A mixed refrigerant comprising one member selected from R-23, R-116 and a mixture thereof and one member selected from propane, butane and a mixture thereof. The mixed refrigerant allows cooling the inside of a freezer to a super low temperature, particularly to a temperature of xe2x88x9260xc2x0 C. or lower, with a compressor of a conventional freezer. The mixed refrigerant not only has a low boiling point similar to those of R-23 and R-116, but also can be liquefied in a room temperature surrounding due to propane or butane contained therein, and further has good miscibility with a lubricating oil or the like so that a freezer unit using the refrigerant is free from the problem of clogging therein. Additionally, the mixed refrigerant has no ability to deplete ozone and is significantly low with respect to greenhouse effect. The refrigerant can be liquefied by a pressure within the range of practical ability of a compressor in a room temperature surrounding and allows achieving with ease a temperature inside a freezer of xe2x88x9260xc2x0 C. or lower by means of a freezer unit using one gas and one compressor.

The present invention relates to a working fluid used as a refrigerant in refrigerators and for other purposes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a refrigerant for providing an ultra-low temperature which does not possess any ozone destruction capability, thereby enabling to notably inhibit the influence thereof on the atmosphere of the earth (facilitating the reduction of the xe2x80x98green-housexe2x80x99 effect), and which can be easily used at the same capacity as that of a compressor used in conventional refrigeration rooms or chambers.
Recently, refrigeration rooms at a ultra-low cooling temperature of less than xe2x88x9250xc2x0 C. to xe2x88x9260xc2x0 C., which is lower than conventional refrigeration rooms, have been used with development of the biotechnology and food transportation systems, and demand of such refrigeration rooms are increasing.
In the field of biotechnology, cells, biological tissues and other biological substances have to be stably stored for an extended time of period at the above-mentioned ultra-low temperature to ensure their good survival activity rate after thawing. To satisfy this requirement, the refrigeration rooms used for cells and other biological substances need to have highly increased refrigerating power, along with a high reliability and a low maintenance cost. Further, in order to enable biotechnology to be applied in hospitals and other institutions in addition to application in laboratories, the refrigeration rooms have to be constructed simply, at low cost; and also need to be easy to operate.
Similar problems also occur in food transportation systems etc. To maintain freshness of the food for a long period, the refrigeration rooms used in the transportation system must have high refrigerating power without any problems such as system failure, along with easy maintenance and low operation cost.
Under these circumstances, it is preferable to provide refrigeration rooms in which a refrigerant is repeatedly used in refrigeration cycles. However, refrigerants capable of providing an ultra-low cooling temperature of less than xe2x88x9250xc2x0 C. can not be easily liquefied at room temperature, because the critical pressure thereof is generally increased with the reduction of the standard boiling point, and have a low critical temperature.
Hitherto, a refrigerator unit, based on a multistage cooling cycle, using two or more refrigerants having different boiling points has been used as a refrigerator for ultra-low temperature. Namely, by using a refrigerant having a high boiling point capable of being liquefied at room temperature for a refrigeration process that liquefies a refrigerant having a lower boiling point, an ultra-low temperature can be obtained.
A multistage cooling cycle-based refrigerator unit is illustrated in, for example, FIG. 1 in which two types of refrigerants are used and two sets of refrigerator units are operated with two compressors at two stages, respectively.
In the illustrated refrigerator room, a first refrigerant is compressed in a high temperature side-positioned compressor 1 and the gaseous compressed refrigerant is subjected to heat radiation and cooling in a high temperature side-positioned condenser 3 provided with a fan 2, thereby producing a liquefied first refrigerant. The liquefied first refrigerant is guided through a capillary tube 5 to an outer tube 11 of the double tubed heat exchanger 10. After the vaporized first refrigerant in the outer tube 11 is used to cool a second refrigerant in an inner tube 12 of the heat exchanger 10, the first refrigerant is returned to the high temperature side-positioned compressor 1. In the above process, the reference numerals 6 and 7 represent a drier and a liquid separator (accumulator), respectively.
A second refrigerant, after being compressed in a low temperature side-positioned compressor 20, is led into an inner tube 12 of the heat exchanger 10, and is cooled and liquefied with the first refrigerant. The liquefied second refrigerant is guided through a capillary tube 15 to a low temperature side-positioned evaporator 30. In the evaporator 30, the second refrigerant is vaporized under a reduced pressure to thereby cool the interior of the refrigerator room. The used second refrigerant is returned again to the compressor 20. In the above process, the reference numerals 26 and 27 represent a drier and an oil separator for removing mist-like oil, respectively.
In the above illustrated refrigeration system, it becomes possible to provide an ultra-low temperature which has a system power and capacity comparable to conventional refrigeration rooms. However, because it is constructed from two sets of refrigerators, the total size of the refrigeration system is increased and has a complicated structure, thereby causing difficulty in maintenance, substantially increasing the cost of the refrigeration room.
Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a single compressor multicycle refrigeration system in which a mixture of two or more refrigerants having different properties such as different boiling points is used in combination with a single compressor has been researched.
In the illustrated refrigeration system, three types of refrigerants are previously mixed to obtain a mixed refrigerant. The mixed refrigerant is compressed in a compressor 40 provided with a fan 2, followed by being subjected to heat radiation in a condenser 41 to thereby liquefy a first refrigerant having the highest critical temperature.
The liquefied first refrigerant is then separated in a liquid separator 45 to remove and recover therefrom an mist-like oil contaminated by the compressor 40 and return the oil to the compressor 40. The separated first refrigerant is vaporized in a heat exchanger 50 to simultaneously cool and liquefy a gaseous second refrigerant having a lower critical temperature than that of the first refrigerant. The second refrigerant liquefied in the heat exchanger 50 is separated in a liquid separator 46 and then vaporized in a heat exchanger 51 in which a third refrigerant having the lowest critical temperature is cooled and liquefied with the vaporized second refrigerant. The third refrigerant liquefied in the heat exchanger 51 is vaporized in an evaporator 55. The thus the produced vapor of the third refrigerant is used to cool the interior of the refrigeration room to a predetermined ultra-low temperature.
In the above refrigeration system, the first to third refrigerants vaporized in the heat exchangers 50 and 51 and the evaporator 55 are returned through a common return pipe 61 to the compressor 40.
Using the illustrated refrigeration system, it becomes possible to reduce the amount of machinery utilized in the refrigeration room because only one compressor is included therein. However, contrary to this advantage, the flow circuit for circulating the three refrigerants is complicated and thus the total size of the refrigeration room is unavoidably increased along increased difficulty of the maintenance.
In addition to the improvement of the refrigeration system, an improvement of the refrigerant used as the working liquid therein has been also made. Hitherto, fluorohydrocarbons which are generally referred to as xe2x80x9cflonsxe2x80x9d have been used as refrigerants. However, due to recent evidence proving that flon gas can cause destruction of the ozone layer adding to global warming, such flons are prohibited from being used as refrigerants. Namely, use of xe2x80x9cspecified flonsxe2x80x9d capable of causing notable ozone destruction and flons capable of adding substantially to general global warming can not be used under established regulations. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a novel refrigerant which has zero ozone destruction properties and a negligible effect on global warming.
At present, many types of the refrigerants which can be used without causing any adverse effect on the environment and which can show excellent properties comparable to those of the conventional flons have been proposed as an alternative to the above-described specified flons and other flons.
For example, a two component or three component refrigerant including perfluoroethane, ethane and trifluoromethane along with 1 to 10% by weight of propane and butane having a good affinity with lubricating oil has been disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-186765. This reference discloses that the return of the lubricating oil to the compressor can be accelerated with use of propane and butane, however, the cooling temperature and the pressure applied during the liquefication process is not taught.
Further, a mixed refrigerant including trifluoromethane and ethane or hexafluoromethane and ethane, and having a reduced standard boiling point of xe2x88x9290xc2x0 C. or less has been disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-48563. However, due to a low critical temperature and a high critical pressure, the mixed refrigerant can not be used in conventionally single cycle refrigeration rooms.
Furthermore, the applicant of this application has suggested a refrigerant having an ozone destruction capability of zero level which inhibits global warming in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. 5-306391 and 7-48562. JPP""391 teaches the use of a refrigerant mixture of dihydrotetrafluoroehane (CH2-FCF3; generally referred to as xe2x80x9cHFC-134axe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cR-134axe2x80x9d) and trifluoromethane (CHF3; generally referred to as xe2x80x9cHFC-23xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cR-23xe2x80x9d), and JPP""562 teaches use of a refrigerant mixture of dihydrotetrafluoroehane (R-134a) and perfluoroethane (C2F6; generally referred to as xe2x80x9cFC-116xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cR-116xe2x80x9d).
When additives such as propane, butane or other hydrocarbons are added to refrigerants described in JPP""391 and ""562, it becomes possible to reduce the internal temperature of the refrigeration room to less than xe2x88x9250xc2x0 C. at a discharge pressure of about 20 Kg/cm2, which can be applied effectively to conventional single cycle refrigeration rooms. Therefore, the above-mentioned refrigerants can be advantageously used in refrigerators and other devices; however, to satisfy the above-described requirements for refrigeration in the field of biotechnology, food transportation systems etc., it is more desirable to provide an improved refrigerant capable of ensuring a remarkably reduced temperature of the refrigeration room which is significantly lower than xe2x88x9250xc2x0 C.
In view of the above-described problems of the prior art refrigerants, one object of the present invention is to provide a working fluid which can ensure an ozone destruction capability of zero level and inhibited global warming properties which can achieve a satisfactory ultra-low temperature by means of conventional compressors. Particularly, the present invention is directed to provide a refrigerant which can easily realize a refrigeration ambient temperature of less than xe2x88x9260xc2x0 C., when the refrigerant is used in the conventional single cycle refrigeration rooms.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
In order to achieve the above mentioned object, there is provided a refrigerant for providing an ultra-low temperature in which the refrigerant includes trifluoromethane (CHF3), perfluoroethane (C2F6), and a conventional fuel selected from the following fuels: propane, butane, or a mixture of propane and butane.
Preferably, the trifluoromethane and the perfluoroethane are contained in a mixing ratio of 70% to 15% by weight of trifluoromethane, and 30% to 85% by weight of perfluoroethane.
Preferably, the propane is included by an amount 55% to 95% by weight, the butane is included by an amount 50% to 90% by weight, or the mixture of propane and butane is included by an amount 35% to 70% by weight.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant for providing an ultra-low temperature, in which the refrigerant comprises trifluoromethane (CHF3), propane and butane.
Preferably, the refrigerant comprises 60% to 15% by weight of trifluoromethane, 16% to 34% by weight of propane and 24% to 51% by weight of butane.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant for providing an ultra-low temperature, in which the refrigerant comprises trifluoromethane (CHF3) and butane.
Preferably, the refrigerant comprises 50% to 15% by weight of trifluoromethane and 50% to 85% by weight of butane.
According to another aspect of the-present invention, there is provided a refrigerant for providing an ultra-low temperature, in which the refrigerant comprises perfluoroethane (C2F6), propane and butane.
Preferably, the refrigerant comprises 60% to 20% by weight of perfluoroethane, 16% to 32% by weight of propane, and 24% to 48% by weight of butane.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a refrigerant for providing an ultra-low temperature, in which the refrigerant comprises perfluoroethane (C2F6) and butane.
Preferably, the refrigerant comprises 55% to 20% by weight of perfluoroethane and 45% to 80% by weight of butane.

