An ink set for ink-jet recording is formed from a yellow ink in which C. I. Direct Yellow 132 and C. I. Direct Yellow 86 are employed, a magenta ink in which a specific pyrazolylazopyridine-based (or pyrazolylazopyrazine-based) dye and another specific dye are employed, and a cyan ink in which two specific types of copper phthalocyanine-based dyes are employed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink set for ink-jet recording, comprising a yellow ink containing a yellow coloring agent, water and a water soluble organic solvent; a magenta ink containing a magenta coloring agent, water and a water soluble organic solvent; and a cyan ink containing a cyan coloring agent, water and a water soluble organic solvent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, inks employed for forming an ink-jet recorded image are required to satisfy the following ink-jet recording properties to a high degree:
(1) To provide a vivid image having excellent color developing properties.
(2) To provide excellent toughnesses properties such as light fastness, active gas (oxidizing gases such as NOx and ozone, SOx and the like) resistance, water resistance, and the like.
(3) To exhibit no problem when the inks contact various members employed in an ink-jet recording apparatus.
(4) To provide excellent storage stability, and stability of use over long time with minimal chance of clogging the nozzles of an ink head, thereby maintaining satisfactory ejection stability.
In particular, when a natural image or the like is represented by subtractive color mixing of yellow, magenta and cyan, it is highly required that the hues of yellow, magenta and cyan inks be close to the hues of standard yellow, standard magenta and standard cyan, respectively, and that each of the inks provides vivid color. It is required that a printed natural image and the like have excellent long-term storage stability such that excellent color developing properties and high optical densities can be maintained. Therefore, it is important that the inks not only have excellent light fastness and active gas resistance but also exhibit excellent hue balance. In particular, it is important that color fading properties of the yellow, magenta and cyan inks be well balanced. Hence, an ink set for ink-jet recording has been proposed in view of the above requirements (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,751).
However, in conventional technologies, an ink-jet recording ink of any of the yellow, magenta and cyan colors has a problem in that the toughnesses properties such as light fastness and active gas resistance are insufficient. Therefore, deterioration of the ink-jet recorded material may occur as a result of use of these conventional ink-jet recording inks.
It has been generally known that, among magenta dyes employed for ink-jet recording, a magenta dye providing vivid color and having a hue suitable for obtaining a wide range of colors by color mixing has a low level of light fastness and active gas resistance. Conversely, a magenta dye with excellent light fastness and active gas resistance has a hue insufficient to obtain a wide range of colors by color mixing and also has insufficient vividness. In addition to this, such a magenta dye is likely to cause problems when it contacts various members employed in an ink-jet recording apparatus, causing an impediment to long-term stable use of the ink-jet recording apparatus.
Generally, a phthalocyanine-based cyan dye employed for ink-jet recording is characterized by having light fastness superior to that of the magenta and yellow dyes but is likely to cause problems due to the solubility of the dye. For example, incomplete dissolution often occurs during manufacture of the cyan ink, causing manufacturing problems. Furthermore, insoluble materials often precipitate during storage or use of the cyan ink product, causing various problems. In particular, in the ink-jet recording described above, clogging of nozzles of an ink-jet head or ejection failure occurring due to precipitation of dye causes significant deterioration of the printed image or other problems. Furthermore, color fading due to active gases such as ozone is likely to occur, and thus a serious problem exists in that printing density is significantly decreased.


A split gate memory device, a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. In the split gate memory device, an erasing gate is further disposed, wherein the easing gate and a control gate are respectively disposed on two sides of a floating gate. Thus, an erase operation is implemented by the erasing gate instead of the control gate. Accordingly, electric potential applied to the control gate is reduced. Therefore, hot-electron effect in channel region may be avoided, and performance degradation of the memory caused by the hot-electron effect may be avoided as well. Furthermore, as electric potential applied to the control gate is reduced, a gate oxide layer underneath the control gate may be thinner. Accordingly, manufacturing processes of the control gate and the gate oxide layer and that of the gate and the gate oxide layer of a logic transistor in a periphery circuit may be compatible.

Random memory devices, such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) devices, may lose data stored therein when losing power. Accordingly, various NVM (Nonvolatile Memory) devices have been designed for solving the above mentioned deficiencies of random memory devices. Nowadays, flash memory devices, which are designed based on floating gate, have become the most commonly used NVM devices, because they normally have small cell dimensions and good working performance.
There are basically two major types of NVM devices, stack gate type and split gate type. A stack gate memory device normally includes a tunneling oxide layer formed on a substrate. A floating gate polycrystalline silicon layer is formed on the tunneling oxide layer for storing electrons. A multi-layer stack structure consisting of oxide, nitride and oxide is formed on the floating gate. And a control gate polycrystalline silicon layer is disposed on the multi-layer stack structure, which is adapted to controlling storages and releases of electrons.
Referring to FIG. 1, a split gate memory device is illustrated, which also includes a tunneling oxide layer 11, a floating gate polycrystalline silicon layer 12 for storing electrons, an ONO (oxide-nitride-oxide) stack layer 13, and a control gate polycrystalline silicon layer 14. However, compared with the stack gate memory device, the control gate polycrystalline silicon layer 14 of the split gate memory device is divided into two parts, a first part 141 and a second part 142 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The first part 141 partially covers the floating gate polycrystalline silicon layer 12 and the upper sidewall of the ONO stack layer 13. The second part 142 is located beside the lower sidewall of the stack layer 13. Further, the tunneling oxide layer 11 is located between the control gate polycrystalline silicon layer 14 and the floating gate polycrystalline silicon layer 12. The split gate NVM device further includes a substrate 10, a first oxide layer 15 located between the substrate 10 and the control gate polycrystalline silicon layer 14, and a second oxide layer 16 located between the substrate 10 and the float gate polycrystalline silicon layer 12. The first oxide layer 15 is used for isolating the substrate 10 from the control gate polycrystalline silicon layer 14, and the second oxide layer 16 is used for isolating the substrate 10 from the floating gate polycrystalline silicon layer 12. Compared with stack gate memory devices, split gate memory devices may not have technical drawbacks like excessive writing/erasing.
When writing data into and/or erasing data out from the split gate memory device, a source region and a drain region which have higher electric potentials than a power source electric potential Vcc are used for forming a hot carrier path. Thereafter, electrode carriers can pass through the oxide layer isolating the floating gate from the source region and the drain region. As a result, the electrode carriers may be implanted into the floating gate or be extracted from the floating gate.
However, in practice, the split gate flash memory devices as recited above have some disadvantages. For example, in order to implement an erase operation, a voltage applied is normally larger than 7 V (e.g. 12 V), thus hot electron effect may occur in the channel region. Therefore, after being used for some time, the split gate flash memory devices may have decreased reliabilities, i.e., performance degradation.
In addition, a periphery circuit may be configured to cooperate with the split gate flash memory device to implement some functionality. The periphery circuit is normally a logic circuit which may include logic transistors. If the split gate flash memory device and the transistors are respectively fabricated on different integrated chips, running speed of the entire memory device may be limited by a signal transmission bandwidth between the flash memory device and the periphery circuit. Accordingly, integrated semiconductor device which embeds the logic transistors into the split gate flash memory device is invented.
Referring still to FIG. 1, in the erase operation, a high voltage is applied to the control gate 14. Meanwhile, if the oxide layer 15 does not have an adequate thickness, electrodes in the substrate 10 may be dragged into the control gate 14. Therefore, the gate oxide layer 15 underneath the control gate 14 (specifically, the second part 142 of the control gate 14) is required to have a larger thickness. However, a gate oxide layer of the logic transistor in the periphery circuit is normally not so thick. As a result, when manufacturing the integrated semiconductor device recited above, integration of forming the split gate flash memory device with the thicker oxide layer 15 and forming the logic transistor with the thinner oxide layer is not easy to achieved.
Therefore, there is a need for a new split gate memory device, a new semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof.

