An air conditioning system suitable for use in an electric vehicle for air-conditioning the driver and passenger room of the vehicle. The system basically comprises environment sensors, a warning device and a control device. The environment sensors detect the state of the environment in the vehicle room. In the control device, an air-conditioning switch is activated so that the output of the environment sensor is read. When the environment sensors produce an output indicative of an improper state of environment in the vehicle room, such an open window, an open door or an unmanned state of the vehicle room, the warning device is operated for a predetermined time period. Further, the air conditioner is deactivated when the output of any one of the environment sensors continues to indicate an improper environment condition after the predetermined period has elapsed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning system suitable for use in an electric vehicle, and more specifically to such an air conditioning system suitable, wherein when either a door or a window is in an opened state or the vehicle room is in an unmanned state, the power consumption can be controlled by deactivating the air conditioner.
2. Description of the Related Art
The concept of mounting an air conditioner in a vehicle and controlling the temperature, humidity, airflow, etc. inside of the vehicle so as to ensure comfortable driving, has heretofore been carried out.
Similarly, an electric vehicle is also provided with the air conditioner. In this case, a battery for energizing a motor used as a drive source for running the vehicle is used in common for a drive source used for the air conditioner. However, the power to be stored in the battery attached to the electric vehicle is restricted.
Thus, in the air conditioner mounted to the electric vehicle, a method has been examined which automatically controls the output of a compressor according to the environment in the vehicle room and controls the consumption of power stored in the battery so as to make the power consumption as efficient as possible.
In the conventional air conditioning system for the electric vehicle, however, the air conditioner can be activated even when either the door or the window is in an opened state. Therefore, there was a risk of the battery power being wasted through the driver's carelessness.
When the electric vehicle stops is stopped, the motor used as the driver source is de-energized. Therefore, the vehicle room becomes silent and the driver is hence apt to leave his/her vehicle with a switch for the air-conditioner left on, thereby causing a problem that the unmanned vehicle room is air-conditioned and the valuable battery power is wasted.

Air conditioning system suitable for use in an electric vehicle


A flexible air hose connection between a preconditioned air unit and an aircraft incorporates an air filter between the first and second ends to capture and filter foreign matter in the air stream through the flexible tube. The filter may be sewn, fitted with snaps, hook and loop and/or zippered into the interior of the air hose. In particular embodiments the air filter incorporates a mesh screen, or alternatively comprises a fibrous material of foam, pleated paper, or spun fiberglass. In one embodiment the filter may be a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter meeting the efficiency standard set by the Department of Energy.

It is generally known to supply commercial aircraft with conditioned air for heating and cooling when the aircraft is stationary at a gate. In this application, the terminal or gate is meant to refer to any place that an aircraft receives or discharges passengers or cargo. This may be by way of a telescoping corridor (also referred to as a walkway, bridge way, jet bridge), stairs, or any other facility.
As illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1, typically, conditioned air is supplied to the aircraft 14 via a flexible hose 10 connected to a pre-conditioned air (PCA) 12 unit associated with the gate that is a part of the airport terminal. The PCA unit 12 may produce heated air or cooled air depending on the needs of the aircraft 14 it is servicing. The PCA outputs its air into a duct that may be rigid or flexible, and then the air is delivered from the gate to the aircraft with a flexible and usually insulated air hose 10 which is installed to the aircraft 14 by a service technician 16 while the aircraft is parked at the gate.
Devices for deploying and retracting a hose are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,821,201, 6,776,705, and 6,834,668 to Bombardi et al., which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. An improved hose management system is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/025,022 filed Feb. 2, 2008 by Wright et. al, and assigned to the assignee of the present application, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Structures of an air hose are shown in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/030,963 filed Feb. 18, 2011, assigned to the assignee of the present application, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Structures of a coupling for use between a hose and aircraft are shown in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/861,298 filed Aug. 23, 2010, assigned to the assignee of the present application, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
A difficulty that arises with ventilation systems of this kind is the possible introduction of foreign matter into the air stream. The foreign matter can include paper, plastic, lint or other typical material that clogs an air flow path. If this matter invades the air delivery systems of the aircraft it can be very expensive to remove, not just as a result of labor cost but also because the cleaning process necessitates airplane downtime. Thus, there is a need for an improved air handling system that can reduce the amount of foreign matter introduced into airplane ventilation systems to thus reduce expenses and downtime.
Although this background has described the use of air hoses with reference to servicing aircraft, similar hose has other uses, for example ventilating confined working spaces such as sewers, tanks, and utility tunnels, and principles of the present invention are equally applicable in such contexts.


A call-forwarding system can be remotely controlled in a simple and easily understood manner, thereby increasing the usage of call-forwarding. By maintaining a registry of special telephone numbers for a user""s telephone and, upon receiving a telephone call from one of the special telephone numbers, the system forwards calls to the one of the special telephone numbers. The call-forwarding system includes a registry of special telephone numbers and a call-forwarding controller which, upon receiving a call from one of the special telephone numbers, forwards calls to the one of the special telephone numbers. In addition, the call-forwarding controller includes a caller-ID application which identifies all incoming telephone calls and passes this information to the controller. The controller then compares the incoming call to the telephone numbers in the registry and, upon obtaining a match, activates a routine for forwarding future incoming calls to the matched telephone number. The above method of controlling call-forwarding of an office telephone from a remote telephone provides the end user a very simple interface to allow remote enabling and disabling of call-forwarding.

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for automatically forwarding telephone calls, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for automatically forwarding telephone calls under remote control.
Many office workers spend a sizable portion of their day outside their base office or away from their office telephone. For example, workers may be at other locations within their office building, outside their office building at remote sites, or in transit between sites. In all cases, there is often a need to stay xe2x80x9cconnectedxe2x80x9d with the office telephone system, having the ability to remotely receive calls that would normally go to the office phone. Call-forwarding is a common telephony service that attempts to address this need.
Today, call-forwarding is typically provided as a telephone system service by the local office/building PBX or by the telephony central office. The most basic operation is that a user can somehow signal this telephony xe2x80x9ccontrollerxe2x80x9d and cause calls going to their office phone to be redirected to another phone number.
In one typical system, an office worker activates call-forwarding by entering a sequence of button presses on the keypad and/or button set of their office telephone. This button press sequence usually includes call-forwarding on/off codes and a xe2x80x9cforward-toxe2x80x9d number. Operationally, one normally activates call-forwarding just before leaving one""s office and similarly disables call-forwarding upon returning to the office.
Existing systems enable remote control of call-forwarding as well. For example, one remotely controlled call-forwarding system requires a user to dial into a special service number that is associated with the telephony control system for their office phone. Next, the user enters required PIN codes, forwarding on/off codes, forward-to numbers, etc., using the touch-tone pad of the phone from which the user is calling. As a result, the user is able to remotely control the forwarding of the user""s telephone calls from another telephone.
Pac-Bell and Bell-Atlantic currently offer a variety of similar call-forwarding services. In one mode of operation, there are systems that provide a xe2x80x9cfollow-mexe2x80x9d service. These systems attempt to keep in touch with a user by calling the user""s phone(s) based on a pre-defined availability schedule, or by sequentially calling all phones the user has registered with the service. There is usually a voice mail drop in case the call is not answered at all.
Each of the above systems work well, but they all require the user to enter a complex sequence of codes or button-presses. Many users find this difficult to perform, and consequently do not regularly forward their telephones, which makes the overall goal of call-forwarding impossible to achieve. Call-forwarding is intended to make employees of a company reachable at almost all times. If the employees are not willing to use the system, however, the company has paid for a service it is not using and for which it is not receiving value. In today""s competitive environment, most companies will not continue to pay for services that do not add value.
The present invention is therefore directed to the problem of developing a call-forwarding system that can be remotely controlled in a simple and easily understood manner, thereby increasing the usage of call-forwarding.
The present invention solves this problem by maintaining a list or registry of special telephone numbers for a user""s telephone and, upon receiving a telephone call from one of the special telephone numbers, forwarding calls to the one of the special telephone numbers.
According to the present invention, a system for performing the method of the present invention includes a registry of special telephone numbers and a call-forwarding controller which, upon receiving a call from one of the special telephone numbers, forwards calls to the one of the special telephone numbers.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the call-forwarding controller includes a caller-ID application which identifies all incoming telephone calls and passes this information to the controller. In this case, the controller then compares the incoming call to the telephone numbers in the registry and, upon obtaining a match, activates a routine for forwarding future incoming calls to the matched telephone number.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the system includes a user interface device that enables the user to enter telephone numbers into the list via the user""s touch-tone telephone. This same interface device enables the user to specify a duration during which the call-forwarding will remain activated. If the user fails to specify a duration, the system uses default duration to deactivate call-forwarding. Examples of default durations include an end of a workday, an end of a work week, a beginning of a workday, a beginning of a work week, midnight, and five o""clock in the morning.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the system includes a timer that is activated upon activating the call-forwarding, which timer deactivates the call-forwarding when the timer reaches a predetermined time.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, an incoming call from one of the special telephone numbers changes a state of the call-forwarding, such as from ON to OFF, or from OFF to ON. Upon changing the state, the system transmits a special tone sequence to the user, which uniquely identifies the current state.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for enabling remote control of call-forwarding from a remote telephone includes: means for enabling a user to enter a list of special telephone numbers into a database via the user""s telephone; means for identifying an originating telephone number of an incoming call; means for comparing the originating telephone number to the special telephone numbers in the list; means for forwarding future incoming calls upon receiving a match from the means for comparing to the originating telephone number; and means for deactivating the means for forwarding upon expiration of a predetermined time interval.

