Transmittances of the optical system are calculated and a predicitive line of time-varying transmittance is calculated. When the exposure is started, the transmittance of the optical system is calculated at the elapsed time of exposure based on the predictive line of time-varying transmittance, and the intensity of exposure light is controlled The illuminance on the wafer can be compensated for depending on the actual variation of the transmittance. The accumulated quantity of exposure light incident to the wafer is regulated to ensure a target exposure dose of the wafer regardless of the variation in the transmittance of an illumination optical system or a projection optical system during exposure.

The disclosures of the following priority applications are herein incorporated by reference:
Japanese Patent Application No. 9-199710
Japanese Patent Application No. 9-337104
Japanese Patent Application No. 10-67021
The present invention relates to a projection exposure apparatus employed to expose a pattern of an original such as a mask or a reticule (hereafter referred to as a mask) onto a photosensitive substrate such as a wafer during a photolithography process implemented during the fabrication of a semiconductor device such as an LSI, an image-capturing element such as a CCD, a liquid crystal display element, or a semiconductor device such as a thin film magnetic head, a projection exposure method utilizing this exposure aparatus, an optical cleaning method employed to clean the optical systems in the projection exposure apparatus and a method of fabricating a semiconductor device.
Keeping pace with the increasingly higher integration achieved for semiconductor devices, significant progress has been made in the area of projection exposure apparatuses employed during the photolithography process that is crucial in fabrication of semiconductor devices. The resolving power achieved by a projection optical system mounted at a projection exposure apparatus is expressed through the relational expression R=kxc3x97xcex/NA, known widely as Rayleigh""s formula. In this relational expression, R represents the resolving power of the projection optical system, xcex represents the wavelength of the exposing light, NA represents the numerical aperture at the projection optical system and k represents a constant which is determined by process-related factors as well as the resolving power of the resist.
The resolving power required of the projection optical system to support higher integration in the semiconductor device may be achieved by reducing the wavelength of the light from the exposing light source or by increasing the numerical aperture at the projection optical system as the relational expression above indicates. Thus, continuous efforts to achieve a higher NA value have been made. In recent years, exposure aparatuses that use a krypton fluoride excimer laser (KrF excimer laser) having an output wavelength of 248 nm as an exposing light source with the numerical aperture at 0.6 or higher achieved at the projection optical system have been put into practical use to enable exposure of extremely fine patterns of down to 0.25 xcexcm.
An argon fluoride excimer laser (ArF excimer laser) having an output wavelength of 193 nm has been attracting much attention recently as a light source to replace the krypton fluoride excimer laser. Since it is expected that by realizing an exposure apparatus using this argon fluoride excimer laser as the exposing light source, ultra-fine processing down to 0.18 xcexcmxcx9c0.13 xcexcm will be possible, concentrated efforts are being made in research and development.
Since there are at present only two materials, i.e., synthetic silica glass and calcium fluoride (fluorite), that may be used to constitute the lenses while achieving a satisfactory transmittance in the wavelength range of the output wavelength (193 nm) of the argon fluoride excimer laser, tireless efforts are being made to develop an optical material achieving sufficient transmittance and sufficient internal consistency to be used in this type of exposure apparatus. Currently, synthetic silica glass achieves an internal transmittance of 0.995/cm or higher, and calcium fluoride has reached a point at which the level of internal absorption can be disregarded.
The choice of material to constitute the anti-reflection film that is coated on the surface of the optical material, too, is extremely limited compared to the range of materials from which selection can be made to constitute an anti-reflection film used in the output wavelength range (248 nm) of the krypton fluoride excimer laser, and this also greatly restricts the degree of freedom afforded in design. However, thanks to the intense efforts made in development this problem, too, is being overcome. At present, the levels of losses at the individual lens surfaces (e.g., losses through the absorption of light by the coating, scattering of light, reflection at the interface of the coating and the optical material and reflection at the coating surface) have been lowered to 0.005 or less (light loss of 0.5% or less).
In wavelength ranges shorter than the wavelength of KrF excimer laser light, moisture and organic substances may adhere to the surfaces of the optical elements constituting the optical systems (illumination optical system, projection optical system) in the projection exposure apparatus, resulting in a reduction in transmittance of the optical systems. This problem is attributable to gas trapped within the space enclosed by a plurality of optical elements or moisture and organic substances generated from the inner walls of the lens barrel or the like supporting the optical systems becoming adhered to the surfaces of the optical systems.
FIG. 17 illustrates time-varying transmittance characteristics in an optical system. The figure presents the optical system transmittance, which represents the ratio of the illuminance of the exposing light between the laser light source and the mask and the illuminance of the exposing light on the wafer measured over specific intervals while irradiating pulse laser light continuously from the laser light source during the laser irradiation and is calculated for each measuring time point. The figure also presents a similar optical system transmittance during a time period in which the laser is stopped that is obtained by irradiating laser over appropriate time intervals and calculated at each laser irradiation. As FIG. 17 illustrates, after the start of laser light irradiation, the transmittance gradually increases and when a specific length of time has elapsed, a near-saturated state is achieved. This phenomenon of the optical system transmittance gradually recovering is due to moisture and organic substances adhering to the optical system surface being removed from the optical system surfaces by the laser irradiation. For this reason, it is conceivable to start an exposure operation after a near-saturated state of transmittance is achieved by irradiating exposing laser light over a specific period of time prior to the start of the exposure. However, this would cause a reduction in throughput. In addition, oscillation of the laser over a long period of time prior to the exposure would lead to poor durability of the laser light source and it is, therefore, not desirable. Furthermore, it is difficult to continuously irradiate exposing laser light at all times, including during replacement of the wafer or the mask.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a projection exposure method and a projection exposure apparatus that make it possible to sustain the illuminance of the exposing light on a photosensitive substrate at a target value at all times regardless of time-varying transmittance of the optical system.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a projection exposure method and a projection exposure apparatus that controls the accumulated light quantity (exposure dose) of the exposing light on a photosensitive substrate at a correct value that corresponds to the sensitivity of the photosensitive substrate even when the transmittances at the illumination optical system and the projection optical system change.
A third object of the present invention is to provide an optical cleaning method for cleaning the optical systems by predicting time-varying transmittance at the illumination optical system and the projection optical system.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a method of fabricating a semiconductor device that achieves an improvement in the yield by exposing a circuit pattern or the like on a semiconductor substrate by predicting time-varying transmittance at the illumination optical system and the projection optical system.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a projection exposure method and a projection exposure apparatus that makes it possible to achieve a correct exposure dose at a photosensitive substrate in correspondence to changes in the transmittance occurring at the illumination optical system and the projection optical system even when conditions under which the photosensitive substrate is exposed, conditions under which the mask is illuminated and the like are changed.
A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a projection exposure method and a projection exposure apparatus that prevent any fluctuation in the exposure dose occurring on a photosensitive substrate due to changes in the transmittance occurring at the illumination optical system and the projection optical system even when a change occurs in at least one of the following; the intensity distribution of the exposing light on the pupil surface of the projection optical system, i.e., the intensity distribution of a secondary light source within the illumination optical system (namely, the shape and size), the pattern on the mask to be transferred onto the photosensitive substrate and the numerical aperture at the projection optical system.
The present invention is applied in a projection exposure apparatus having an optical system that projects an image of a pattern illuminated by exposing light emitted by an exposing light source onto a photosensitive substrate with time-varying transmittance of the exposing light at the optical system and a projection exposure method employed in combination with the projection exposure apparatus. The objects described above are achieved by measuring the transmittance of the optical system with regard to light having a wavelength substantially equal to the wavelength of the exposing light at a plurality of time points, predicting of time-varying transmittance characteristics of the optical system based upon the plurality of transmittances thus measured and projecting the pattern onto the photosensitive substrate based upon the results of the prediction.
It is desirable to measure the transmittance using exposing light emitted from the exposing light source. The plurality of time points at which the transmittance is measured may be a time point before the pattern is projected onto the photosensitive substrate, i.e., a time point before the light having the wavelength which is substantially the same as that of the exposing light is irradiated on the optical system and a time point after the light having the wavelength which is substantially the same as that of the exposing light is irradiated on the optical system over a specific length of time. Alternatively, the plurality of time points at which the transmittance is measured may constitute a time point before the image of the pattern illuminated by the exposing light is projected onto the photosensitive substrate and a time point after the image of the pattern illuminated by the exposing light is projected onto the photosensitive substrate.
The plurality of time points at which the measurement is performed may constitute, for instance, a time point before the image of the pattern illuminated by the exposing light is projected onto a single photosensitive substrate and a time point after the image of the pattern illuminated by the exposing light is projected onto the single photosensitive substrate. Alternatively, the plurality of time points for performing the measurement may constitute a time point before the image of a pattern illuminated by the exposing light is projected onto a specific area on a photosensitive substrate and a time point after the image of the pattern illuminated by the exposing light is projected onto the specific area. In this case, the plurality of time points may be time points before and after exposure processing performed on the exposure area of a single chip or time points before and after exposure processing performed on an exposure area corresponding to one shot.
If the optical system includes an illumination optical system that illuminates a pattern with exposing light and a projection optical system that projects the image of a pattern illuminated by the illumination optical system onto a photosensitive substrate, it is desirable to predict time-varying transmittance only at the optical system at which the transmittance fluctuates.
According to the present invention, the intensity of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate can be adjusted based upon predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics. Alternatively, the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate can be controlled at a correct value that corresponds to the sensitivity of the photosensitive substrate based upon calculated time-varying transmittance characteristics.
In the method for controlling the accumulated light quantity in which the photosensitive substrate is made to move relative to the exposing light from the mask to pass through the projection optical system in synchronization with the movement of the mask relative to the exposing light during the process of emitting a pulse beam of exposure light from an exposing light source and projecting a pattern formed on the mask onto the photosensitive substrate, the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light can be controlled at a correct value corresponding to the sensitivity of the photosensitive substrate by adjusting at least one of the intensity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate, the width of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate relative to the traveling direction in which the photosensitive substrate moves, the traveling speed of the photosensitive substrate moving relative to the traveling direction and the oscillation frequency of the exposing light source, based upon the time-varying transmittance characteristics.
