A shielded flat cable including an insulating layer that includes liquid crystal polymer and is folded in two or three to integrate, and signal and ground wirings integrally disposed insulated from each other on a folded surface of the insulating layer, a shield layer disposed integrally on an external surface of the insulating layer and covering a disposition area of the signal and ground wirings, and a conducting portion piercing through the insulating layer and connecting electrically the ground wiring with the shield layer. By thus configuring, a shielded flat cable can be simplified in its structure and have shielding properties of high reliability.

The present invention relates to a shielded flat cable in which effective countermeasure is taken to reduce noise levels of high frequency signals.
High frequency oscillators, for instance, require miniaturization with an increase of miniaturization of electronic apparatuses or the like. To such requirements, a shielded flat cable in which signal wirings (strip lines) are disposed and insulated from each other between insulating layers has been developed. When the signal wirings are formed between the insulating layers (internally formed), there is a likelihood that generated signal radiation adversely affects other signal wirings. In addition, an influence of an external electromagnetic noise may cause a malfunction in a wiring circuit including the signal wiring.
To deal with such problems, a configuration of a shielded flat cable is proposed. In the configuration, insulating and shield layers are concentrically stacked with each signal wiring to form a shield wire. Thereafter, the shield wires are disposed in parallel and covered by an insulator to integrate, thereby forming a shielded flat cable. The signal wiring (center conductor) is made of tin plated annealed copper wire or silver plated copper alloy wire, and the shield layer is made of a mesh of tin plated annealed copper wires. Furthermore, the aforementioned shield wires are arranged in parallel with a pitch of approximately 1.27 mm, followed by covering with an insulating layer of such as polyvinyl chloride resin to integrate with a thickness of approximately 2 mm.
Though the shielded flat cable mentioned above has an ability of reducing an adverse influence due to the signal wirings, there are still the following problems. That is, even in this kind of shielded flat cable, higher densification or finer patterning of signal wirings is required to provide greater compactness or higher functionality of the circuit.
However, in making the circuit more compact or denser, more complicated machine operations, and finer and more precise machining or the like are necessitated, thereby tending to result in a remarkable increase of the manufacturing costs or decrease of reliability. In other words, in the manufacture and formation of the aforementioned shield wirings, there is a limit in dimensional accuracy in the parallel arrangement of the shield wirings and in the covering and integration with the insulating layer. As a result, the densification is largely restricted.
As a means for stabilizing the signal wirings disposed inside the insulating layer, there is proposed the following configuration. That is, in the configuration the signal wirings are arranged sandwiched in plane between ground wirings, and are sandwiched from above and below between a pair of shield layers. In addition, the ground wiring and shield layer are electrically connected by means of a vertical shield conductor (via interconnection).
One shield layer is a grounding layer made of copper foil disposed integrally on the other main surface of the insulating layer on which the signal and ground wirings are disposed. The other shield layer is a conductive paste layer or the like disposed integrally on the other main surface of the insulating layer covering the signal wirings. However, in the configuration where the signal and ground wirings are sandwiched from right to left in plane and from above and below, the following operations are prerequisite. That is, when vertically connecting the ground wiring with the shield layer by means of a wiring conductor, it is suggested to bore in advance, at a corresponding position, a necessary hole by drilling, followed by the formation of a conductor layer or the like inside the hole.
In boring by means of a drill, a small diameter of approximately several hundreds xcexcm is a lower limit to bore. This small diameter not only becomes an obstacle in higher densification and miniaturization of the signal wirings or the like, but also exerts a large adverse influence on yield or the like, resulting in an increase of manufacturing cost. A small hole of approximate 300 xcexcm can be bored by means of laser machining in place of the boring due to the drilling. However, it is difficult to form a connection of high reliability through the hole.
The present invention is carried out in view of the aforementioned situations. The object of the present invention is to provide a shielded flat cable that has a simplified structure and high shielding reliability, and a manufacturing method thereof.
A first aspect of the present invention is a shielded flat cable, comprising an insulating layer that comprises liquid crystal polymer and is folded and stacked integrally, signal wirings disposed on a folded surface of the insulating layer and ground wirings disposed thereon, the signal wirings and the ground wirings being insulated from each other, a shield layer integrally disposed on an external surface of the insulating layer to cover a disposition area of the signal wirings and ground wirings, and a conducting portion piercing through the insulating layer to connect electrically the ground wiring with the shield layer.
In the shielded flat cable of the present invention, the shield layer may be excised at a plurality of positions corresponding to a fold area of the insulating layer.
A second aspect of the present invention is a manufacturing method of a shielded flat cable, comprising the steps of forming a wiring base substrate in which signal wirings and ground wirings are disposed and insulated from each other on one side area or a center area of one main surface of an insulating layer comprising liquid crystal polymer, and a conductive foil layer connected with the ground wiring which is disposed on the other main surface of the insulating layer, folding the wiring base substrate along the outside of a disposition area of the respective wirings so that a non-disposition area of the respective wirings faces the disposition area thereof, and bonding integrally opposing surfaces of the folded wiring base substrate to make the conductive foil layer a shield layer.
A third aspect of the present invention is a manufacturing method of a shielded flat cable, comprising the steps of, forming signal wirings and ground wirings insulated from each other on one side area or a center area of one main surface of an insulating layer comprising liquid crystal polymer, aligning a conductive foil layer having a conductive protrusion capable of connecting with the ground wiring on the other main surface of the insulating layer, and stacking to form a stacked body, compressing the stacked body integrally to bring the conductive protrusion into piercing through the insulating layer and electrical contact with the ground wiring, and forming a wiring base substrate, folding the wiring base substrate along the outside of a disposition area of the wirings of the insulating layer so that a non-disposition area of the wirings faces the disposition area thereof, and bonding integrally opposing surfaces of the folded wiring base substrate to make the conductive foil layer a shield layer.
In the manufacturing method of the shielded flat cable of the present invention, an insulating adhesive layer may be interposed between the opposing surfaces in the step of bonding integrally.
A part of the conductive foil layer corresponding to a fold area of the insulating layer may be excised in the step of bonding integrally.
In the present invention, the signal wiring, ground wiring and shield layer are composed of conductive metal such as copper, aluminum or the like and is generally formed in foil or thin film of a thickness of approximately from 12 to 35 xcexcm. The signal wiring, ground wiring and shield layer are formed by patterning a copper foil of a copper clad liquid crystal polymer film for instance.
In general, widths of the signal and ground wirings are in the range of approximately 110 to 120 xcexcm and a distance (pitch) between the signal wiring and the ground wiring is also in the range of approximately 110 to 120 xcexcm. For the disposition area of the signal wiring and the ground wiring, in the case of the insulating layer being folded in two, one area (single side area) of two areas is selected. In the case of the insulating layer being folded in three, a center area of three areas is selected. However, in the above division, the folded non-disposition area need only be sufficiently large to correspond to the wiring disposition area. In this meaning, strict two or three division is not meant.
Furthermore, the shield layer for shielding an area where the signal wiring and the ground wiring are disposed is formed by folding a sheet of conductive foil layer or thin layer. That is, at least one external edge periphery in a length direction of one shield layer is extended and the extended portion is folded to form opposing shield layers, thereby a necessary shield potential being maintained.
Specifically, by setting for the width of the insulating layer to exceed two times the width of the wiring disposition area and by disposing the conductive foil layer or the like over an opposing surface to the surface on which the wirings are formed, a wiring base substrate is formed. The non-disposition area is folded with the conductive foil layer disposed outside. Thereby, the wiring disposition area is covered by and integrated with the wiring non-disposition area through the insulating layer. The opposing surfaces of the folded insulating layer may be integrated due to thermal fusion of the liquid crystal polymer forming the insulating layer. By interposing an adhesive resin layer of coating type or film type of epoxy resin or the like, the integration can be implemented more easily. The shield layer, in the case of folding in three, is preferable to be disposed over an entire circumference of the wiring disposition area. However, in the case of folding in two, the shield layer may be excised in a narrow band shape in one side of the wiring disposition area (next to the ground wiring).
When folding integrally the insulating layer and the conductive foil layer (shield layer), the excision of part of the conductive foil layer corresponding to the fold area, that is a center portion in a folding direction, improves the folding property of the shielded flat cable. The partial excision of the conductive foil layer is appropriately implemented within the range capable of maintaining electrical continuity of the conductive foil layer.
In the present invention, for the insulating layer in which the signal and ground wirings and conductors for connecting the ground wiring with the shield layer are internally disposed, liquid crystal polymer is used. That is, the liquid crystal polymer, being almost non-hygroscopic, approximately 3.0 (1 MHz) in dielectric constant and stable in a broad frequency range, is suitable for high frequency cables.
The liquid crystal polymer is multi-axially oriented thermoplastic polymer typical in for instance XYDAR (Product Name of Dartco Co.,) and VECTRA (Product Name of Clanese Co.,). Other insulating resin may be added or compounded to the liquid crystal polymer to be denatured. A film thickness thereof (thickness of insulating layer) is in the range of 30 to 100 xcexcm for instance.
The liquid crystal polymer is different in its melting point or the like due to its molecular structure. Even under the same molecular structure, due to the crystal structure or additives, the melting point varies. For instance, Bectran A (Products of KK Kurare. Melting point: 285xc2x0 C.), Bectran C (Products of KK Kurare. Melting point: 325xc2x0 C.), BIAC film (Products of Japan Goatex Co. Ltd. Melting point: 335xc2x0 C.) or the like can be cited.
In the embodiments of the present invention, since the signal and ground wirings are integrated with the shield layer, the shielded flat cable is compactly structured and simplified in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, since mechanical and electrical connections can be assuredly secured with ease, they function as the shielded flat cable for high frequency having shielding property of high reliability.
In the inventions set forth in claims 3 through 6, while simplifying the manufacturing process and saving labor therein, the shielded flat cable for high frequency with high reliability can be provided with ease and high yield.