Split gate memory device, semiconductor device and forming method thereof

Shanghai Huahong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation


In a printer for passbooks or the like, a passbook or the like, which is brought in on a transfer path, is stopped at the position of a page-turning roller, where a sheet is turned over by the operation of the page-turning roller. When a sheet is turned over by the page-turning roller, at a position separate from a start position of turning over of a sheet, a passbook or the like undergoes an initial deformation in a out-of-plane direction so that the passbook is bent in a first-order mode. By this initial deformation, a sheet can be turned over steadily. Such a turnover of the sheet can be effected in conjunction with utilizing an optical system which provides an image of the three-dimensional deformation pattern of the passbook which is processed. In accordance with this pattern a decision is made whether or not the out-of-plane deformation of the passbook is more than a specified amount. In the vicinity of the transfer path, a page-turning roller is provided and is supported rotatably. In the vicinity of the transfer path there is also provided a push guide which gives a deformation to the passbook when a sheet is turned over. Based on a frictional control of the page-turning operation, a steady turnover of the sheet can be effected regardless of buckling resistance force of the sheet to be turned over.

1. Industrial Field
This invention relates to a printer and a page turning apparatus for passbooks or the like suitable for passbook printers built in terminal apparatuses or passbook issuing machines handled by tellers of banks or other financial agencies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the banks and other financial agencies, there are installed cash dispenser, cash depositors, Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and other banking terminals that the customer uses. These machines have a passbook printer built in for entering the amounts of transactions in the passbooks.
Likewise, in banks and other financial agencies, there are passbook issuing machines used by tellers.
Generally, passbooks have double-spread pages, and if there is no column to enter the sum of transaction on a given page of the passbook, it is necessary to turn over the page to the next page. For turning over pages, there are two methods: the user previously opens a desired page and inserts the passbook into the machine; or an automatic page-turning device in the passbook printer or in the passbook issuing machine performs a page-turning operation.
As an example of prior art automatic page-turning machines of this kind for printers of passbooks or the like, there is a well-known apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,036. This apparatus has a passbook pressing member which, when turning over a page causes the pressing member to be pressed against the passbook, thereby bringing the page-turning roller into contact with the cover or an intermediate page. A frictional force is produced between the page-turning roller and the cover or the intermediate page of the passbook, and the page-turning roller is rotated clockwise to displace the uppermost sheet in the direction of the binding line of the passbook to be curved upwards to be turned over. For this page-turning operation, a sheet to be turned over is assumed to be flat, and the pressing member is controlled so that the frictional force to be produced is greater than the resistance of the uppermost sheet but is of a magnitude not to cause the other sheets under the uppermost sheet to be turned over. Each time a page is turned over, the passbook is moved into and out of the set position for paging.
The problem with the prior art apparatus is that the pressing member has to be installed to press the page-turning roller against the page of the passbook on which data is entered. Specifically, the pressing member needs to apply an optimal force between the page-turning roller and the sheet surface to such an extent as not to cause a paging error. Adjustment for setting this optimal pressing force is difficult (in other words, variation is likely to occur because of manufacturing tolerance). To meet the above requirement, the composition of the apparatus has to be complex. In addition the positioning of the pressing member in a limited space of the terminal apparatus requires greater time and labor in the manufacturing process. Thus, the production cost is higher, and an increased number of parts causes a greater difficulty in assuring the reliability of the apparatus.
In a passbook or the like, which has a complicated initial shape, a sheet of this passbook will exhibit resistance of several times to more ten times greater than the resistance of a sheet of a passbook which is flat. In this case, the sheets sometimes cannot be turned over.

Printer having page-turning apparatus for passbooks and with page-turning capability even after initial deformation of sheets to be turned


The present invention provides a light-emitting device with a reflection layer and the structure of the reflection layer. The reflection layer comprises a variety of dielectric materials. The reflection layer includes a plurality of dielectric layers. The materials of the plurality of dielectric layers have two or more types with two or more thicknesses, except for the combination of two material types and two thicknesses, for forming the reflection layer with a variety of structures. The reflection layer according to the present invention can be applied to light-emitting diodes of various types to form new light-emitting devices. Owing to its excellent reflectivity, the reflection layer can improve light-emitting efficiency of the light-emitting devices.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are light-emitting devices manufactured in semiconductor materials. The devices have two electrodes. When a voltage is applied across the terminals, a small current will flow and the recombination of electrons and holes will release excess energy in the form of stimulated light. This is the fundamental light-emitting principle of LEDs. LEDs are different from general incandescent bulbs. They are luminescent, having the advantages of low power consumption, extended lifetime, no warm-up time, and fast response time. In addition, they are small in size, vibration enduring, and suitable for mass production, and they can be manufactured into an ultra small device or arranged in a matrix form. Currently, LEDs are popular in indicators and display devices of information, communication, and consumer electronic products, and have become indispensable devices of daily lives.
In order to enhance light-emitting efficiency of LEDs, nowadays, a reflection layer is set in the structure of LEDs for reflecting the light energy emitted by the LEDs and reducing energy loss. The materials of the reflection layer according to the prior art are mostly metallic materials. However, the reflectivity of the reflection layer using the metallic materials are inferior, causing the reflected light energy be absorbed by other material layers of the LEDs without enhancing light-emitting efficiency thereof. Besides, inter-diffusion phenomenon occurs between the reflection layer and other metal layers.
To solve the problems described above, a reflection layer comprised by a metallic material and a dielectric material is developed. However, the reflection layer can only improve the inter-diffusion phenomenon between the reflection layer and other metal layers. The reflectivity thereof is not enhanced. Hence, improvements in light-emitting efficiency are still limited.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a structure of reflection layer containing no metallic materials. The reflection layer can be applied to LEDs of various types, and can improve the light-emitting efficiency of LEDs.