In addition, the present invention is adopted in a method of fabricating a semiconductor device by using a projection exposure apparatus having an optical system that projects the image of a pattern illuminated by exposing light emitted from an exposing light source onto a photosensitive substrate with the time-varying transmittance of the exposing light at the optical system. The objects described above are achieved by measuring the transmittance of light having a wavelength that is substantially equal to the wavelength of the exposing light at the optical system at a plurality of time points, predicting of time-varying transmittance characteristics at the optical system based upon a plurality of measured transmittances and projecting the image of the pattern onto the photosensitive substrate based upon the results of the prediction.
Furthermore, the present invention is adopted in an optical cleaning method implemented to clean an optical system that projects the image of a pattern illuminated by exposing light from an exposing light source onto a photosensitive substrate provided in a projection exposure apparatus with the transmittance of the exposing light at the optical system changing over time. The objects described earlier are achieved by measuring the transmittance of light having a wavelength substantially equal to the wavelength of the exposing light at the optical system at a plurality of time points and optically cleaning the optical system while predicting the time-varying transmittance characteristics at the optical system based upon a plurality of measured transmittances.
The projection exposure apparatus according to the present invention may comprise a mask illuminance detector that detects an illuminance of an exposing light irradiated on a mask from an exposing light source, a substrate illuminance detector that detects the illuminance of the exposing light on a photosensitive substrate, a means for prediction that predicts time-varying transmittance characteristics of the exposing light at the projection optical system by calculating the ratio of the illuminance of the exposing light irradiated on the mask detected by the mask illuminance detector and the illuminance of the exposing light irradiated on the substrate detected by the substrate illuminance detector a plurality of times and a control device that adjusts the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate based upon the predicted time-varying characteristics and the ratio of the two illuminances.
If the exposing light source is constituted of a pulsed light source, the control device may adjust at least, either the intensity of pulsed exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate or the number of pulses to ensure that the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate achieves a correct value that corresponds to the type of the photosensitive substrate based upon the predicted time-varying characteristics and the ratio of the two illuminances.
The projection exposure method according to the present invention comprises a step in which time-varying transmittance characteristics of the exposing light at, at least, either an illumination optical system or a projection optical system are predicted by calculating the ratio of the illuminance of the exposing light emitted by an exposing light source and the illuminance of the exposing light on a photosensitive substrate a plurality of times and a step in which, at least, either the intensity of the pulsed exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate or the number of pulses is adjusted based upon the ratio of the iilluminance of the exposing light emitted by the exposing light source and the illuminance of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate and the predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics.
The present invention is adopted in an exposure method implemented in a projection exposure apparatus having an illumination optical system that illuminates a mask on which a specific pattern is formed with exposing light emitted by an exposing light source and a projection optical system that projects the image of the pattern on the mask illuminated by the illumination optical system onto a photosensitive substrate, with the transmittance of the exposing light at, at least, either the illumination optical system or the projection optical system changing over time. The objects described earlier are achieved by adjusting the intensity of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate based upon the ratio of the illuminance of the exposing light emitted by the exposing light source and the illuminance of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate and the time-varying characteristics of the exposing light transmittance at, at least, either the illumination optical system or the projection optical system. Or, if the exposing light source is constituted of a pulsed light source, the objects described earlier are achieved by adjusting at least, either the intensity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate or the number of pulses.
In a projection exposure apparatus in which the exposing light transmittance changes over time at its projection optical system alone among the illumination optical system and the projection optical system, the objects described above can be achieved by adjusting the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate based upon the ratio of the illuminance of the exposing light emitted from the exposing light source and the illuminance of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate and also based upon the time-varying characteristics of the exposing light transmittance at the projection optical system.
If the exposing light transmittance at the illumination optical system, too, changes over time, the objects described earlier can be achieved by adjusting the intensity of the exposing light emitted from the exposing light source based upon the time-varying characteristics of the exposing light transmittance in the entire optical system comprising the illumination optical system and the projection optical system and the ratio of the illuminances noted-above.
If the exposing light is a pulse beam, the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light can be controlled at a correct value that corresponds to the sensitivity of the photosensitive substrate by adjusting, at least, either the intensity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate or the number of pulse beams of the exposing light irradiated on a given spot on the photosensitive substrate.
The exposure method described above may be adopted on an exposure apparatus that transfers a pattern onto a photosensitive substrate by causing the substrate to travel relative to the exposing light from the mask passing through the projection optical system in synchronization with the movement of the mask relative to the exposing light. In such a scan-type exposure apparatus, the exposing light may be a pulse beam. When the exposing light is a pulse beam, the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light is controlled at a correct value that corresponds to the sensitivity of the photosensitive substrate by adjusting at least one of: the intensity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate, the width of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate relative to the traveling direction in which the photosensitive substrate moves, the traveling speed at which the photosensitive substrate moves in the traveling direction and the oscillation frequency of the exposing light source.
The present invention is adopted in a projection exposure apparatus having an illumination optical system that illuminates a mask at which a specific pattern is formed with exposing light emitted by an exposing light source and a projection optical system that projects the image of the pattern at the mask illuminated by the illumination optical system onto a photosensitive substrate with the exposure light transmittance at the projection optical system changing over time. The objects described earlier are achieved by providing a mask illuminance detector that detects the illuminance of the exposing light irradiated on the mask from the exposing light source, a substrate illuminance detector that detects the illuminance of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate, a storage device that stores in memory time-varying characteristics of the exposing light transmittance at the projection optical system and a control device that adjusts the accumulated intensity of the exposing light entering the photosensitive substrate based upon the ratio of the illuminance of the exposing light irradiated on the mask detected by the mask illuminance detector and the illuminance of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate detected by the substrate illuminance detector and the time-varying characteristics stored in the storage device. In addition, the control device may adjust at least, either the intensity or the number of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate to ensure that the accumulated light quantity of the exposing light irradiated onto the photosensitive substrate achieves a correct value that corresponds to the photosensitive substrate.
If the exposing light transmittance at the illumination optical system also changes over time in this projection exposure apparatus, it is desirable to store in memory the time-varying characteristics of the exposing light transmittance in the entire optical system comprising the illumination optical system and the projection system in the storage device. The storage device is capable of storing a plurality of sets of time-varying transmittance characteristics of the exposing light in correspondence to various exposure conditions. If a given set of exposure conditions does not match the exposure conditions stored in memory in the storage device, the transmittance is calculated through an interpolation operation performed on the time-varying characteristics stored in memory. The exposure conditions in this context refer to the illumination conditions of the illumination optical system (e.g., the diameter of the variable aperture stop at the illumination system, a modified illumination or a normal illumination etc.), the type of the mask and the numerical aperture at the projection optical system.
It is to be noted that if the exposing light is continuous light, either the intensity of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate or the length of the irradiation period may be adjusted, or both may be adjusted. If the exposing light is pulsed light, either the pulse intensity of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate or the number of pulses may be adjusted, or both may be adjusted. When exposure is achieved by scanning exposing light onto an exposure area on the photosensitive substrate that corresponds to the pattern area of the mask, at least one of: the intensity of the exposing light, the width of the exposing light along the scanning direction, the scanning speed of the substrate along the scanning direction and the oscillation frequency of the light source may be adjusted.
As explained above, according to the present invention, exposure performed on a photosensitive substrate is controlled based upon predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics of the exposing light calculated for, or based upon time-varying transmittance characteristics of the exposing light corresponding to various exposure conditions that are stored in advance. Thus, even when the transmittance at the illumination optical system or the projection optical system fluctuates during an exposure operation or while the apparatus is in a stopped state, the photosensitive substrate can be exposed correctly. For instance, the illuminance on the photosensitive substrate can be controlled at a correct value, or the accumulated light quantity (exposure dose) of the exposing light on the photosensitive substrate can be controlled at a correct value that corresponds to the sensitivity of the photosensitive substrate at all times.
In addition, according to the present invention, even when conditions under which the photosensitive substrate is exposed, conditions under which the mask is illuminated and the like are changed, or even when, at least one of: the intensity distribution of the exposing light on the pupil surface at the projection optical system, i.e., the intensity distribution of a secondary light source within the illumination optical system (the shape and size), the pattern on the mask to be transferred on the photosensitive substrate and the numerical aperture at the projection optical system, is changed, fluctuations in the exposure dose on the photosensitive substrate due to changes occurring in the transmittances at the illumination optical system and the projection optical system can be prevented from occurring by calculating the predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics that correspond to the specific changes or by storing in memory in advance time-varying transmittance characteristics that correspond the specific changes.
Furthermore, the predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics may be calculated by irradiating light having a wavelength substantially equal to the wavelength of the exposing light prior to the actual exposure operation so that the predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics can be calculated concurrently during optical cleaning performed prior to the exposure processing to prevent any reduction in throughput.
Moreover, according to the present invention, in which a semiconductor device is fabricated by calculating predicted time-varying transmittance characteristics and controlling the exposure operation based upon the predicted characteristics, an improvement is achieved in the production yield of semiconductor devices.