A lateral power diodes with an optimal drift doping formed in widebandgap semiconductors like Silicon Carbide, Aluminum Nitride and Gallium Nitride and Diamond are provided with a voltage rating greater 200V. Contrary to conventional vertical design of power diodes, a higher, optimum doping for a given thickness is critical in supporting higher anode/cathode blocking voltage, and lower on-resistance than vertical drift region designs. The backside contact and the anode junction must be able to support the rated blocking voltage of the device.

Most conventional semiconductor power diodes are almost exclusively formed using silicon (Si). Due to the relative maturity of the use of this semiconductor, the performance of conventional power diodes to carry high currents and block high voltages is closely approaching the theoretical limit for Si. For example, power PiN and Schottky diodes made using Si have undergone many improvements over the past two decades allowing them to block 30 to 1200 volts while providing low on-state resistance values. However, the blocking voltage offered by Si limits the application of schottky diodes to about 250 V (because they rely on drift current transport). Therefore, high voltage devices require the use of bipolar PiN diodes. While PiN diodes provide acceptable on-state performance, they suffer from slower switching speeds.
There are many applications for power diodes that require the ability to carry high currents and block voltages in the range of 600 V to 15 kV (and greater). These applications include motor control, power supply, lighting ballast, power transmission and generation, and utility power conversion. Unfortunately, the overall performance of power diodes made using Si is poor for this voltage range, and the lack of such power diodes represents the primary limitation in realizing circuits for these applications. In fact, if high voltage diodes that support such high currents and operate at frequencies of one to 100 kHz were available, they would revolutionize power utility applications and result in substantial power savings.


A dual-clutch planetary transmission comprising a plurality of planetary gearsets, two frictionally engaged gearshifting element for connecting various power trains to a power flux and a plurality of form-fit gearshifting elements for adjusting various gear ratios in the power trains. The frictionally engaged gearshifting elements and the form-fit gearshifting elements are arranged between the shafts of the planetary gearsets, a housing and a transmission input shaft and a transmission output shaft so that the gear ratio can be changed in a lower gear ratio range, via the frictionally engaged gearshifting elements, without any interruption of tractive force. At least one of the frictionally engaged gearshifting elements is a clutch. The form-fit gearshifting element, the frictionally engaged gearshifting elements and the planetary gearsets are positioned within the housing and can be interlinked so that the form-fit gearshifting elements can be actuated without insertion through rotating parts.

The practice has made known step-wise automatic transmissions, which are constructed, at least in the planetary transmission manner or are designed as auxiliary transmissions. Step-wise automatic transmissions, which are constructed in planetary transmission design are equipped with a hydro-dynamic torque converter as a starting element and with frictional shifting means so that, with this type of transmission, shifting can be carried out without an interruption in continuous traction. So that the motor torque in the drive string, which is conducted to the output drive shaft, can be transmitted by the frictional shifting element, it is necessary that these be relatively large in dimensioning whereby, however disadvantageously, in the shifting element, draw-power losses when towing or losses in the open state of the shifting element are large. Since the frictional shifting elements are generally mostly hydraulically operated, a large and complex hydraulic system with a hydraulic pumping system is necessary which, because of a pick-up capacity of the pump arrangement and by way of leakage losses, this leads to a deterioration of the efficiency of the transmission. The draw-power losses can be reduced by the insertion of a substitution for the frictional shifting element, whereby the gear-step exchange would then be carried out, but disadvantageously and with the occurrence of traction interruptions.
In order to execute traction interruption-free shifting with automatic step-wise transmissions, even of the auxiliary type, then these must be constructed as the so-called dual-clutch transmissions. This type of transmission possesses two frictional shifting elements by way of which, in the transmission, two power strings are shifted into the power flow of the transmission or, alternately, are shifted out of the power flow. In the two power strings, shape-fit, shifting element gear pairings of various ratios, have the capability of the shifting "into" or "out of". In this case, the ratios of the power strings can then be adjusted or changed, if the currently employed power string is not precisely shifted into the power flow, but rather finds itself in a load-free condition. In the area of the employed, shape-fit, shifting elements, in comparison to the frictional shifting elements, there appears the essentially smaller traction torque of a planetary transmission so that, in this case, losses of lesser magnitude occur and a total transmission efficiency in a small assembly is enhanced.
The dual-clutch transmissions, which are made in the auxiliary-transmission method are, in comparison to planetary gear transmissions, disadvantageous because of being characterized by a lower power density wherein, for example, in regard to the same gear stage, they require more construction space, which space, especially in the case of motor vehicles, has a very limited availability.
Further, an effective gear efficiency of an auxiliary transmission lies somewhat at the lower level of hand-shifting, which is caused by the known dual spur gear engagement. Contrary to this, planetary gear transmissions possess an efficiency, which is governed by the currently involved gear set scheme. This is true especially in the principal gears for driving and the transmission efficiency is higher than in the case of a coaxially designed auxiliary transmission.
DE 31 31 138 A1 discloses a changeable transmission based on a load carrying, planetary gear. This is intended for motor vehicles with automatic transmission control and having a plurality of interlocked, planetary gear sets. The vehicles are known to have shifting clutches and shifting brakes for the formation of drive strings with different ratios as well, in which only two shifting clutches which, for example, are installed on the motor drive shaft as load shifting clutches and which, as directed, principally transmit drive torque over two drive strings. The remaining shifting clutches and shifting brakes can then always be shifted if they are not already included in the transfer of the torque. By means of appropriate selection of and the arrangement of the coupled planetary gear sets, shifting clutches and shifting brakes in combination with the two load shifting clutches, there arises a high multiple usage of the individual construction elements as well as gaining a simple assembly with satisfactory ratios and a comparative number of gear positions.
As disclosed by DE 31 31 138 A1, the known, load-shiftable planetary transmission, however, exhibits the disadvantage, that the shape-fit, shifting elements are controlled throughout by the rotating components of the planetary transmission, whereby a faultless functionality is attained only objectionably because of a very high technically complex manufacture with resulting undesirable high fabrication costs.
The present invention has the purpose of making a planetary transmission available, which is of low cost in its manufacture.
Within the field of the invention, this purpose is achieved with a planetary transmission.

Planetary transmission, especially dual-clutch planetary transmission


A method for communication includes storing packets received from a sending node over a communication link in a receive buffer of a receiving node. The receive buffer includes one or more blocks having a first block size. A first credit count, corresponding to a number of available blocks in the receive buffer, is derived. The first credit count is converted to a second credit count so as to represent an available space in the receive buffer in accordance with a second block size, which is different from the first block size. A transmission rate of the sending node is controlled by publishing the second credit count to the sending node over the communication link.

Various communication networks use a flow control mechanism to allow a receiver node to control the traffic sending rate of a sender node. Different flow control methods are known in the art. For example, flow control in InfiniBand (IB) communication networks is specified in chapter 7.9 of the IB specifications, titled "InfiniBand™ Architecture Specification," Volume 1, Release 1.2.1, November, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,337, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a credit-based flow control scheme that is designed to operate over Virtual Interface (VI) Architecture. The credit-based flow control scheme reduces overhead (e.g., reduces buffer copies and kernel processing) by relying upon the reliability properties of the underlying VI Architecture. If the number of send credits is sufficient, the sender prepares and sends the packet. Otherwise, the sender sends a Credit Request and waits for a Credit Response. Upon receiving the corresponding Credit Response, the sender continues sending data packets. In response to a sender's Credit Request, the receiver sends the Credit Response only when it has enough receive credits.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,190,667, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes some embodiments that include a data network comprising a host system having a host-fabric adapter, at least one remote system, a switch fabric which interconnects the host system via the host-fabric adapter to the remote system along different physical links for data communications, and at least one communication port provided in the host-fabric adapter of the host system. The communication port includes a set of transmit and receive buffers capable of sending and receiving data packets concurrently via respective transmitter and receiver at the end of a physical link, via the switched fabric. The communication port additionally comprises a flow control mechanism utilized to prevent loss of data due to receive buffer overflow at the end of the physical link.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0092842, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a module, and a system for calculating a credit limit for an interface of a second device, that is capable of receiving multiple packets simultaneously from a first device. Generally, the multiple packets are simultaneously received at an interface on the second device, each packet being one of a plurality of packet types, and a flow control credit limit to be transmitted to the first device is adjusted based on the combination of packet types of the simultaneously received packets.