Method and apparatus for remotely controlling telephone call-forwarding


Methods, communications devices, and computer program products for selecting an advertisement to initiate communications between communication devices using an Internet protocol enabled television infrastructure are provided. Input of a call back number is received. Advertisement data of an enterprise is accessed via an Internet protocol enabled device. A selection is received to initiate a communication to the enterprise. A selection of the call back number is received. The call back number is contacted, in response to an indication that the enterprise has been contacted for initiation of the communication.

Exemplary embodiments relate to the field of network communication transmissions, and particularly to the field of network communication transmissions within networks that support Internet protocol television services.
Internet protocol television (IPTV) service is a digital television delivery service in which the digital television signal is delivered to users via a computer network infrastructure using the Internet Protocol. Typically, IPTV services are bundled with additional Internet services, such as Internet web access and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Subscribers and users of subscriber devices receive IPTV services via a computing device, such as a set top box, that is connected to a television or display device for the reception of a digital signal. Used in conjunction with an IP-based platform, the set top box allows for a subscriber or other user to access IPTV services and any additional services that are integrated within the IPTV service.
IPTV service platforms allow for an increase in the interactive services that can be provided to residential subscribers/users. As such, a subscriber/user can have access to a wide variety of content that is available via the IPTV service or the Internet. The IPTV infrastructure also allows the delivery of a variety of video content instantly to the subscribers/users.
It is desirable to provide access to various services, and particularly to provide access to various services using an IPTV infrastructure. Also, it would be desirable to have techniques for conveniently contacting an enterprise after viewing an advertisement using an IPTV infrastructure.

Methods, communications devices, and computer program products for selecting an advertisement to initiate device-to-device communications


A frame for reciprocating sieve assembly comprises a first side member (300, 308) that is elongate and extends longitudinally; a second side member (302, 310) that is elongate and extends longitudinally; a third side member (304, 312) that is elongate and extends transversely; a fourth side member (306, 314) that is elongate and extends transversely; a first hanger mount (206L, 210L) coupled to and extending between the first side member and the third side member; a second hanger mount (208L, 212L) coupled to and extending between the first side member and the fourth side member; a third hanger mount (206R, 210R) coupled to and extending between the second side member and the third side member; and a fourth hanger mount (208R, 212R) coupled to and extending between the second side member and the fourth side member; wherein the first side member, the second side member, the third side member, and the fourth side member are comprised essentially of an aluminum alloy; and wherein the first hanger mount, the second hanger mount, the third hanger mount, and the fourth hanger mount are comprised essentially of a ferrous alloy.

Cleaning shoes are major subsections of agricultural harvesters. Cleaning shoes are generally constructed as a housing that encloses a fan and one or more reciprocating sieve assemblies. The fan generates a flow of air that passes upward through the sieve assembly as the sieve assembly reciprocates fore and aft. This airflow lifts material other than grain (MOG) such as chaff or dust and carries it rearward out of the agricultural harvester where it is deposited on the ground. The grain is dense enough that it resists this flow of air and is not carried rearward, but instead falls downward through the sieve assembly onto a pan that extends underneath the sieve assembly. A transverse conveyor in the pan carries the grain to one side of the agricultural harvester, and a vertical conveyor carries the grain upward and into a grain tank or reservoir located at the top of the agricultural harvester.
To assist the air in separating the grain from the MOG, the sieve assembly is reciprocated in a generally horizontal plane. The speed of reciprocation is on the order of 300 cycles per minute. A typical reciprocating sieve assembly comprises a generally rectangular frame that supports one or more sieves.
The sieves are generally formed as dozens of these slats, each of which extends side to side with respect to the agricultural harvester. These slats are supported, in turn, in a second frame that is supported inside the generally rectangular frame.
The reciprocating sieve assembly is typically supported on hangers that extend generally vertically. The upper ends of the hangers are fixed to the chassis of the agricultural harvester. The lower ends of the hangers are fixed to the reciprocating sieve assembly. A power source, such as a motor with a rotating shaft, is connected to the hangers with an offset crank and rod arrangement. As the motor rotates, the hangers are pivoted fore-and-aft at their lower ends by the rod to shake the reciprocating sieve assemblies. This reciprocation jostles the dirty grain falling on the sieve, spreads the grain out more evenly across the surface of the sieve and enhances the flow of air through the dirty grain.
Cleaning shoe design, and particularly the design of the reciprocating sieve assemblies, is a trade-off between strength, durability and weight. The cyclical loading of the reciprocating sieve assemblies tends to cause fasteners to loosen. For this reason, the reciprocating sieve assemblies are typically welded together. Unfortunately, the welds are also prone to failure by metal fatigue due to the reciprocating loads placed on the individual members which is compounded by inhomogeneities and other flaws in the welds.
What is needed, therefore, is a new configuration for a reciprocating sieve assembly that weighs less and is more immune to the cyclical stresses.
It is an object of this invention to provide such an arrangement.

Lightweight hybrid material reciprocating sieve


A rigid elongated member with a first end and a second end has a handle disposed at the first end. A substantially straight shank portion protrudes from the handle and can either be notched or smooth. The elongated member extends past the shank to further form an arcuate segment near the second end of the tool. The tool terminates at the second end with a straight segment which is coaxial with the shank.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hand tools. More particularly, it relates to hand tools designed to facilitate the performance of automotive maintenance and repairs.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is currently no tool on the market that effectively performs the function the current invention is designed to accomplish. Most drum brake assemblies include a ratchet wheel fixedly attached to a sleeve that is threadedly connected to a shaft. The sleeve and the shaft are connected to brake shoes and operate in tandem to maintain a tolerance between a brake lining and a drum. When the ratchet wheel, and correspondingly, the sleeve to which it is attached, are rotated in one direction, the shoes are pushed closer to the drum. When the ratchet wheel is rotated in the opposite direction, the shoes are pulled away from the drum.
In most drum brake assemblies, a ratchet pawl restricts the ratchet wheel so that it is only permitted to rotate in the direction that pushes the brake shoes closer to the drum. When the brake shoes need to be replaced, however, the shoes must be pulled away from the drum so that the drum may be removed. This requires the ratchet wheel to be rotated in the direction that the ratchet pawl is designed to prevent. This forced rotation can cause serious damage to both the ratchet wheel and the pawl.
What is needed is a tool, shaped to conform to the interior of the drum brake assembly, for disengaging the pawl from the ratchet wheel. This capability will permit the ratchet wheel to be rotated in the direction required to withdraw the brake shoes from the drum, without damaging the ratchet wheel and the pawl.


A method for manufacturing an all-solid lithium battery includes: providing a substrate; and forming M rows×N columns of lithium battery cells on the substrate, wherein each of the lithium battery cells includes a positive electrode current collector layer, a positive electrode layer, an electrolyte layer, a negative electrode layer, and a negative electrode current collector layer.

With the miniaturization and the rise of wearable electronic products, flexible electronics have become more portable, bendable, efficient, low-cost, and recyclable, and development of all-solid lithium batteries has become one of the frontiers in the field of energy storage research. All-solid lithium batteries have advantages that other energy equipment does not have: high safety, low cost, high temperature chargeable and dischargeable, long cycle life, fast charging, and long life-span, and have become the first choice in the future energy field.
Currently, in order to meet the demand for lighter, thinner, and long life-span lithium batteries, the existing all-solid lithium battery is made in the form of films. According to the research of the inventors, the respective films in the existing all-solid lithium battery are easily cracked, so that the reliability of the all-solid lithium battery is reduced, and even in a severe case, the all-solid lithium battery may not operate normally.