Projection exposure apparatus, projection exposure method, optical cleaning method and method of fabricating semiconductor device


To perform listening for uplink transmission at an appropriate timing, on a carrier with setting of listening. A user terminal according to an aspect of the present invention has a transmission section that transmits a signal on a carrier where a listening is performed prior to uplink transmission, a reception section that receives timing information, and a control section that controls execution timing of the listening, on the basis of the timing information.

In UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks, for the purpose of higher data rates, low latency and the like, Long Term Evolution (LTE) has been specified (Non-patent Document 1). In addition, for the purpose of wider bands and higher speed than LTE (also referred to as LTE Rel. 8 or 9), LTE-A (also referred to as LTE Advanced, LTE Rel. 10, 11 or 12) has been specified, and also a successor system of LTE (also referred to as, for example, FRA (Future Radio Access), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), LTE Rel. 13 and later) is under study.
The LTE of Rel. 8 to 12 has been specified under an assumption that an exclusive operation is performed in a frequency band (also referred to as licensed band, licensed component carrier (CC: Component Carrier) licensed to a telecommunications carrier (operator). For example, 800 MHz, 1.7 GHz, 2 GHz and the like, are used as the licensed CC.
In recent years, spread of user terminals (UE: User Equipment) with enhanced functionality such as smartphones, tablets and the like, has caused a rapid increase of user traffic. Although further addition of frequency bands is required to absorb the increasing user traffic, spectrum of licensed CC (licensed spectrum) is limited.
In Rel. 13 LTE, therefore, it is under study (non-patent document 2) to expand the frequency of an LTE system using a band of an available unlicensed spectrum (also referred to as unlicensed band, unlicensed CC. etc.) other than the licensed CC. For example, using 2.4-GHz bands and 5-GHz bands that allow use of Wi-Fi (registered trademark) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) as the unlicensed CC is under study.
Specifically, in Rel. 13 LTE, performing Carrier Aggregation (CA) of a licensed CC and an unlicensed CC is under study. Accordingly, communication using an unlicensed CC together with a licensed CC is referred to as LAA (License-Assisted Access). Note that Dual Connectivity (DC) of a licensed CC and an unlicensed CC, or Stand-Alone (SA) operation of an unlicensed CC may also be studied with regard to LAA in the future.

User terminal and radio communication method


There are provided: an optical recording method containing a deviation detecting step, a horizontal location controlling step, and an interference image recording step; an optical recording apparatus containing a derivation detecting unit, a horizontal location controlling unit, and an interference image recording unit; an optical recording medium recorded in accordance with the optical recording method; and an optical reproducing method reproducing a recorded information recorded in accordance with the optical recording method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording method for recording information by holography, an optical recording apparatus using the method, an optical recording medium, an optical reproducing method, using the optical recording method. More specifically, the present invention relates to an optical recording method capable of effectively adjusting the amount of deviation of the optical axes of a plurality of laser beams, in which the deviation is attributed to variations in recording accuracy of an optical recording apparatus, upon recording or reproducing of information on or from an optical recording medium or focusing control and/or tracking control on the optical recording medium by means of the laser beams, and the present invention relates to an optical recording apparatus, an optical recording medium, and an optical reproducing method using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical recording method for recording information on an optical recording medium by holography generally involves interference of information light (object light) having image information with reference light in an optical recording medium to record a resultant interference fringe on the optical recording medium. An example of such an optical recording method is a collinear strategy in which information light and reference light are collinearly applied. In this collinear strategy an interference fringe is formed as a result of interference between the information light and the reference light, recording image information or the like in its recording layers. The recorded information is reproduced by applying reference light identical to that for recording from the same direction to thereby produce diffracted light from the interference fringe and by receiving the diffracted light.
Upon recording or reproducing of image information or the like, controls of light focus points (e.g., focusing and tracking controls) are carried out for recording/reproducing information on/from a proper position of an optical recording medium, by adjusting variations in distance within a layer (e.g., recording layer) in the optical recording medium and/or variations in recording accuracy of the optical recording apparatus.
As a method for adjusting focus points, for example, a sampled servo method is available. In the sampled servo method, servo light is applied on an optical recording medium for focusing and tracking, and reflected light is utilized to detect location information such as focusing information and/or tracking information for proper light irradiation. This focus point control allows application of the information light and the reference light on the exact location on the optical recording medium, thereby recording or reproducing information (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 2003-151143, 2003-178456 and 2003-228875).
However, on the aforementioned focusing adjustment method, the detection is targeted only to the location information (e.g., the focusing information and the tracking information) of the servo light irradiation, and the applying location of the information light and the reference light in the recording layer is not regarded as a target of the detection. Therefore, there is a problem in the optical recording and reproducing apparatus which performs recording, reproducing, focusing control, and tracking control using a plurality of laser beams including not only information light and reference light, but also servo light as in the aforementioned positioning control method, such that even the focusing control or tracking control is performed, as shown in FIG. 3, the information is recorded in a location sifted from the proper location in the optical recording medium 20, when there is an error caused between the optical axis of a laser beam 33 for location control, such as servo light, and the optical axis of a laser beam 35 for recording and reproducing (gap between the optical axis of the laser beam 33 and the optical axis of the laser beam 35) at the time of manufacturing process, as shown in FIG. 1. Ideally, the optical axis of the laser beam 33 and the optical axis of the laser beam 35 are applied at the appropriate reproduction location, namely being applied collinearly, as shown in FIG. 2.
In the case where the aforementioned gap (also referred as "deviation" hereinafter) is large when the optical recording medium 20 in which the recorded location is sifted as shown in FIG. 3 is reproduced by means of another optical reproducing apparatus, or in the case where there is a gap, i.e., deviation between the optical axes of the reproduction light 35 and servo light 33 for use in the optical reproducing apparatus as shown in FIG. 4, the reproduction light 35 is not correctly applied to the information recorded part (the oblique lined portion in FIG. 4) in the optical recording medium 20, and thus the information recorded on the optical recording medium 20 cannot be reproduced.
Therefore, in the same optical recording and reproducing apparatus, even if the recording and reproducing can be properly performed on one optical recording medium, the reproducing may not be properly performed on another optical recording medium, and thus there is a problem in compatibility, such that the adjustment of the optical recording and reproducing apparatus is required. Since there is a limitation in reducing an error of the optical recording and reproducing apparatus, the manufacturing cost may be increased as a result of seeking such the highly accurate optical recording and reproducing apparatus.
Therefore, there are not yet realized an excellent optical recording method, optical recording apparatus, optical recording medium, and optical reproducing method, which are capable of efficiently adjusting the deviation of the optical axes of the plurality of the laser beams caused by an error or the like of the optical recording, and optical reproducing apparatuses when recording, reproducing, focusing control or tracking control is performed by the plurality of laser beams on an optical recording medium which is recorded by holography. Accordingly, it is strongly desired to provide such that optical recording method, optical recording apparatus, optical recording medium, and optical reproducing method.