Credit based flow control for long-haul links


An improved solid particulate matter blender which is essentially a cylindrical vessel with a hopper bottom and a central lift pipe through which pressurized gas is pumped in order to lift material from the bottom to the top for remixing. An internal cone structure mounted inside the conical bottom hopper improves the mixing action within the blender. A cylindrical extension is attached to the bottom of the internal cone structure and extends toward the bottom of the vessel. Material originating at various heights thus reaches the bottom and is lifted to the top together to accomplish the mixing action.

This invention deals generally with a blender for solid particulate matter, and more specifically with a blender of the type which is a cylindrical vessel with a central lift column or pipe through which a gas is pumped to move material from the bottom to the top of the vessel for mixing.
Particulate blenders which are cylindrical vessels with central lift columns to raise bottom material to the top for mixing are well known in the art. They are available in versions which feed the new material into the vessel at either the bottom or the top of the vessel, and both types use a gas pumped up through the central pipe to lift material from the bottom to the top. The simplest such apparatus performs only the lifting action and therefore depends for the mixing action on imperfect mass flow of solids recirculating within the blender. Perfect mass flow within the blender would result in no blending since by definition no variation of downward velocity exists across horizontal planes in the blender tank. This basic flow concept has been traditionally adhered to in order that no dead (stagnant) spots exist in the blender which otherwise can seriously degrade performance. Thus the designer must adhere to the mass flow principal to avoid dead zones but then add devices which systematically withdraw materials from several elevations to produce mixing.
Considerably more complex apparatus has also been developed to enhance the blending action. Much of this depends upon the addition to the vessel of devices called "downcomers", which are separate columns or pipes which rise from the bottom of the vessel to various heights within the vessel, and thereby transport material directly from several different levels within the vessel to the bottom by gravity, from which the material is lifted to the top of the vessel again along with material which has progressed downward with the bulk of the material in the vessel.
While the downcomer system performs the blending function in a reasonably satisfactory manner, it requires a complex and expensive structure. In order to take material from several levels within the vessel and mix them together, there must be many columns of various heights spread throughout the vessel, or there must be multiple columns with controlled openings throughout their lengths. Moreover, each such column or pipe requires a strong support structure, since it is subjected to the movement and stresses of the stored material.

Blender with internal mixing cone having an extension thereon


A printing apparatus is provided for precisely applying identifying indicia to wires connected with connectors without causing any displacement of position and orientation. The printing apparatus is provided with a palette 1 which is moved while being guided by slide rails 6, a wire receiving portion 2 on which wires 21 drawn from a connector 20 are placed, a wire correcting device 3, and a holder 4. The wire 21 fed to a marking section is pressed from above and is straightened in its longitudinal direction by the correcting device 3. The holder 4 holds the straightened wire 21 in the center of the marking section. In this state, printing is applied to the wire 21 by a laser marker 5.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for printing or marking wires with identification indicia as part of a wire harness production process and while the wires are connected with connectors. The invention also relates to apparatus printing identification indicia on wires.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some electrical connectors have a plurality of terminal fittings mounted in a connector housing. Wires are connected to the terminal fittings and extend from the connector housing. The respective wires generally are of different colors to facilitate individual identification. This method of identifying wires increases the number of different types of wires required, and therefore decreases productivity and increases costs. As a result, some connectors employ several wires of the same color and print the wires with identifying characters and/or marks.
The identifying indicia typically are applied to the wires during a wire measuring operation. The marked wires then are cut and terminals are mounted to wire ends for insertion into a connector housing. However, the wire measuring operation must be stopped every time printing is applied to the wire. As a result, production efficiency and output are reduced. Furthermore, the terminal is mounted on the wire and inserted into the connector housing after printing. Consequently, the position and direction of printing on the wire drawn from the connector may be displaced. The position and orientation of the printing may be specified beforehand. However, such displacements need to be checked and corrected during the assembly process, and hence production efficiency is reduced further.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to improve the productivity of a wiring harness.
The invention is directed to a wire printing method, comprising a step of providing at least one wire that is connected with a connector and then feeding the wire to a marking section together with the connector. The feeding step preferably is carried out with the connector and/or the wire at least partly supported by a palette or holder for conveyance. The method then comprises pulling the wire that extends from the connector substantially straight in the marking section and holding the substantially straightened wire in the marking section. The method further comprises applying identifying indicia to the wire in this state by a printing device provided in or near the marking section.
According to a preferred embodiment, the step of applying identifying indicia comprises applying printing to an insulation coating of the wire by a non-contact printing device provided in the marking section.
The printing is applied to the wires after the wires have been connected with the connector. Thus the printing can be done without stopping a wire measuring operation, thereby eliminating a loss of time.
The invention also is directed to a wire printing apparatus that comprises a palette or holder for holding a connector such that the connector can be fed at an angle to the direction that the wire extends from the connector. The angle of feed preferably is substantially a right angle. The apparatus also comprises a wire receiving portion or table on which portions of wires that extend from the connector can be placed. A wire-correcting device is provided, including an elevating or moving mechanism and an advancing mechanism. The apparatus further comprises a holder including an elevating or moving mechanism and a printing or marking device. The printing or marking device is provided substantially above or near a marking section of the apparatus. The wire correcting device can be moved to press the wire fed to the marking section and can be advanced away from the connector for at least partly straightening the wire on the wire receiving portion in the wire drawing direction from the connector. The holder can be moved to hold the substantially straightened wire in the marking section, and printing can be applied to the wire by the printing device in this state. According to a preferred embodiment, the printing device is a non-contact printer.
The wire connected with the connector may be buckled or bent. In this situation, printing cannot be applied directly to the wire because the buckled or bent wire cannot be positioned precisely. Thus, according to the present invention, the wire that extends from the connector is pulled sufficiently to be straightened by the wire-correcting device, and printing is applied while the holder holds the straightened wire in the center of the marking section. With such an arrangement, no omission of printing occurs due to the displacement of the wire. Additionally, the position and orientation of printing can be maintained constantly. Thus, it is not necessary to correct the displacement even when the position and orientation of printing are specified.
Preferably, a plurality of wires extend from a single connector and are fed successively to the marking section by moving the palette in a direction at an angle to the wire, and preferably substantially normal to the wires that extend from the connector.
This apparatus may additionally comprise a moving mechanism for moving the palette that holds the connector in the direction normal to the wires. The moving mechanism may function after the wires that extend from the connector are fed successively to the marking section. Accordingly, printing can be applied continuously.
The wire-correcting device preferably comprises a roller that can be rotated in a wire straightening direction. The roller may be formed with a substantially V-shaped groove, and the roller may be rotated in a wire straightening direction. Thus, the wire can be straightened while being centered by the surface of the groove of the roller.
Alternatively, the wire-correcting device may comprise a roller that has no groove. The roller is rotated in a wire straightening direction and the wire is pushed and centered into a substantially V-shaped groove formed in the wire-receiving portion by the roller to be.
The wire-correcting device may comprise two eccentrically arranged rollers mounted on a holding member having a pivotal center displaced from the centers of rotation of the two rollers. Thus the two wires can be pulled simultaneously to enable simultaneous application of printing to the wires. Additionally, the two wires may have different diameters.
The wire-correcting device preferably comprises a roller, which causes no fretting to prevent the wires from being scratched or otherwise damaged. For example, the wire-correcting device may be provided with a soft pad and may have substantially V-shaped grooves for centering. The wires can also be straightened by a method for pressing the wires by the soft pad while lightly bringing the surfaces of the substantially V-shaped grooves into contact with the wires.
The holder may comprise a chuck for gripping the substantially straightened wire from opposite sides. A brush may be operable with the wire-correcting device to brush gripping surfaces of the chuck by passing the brush between the gripping surfaces during advancing and retracting movements of the wire-correcting device. The brush preferably is used when a laser marker is used as the printing device.
A sensor may be provided for detecting whether the wire is positioned in the marking section. The printing device then applies printing to the wire in accordance with a detection signal from the sensor. Thus, a laser beam is not emitted if no wire is present, and damage to the table by the laser can be avoided.
The holder may comprise at least one pressing element for pressing and holding the substantially straightened wires. The pressing element is formed with a through hole in or through which printing can be applied, and the straightened wire can be pressed and held from above by the holder. This construction is particularly effective when printing is applied simultaneously to a plurality of wires. More particularly, this construction enables the respective wires to be held at simultaneously by one holder unlike the chuck, and is not subject to restriction on installation space.
A laser beam of a laser marker is likely to produce cinders of the insulation coating, and the cinders are likely to adhere to the gripping surfaces of the chuck. However, the brush removes adhered cinders and other such debris from the gripping surfaces before the chuck grips a next wire. Therefore, adhered matter on the gripping surfaces is not transferred to the wire and does not smear the applied identification markings.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings. It should be understood that even though embodiments may be described separately, single features of the respective embodiments may be combined to additional embodiments.