Light-emitting device with reflection layer and structure of the reflection layer


Subject invention is a cable lock designed such that it may be adjusted by the user to be locked tightly around an object such as a surfboard. A sleeve fitting is swaged to a length of cable such that a loop is formed at the end of cable. This loop is used to secure the cable to a rack or other stationary component. A block is used to retain the cable around the object itself. The cable passes through a hole in one end of the block, wraps around the object, and slides into a slot in the other end of the block. An end fitting swaged to the cable prevents the cable from sliding out of the slot in a parallel direction. A padlock is used to prevent the cable from sliding out of the slot in a perpendicular direction. A setscrew is used to retain the block to the cable in the desired location.

This invention is in the field of cable locking devices. It differs from typical cable locks by virtue of its adjustablity. The device may be adjusted by the user to be locked tightly around an object. This ability can be utilized to secure many objects which would be difficult or impossible to secure with unadjustable locking devices. For example, when this device is adjusted and locked tightly around a surfboard just in front of its fin(s), the device cannot be slid forward over the taper of the surfboard or backward over the fins. Because the surfboard does not typically have an opening through which to pass a locking device, it would be difficult to secure this object with an unadjustable locking device.


The present invention is an intelligent gateway which can receive multiple sensor data using sub-1G Hz frequency, analyze data, and transmit processed data to a database server. The intelligent gateway can receive data from up to 100 sensors using sub-1G Hz (433, 868 or 915 MHz) wireless frequency. The received data can be analyzed and the gateway can determine when to transmit data, and which packaged data to transmit to the database server. The intelligent gateway can also receive feedback and instructions from the database server. The process data can be transmitted to the database server with different protocols like WIFI, Ethernet and RS485. The intelligent gateway can also include multiple sensors including temperature and humidity sensors, pressure sensors, air speed sensors and a particulate matter sensor for detecting particulates of less than 2.5 micro meters (PM2.5). These sensors are collect additional indoor environmental quality parameters.

Most of the routers in the market today only receive and transmit data using a pre-defined protocol, such as WIFI, ZigBee, Bluetooth, etc. These routers do not analyze data and or determine which data to transmit. In mission critical facilities like data centers there are many metal boxes such as racks of servers that tend to block the signal transmission.

Intelligent multi-channel wireless data acquisition gateway


An electronic endoscope has a video-scope with an image sensor, a light source that emits illuminating-light to illuminate an object, an image sensor driver, a luminance detector, one rotary shutter, and a brightness adjuster. The luminance detector detects a luminance of an object image on the basis of image-pixel signals read from the image sensor. The rotary shutter has a light-transmitting portion that transmits the illuminating light, and a shield portion that blocks the illuminating light. The brightness adjuster controls the rotary shutter to adjust an irradiation-interval of the illuminating-light in accordance with a charge accumulation interval. The brightness adjuster shifts a rotation-phase of the rotary shutter by changing a rotation-speed on the basis of the detected luminance, so as to maintain a brightness of the object image at a proper brightness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic endoscope that observes an observed portion, such as a body cavity. In particular, it relates to a brightness adjustment process using a rotary shutter
2. Description of the Related Art
In an endoscope with a brightness adjustment function, an amount of illuminating-light radiated on an observed object is adjusted by using a stop, or an electronic shutter function is adjusted. In an electronic endoscope with a video-scope, a luminance of the object image is detected on the basis of image-pixel signals, which are successively read from a CCD provided in the video-scope. Then, an opening-degree of a stop or an electronic shutter speed (charge-accumulation interval) is adjusted such that the displayed object image is maintained at a proper brightness
In the case of an electronic endoscope with a rotary shutter mechanism, two rotary shutters opposite each other are arranged between a lamp and a light-guide or fiber-optic bundle; and are driven so as to rotate at a constant speed in synchronization with each other. Each rotary shutter has a light-transmitting portion that transmits illuminating-light, and a shield portion blocking the illuminating light. To adjust the brightness of the observed image, an overlapped area of the two light-transmitting portions, which allows illuminating-light to progress toward the incident surface of the light-guide, is changed by shifting a relative position of one rotary shutter relative to that of the other rotary shutter before performing the brightness adjustment process.

Electronic endoscope with brightness adjustment function


A linear motion guide system is disclosed in which a clearance between a slider and a guide rail is closed truly to clear foreign matter away from entering inside the system through any end of the slider traveling on the guide rail. Thus, the linear motion guide system is befitting to severe working environment where much foreign matter occurs. A highly-tight sealing unit is provided which is comprised of a cassette constituted with a front panel and an enclosure, a sealing plate stowed into the cassette, and a rear panel to close an open edge of the enclosure. The sealing plate is composed of an intermediate spongy medium flanked by skin layers, and lubricant is forcibly absorbed in pores or cells in the intermediate layer.

The linear motion guide systems employed in a diversity of machines including machine tools and so on are increasingly used in recent years in a way laying their guide rails bare to the working atmosphere from the view point of increasing spaces to be reserved for processing a workpiece and for installing required equipments, making the guide units themselves compact in construction, cost savings on installations, and so on. Thus, many of modern guide units are customized to have no dustproof means including a telescopic cover, bellows, and so on.
There are known linear motion guide systems with sealing means, which are disclosed in, for example the commonly assigned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H9-42284. With the prior linear motion guide system, the sealing means are installed on forward and aft ends of a slider. The sealing means are each comprised of a cassette of U-shape in transverse section, two sheets of seals installed inside the cassette, an intermediate medium held between the seals to feed lubricant, and a scraper plate secured on the outward end of the outside one of the seals. Two sheets of seals are each made U-shaped in transverse section and composed of a metal core and rubber baked on the metal core to provide lips. The interference between the seals is selected at 0.5 mm, which is somewhat larger than usual to make the dust proof performance better.
Nevertheless, the sealing means for the linear motion guide system constructed as stated earlier, because of rubber-made construction, may encounter large frictional resistance and, therefore, lubricant is indispensable to sustain durability of the sealing performance. Thus, the problem faced in the linear motion actuator recited earlier is that the control of lubricant is very tough.
A linear bearing guide system capable of wiping dusts off to keep sealing performance is known in, for example Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-351252. The prior linear bearing guide system has a self-lubricating guide member, which is composed of a lip seal of usual rubber and foamed urethane rubber component secured on the outward surface of a reinforcing plate and impregnated with lubricant. The guide member is protected against lubrication failure to help maintain the durability against frictional resistance.
The linear bearing guide system constructed as stated earlier, although but befitting to continuous application of lubricant to the lip seal, has a question of lacking in sealing performance.
A dustproof construction in the linear motion guide systems is known in, for example Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-227115, which is constructed to allow a slider moving in and out along a guide track with less frictional resistance. The prior dustproof construction is comprised of a lubricant reservoir component and a scraper component. The lubricant reservoir component includes three sheets of resilient members made of foamed polyurethane having open cells or pores and impregnated with lubricant, and spacer members of metallic plates each interposed between any two adjacent resilient members to form recesses. The scraper component is mounted on the slider in a way spaced away from the guide track with leaving a slight clearance between them. The foamed polyurethane with open pores is prepared to have physical properties of tensile strength of about 30˜50 kg/cm3, percent elongation of about 300˜500% and repulsion elasticity of about 30˜60%. The foamed polyurethane is impregnated with lubricant of 30˜50 weight %.
With the dustproof construction as recited just earlier, nevertheless, the foamed resilient members comes to absorb coolants and so on so that foreign matter such as any liquids builds up gradually in the resilient members. Thus, this poses a problem that the resilient members are insufficient to dislodge the foreign matter from the linear motion guide system.
Another linear guide bearing unit is disclosed in, for example known in, Japanese Patent Laid-Open. No. 2005-337407, which is constructed to keep foreign matter against entering inside the slider to prevent premature wear and breakage. The prior linear guide bearing unit is mounted on forward and aft ends of the slider and composed of the combination of many lubricant applicators, protectors, thin resinous sealing members, side seals of steel plate baked with rubber, and felt sealing members impregnated with grease.
With the linear guide bearing unit having a plurality of sealing members stacked one on the other as stated earlier, however, large axial space would be needed for installation of many sealing members.