All-solid lithium battery and method for manufacturing the same


An accessory comprises an insertion part, which is inserted into a through hole provided in the direction of thickness of a lens of eyeglasses and configured by combining an insertion core part with a sheathing member made of an elastic material, and a basic accessory part arranged jointly at an end of the insertion core part on the side of a surface of the lens. The insertion part is fixed to the lens by being pressed against the through hole with repulsive force caused by the compression of the sheathing member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accessory attached to a lens of eyeglasses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, human beings use, what is called, accessories such as a ring, necklace, earrings, pierced earrings, etc. in order to decorate their bodies. Such accessories have a structure suitable for being directly put on a body, namely, directly put on a particular portion of a body, such as putting a ring on a finger, putting a necklace around neck, and putting earrings or pierced earrings in ears. Therefore, the accessories are not normally used to decorate a wearing person by being indirectly put on a body, like a brooch put on clothes, due to constraints such as an appearance derived from the structure, or the like.
To overcome such constraints of accessories, eyeglasses where an attachment hole for a pierced earring is provided in a lens to enable the pierced earring to be attached is proposed as disclosed by Patent Document 1. According to this invention, it is supposed to make variations and fashion of eyeglasses enjoyable with such a configuration.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Registered Utility Model No. 3069720
This invention has the above described advantage, but also has the following problems: (1) the core of a pierced earring can possibly damage a lens or the rim of an attachment hole or its periphery when erroneously touching the lens, the rim or the periphery at the time of being inserted into the attachment hole of the lens, because the core of the pierced earring is made of metal; (2) it is burdensome to require an exacting work for inserting the core of the pierced earring into the small hole provided in the lens, and for fitting a catch as a stopper into the core, and the pierced earring and the catch tend to be lost when being detached from eyeglasses since they are separate parts; (3) a feeling of discomfort is produced by a sound of contact between the pierced earring and the lens, which is caused by the movement of the core inserted into the hole due to vibrations in the use of the eyeglasses; and (4) a portion protruding on the side of a back of the lens can possibly touch and injure a face or hand skin when the eyeglasses are worn, since the core of the pierced earring is longer than the thickness of the lens.


An image sensing apparatus includes a solid-state image sensing element having a plurality of pixels which output image sensing signals, a first determination device which determines whether a pixel of interest is a defective pixel candidate, by comparing the signal level of the pixel of interest subjected to defective pixel detection out of the plurality of pixels of the solid-state image sensing element, and the signal levels of a plurality of peripheral pixels around the pixel of interest, and a second determination device which, when the-first determination device determines that the pixel of interest is the defective pixel candidate, determines whether the determination result representing that the pixel of interest is the defective pixel candidate is erroneous detection, on the basis of the determination result of the first determination device representing whether a plurality of peripheral pixels around the pixel of interest are defective pixel candidates.

A conventional solid-state image sensing element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) suffers a so-called defective pixel in which the sensitivity is lower than that of a nondefective pixel or a very large dark current flows. Such defective pixel appears as isolated point noise in an image sensed by the solid-state image sensing element, degrading the image quality. In order to eliminate an adverse effect on the image quality, an image sensing apparatus using the solid-state image sensing element corrects a defective pixel.
As conventional defective pixel correction methods, the following two methods have generally been known.
According to the first correction method, the position of a defective pixel is detected in shipping an image sensing apparatus from the factory. The information is stored in a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) incorporated in the image sensing apparatus. The defective pixel is corrected by replacing it with a pixel interpolated by peripheral pixels on the basis of the information during image sensing operation.
According to the second method, a pixel having an abnormal output is detected as a defective pixel on the basis of the signal level difference between adjacent pixels during image sensing operation. The defective pixel is replaced with a pixel interpolated by peripheral pixels. As a concrete example of the second method, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-239298 discloses an electronic camera capable of properly correcting white scratches which increase/decrease in accordance with the exposure time.
The first correction method achieves a high detection precision because stable image sensing conditions can be set in detecting a defective pixel. However, this method requires a nonvolatile memory for storing pieces of position information corresponding to the number of assumed defective pixels. This results in high cost and high power consumption.
The second correction method does not require any nonvolatile memory for storing position information of a defective pixel. However, if a defective pixel is detected while an image such as a natural image (image with a complicated brightness difference or color saturation difference) is sensed, the defective pixel detection precision decreases, and the image quality degrades due to correction based on erroneous detection.

Method of correcting pixel defect in image sensing element, and image sensing apparatus using the same


Provided is a flat panel display. A flat panel display includes: a lower panel defining a display area and a non-display area, a driver element and a line within the non-display area, a planar layer covering the lower panel, a first trench at the planar layer over the driver element and the line, a lower alignment layer on an upper surface of the planar layer and a lower surface of the first trench, the lower alignment layer exposing some upper surface of the planar layer at the first trench, and a sealant at the first trench.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a flat panel display with a narrow bezel structure. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a narrow bezel flat panel display in which the area for sealing material (or "sealant") is minimized by enhancing the attaching/adhering force of the sealant disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device (LCD) represents video data by controlling the light transitivity of the liquid crystal layer using electric fields. According to the direction of the electric field, the LCD can be classified in two major types: one is a vertical electric field type and the other is a horizontal electric field type.
For the vertical electric field type LCD, a common electrode formed on an upper substrate and a pixel electrode formed on a lower substrate face each other for forming an electric field perpendicular to the substrate face. A twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal layer disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate is driven by the vertical electric field. The vertical electric field type LCD has a higher aperture ratio than the horizontal electric field type, but it has a narrower view angle of about 90 degrees.
For the horizontal electric field type LCD, a common electrode and a pixel electrode are formed on the same substrate in parallel. A liquid crystal layer disposed between an upper substrate and a lower substrate is driven in In-Plane-Switching (IPS) mode by an electric field parallel to the substrate face. The horizontal electric field type LCD has a wider view angle of over 170 degrees and a faster response speed than the vertical electric field type LCD. However, the horizontal electric field type LCD may have a lower aperture ratio and transitivity ratio of the back light because there is no electric field over the electrodes, so that the liquid crystals disposed over the electrodes are not driven.
For most liquid crystal displays, after surface joining the thin film transistor substrate having a plurality of thin film transistors disposed in a matrix manner and the color filter substrate having a plurality of color filters, the liquid crystal layer is inserted between these surface joined substrates. Each of the pixel areas defined in the thin film transistor substrate and each of the pixel areas defined in the color filter substrate are correspondingly aligned to each other, as these two substrates are joined. In order to reduce the aligning margin in the joining process, in some cases, the color filters may be formed on the thin film transistor substrate.
FIG. 1 is a plane view illustrating the structure of a flat panel liquid crystal display according to related art. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of the liquid crystal display of FIG. 1 by cutting along the line I-I′ according to the related art.
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display in which the color filters are formed on the thin film transistor substrate includes a lower panel LP on which are disposed a plurality of pixel areas, each having one thin film transistor and one color filter in a matrix manner, an upper panel UP on which a plurality of black column spacers are disposed between the pixel areas, and a liquid crystal layer LC inserted between the lower panel LP and the upper panel UP.
The lower panel includes a lower substrate SL made of a transparent material such as the glasses. The lower substrate SL has a display area AA occupying at least most of the middle portions for representing the video data, and a non-display area NA surrounding the display area AA. The non-display area may also be referred to as the bezel area BZ. In the display area AA, a plurality of the pixel areas are disposed in a matrix manner. A thin film transistor T, a pixel electrode PXL connected to the thin film transistor T, and a color filter CF representing color are allocated in each pixel area.
In detail, the thin film transistor T is disposed at one corner of the pixel area defined in a matrix manner on the lower substrate SL. A first passivation layer PAS is deposited on the thin film transistor T for protecting it. On the first passivation layer PAS, the color filter CF is formed to cover at least most of the pixel area. For example, a red color filter CFR, a green color filter CFG, and a blue color filter CFB may be alternatively disposed on three pixel areas disposed in a serial manner. FIG. 2 shows the red and green color filters as examples with the (R) and (G) labels indicated.
A second passivation layer PAC is deposited on the color filter CF. The pixel electrode PXL connecting to the thin film transistor T is formed within the pixel area on the second passivation layer PAC. For the horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display, the pixel electrode PXL has a comb structure with a plurality of segments arrayed in parallel. Further, a common electrode COM formed as having a plurality of segments is disposed in parallel with the segments of the pixel electrode PXL one-by-one.
In addition, the upper panel UP includes an upper substrate SU made of a transparent material, such as glass. The display area AA and the non-display area NA are defined on one surface of the upper substrate SU, similarly to the lower substrate SL. A black column spacer BCS is formed on the whole area of the non-display area NA. Further, the black column spacers BCS may be disposed in the display area AA at the area corresponding to the border area between the pixel areas defined on the lower substrate SL. Usually, the black column spacers BCS are disposed between the color filters CF.
A gate driver element GIP may be formed in the non-display area NA of the lower panel LP for driving the display element formed in the display area AA. Furthermore, a ground line LIN may be disposed at the outside of the gate driver element GIP. The gate driver element GIP has a plurality of thin film transistors. For protecting these thin film transistors of the gate driver element GIP, the black column spacer BCS is usually formed to cover the whole area of the non-display area NA of the upper panel UP.
After that, with the liquid crystal layer LC, the surface of the upper panel UP on which the black column spacers BCS are disposed, and the surface of the lower panel on which the display elements are disposed are joined as facing each other so that the liquid crystal display is completed. The column spacer CS maintains an even cell gap between the upper substrate SU and the lower substrate SL. Further, the column spacer CS may provide the black matrix function between the color filters CF, as shown in FIG. 2.
In the case that the color filter CF is formed on the lower substrate SL with the thin film transistor T as mentioned above, the color filter CF is formed within the pixel areas defined on the lower substrate SL, such that the color filter CF can be just aligned with the pixel area. Further, on the upper panel UP, as only the black column spacer BCS and/or the column spacer CS are formed, the manufacturing process for the upper panel UP may be simplified.
For example, in order to join the upper panel UP and the lower panel LP, a sealing material SEAL may be disposed along the circumference along the non-display area NA of the lower panel LP. Further, the liquid crystal layer LC may be disposed within the display area AA of the lower panel LP. After that, the upper panel UP is aligned over the lower panel LP, and then is attached to the lower panel LP. The upper panel UP and the lower panel LP can be bonded to each other by the sealing material SEAL by applying an attaching force, thermal energy, and/or light energy.
For the liquid crystal display, the alignment layers are disposed on each inner upper layer of the lower panel LP and the upper panel UP. A lower alignment layer LPI is disposed on the uppermost layer of the lower panel LP. An upper alignment layer UPI is disposed on the uppermost layer of the upper panel UP. The sealing material SEAL is inserted between the lower alignment layer LPI and the upper alignment layer UPI for adhering the lower panel LP and the upper panel UP.
In the case that the bezel area BZ is minimized, the area for disposing the sealing material SEAL is minimized so that the sealing material SEAL should be disposed on the alignment layers LPI and UPI. As the sealing material SEAL has a low adhesive property with respect to the alignment layers LPI and UPI, it may cause breaking at the attached portions of the liquid crystal display. In the cases that the bezel area is relatively wide, the sealing material SEAL can be disposed as being apart from the alignment layers LPI and UPI. However, for the narrow bezel structure, the sealing material SEAL should be disposed on the alignment layers LPI and UPI. Therefore, there is a desire to develop a liquid crystal display having a structure for enhancing the adhesiveness between the sealing material and the alignment layer.