Optical recording method, optical recording apparatus, optical recording medium, and optical reproducing method


The method comprises for a pixel of an output grid which is not on an input grid on which pixel values are received in an input signal: determining a loss value for each of a plurality of candidate interpolators by analyzing the pixel values of the input grid along a direction associated with the candidate interpolator; selecting at least one interpolator by minimizing the loss value; and determining an output pixel value. At least two interpolation modes are provided, including: a first mode in which one interpolator is selected and the output pixel value is determined as an interpolated value obtained by applying locally the selected interpolator to pixel values of the input grid; and a second mode in which more than one interpolator is selected and the output pixel value is determined as a weighted sum of a plurality of interpolated values obtained by applying locally the selected interpolators.

The present invention relates generally to digital image processing and in particular to interpolation methods used for scaling video sequences spatially and/or in time.
Digital video is typically represented as a series of images or frames, each of which contains an array of pixels. Each pixel includes information, such as intensity and/or color information. When scaling the image frames in space, in time or both in time and space, information for new pixels is missing and values for such pixels have to be interpolated from input pixel values.
In various super-resolution image processors, e.g. as disclosed in WO 2007/115583 A1, a set of candidate directions is considered for each output pixel. Each candidate direction is associated with a candidate directional interpolator used to compute a loss value based on input pixel values in the vicinity of the output pixel. A standard decision for deriving the final pixel value consists in selecting the direction with the smallest loss value. The output pixel value is then computed using the directional interpolator associated with the selected direction.
Such a standard implementation has drawbacks.
For example, in corner cases where substantially different directions are competing with loss values of similar magnitude, there might be abrupt switches from one decision to a different one. This causes discontinuities in the output images to appear. Structure that was not present in the input images may also become apparent and be perceived by the viewer as artifacts. This kind of problem can exist in 2D (still) images or in 3D (video) sequences.
Another kind of problem encountered with standard interpolation techniques in the case of video sequences having fade-in or fade-out effects. The interpolation processor can take inconsistent decisions along the fade-in or fade-out time, and change from a decision to a different one. In this case, the shape of the interpolated image can change simply with a change of contrast, which appears strange to the viewer.
There is thus a need for interpolation methods which avoid various artifacts which can be seen with existing methods.

Image interpolation method with decision mixing


An electrically conductive structure includes a first conductive structure and a second conductive structure. Each has a conducting section at one end and a coupling section at the other end. The first and second conducting sections are electrically connected to a power and ground contact of an electronic device, respectively. The first and second coupling sections are respectively connected with power and ground layer of a circuit board. The first coupling sections are connected with the first conducting section through first extending sections and the second coupling sections are connected with the second conducting section through second extending sections. At least two coupling sections of the conductive structures are arranged in pairs. The first conductive structure and the second conductive structure are arranged in a staggered array to form two wiring loops having opposite current directions, thereby generating a magnetic flux cancellation effect.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electrically conductive structure of a circuit board, and more particularly to a metal conductive structure disposed in a circuit board for electrically connecting a contact of an electronic device on the circuit board to a power layer and a ground layer of the circuit board. The discrete capacitor may be embedded in the circuit board.
2. Related Art
Usually, an electronic device is disposed on a printed circuit board (PCB) or an IC substrate (hereinafter a circuit board is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to the circuit board). The specific contact of the electronic device is electrically connected to a power plane (also referred to as a power layer) and a ground plane (also referred to as a ground layer) in the circuit board through a metal conductive structure in the circuit board, such that the electronic device may receives the power from the circuit board to operate.
With the improvement of the semi-conductor's process technology, the operation speed of the electronic device disposed on the circuit board may be increased quickly, and the switching speed of signals may be also increased. Consequently, the power supply from the circuit board cannot provide a stable power at such a high switching speed, resulting in an unsatisfactory operation of the electronic device. Moreover, a power noise or ground bounce may be induced in the power delivery systems. In order to deal with this problem, persons skilled in the art dispose a decoupling capacitor or a bypass capacitor on the circuit board at the position close to the power/ground pins of the electronic devices. The decoupling/bypass capacitor may be an SMD capacitor or an embedded multilayer planar capacitor. By using of the above skills, the decoupling capacitors provide a localized source of DC power for electronic devices when the signals of electronic devices switch simultaneously. Therefore, the decoupling capacitors may supply energies of power in time when the energies of power is insufficient at a high-frequency operation, thereby absorbing glitch, reducing RF (Radio Frequency) noise and stabilizing the voltage levels.
The similar technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,086 entitled "Capacitor laminate for use in capacitive printed circuit boards and methods of manufacture." Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device 102 (surface mounted device) is disposed on the surface of the circuit board 100. The electronic device is electrically connected to the power layer and the ground layer in the circuit board through a power wire 104 and a ground wire 106. A planar capacitor 108 is connected between the power wire 104 and the ground wire 106, thereby providing a bypass function of a power system of a surface mount electronic device. Although the structure may achieve the object, an equivalent series inductance (ESL) may be formed between the metal conductive structures (i.e., the power wire 104 and the ground wire 106) when operating at a high frequency. Thus, under this design, the operation frequency is higher than the self-resonant frequency of the capacitor, the parasitic inductance of the planar capacitor and the metal conductive paths will increase, resulting in the impedance also increasing rapidly (which will be illustrated hereinafter).
A method directed to reducing the ESL effect is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,145 entitled "Wiring connection structure of laminated capacitor and decoupling capacitor, and wiring board". Referring to FIG. 2, a planar capacitor 120 having a low ESL value is used as a decoupling capacitor on the power supply circuit of a chip 122. In this structure, a plurality of ground via-holes 124 and a plurality of power via-holes 126 (also referred to as feedthrough conductors) are respectively connected to a first-layer inner pole and a second-layer inner pole of the embedded capacitor 120. The feedthrough conductors connected to the first-layer pole and the second-layer pole are adjacently placed so as to depress the magnetic flux produced by the current loops with the opposite directions. Although the patent may reduce the ESL, the ESL 128 of the feedthrough conductors marked at the metal conductive structure in the drawing cannot be reduced effectively.
In the power delivery system of the electronic circuit, the capacitor having the decoupling function includes not only the planar capacitor embedded in the circuit board, but also a surface mount device (SMD) capacitor. However, since the embedded planar capacitor is closer to the power and ground pins of the electronic device as compared with the SMD capacitor welded on the surface of the PCB or the IC substrate, the parasitic inductance produced on the power transmission path of the embedded capacitor at a high speed of signal switching is lower than that produced by the SMD capacitor. That is, the decoupling effect of the embedded planar capacitor is better. But, similar to the common capacitor, along with the increasing signal switching speed of the electronic device of the planar capacitor, the parasitic inductance increases, resulting in degenerating the decoupling effect of the decoupling capacitor that is originally provided on the low-impedance path to depress the high-frequency undesired noises.

Electrically conductive structure of circuit board and circuit board using the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A remote lecturing system includes a first storage for storing contents of at least one lecture of a lecturer, a second storage for storing questions and corresponding answers related to each lecture stored in the first storage, a reproducing part for retrieving from the first storage the contents of an arbitrary lecture which is requested in response to an external request from a terminal station which is operated by a student at an arbitrary time and for transferring the retrieved contents to the first terminal station, and an answer obtaining part for retrieving from the second storage an answer which corresponds to a question from the terminal station. The answer obtaining part interrupts the transfer of the contents of the arbitrary lecture from the reproducing part to the terminal station when the question is raised from the terminal station.

The present invention generally relates to remote lecturing systems, and more particularly to a remote lecturing system which enables a student to receive at a station, not in real time, a lecture which is held by a lecturer.
Lecturing systems which use a communication network are becoming popular. For example, a computer-aided learning (CAL) enables a student to receive a lecture which is held by a lecturer via a communication network. However, such lecturing systems require the lecturer and the student to communicate in real time. For this reason, there are demands to realize a remote lecturing system which enables the student to receive the lecture not in real time, that is, at an arbitrary time.
The conventional remote lecturing systems may roughly be divided into two kinds. According to the first kind, the lecture held by the lecturer is transferred to the student in real time, and the student receives the audio and/or visual information of the lecture On the other hand, according to the second kind, the lecturer records the lecture on a video tape recorder (VTR) or the like, and the student later makes access to the recorded lecture at an arbitrary time.
However, according to the first kind of remote lecturing system, both the lecturer and the student must avail themselves at the same time. For this reason, this remote lecturing system lacks flexibility in that the time and day of the lecture must be determined to suit the schedules of all persons concerned, that is, the lecturer and all of the students.
On the other hand, according to the second kind of remote lecturing system, the lecturer simply needs to record the lecture, and each student can make access to the recorded lecture at an arbitrary time. Hence, the lecturer and the students have no need to make a mutually convenient time for the lecture. But since the lecture is prerecorded, there is a problem in that the student cannot obtain an answer to his question when he receives the lecture. Usually, the student will have difficulty understanding the rest of the lecture when his questions are unanswered. Therefore, the fact that the student cannot obtain an answer to his question is a big problem to the remote lecturing system.