Linear motion guide system with highly-tight sealing units


There is provided a multi-bit storage cell for a register file. The storage cell includes a first set of storage elements for a vector slice. Each storage element respectively corresponds to a particular one of a plurality of thread sets for the vector slice. The storage cell includes a second set of storage elements for a scalar slice. Each storage element in the second set respectively corresponds to a particular one of at least one thread set for the scalar slice. The storage cell includes at least one selection circuit for selecting, for an instruction issued by a thread, a particular one of the storage elements from any of the first set and the second set based upon the instruction being a vector instruction or a scalar instruction and based upon a corresponding set from among the pluralities of thread sets to which the thread belongs.

1. Technical Field
The present principles generally relate to register files, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for spatial register partitioning in a multi-bit cell register file. The methods and apparatus balance timing and area between register file slices for a register file supporting scalar and vector execution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern microprocessor systems derive significant efficiency from using data-parallel single instruction multiple data (SIMD) execution, particularly for data-intensive floating point computations. In addition to data-parallel SIMD computation, scalar computation is necessary for code that is not data parallel. In modern Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs), such as the Cell SPE, scalar computation can be executed from a SIMD register file.
In ISAs with legacy support, separate scalar register files are necessary. To reduce the overhead of having to support scalar and SIMD computation, it is desirable to share data paths. Turning to FIG. 1, an exemplary register architecture having two separate register files, one for storing scalar data and the other for storing vector data, thus requiring the different types of data to be stored in different (separate) register files, is indicated generally by the reference numeral 100. The exemplary architecture includes the scalar register file 110 and the vector register file 120, as noted above, as well as a multiplexer 130, and FMA units 140. This prior art approach undesirably utilizes routing resources and multiplexers (such as multiplexer 130) in order to select from multiple data sources. Moreover, this prior art approach undesirably has a higher fan-out to drive data into one of the multiple data destinations.
To reduce the chip area used for such implementations, it would be desirable to implement a single register file to store data for both the scalar and SIMD register file.
In one prior art implementation, a narrow register file is implemented, and wide architected registers are accomplished by allocating multiple scalar physical registers. However, this prior art implementation results in either low performance, when each slice is operated upon in sequence, or high area cost, when data for multiple slices are read in parallel by increasing the number of read ports.

Method and apparatus for spatial register partitioning with a multi-bit cell register file

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A preform and method for forming preforms and structural members are provided. The preform can be formed by cold spraying a structural material onto a base member, such that the preform has dimensions approximating the dimensions of the machined structural member to thereby reduce material waste and machining time when forming the structural member from the preform. In addition, the preforms can be plastically deformed to more closely correspond with the desired dimensions of the structural member. Further, hydrogen can be provided in a mixed stream of gas and structural material for spraying, and the resulting structural member can be subjected to a sub-atmospheric pressure to release hydrogen therefrom.

Hogout machining generally refers to a process of forming a structural member by removing excess material from a piece of stock material, such as a plate or block, to arrive at the desired configuration and dimensions for the member. Oftentimes when practicing hogout machining, the dimensions and configuration of the structural member are such that appreciable amounts of material must be removed. Thus, while hogout machining provides a method for forming structural members having complex configurations, hogout machining can be costly due to the relatively large amount of excess material or scrap that typically must be removed and because the machining process can be time consuming and labor intensive. Hogout machining also can cause excessive wear on the cutting machine and tools, which can result in machine downtime and/or tool breakage that in turn can adversely affect the tolerances of the finished structural member. In addition, the availability of stock sizes of material limits the overall dimensions of a structural member formed by hogout machining.
In order to reduce material waste and machining times, other methods are used for forming the stock material to be used in machining a structural member. For example, one method is machined forging, which refers to the process of machining a part from a piece of forged stock material that approximates the final configuration. When machined forging is used, the amount of machining can be reduced because the forged stock material is first hand or die forged to dimensions that more closely approximate the desired dimensions of the finished member. However, the production of forged stock material can be time consuming and labor intensive and, in the case of die forgings, can require the production of costly forging dies. Die forgings can require ultrasonic inspection, as the forging process can cause internal cracks or other defects, especially when extreme deformation of the stock material is required. Additionally, both die and hand forging can cause residual stresses in the forged stock material that can remain in the finished structural member. Residual stresses can necessitate slower cutting speeds when hogout machining and can adversely affect the material properties and tolerances of the finished structural member.
Alternatively, a near-net shape can be formed by a variety of spraying processes in which particles are mixed with a gas and sprayed onto a surface of a substrate. For example, cold spraying generally refers to a process in which the particles and the gas are maintained at a temperature below the melting point of the particles. Cold spraying, which is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,414 to Alkhimov, et al. and U.S. Application No. 2002/0168466 A1 to Tapphorn, et al., can be used to deposit the particles onto the substrate to form a coating on the substrate. However, the deposition of the particles onto the substrate can be difficult to control, and certain detailed and/or complex configurations can be difficult to form by cold spraying. Further, the gas used for cold spraying can become trapped in the deposited material, thereby affecting the ductility or other properties of the material, as can occur, for example, if nitrogen is used to deposit titanium.
Thus, there remains a need for improved methods of forming stock material or "preforms" for use in forming machined structural members. Such preforms should approximate the desired dimensions and configuration of the structural member to reduce the machining time required during machining, as well as reduce waste material. The desired dimensions and configuration of the structural member should not be limited by the sizes of available stock materials. In addition, such preforms should have negligible residual stresses so that the finished machined member will have consistent material properties and dimensional tolerances.

Sprayed preforms for forming structural members


An item handling system, comprising: at least one item preparation station for printing machine-readable symbols on items; and at least one item handling station for receiving items from the at least one item preparation station and being operable to machine read and process information contained in the symbols printed on the items; wherein: the at least one item handling station includes a messaging unit for generating messages representative of the readability of symbols read thereby and transmitting the messages to the at least one item preparation station; and the at least one item preparation station includes an indicator for providing an indication of a readability of symbols printed thereby in response to messages received from the at least one item handling station.