Refrigerant for providing ultra-low temperature

c/o Dairei Co., Ltd., 19-4, Yushima 3-chome


A method of printing comprising setting a pixel black value of K for an ink limit and identifying each of black dots of a first subset of black dots having pixel black value K greater than the ink limit, and pixel color value of cyan, magenta, and yellow equal to zero. The method further comprises rendering only K for a pixel value for the first subset of black dots and replacing each of black dots of a second subset of black dots of a halftoned bit map for a predetermined area with a process black dot. The method still further comprises adding a non-black dot to each of black dots of a third subset of black dots of the bit-mapped data, wherein the halftoned bit map is generated by halftoning continuous tone data; wherein the black dots of the third subset comprises a percentage of all the black dots that tends to generally increase as a ratio of black coverage to total coverage in the predetermined area increases; wherein the first, second, and third subset comprises black dots that are mutually exclusive; and, printing the bit map.

The subject disclosure is generally directed to reducing artifacts and banding in color printing.
Color printers typically employ a plurality of inks of different primary colors to generate a spectrum of colors. For example, many color printers use four ink colors: cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K). Color images are formed on a receiving substrate or medium by placing combinations of zero or more dots of C, M, Y or K ink at each pixel location. However, since dot placement can be less than ideal, various artifacts such as banding can occur.
On solid ink printers, jet to jet variation can be the main cause of banding. Differences in dot position errors between the jets cause black dots to overlap adjacent color dots more in some printed columns than others. For the locations where there is more black overlapping, the color will lose more chroma. Different amounts of black overlapping produce different colors, resulting in vertical colored bands.

Color printing reducing artifacts and banding by rendering black dots, replacing dots with process black, and adding non-black dots for different subsets of black dots


A control device for an arc furnace includes an arc furnace control module for controlling the arc furnace and a flicker module for determining a flicker value in a grid supplying the arc furnace, wherein the arc furnace control module is adapted for controlling the arc furnace based on the flicker value and wherein the arc furnace control module and the flicker module are integrated into one structural component.

Electrical arc furnace systems provide a power source of AC or DC voltage to at least one electrode, which generates arcs for heating the furnace. Usually, for optimizing the arc furnace process, the power supplied to the electrodes is controlled. For example, the position of the electrode may be controlled for adjusting the voltage (via the length of the arc). Furthermore, the current through the electrode may be controlled with a converter.
Heavy load changes of the electrical arc furnace may cause disturbances on the grid, the power is drawn from. Voltage fluctuations visible as flicker are the results. With Static Var Compensations (SVC) connected to the disturbed grid or by using current control equipment like rectifiers or thyristor stacks to stabilize the electrical arc, the flicker may be reduced. To optimize control, a so-called flicker-meter may be used to calculate a short-term and a long-term flicker value. The long-term and short-term flicker value are taken to improve and to tune the arc furnace control and to decrease the flicker on the grid.
The requirements of flicker measurement equipment are defined in the international electro-technical standard IEC 61000-4-15.
DE10,2012/217,232 A1 describes a method how flicker caused by an arc furnace may be reduced based on state determinations in a starting phase of the melting process.
WO2016/19861 A1 relates to flicker control for an electric arc furnace, which comprises a flicker meter, which may be included in a supervisory controller. The flicker meter may output signals according to Standard IEC 61000-4-15.
WO03/034566 A1 relates to a control system for voltage stabilization in an arc furnace, where a flicker meter is adapted for weighting fluctuations between 0.1 to 15 fluctuations per second.
WO98/27476 A1 describes flicker controllers for monitoring arc furnaces, which are based on control of a voltage source converter, which is connected to the point of common coupling.

Integrated flicker control for arc furnace


The present invention provides a transformable toy capable of being transformed from a doll robot toy into a compact figure. Each of leg sections 11 of the doll robot toy 1 has a knee-position connecting mechanism 23 for connecting a thigh section 11a and a shin section 11b and an ankle-position connecting mechanism 27 for connecting the shin section 11b and a foot section 11c. The knee-position connecting mechanism 23 is constructed so as to allow a calf portion of the shin section 11b to be placed adjacent to the rear side of the thigh section 11a. The ankle-position connecting mechanism 27 is constructed so as to allow a sole portion of the foot section 11c to be placed adjacent to the back side of the body section 5 of the doll robot toy.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-10442 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-28933 etc disclose conventional arrangements of transformable toys of which figure is transformed from a figure of a vehicle or an animal into a doll robot toy. Various kinds of transformable toys are sold in the market. In these conventional transformable toys, in order to transform the figure, a various kinds of joint structures are employed.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10442/1997
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 28933/1997


This disclosure is directed to an inexpensive, in-store display assembly for being engagable with the edge of a gondola-type shelving system. Disclosed are several embodiments for a vertically suspendable display panel featuring a C-configured channel for engaging the shelf edge. A further feature of the unit is a perpendicularly projecting display member for removably attaching to the panel edge.