In a method for a cooktop, in particular for producing and/or operating the cooktop, which has at least one variable cooking surface, the cooking surface is partitioned in an operating mode along a partitioning direction into a plurality of heating zones to which at least one heating parameter is assigned in each case in a location-dependent manner in order to heat a cooking utensil that is deposited on the heating zone. In order to ensure flexible production and/or flexible operation of the cooktop, during partitioning of the cooking surface into the heating zones in at least one peripheral region of the cooking surface, at least one cooking utensil characteristic is taken into account.

The invention relates to a method for a cooktop, in particular for producing and/or operating a cooktop.
Cooktops are known to have variable cooking surfaces that can be partitioned into a plurality of heating zones to which a heat output is assigned in each case in a location-dependent manner in order to heat a cooking utensil that is deposited on the heating zone. In this case, a problem nonetheless exists that when using large cooking utensils, the heat output of heating zones that are situated in a peripheral region of the cooking surface cannot be set unless the cooking utensil projects beyond the cooking surface.
It would be desirable and advantageous to provide n improved method for a cooktop and to obviate prior art shortcomings, in particular in respect of flexibility.


Self supporting roofing plate for pitched roofs having purlinless roofing construction is disclosed. This particular roofing plate allows for the rafters of the purlinless construction to be spaced apart as twice as allowed when using best known prior art products, thus significantly reduces costs and labor of the complete roofing construction.

Although the commercial market of tile roofing is quite crowded, and a competitive one, it is yet very conservative in terms of costs per square meter, that is nearly the same all around the globe. It seems that during several decades of years, or even more, there have been achieved a stable balance between the requirements in which a roofing element should withstand (i.e. minimal load to be carried by, its stability to wind and so on) and between the minimal quantity of raw material that should be used in order to comply with the requirements. When referring to sheet metal tiles, for example, the costs per square meter are mainly derived from the price of steel in the international market, that is substantially fixed.
It is therefore a very high motivation for the competitor manufacturers in such market to affect a reduction, let say even of a few fractions of a percent, in their expenses per square meter roofing.
On the background of said conservative market, the object of the present invention is to provide the knowledge how roofing costs may be reduced in tens of percents.
It should be considered that although the discussion from now on in this specification will hang around steel made roof tile, the present invention does not limit itself to this specific material. The same principles that will become more apparent after reading the technical parts of this text, apply for a variety of manufacturing materials without departing from the scope of this invention.
More than twenty years ago, the invention disclosed by the WO 81/03196 publication (hereinafter will be referred to as "D1") was aimed and directed to show how the purlins that used to be an integral part of the traditional infrastructural construction of tile roofs, are replaced by purlins that are integral part of the roofing tile itself, while the roofing infrastructural construction is comprised of rafters only, i.e. without purlins.
The integral purlin according to said invention is made in the tile by a modification in its shape and with no significant increase in the amount of material that should be used. The actual implementation of said patent could be found in a product named "Scanroof", which is manufactured by the assignee of the invention disclosed by said D1 publication.
The benefit in using this D1 invention is double: firstly there is a reduction in the amount of material that should be used for the infrastructural construction since purlins are no more necessary, and secondly there is a reduction in the working time that should be spent to erect the economical construction.
U.S. D288,771 publication (hereinafter will be referred to as "D2") discloses a support strip which as could be appreciated is aimed not only for supporting but also to help in positioning and assembling of the D1 type tile, that is necessary since the tile itself does not contain means that ensures precise positioning and assembling of one roofing sheet respect to another, and as will be explained in detail in the following chapters of this specification.
As mentioned before, the motivation of a manufacturer to reduce production costs is clear, hence, it is believed whether there was a chance to utilize the technical features disclosed by said inventions by those who skill in the art in order to reduce roofing production costs furthermore, it was completely exhausted, either by the assignees of the patents that were granted to said invention in several countries, or by manufacturers in other countries, were the invention was not protected. More than three years after the expiry of the patent term, and despite of a long felt need, no body in the market of steel tile roofing shows ability to break through the bar and to reduce the roofing manufacturing costs beyond the effective limits determined by said invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new set of features that will allow for a reduction of up to several tens of percents in the manufacturing costs of steel tile roofing.


Oxygen levels in biological tissue or systems can be measured by the phosphorescence quenching method using phosphorescent porphyrin probes, also referred to as a dendritic oxygen probes, with controllable quenching parameters and defined biodistributions. Provided are a “next generation” of oxygen sensors with substantially improved phosphorescence emission for better imaging capabilities, ease of use, increasing the quantum efficiency (phosphorescence intensity) and extending their range of applicability including constructing a class of oxygen sensors for making measurements in organic media. In addition, provided are methods for synthesizing new porphyrin constructs in which the porphyrin is made less flexible and more planar, changing with decrease internal quenching, and thereby increasing the phosphorescence emission used for oxygen sensing. Additional methods are provided for structurally modifying the dendrimer used to encapsulate the porphyrin phosphor to provide internal quenching of singlet oxygen molecules formed during oxygen measurements.