An information processing apparatus includes a bio-information obtaining unit configured to obtain bio-information of a subject; a kinetic-information obtaining unit configured to obtain kinetic information of the subject; and a control unit configured to determine an expression or movement of an avatar on the basis of the bio-information obtained by the bio-information obtaining unit and the kinetic information obtained by the kinetic-information obtaining unit and to perform a control operation so that the avatar with the determined expression or movement is displayed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, systems, and methods thereof, and more particularly, to the technique of displaying avatars in accordance with bio-information and kinetic information of a user and other persons.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-126891 discloses the technique relating to transmitting bio-information over a network.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006-34803, 2006-87829, 2003-79591, and 2004-194996 each describe an apparatus for displaying various types of bio-information.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-11391 discloses a map generating system of extracting a user's subjective information and mapping the information on a map.

Information processing apparatus, system, and method for displaying bio-information or kinetic information


The present invention proves a method and apparatus for manufacturing a polysilicon TFT without a defective activated area in a channel region below a gate. According to the instant invention, a dopant is implanted into a polysilicon thin film formed on an substrate with a gate having a tapered edge which is used as a mask to form a source and a drain. An energy beam then slantingly irradiates from the side of the edge of the gate to the surface of the substrate. Thus, the source and drain are activated and, at the same time, the energy beam streams into the polysilicon thin film below the edge of the gate to activate the channel region implanted the dopant.

Demand for display devices using electro-luminescence, light emitting diodes, plasma, fluorescent, liquid crystal and the like, for use in office equipment, computer and other display devices and other special-purpose display devices in increasing, due, in part to the fact that they can be produced to be thin.
Among such display devices, an AM-LCD using a thin film transistor (TFT) as a switch for a pixel element for a high-quality, high-resolution, low-power consuming display is being researched and developed widely today.
A poly-Si thin film transistor (poly-Si TFT), which uses poly-Si as a TFT channel layer for the AM-LCD device, provides high definition because of its high mobility when it is used for the pixel switching element. The poly-Si may also be used in driving circuits for controlling the pixel switching element. Poly-Si TFT can be formed on a peripheral area of a substrate simultaneously with the pixels (thereby forming integrated driving circuits on the LCD). Therefore using poly-Si TFT technology can reduce the cost of mounting drive chips and the size of the peripheral area.
Currently, available LCD integrated driving circuits are used in a small or medium size displays, such as, for example, 8 inch displays, which are generally used for projection type displays and viewfinders. The manufacturing process for them is the so-called high-temperature process, which has a solid phase semiconductor layer growing process (a process at about 600.degree. C.) or a heat oxide film growing process (a process at 900.degree. C. or higher) for forming the poly-Si TFT . Therefore, an expensive quartz substrate or highly heat-resistant substrate must be used.
However, if a low-temperature process, such as that which has been adopted for an amorphous silicon (a-Si) TFT-LCD and which has steps at a temperature of 600 or 450.degree. C. or below, can form a poly-Si TFT, a gate oxide film and a dopant activated area, which have the same characters as those formed by the high-temperature process, a glass substrate may be used. A plurality of LCD panels can be formed on a single substrate (yield of multiple LCD panels) by using a low cost large area glass substrate. Therefore, substantial benefits related to cost reduction and improvement of throughput can be expected.
An a-Si thin film crystallizing technology and a dopant activating technology using excimer laser annealing (ELA) are known in the low-temperature process. When the ELA is applied, the thermal damage to the substrate is decreased. Because the a-Si thin film is instantaneously melted and crystallized, a low-cost large glass substrate can be used.
FIG. 12 schematically shows a sectional view of the structure of a conventional poly-Si TFT. A channel 12 of a high resistant semiconductor layer formed of a poly-Si thin film is disposed on a transparent insulator film 11 that is disposed on a transparent substrate 10. The high resistant semiconductor layer 12 is formed by the following steps: depositing a hydrogenated amorphous silicon layer (a-Si:H layer) at a thickness of about, for example, 50 nm to about 70 nm using, for example, a conventional plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method; dehydrogenating by heat annealing; and polycrystallizing by irradiating with an excimer laser. Low resistant semiconductor layers which makeup a source 13 and a drain 14 region are formed next to the high resistant semiconductor layer 12, which is the TFT channel section. The low resistant semiconductor layers 13, 14 are activated by annealing after doping impurities such as phosphorus or boron.
A gate insulator 16 is formed at a thickness of about 70 nm to about 100 nm on the channel 12. This gate insulator 16 is formed using atmosphere pressure CVD (APCVD), plasma enhanced CVD (PE-CVD) or electron cyclotron resonance PECVD (ECR-PECVD). A gate 18 is formed on the gate insulator 16. An insulator 21 is formed on the source 13, the drain 14 and the gate insulator 16. A source electrode 19 and a drain electrode 20 are connected to the low resistant semiconductor source and drain 13, 14 respectively, between the gate 18 and the source electrode 19 or the drain electrode 20. The gate 18 is required to have some thickness due to the following reasons:
a) The gate 18 works as a mask when the impurity is implanted to the source and the drain regions 13, 14 to decrease the parasitic capacitance of the device. If the gate 18 does not have an appropriate thickness, the dopant is implanted into both the gate insulator 16 and the channel 12, and the device characteristics are deteriorated. In other words, the voltage resistance of the gate is lowered, or a threshold voltage (Vth) is shifted. PA1 b) If the same material is used, a line resistance decreases as the layer thickness increases. Therefore, the gate layer must have an appropriate thickness in view of countermeasure against the delay of the gate pulse. PA1 a) When the gate electrode is a thick layer and its end face is fabricated to be perpendicular with the substrate surface, a coverage failure is caused in the insulator, resulting in lowering the yield (FIG. 12). PA1 b) When the gate electrode is shaped to have a tapered end face to decrease the occurrence of a coverage failure, a defective region is left in a part of a channel below the end face of the gate electrode due to insufficient activation, resulting in deteriorating the device characteristics (FIG. 13, FIG. 14).
The inventors of the present invention have found that the gate thickness must preferably be in the range of 250 nm to 350 nm or more if the gate electrode is made of a Mo--Ta alloy.
It has been experimentally found that a coverage failure 51 tends to result in the insulator 21 on the gate 18, as shown in FIG. 12, when the gate 18 has a thickness of about 250 nm to about 350 nm and a cross section (a side view intersecting the direction of the gate length) having a vertical wall to the substrate surface. Accordingly, it is difficult to manufacture the TFT structure without the failure 51. The coverage failure 51 causes a lower yield.
To prevent the problem of coverage failure, the gate 18 is formed to have a tapered wall as shown in FIG. 13. When the gate 18 has a tapered wall, the occurrence of coverage failure is reduced. However, forming a gate having a tapered wall includes other disadvantages as described below.
The gate 18 functions as the mask to implant the dopant to the source and the drain regions 13, 14. When the gate electrode has a tapered end face, as shown in FIG. 14, the dopant is also implanted to a part 52 in the channel 12 below the edge of the gate 18 corresponding to the taper shape.
When the glass substrate is used in the low temperature process, heat annealing at 600.degree. C. or higher cannot be adopted because the glass substrate cannot resist the heat anneal step. Therefore, an energy beam annealing method, such as the ELA, is used in the activating step of the low temperature process. However, because the energy beam is reflected on the gate surface and does not reach the part 52 below the tapered end in which the dopant is implanted, the part 52 is left inactivated. Therefore, energy beam annealing cannot be used as an activating step in the conventional manner when the gate electrode has its end face tapered in the poly-Si TFT.
Accordingly, conventional poly-Si TFT producing processes have the following problems and corresponding disadvantages:

Method and apparatus for manufacturing polysilicon thin film transistor


A method for estimating a risk profile of a user of a personal digital assistant (PDA) includes collecting, using the PDA, data indicative of a travel pattern of the user of the PDA. The risk profile of the user of the PDA is inferred from the travel pattern. The risk profile to is output an external system, so as to enable the external system to provide to the user a commercial offer based on a risk level which is indicated by the risk profile.

Certain corporates, such as insurance companies, banks and credit card issuers, are interested in distinguishing among their clients on the basis of a risk profile attributed to each client. For example, a client whose risk profile indicates that he is a cautious driver poses a lower risk to the insurance company than a wild driver, and would therefore be entitled to lower premium fees.

Inferring user risk profile from travel patterns


A method for transporting articles (2) to a station, in particular preforms to a blow-molding apparatus, wherein each article has a protrusion (10) and is moved along a guide (16) by a drive means (18), the article (2), along at least part of the guide (16), should be retained on an abutment (19, 21, 23), and advanced along this abutment, by an air stream.

The invention relates to a method for transporting articles to a station, in particular preforms to a blow-molding apparatus, wherein each article has a protrusion and is moved by a drive means along a guide, and also to an apparatus for this purpose.
According to the current prior art, articles are conveyed to a subsequent processing device either via gravitational methods having a roller sorter and an elevated chute (WO 02/36466 A1) or are oriented by centrifugal methods on a rotating disk or ring and conveyed to the subsequent processing station by means of an actively driven conveyor section or the like (WO 2004/069700 A1, US 2008/0113055 A1, EP 1 690 813 A1).
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,322,458 B1 shows the possibility of singularizing the individual articles in chambers which are disposed on conveyor belts.
According to DE 10 2009 016 593 A1, singularizing takes place in a cell-wheel-like transfer device.
In US 2008/0142337 A1, individual preforms are placed between circulating belts, wherein two belts serve to orient the preforms and a belt located therebeneath serves for transport.
According to US 2008/0142339 A1, preforms are singularized in cavities of a transport wheel.
The closest prior art is shown by EP 1 690 813 A1, according to which preforms or similar articles pass onto a turntable and are trapped in a circumferential slot between the directing walls and the turntable.
In all of the known apparatuses and methods, as the speeds become increasingly high (30 000 to 80 000 preforms per hour and more), large fluctuations in the process speed occur, resulting in long buffer sections upstream of the subsequent processing machine, for example the blow-molding machine. Furthermore, malfunctioning or stoppage of the plant on account of wrongly oriented and/or jammed preforms occurs. Previously, attempts were made to stabilize the process, to eliminate the disruptive elements and to control/regulate this delicate and highly dynamic process by means of expensive sensors and complicated regulation means. It has been shown, in particular in all centrifugal methods, that it is particularly difficult technically to ensure that preforms which leave the disk or the ring are also correctly oriented and positioned. Furthermore, local accumulations of preforms occur in the event of overfeed on the disk or ring, and these disrupt the orientation of the preforms thereby making the output of the disk insufficient. If the overfeed lasts too long, this often results in overfilling of the disk or ring and finally in the failure of the system.
It has furthermore been shown that at conveying rates above about 60 000 preforms per hour, the reactivity/reaction rate of these regulation mechanisms and the inertia of the system become critical. A further problem is that of removing a homogeneously fed quantity of preforms from a storage container which contains the preforms as bulk material and supplying this quantity to the following system. Freshly unpackaged preforms have high mutual adhesion and this can result in the formation of clusters and accumulation of preforms. Consequently, such feeding and supply systems usually convey the preforms in a highly discontinuous manner in pulses and clusters.
A further problem is that the blow-molding process for PET bottle production sometimes forces the immediate stoppage of the preform supply to the stretch blow-molding machine on account of faults. The stretch blow-molding machine continues to operate at full speed (desired value) but without blow-molding bottles (no-load operation). After the fault has been eliminated, the process is immediately resumed at the desired value without a start-up ramp. At high conveying rates, the inertia of the supply system often causes difficulties such that long buffer sections are again required in order to compensate said difficulties. As the conveying rates become increasingly high (60 000 preforms per hour and more), this can virtually no longer be achieved reliably.
The object of the present invention is to remedy the abovementioned disadvantages and to develop a method and an apparatus of the abovementioned type, which is distinguished by very high efficiency and simplicity, in particular stands out on account of self-regulating behavior of the system, which are dynamically adapted, control/regulate themselves, remain continuously in operation and smooth and homogenize the flow of preforms, thereby allowing high reliability and reactivity at high conveying rates. The whole is also intended to be realizable in a cost-effective manner.

Method and apparatus for transporting articles to a station


A system including an operating speed detection apparatus, an operating speed detection apparatus and method thereof. In the example method, a received clock signal may be delayed to generate a plurality of delayed clock signals. A plurality of detection signals may be generated based on the plurality of delayed clock signals and the received clock signal. An operating speed (e.g., of a system) may be determined based at least in part on the plurality of detection signals. In an example, the example method may be performed by an operating speed detection apparatus. In another example, the example method may be performed by a system including the operating speed detection apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention are related generally to a system including an operating speed detection apparatus, an operating speed detection apparatus and method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In mobile electronic devices, lower power consumption and multi-functionality may be factors in a design process. Multi-functional mobile electronic devices may employ real-time processing (e.g., displaying video images, receiving broadcast signals, etc.), which may increase hardware requirements (e.g., memory capacity, processor speed, etc.) of the device. Semiconductor chips, which may be included in mobile electronic devices, may operate in accordance with higher-speed clock signals (e.g., for synchronous processing). Accordingly, a reliability of a semiconductor chip may be based at least in part on a reliability of internal clock signals within the semiconductor chip.
If semiconductor chip operating status information is provided indicating how circuits within a semiconductor chip may operate in response to a given clock signal, an operating speed (e.g., processor frequency) of the semiconductor chip may be increased and/or a power consumption of the semiconductor chip may be reduced by adjusting a frequency of the clock signal and/or an internal voltage via a voltage regulator.
By conventional methods, operations of semiconductor chips using a clock signal at a given frequency or speed may employ a table specifying a relationship (e.g., expressed as an equation) between a system response speed and an associated power consumption. In another example, actual data obtained through real-world tests and/or experiments may populate the table.
Semiconductor chips having equivalent functions in the same system may operate at different speeds and/or frequencies, for example due to variations in semiconductor manufacturing processes, differences in local operating temperatures, differences in operating voltages of the chips, and/or other structural and/or environmental factors.
Conventional semiconductor memory devices including a temperature sensor may control a supply power based on an operating temperature detected by a temperature sensor. However, the temperature sensor may increase both a manufacturing cost and a chip size of semiconductor memory devices.

System including an operating speed detection apparatus, an operating speed detection apparatus and method thereof


The present invention relates to novel methods and memory storage devices for generating a report that contains medical counseling information which is specific to a patient. The medical information is dependent upon the diagnostic analysis of a biological sample from the patient. A relational database management system is used that stores a plurality of diagnostic codes and archived textual and graphical information specific for each diagnostic code. By inputting a diagnostic code specific for the results of the diagnostic analysis, a report is compiled from retrieved archived textual and graphical information specific for the entered diagnostic code. The archived information provides counseling and descriptive information useful for the patient.