Merchandising, or point-of-sale in store displays are commonly used to attract customers within a store to a specific product or location in the store in order to entice the customer to purchase a given product or service. Such promotional means typically may take the form of graphic displays, such as banners, headpieces, and other printed materials suspended adjacent, or attached to the product display units. Often these graphic displays cannot be readily assembled in the store by store personnel, or are self-standing units which can interfere both with customer flow or with the display of the products themselves. Typically, these known promotional displays are made for a single graphic item only, and must be discarded or removed when the new material or promotional item is advertised.
A need has thus arisen for a portable and inexpensive system for providing a convenient and prominent device for displaying in-store promotional information. The prior art, as reflected in a number of patents, offers some convenient apparatus for identifying and/or promoting products in a merchandising environment. The following are several exemplary prior art systems developed for product promotion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,183, to Greenberger, discloses an integral clip assembly for holding a graphic display that would be projected laterally from a store shelf into the aisle for easy viewing by shoppers frequenting the store. The clip assembly comprises a generally J-shaped body adapted for receiving a sign or marker, and opposing flanges for securing the clip to a shelf molding, which itself includes an upper and lower flange. The assembly is substantially resilient so that it may easily be snapped within the shelf molding. A clip portion, formed by the loop of the J-shaped body, is also resilient to provide a firm grip upon a sign or marker positioned therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,928, to Soporowski, discloses a sign holder which is slidably mounted on a retail store shelf, or other supports having top and bottom channels, in which a horizontal graphic display may be received. A preferred embodiment thereof includes the structure needed to slidably mount the sign holder within spaced, open longitudinal cylindrical recesses with parallel walls extending along the opening of the recess, and extending necks with longitudinal cylindrical projections at the end. The projections are receivable in the recesses with the parallel walls being the necks so that there is little pivoting between the sign and its support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,768, to Goldstein, discloses a self mounting, advertising device for retail sales promotion and advertising. The device includes a placard to be suspended from a shelf, having an elongate card which is folded to form a front panel and a side panel. The side panel is positioned substantially at right angles to the front panel and its upper edge abuts against the shelf when suspended from the front edge thereof by a suspender strap. The side panel supports the front panel at a predetermined angle relative to the vertical. The side panel may bear advertising indicia thereon which is visible when viewed from the side, and may be supported in its angular displacement from the front panel by a return panel which traverses the distance between the distal end of the side panel and the reverse side of the card.
The present invention provides an improvement to the in-store display systems of the prior art by the provision of a snap engagable display panel having a perpendicular extension therefrom that allows for the angular viewing thereof that can attract and guide potential customers from a distance down an aisle, for example, to the displayed products or merchandise.


The present invention includes an n+ type substrate, a drift epitaxial layer formed on the n+ type substrate and having a lower concentration of impurity than the n+ type substrate, a Schottky electrode formed on the drift epitaxial layer, and a PI formed as an insulating film by covering at least an end of the Schottky electrode and an end and a side surface of the drift epitaxial layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silicon carbide semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the silicon carbide semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Background Art
As compared to silicon (Si), a silicon carbide (hereinafter, SiC) semiconductor is generally known to have a larger breakdown electric field, band gap, and coefficient of thermal conductivity. Because of a large band gap and coefficient of thermal conductivity, a silicon carbide semiconductor has excellent heat resistance, which enables operation at high temperatures and simple cooling. Furthermore, because of a large breakdown electric field, a silicon carbide semiconductor is easily made into a thin type and has a low loss, which enables operation at high temperatures.
In the design of the SiC Schottky Barrier Diode (hereinafter, SiC-SBD) and SiC-MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor), the breakdown electric field is 2.8 MV/cm when SiC is used, as compared to 0.3 MV/cm when silicon is used. If the thickness and the termination structure of the drift epitaxial layer, which is an active layer, is decided by taking advantage of this characteristic, then for example, the drift epitaxial layer may be around 1/10 of a case where silicon is used, if SiC having a breakdown electric field of approximately 10 times of silicon is used.
A kV-class high voltage SiC-SBD is configured by forming a Schottky electrode on the n-type SiC epitaxial layer.
In this structure, because an electric field can easily become concentrated on the periphery of the junction surface between the epitaxial layer and the Schottky electrode, a p-type termination structure needs to be formed for alleviating the electric field concentration, on the surface layer of the periphery of the junction surface (Schottky junction surface).
Generally, when forming the p-type termination structure, a method in which a p-type impurity, such as Al (aluminum) and B (boron), is ion-implanted into the n-type epitaxial layer, and then activation annealing is performed by high-temperature heat treatment at a temperature of 1500° C. or more, is used. Next, back polishing and back ohmic formation are performed, and a Schottky junction is formed on the surface. Additionally, aluminum of approximately 5 μm thickness is generally formed as a pad during wire bonding (WB). Conventionally, following this operation, a polyimide (hereinafter, PI) requiring cure heating of approximately 350° C. is formed as a passivation film, and finally, rear metallization of Ni/Au is performed to complete the wafer processing.
When a wafer test (hereinafter, WT) and a chip test (hereinafter, CT) need to be performed for evaluating the electrical properties of the element, then after performing WT, the element is segmented into individual chips by dicing, and CT is performed. The aforementioned one is the general process order.
The PI is formed so as to cover each of the surface electrode ends other than the surface electrode pad opening, the surface electrode end other than the dicing line opening, and the vicinity of the termination structure.
During normal PI formation, a kind of groove formation is not performed at the location corresponding to the chip end of the substrate surface, and therefore, the PI is not formed on the side walls of individual elements.
By contrast, the below-mentioned case example has been confirmed as a technique for forming a passivation film of the PI, for example, on the side walls of individual elements for any purpose.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-012206 describes a method of dividing a substrate in which a GaN crystalline layer is formed on a sapphire substrate, into chips, and more particularly describes in detail the chipping measures.
As regards the method of manufacturing the GaN element, measures against chipping in the cleavage and increased cutting amount during dicing are described. Furthermore, a process of covering the side walls inside the concave portion for electrodes with a passivation film is described.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-012206 describes that the depth of the groove that is to be formed is preferred to be 1 to 100 μm, and particularly preferred to be in the range of 1 to 50 μm, and breaking the formed groove in the end is not considered.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-183282 describes a method of simplifying the extraction of rejected chips and enabling the protection of chips during the manufacturing of modules by providing an insulating frame called a chip frame. According to the method, a smaller size and lower inductance can also be achieved.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-224641 describes a structure in which a conductor layer is formed on the entire end surface.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-064028 describes a method of forming a concave portion of 0.1 μm or more and 10 μm or less by laser scribing during the manufacturing of a silicon solar cell.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-156658 describes a structure having a concave portion on the element back surface with the purpose of reducing the on-resistance while retaining the substrate strength.
As described above, by taking advantage of the characteristic that the breakdown electric field is 2.8 MV/cm when SiC is used, as compared to the 0.3 MV/cm when silicon is used, the thickness or the termination structure of the drift epitaxial layer, which is an active layer, is decided.
When SiC having a breakdown electric field is approximately 10 times of a case where silicon is used, the drift epitaxial layer may be around 1/10 of a case where silicon is used. Even the dimension in the surface direction of the termination structure may be around 1/10 of a case where silicon is used, if an SiC material is used.
An electric discharge might occur during the evaluation of the electrical properties depending on the electric field concentration brought on as a result of the shape of the chip end, as well as the state of the chip affected by the ambient atmosphere.
Due to segmentation into individual chips, the electric discharge occurs easily in the individual elements with exposed side walls (side surfaces) on which the PI is not formed, which gives rise to the problem of occurrence of an electric discharge during CT even when the electric discharge does not occur during WT.

Silicon carbide semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof


A program translating apparatus is composed of a translation unit 103 and a link unit 108. The translation unit 103 includes a determination unit 105 which detects the stack size to be needed for each subroutine included in a source program to be translated into a machine instruction sequence and the name of a register to be retrieved in the process of each subroutine. The determination unit 105 then stores the stack size and the name detected into a file together with the machine instruction sequence. The link unit 108 includes the following units: A branch instruction detection unit 109 detects a branch instruction from the machine instruction sequence when machine instruction sequences stored in different files are linked each other. A file detection unit 110 and an acquisition unit 111 retrieve the stack size and the register name from the file which has the branch target subroutine. A subroutine call instruction generation unit 112 replaces the branch instruction with an instruction which consequently executes a branch operation, a stack reservation, and register retrieval.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a program translating apparatus which translates source programs into machine instruction sequences and links the machine instruction sequences to each other, and to a processor which executes the machine instruction sequences which have been produced by the program translating apparatus. The present invention is particularly related to a program translating apparatus and a processor which are free from pipeline stalls during the execution of a branch instruction which causes a branch to a subroutine.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A pipeline processing is one of the fundamental techniques for speeding up the process of CPU, which is hereinafter referred to as a processor.
In the pipeline processing, the process of one instruction is divided into a plurality of stages, and all the stages are executed at the same time to speed up the process.
However, the execution of a branch instruction is accompanied by a pipeline stall, which makes the performance of the pipeline processing fail to reach the theoretical level. This phenomenon is referred to as a branch hazard.
FIG. 1 shows an instruction sequence which involves the branch hazard.
FIG. 2 shows the pipeline flow of the instruction sequence in clock cycles 1 through 6. The pipeline is composed of three stages: instruction fetch (hereinafter IF), instruction decode (hereinafter DEC), and instruction execution and effective address generation (hereinafter EX).
It is assumed that an instruction 1 is a branch instruction which causes a branch to a subroutine which starts at address A. The instruction 1 is fetched at IF stage in clock cycle 1, and executed at EX stage in clock cycle 3. Consequently, an instruction A on address A is fetched in clock cycle 4, and executed in clock cycle 6. The execution of the instruction A is delayed three clock cycles after the execution of the instruction 1 because instructions 2 and 3 are already in the pipeline and must be nullified. The presence of pipeline stalls is indicated in gray in FIG. 2.
A method of solving such a branch hazard is known as a delayed branch method, which is referred to in David A. Patterson and John L. Hennesy, "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach", Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1990, p265-p270.
In the delayed branch method, a compiler schedules instructions in the manner that a branch target instruction is placed beforehand in a location (branch-delay slot) which immediately follows the branch instruction.
FIG. 3 shows an instruction sequence where branch target instructions A and B are placed on branch-delay slots, namely addresses 2 and 3, respectively.
FIG. 4 shows the pipeline flow of the instruction sequence shown in FIG. 3. As is apparent from the pipeline flow, the delayed branch method causes no pipeline stall because useless instructions are not fetched. Consequently, there is no issue of the branch hazard.
However, the delayed branch method still has a drawback that a branch target instruction cannot not always be moved to a branch-delay slot, and as a result, a branch hazard is not always solved.
To be more specific, the subroutine which starts at address A in FIG. 1 may not be recognized by the compiler. Generally, a compiler compiles a file of programs as a unit. If a program which includes the instruction 1 and a subroutine which includes the instructions A and B are stored in different files, and if only the file with the program is given, the compiler cannot place the instructions A and B in branch-delay slots. Consequently, in the case where a branch is taken to an instruction that is stored in another file, the branch hazard is still unavoidable.
In order to solve such a problem, a program may be generated not to cause a branch to a subroutine in another file, or all related subroutines may be stored in the same file by checking the branch points of a program in advance.
However, in either case, it must always be considered to arrange branch target subroutines when a program is generated, which deteriorates the operation efficiency of designing and developing programs. Moreover, the size of files must be increased, so that a large amount of time is required for program translation.