The reliable and accurate measurement of oxygen supply in mammalian tissue is important to ensure that the oxygen supply is adequate. The circulatory system employs specialized oxygen-carrying protein molecules in red blood cells to deliver oxygen from the lungs throughout the body. Once dissociated from hemoglobin, oxygen is delivered to its consumption sites in cells by diffusion. It is the measurement of this dissolved unbound oxygen that is most critical for quantifying tissue physiological status. The phosphorescence quenching method underpinning this patent application is unique in its ability to accomplish such a measurement. This method is based on use of special phosphorescent probe molecules, which report on oxygen concentration in the environment with high specificity and accuracy.
Measurements of oxygen by phosphorescence quenching using phosphorescent probes not only provide measurement of oxygen consumption by the tissue, but also allow evaluation of tissue diseased states. Oxygen is a key metabolite, and tissue hypoxia is a critical parameter with respect to various tissue pathologies, such as retinal diseases (Berkowitz et al., Invest. Ophthalmol. Visual Sci. 40:2100-2105 (1999); Linsenmeier et al., Ophthalmol. Visual Sci. 39:1647-1657 (1998)), brain abnormalities (Vannucci et al., J. Exp. Biol. 207:3149-3154 (2004); Brunel et al., J. Neuroradiology 31:123-137 (2004); Johnston et al., Neuroscientist 8:212-220 (2002)), and cancer (Evans et al., J. Appl. Physiol. 98:1503-1510 (2005)). Differing oxygen levels in tissues can be indicative of tissue structure abnormalities, defects, whether caused externally, or by genetic manifestations, resulting from disease.
Imaging tissue oxygen in vivo presents a challenging and important problem. Nevertheless, currently developing imaging technologies for mapping tissue oxygenation (Rajendran et al., Radiol. Clin. North Am. 43:169-187 (2005)) (e.g., NMR/EPR (Subramanian et al. NMR Biomed. 17:263-294 (2004)), PET (Piert et al., Nucl. Med. 46:106-113 (2005); Apisarnthanarax et al., Rad. Res. 163:1-25 (2005)), near infrared tomographic techniques (Fenton et al., Brit. J. Cancer 79:464-471 (1999); Liu et al., Appl. Opt. 39:5231-5243 (2000)), etc (Ballinger, Sem. Nucl. Med. 31:321-329 (2001); Foo et al., Mol. Imag. Biol. 6:291-305 (2004)) suffer from many deficiencies, including invasiveness, low spatial and/or temporal resolution, lack of absolute calibration, poor specificity, etc., and remain yet to be adequately developed.
The phosphorescence quenching method (Vanderkooi et al., J. Biol. Chem. 262:5476-5483 (1987); Wilson & Vinogradov, In: Handbook of Biomedical Fluorescence. Mycek M-A, Pogue B W, eds. Marcel Dekker; New York: 2003. Ch. 17) is superior in its ability to directly detect oxygen in tissue. A detailed summary is presented by Vinogradov & Wilson (2012) "Porphyrin-dendrimers as biological oxygen sensors," In Designing Dendrimers (Capagna, Ceroni, Eds.), Wiley, New York) following the effective filing date of this invention. When a phosphorescent probe is dissolved in the blood and excited using appropriate illumination, its phosphorescence lifetime and intensity become robust indicators of oxygen concentration in the environment. Phosphorescence quenching is exquisitely sensitive and selective to oxygen, possesses excellent temporal resolution and can be implemented for high-resolution hypoxia imaging in 2D (Rumsey et al., Science. 241:1649-1652 (1988); Vinogradov et al., Biophys. J. 70:1609-1617 (1996); Shonat et al., Annal. Biomed. Eng. 31:1084-1096 (2003)).
Efforts to develop 3D near infrared tomographic modality, include Soloviev et al., Applied Optics 42:113 (2003); Soloviev et al., Applied Optics 43:564 (2004); Apreleva et al., Optics Letters 31:1082 (2006); Apreleva et al., Applied Optics 45:8547 (2006); Apreleva et al., Optics Letters 33:782 (2008), and recent clinically relevant developments of Cerenkov radiation-induced phosphorescence (Zhang et al., Biomedical Optics Express 3:2381 (2012). But highly accurate and versatile methods for measuring oxygen remain to be further developed.
For phosphorescent compounds to be suitable for use as a phosphorescent oxygen probe (aka "phosphor" or "oxyphor") in determination of tissue oxygenation, it is desirable that the compounds have (1) high absorbance in the near infrared region of the spectrum where natural chromophores of tissue, such as hemoglobin or myoglobin, have only very weak absorption; (2) phosphorescence with high quantum yields at room temperature, preferably greater than 0.02; and (3) suitable lifetimes, preferably from about 0.1 to about 1 msec.
A new class of phosphors suitable for oxygen measurement was previously reported in Vinogradov and Wilson, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2, 103-111 (1995), and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,850, "Method and Apparatus for Imaging an Internal Body Portion of a Host Animal," by Vanderkooi and Wilson), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,865, "Phosphorescent Dendritic Macromolecular Compounds for Imaging Tissue Oxygen," by Vinogradov and Wilson), which are incorporated herein by reference. In the general, the phosphorescent probes for oxygen measurements comprise three functional parts: 1) phosphorescent core; 2) encapsulating and protecting ligands and 3) the hydrophilic outer layer, which is usually made of monomethyloligoethyleneglycol or simply polyethyleneglycol (PEG) residues. Parts 2 and 3 comprise the so-called immediate "surrounding environment" of the phosphorescent chromophore.
The functions of the three parts are as follows: a) phosphorescent core provides optical signal (phosphorescence), inducible by red/near infrared excitation sources and responsive to changes in the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2); b) encapsulating ligands allow tuning of the core accessibility to oxygen to optimize probe's sensitivity in the physiological pO2 range; and c) outer layer provides solubility and isolates the probe from interactions with endogenous biological species (proteins, nucleic acids, membranes etc) in order to maintain the calibration constants for quantitative pO2 measurements in biological environments.
Both aforementioned patents teach compounds based on complexes of metals, such as Pd and Pt, with porphyrins and aromatically πt-extended porphyrins, such as, for example, tetrabenzoporphyrin, tetranaphthaloporphyrin, tetraanthraporphrin and various derivatives thereof, which play the role of phosphorescent cores (part 1). These complexes possess bright room temperature phosphorescence, and Pd and Pt complexes of tetrabenzoporphyrins and tetranaphthaloporphyrins are especially desirable because they show strong light absorption in the near IR region (610-650 nm and 700-720 nm, respectively), where tissue is practically transparent. Moreover, Pd tetrabenzoporphyrins (PdTBP) and their derivatives have been shown to have long-lived phosphorescence (˜250 μsec) with quantum yields of 0.08-0.10%. These values have been later re-measured against improved fluorescence standards used throughout the remainder of this spefication, and shown to be 0.0015-0.04 (see Esipova et al, Anal. Chem. 83:8756 (published on-line Oct. 11, 2011).
Generally, the surrounding environment determines properties of the phosphorescent probe with respect to oxygen measurement, including water solubility, toxicity, oxygen quenching constant, sensitivity of the measurements to chemically active components of tissue, and ease of excretion of the probe from the body through the kidney. It is also desirable to design the surrounding environment, such that it comprises an inert globular structure around the phosphor, through which only small uncharged molecules, i.e., oxygen, can diffuse into the close vicinity of the phosphorescent core for efficient quenching.
The '865 patent above teaches that the optimal surrounding environment for the phosphorescent core is made of dendrons as encapsulating ligands (part 2) and polyethyleneglycols (or oligoethyleneglycols) as the outer layer of the probe (part 3). (Note that together the encapsulating dendrons are said to comprise a dendrimer. Accordingly, the corresponding phosphorescent probes are termed dendritic.) Dendritic probes so far have shown to be superior phosphors for oxygen measurements in biological systems. Many laboratories around the world currently use these molecules for oxygen measurements in the blood, tissue interstitial space, various organs and with application of different modes of the phosphorescence quenching method (see above). See, e.g., Sakadzic et al., Nat. Methods 7:755 (2010); Devor et al., J. Neuroscience 31:13676 (2011); Lecoq et a, Nature Medicine 17:893 (2011); and since the effective filing date of this application, Parpaleix et al., Nature Medicine 19:241-246 (2013), which have capitalized on the use of the dendritic oxygen probes to decipher brain energy metabolism in the field of neuroscience. Thus the prior and present art have clearly established tremendous value of dendritic oxygen probes, warranting their further improvement and optimization.
It has therefore been an ongoing need in the art to further improve on the structure of dendritic phosphorescent probes by altering and improving their chemical structure, thereby providing a "next generation" of oxygen sensors with substantially improved phosphorescence emission for better imaging capabilities, ease of use, and range of applicability. In addition, some of the new molecules in this disclosure provide measurements of oxygen, not only in an aqueous environment, but also in liquid organic media, such as organic solvents and/or oils.

Phosphorescent meso-unsubstituted metallo-tetrabenzoporphyrin probe molecules for measuring oxygen and imaging methods


A technique for calculating local repair paths through a computer network using one or more dynamically measured parameters in place of, or in addition to, statically assigned cost metrics. The dynamically measured parameters include various statistical measures of resources and attributes associated with data links and/or network nodes in the computer network. In operation, an intermediate node monitors a set of local link and/or node parameters. The node may generate an advertisement in response to at least one of its monitored parameters crossing a predetermined threshold value or changing value by a predetermined percentage or amount. The advertisement is “flooded” so as to advertise the dynamically measured parameter value to other neighboring intermediate nodes. After receiving the advertisement, each node may recalculate one or more local repair paths based on the advertised parameter value. The node may utilize a recalculated repair path if it provides an appreciably lower-cost path, e.g., by a predetermined percentage, as compared with the currently deployed repair path.