The present invention relates to an item handling system, in particular an item handling system for providing an indication of the readability of machine-readable symbols printed by an item preparation station, thereby enabling control of the quality of printed symbols. The present invention finds particular application as a mail handling system in handling mail items.
Mail items for which postal charges are metered by postage metering apparatus receive an imprint of a postage indicium from the postage metering apparatus to evidence that accounting has been effected in respect of the postal charge for the mail item.
Traditionally, postage metering apparatus have been arranged to print a relatively simple form of indicium comprising a graphic design and items of postal information. The postal information usually comprises an identification of the postage metering apparatus, an identification of the postal depot receiving the mail items from the mailer, the postal charge and the date of mailing. This relatively simple form of postage indicium enables a human visual check of mail items to determine that postal charges have been accounted for by the postage metering apparatus. As these printed postage indicia are only subject to a visual check, the quality of the imprint has not to date been critical, provided that the quality of the imprint is sufficient to enable the personnel at the postal depot to determine that an imprint had been applied and read the amount of the postal charge to determine that the correct postal charge for the mail item has been applied.
With the advent of the use of digital printing techniques for printing postage indicia, and a desire to provide security against fraudulent printing of postage indicia, it is now proposed to include additional information in the postage indicia. This additional information includes cryptographic information that can be used to verify the authenticity of the printed postage indicia and enable the automation of the reading of the information in the indicia and the verification of the indicia. Accordingly, it is necessary that the quality of the imprint of the postage indicia be maintained at a sufficient level as to ensure successful machine reading of the information in the postage indicia. Mail handling authorities and operators are seeking to achieve 100% readability of postage indicia printed on mail items. However, imperfections can occur in the imprint of the postage indicia which result in the machine-reading equipment being incapable of unambiguously reading the information in the printed postage indicia on every mail item, and, moreover, these imperfections which affect the machine readability of printed postage indicia often/ would not be evident from a human visual inspection.
Various factors can affect the quality of the imprints of postage indicia, and hence the machine readability of printed postage indicia. One factor is a restricted supply of the ink used to form imprints on mail items, for example, owing to a low level of ink in an ink supply to the printer. For example, where an ink-jet printer is used in a postage metering apparatus to print the postage indicia, after substantial use of an ink-jet print cartridge, the ink supply to the ink-jet nozzles may be so depleted as to result in poor quality printing of the indicia or the ink-jet nozzles may become partially or totally blocked such that dots required to print the postage indicia are only partially formed or are wholly absent. Another factor is the improper installation of print cartridges in postage metering apparatus. With ink-jet print cartridges, this results in poor electrical connections to the print cartridges or even lack of connection to some of the electrical terminals of the print cartridges. As a result, ones of the ink-jet nozzles may not be operative. Improper installation of print cartridges can also result in misalignment of the ink-jet nozzles such that printed dots forming the postage indicia imprint are misaligned and the postage indicia imprint is distorted. Another factor is the kind of material of the mail items. The quality of the imprint is dependent upon the use of mail items, for example envelopes, formed of a material which is suited to the particular technique used in printing the postage indicia.
Whilst all of these factors are under the control of a human operator and corrective action could be taken by the operator, the printing of machine-readable symbols in printed indicia which are of a quality which is significantly lower than that desired may not be evident to the human operator from a visual inspection. Thus, a human operator would probably not be able to determine that the quality of an imprint is lower than that desired for machine readability, particularly where the quality is only marginally lower than that desired.
It is thus an aim of the present invention to provide an item handling system, an item preparation station and an item handling station which provide an indication as to the readability of printed machine-readable symbols, thereby enabling control of the quality of printed symbols.


In a high data rate communication system, a method and apparatus for improved throughput while transmitting data packets within multiple time slots. In order to avoid unnecessary retransmissions of a packet, a subscriber station sends a Stop-Repeat signal to a base station, causing the base station to cease further transmissions of the packet. In order to enable successful decoding of a packet, a subscriber station sends a Continue-Repeat signal to a base station, causing the base station to send retransmissions of the packet during time slots beyond a predetermined default number of time slots.

I. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to wireless data communication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved method and apparatus for high rate packet data transmission in a wireless communication system.
II. Description of the Related Art
A modern day communication system is required to support a variety of applications. One such communication system is a code division multiple access (CDMA) system which conforms to the "TIA/EIA-95 Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System" and its progeny, hereinafter referred to as IS-95. The CDMA system allows for voice and data communications between users over a terrestrial link. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", both assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
In a CDMA system, communications between users are conducted through one or more base stations. In wireless communication systems, forward link refers to the channel through which signals travel from a base station to a subscriber station, and reverse link refers to channel through which signals travel from a subscriber station to a base station. By transmitting data on a reverse link to a base station, a first user on one subscriber station communicates with a second user on a second subscriber station. The base station receives the data from the first subscriber station and routes the data to a base station serving the second subscriber station. Depending on the location of the subscriber stations, both may be served by a single base station or multiple base stations. In any case, the base station serving the second subscriber station sends the data on the forward link. Instead of communicating with a second subscriber station, a subscriber station may also communicate with a terrestrial internet through a connection with a serving base station. In wireless communications such as those conforming to IS-95, forward link and reverse link signals are transmitted within disjoint frequency bands.
The subscriber station communicates with at least one base station during a communication. CDMA subscriber stations are capable of communicating with multiple base stations simultaneously during soft handoff. Soft handoff is the process of establishing a link with a new base station before breaking the link with the previous base station. Soft handoff minimizes the probability of dropped calls. The method and system for providing a communication with a subscriber station through more than one base station during the soft handoff process are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,261, entitled "MOBILE ASSISTED SOFT HANDOFF IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM," assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. Softer handoff is the process whereby the communication occurs over multiple sectors which are serviced by the same base station. The process of softer handoff is described in detail in copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,876, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING HANDOFF BETWEEN SECTORS OF A COMMON BASE STATION", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein
Given the growing demand for wireless data applications, the need for very efficient wireless data communication systems has become increasingly significant. The IS-95 standard is capable of transmitting traffic data and voice data over the forward and reverse links. A method for transmitting traffic data in code channel frames of fixed size is described in detail in U.S. Patent No. 5,504,773, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. In accordance with the IS-95 standard, the traffic data or voice data is partitioned into code channel frames that are 20 milliseconds wide with data rates as high as 14.4 Kbps.
A significant difference between voice services and data services is the fact that the former imposes stringent and fixed delay requirements. Typically, the overall one-way delay of speech frames must be less than 100 milliseconds. In contrast, the data delay can become a variable parameter used to optimize the efficiency of the data communication system. Specifically, more efficient error correcting coding techniques which require significantly larger delays than those that can be tolerated by voice services can be utilized. An exemplary efficient coding scheme for data is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,462, entitled "SOFT DECISION OUTPUT DECODER FOR DECODING CONVOLUTIONALLY ENCODED CODEWORDS", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
Another significant difference between voice services and data services is that the former requires a fixed and common grade of service (GOS) for all users. Typically, for digital systems providing voice services, this translates into a fixed and equal transmission rate for all users and a maximum tolerable value for the error rates of the speech frames. In contrast, for data services, the GOS can be different from user to user and can be a parameter optimized to increase the overall efficiency of the data communication system. The GOS of a data communication system is typically defined as the total delay incurred in the transfer of a predetermined amount of data, hereinafter referred to as a data packet.
Yet another significant difference between voice services and data services is that the former requires a reliable communication link which, in the exemplary CDMA communication system, is provided by soft handoff. Soft handoff results in redundant transmissions from two or more base stations to improve reliability. However, this additional reliability is not required for data transmission because the data packets received in error can be retransmitted. For data services, the transmit power used to support soft handoff can be more efficiently used for transmitting additional data.
Transmission delay required to transfer a data packet and the average throughput rate are two attributes used to define the quality and effectiveness of a data communication system. Transmission delay does not have the same impact in data communication as it does for voice communication, but it is an important metric for measuring the quality of the data communication system. The average throughput rate is a measure of the efficiency of the data transmission capability of the communication system. There is a need in the art for communication systems that provide improved data throughput while simultaneously providing a GOS that is appropriate for wireless packet data services.