Program translating apparatus and a processor which achieve high-speed execution of subroutine branch instructions


Provided are plaster patching compositions including lime, sand, perlite and gypsum. Also provided are methods of making and using the compositions to reproduce, preserve, and/or repair plaster, for example, historic plaster.

Plasters, including lime plasters, have been used in construction for thousands of years everywhere from Japan to Europe. Lime plasters are ideal candidates for repair, because they crystallize over a long period of time, are flexible, and resist water damage. With maintenance, lime plaster will not only last forever but will actually get better with age.
Specifically described are methods for repairing, restoring, and preserving the integrity of historical and ornamental plasters, such as lime plasters, gypsum plaster, and Portland cement plaster, as well as additional structures and materials. These methods can likewise be used for new assembly, wherein original structures are constructed from newly manufactured materials. The following description is particularly focused on the example of repairing lime plasters, though the same techniques are to be used with the repair and assembly of other materials.

Plaster patching compositions and methods for making and using same


A computer implemented method for negotiating contracts between a plurality of participants is provided. An order is received from a first participant of the plurality of participants. Position risk of the first participant is calculated by accessing data regarding the first participant and using the data regarding the first participant in a parametric variable equation modified by control values from a simulation model, to calculate the position risk of the first member. The order is blocked, if the position risk of the first participant is in a first condition for the first participant. The order is made available for forming into a contract, if the position risk of the first participant is in a second condition for the first participant.

Contracting processes fall into two general types: 1) contracting processes are provided by a third party separate from the counterparties or 2) contracting processes are provided by counterparties directly to each other. The first case is often seen in exchanges that provide standardized contracts and processes, and often full novation, to the parties of a contract. The second case is most usually seen in direct bilateral contracting (e.g. in the over-the-counter market), and in contract exchanges that provide negotiation facilities, but not contract assurance. In the second case, insurance companies have designed insurance contracts that provide a partial measure of protection against the failure of a party to perform its obligations.
An exchange is a facility engaged in the business of facilitating the structuring, negotiation, execution, clearing, and settlement of contracts among it members. An exchange may be composed of one or more markets that segment contract categories, products, and members. Examples of exchanges include, but are not limited to, futures and options contract markets, electronic exchanges, automated procurement systems, automated order taking systems, structured contract marketing systems, and structured contract trading systems. A contract market is composed of the participants, facilities and rules by which offers and counteroffers can be made to structure, negotiate, execute, clear, and settle contracts. The over-the-counter market is a loosely interconnected plurality of exchanges, contract markets and participants. A member of an exchange is a legal entity authorized by an exchange to utilize its facilities to structure, negotiate, execute, clear, and settle contracts. A participant is any user, member or other entity authorized to use any facility of the exchange or its markets. Exchange rules are the terms and conditions required of members. Exchange rules may be specified and agreed by contract-between and among an exchange and its members, may be enforced by authorization procedures, and may be subject to government regulation. "Clear" means to provide assurance of contract performance to all counterparties to a contract that the terms of the contract will be performed, or that the money value of the contract will be paid in lieu of performance. "Execute" means to make an accepted offer enforceable on each counterparty that has agreed to the contract according to the exchange rules. "Settle" means to perform the obligations of each counterparty that is party to a contract, which may require financial transfers or physical product delivery. A central challenge of contracting has historically been assuring that the terms of executed contracts are performed. A method widely applied to assure performance has been the assignment of collateral to back the financial obligations of the counterparties. Collateral can be in the form of cash, securities, guarantees, contract portfolios, or letters of credit provided by a member to secure its contractual commitments. In some exchanges this collateral is called "margin", and rules on net capital of exchange members provide further collateral. In bilateral contracting, collateral may take the form of net capital, a guarantee, an insurance contract, or pledged assets. In either case, the magnitude of collateral required might vary over time due to changing values of the contract, changing market conditions, the changing financial condition of the counterparties, and the progress of time toward expiration of the contracts. It has become common to use measures of financial risk to judge the appropriate magnitude of collateral. For example, margin levels in organized exchanges are often set based on historical or forecasted financial risk analyses.
Increasingly, the concept of value at risk (VaR) has been used to provide a consistent framework within which to measure financial risk of a contract as it changes over time, and to set collateral requirements based on a consistent confidence level. Value at risk is a quantitative measure of the amount by which the value of a portfolio of contracts may change over a specified time horizon at a specified confidence level, or quantitative index indicating likelihood. The computation of value at risk is described in multiple references and books in the literature. Three general categories of algorithms are described: historical, parametric, and simulation. Historical methods utilize a historically representative data set to project how a contract would have changed in value during that period of time. Parametric methods utilize analytically tractable formulas to represent the probability distribution for potential changes in a contract's value, and the parameters are then estimated using historical data and judgment. Simulation methods represent the time evolution of risk factors and contingent decisions over time, and combine the results. Risk factors may be market prices, default potential, external events, or other uncertainty. Scenarios can be created by random, pseudo-random, lattice, decision tree, or other methods. Probability distributions for the time evolution of the risk factors may be continuous or discrete, jointly dependent, and/or stochastic processes. The results may be combined by a simple average method, by weighting methods, or by other methods that aggregate scenarios. Each method has advantages. Historical methods enable representative past events to be used as a stress test for extreme changes in a contract's value. Parametric methods enable fast computation of contract value and value at risk for large portfolios, because the parametric methods are usually chosen for their analytic tractability. Simulation methods are generally more accurate than parametric, since no constraint on the nature of the underlying distribution of price changes or creditworthiness is required. Each method also has disadvantages. Historical methods are limited to the events that actually occurred in the past, rather than events that could occur. Parametric methods generally lose accuracy due to the assumptions imposed to produce tractable formulas. These assumptions may include the nature of the stochastic price process, the parametric form of the probability distribution of price changes, the parametric form of the probability distribution on volatility, the nature of optimal exercise of American options, the method of calculating indexes, and similar features of contracts that involve both rights and obligations. Simulation methods are time consuming to finish the computations, and with large multi-factor portfolios, the number of scenarios required can be very large to achieve a desired level of accuracy.
Recent literature has sought to more consistently apply value at risk to exchange trading. Indeed, the methods used by some exchanges to set contract margin levels can be viewed as being similar to applying value at risk methods. And, when used in procurement and marketing, VaR is a useful technique for measuring the credit risk posed by a prospective counterparty. A challenge in implementing value at risk as a measure of financial exposure when transactions are time critical is that the accurate computation of VaR is time intensive. While many approximations are available, permitting faster execution, their accuracy may be less than adequate.
To avoid risk-based computations during time-critical contracting, present approaches usually rely on a contract specific collateral, guarantee, or margin. Despite the potential that margins can be changed periodically, these methods do not enable an exchange to maintain a constant target level of financial risk since both price risk and counterparty default risks are continuously changing. A typical exchange margin system operates on a contract-specific basis, with potential cross-contract credits. These typical systems also do not enable full risk-based netting. "Netting" refers to an offset of one contract or risk against an equivalent and opposite contract element or risk. Similar observations apply to contract guarantees, letters of credit, and insurance contracts when they are used to assure contract performance.