A computer network is a geographically distributed collection of interconnected subnetworks, such as local area networks (LAN) that transport data between network nodes. As used herein, a network node is any device adapted to send and/or receive data in the computer network. The network topology is defined by an arrangement of inter-connected network nodes that communicate with one another, typically through one or more intermediate nodes, such as routers and switches. Adjacent ("neighboring") network nodes may be interconnected by various types of data links, such as conventional wire links, optical links, wireless links, etc. The network nodes typically communicate by exchanging discrete packets of data over the data link using predefined network communication protocols. In this context, a protocol consists of a set of rules defining how network nodes interact with each other.
A computer network may contain smaller groups of one or more subnetworks which may be managed as separate routing areas. As used herein, a routing area is broadly construed as a collection of interconnected network nodes under a common administration. Accordingly, a routing area also may be generally referred to as a routing domain or routing level. A routing area may operate as an enterprise network, a service provider or any other type of network or subnetwork. Often, a routing area is managed by a single administrative entity, such as a company, an academic institution or a branch of government. Such a centrally-managed routing area is sometimes referred to as an "autonomous system" (AS).
Network nodes in a routing area are typically configured to forward data using "interior gateway" routing protocols. These interior gateway protocols (IGP) define the manner with which routing information and network-topology information is exchanged and processed in the routing area. For instance, IGP protocols typically provide a mechanism for distributing network address information corresponding to a set of nodes and subnetworks that are reachable (i.e., accessible) to intermediate nodes in the routing area. As such, each intermediate node receives a consistent "view" of the routing area's topology. Examples of interior gateway routing protocols include conventional link-state protocols, such as the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol and the Intermediate-System-to-Intermediate-System (IS-IS) protocol. The OSPF and IS-IS protocols are described in more detail in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) publications Request for Comments (RFC) 2328, entitled "OSPF Version 2," published April 1998 and RFC 1142, entitled "OSI IS-IS Intra-domain Routing Protocol," published February 1990, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein.
Conventional link-state protocols, such as OSPF and IS-IS, use IGP advertisements for exchanging routing information between interconnected intermediate network nodes (IGP nodes) in a routing area. As used herein, an IGP advertisement describes any message used by an IGP routing protocol to communicate routing information and/or network-topology information among the interconnected IGP nodes. An IGP node typically generates an IGP advertisement in response to a network event, such as a detected node or link failure, and in some cases may generate its IGP advertisements periodically. Operationally, a first IGP node may generate an IGP advertisement and then "flood" (i.e., transmit) the advertisement to each of its directly-connected IGP nodes (neighboring IGP nodes). Thereafter, a neighboring IGP node receives the flooded advertisement and updates its local set of routing information based on the contents of the received advertisement. Next, the neighboring IGP node may flood the received IGP advertisement to each of its directly-connected IGP nodes, except for the node which previously flooded the advertisement. This process may be repeated until each IGP node in the routing area has received the advertisement and updated its local routing information.
Each IGP node typically generates and disseminates an IGP advertisement that identifies each of the IGP node's neighboring network nodes. In addition, the advertisement also contains one or more "cost" values for each of the neighboring nodes identified in the advertisement. As used herein, a cost value associated with a neighboring node is an arbitrary metric used to determine the relative ease/burden of communicating with that node. The cost values may correspond to various parameters and attributes associated with the neighboring node or with the data link coupled to the node. For example, the cost values may indicate, among other things, a relative preference assigned to the neighboring node, the maximum available bandwidth over a data link coupled to the node, a minimum round-trip time required to communicate with the node, a relative reliability or quality-of-service (QoS) metric associated with the node, etc. In practice, the cost values associated with a link or node are manually assigned, e.g., by a system administrator, and are therefore static in the sense that they do not change values over time.
As noted, IGP advertisements are usually flooded until each IGP node has received an IGP advertisement from each of the other interconnected IGP nodes in the routing area. Furthermore, IGP advertisements are refreshed when a specific timer expires. Then, each of the IGP nodes can construct the same "view" of the network topology by aggregating the received lists of neighboring nodes and cost values. Specifically, each IGP node may input this received routing information to a "shortest path first" (SPF) calculation that determines the lowest-cost network paths that couple the IGP node with each of the other network nodes in the routing area. For example, the Dijkstra algorithm is a conventional technique for performing such a SPF calculation, as described in more detail in Section 12.2.4 of the text book Interconnections Second Edition, by Radia Perlman, published September 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein.
An IGP node may be configured to "protect" network traffic over a given data link or node by providing a repair path (backup path) that circumvents the protected link or node in the event of certain network failures. For instance, in response to identifying that the protected node or data link has become inaccessible or otherwise inoperative, the node immediately upstream to the failed network element (e.g., link or node) may reroute network traffic normally transiting through the failed network element via the repair path. As such, the IGP node does not "drop" received data packets as a result of the network failure. The repair path may be deployed as a fast reroute (FRR) data path, e.g., using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) or Internet Protocol (IP) FRR techniques. Examples of MPLS FRR repair paths are described in the IETF Internet Draft draft-ietf-mpls-rsvp-lsp-fastreroute-07.txt, entitled "Fast Reroute Extensions to RSVP-TE for LSP tunnels," by Pan et al., expiring on February 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The constraint-based SPF (CSPF) algorithm is often used for calculating local repair paths in a routing area. The CSPF algorithm employs conventional SPF calculations subject to a predetermined set of constraints. Broadly stated, the algorithm "prunes" the network topology information input to the SPF calculations so as to remove any links and/or nodes that do not satisfy the set of constraints. First, the algorithm removes the link or node being protected to ensure that the calculated repair path will not include the protected link or node. In the case of a protected data link, any other links that are members of the same shared risk link group (SRLG) as the protected link are also removed from the network topology information input to the CSPF calculations. Next, any data link or network node that fails to satisfy the predetermined set of constraints is excluded from the CSPF calculations. After removing ineligible links and nodes in this manner, the resultant constrained network topology is input to the CSPF calculations. The result of the CSPF calculations is a constrained shortest path that may be used to select a lowest-cost local repair path for the protected node or link.
The predetermined set of constraints used for CSPF calculations are based on statically-configured cost metrics that are typically distributed using IGP protocols. The cost metrics used in the CSPF calculations generally include traditional IGP cost values as well as other statically-configured node and link attributes and parameters, such as link affinities (i.e., administrative attributes assigned to a node or link). For example, the set of constraints may be configured to exclude from the CSPF calculations any nodes and/or data links whose associated cost metrics do not fall within predetermined ranges of cost-metric values. For instance, such a constraint may specify that nodes and data links that support, e.g., a reservable bandwidth below a specified minimum bandwidth should be excluded from the CSPF calculations.
Because CSPF constraints are based on statically-configured cost metrics, the local repair paths derived from the CSPF algorithm may not actually reflect the lowest cost repair paths in the routing area. That is, if the static cost metrics become "out of date" due to changes in the network, then the local repair paths calculated using the CSPF algorithm may not be accurate. There is generally a need to take into account various changes in the network topology when calculating local repair paths to ensure that an IGP node selects the most optimal repair path available for a protected node or link.

Method and apparatus to compute local repair paths taking into account link resources and attributes


A method for fabricating a body-tied SOI transistor with reduced body resistance is presented. During the wafer fabrication process, a semiconductor wafer is placed in an ion implantation device and oriented to a first position relative to a beam path of the ion implantation device in order to obtain a substantially non-orthogonal twist orientation between the beam path and the transistor gate edge. Following this orientation of the first position, an ion species is implanted into a first implantation region. The wafer is then rotated to a second substantially non-orthogonal twist orientation, where another ion implantation is conducted. This process continues in the same manner, such that further substantially non-orthogonal twists and ion implantations are conducted, until the desired number of implantation areas is created. Halo or pocket implants are an example of the type of implantations to which the technique may be applied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly to ion implantation processes during semiconductor fabrication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structures have advantages over conventional bulk substrates such as elimination of latch-up, reduced short-channel effects, improved radiation hardness, and dynamic coupling, among others. Because of these advantages, semiconductor device manufacturers commonly form metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) on SOI structures.
In a typical MOSFET, a source and a drain are formed in an active semiconductor region by implanting N-type or P-type impurities in the layer of semiconductor material. Between the source and the drain is a channel (or body) region, above which is a gate electrode. Unfortunately, MOSFETs formed on SOI structures often experienced a floating body effect (FBE), which lead to the development of tied-body construction techniques, particularly in the manufacture of partially-depleted SOI devices such as the t-type or "hammer head" gate electrode seen in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a top view of a typical t-type gate transistor 100 according to the prior art. This t-type gate transistor is also known as a "hammerhead" transistor, because the shape of the block of the polysilicon portion 10 between the gate 9 and the contact 3 in region 4 resembles a hammerhead. Transistor 100 is formed in an active area having a first region 2, having a first width, and a second region 4, having a second width. Contacts 3 are located in the region 2 and contact 5 is formed in region 4. Another view of t-type gate transistor 100 is shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of t-type transistor 100 Line A of FIG. 1, while FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed plan view of a portion of transistor 100. Line A is a cross-section just inside the gate 9 sidewall. This cross-section results in the source/drain (S/D) extensions 8 and halo implants 6 underlying the edge of the gate 9 being shown. From FIG. 2, it is seen that transistor 100 utilizes partially depleted SOI manufacturing technology. Components in FIG. 2 not illustrated in FIG. 1 include isolation structures 18, insulator layer 11, substrate 12, dielectric layer 17, source/drain (S/D) extension 8 underlying the gate 9, and halo implant 6, underlying the gate 9.
While tied-body transistors such as t-type transistor 100 avoid FBE problems by tying the transistor body to a contact CMOS scaling, has resulted in increased resistance due to attendant reductions in the cross-sectional dimensions of certain conductive structures, as well as other factors. In t-type transistor 100, there are several components of body resistance: a) contact 5 resistance, b) resistance along the width of the transistor 100 under the gate structure 9, and c) pinch off resistance under the hammer head 10 along the boundary of the body tie implant from transistor S/D implant.
Of the three resistance components named above, the contact resistance is generally the smallest portion of the total resistance. The resistance along the width of the gate structure 9 is decreased somewhat by the halo implant 6, also known as pocket implants, which normally receives a dopant dose level about one order of magnitude greater than the well implant dose level. Well implant doses are trending downward in current manufacturing technology, which has led to an increase in resistance under the polysilicon hammer head 10 such that this resistance component has begun to dominate the body resistance.
In addition, resistance problems can be exacerbated by depletion phenomena, such as when source/drain extension depletion areas create a "pinch off" under the hammerhead 10, as shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is an enlargement of a portion of the t-type transistor 100 of FIG. 1 near the hammer head 10. From FIG. 3, the depletion areas 13 near the hammer head 10 of S/D extensions have created a pinch off region 14 in the channel under the hammerhead 10, which results in increased resistance. This phenomenon is illustrated from another perspective in FIG. 4.
FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a portion 100 of a t-type transistor along the point indicated by Line B in FIG. 1. The pinch off region 14 as created by the overlapping depletion areas 13 is plainly seen. The gate width 7 is indicated by the dashed lines appearing in the hammerhead 10 cross section. Note that the two depletion areas do not need to overlap, as illustrated, to result in an increased resistance due to pinch off.
Therefore, a method which overcomes these problems and limitations would be useful.