An coupling link or anchor link is disclosed. The link includes a pin for a coupling link that increases the ease with which links are disassembled and maintained. The pin structure provides a means for dispensing or delivering grease into the interior of the link. A lubricant is also disclosed for improving the corrosion resistance of conventional links as well as the disclosed links.

Coupling or connecting links are employed in a wide range of end-uses such as mooring buoys, drilling rigs, anchor chains, joining sections of wire rope or strand. The links are normally employed near salt or brackish water that enhances the corrosion rate of the links and reduces the useful life of the links.
Anchorage hardware and moorings used in marine applications are periodically inspected and subjected to routine maintenance. Due to corrosion, however, the inspection and maintenance process often requires additional time and cost. Detachable anchor links allow disassembly of anchor chain and are a key component of anchorage hardware. A detachable link comprise a C-link, two coupling plates, and a tapered pin. Some designs utilize a hairpin to lock in the tapered pin. Disassembly for routine maintenance becomes difficult when corrosion develops at the joint interfaces between the C-link and the coupling plates or in the joint interfaces between the coupling plates and the tapered pin. Typically, links are maintained by manually removing the lead sealant, disassembling the link, sand blasting the components of the link, applying a corrosion resistant material such as animal tallow containing powdered lead, reassembling the link and inserting the pin. Under normal use, the pin corrodes thereby inhibiting, if not preventing, removal of the pin and disassembly of the coupling links. In such cases, the link body must be cut, e.g., an acetylene torch, thereby destroying the link and delaying maintenance and usage of the entire article.
Detachable anchor links have previously been protected from corrosion by painting the exterior with an epoxy polyamide primer and a silicone alkyd enamel topcoat. Color coded striping paint is often applied as an outermost coating layer. The internal cavities of the detachable link are conventionally filled with a white lead filled beef tallow grease or more recently, greases that are not filled with elemental heavy metals. The toxic exposure to personnel and the undesirable environmental and regulatory aspects of utilizing the white lead have been mitigated by utilizing greases that do not contain the heavy elemental metals. However, many of the greases also contain base oils, inhibitors, or other additives that have significant aquatic toxicity. In addition, many greases do not offer sufficient water washout resistance for extended marine use. These issues have prompted the search for environmentally preferred lubricants and gels capable of withstanding the rigorous exposure of the marine environment.
Several coupling links and methods for maintaining chain are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,179,878; 4,870,739; 5,351,359; and Design U.S. Pat. No. DES 287,102. The disclosure of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference.


Provided are a method of injecting a visualizing material into a point in the vicinity of the Jung-Wan and a method of visualizing arrival of liquid agent in order to verify that the visualizing material injected arrives at internal organs. A point having the lowest electric resistance is found in the vicinity of Jung-Wan of the subject by using an electro acupuncture point detector. The visualizing material is injected into the point by means of an injecting instrument and then verified at least one point of the pancreas and the threadlike structures on top of the surface of the pancreas. The visualizing material is an alcian blue solution or a nanoparticle-containing solution labeled with fluorescent organic material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of verifying that liquid agents injected into acupuncture points arrive at organs, and, more specifically, to methods of injecting liquid agents and visualizing their arrival wherein a visualizing material is injected into a specific point in the vicinity of "Jung-Wan" and the arrival of such an injected visualizing material at internal organs is observed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oriental medicine reported that there are 670 acupuncture points distributed over the whole body. In case that such acupuncture points are stimulated with a variety of methods like acupuncturing or moxibusting therapy, the flow along meridian to internal organs can be activated, and conclusively, the function of internal organs can be controlled. Therefore, acupuncture points are used as effective points for treating diseases.
Among acupuncture points, "Jung-Wan", referred to as CV12 according to the WHO standard notation, has known as an effective point for treating gastroenteropathy including gastric ulcer and gastric ptosis, and diabetes.
Although as methods of stimulating Jung-Wan in addition to traditional acupuncturing or moxibusting therapy, there have been an electric stimulating therapy (acusector) and a therapy of inserting medicine together with acupuncturing, the mechanism, that is, the particular process by which such clinical acupuncturing therapies treat diseases has not been demonstrated. Particularly, because spots into which medicine inserted into Jung-Wan is dispersed haven't been known, a scientific study couldn't be possible.
In view of Western medicine, diabetes has a close relationship with the pancreas. Particularly, since the pancreas can adjust blood glucose by decreasing or increasing the same with insulin and glucagon which are hormones produced in the pancreas, the pancreas is relevant to diabetes. However, Oriental medicine hasn't found out the relationship between Jung-Wan which is a point for treating diabetes, and the pancreas which has been found relevant to diabetes in Western medicine.
According to the Bonghan theory, there is a Bonghan duct, that is, a passage of the liquid flow extending from acupuncture points to internal organs. Therefore, according to this theory, it can be expected that if medicine is inserted into Jung-Wan, it may arrive at the pancreas, which is an organ producing insulin and glucagon.
If a relationship between Jung-Wan and the pancreas can be demonstrated based on the Bonghan theory as disclosed in the above, it may be applied to methods of treating pancreatic cancer, diabetes and so forth. Therefore, a method of verifying that the material administered into Jung-Wan reaches the pancreas is required.

Method of injecting liquid agents at acupuncture points to arrive internal organs and method of visualizing arrival of liquid agents

Seoul National University Industry Foundation


A lower portion of a nozzle is held hermetically in contact with an inner circumferential surface of the tubular neck of a container, and an inner surface of a cap is mounted to an outer surface of the tubular neck. A discharging hole of the nozzle is hermetically sealed by an inner top surface of the cap. A ring-shaped projection is formed on an upper portion of the nozzle for hermetically contacting an inner surface of the cap. Thereby, double sealing is provided in cooperation with hermetic sealing of the discharging hole of the nozzle by the inner top surface of the cap. The nozzle prevents a liquid leak and liquid dripping from the nozzle and form liquid drops independently of a dripping angle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nozzle for a liquid container which can securely prevent a liquid leak and a liquid dripping from a nozzle, and a liquid container provided with such a nozzle.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally proposed a liquid container constructed such that a container body containing a liquid such as an eye-drop, a nose-drop or a contact-lens cleaning solution is pressed by fingers to cause the content liquid to drip from a discharging hole of a nozzle.
A known liquid container as above is normally comprised of three members: a container body 1, a nozzle 2 and a cap 3 as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B. The nozzle 2 is mounted by hermetically bringing an outer circumferential surface 2b of a lower portion 2a of the nozzle 2 into contact with an inner circumferential surface 1b of a tubular neck portion 1a of the container body 1. The cap 3 is mounted by bringing an inner circumferential surface 3a of the cap 3 into contact with an outer circumferential surface 1c of the tubular neck portion 1a while an internal thread 3b formed in the inner circumferential surface 3a of the cap 3 is engaged with an external thread 1d formed on the outer circumferential surface 1c of the tubular neck portion 1a, and pressing an inner top surface 3c of the cap 3 against a top surface 2d of a discharging hole 2c of the nozzle 2 to provide a hermetic sealing for the discharging hole 2c as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-156662.
This publication disclosed a liquid container of the so-called screw cap type. The cap 3 can be loosened and detached by being turned by 360° in reverse direction. A plurality of (at least three or more) ring-shaped fins 2e whose edges are elastically deformed to be hermetically brought into contact with the inner circumferential surface 1b of the tubular neck portion 1a upon inserting the lower portion 2a of the nozzle 2 into the tubular neck portion 1a are formed at specified intervals while being vertical spaced apart. By this elastic deformation of the ring-shaped fins 2e, the outer circumferential surface 2b of the lower portion 2a of the nozzle 2 and the inner circumferential surface 1b of the tubular neck portion 1a are attached to a higher degree and an occurrence of a crack in the tubular neck portion 1a due to dimensional errors of the tubular neck portion 1a and the nozzles 2 can be prevented.
Another known liquid container is, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, constructed such that an outer circumferential surface 2b of a lower portion 2a of a nozzle 2 is hermetically brought into contact with an inner circumferential surface 1b of a tubular neck portion 1a of a container body 1 and a cap 3 is mounted by engaging a locking arm 3d on an inner circumferential surface 3a of the cap 3 with a locking projection 1e on an outer circumferential surface 1c of the tubular neck portion 1a while bringing the inner circumferential surface 3a of the cap 3 into contact with the outer circumferential surface 1c of the tubular neck portion 1a, and inserting a projection 3e on an inner top surface 3c of the cap 3 into a discharging hole 2c of the nozzle 2 to hermetically seal the discharging hole 2c while forcibly widening it as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication NO. 10-329855.
This publication discloses a liquid container of the so-called twist cap type. Upon detaching the cap 3, the locking arm 3d and the locking projection 1e are disengaged by twisting the cap 3 by about 90°.
However, the former publication discloses the liquid container constructed such that the discharging hole 2c is hermetically sealed by pressing the inner top surface 3c of the cap 3 against the top surface 2d of the discharging hole 2c of the nozzle 2, whereas the latter publication discloses the liquid container constructed such that the discharging hole 2c is hermetically sealed by inserting the projection 3e on the inner top surface 3c of the cap 3 into the discharging hole 2c of the nozzle 2 while forcibly widening the discharging hole 2c. For example, there are problems that a sealing performance varies and a load exerted on the nozzle cracks the nozzle due to a variation in tightening torque in the case of the screw type cap of the former publication and due to a variation of assembling precision of parts such as the cap and the nozzle in the case of the twist type cap of the latter publication. There has been a demand for a nozzle structure which, regardless of the type of the cap, can securely prevent an occurrence of a liquid leak from the cap 3 and the discharging hole 2c of the nozzle 2 and has a sealing performance which is not influenced by variations in assembling precision and torque.
With the liquid containers disclosed in the respective publications, a content liquid "a" can be caused to drip from the discharging hole 2c of the nozzle 2 by pressing the container body 1 by fingers with the nozzle 2 faced substantially right down as shown in FIG. 15A. However, if the nozzle 2 is, for example, inclined to face obliquely downward while being turned upside down as shown in FIG. 15B, the content liquid "a" leaks out to an upper portion 2f of the nozzle 2 from the discharging hole 2c. If the nozzle 2 is inclined to face obliquely upward in this state as shown in FIG. 15C, the content liquid "a" may not be easily caused to drip since it runs down from the upper portion 2f to the tubular neck portion 1a of the container body 1 or it cannot be formed well into drops. Therefore, there has been a demand for a nozzle constructed such that a liquid leak from the nozzle can be securely prevented and drops can be easily formed independently of a dripping angle.