Integrated electronic exchange of structured contracts with dynamic risk-based transaction permissioning


An optical device integrally including an optical waveguide and an optical detector, and a method of manufacturing the same. The optical device includes: a substrate; a first single crystalline growth layer grown on the substrate; an optical waveguide provided with a clad layer and a core layer formed on the first single crystalline growth layer; a second single crystalline growth layer grown on a predetermined portion of a core layer at which the clad layer is removed, for absorbing light having a wavelength within a predetermined band and traveling in the optical waveguide.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-92504, filed on Dec. 17, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device, and more particularly, to an optical device including, as an integral unit, an optical waveguide for guiding light and an optical detector for detecting the light, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an optical communication network, which connects optical fibers to a plurality of subscriber terminals, has been actively studied so as to embody a high speed optical communication network. In addition, optical communication subscriber test networks have been established and operate in some regions so as to more widely spread optical communication.
An optical transceiver is essential for establishing such an optical communication network. The optical transceiver converts a digitalized electrical signal into an optical signal within a predetermined wavelength band, transmits the optical signal through an optical fiber, detects the optical signal within the predetermined wavelength band received through the optical fiber, and converts the optical signal back into a digitalized electrical signal.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional optical device integrally including an optical waveguide and an optical detector as portions of a receiver section of the optical transceiver.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional optical device 10 having an optical waveguide and the optical detector includes a silicon substrate 12, an optical waveguide 15 and an optical detector 20 made of InGaAs. The optical waveguide 15 includes a first clad layer 14 made of SiO2, a core layer 16 made of SiO2:Ge and a second clad layer 18 made of SiO2. The first clad layer 14, the core layer 16 and the second clad layer 18 are sequentially formed on a predetermined region of the silicon substrate 12.
The conventional optical device 10 is manufactured using a hybrid integration method in which the optical detector 20 is finely adhered on a predetermined position of a silicon substrate 12 having the optical waveguide 15 thereon using a flip-chip bonding technique.
The hybrid integration method, however, makes the entire manufacturing process complex and lowers production yield. This is due to misalignment of core layers of an optical waveguide and an optical detector.
As a consequence, because much time and effort is required for fine alignment to thereby partially solve the above problems, and because expensive equipment is also necessary, the ability to reduce manufacturing cost is limited.
Furthermore, the separately manufactured optical detector is fabricated using a compound semiconductor suitable for a commonly used wavelength band. The substrate employed in the optical detector not only is expensive, but it is also difficult to lower production cost where mass production is limited by wafer diameter.

Optical device and method of manufacturing the same


A persuader instrument for advancing a fixation rod into a vertebral implant includes a housing and at least one arm. The at least one arm can include detents for detachable connection to the vertebral implant. The persuader instrument can also include a shaft coupled to an anchor. The anchor can include a fixation rod engagement surface. The shaft can be axially displaceable through the housing to axially displace the anchor and a rod engaged by the anchor. The persuader instrument can further include an auto-locking ratchet assembly in releasable engagement with the shaft. The auto-locking ratchet assembly can control axial displacement of the shaft through the longitudinal passage of the housing.

Spinal fixation systems may be used in surgery to align, adjust and/or fix portions of the spinal column, i.e., vertebrae, in a desired spatial relationship relative to each other. Many spinal fixation systems employ a spinal fixation rod for supporting the spine and for properly positioning components of the spine for various treatment purposes. The fixation rod, which is generally formed of a metal, such as cobalt chrome or titanium, can be implanted to correct deformities, prevent movement of vertebral bodies relative to each other, or for other purposes. Vertebral anchors, comprising pins, bolts, screws, and hooks, engage the vertebrae and connect the rod to different vertebrae.
Adult Spinal Deformity (ASD) refers to a number of conditions of the spine in which the spinal curvature is outside of defined normal limits. In some patients, the spinal curvature can be adjusted by repositioning or reorienting each vertebral body so that the vertebrae align with the curvature of a fixation rod.


An electrical switch mounted on a circuit board and providing tactile feedback includes a domed tripper (18) and an elastomeric actuator (16) with a rod having an upper operating end (78) that can be depressed to snap down the tripper and close the switch. The actuator has a lower sealing lip (62) extending in a 360xc2x0 circle around the tripper and lying against the circuit board upper face, to form a sealed cavity (56) containing the tripper. The 360xc2x0 sealing lip of the actuator is pressed down against the circuit board by a cap (14) that has a side wall (26) with a lower edge (38) pressing down against the sealing lip. The cap has feet (42) extending down through holes in the circuit board, the feet having latches (48) that hold the cap in place.

One type of miniature individual switch includes a domed tripping member and an actuator that can be depressed to depress the middle of the tripping member. As the tripping member, or tripper moves down, it suddenly snaps down against a terminal to close the switch. The sudden snapping down creates a tactile feedback to a person depressing the actuator, to indicate that the switch has been closed. It is noted that the tripping member may be the form of a shallow pyramid instead of a continuously curved dome.
Electrical switches of this type are commonly mounted on circuit boards, together with many other components that are mounted on the circuit board. Since the tripper must repeatedly make and break contact with a terminal on the circuit board, it is desirable that the tripper lie in a substantially sealed environment to avoid corrosion and the presence of loose particles.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a tactile-feedback electrical switch is provided which accurately holds a tripper in a sealed environment on a circuit board using a minimum number parts. The switch includes an actuator molded of elastomeric material, and having a periphery with a lower sealing lip that surrounds the tripping member and which is pressed against the circuit board to seal thereagainst. The actuator has a center forming a rod and has a connecting portion connecting the rod to the periphery. The actuator forms a sealed cavity when its periphery is sealed to the circuit board. A cap which is fastened to the circuit board outside the actuator, presses down the sealing lip of the elastomeric actuator against the circuit board.
The tripper is formed with a plurality of arms that radiate from the middle of the tripper. The actuator has fingers that engage sides of the arms to accurately orient the tripper on the circuit board, and that retain the tripper prior to mounting on the circuit board. A skirt forming the periphery of the actuator lies in a press fit in the cap to keep them together prior to mounting on the circuit board. The inside of the actuator also has surfaces that press down against free outer ends of the tripper arms to press them against traces on the circuit board.
The rod formed at the center of the actuator includes a rod middle that merges with the connecting portion. The rod also has upper and lower rod parts that respectively project upward and downward from the rod middle. The rod upper part is exposed for receiving direct downward force to operate the switch. The rod lower part is tapered to have a small diameter lower face that lies substantially against the middle of the tripper.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A ceiling fan includes a control box having a downward extending sleeve bolt, a lamp device having an upward extending sleeve bolt, and a connecting barrel secured between the sleeve bolts for detachably securing the lamp device to the control box. One or more lamp devices may further be selectively secured or assembled onto the ceiling fan for forming various kinds of decorative effects. The lamp device includes a cap and a base plate and a lamp shade and a canopy secured together. The cap and the canopy have the sleeve bolts for coupling to the connecting barrel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceiling fan, and more particularly to a ceiling fan having one or more changeable lamp devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical ceiling fans comprise a control box provided and attached to the bottom portion thereof, and a lamp seat secured or attached to the bottom portion of the control box for receiving or plugging one or more lamp devices or light bulbs. A lamp shade is secured to the lamp seat for covering or shielding the lamp devices. Only the light bulbs may be changed or replaced with the other ones when the light bulbs are damaged. The lamp seat and the lamp shade may not be easily changed to different lamp seats and lamp shades by the users.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional lamp devices for ceiling fans.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a ceiling fan including one or more lamp devices that may be changed with each other or that may be assembled to the ceiling fan simultaneously for changing the decorative effect.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a ceiling fan comprising a control box including a lower portion having an upper sleeve bolt extended downward therefrom, a lamp device including an upper portion having a lower sleeve bolt extended upward therefrom, and a connecting barrel secured between the upper and the lower sleeve bolts for detachably securing the lamp device to the control box of the ceiling fan.
The lamp device includes a base plate having a bottom portion and an upper portion, a cap secured on the upper portion of the base plate and having the upper sleeve bolt secured thereto and extended upward beyond the cap for coupling to the connecting barrel, at least one light member attached to the bottom portion of the base plate, a lamp shade attached to the bottom portion of the base plate for shielding the light member, the lamp shade having a bottom portion, a canopy secured to the bottom portion of the lamp shade and having the lower sleeve bolt extended downward beyond the canopy.
A switch device is further provided and secured between the lamp shade and the canopy, and includes the lower sleeve bolt secured thereto.
A frame is further provided and includes an upper portion secured to the base plate, and includes a lower portion secured to the canopy with the lower sleeve bolt.
The base plate includes a center portion having a recess formed therein, and includes a power device received in the recess thereof and electrically coupled to the light member for controlling the light member.
One or more second lamp devices are further provided and includes an upper portion having a first sleeve bolt extended upward therefrom and coupled to the connecting barrel, and includes a lower portion having a second sleeve bolt extended downward therefrom, and a connecting barrel secured between the second sleeve bolt and the lower sleeve bolt for detachably securing the second lamp device between the control box and the lamp device. The lamp devices may thus be selectively secured or assembled onto the ceiling fan for providing various kinds of decorative effects.
Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of a detailed description provided hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to accompanying drawings.