Method and apparatus for adaptive transmission control in a high data rate communication system


The invention pertains to a prepolymer composition comprising a mixture of monomers, oligomers, and polymers obtainable by polymerization of unsaturated monomers consisting of at least one of biscitraconimide, bisitaconimide, and citraconimido-itaconimide, and optionally (co)curable compound selected from bismaleimides, citraconamidomaieimides, and itaconamido maleimides, wherein 5-55 wt. % is monomer, 20-80 wt. % is oligomer having a molecular weight 300 to 3,000, and 10-50 wt. % is polymer having a molecular weight 3,000 to about 80,000, whereas the total content of monomers, oligomers, and polymers in the composition is at least 90 wt. %. The prepolymer can be used for making laminates and prepregs by curing the composition to a polymer.

In "The Synthesis of Bisitaconamic Acids and Isomeric Bisimide Monomers," Galanti, A. V. et al., Journ. Poly. Sci.: Polymer Chemistry Edition, Vol. 20, pp. 233-239 (1982) a method is disclosed for the preparation of biscitraconimides in the form of an isomeric mixture of the citraconic and itaconic imides.
In "The Development of Tough Bismaleimide Resins," Stenzenberger, H. D., et al., 31st International SAMPE Symposium, Vol 31, pp. 920-932 (1986) it is disclosed that bismaleimides are prime candidates for carbon fiber reinforced composites because of their properties. However, the article also points out that these materials tend to be brittle. Thus, several attempts have been made to improve the fracture toughness of the polymerized bismaleimides.
In "Bismaleimide Resins the Properties and Processing of 'Compimide' BMI Resins," Segal, C. L., et al., 17th Nat. SAMPE Conference 17, pp. 147-160 (1985) formulated bismaleimides are cured with the anionic catalysts DABCO and 2-methylimidazole. It was concluded that, in general, the curing of formulated bismaleimides improved the fracture toughness of the materials due to lower built-in cure stresses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,733 issued on Feb. 4, 1986, relates to mixed aromatic bismaleimide/aromatic biscitraconimide resins which produce materials which have better handling, processing and thermal properties than materials with individual resins. These resins are thermally cured without a curing catalyst. However, the incorporation of the biscitraconimide into the bismaleimide generally produced a significant reduction in the elongation percent.
In EP 0407661 curable bisimide compositions are disclosed containing at least one biscitraconimide unit wherein the composition comprises an amount of an anionic curing catalyst to convert groups on the biscitraconimide units to alkylene bridges in the cured composition. In example 8 of this patent application a method is described for making a composition of biscitraconimide oligomers by radical polymerization. A mixture of n-hexamethylenebiscitraconimide, styrene, and dicumyl peroxide was polymerized and the composition thus obtained was used for the preparation of prepregs. It was, however, found that the viscosity of this composition was by far too low, so that it could not be used in commercial scale prepregging and laminating processes. Moreover, the reactivity of this prepolymer was low so that the gel time needed for the final curing process could not be reached.
Generally, the commercially used bismaleimide resins are all based on co-oligomers made from almost stoichiometric amounts of bismaleimides and co-monomers such as diamines, diallyl compounds, and require difficult processing conditions. In addition, the maleimide polymers are often brittle due to the high cross-link density obtained in the network polymers, whereas the maleimide oligomer of EP 0407661 has low flowing ability when applied onto fabric. The foregoing body of prior art reflects the need for bisimide resin systems which are easily processable, are made from almost solely a biscitraconimide monomer, and have lower cost.

Compositions comprising biscitraconimide, bisitaconimide, and/or citraconimido-itaconimide


Methods and apparatus for preventing collisions between drones based on drone-to-drone acoustic communications are disclosed. A control system of a first drone includes a route manager to command the first drone to track a first route. The control system further includes a plurality of acoustic sensors arranged on the first drone to detect acoustic signals. The control system further includes a collision prevention engine to determine a second route based on acoustic signals detected by the acoustic sensors, the acoustic signals being received from a second drone while the first drone is tracking the first route. The second route differs from the first route to prevent a drone-to-drone collision between the first drone and the second drone. The collision prevention engine is to cause the route manager to command the first drone to track the second route instead of the first route.

Multiple drones (e.g., a swarm of drones) may simultaneously travel (e.g., according to respective programmed routes) through and/or within a common airspace. Congestion (e.g., lack of adequate spacing) between and/or among the drones traveling through and/or within the airspace may result in a collision between two or more of the drones. A drone-to-drone collision within an airspace presents safety risks not only to the drones involved in the collision, but also to objects (e.g., other drones, vehicles, buildings, etc.) and individuals (e.g., humans) located within, below, and/or proximate to the airspace at the time of the collision.
Certain examples are shown in the above-identified figures and described in detail below. In describing these examples, identical reference numbers are used to identify the same or similar elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic for clarity and/or conciseness.


A system and method for online reinforcement learning is provided. In particular, a method for performing the explore-vs.-exploit tradeoff is provided. Although the method is heuristic, it can be applied in a principled manner while simultaneously learning the parameters and/or structure of the model (e.g., Bayesian network model).

Influence diagrams can be employed to facilitate decision making. These models can be constructed by an expert (typically with the aid of a decision analyst) and/or learned from data. Generally, supervised learning techniques for "ordinary" Bayesian networks apply easily (e.g., with little modification) to learn the structure and parameters of an influence diagram. If an influence diagram is going to be used repeatedly to make decisions, it is desirable to use resulting observed data to improve the model over time.
Reinforcement learning deals with learning how to act in an environment. One of the central problems in reinforcement learning is deciding when to explore and when to exploit. In particular, given a current state of an environment and given a model about the expected (short-term) reward for performing each action in that state, the system can "exploit" by performing the action that has the highest expected reward. On the other hand, because the model may be uncertain about the environment, the system can instead choose to perform a sub-optimal short-term action in order to gain information and improve the model for the long term ("explore").