Nozzle for a liquid container and a liquid container


An apparatus effects a uniform surface potential on an insulating specimen in an x-ray photoelectron or a secondary ion emission instrument in which there is positive charging of an irradiation region. An area of the specimen including the irradiation region is flooded with a beam of low energy electrons to neutralize the positive charging, causing negative charging of the flooding area. Positive ions are directed onto the flooding area to neutralize the negative charging. The electron beam has an energy less than about 2 eV and an energy spread less than about 0.5 eV. The ratio of the beam distance to its diameter is less than about 10. The ions have an energy less than 10 eV.

In an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) instrument, a beam of x-rays illuminates a portion of a specimen to cause electrons to be emitted, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,113 (Larson et al.). These emissions are analyzed with an energy analyzer to determine the composition of the surface. However, with an insulating specimen, the electron emissions leave the surface positively charged in the region of the x-ray illumination. The positive charge varies across the surface, thereby affecting the emitted electron energies and trajectories, and introducing errors into corresponding analyses.
In secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) a surface is irradiated with positive ions so as to cause emission of atoms and ions from the surface. The incident ions cause a buildup of positive charge on an insulating specimen. As for XPS, such a charge introduces errors into analyses.
Various approaches to these problems include, at least for XPS, interposing a grid close to the sample to smooth gradients in electrical potential, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,467 (Bryson). This introduces an interfering element and has limited applicability.
In another approach, the specimen is neutralized by flooding with low energy electrons. This provides a significant improvement, but generally results in non-uniform neutralization because an area larger than the region of photoemission is flooded, thereby supplying excess negative charge in the area outside of the photoelectron region. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,345 ("Kelly patent", assigned to the present assignee) discloses smoothing the field gradients by discharging excess negative charge with irradiation of ultraviolet light or a beam of positive ions. This technique with radiation or ions can reduce the gradients quite significantly, but there remains some gradient with resulting effects on analyses. Also, the Kelly reference is directed primarily to ultraviolet radiation and gives few details in the use of positive ions. Ion sources are normally used for sputtering and the like, and typically produce ions with energies greater than 10 eV, although lower energy devices have been used experimentally.
A general problem with existing XPS instruments, even utilizing electron flooding, is sensitivity to neutralizer operating conditions. It has been difficult to obtain reproducible photoelectron peak positions and peak shapes.

Control of surface potential of insulating specimens in surface analysis


A cooling device (10) for a functional system, in particular a fuel cell system (12) for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The cooling device (10) includes a conduit system (14, 22) for a cooling fluid flow connected to the functional system (12) for cooling. A container (20) of the cooling device (10) for the cooling fluid is fluidically connected to the conduit system (14, 22). A treatment unit, in particular an ion exchanger (24), for treating the cooling fluid is fluidically connected to the conduit system (14, 22). The container (20) includes a receptacle chamber to receive the treatment unit (24) and/or an ion exchanger (24) disposed so as to stand upright in the container (20).

It is known in the market to furnish fuel cell systems, internal combustion engines, and other functional systems that generate heat in mobile or stationary use with cooling circuits in order to keep them at an optimal temperature range for ensuring their function. In the cooling circuits, preferably liquid cooling media (i.e., cooling fluids) are circulated, in particular cooling water or mixtures of cooling water and glycol. In the cooling circuits, there are compensation containers for the liquid cooling medium. In order to ensure optimal cooling and service life of all components of the cooling circuit and of the functional system, it is known to treat the cooling medium in the cooling circuit with appropriate additional treatment units. It is known to employ filters and/or ion exchangers in the cooling medium circuit with which the cooling medium in operation can be purified or freed of undesirable ions. In particular in fuel cell systems, it is necessary that the cooling fluid is desalinated because otherwise there is the risk of short-circuiting due to the conductivity of the cooling fluid.
The treatment units increase however the space that is required for the cooling device, in particular because they should be accessible easily for servicing purposes. These conditions are not easily fulfilled in particular in case of use in motor vehicles where there is only limited mounting space available. JP 2004311347 A1 discloses a cooling system for a fuel cell system in which at the lower end of the cooling fluid compensation container a treatment unit in the form of an ion exchanger is arranged.


A water reclamation system for a vehicle wash system that provides water that is purified to enable reclaimed water to be used in a positive displacement pump. The reclamation system provides for continuous flow of water through the vehicle wash settling pit with an aerator to oxygenate the water and prevent odors typically produced by stagnant water from wash system settling pits. The water reclamation system is operable to clean the carwash system settling pit except for the primary pit in which the debris accumulated from the secondary settling pit is deposited.