Ceiling fan having one or more changeable lamp devices


Method of eliminating interference signals from video signals by means of motion-adaptive transversal filtering, in which the motion is detected in the two-dimensional plane for the purpose of S/N ratio improvement. To this end, the forward and backward-motion signals are combined to a common motion signal and transformed into a polar coordinate signal from which the coefficients for controlling the transversal filter are derived.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of eliminating interference signals from video signals by means of motion-adaptive filtering with a second or higher-order transversal filter which is controlled by a motion detector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of eliminating interference signals from video signals by means of motion-adaptive filtering with a second-order transversal filter is known from DE 43 26 390 corresponding to U.S. Pat No. 5,519,453. In this method, video signals are derived from three consecutive pictures and, after evaluation with coefficients, added together. The coefficients are generated by a forward and a backward-motion detector. When there is no motion or only very little motion--the distinctions between the derived video signals are smaller than a given predetermined threshold value--, a maximum improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio of 4.8 dB can be achieved. In this case, the output signal is the arithmetic mean value of the three pictures. In the case of considerable motion, large amplitude differences between the three pictures generally occur. To avoid "smear" of the different motion phases, there should be a fading to the reference picture, i.e., the middle picture. To this end, the coefficients of the other pictures are controlled towards 0 and the coefficient of the reference picture is controlled towards 1.
A possible circuit arrangement for a motion detector is described in DE 43 19 342 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,858. It comprises a forward-motion detector which, on the basis of the reference picture, evaluates the difference with the subsequent picture. An identically built backward-motion detector, which evaluates the difference with the preceding picture in a corresponding way, can then be added for a multidimensional motion detection. In this case, the amounts of the differences of two consecutive pictures are formed and submitted to a low-pass filtering operation so as to suppress high-frequency noise components. The low-pass filters may be implemented as two-dimensional (horizontal and vertical) transversal or median filters. To avoid response of the detectors at only a slight motion or at residual noise components, the signals are applied in accordance with an adjustable threshold characteristic. Subsequently, the coefficients are generated in a programmable read-only memory (PROM) in accordance with a declining characteristic. This characteristic starts at 1/3 for the static case (no motion or only little motion) and then decreases to zero with, for example, an exponential characteristic.
When the motion detectors were tested on improving the elimination of interference signals from video signals, it was found that a maximum interference signal reduction is achieved when the two motion detectors do not respond, i.e., at stationary pictures at which the S/N ratio improvement is 4.8 dB. An average interference signal reduction is achieved when only one of the motion detectors responds, with an S/N ratio improvement of 2.5 dB being achieved by evaluating the video signals with 2/3 for the reference picture signal and 1/3 for the signal of the stationary picture. If both motion detectors respond, no interference signal reduction is possible, i.e., the S/N ratio gain is 0 dB. This makes it clear that the original motion detector actually only allows S/N ratio improvement in a few cases only. An optimum filtering is not even reached once for the simple case where only one motion detector responds, because an optimum filtering operation with coefficients of 1/2 each for the reference picture signal and the signal of the stationary picture should then be used. This means that both pictures, between which there is no motion, should be averaged by 50% each, which would lead to an S/N ratio improvement of 3 dB. The reason for this detrimental behavior is that the mode of operation of one motion detector does not have any effect on that of the other.


A heat dissipation method for a projector includes measuring a first temperature at an intake vent of a projector, measuring a second temperature at an outlet vent of the projector, controlling a heat sink of the projector based on the first temperature when the second temperature is smaller than a predetermined value, and controlling the heat sink of the projector based on the second temperature when the second temperature is larger than the predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat dissipation method and related apparatus, and more particularly, to a heat dissipation method and related apparatus capable of controlling heat dissipation based on temperatures measured at an intake vent and an outlet vent.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Projectors can display data such as images, texts or files on a screen and are thus widely used in events such as commercial exhibitions or educational trainings. In most projectors, images are generated by projecting light provided by a light source from the interior of the projectors. Since a light source creates heat during light emission, the internal temperatures at different location of a projector must be carefully controlled so that each device of the projector can function with its best efficiency and can have a longer lifetime. Normally, a fan is disposed near the light source for lowering the internal temperature of the projector. The rotational speed of the fan is controlled based on temperatures measured by a sensor. This control mechanism is well known to those skilled in the art and is referred to the V-T (Velocity-Temperature) operation.
Reference is made to FIG. 1 for a diagram illustrating a prior art method for controlling the V-T operation. In FIG. 1, the horizontal axis represents temperatures measured by the sensor, and the vertical axis represents the rotational speed of the fan. Generally speaking, the V-T operation is performed by controlling the rotational speed of the fan based on temperatures measured by the sensor. When the temperature measured by the sensor is not greater than a temperature Tmin, the rotational speed of the fan is set to a minimum value RPMmin. When the temperature measured by the sensor is between the temperature Tmin and a temperature Tmax, the rotational speed of the fan is proportional to the measured temperature. When the temperature measured by the sensor is greater than the temperature Tmax, the rotational speed of the fan is set to a maximum value RPMmax.
In a prior art projector, two sensors S1 and S2 are respectively disposed near an intake vent and an outlet vent of the projector. The recommended range of operational temperature for a projector is defined based on external temperature in the specification of the projector. Since the intake vent of the projector is near the external environment, a first temperature T1 measured by the sensor S1 can reflect temperature variations of the external environment. The prior art projector can thus control the V-T operation of the fan based on the first temperature T1. On the other hand, the function of the outlet vent is to provide a heat dissipation path for the projector. Therefore, a second temperature T2 measured by the sensor S2 can reflect temperature variations of the projector. When the projector remains idle for a certain period of time, its body temperature and the temperature of the external environment can be nearly identical. When the projector is under operation, the second temperature T2 will be larger than the first temperature T1.
Reference is made to FIG. 2 for a flowchart illustrating a prior art heat dissipation method for a projector. The flowchart in FIG. 2 includes the following steps:
Step 200: start.
Step 210: measure a first temperature T1 near the intake vent of the projector using a sensor S1.
Step 220: measure a second temperature T2 near the outlet vent of the projector using a sensor S2.
Step 230: control the V-T operation of the fan based on the first temperature T1.
Step 240: determine if the second temperature T2 is larger than a threshold temperature TTH; if second temperature T2 is larger than the threshold temperature TTH, execute step 250; if the second temperature T2 is not larger than the threshold temperature TTH, execute step 230.
Step 250: shut down the projector.
In FIG. 2, the threshold temperature TTH represents the maximum temperature allowable for the body of the projector. When the body temperature of the projector exceeds the threshold temperature TTH, the internal devices of the projector may fail to function normally, or suffer from permanent damages. The sensor S1 is used to measure the temperature variations of the external environment, and the sensor S2 can reflect whether the heat dissipation path of the projector is blocked. Under normal operations, the heat dissipation path of the projector is completely unobstructed. However, a user may dispose the projector near an impediment (such as a wall or another equipment) in a way that the heat dissipation path of the projector is blocked by the impediment. Based on the influence of the impediment on heat dissipation, the degree of the above-mentioned obstruction can be defined as full-blockage or partial-blockage. Full-blockage can take place when the user disposes the projector in close vicinity to the wall so that the heat dissipation path of the projector is completely blocked. Under these circumstances, the heat generated by the light source of the projector is almost entirely accumulated inside the projector, and the body temperature of the projector thus rises sharply. Once the second temperature T2 measured by the sensor S2 exceeds the threshold temperature TTH, the prior art method executes step 250 for shutting down the projector. Partial-blockage can take place when the outlet vent of the projector is near another equipment and only part of the heat dissipation path of the projector is obstructed. Therefore, some heat generated by the light source of the projector can still be dissipated outside the projector, and the body temperature of the projector only rises gradually. Under these circumstances, the prior art method controls the V-T operation of the fan based on the first temperature T1. If the fan dissipates heat with a speed slower than that of heat accumulation due to partial-blockage, the body temperature of the projector will continue to increase gradually. Once the second temperature T2 measured by the sensor S2 exceeds the threshold temperature TTH, the prior art method executes step 250 for shutting down the projector.
In the prior art method, the projector controls the V-T operation of the fan based on the first temperature T1 measured by the sensor S1 regardless of the temperature variations at the outlet vent. The ability of heat dissipation provided by the fan is entirely controlled based on the first temperature T1, and the second temperature T2 is only used for determining when to shut down the projector. Therefore, the prior art method cannot respond to body temperature variations due to heat accumulation. When the outlet vent of the projector is partially blocked, heat dissipation provided by the fan controlled by the first temperature T1 is not capable of responding to heat accumulation due to different degrees of partial-blockage. The prior art projector cannot dissipate the redundant heat in time. In addition, although the projector can still function when the second temperature T2 is smaller than the threshold temperature TTH, the body temperature of the projector will continue to increase gradually as a result of heat accumulation caused by partial-blockage, The internal devices or plastic material can be placed in an environment having a temperature outside the best operating temperature range, which may cause damages and deformation to the internal devices and plastic material.