The use of information processing systems in managing medical care has become increasingly important to both the patient and the physician. Computer software systems have been developed that enable for-profit health care enterprises to deny a patient access to medical care. U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,382 to Joseph P. Tallman et alia discloses a medical network management system based upon a patient assessment program that is stored on a computer system. The patient is asked questions generated by the program which have "yes" or "no" answers. First the patient's eligibility is checked. If eligible, then a series of questions is asked, the answers to which cause a particular branched chain algorithm to be selected. Once all the questions from the branched chain algorithm are answered, the number and type of questions being dependent upon particular answers to particular questions, a pre-selected analysis of the medical care to be offered the patient, if any, is generated, including the timing, type, and level of medical care.
Databases can store enormous amounts of patient information, and thus, expand the capabilities of physicians in making decisions. One way databases have been used to aid physicians in making a diagnosis is to transform data based on prior results of other patients. U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,637 to Alan J. Eisenberg et alia discloses transforming a physiological test result by using at least one non-test variable. The transformed test data is compared to the mean and standard deviation of a database of similarly transformed data. The likelihood of a given outcome for the patient is given. Simultaneously, the database is updated with the result from the new patient.
Relational databases have added physicians getting access to medical information. A use for relational databases in managing medical care is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,144 to Christopher A. Tacklind et alia. A system for monitoring and reporting medical measurements includes a stand-alone monitor that can store data records such as measured values and time stamps. The monitor transmits the records to a remote reporting unit over a communication system. When the reports are received by the remote reporting unit, they are entered into a relational database. Chronological graphs are generated for that patient of the measured values and transmitted to the health care provider.
Relational databases have been used to perform automatically prioritized nursing diagnoses based upon incoming patient assessment data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,292 to Maria F. Hendrickson discloses a data processing system that stores relations between patient characteristics and nursing diagnoses are stored in a relational database as primary and secondary diagnoses tables. The database also stores a priority table that links a particular diagnosis from the diagnoses tables with a corresponding measure of priority. A potential diagnosis list is generated from the patient assessment data. Each diagnosis is weighted from the accompanying priority measures in the priority table. Probability measures are added together from all diagnoses stemming from the total patient assessment data for a patient if more than one relation is provided for a diagnosis.

Methods for generating patient-specific medical reports


A hydraulic valve for a cam phaser, the hydraulic valve including a housing; a hollow cylindrical piston that is axially movable in a central opening of the housing that extends along a longitudinal axis of the housing and that includes shoulders; a supply connection configured to feed a hydraulic fluid; a first operating connection; a second operating connection; a tank connection, wherein one of the first operating connection and the second operating connection is connectable with the supply connection and another of the first operating connection and the second operating connection is connectable with the tank connection as a function of an axial position of the hollow cylindrical piston, wherein the hollow cylindrical piston includes a feed channel configured to connect with the supply connection and a drain channel configured to connect with the tank connection, wherein a divider wall is configured between the supply connection and the tank connection.

Hydraulic valves for cam phasers for internal combustion engines are well known in the art. The hydraulic valve includes a piston that is axially movable in a housing of the hydraulic valve and that controls a hydraulic loading of the cam phaser. Various configurations of hydraulic valves exist. The housing is formed hollow cylindrical. The piston is also configured hollow cylindrical. The cam phaser is controlled hydraulically by positioning the flowable piston and by opening or closing connections that are provided at the housing.
The patent document DE 10 2012 106 096 B3 discloses a hydraulic valve including a flowable piston including an inlet channel for connecting with a supply connection and a drain channel for connecting with a tank connection. The inlet channel and the drain channel are separated in the piston by a divider wall that is arranged at a slant angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the piston.


A method of fabricating protective caps for protecting devices on wafer surface includes: (a) providing a non-metal cap substrate and forming a metal layer on the non-metal cap substrate; (b) forming a plurality of cavities on a surface of the metal layer, wherein the location of each cavity corresponds to each of the devices on the wafer surface; and (c) forming a protective cap in each cavity and forming a plurality of bonding media around the cavities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating protective caps, and more particularly, to a method of fabricating protective caps for protecting elements on a wafer surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, wafer level chip scale packages (WLCSP) have become one of the most popular packaging techniques. The wafer level chip scale packages are defined by having correspondingly equal or larger areas of the package structure than the area of the die. The area of the package structure is usually no larger than 25% of the die area. In general, the main difference between the wafer level chip scale package and the conventional package lies in the fact that the wafer level chip scale package first packages the wafer before the dicing process and then performs a dicing process after the packaging process to form a plurality of packaging structures. This in comparison to the conventional package wherein the wafer is diced first to form a plurality of dies and a packaging process is performed for each of the dies thereafter.
Since part of the wafer surface usually includes fragile structures, such as micro-electromechanical structures, special processes are often performed to protect the micro-electromechanical structures on the wafer surface during the packaging process of the wafer. Currently, protective caps made of metal or glass are commonly disposed on the fragile structures to protect the fragile structures from external damage. The fabrication of the protective caps can be divided into two categories. A first category and method of fabricating the protective caps involves dicing the wafer into a plurality of dies and fabricating protective caps on the surface of each die thereafter. However, this method is relatively complex and requires significantly long processing time. Hence, another wafer level package process has been introduced to fabricate the protective caps.
Please refer to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3. FIG. 1 through FIG. 3 are perspective diagrams showing a wafer level package process according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, a substrate 12 is provided, in which the surface of the substrate 12 includes a plurality of fragile structures 16, such as micro-electromechanical structures. Next, a second category and method of fabricating the protective caps involves providing a cap substrate 14, in which the surface of the cap substrate 14 includes a plurality of cavities 22, such that the cavities 22 are located corresponding to the fragile structures 16. Next, the cap substrate 14 is disposed on the substrate 12, in which the cavities 22 of the cap substrate 14 are corresponding to the fragile structures 16. Preferably, the cap substrate 14 also includes a plurality of bonding media 20 disposed on the periphery region surrounding the cavities 22, and a plurality of sealed rings 18 corresponding to the substrate 12, such that the bonding media 20 and the sealed rings 18 are utilized to bond the cap substrate 14 to the substrate 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cap substrate 14 and the substrate 12 are diced along the direction I to form a plurality of dies 30, in which the surface of each die 30 includes a protective cap 40 disposed on each of the fragile structures 16. As shown in FIG. 3, since the surface of the substrate 12 also includes a plurality of bonding pads 24 and the bonding pads 24 are covered by the protective caps 40, another dicing process must necessarily be performed along the direction II to dice the cap substrate 14 and expose the bonding pads 24 for facilitating electrical connection thereafter.
As a result, the two dicing processes utilized in the conventional packaging process will not only increase the possibility of misalignment, but also increase damage to the die resulting from pollution caused by micro-particles. Hence, if the number of dicing operations were to be reduced, damages resulted from the dicing process could be prevented and the yield of the package process could thereby be increased.

Method for fabricating protective caps for protecting elements on a wafer surface

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


A processor core is configured to execute a parent task that is described by a data structure stored in a memory. A coprocessor is configured to dispatch a child task to the at least one processor core in response to the coprocessor receiving a request from the parent task concurrently with the parent task executing on the at least one processor core. In some cases, the parent task registers the child task in a task pool and the child task is a future task that is configured to monitor a completion object and enqueue another task associated with the future task in response to detecting the completion object. The future task is configured to self-enqueue by adding a continuation future task to a continuation queue for subsequent execution in response to the future task failing to detect the completion object.

Conventional processing systems include a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU). The CPU typically hosts an operating system (OS) and handles memory management tasks such as allocating virtual memory address spaces, configuring page tables including virtual-to-physical memory address translations, managing translation lookaside buffers, memory management units, input/output memory management units, and the like. The CPU also launches kernels for execution on the GPU, e.g., by issuing draw calls. The GPU typically implements multiple compute units that allow the GPU to execute the kernel as multiple threads executing the same instructions on different data sets. The threads are grouped into workgroups that are executed concurrently or in parallel on corresponding compute units. Conventional GPUs implement bulk synchronous models of kernel execution in which data-parallel kernels are written to the GPU to be executed on the GPU. For example, the CPU can transmit an Architected Queuing Language (AQL) packet that describes the kernel using parameters including an address of the GPU code, register allocation requirements, a size of a local data store (LDS), a size of a workgroup, initial register state information, argument buffer pointers, and the like.

Hardware accelerated dynamic work creation on a graphics processing unit


A vehicle alarm comprises of a control unit (2) coupled to a message center (22) and an ultrasonic movement sensor (20). The ultrasonic movement sensor (20) is automatically activated when the vehicle ignition is switched off. If movement is not detected in the time period between switching the ignition off and the driver's door being closed, then the ultrasonic movement sensor (20) is deemed to have failed. A count of such failures is kept and when a predetermined number of such failures has occurred, a warning message is displayed on the message center (22). If movement is detected in the time period, the count is reset to zero. In this way, the alarm can automatically determine whether or not the ultrasonic movement sensor (20) is functioning correctly.

In prior systems, it has been possible for the movement sensing means to develop a fault which at least partially prevents movement being detected in the vehicle and for the driver not to know the fault has developed. In such a situation, the alarm will provide little or no protection against intrusion although no indication of this lack of protection will be given.
Such a vehicle alarm is disclosed in International Patent Application No. WO/GB93/19385.