The present invention relates to a water reclamation system for a vehicle wash system and in particular to a water reclamation system that removes particulate matter from the water sufficiently to enable the water to be used in a high pressure vehicle wash that cleans the vehicle primarily or solely by spray impact of water against the vehicle. Such a wash system typically requires a positive displacement pump which is more sensitive to particulate matter in the water than other types of pumps.
Many vehicle wash systems employ a water reclamation process whereby much, if not most of the water used in the vehicle wash is recycled for use again. This reduces the overall water consumption by the vehicle wash as well as the quantity of water discharged from the vehicle wash. Many vehicle wash systems use water in combination with brushes and/or soft cloths or other devices to remove dirt and debris from the vehicle surface. Other vehicle wash systems utilize a high pressure water spray without any brushes, soft cloths or other devices contacting the surface of the car. To provide an effective car wash without the use of brushes, it is necessary to have a higher water impact on the vehicle surface as compared to vehicle wash systems utilizing brushes, etc. To produce the necessary high pressure, a positive displacement pump or a multi-stage centrifugal pump is typically required. These pumps are more sensitive to particulates in the water. As a result, a high pressure wash, especially utilizing a positive displacement pump, requires a higher degree of water purity than in a low pressure wash.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a water reclamation system for use in a vehicle wash system to provide high purity recycled water to the vehicle wash system.
Many low pressure soft cloth vehicle wash systems are converting to high pressure spray systems and thus require a better water reclamation and filtering system than previously used. It is another object of the invention to provide a reclamation system that is suitable for easy installation into an existing vehicle wash establishment as it converts to a high pressure vehicle wash.
In a vehicle wash system with water recycling, since large quantities of water remain within the vehicle wash system, it is necessary to control or eliminate odors produced by bacteria in the water. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a water reclamation system that controls odor from the water within the wash system.
Typical water reclamation systems utilize a plurality of particulate separators or filters to clean the water. Solid particles that have been separated from the water are returned from the separators to the wash system settling pit or above ground tanks. Due to the distance which these solids often must travel to reach the settling pit, it is necessary to have an adequately large vertical drop from the particulate separators to the settling pit to enable satisfactory gravity flow. The present invention utilizes a pump for pumping the particulate matter from the solid separators to the settling pit thereby eliminating the requirement for a large vertical drop from the separators to the settling pit.
In addition, the same pump can also be used to draw water and debris from the bottom of a secondary or tertiary or cleanest settling pit and pump it back into the primary settling pit. This creates a continuous circulation of water through the settling pits regardless of the use of the vehicle wash system. In other words, during periods of non-use, water circulation can be maintained through the settling pits. With the addition of an aerator in the circulation path, proper oxygen levels in the water can be maintained to prevent odors from being produced. Since the water in the settling pits is oxygenated and this same water is drawn from the pits for reuse in the wash system, oxygenate water is present throughout the wash system.
The reclamation system includes a filter for water drawn from the settling pit of the wash system. The filter includes a housing with a filter element contained therein to divide the interior of the housing into first and second portions. The water inlet from the settling pit is directed into the first portion of the housing interior, i.e. dirty side of the filter, while a clean water outlet is in the second portion, i.e. clean side of the filter, whereby water must flow through the filter element before reaching the clean water outlet. Preferably, the filter element is cylindrical, and has slot openings which extend in a circumferential direction. The dirty water inlet is arranged to produce a circumferential or spiral water flow within the housing over the surface of the filter element to wash and clean debris from the filter element. A solids purge outlet at the bottom of the filter housing enables the solids that have been filtered from the water to be removed from the filter housing. The purged debris is pumped to the primary settling pit of the vehicle wash.
The water reclamation system further utilizes one or two solids separators. In a preferred embodiment, two separators are used. The first separator is preferably a cyclone separator while the second separator is preferably a clarifying tank. Both separators utilize centrifugal forces and the gravity to separate solids from the water. Other types of separators can also be used.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, only three pumps are required in the entire system. A first pump, a sump pump, is used to pump water through the filter, through the first solids separator and into the second solids separator or holding tank. A second pump, which may be a high pressure or other type of pump, is utilized to provide cleaned water from the holding tank to the vehicle wash system. A third pump, a purge pump, is used to remove solids from the separators and the filters. The purge pump is also used to draw water from one end of the settling pits and circulate the water to the other end of the settling pits while doing so, the water is oxygenated to control odor. By utilizing a purge pump to clean debris from the separators, a large vertical drop is no longer necessary from the separators to the settling pit, thereby enabling the overall height of the water reclamation system to be reduced. Preferably, the height of the system is such that a module containing the pumps, cyclone separator, clarifier tank and related equipment can be pre-mounted to a frame and fit within a standard size transport truck. The entire package is then suitable for placement on the floor of a vehicle wash system without any alterations required. If the water reclamation system is being used to upgrade an existing carwash facility that already has a suitable pump for the vehicle wash system, the second pump outlined above may not be required.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the third pump, the purge pump can be used to perform all of the following functions: 1) remove solids from the secondary settling pit and deposit them elsewhere; 2) clean the solids from the filter; 3) clean solids from the cyclone separator, other separators and clarifying tanks; and 4) maintain a water circulation through the settling pits and provide aeration of the water.

Water reclamation system for a vehicle wash system


Disclosed are a lens shading compensation apparatus and a lens shading compensation method in an image sensor that compensate the difference in signal amplitude according to the position of pixels to preserve the quality of a primitive image. The lens shading compensation apparatus includes a pixel value analyzing part, an auto exposure value setting part, a central pixel detecting part, a table generating part, a pixel location calculating part, a mask image generating part and a compensation part. The above apparatus and method perform a color interpolation individually for red, green and blue, and then compensate a lens shading image for each color in accordance with its characteristics. Also the above apparatus and method can analyze and compensate a lens shading phenomenon without considering other colors or being interrupted by other colors.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image sensor, more particularly to a lens shading compensation apparatus and a lens shading compensation method in the image sensor that compensate the difference in signal amplitude according to the position of pixels to preserve the quality of a primitive image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, portable devices having an image sensor (e.g. digital cameras, mobile communication terminals, etc.) have been introduced in the market. The image sensor is composed of an array of photosensitive diodes called pixels or photosites.
The pixel itself usually does not extract colors from light, but converts photons in a broad spectrum band into electrons. In order to record color images by a single sensor, the sensor is filtered such that different pixels receive different colors. This type of sensor is known as a color filter array (CFA). Different color filters are arranged across the sensor according to a predefined pattern.
As a most common pattern, a Bayer pattern is widely employed in the CFA. In the Bayer pattern, a half of the total number of pixels is green (G), and two quarters of the total number are assigned to red (R) and blue (B). In order to obtain color information, red, green and blue filters are arranged in a particular sequence to form a repetitive pattern. The Bayer pattern is composed of a 2×2 array.
The Bayer pattern is based on the premise that the human eye derives most of the luminance data from the green light. Therefore, an image with a higher resolution can be generated when more of the pixels are made to be green, compared to when an equal number of red, green, and blue pixels alternate.
However, the conventional image sensor in recently marketed portable devices had a problem of image distortion due to the geometric pattern of the pixel array. This is because of its small outer lens and high f number.
FIG. 1 illustrates the disparity in transmissivity between the central part and the periphery of a lens. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the pixels in the central part and the pixels in the periphery of the CFA of the image sensor are exposed to a light source from different positions.
These minute differences in position cause differences in illumination, and the differences in illumination affect color because of differences in light frequency and refractive index. Consequently, color distortion and reduction in signal amplitude dependant on the position of the pixels inevitably occur, degrading the quality of primitive images. Such a phenomenon is referred to as lens shading phenomenon.
FIG. 2(a) and FIG. 2(b) are diagrams illustrating the center points and characteristics of lens shading images formed according to red (R), green (G) and blue (B) lights. As shown in FIG. 2(a), a center point 210 of a pixel array 200 does not coincide with any of center points 213, 216, 219 of the lens shading images 203, 206, 209 formed on the pixel array 200 of an image sensor according to red, green and blue lights that passed through the lens. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2(b) it is noted that the lens shading images have different characteristics 223, 226, 229 of the lens shading images.
In order to compensate the lens shading phenomenon has been introduced a method that equalizes the brightness of all the pixels of the pixel array after photographing an image of a white area.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a conventional image processing method for making the brightness uniform.
Referring to FIG. 3, after a primitive image is inputted (S310), black level compensation (S320) and noise removal (S330) are performed. Subsequently, lens shading compensation (S340) and color interpolation (S350) are performed. Then, the quality of images is improved (S360) through color adjustment, gamma conversion, format conversion, etc., and image data is finally outputted to a display unit (S370).
However, he above lens shading compensation (S340) is applied under a premise that the lens shading images of red, green and blue colors have the same shape and center points. Moreover, prior to the color interpolation S350, each of the pixels of the pixel array has a pixel value on any one among red, green and blue colors in accordance with the Bayer pattern, and neighboring pixels have each different color component, so that it is difficult to compensate the lens shading image for each color without an interruption of other colors.
FIG. 4(a), FIG. 4(b), and FIG. 4(c) illustrate lens shading images of another embodiment.
Referring to FIG. 4(a), a center point 415 of a lens shading image 405 is deviated to the left with respect to a center point 410 of a pixel array 400. Referring to FIG. 4(b), the lens shading image is either tilted 425 or not tilted 420 against a longitudinal direction of the pixel array 400. Referring to FIG. 4(c), the lens shading image 405 is either tilted 435 or not tilted 430 against a lateral direction of the pixel array 400.
When tilted along the longitudinal direction 425 or the lateral direction 435, the lens shading image 405 cannot have a uniform luminance. However, there has not been proposed yet a method to compensate the tilting characteristic of the lens shading image 425 or 435.

Lens shading compensation apparatus and method, and image processor using the same


Various methods and techniques for enhancing a silicon-containing anode for a battery cell are presented. The methods may include providing a silicon-containing anode having reversible electrochemical capabilities including a silicon-containing material and an anode material compatible with a lithium-ion battery chemistry having porous and conductive mechanical properties. The methods may also include enriching a surface layer of the silicon-containing anode with sodium ions to intersperse the sodium ions between silicon atoms of the silicon-containing material. The methods may also include displacing the sodium ions with potassium ions to form a compression layer in the silicon-containing anode. The potassium ions may place the silicon atoms of the silicon-containing material in a pre-compressive state to counteract internal stress exerted on the silicon-containing material.

As battery technology has become more advanced so have the use of batteries within electric vehicles (EV). In some instances, such as commuter vehicles, EVs aim to replace traditional gas-combustion vehicles as EVs offer a more environmental friendly solution. However, in order for EVs to eventually replace gas-combustion vehicles, EVs must be able comparably operate. One possible drawback of EVs is their reduction in driving range. Limiting weight and space requirements of EVs restrict the amount of batteries onboard EVs. Hence, energy capacity and cyclability are important properties of batteries within EVs. Therefore, there is a need for improved energy capacity and cyclability of battery cells within EVs.

