weld upon pressure reduction, or a blowout of the weld upon pressure increase.

Method and device for controlling pipe welding


An information exchange apparatus has a processing unit, a wireless communication unit, a storage unit, a mainframe connection port and an identification module. The wireless communication unit has a transmitter and a receiver connected to the processing unit. The storage unit is connected to the processing unit and stores a device identification (ID) code, user information and data exchange records. The mainframe connection port is connected to the processing unit for connecting to an electronic device. The identification module is connected to the processing unit, has a secure memory and stores an identification procedure. The secure memory stores the device ID code and an identification key. The identification module allows the processing unit to access data in the storage unit and exchange data in the storage unit with other information exchange apparatus when the processing unit passes the identification procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and a system and, more particularly, to an information exchange apparatus that allows a user to share and exchange information with other users, an information exchange method applied to the information exchange apparatus and a managing system applied to the information exchange apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Today, people are living in a world that is full of new knowledge and information. People also spread new knowledge and information instead of retrieving it because of the popularity of the Internet. For example, online dating, e-commerce, web logs (blogs) or the like are popular information exchange services via the Internet. The information exchange services create virtual environments for people to exchange information or communicate with each other. However, people cannot really know each other in the virtual environments, because the virtual environments are not the real world. Shortcomings of information exchange services via the Internet such as online dating and e-commerce are described as follows.
Online dating is implemented on a website that has members and allows the members to contact and share personal information with each other over the Internet for developing friendships or romantic relationships by using computers or cell phones. However, because members do not meet each other face to face during online dating, some members may misrepresent themselves or provide fake information. This is why Internet fraud happens frequently. There is an inherent lack of trust between members.
E-commerce is also implemented on a website that provides products or services and allows users to buy or sell over the Internet. However, because the consumers cannot check interested products before purchase, it is not easy for consumers to pick out what they want. The consumers are also at a high risk of fraud, because E-commerce often requires the consumers to pay first. On the other hand, because E-commerce is a one-way service, the proprietor who provides products to consumers does not understand what the consumers are interested in. The proprietor of E-commerce cannot provide new products according to what the consumers are interested in.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an information exchange apparatus, method and managing system applied thereto to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Information exchange apparatus, method and managing system applied thereto


A method for separating a noble metal catalyst from a crude reaction product of a noble metal-catalyzed hydroformylation reaction which comprises: (a) contacting the crude reaction product under perstraction conditions with a membrane capable of allowing a substantial portion of unreacted olefin feed and hydroformylation reaction product to pass therethrough as permeate while retaining a substantial portion of the catalyst as retentate; (b) removing the permeate by sweeping it away from the membrane by means of a sweep stream which is the same as the olefin feed used in the hydroformylation reaction; and (c) retaining the catalyst as retentate.