A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor layer including a mesa structure and a peripheral surface extending around the mesa structure, the mesa structure having a plateau shape with an upper surface and a side surface; a Schottky electrode forming a Schottky junction with the upper surface; an insulating film extending from the peripheral surface, across the side surface, and onto the Schottky electrode, the insulating film having an opening formed on the Schottky electrode; and a wiring electrode electrically connected to the Schottky electrode inside the opening, the wiring electrode extending from inside of the opening, across a portion of the insulating film formed on the side surface, and onto another portion of the insulating film formed on the peripheral surface.

Technical Field
This invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same.
Related Art
A Schottky barrier diode (SBD) is a type of semiconductor device (semiconductor element) for which it is required to suppress leakage current at the reverse voltage by reducing the electric field crowding occurring at an end portion of a Schottky junction. To increase breakdown voltage, suppressing the leakage current at the reverse voltage by reducing the electric field crowding is important, particularly in semiconductor devices used as power devices.
JP08-139341A discloses a semiconductor device as a Schottky barrier diode including a Schottky electrode having a field plate structure formed on a semiconductor layer having a mesa structure. According to the technique of JP08-139341A, an insulating film formed on the mesa structure is partially removed from the upper surface of the mesa structure to form an opening in the insulating film. Then, the Schottky electrode is formed from the inside of the opening in the insulating film to extend along the periphery of the mesa structure. The semiconductor device of JP08-139341A can reduce the electric field crowding occurring at an end portion of a Schottky junction between the semiconductor layer and the Schottky electrode by using the mesa structure of the semiconductor layer and the field plate structure of the Schottky electrode.
The inventor(s) of the present invention have found that in the semiconductor device of JP08-139341A, as tightness of contact between the Schottky electrode and the insulating film reduces, so does the effect of reducing the electric field crowding from a side surface of the mesa structure. Thus, in the structure of JP08-139341A, the Schottky electrode is required to contact the insulating film tightly as well as to maintain a Schottky barrier height relative to the semiconductor layer. This causes a problem in that a material usable as the Schottky electrode must be selected from a narrow range of choices.
Further, in the semiconductor device of JP08-139341A, the Schottky electrode is formed on the semiconductor layer after the insulating film on the semiconductor layer is removed. In this regard, the inventor(s) of the present invention have also found that, even if tightness of contact between the Schottky electrode and the insulating film is ensured, reduction in the Schottky barrier height of the Schottky electrode is unavoidable depending on a material of the insulating film. This causes a problem in that in the structure of JP08-139341A, a material usable as the insulating film must be selected from a narrow range of choices.
Thus, it is desired a technique for a semiconductor device to sufficiently suppress the leakage current at the reverse voltage while allowing each of a material of a Schottky electrode and that of an insulating film to be selected from a wide range of choices. It is also desired a technique for a semiconductor device to achieve cost reduction, a higher level of fineness, ease of manufacture, resource saving, enhancement of usability, enhancement of durability, and the like.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


Method and apparatus are disclosed for mobile device tethering for a remote parking assist system of a vehicle. An example vehicle includes first and second wireless modules and a processor. The processor estimates a region of probability representative of possible locations of a mobile device based on a first signal strength indicator. When the region of probability overlaps a virtual boundary, the processor polls a key fob, estimates a distance of the key fob from the vehicle based on a second signal strength indicator, and when the key fob is within the virtual boundary, enable autonomous parking.

A remote parking assist (RePA) system is designed to autonomously park a vehicle. The RePA system may be used when an operator of the vehicle is sitting in the driver's seat and not grasping the steering wheel. Often, the RePA system is used when the operator is outside the vehicle. The operator triggers the RePA system to park or un-park a vehicle into or out of a parking space using a mobile device wirelessly communicating with the vehicle. Governments are developing regulations to require that control of RePA with the mobile device shall only be allowed when the remote device is within a certain distance of the vehicle. For example, the proposed European regulation requires the mobile device to be within 6 meters of the nearest point of the motor vehicle (see Economic Commission for Europe, Regulation No. 79) in order for the vehicle to autonomously park. However, it is difficult to accurately measure a distance of 6 m from the nearest point of the vehicle with the wireless technologies commonly available on commercial mobile devices. For example, civilian frequencies for global positioning system (GPS) receivers have a 4 meter root mean squared (RMS) horizontal accuracy. As a consequence, comparing the GPS coordinates of the mobile device and the GPS coordinates of the vehicle is not accurate enough to meet the governmental requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile device tethering for a remote parking assist system of a vehicle


A process is disclosed for lowering nitrogen oxide levels in combustion engine exhaust gas by a reduction catalyst and by controlling the exhaust gas temperature upstream from the catalyst to a constant value, at which the catalyst exhibits maximum conversion for nitrogen oxides. It is possible to maintain maximum conversion over a wide range of engine outlet temperatures of the exhaust gas.

The present invention relates to a process for lowering nitrogen oxide levels in combustion engine exhaust gas by catalytic reduction on a reduction catalyst using the hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide also present in the exhaust gas as reducing agents to yield nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide.
During normal operation, the exhaust gas from diesel engines and Otto cycle engines operated with a lean mixture (known as lean-burn engines) contains a high proportion of 3 to 10 vol. % of oxygen in addition to uncombusted hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Due to the super stoichiometric oxygen content of the exhaust gas, it is not possible to convert all three pollutants simultaneously using the three-way method conventional for Otto cycle engines. Otto cycle engines, also known as gasoline internal combustion engine, are usually operated with air ratios, .lambda., of around 1, while diesel engines and lean-burn engines work at air ratios of approximately 1.2 and above. The air ratio, .lambda., is the air/fuel ratio standardized for stoichiometric operation (kilogram air/kilogram fuel).
The uncombusted hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in diesel exhaust and the exhaust from lean-burn engines may relatively readily be converted by oxidation catalysts. In contrast, special reduction catalysts must be used to convert the nitrogen oxides. Such catalysts are described, for example, in "Design Aspects of Lean NO.sub.x -Catalysts for Gasoline and Diesel Engine Applications" by Leyrer et al. in SAE-Paper no. 95 2485, 1995 and in "Catalytic reduction of NO.sub.x with hydrocarbons under lean diesel exhaust gas conditions" by Engler et al. in SAE-Paper no. 930735, 1993. Zeolite-based catalysts, which may be exchanged with various catalytically active metals (for example copper or platinum), are used.
These so-called DENOX catalysts reduce the nitrogen oxides while simultaneously oxidizing hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. The conversion rates for the individual pollutant components are highly dependent upon exhaust gas temperature. As exhaust gas temperature rises, oxidation of the hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide begins first and, within a temperature range from 150 to 175.degree. C., reaches oxidation rates of above 90%. As temperature rises further, hydrocarbon conversion remains constant. The exhaust gas temperature at which a conversion rate of 50% is achieved for a particular pollutant is known as the light off temperature for this pollutant.
The conversion rate for nitrogen oxides follows the hydrocarbon conversion rate. However, it does not rise uniformly, instead passing through a maximum at temperatures at which hydrocarbon oxidation has virtually achieved its maximum value and then falling back virtually to zero as temperature increases further. Optimum conversion rates for nitrogen oxides are thus achieved only within a narrow temperature window.
The conversion curves for the individual pollutants are highly dependent upon the formulation of the particular catalyst. This also applies to nitrogen oxides: the position and size of the temperature window and the maximum conversion rate achievable within this window are dependent upon the catalyst formulation. So-called low-temperature catalysts are known which achieve maximum nitrogen oxide conversion at temperatures of between 200 and 250.degree. C. In the case of high-temperature catalysts, maximum nitrogen oxide conversion is above 300.degree. C.
The great temperature dependence of nitrogen oxide conversion rates is a major problem for the purification of diesel exhaust gases as the engine outlet temperature of the exhaust gases in operating diesel vehicles may vary between approximately 150 and 500.degree. C. depending upon driving conditions. Elevated conversion rates are thus achieved only during short phases of operation during which the exhaust gas temperature is within the optimum range for the catalyst used.
A further problem in this connection is also the trend in modern catalyst development to develop catalysts with ever lower light off temperatures. In these catalysts, the window for maximum conversion of nitrogen oxides is, of course, also shifted towards lower temperatures, such that virtually no nitrogen oxides are converted at higher exhaust gas temperatures.
In order to ensure nitrogen oxide conversion over a wider temperature range, it has already been attempted to combine low-temperature and high-temperature catalysts or to inject additional hydrocarbons as a reducing agent into the exhaust gas stream shortly upstream from the catalyst.
An object of the present invention is to avoid the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior known methods of exhaust gas purification.
A further object of the present invention is to attain elevated conversion of the nitrogen oxides even at temperatures above the maximum nitrogen oxide conversion of the catalyst used.