Systems and methods for potassium enhancing silicon-containing anodes for improved cyclability

CHONGQING JINKANG POWERTRAIN NEW ENERGY CO., LTD.


Systems and methods for testing a network page without encapsulating the network page with a test environment are presented. A script such as a test injector script may be added to a network page in development. The test injector script may identify one or more tests to run on the network page based, at least in part, on metadata included in the network page. The domain object model (DOM) of the network page may be modified to include tests to be performed on the network page.

Software applications are typically tested by developers or software testers to remove bugs or programming errors before being released to end-users. Often, a software application will go through several iterations before being released to end-users to remove detected programming errors, add features, or respond to beta-user feedback. Each iteration of the software application may result in additional rounds of testing. Further, some applications may have several release versions or updates over time, each of which may also have several rounds of testing.
A network page may also be tested by a developer or tester. In some cases, network pages may be simple static pages that require little to no testing. However, it is often the case that a network page can be complex, and sometimes, may be as complex as an extensive software application. Further, in some cases, the network page may be a software application or part of a software application. As such, network pages may go through extensive testing, and sometimes, may be tested as extensively as a complex software application utilizing its own test environment.


An energy absorbing bumper (10) includes a back plate (11) which is adapted to be attached to a vehicle. An elastomeric module (12) includes an impact face (13) and upper and lower rails (14, 15) extending from the impact face (13). One or more metallic inserts (30) are molded into the rails (14, 15). Each insert (30) includes a plurality of longitudinally extending, laterally spaced bars (31) which intersect a plurality of laterally extending, longitudinally spaced bars (32) to form adjacent rows of openings (33, 34). A fastener (17) extends through at least one of the openings (33, 34) in each insert (30) to attach the rails (14, 15) to the back plate (11). The inserts (30) minimize the possibility of shearing of the module (12) at the area of fasteners (17).

Energy absorbing bumpers for vehicles, such as cars, buses or the like, are well known in the art. Most typically, such bumpers are made of an elastomeric material, such as polyurethane or the like, and are at times filled with a foam or similar material. Usually these bumpers are provided in a modular form and are attached, as by screws or other fasteners, to a metallic back plate which is carried by the vehicle. Such bumpers are thus intended to absorb energy of the contact of the vehicle with another structure, and typically they assure that no damage is done to the vehicle in a crash of up to five miles an hour. These bumpers are most prevalently found on buses.
While these bumpers thus satisfactorily cushion the force of direct impacts, the prior art bumpers are inadequate when torsional forces are involved. Such forces might be encountered, for example, if one vehicle is pushing another vehicle, particularly around a street corner, or if other than a direct impact were encountered. In these instances, a lateral end of the bumper may be exposed to a torsional force which can tear the module away from the back plate at the area of the fasteners.
Thus, the need exists for an energy absorbing bumper which can resist both direct and torsional forces.


An angular-velocity detector includes a first sensor, a second sensor, and a controller. The first sensor is used for detecting motion around an axis of a second direction perpendicular to a first direction. The second sensor is used for detecting motion around an axis of the first direction. The controller performs an operation that corrects an output error caused by an angle of inclination of the second sensor by using a first correction coefficient that is a ratio of a second amplitude to a first amplitude. The first amplitude is amplitude of output value from the first sensor when the angular-velocity detector is in first motion around an axis of the second direction without second motion around an axis of the first direction. The second amplitude is amplitude of output value from the second sensor when the angular-velocity detector is in the first motion without the second motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angular velocity detection apparatus, and in particular to the modification of an output error caused by an undesired angle of inclination resulting from the imperfect alignment, during installation, of the angular velocity sensor for the anti-shake operation etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
An anti-shake apparatus for a photographing apparatus is proposed. The anti-shake apparatus corrects for hand-shake effects by moving either a hand-shake correcting lens that is a part of the photographing optical system, or an imaging device, on a plane that is perpendicular to the optical axis of the photographing optical system, in a manner corresponding to the amount of hand-shake that occurs during the imaging process.
Japanese unexamined patent publication (KOKAI) No. H09-80552 discloses an anti-shake apparatus that reduces noise and improves the precision of the hand-shake quantity by mounting an angular velocity sensor and an amplifier for the output signal from the angular velocity sensor on the same circuit board, to shorten the distance between the angular velocity sensor and the amplifier.
However, the output error caused by the undesired angle of the inclination resulting from the imperfect alignment, during installation, of the angular velocity sensor for the anti-shake operation is not considered.


A memory controller and method of operation for detecting different type of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices in a computer system. The memory controller has capabilities for improved page hits which cause the row address strobe signals to remain asserted following certain cycles. A mechanism in the memory controller selectably disables column address strobing. Different DRAM types are distinguishable by reading back data previously written to a memory location. Data is written to memory with a cycle causing the memory controller to keep the row address strobes asserted. Column address strobing is disabled. A read back cycle is performed without column address strobing. If data is present, the DRAM is an extended data output (EDO) DRAM. If data is not present, the DRAM is a fast page mode DRAM.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to detecting the type of memory devices installed in a computer system, and more particularly to a detection algorithm which can differentiate extended data output memory devices from fast page mode memory devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems are becoming ever more powerful by the day. Users are requiring more capabilities to run ever more complicated and sophisticated applications and computer system manufacturers are responding. Computer speeds have dramatically increased over the last number of years so that now desktop and file server computers can readily outperform mainframe computers of 10-15 years ago. But the quest for further performance is never ending. To this end, the microprocessor manufacturers have been developing ever faster microprocessors.
However, a computer system is far more than just a microprocessor. There are many other subsystems that must cooperate with the microprocessor to provide a complete computer system. It is desirable to optimize as many of these subsystems as possible and yet take into account cost and system flexibility to satisfy varied user desires.
Two of the subsystems which have not maintained pace with the development of microprocessor are the main memory systems and the input/output buses. Main memory system shortcomings have been much alleviated by the use of cache memory systems, but in the end all memory operations must ultimately come from the main memory, so that its performance is still a key piece in the overall performance of the computer system. Many advanced memory architectures and techniques have developed over the years. One of the most common techniques is the use of paged mode memory devices or dynamic random access memories (DRAMS), where the actual memory address location value is divided into rows and columns, and if the row address, i.e., the page, is the same for the subsequent operation, only the column address needs to be provided to the DRAM. Although there is a certain amount of overhead required, it easily pays for itself by the improved performance gained during a page hit. So basic page mode operation provides a major performance increase, but more performance is always desired.
One further performance increase relates to an improvement for determining the level of the row address strobe or RAS* signal when the memory system is idle. As is well known, the RAS* signal must be negated, or set high, to allow a new page or row address to be provided and there is also a precharge time requirement. Thus, there is a performance penalty if the RAS* signal is raised when the next operation is actually a page hit. Similarly, there is a delay if the RAS* signal is kept low and the operation is a page miss, as the full precharge time must also be expended after the cycle has been issued. To address this concern, various techniques have been developed to predict whether the RAS* signal should be kept low or should be returned high to indicate a new page cycle. The prediction can be done several ways, as indicated in Ser. No. 08/034,104 filed Mar. 22, 1993, entitled "Memory Controller That Dynamically Predicts Page Misses." In that application several techniques are used. A first technique bases the prediction on the type of the last cycle performed by the processor, with the choice always fixed. A second technique samples the hits and misses for each cycle type and then sets the RAS* level based on this adaptive measurement.
Further, personal computer systems are becoming mass market products, and therefore need to be very flexible to meet the widely varying particular goals of users. For example, some users may desire the ultimate in performance with little regard for cost, whereas other users may be significantly more cost sensitive. One area where cost directly impacts performance is in the type of the memory devices used in the main memory.
For many years, fast page mode (FPM) DRAMs have dominated the memory market. Recently, a new type of DRAM called extended data output (EDO) DRAM has become available. The EDO DRAMs have performance improvements over conventional FPM DRAMs which make their use desirable. A distinguishing characteristic of EDO DRAMs is that during a read cycle, the EDO DRAMs provide data output even after the CAS* signals are deasserted. In this way, a CAS* precharge cycle can be performed in parallel with a read cycle, thereby reducing the overall read cycle time. By contrast, in FPM DRAMs, the data outputs of the DRAMs are tri-stated when the CAS* signals are deasserted, or pulled high.
Systems today are being designed to work with both EDO and FPM DRAMs. However, EDO and FPM DRAMs have different timing requirements. It is known that improper use of the DRAMs can cause premature failure. Thus, problems can develop if the DRAMs are installed improperly into a computer system. Users are oftentimes unaware of the subtle differences between EDO and FPM DRAMs, or are unable to identify the type of DRAM. Furthermore, with the computer becoming more user friendly, it is unreasonable to require users to properly configure memory devices. Therefore, it is desirable to automatically detect the type of DRAM present in the computer system.

Method and apparatus for detecting memory device types