Hydroformylation reactions involve the preparation of oxygenated organic compounds by the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen (synthesis gas) with carbon compounds containing olefinic unsaturation. The reaction is typically performed in the presence of a carbonylation catalyst and results in the formation of compounds, for example, aldehydes, which have one or more carbon atoms in their molecular structure than the starting olefinic feedstock. By way of example, higher alcohols may be produced by hydroformylation of commercial C.sub.6 -C.sub.12 olefin fractions to an aldehyde-containing oxonation product, which on hydrogenation yields the corresponding C.sub.7 -C.sub.13 saturated alcohols. The crude product of the hydroformylation reaction will contain catalyst, aldehydes, alcohols, unreacted olefin feed, synthesis gas and by-products.
A variety of transition metals catalyze the hydroformylation reaction, but only cobalt and rhodium carbonyl complexes are used in commercial oxo plants. The reaction is highly exothermic; the heat release is ca 125 kJ/mol (30 kcal/mol) The position of the formyl group in the aldehyde product depends upon the olefin type, the catalyst, the solvent, and the reaction conditions. Reaction conditions have some effect and, with an unmodified cobalt catalyst, the yield of straight chain product from a linear olefin is favored by higher carbon monoxide (CO) partial pressure. In the hydroformylation of terminal olefinic hydrocarbons, the use of a catalyst containing selected complexing ligands, e.g., tertiary phosphines, results in the predominant formation of the normal isomer.
In commercial operation, the aldehyde product used as an intermediate is converted by hydrogenation to an alcohol or by aldolization and hydrogenation to a higher alcohol. The aldol-hydrogenation route is used primarily for the manufacture of 2-ethylhexanol from propylene via n-butyraldehyde.
The hydroformylation reaction is catalyzed homogeneously by carbonyls of Group VIII metals but there are significant differences in their relative activities. Roelen, using a cobalt catalyst, discovered hydroformylation in 1938. Dicobalt octacarbonyl, Co.sub.2 (CO).sub.8, which is introduced either directly or formed in situ, is the primary conventional hydroformylation catalyst precursor. Using an unmodified cobalt catalyst, the ratio of linear to branched aldehyde is relatively low.
Introduction of an organophosphine ligand to form a complex, e.g., Co.sub.2 (CO).sub.6 [P(n--C.sub.4 H.sub.9).sub.3 ].sub.2, significantly improves the selectivity to the straight-chain alcohol.
Recent developments of low pressure rhodium catalyst systems have been the subject of a considerable body of patent art and literature, and rhodium-triphenyl phosphine systems have been widely, and successfully, used commercially for the hydroformylation of propylene feedstocks to produce butyraldehyde.
The first commercial process to employ a rhodium-modified catalyst was developed by Union Carbide, Davy Powergas, and Johnson Matthey. In this application, the complexed rhodium catalyst is dissolved in excess ligand and the reaction is run at relatively low pressures and temperatures as compared to other processes.
A recent process commercialization has been that of Rhone-Poulenc and Ruhrchemie which produces butyraldehyde from propylene but the ligand is a sulfonated triphenylphosphine and is utilized as a water-soluble sodium salt. Turnover rates are less than in an all-organic system, but the normal to iso ratios are high and the catalyst may be separated easily from the reaction product by separation of the aqueous layer containing the catalyst and the organic layer which constitutes the product.
In the formation of linear aldehydes using a ligand-modified rhodium-catalyzed homogenous process, the reactor comprises the rhodium complex catalyst, excess triphenylphosphine and a mixture of product aldehydes and condensation by-products. The product aldehyde may be recovered from the mixture by volatilization directly from the reactor or by distillation in a subsequent step. The catalyst either remains in or is recycled to the reactor. However, the complex catalyst and triphenylphosphine ligand are slowly deactivated and eventually the spent catalyst is removed for recovery of rhodium and reconversion to the active catalyst. This process, although effective for lower molecular weight aldehyde production, is not favored for higher molecular weight aldehydes. Higher molecular weight aldehydes have higher boiling points (i.e., distillation temperatures) and catalyst deactivation is accelerated.
In some cases, such as where the products of the reaction have relatively high boiling points or where the olefin feed is not sufficiently soluble in water to permit satisfactory reaction rates, neither the process where the products are removed from the catalyst by distillation or stripping nor where the products are decanted from an aqueous catalyst solution may be utilized successfully. In such cases, it may be advantageous to utilize an aqueous medium to contain the catalyst and add a surfactant to enhance phase contacting so as to improve rate and selectivity to the desired products. This type of process is called "Phase Transfer Catalysis." However, when a surfactant is added, some carry-over of the noble metal into the organic phase at the conclusion of the process often results.
The present inventors have discovered that when olefins are satisfactorily hydroformylated in the presence of water-soluble Group VIII noble metal-ligand complex catalysts, the catalyst can be recovered quantitatively from a crude reaction product which includes the olefinic feed, aldehydes and alcohols by employing membrane separation either internal or external to the hydroformylation reactor.
A variety of membrane separation processes have also been tested for separating high boiling point products from an oil soluble catalyst complex. Attempts have been made to create large catalyst complexes which could be separated by ultrafiltration. In one case, high molecular weight phosphine ligands were used to form a homogeneous catalyst complex. High molecular weight polymeric phosphine ligands are synthesized by reacting polyvinylchloride, polychloroprene or brominated polystyrene with lithium diphenylphosphide at 20.degree. C to 25.degree. C. These homogeneous catalysts containing bulky ligands are thought to be more easily separated from the reaction products by ultrafiltration. See Imyanitov et al., All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Petrochemical Processes, Neftekhimiva, 32, No. 3:200-7 (May-June 1992). The process described herein uses a smaller catalyst complex which is not attached to a polymeric backbone.
It has been known to use membranes to separate catalysts from an aqueous solution. An example is set forth in European Patent No. 0 263 953, published on Aug. 29, 1986 (assigned to Ruhrchemie Aktiengesellschaft), which discloses a process for separating rhodium complex compounds, which contain water-soluble organic phosphines as ligands, from aqueous solutions in which excess phosphine ligand and, if necessary, other components are also dissolved, is characterized by the fact that the aqueous solution is subjected to a membrane separation process. According to this process, volatile organic substances are separated from the solution prior to conducting the membrane separation process. A typical membrane for use in this process is a cellulose acetate membrane. This process only involves the separation of water-soluble ligands and noble metal catalyst from an aqueous solution. As such, this separation process does not pertain to the separation of a water-soluble noble metal catalyst and a water-soluble ligand from an organic-aqueous emulsion, dispersion or suspension produced from a hydroformylation process.
Another patent which utilizes cellulose acetate, silicone rubber, polyolefin or polyamide membranes in the separation of catalysts from high boiling by-products of the hydroformylation reaction is Great Britain Patent No. 1312076, granted on May 15, 1970. According to this patent the aldehydes produced during the hydroformylation process are continuously withdrawn as an overhead vapor stream. The liquid stream containing the heavy by-products with the catalyst is passed over a membrane wherein approximately 78-94.3% of the catalyst is retained and the heavy by-products permeated. This is an unacceptably low level of catalyst retention which is overcome by the process of the present invention.