Process for lowering nitrogen oxide levels in combustion engine exhaust gas


An electronic device of the present invention has a secondary battery as a power source, and has a first interface arranged in one surface of the electronic device that includes a first communicating section which performs data communication with a first external device by near field communication and a power receiving section which is capable of receiving electric power from the first external device without being in direct contact and charging the secondary battery, and a second interface arranged in another surface of the electronic device that includes a second communicating section which performs data communication with a second external device by near field communication and a power transmitting section which is capable of transmitting electric power received from the secondary battery to the second external device without being in direct contact, and a control section which controls the operations of the first interface and the second interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device having a secondary battery as a power source, a computer-readable storage medium, and a portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electronic devices (such as cellular phones, smartphones, handheld gaming devices, music players, tablet computers, or handy terminals) that have a secondary battery as a power source are placed on or connected to a charging device called a cradle so as to perform data communication with an external device (such as a personal computer) while the secondary battery is being charged. As a technique where data communication can be performed at the time of charging, for example, a technique is known in which near field communication and wireless charging between an electronic device and a charging system can be performed with a simple structure (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application (Kohyo—Translation of PCT application) Publication No. 2012-518338).
In the case of electronic devices dedicated for personal use, such as smartphones, electronic game machines, and music players, the user requires charging devices (cradles having a communication function) as many as the number of the electronic devices. However, in the case of handy terminals and computer tablets for business use, in many cases, one charging device (cradle) is installed for each group of a plurality of employees and shared. In this case where one charging device is shared among a plurality of persons in order to reduce the number of charging devices to be installed, if one electronic device is being charged or communicating (being used), the other electronic devices are in a charging wait state or a communication wait state until the charging or communication is completed. This problem applies not only to the case of the charging device (cradle) but to a case where a power source device (AC adaptor) is shared among a plurality of persons.

Electronic device, computer-readable storage medium, and portable terminal


A constant velocity universal joint includes an outer joint member has three track grooves extending axially in an inner circumference portion thereof with a roller guide surface extending axially on each side of the respective track grooves; a tripod member has three trunnions protruding in the radial direction; and a roller mechanism is mounted in each of the trunnions of the tripod member. The roller mechanism is capable of swinging and oscillating freely with respect to the trunnions, and has a roller guided along the roller guide surface in the direction parallel to the axis line of the outer joint member. An outer peripheral surface of the roller, which is made by ground-finishing, is in contact with the roller guide surface, and has a surface roughness of 0.35 Ra or less.

The present invention relates to a sliding type tripod constant velocity universal joint applicable to a power transmission unit in vehicles, aircrafts, vessels, and various industrial equipment. Generally, a constant velocity universal joint is a type of universal joints for connecting two shafts, a driving shaft and a driven shaft, and capable of transmitting rotational force at a constant velocity even if there is an angle between the two shafts. A sliding joint is a joint which allows relative displacement of the two shafts in the axial direction by the plunging of the joint. A tripod type joint is designed to transmit torque between two shafts by coupling a tripod member having three trunnions protruding in the radial direction to one of the shafts, while coupling an outer joint member with a hollow cylindrical shape provided with three track grooves extending in the axial direction to the other shaft, such that the trunnions of the tripod member are received in the track grooves of the outer joint member.
A tripod type constant velocity universal joint is an example of constant velocity universal joints used as means for transmitting rotational force from a vehicle engine to wheels at a constant velocity. The tripod type constant velocity universal joint is constructed to couple two shafts, a driving shaft and a driven shaft, such that rotational torque can be transmitted at a constant speed even when a working angle is formed by the two shafts, and their relative displacement in the axial direction is allowed.
In general, a tripod type constant velocity universal joint is principally constituted by an outer joint member having three track grooves formed in the inner circumference to extend in the axial direction, and roller guide surfaces extending in the axial direction on the opposite sides of each of the track grooves; a tripod member having three trunnions protruding in the radial direction; and a roller accommodated rotatably between each of the trunnions of the tripod member and the corresponding roller guide surfaces of the outer joint member. One of the two shafts is coupled to the outer joint member and the other is coupled to the tripod member.
The trunnions of the tripod member and the roller guide surfaces of the outer joint member are thus engaged with each other via the rollers in the rotational direction of the two shafts, whereby the rotational torque is transmitted from the driving shaft to the driven shaft at a constant speed. In addition, each of the rollers rolls on the roller guide surfaces while rotating with respect to the trunnion, whereby relative displacement in the axial direction and relative angular displacement between the outer joint member and the tripod member are absorbed.
One type of such a tripod type constant velocity universal joint is configured such that a roller is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of a trunnion with a plurality of needle rollers interposed therebetween. Since the roller and the roller guide surface are positioned obliquely to each other along with the inclination of the trunnion when rotational torque is transmitted with a working angle being formed between the outer joint member and the tripod member, the roller will slip with respect to the roller guide surface to inhibit the smooth rolling of the roller, posing a problem of increasing the induced thrust. Also, the frictional force between the roller and the roller guide surface will increase the sliding resistance between the outer joint member and the tripod member during their relative displacement in the axial direction.
It should be noted that the "induced thrust" refers to the thrust force that is generated by friction inside a constant velocity universal joint when torque is applied to the joint at a certain angle during rotation thereof. Typically, this rotational force occurs strongly as a tertiary component in a tripod type joint. Also, the "sliding resistance" refers to a magnitude of the axial frictional force generated when an outer joint member and a tripod member slide with respect to each other in a sliding joint such as a tripod type constant velocity universal joint.
For the purpose of solving the problem that a roller is positioned obliquely to a roller guide surface, and reducing the induced thrust and the sliding resistance, there have been proposed various types of tripod type constant velocity universal joints having a roller mechanism that allows a roller to tilt or be axially displaced freely with respect to a trunnion. One of such known tripod type constant velocity universal joints is configured such that a roller is mounted rotatably to a ring with a plurality of needle rollers interposed therebetween to constitute a roller mechanism (roller assembly) and the inner peripheral surface of the ring is formed such that the cross section is of a circular convex shape and fitted externally on the outer peripheral surface of the trunnion (see FIG. 11(A) of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-320563, for example). According to such a configuration, the slip between the cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the ring and the outer peripheral surface with a convex spherical shape of the trunnion allows the roller mechanism to tilt and be axially displaced with respect to the trunnion, and therefore the roller can be prevented from being positioned obliquely to the roller guide surface.
Additionally, the cross section of the trunnion is formed into such a shape, elliptic shape for example, that allows the trunnion to contact the inner peripheral surface of the ring in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the joint and forms a gap between the trunnion and the inner peripheral surface of the ring in the axial direction of the joint (see FIG. 1(B) of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-320563, for example). In this manner, it is possible to allow the trunnion to tilt with respect to the outer joint member without changing the attitude of the roller assembly when the joint is set with a working angle. Furthermore, since the contact ellipse between the ring and the outer peripheral surface of the trunnion transforms from an ellipse that is long sideways towards a point, the frictional moment acting to tilt the roller assembly is reduced. As a result, the attitude of the roller assembly is allowed to be always stable, and the roller is held parallel to the roller guide surface and hence is allowed to roll smoothly.
In the meantime, the induced thrust and the sliding resistance as mentioned above are responsible for vibration or noise of a vehicle body, affecting the NVH characteristics of the vehicle, and reduce the design freedom of the underbody of a vehicle. Therefore, it is desirable to minimize the induced thrust and sliding resistance as much as possible.
Specifically, in this type of tripod type constant velocity universal joint, when torque is transmitted with an angle, the mutual friction between internal components of the joint causes the induced thrust when the joint is rotating, and when not rotating, the slide resistance if the joint is forcibly extended or contracted in the axial direction. Typical the Noise Vibration Harshness (hereinafter referred to as "NVH") phenomena of a vehicle involving the induced thrust and the sliding resistance include rolling of a vehicle body during traveling, which is caused by the former, and idling vibration at the drive or D range during halting in an automatic transmission vehicle, which is caused by the latter.
For solving the NVH problems in vehicles, it is important to minimize the magnitude of induced thrust or sliding resistance of the joint. In general, the induced thrust or the sliding resistance tends to depend on the magnitude of the working angle. Therefore, when the joint is employed for a drive shaft of a vehicle, restriction is imposed on the design such that the working angle cannot be made large. In order to increase the degree of design freedom of the underbody of a vehicle, there has been problem to stabilize the induced thrust or the sliding resistance at a low level.
On the other hand, in this type of constant velocity universal joint, some wear occurs in the roller guide surface of the outer joint member after its endurance life has expired. In a constant velocity universal joint exhibiting low vibration performance, particularly, there has been a problem that, if wear occurs on the roller guide surface of the outer joint member after expiration of the endurance life, it becomes difficult to reduce the induced thrust due to such wear, and thus the NVH characteristics are deteriorated remarkably.