Method of fabricating body-tied SOI transistor having halo implant region underlying hammerhead portion of gate


A method of forming a pattern for a semiconductor device, in which, two hard masks are included between an upper spin-on glass (SOG) layer and a lower etching target layer. The SOG layer is etched twice through two different patterned photoresists respectively to form a fine pattern in the SOG layer. Subsequently, an upper hard mask is etched by utilizing the patterned SOG layer as an etching mask so the upper patterned hard mask can have a fine pattern with a sound shape and enough thickness. A lower hard mask and the etching target layer are thereafter etched by utilizing the upper patterned hard mask as an etching mask, so portions of the etching target layer that are covered by the two hard masks can be well protected from the etching processes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly, to a method of forming a pattern for a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As sizes of semiconductor devices are designed as small as possible to catch up with the tendency of miniaturization, the patterning process becomes more and more important nowadays. In a traditional patterning process, the photoresist is patterned by one photolithography process, and thereafter serves as an etching mask for etching the underlying material layer. However, the miniaturization is limited by the exposing ability of current lithographic tools in traditional patterning process, because every lithographic tool has its critical exposure resolution of exposing gaps between lines and between spaces.
Accordingly, another pattern forming approach including two photolithography processes and one etching process is adopted when the pitch (the distance of centers of two neighboring structures) is smaller than 155 nanometers (nm). Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram illustrating the pattern forming approach including two photolithography processes. As shown in FIG. 1, one target pattern 10, which is designed for a semiconductor device (not shown), is divided into two partial patterns 12. Thus, the pitch of the target pattern 10 can be much smaller than the pitches of the partial patterns 12, while the pitches of the partial patterns 12 should relate to the critical exposure resolution of the lithographic tool (not shown). As a result, the pitch of the target pattern 10 can be superior to the critical exposure resolution of the lithographic tool.
However, it is still some problems for applying the concept to various patterning processes in practice. When the pitch of contact holes is lower than 140 nm, the above-mentioned two-exposures-then-one-etching method fails because it is beyond the limitation of the current lithographic tools during the second exposure, and consequently contact holes lower than 140 nm pitch cannot be produced.

Method of forming a pattern for a semiconductor device and method of forming the related MOS transistor


To determine a corrected flow rate value of a mobile phase flowing in a liquid chromatography (LC) system, a flow rate of the mobile phase at a selected reference position in the LC system is measured to produce one or more flow rate values. A model of the LC system is applied to the flow rate value(s) to determine the corrected flow rate value(s). The model includes a distribution of capacitive elements and resistive elements arranged according to a topology of the LC system. The capacitive and resistive elements are representative of system and solvent properties affecting flow rate while operating the LC system. The system and solvent properties may be properties affecting the flow rate while operating the LC system under dynamic conditions.

In a liquid chromatography (LC) system, a mobile phase consisting of one or more solvents is driven under a high system pressure through a sample separation unit, which often is provided in the form of a chromatography column. In high-performance LC (HPLC) systems and ultra high-performance LC (UHPLC) systems, the system pressure may be as high as, for example, about 1200 bar. The column contains a stationary phase, which in LC is typically provided in the form of a packed bed of particles such as, for example, silica beads. The particles are formulated and/or functionalized so as to separate different components (e.g., chemical compounds) of a sample. The sample to be so processed by the LC system is injected into the mobile phase at a point upstream of the column. The sample is then transported with the mobile phase through the column at the high system pressure. As the sample flows though the column, the sample contacts the stationary phase. The different components of the sample have different affinities for the stationary phase. This causes the different components to separate from each other in the liquid flow though the column. Consequently, the different components elute from the column outlet at different times. Hence, the flow of liquid outputted from the column contains a series of bands, each band consisting of a distinct component of the sample. That is, the bands respectively consist of the different components of the sample that were separated from each other by the column.
From the column outlet, the mobile phase and the series of bands carried therein flow to a detector configured to detect each individual band. As one example, the detector may include a flow cell through which the liquid flows, a light source, and a light detector configured to make optical-based measurements (e.g., absorbance) on the liquid flowing through the flow cell. Electrical signals produced by the detector may then be utilized to produce a chromatogram. Typically, the chromatogram plots signal intensity as a function of Run time (i.e., analysis time), or alternatively as a function of Run volume. The data plot appears as a series of peaks corresponding to the series of respective bands detected by the detector. In analytical chromatography, the chromatogram is utilized to identify and quantify components in the sample. Alternatively, in preparative chromatography the separating power of the column may be utilized to purify the sample, for example to isolate a target compound from other compounds contained in the sample.
When evaluating the analytical results of a chromatographic run on a sample, relying only on the detector-generated data utilized to produce the chromatogram may not be sufficient. This is particularly the case when operating under fast changing dynamic conditions such as when performing a gradient run faster than a few minutes (e.g., 3 min or less). Operating parameters such as the solvent flow rate in the LC system can affect the accuracy of the solvent composition (mixing ratio) of the mobile phase and the reliability of the chromatogram. Flow rate data and other data relating to instrument performance may need to be utilized to evaluate the analytical results of a chromatographic run, in addition to the peak data derived from the signals outputted by the detector.
Conventionally, the set-point flow rate value(s) at which the LC system was programmed to operate are relied upon, with the assumption that the set-point flow rate value(s) accurately represent actual (or real) flow rates implemented by the LC system during the chromatographic run. However, the actual (or real) flow rate of a solvent or composite solvent at a given position in an LC system may be different from the set-point flow rate at which the LC system has been programmed to operate. The deviation in the actual flow rate from the set-point flow rate may be due to one or more dynamic conditions or events occurring in the LC system during operation at a particular point in time, as described further below.
Instead of relying on the predetermined set-point flow rate values, a flow measurement device positioned at an appropriate location in the LC system may be utilized to monitor the flow rate in real time during operation of the LC system, and the LC system may record (report) the acquired flow rate data. However, the flow measurement device may not accurately measure the flow rate, i.e. the flow rate values as measured by a sensor that is sensitive to the actual liquid composition or other influences may be different from the actual (real) volumetric flow rate values. Consequently, the reporting of flow rate data based on measurements taken by the flow measurement device of common nature is inaccurate, especially under dynamic conditions where the composition of the mobile phase and/or other factors such as, for example, temperature or pressure, change rapidly.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for correcting flow rate data acquired during the operation of an LC system.

Corrected flow reporting under dynamic conditions by system modeling


The invention is drawn to a method for identifying agents that inhibit neural degeneration by administering to cell populations consisting essentially of neurons or cells from neuronal cell lines, where these cells are exposed to an apoptotic stimulus other than APP gene products, an agent, where it is determined whether the agent inhibits neural degeneration.