In like manner, Great Britain Patent No. 1432561, granted on Mar. 27, 1972, (assigned to Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.) discloses a process for the hydroformylation of olefins which comprises reacting an olefin at elevated temperature and pressure with CO and H.sub.2 in the presence of a compound of a group VIII metal and a biphyllic ligand of a trivalent P, As or Sb to give a crude liquid hydroformylation product containing an aldehyde and/or an alcohol, separating the aldehyde and/or alcohol from the crude product and leaving a liquid, bringing the liquid after separation of the Group VIII metal compound and free from aldehyde and alcohol under reverse osmosis conditions into contact with one side of a silicone rubber semi-permeable membrane in which the polymer chains have been at least partly crosslinked by gamma radiation, whereby the liquid retained by the membrane contains a higher concentration of Group VIII metal compounds and/or biphyllic ligand than the original liquid.
In an article by Gosser et al., entitled "Reverse Osmosis in Homogeneous Catalysis," Journal of Molecular Catalysis, Vol. 2 (1977), pp. 253-263, a selectively permeable polyimide membrane was used to separate soluble transition metal complexes from reaction mixtures by reverse osmosis. For example, separation of cobalt and rhodium complexes from hydroformylation products of 1-pentene. That is, a solution of 0.50 grams of RhH(CO)(PPh.sub.3).sub.3 in 40 ml of benzene and 10 ml of 1-pentene was stirred at 50.degree. C. with a CO/H.sub.2 mixture at ca. 4 atm pressure until no further pressure drop occurred. The pentene was completely converted to aldehydes according to proton nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) analysis. The solution was permeated through a polyimide membrane under 68 atm nitrogen pressure. The permeate (4.5 grams passed in 2 min.) showed only 9% of the original rhodium concentration by X-ray fluorescence.
The permeation rate of rhodium as set forth above, i.e., 9%, is considered unacceptable. The rhodium catalyst should be retained in an amount of greater than 99% to be a commercially feasible process.
Another example of the use of membranes to separate metal catalysts from hydroformylation products is set forth in Dutch Patent No. 8700881, published on Nov. 1, 1988. The method disclosed therein relates to one which improves the efficiency of membrane separation of hydroformylation products from expensive organometallic catalyst containing reaction mixtures. In Dutch Patent No. 8700881 a polydimethylsiloxane membrane having a thickness of 7 microns applied to a Teflon.RTM. support was used in the separation of a reaction mixture containing C.sub.9-C.sub.15 alcohols, a homogeneous catalyst system comprising an organometallic complex of a transition metal from Group VIII or VIIa or Va of the Periodic Table, e.g., a tricarbonyl (triphenyl-phosphine) cobalt catalyst, and 40% low-viscosity lubricating oil (an antiswelling or de-swelling agent). At a flow of 133 kg/m.sup.2 -day, the cobalt contents in the feed, retentate, and permeate were 600, 910, and 18 ppm, verses 840, 1930, and 160 ppm, respectively, for a mixture without the de-swelling agent. This process is directed to the separation of product from a reaction mixture containing a homogeneous catalyst system by means of a membrane. The ligands disclosed in Dutch Patent No. 8700881 are all organic soluble ligands, e.g., triphenylphosphine, tri-n-alkylphosphine or acetyl acetonate. Critical to the process of Dutch Patent No. 8700881 is the addition of a de-swelling agent to the reaction mixture which assists in the separation of the products from the reaction mixture.
Each of the aforementioned processes for removing metal catalysts from crude hydroformylation reaction products are both costly in terms of unrecovered catalyst and, as such, would require further expensive treatment of the streams to recover catalyst.
The present inventors have been examining whether rhodium separation from hydroformylation products can be performed with a membrane when the catalyst complexes are formed using hydrocarbon or oil soluble phosphine ligands in the presence of an atmospheric mixture of CO and H.sub.2 and also whether such a separation can be effected using water-soluble phosphine ligands at higher than atmospheric pressures of CO and H.sub.2. For the organic-soluble system, they have discovered that alkylated phosphine ligands together with dense nonpolar polymeric membranes are capable of substantially retarding the rhodium loss during the separation of the rhodium catalyst from the hydroformylation reaction products. It was also discovered that triphenylphosphine ligands used in conjunction with a dense polymeric, nonpolar membrane also substantially retards rhodium catalyst loss, although not as well as alkylated phosphines. Optimum operating conditions for the organic-soluble system involve performing the separations in an atmosphere of CO and H.sub.2 each with partial pressures less than one atmosphere.
For the water-soluble system the present inventors have discovered that rhodium catalysts may be separated from the reaction products using a variety of ligands and a variety of hydrophobic membranes.
In processes which produce high molecular weight products, it may not be possible to provide the driving force needed to drive the products through the membrane by pervaporation due to the need for high temperatures and high vacuum and thus perstraction would be desirable.
Perstraction typically involves the selective dissolution of particular components contained in a mixture into the membrane, the diffusion of those components through the membrane and the removal of the diffused components from the downstream side of the membrane by use of a liquid sweep stream.
For example, in perstractive separations of aromatics from saturates in petroleum or chemical streams (particularly heavy cat naphtha streams) the aromatic molecules present in the feedstream dissolve into the membrane film due to similarities between the membrane solubility parameter and those of the aromatic species in the feed. The aromatics then permeate (diffuse) through the membrane and are swept away by a sweep liquid which is low in aromatic content. This keeps the concentration of aromatics at the permeate side of the membrane film low and maintains the concentration gradient which is responsible for the permeation of the aromatics through the membrane.
The sweep liquid should be low in aromatic content so as not to itself decrease the concentration gradient. The sweep liquid is preferably a saturated hydrocarbon liquid with a boiling point much lower or much higher than that of the permeated aromatics. This is to facilitate separation, as by simple distillation. Suitable sweep liquids are C.sub.3 to C.sub.6 saturated hydrocarbons and lube basestocks (C.sub.15 -C.sub.20).
The perstraction process is run at any convenient temperature, preferably as low as possible.
The choice of pressure is not critical since the perstraction process is not dependent on pressure, but on the ability of the aromatic components in the feed to dissolve into and migrate through the membrane under a concentration driving force. Consequently, any convenient pressure may be employed, the lower the better to avoid undesirable compaction, if the membrane is supported on a porous backing, or rupture of the membrane, if it is not.
If C.sub.3 or C.sub.4 sweep liquids are used at 25.degree. C. or above in liquid state, the pressure must be increased to keep them in the liquid phase.
A disadvantage of conventional perstraction methods, however, is the need to provide a step to remove the perstraction sweep stream that has permeated (diffused) to the reaction side from the permeate side of the membrane.
The present inventors have developed a method which overcomes the problems associated with diffusion of the sweep stream and contamination of the reactants and products located on the reactor side of the membrane. This method uses the hydroformylation feedstock, e.g., olefins, as the sweep stream. Thus, it is also possible that the hydroformylation feed may be supplied to the reactor, in addition to the conventional feed method, by diffusion of the sweep stream through the membrane such that it is delivered to the hydroformylation reactor together with the retentate recycled to the reactor after contacting the membrane separator.
The present invention also provides many additional advantages which shall become apparent as described below.