Thompson strategy based online reinforcement learning system for action selection

Abstract: The system includes a model which receives an input (e.g., from a user) and provides a probability distribution associated with uncertainty regarding parameters of the model to a decision engine. The decision engine can determine whether to exploit the information known to it or to explore to obtain additional information based, at least in part, upon the explore-vs.-exploit tradeoff (e.g., Thompson strategy). A reinforcement learning component can obtain additional information (e.g., feedback from a user) and update parameter(s) and/or the structure of the model. The system can be employed in scenarios in which an influence diagram is used to make repeated decisions and maximization of long-term expected utility is desired.


An integrated circuit includes an intellectual property (IP) block including a plurality of standard cells. A first power gating cell supplies power to the IP block via a first power rail extending in a first horizontal direction. A first conductive line extends in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction in a first metal layer. A second power gating cell is arranged adjacent to the first power gating cell in the second horizontal direction to supply power to the IP block via a second power rail extending in the first horizontal direction. A second conductive line extends in the second horizontal direction in the first metal layer. The first conductive line is coupled with the second conductive line in the second horizontal direction.

The disclosure relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly, to an integrated circuit including a superpower gating cell, and a method of fabricating the integrated circuit.
As semiconductor processes are miniaturized, the widths of conductive lines (or metal lines) included in an integrated circuit decrease. As intervals between the conductive lines decrease, the resistance of each conductive line and the capacitance between conductive lines may increase. In other words, as semiconductor processes are miniaturized, resistances and capacitances of conductive lines increase. Accordingly, a signal transition of an integrated circuit may be delayed, and power consumption of the integrated circuit increases, leading to a reduction in the performance of the entire integrated circuit.

Superpower gating cell and integrated circuit including the same


Solid state lighting (SSL) devices and methods of manufacturing such devices. One embodiment of an SSL device comprises a support and an emitter array having a plurality of SSL emitters carried by the support. The emitter array has a central region and a peripheral region outward from the central region. Individual SSL emitters in both the central and the peripheral regions have a primary emission direction along which an intensity of light from the SSL emitters is highest, and the primary emission direction of the SSL emitters in the central region is at least substantially the same direction as the primary emission direction of the SSL emitters in the peripheral region. Additionally, a first coverage area ratio of the SSL emitters in the central region is different than a second coverage area ratio of the SSL emitters in the peripheral region.

Mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), electronic pads, media players, digital cameras, MP3 players, televisions, monitors, interior and exterior lights, and other electronic devices use SSL devices (e.g., white light LEDs) for illumination. However, true white light LEDs are not available because LEDs typically emit light at only one particular wavelength. For human eyes to perceive the color white, a mixture of wavelengths is needed.
One conventional technique for emulating white light with LEDs includes depositing a converter material (e.g., a phosphor) on an LED. For example, FIG. 1A shows a conventional SSL device 10 that includes a support 2, an LED 4 attached to the support 2, and a converter material 6 on the LED 4. The LED 4 can include one or more light emitting components. For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, the LED 4 can include a silicon substrate 12, an N-type gallium nitride (GaN) material 14, an indium gallium nitride (InGaN) material 16 (and/or GaN multiple quantum wells), and a P-type GaN material 18 on one another in series. The LED 4 can be a lateral-type device that includes a first contact 20 on the P-type GaN material 18 and a second contact 22 on the N-type GaN material 14 spaced laterally apart from the first contact 20. Referring to both FIGS. 1A and 1B, the LED 4 emits blue light that stimulates the converter material 6 to emit light at a desired frequency (e.g., yellow light). The combination of the emissions from the LED 4 and the converter material 6 appears white to human eyes if the wavelengths of the emissions are matched appropriately.
FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a conventional multi-LED device having a support 52, a plurality of LEDs 4 attached to the support 52, and a converter material 56 over the support 52 and the LEDs 4. The multi-LED device 50 also has a single lens 58 over the LEDs 4. All of the LEDs 4 are commonly connected to a common anode and cathode such that all of the LEDs 4 operate together. FIG. 2B is a top plan view of a common pattern for the LEDs 4 in conventional multi-LED devices. For example, conventional multi-LED devices typically have a two-dimensional grid of identical LEDs in which adjacent LEDs are spaced apart from each other by a constant distance throughout the entire array.
One drawback of the conventional multi-LED device 50 with a uniform LED distribution is that the intensity of light is greater at the center of the array than at the edge of the device. Such a non-uniform intensity distribution reduces the quality for backlighting and other applications because it creates dark spots around the edge of the array. For example, the light output intensity is substantially less at the corners of the multi-LED device 50 than at the center. To reduce the non-uniformity of conventional multi-LED devices, several manufacturers provide a diffusion film that diffuses light at the center of the LED array. Such diffusion films accordingly reduce the intensity of the light at the center of LED array, but this is undesirable because it reduces the overall light output and efficiency of multi-LED devices.

Solid state lighting device with different illumination parameters at different regions of an emitter array


In order to realize cost reduction in a gear pump apparatus by reducing form accuracy of a gear while securing pump performance, a running-in coating is provided on a tooth sliding contact portion when forming a confinement area in at least one of gears of the gear pump apparatus. By this feature, the running-in coating is gradually worn away and deformed according to rotary drive of the pump, and thus it is possible to obtain an optimal gear form in meshing combinations of the gears. Further, it is possible to reduce leakage inside the pump to secure the pump performance even if the form accuracy of the gear is reduced for the sake of the cost reduction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pump apparatus to be a hydraulic source of a hydraulic power steering for realizing steering of an automobile or the like, and in particular to the pump apparatus capable of suppressing leakage inside a pump and realizing high performance, and the power steering using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As disclosed in JP-A-2005-41301, a conventional power steering gains a steering assisting force by selectively supplying oil pressure from a reversible pump apparatus driven by an electric motor to respective right and left cylinder chambers of a power cylinder. The reversible pump apparatus is an internal gear pump and realizes a bidirectional pumping action, in which a pump chamber is formed between an external gear which is rotatively driven and an internal gear which is engaged therewith, and its rotation direction is changed to change a moving direction of the pump chamber to counterchange a suction side and a discharge side so that supply of high pressure and low pressure can be appropriately changed.


A wideband multi-mode antenna having low VSWR operating characteristics. The antenna element is formed from a right-triangularly shaped piece of conductive material, which is rolled along the base dimension. Operational characteristics may be modified by spacing the antenna element from a ground plane using dielectric spacers, and the antenna element may be shorted to the ground plane.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,409 B1, entitled "Wide Bandwidth Multi-Mode Antenna" to Thomas Warnagiris, describes a tapered area small helix antenna. Its design provides a low observable omni-directional antenna, with wide bandwidth and low VSWR. Although it has various embodiments, in a simple form, it can be simply made by rolling a right-triangle shaped conductive material into a spiral.