Cell death is an important aspect during the embryonic or post-natal development of major organ systems. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, also plays a critical role in maintaining homeostasis in many adult tissues. Apoptosis is a term used to refer to the process(es) of programmed cell death and has been described in several cell types (Waring et al. (1991) Med. Res. Rev. 11: 219; Williams GT (1991) Cell 65: 1097; Williams GT (1992) Trends Cell Biol. 2: 263; Yonisch-Rouach et al. (1991) Nature 352: 345). Apoptosis is likely involved in controlling the amount and distribution of certain differentiated cell types, such as lymphocytes and other cells of the hematopoietic lineage as well as other somatic and germ cells. The mechanism(s) by which apoptosis is produced in cells is incompletely understood, as are the regulatory pathways by which the induction of apoptosis occurs.
Apoptosis Mechanism(s)
Apoptosis was first described as a morphologic pattern of cell death characterized by cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing and chromatin condensation culminating in cell fragmentation (Kerr et al., 1972). One hallmark pattern early in the process of cell death is internucleosomal DNA cleavage (Wyllie, 1980). The death-sparing effects of interrupting RNA and protein synthesis and the stereotyped patterns of cell death during development were consistent with a cell autonomous genetic program for cell death (Wyllie et al. (1980) Int. Rev. Cytol. 68: 251; Sulston, J. and Horvitz, H. (1977) Develop. Biol. 56: 110; Abrams et al. (1993) Development 117: 29). The isolation of mutants defective for developmental cell death in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans supported this view (Ellis, H. and Horvitz, H. (1986) Cell 44: 817; Hengartner et al. (1992) Nature 356: 494). Control of apoptosis may be a regulatory feature of a variety of diseases, such as aging, AIDS, and autoimmune diseases, among others. Despite the identification of genes necessary for cell death and the ability to regulate apoptosis by known genes, the essential biochemical events in apoptotic death remain largely unknown.
Cell Proliferation Control and Neoplasia
Many pathological conditions result, at least in part, from aberrant control of cell proliferation, differentiation, and/or apoptosis. For example, neoplasia is characterized by a clonally derived cell population which has a diminished capacity for responding to normal cell proliferation control signals. Oncogenic transformation of cells leads to a number of changes in cellular metabolism, physiology, and morphology. One characteristic alteration of oncogenically transformed cells is a loss of responsiveness to constraints on cell proliferation and differentiation normally imposed by the appropriate expression of cell growth regulatory genes. Despite progress in developing a more defined model of the molecular mechanisms underlying the transformed phenotype and neoplasia, few significant therapeutic methods applicable to treating cancer beyond conventional chemotherapy have resulted.
Thus, it is desirable to identify agents which can modify apoptosis activity so as to modulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and/or apoptosis for therapeutic or prophylactic benefit. Further, such agents can serve as commercial research reagents for control of cell proliferation, differentiation, and/or apoptosis in experimental applications, and/or for controlled proliferation and differentiation of predetermined stem cell populations in vitro, in ex vivo therapy, or in vivo.
A variety of neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by cell death of neurons by a mechanism that is not presently distinguishable from many known models of apoptosis. Some of these neurodegenerative diseases appear to be related to excess accumulation of certain proteins. Examples of such amyloidosis-related neurodegenerative diseases include those caused by the prion protein (PrP) which is associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, scrapic, and kuru), and those caused by excess cystatin C accumulation (hereditary cystatin C angiopathy), among others. Although much current effort is being expended on certain neuronal diseases associated with senile dementia, there is less effort being devoted to neurodegenerative diseases which are related to excess accumulation of certain proteins other than the A.beta. peptide.
It would be desirable to have compounds and methods or treating non-Alzheimer's type neurodegenerative diseases wherein neuron loss is produced by apoptotic cell death which can be circumvented by suitable therapeutic intervention with pharmaceuticals.
There is a need in the art for pharmaceuticals which have therapeutic use to treat or prevent such apoptosis-related neurodegenerative diseases which have similar pathogenic mechanisms. A more thorough understanding of the molecular events underlying the development and progression of such neurodegenerative diseases would facilitate development of such pharmaceuticals. Identification of critical biochemical events involved in these apoptosis-related neurodegenerative diseases can provide a basis for development of methods and model systems for screening compound banks to identify such pharmaceuticals, as well as providing a basis for the design of therapeutic methods and treatment modalities for neurodegenerative disease.
It would be desirable to have methods and model systems for screening test compounds for the ability to inhibit or prevent or inhibit neuronal toxicity produced by neurotoxic agents which induce neuronal apoptosis. In particular, it would be desirable to base such methods and systems on metabolic pathways and/or signal transduction pathways which have been found to be involved in such pathogenesis, where the test compound would be able to interrupt or interfere with the metabolic pathway or signal transduction pathway which leads to damage of neuronal and/or glial cells in the presence of a pathogenic apoptotic stimulus. Such methods and systems should provide rapid, economical, and suitable means for screening large numbers of test compounds.
Based on the foregoing, it is clear that a need exists for identification of metabolic pathways and/or signal transduction pathways which have been found to be involved in the pathogenesis of apoptosis-related neurodegenerative diseases, and the development of methods of treatment and pharmaceutical screening assays based on the identification of these pathways. The present invention fulfills these and other needs in the art.
The references discussed herein are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.

Inhibition of phospholipase A.sub.2 to reduce neuronal cell death


A computer system, processor, programming instructions and/or method of processing data that includes a main register file having a plurality of entries for storing data; an accumulator register file having a plurality of entries for storing data wherein multiple main register file entries are mapped to one accumulator register file entry in the at least one accumulator register file; a logical register mapper to track and map logical registers to main register file entries, and a history buffer. Processing wide data width instructions includes evicting and restoring information from a single primary entry in the logical register mapper through a single read or write port in the logical register mapper without evicting or restoring the remaining other multiple main register file entries mapped in the accumulator register.

The present invention generally relates to data processing systems, processors, and processor architecture, and methods of processing large data width instructions, for example for execution in dense math execution units such as, for example, one or more matrix-multiply-add (MMA) units.
Processors currently used in data processing systems process more than one instruction at a time, and often process those instructions out-of-order. In modern computer architecture, there are several known ways to design a computer adapted to perform more than one instruction at a time, or at least in the same time frame. For example, one design to improve throughput includes multiple execution slices within a processor core to process multiple instruction threads at the same time, with the threads sharing certain resources of the processor core. An execution slice may refer to multiple data processing hardware units connected in series like a pipeline or pipeline-like structure within a processor to process multiple instructions in a single processing cycle. Pipelining involves processing instructions in stages, so that a number of instructions are processed concurrently. Multiple execution slices may be used as part of simultaneous multi-threading within a processor core.
The various pipelined stages may include an "instruction fetch" stage where an instruction is fetched from memory. In a "decode" stage, the instruction is decoded into different control bits, which in general designate (i) a type of functional unit (e.g., execution unit) for performing the operation specified by the instruction, (ii) source operands for the operation, and (iii) destinations for results of the operation. In a "dispatch" stage, the decoded instruction is dispatched to an issue queue (ISQ) where instructions wait for data and an available execution unit. An instruction in the issue queue typically is issued to an execution unit in an "execution" stage. The "execution" stage processes the operation as specified by the instruction. Executing an operation specified by an instruction typically includes accepting data, e.g., one or more operands, and producing one or more results. There are usually register files associated with the execution units and/or the issue queue to hold data and/or information for the execution units. Register files typically have information read from and/or written to entries or locations in the register file.
A design to increase computation throughput is to have specialized computation units, e.g., matrix-multiply-accumulator units (MMA units), to handle various data types and to perform highly-parallel tasks. Wide single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) flows are one way to achieve high computational throughput. In one or more embodiments, MMA instructions use a wide dataflow, e.g., 512 bits, and map to a plurality of consecutive physical register targets that are of smaller data width (e.g., four 128-bit target registers). There is not enough port bandwidth when processing an MMA instruction to rename all the target registers at once and to evict the plurality of prior mappings from the logical register mapper to the history buffer, resulting in processor latency. Increasing the number of logical register mapper target read ports and history buffer write ports to accommodate processing the MMA instruction in a single cycle, however, would be disadvantageous in terms of silicon usage, processor power usage, critical timing paths, and wire congestion.

Evicting and restoring information using a single port of a logical register mapper and history buffer in a microprocessor comprising multiple main register file entries mapped to one accumulator register file entry

International Business Machines Corporation


This disclosure describes techniques for performing memory transfer operations with a graphics processing unit (GPU) based on a selectable memory transfer mode, and techniques for selecting a memory transfer mode for performing all or part of a memory transfer operation with a GPU. In some examples, the techniques of this disclosure may include selecting a memory transfer mode for performing at least part of a memory transfer operation, and performing, with a GPU, the memory transfer operation based on the selected memory transfer mode. The memory transfer mode may be selected from a set of at least two different memory transfer modes that includes an interleave memory transfer mode and a sequential memory transfer mode. The techniques of this disclosure may be used to improve the performance of GPU-assisted memory transfer operations.

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is often used in a computing device to handle and/or provide hardware acceleration for one or more of the operations that are needed to display graphics images. One class of operations that is commonly handled by GPUs is memory transfer operations. Memory transfer operations may include memory copy operations and compositing operations. In some examples, the memory transfer operations may be referred to as blit operations or BLT operations (i.e., bit block transfer operations). Executing these memory transfer operations may involve performing numerous read and write operations with respect to an off-chip memory that stores the source and destination data for the memory transfer operation.

Multi-mode memory access techniques for performing graphics processing unit-based memory transfer operations