Perstraction sweep stream for a membrane reactor


A mask plate for fabricating a display panel and an application thereof are provided. The mask plate is configured to vapor-deposit a metal cathode layer of the display panel and includes a first blocking region and a first opening region disposed in the first blocking region, wherein a second blocking region is disposed in the first opening region, and the second blocking region is provided with a plurality of second opening regions spaced apart from each other.

With continuous development of mobile phone industry, mobile phone display technology has also continuously developed, and functions on display screens have also increased. Present mobile phone displays have been popularized by camera modules. Since a camera device needs to be placed away from the display screen, a region available for placing the display screen is reduced, which is contrary to the development trend of increasing screen-to-body ratio of current smartphones. The camera device is an indispensable component of today's mobile phones, and how to integrate a camera with the display screen to maximize screen ratio is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.
At present, there is a higher screen-to-body ratio requirement on the market. Although there is no real product listed, each provider is already developing. The development idea is to dig a hole on screens, place a front camera, hide a camera module in the display panels, and in order to ensure that camera module can receive more light, it is necessary to have high light transmittance and uniformity requirements of laminated layers of display panels.
In an under-screen camera technology, a special design will be made above the camera to increase transmittance of this region, such as reducing pixel density (pixels per inch, PPI) of this region and resizing some metal film layers to form some array of light-transmission regions. In conventional art, a material of cathode layers in active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display devices is generally a magnesium-silver alloy, which transmittance is low, merely about 40% to 50%. The cathode layer is formed by vapor deposition on an entire surface using an open mask plate, and an entire display screen is fully covered. Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a mask plate configured to vapor-deposit the cathode layer in the conventional art, which includes a first opening region 100 corresponding to the entire display screen. The existence of the cathode layer is one of the most important factors affecting transmittance of a camera region.
Therefore, it is indeed necessary to develop a new type of mask plate for fabricating display panels to overcome deficiencies in the conventional art.

Mask plate for fabricating display panel and application thereof

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.