Method and apparatus capable of controlling heat dissipation based on temperatures measured at an intake vent and an outlet vent


A package system which combines an article and a container in an integrated package with the article secured in nested relationship within a recess of the container. The recess has sufficient depth such that portions of the side walls of the container extend outwardly effectively beyond an exposed surface of the article so as to protect the article against damage. Alternatively, the package system includes a pair of spaced columns which are integrally formed with the side wall of the container and which extend outwardly from the side wall. A recess is formed between the column members which is configured to receive an article in nested relationship within the recess. Methods for securing the article in nested relationship within the recess of the container are also disclosed.

Consumers are showing preference and demand for new ways to eat and drink their meals. In response to this demand, suppliers of beverages and snack foods, for example, have developed new ways of packaging and marketing these items together in a "bundled" package as a convenient meal option for consumers. This allows consumers the convenience of purchasing and handling an integrated package including both a snack item and beverage and provides consumers with convenient "grab and go" portability of their meals. This packaging arrangement also provides significant advantages to the beverage and snack food suppliers as well since it permits them to market newer or less-preferred brands to consumers in a "bundled" package with the supplier's stronger brands. In this way, the beverage and snack food suppliers are able to introduce newer products to the market with less risk and also increase sales of weaker brands by relying on the market strength and consumer desirability of the supplier's stronger brands.
In the past, suppliers have "bundled" snack food and beverage items together by shrink-wrapping, taping or otherwise attaching or packaging the snack food item to the outside of the beverage container. However, this method of packaging presents a significant drawback as it oftentimes leaves fragile snack items susceptible to damage during packaging, transport and distribution of the "bundled" package from the supplier to consumer. Many snacks, such as snack bars, are conventionally packaged inside of a flexible wrapper for such things as protection from environmental factors. This wrapper, however, offers little to no protection in subsequent packaging, transport and distribution of the "bundled" package, and therefore requires a secondary package made of paperboard, corrugated or other packaging processes and materials to protect it. This requires additional equipment, materials and labor which add cost to the product and make the packaging process inefficient.
In the past, other types of "bundled" packages have been offered to consumers as well. For example, suppliers have offered market premiums and various other articles in nested relationship within a recess formed in a wall of a container. In these instances, the container recess is defined by recess walls and the article may be glued or loosely placed within the recess and covered with a transparent film so as to secure and/or protect the item within the recess. However, known configurations of recesses which completely enclose the item and/or the use of a covering film over the item present a significant drawback as the item is typically obscured by shadows within the recess, or condensation or glare which occurs on the film, and so cannot be easily seen by the consumer. Also, such recesses and covering films complicate access and dislodgement of the article by the consumer and typically require hand assembly of the "bundled" package which adds to the cost of the assembled package.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved package system for combining an article and a container in an integrated package with the article secured in nested relationship within a recess of the container.


In a vehicle control computer apparatus, information operation processing is performed by a RISC-type microcomputer so that a storage area necessary in diagnosis is reduced and the number of designing steps of processing program is reduced. Status data within the range xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9c179xe2x80x9d is used for storing a determination status indicating the result of diagnosis. That is, a first normal status is stored as xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, a second normal status as xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9c38xe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9c130xe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9c166xe2x80x9d, a third normal status as xe2x80x9c39xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c40xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c166xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c168xe2x80x9d, a temporary normal status as xe2x80x9c50xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c51xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c178xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c179xe2x80x9d, and an abnormal status as xe2x80x9c41xe2x80x9d. The status is changed by increasing/decreasing the status data, and output control is performed in correspondence with the determination status.

This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-6637 filed Jan. 14, 2000 and No. 2000-362967 filed Nov. 29, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-diagnosis of a vehicle control computer system.
2. Related Art
In a vehicle control computer apparatus, if abnormality detection for the respective system parts such as sensors and actuators cannot be properly made, an undesired trouble might occur in running, and at worst, the running might be disabled. For this reason, the computer apparatus using CISC-type microcomputer, for instance, is provided with a self-diagnosis function for improvement in reliability. That is, operating statuses of a computer part, sensors and the like are automatically checked at appropriate intervals. When an abnormality is detected continuously, a warning light is turned on to notify a user of the abnormality, and/or an abnormality code to notify a repair person of the content of the abnormality is outputted, thus realizing a diagnosis function.
Since the result of abnormality detection (determination status) is stored as 1-bit flag information in a normal RAM (volatile memory), a battery backup RAM (nonvolatile memory), EEPROM (nonvolatile memory) or the like, a large storage area is necessitated for one diagnostic item. In case of diagnostic processing for about 200 diagnostic items, the total storage area for the determination status is not negligible.
Further, in recent years, a RISC-type microcomputer, having an increased computation speed, with use of reduced number of commands, is mainly used. In the RISC microcomputer, byte-unit operation commands are used, whereas bit operation commands tend to decrease. If there is no bit operation command, it is necessary to combine plural commands, which reduces the computation operation speed.
In order to solve this problem, byte-unit data operation executable by 1 command is made. For example, if the most significant bit is set in 1 byte area, xe2x80x9c128xe2x80x9d (10000000 in binary representation) is stored. That is, as no bit operation command is used in the RISC microcomputer, to avoid reduction of computation speed, it is necessary to ensure a storage area in 1 byte units. As a result, the storage area is wastefully used.
In a conventional method of storing the diagnosis result as flag information, since a processing program on the basis of bit operation is designed in the RISC microcomputer in which no bit operation command is used. The designing is disadvantageous from the point of the number of designing steps. In some cases, actually bit-unit operations are made, and in such cases, the computation speed is lowered.
The present invention has its object to reduce a storage area necessary for diagnosis and to reduce the number of designing steps of processing program, while enabling information processing operation in a RISC-type microcomputer.
According to the present invention, a vehicle control apparatus having a diagnosis function stores diagnosis determination status of different levels as numerical values set in correspondence with each determination status while avoiding mutual numerical overlap among the different levels. Preferably, the numerical value is within a range of 0 to 255 which can be defined by a single byte.
The apparatus executes a determination status transition processing to change the stored determination status of a previous trip period to a new determination state when the determination status changes between successive trip periods. In this instance, the numerical value is set within a numerical range which is exclusive to each level of the diagnosis statuses. The apparatus increases or decreases the numerical value to attain the transition processing.

Vehicle control computer apparatus having self-diagnosis function


A pneumatic tire has a circumferentially continuously extending wide groove having a width of from 35 to 45 mm disposed in a tread center. A part on each side of the wide groove, which is defined as extending at least 10 mm axially outwards from the groove edge, forms a substantially continuous rib part. A part between the rib part and a tread edge has circumferentially discontinuous grooves so that: an axially inner part has a land ratio La of not less than 90%; a middle part has a land ratio of Lb in a range of from 80 to 90%; and an axially outer part has a land ratio Lc in a range of from 85 to 95%, wherein the axially inner part, middle part and axially outer part are three equiwidth parts between the wide groove and the tread edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire with a wide central groove, more particularly to a tread pattern having a specific land ratio arrangement being capable of improving wet performance and steering stability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the laid-open Japanese patent application Nos. JP-A-6-143932, JP-A-6-143937 and JP-A-6-191227, pneumatic tires with a wide central groove are disclosed, wherein the wide central groove has a width in the range of from 35 to 45 mm and extends on the tire equator continuously in the tire circumferential direction.
In such a tire, when additional grooves are provided, the steering stability is liable to deteriorate because the tread rigidity is already decreased by the wide central groove considerably. From this point of view, it is preferable to decrease the additional grooves. However, if such grooves are decreased, wet performance, especially antiaquaplaning performance greatly decreases.
Therefore, the present inventors studied tread pattern to obtain maximum effect from minimum additional grooves, and found that the steering stability and wet performance become compatible with each other by specifically limiting the distribution of land ratio.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a pneumatic tire with a wide central groove, in which both the steering stability and wet performance are improved.
According to the present invention, a pneumatic tire comprises
a circumferentially continuously extending wide groove having a width of from 35 to 45 mm disposed in a tread center,
a tread part on each side of the wide groove, which is defined as extending at least 10 mm axially outwards from the groove edge, being formed as a substantially continuous rib part,
a tread part between the rib part and a tread edge, being provided with circumferentially discontinuous grooves so that: an axially inner part has a land ratio La of not less than 90%; a middle part has a land ratio Lb in a range of from 80 to 90%; and an axially outer part has a land ratio Lc in a range of from 85 to 95%, wherein the axially inner part, middle part and axially outer part are three equiwidth parts between the wide groove and the tread edge.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a pneumatic tire according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a developed plan view thereof showing an example of the tread pattern.
FIG. 3 is a foot print thereof.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the oblique groove.


When an input device is connected via a communication interface, a mobile phone determines whether a local device can control the input device. When it is determined that the local device cannot control the input device, the mobile phone requests a server connected via a wireless communication network to control the input device. The mobile phone controls signal transfer between the input device and the server via the communication interface and the wireless communication network so that the server can control the input device by establishing communication between the input device and the server. In response to the request from the mobile phone, the server controls the input device via the established communication with the input device.

In the above-described technical field, patent literature 1 discloses a remote desktop system for integrating and connecting a plurality of peripheral devices (for example, a display, a mouse, a keyboard, a printer, and the like). Patent literature 1 also discloses a mobile communication terminal (for example, a smartphone or the like) connectable to a remote server via a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or mobile communication network.

Information processing system, information processing method, mobile phone, server, and control methods and control programs thereof


A gas-blast circuit-breaker having an actuated compression cylinder may include a reinforced actuation of the compression piston through the magnetic effect of the breaking current. A hollow-cylindrical body of ferromagnetic material concentrically surrounds a stationary contact member and is rigidly coupled to the compression cylinder. The hollow-cylindrical body has at least one slot in which a piston rod of the compression piston is guided. One section of the piston rod consists of ferromagnetic material. As soon as a small portion of this section enters into the slot, it is pulled into the slot by the magnetic effect of the breaking current. As a result, the compression piston is accelerated in a direction opposite the movement of the compression cylinder. Thus, the maximum quenching gas pressure is reached sooner than it would have been with a sole actuation of the compression cylinder. The gas-blast circuit breaker is intended to be used as a puffer circuit-breaker, in particular an SF.sub.6 circuit-breaker.

The present invention relates to a gas-blast circuit-breaker including at least one stationary and one movable contact member. Additionally, the circuit-breaker includes a compression device, which consists of one actuated compression cylinder that is coupled to the movable contact member and one compression piston that is actuated during the breaking movement oppositely to the compression cylinder. The compression cylinder and the compression piston enclose a compression space. A mechanical limit stop restricts the movement of the compression piston on its side facing away from the compression space and a restoring device pulls the piston rod of the compression piston nearer to the limit stop. The circuit-breaker also includes a device for reinforcing the actuation through the magnetic effect of the breaking current.
In a gas-blast circuit-breaker having a mechanical compression device for the quenching gas including an actuated compression cylinder and a compression piston, the quenching gas is compressed in the compression space and is used after that to blow out the electric arc that is formed when the switch is switched off. In addition to driving the compression cylinder, it is also generally known to drive the compression piston oppositely to the cylinder, in order to more quickly attain a high quenching gas pressure.
German Patent No. 31 41 324 discloses a gas-blast circuit-breaker having a mechanical compression device for the quenching gas, in which the compression piston is actuated in a direction opposite the movement of the compression cylinder, and in which the compression piston consisting of ferromagnetic material is actuated by a magnetic field generated by a coil that is disposed coaxially to the compression piston. The winding density of the coil is variable along its longitudinal axis, so that a uniform gradient field results. During the breaking movement, the coil is traversed by the flow of the breaking current and the compression piston is actuated by the action of magnetic force. German Patent Document No. C-678 029 describes a controlling system for an electric gas switch. This controlling system is supposed to control the gas flow of the quenching gas generated in the switch itself by the action of the electric arc on a material that gives off quenching gas. The control member, namely the sliding cylindrical valve, is adjusted by the magnetic effect of the breaking current. U S. Pat. No. 4,041,263 discloses a gas-blast circuit-breaker, in which a force generated by the magnetic effect of the breaking current acts on the piston of the compression device to reinforce the actuation. For this purpose, the breaking current is carried via a conductor loop that runs in part through the movable piston. This necessitates transmitting the current via sliding contacts. Moreover, the complicated current conduction requires that the movable contact member be coupled to the driving mechanism with insulation.

Gas-driven power switch with power-assisted piston


According to one implementation, a pose estimation and body tracking system includes a computing platform having a hardware processor and a system memory storing a software code including a tracking module trained to track motions. The software code receives a series of images of motion by a subject, and for each image, uses the tracking module to determine locations corresponding respectively to two-dimensional (2D) skeletal landmarks of the subject based on constraints imposed by features of a hierarchical skeleton model intersecting at each 2D skeletal landmark. The software code further uses the tracking module to infer joint angles of the subject based on the locations and determine a three-dimensional (3D) pose of the subject based on the locations and the joint angles, resulting in a series of 3D poses. The software code outputs a tracking image corresponding to the motion by the subject based on the series of 3D poses.

Augmented Reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences merge virtual objects or characters with real-world features in a way that can, in principle, provide a deeply immersive and powerfully interactive experience. Nevertheless, despite the relative success of digital enhancement techniques in augmenting many inanimate objects, digital augmentation of the human body continues to present substantial technical obstacles. For example, due to the ambiguities associated with depth projection, as well as the variations in human body shapes, three-dimensional (3D) human pose estimation remains a significant challenge.
In addition to AR and VR applications, accurate body tracking, in particular hand tracking, is important for effective use of the human hand as a Human Computer Interface (HCl). Applications for which use of the human hand as an HCl may be advantageous or desirable include hand tracking based character animation, for example. However, the challenges associated with pose estimation present significant problems for hand tracking as well. Consequently, there is a need in the art for a fast and accurate pose estimation and body tracking solution.

Pose estimation and body tracking using an artificial neural network

ETH Zürich (EIDGENÖSSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZÜRICH)


Embodiments relate to a method for measuring a threshold voltage of a flash device including inputting a voltage and a pulse width. The dependence of threshold voltage on the applied voltages and the pulse width may be determined by using a threshold voltage measuring equation, and equations regarding a plurality of device variables included within the threshold voltage measuring equation.

An electrically rewritable nonvolatile memory device (EEPROM) is an example of a nonvolatile memory device where data is not erased when power is not applied. An EEPROM may use a floating gate structure. As semiconductor devices progress towards relatively high integration, there is a need to reduce the size of a floating gate cell. However, relatively high voltage may be required in programming and erasing operations. It may be difficult to secure process margins, and may be impossible to reduce the cell size. Nonvolatile memory devices substituting a floating gate cell, such as silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS), FeRAM, SET, NROM, etc are being researched. Among them, the SONOS cell holds promise as a next-generation cell, substituting a stack-type floating gate cell.
However, there is no a method for measuring threshold voltage for the SONOS flash cell. The characteristics of the threshold voltage with respect to the pulse width and applied voltage can not be measured so that it may be difficult to account for them in the design of the SONOS flash cell.

Method for measuring threshold voltage of SONOS flash device


A hammock system according to one example embodiment includes an upper hammock bed with a length, a lower hammock bed with a length greater than the length of the upper hammock bed, a thermal insulating blanket configured to connect to the lower hammock bed, a gap between the upper hammock bed and the thermal insulating blanket, and an adjuster for altering the size of the gap between the upper hammock bed and the thermal insulating blanket. The lower hammock bed is configured to connect to the upper hammock bed.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to systems and methods for hammocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
For backpacking, hammocks are a lightweight, more versatile and comfortable alternative to sleeping on the ground. Sleeping on the ground generally requires a backpacker to carry a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad or mattress and ground sheet. In addition to being less weight for the backpacker to carry, hammocks free the backpacker from insects, snakes and other ground dwelling animals, and also keep the backpacker off wet, sloping and rocky ground.
Although a number of lightweight camping hammocks are available for campers and backpackers, they suffer from a variety of shortcomings. They do not address many of the issues of integrated insulation. With a conventional sleeping bag, a camper's body compresses the underlying insulation causing the insulation to lose much of its insulation properties. Sleeping pads or mattresses often insulate the bottom of the user outside a hammock, but often are rigid and do not conform well to a hammock. Attaching insulation directly to the underside of the hammock can help decrease compression, but when the camper lies in the hammock the hammock material typically stretches whereas the material holding the insulation against the bottom of the hammock does not, again resulting in compression of the insulation with a reduction in insulation properties. In addition, when the insulation is fully attached to the hammock bed, it is difficult to control the temperature within the hammock so the camper may become too warm. Thus, when the insulation is fully attached and not adjustable, the camper typically needs multiple hammocks for camping in different seasons.
Another disadvantage relating to completely enclosing the hammock in a sleeping bag or sleeping cocoon is that significantly more weight is usually required to fully encase the camper than is necessary to keep the camper comfortable. In addition, camping in inclement weather typically requires the backpacker carry a tarp, guylines and stakes, which add significant extra weight.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that systems and methods for hammocks that are lightweight and adjustable and that minimize insulation compression are desired.

Ultra light adjustable thermal system for hammocks