A method for selective formation of trenches is disclosed. First, a substrate is provided. The substrate includes a first semiconductor element and a second semiconductor element. The first semiconductor element has a dopant. Second, a wet etching procedure is carried out to selectively form a pair of trenches in the substrate around the second semiconductor element, a first source/drain ion implantation is selectively carried out on the first semiconductor element, or a second source/drain ion implantation is selectively carried out on the second semiconductor element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for selective formation of trenches. In particular, the present invention relates to a method to change the etching selectivity of a substrate by dopant prior to selective formation of trenches around a semiconductor element without the protection of a mask.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, an additional mask is needed to protect the locations which should remain intact when trenches are needed to be selectively formed in some places in a substrate. FIGS. 1-3 illustrate the conventional way to form trenches at some places of a substrate. As shown in FIG. 1, first, a substrate 101 is provided. There are a P-type semiconductor element 110 and an N-type semiconductor element 120 previously formed in different regions of the substrate 101. There is also a shallow trench isolation 130 disposed between the P-type semiconductor element 110 and the N-type semiconductor element 120 to segregate the P-type semiconductor element 110 and the N-type semiconductor element 120.
Now, as shown in FIG. 2, when trenches are needed to be selectively formed in the substrate 101 around the P-type semiconductor element 110, as described earlier, a mask 140, such as a photoresist, is used to cover the corresponding region around the P-type semiconductor element 110 to keep the P-type semiconductor element 110 from the damages caused by the coming etching step. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the pre-determined etching step is performed, such as a dry etching procedure, to form the expected trenches 150 in the substrate around the N-type semiconductor element 120.
However, in order to form the mask 140 to cover the corresponding region around the P-type semiconductor element 110 to keep the P-type semiconductor element 110 from the damages of the following etching step, another new reticle must be designed. However, it is well known that it costs a lot of money to design and to make a new reticle. Accordingly, the additional reticle is a heavy cost burden to the manufacturer of the semiconductor. Besides, even though a dry etching procedure has a faster etching rate, it inevitably makes the etching procedure less easily and evenly controlled. In the light of this, people of ordinary skills in the art would understand that the current way to selectively form trenches at some places of a substrate is still possible to be improved.

Method for selective formation of trench


Methods for enhancing or stimulating hematopoiesis including the step of administering Interleukin-12 (IL-12) to yield hematopoietic recovery in a mammal in need. Preferred methods include the step of administering IL-12 as an adjuvant therapy to alleviate the hematopoietic toxicities associated with one or more treatment regimens used to combat a disease state. Other methods include administering IL-12 to ameliorate various hematopoietic deficiencies. Still other methods are directed to uses of IL-12 for in-vivo proliferation of hematopoietic repopulating cells, hematopoietic progenitor cells and hematopoietic stem cells. Other disclosed methods are directed to uses of IL-12 for bone marrow preservation or recovery.

Many disease states result from insufficient hematopoiesis generally, or insufficient hematopoiesis in one or more blood cell types or blood lineages. Still other disease states result from dysfunction in one or more lineages of the hematopoietic system, such as leukemia. Moreover, many treatments that are given to an individual to combat certain disease states, such as cancer, incidentally decrease the individual's blood supply and/or can lead to bone marrow failure. The toxic hematopoietic side effects of these treatments, therefore, decrease the likelihood of the treatment being successful, and often are the limiting effect that results in cessation of treatment.
Thus, there is a need to develop therapies that can restore hematopoiesis and alleviate hematopoietic deficiencies. Such therapies would be capable of maintaining, stimulating and/or modulating the blood supply, and also would be useful as an ancillary therapy given to decrease the toxic effects of a primary therapy, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A device (1) converts a force or a pressure into an electrical signal and has a first deformation element (10), in particular a first membrane (12), to apply the force or the pressure to the device (1) and a second deformation element (20), in particular a second membrane (22), to convert the deflection of the force or the pressure into an electrical signal. The first deformation element (10) has a first force transmitter (14), and the second deformation element (20) has a second force transmitter (24) for transmitting the force from the first deformation element (10) to the second deformation element (20). The first force transmitter (14) is rigidly connected at its end distant from the first deformation element (10) to the end of the second force transmitter (24) distant from the second deformation element (20). Both compressive forces and tensile force can be transmitted from the first deformation element (10) to the second deformation element (20) by the first and second force transmitters (14, 24). A method produces that device.

Devices of this kind are typically based on the fact that the force and/or pressure causes a deformation of a deformation element intended for this purpose. That deformation is converted into an electrical signal. For example, a cantilever beam can be provided for a measurement of pure force, while a membrane is provided for a measurement of pressure.
For certain applications, particularly in the fields of processing and food engineering, a flush-mounted sensor is advantageous, where no medium is able to collect in the otherwise customary connection channel to the deformation element of the apparatus. With such sensors, the deformation of a flush-mounted deformation element, for example a flush-mounted membrane, is usually forwarded by a non-compressible transmission medium, for example oil, to the actual pressure sensing structure with strain gauges. From a production engineering perspective, these kinds of sensors are quite complex with regard to the required oil filling step, and they suffer from further disadvantages, for example, the undesired influence of the expansion of the transfer medium on the sensor signal in the event of a temperature increase.

Device for converting a force or a pressure into an electrical signal and method for producing such a device


A reflector/imaging optical element (11; 43) which is configured in order to transmit light (P1) of at least one first wavelength, concentrate light (P1) shone through the reflector/imaging optical element (11; 43) onto a first focal point (F) and reflect light (R) of at least one second wavelength, shone from the first focal point (F) onto the reflector/imaging optical element (11; 43), onto a second focal point (F′) of the reflector/imaging optical element (11; 43).

Image projectors in which light of a plurality of laser diodes of the same type is concentrated by means of a lens system onto a color wheel, or phosphor wheel, are known. The color wheel typically comprises a luminescent material region which wavelength-converts the primary laser light incident on it. The converted light is then collected by means of a lens system and, with the aid of dichroic mirrors, superimposed optionally with light of a different color, and finally concentrated onto a light mixer. Owing to the size of the components required and the large number of components, efficiency is relatively low.


An RF system includes an RF signal source and a single-ended or double-ended impedance matching network. Non-linear devices, such as gas discharge tubes, are coupled in parallel with components of the impedance matching network. The non-linear devices are insulating below a breakdown voltage and conductive above the breakdown voltage. The system also includes measurement circuitry configured to measure one or more parameters that reflect changes in the impedance of the impedance matching network. A system controller modifies operation of the system when a rate of change of any of the monitored parameter(s) exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Various types of conventional radio frequency (RF) systems that can produce high RF voltages have the potential for arcing within a load coupled to or contained within the system, and within the system itself. In such conventional RF systems, arcing may occur at high voltage nodes or points within the device circuitry, which may result in potentially irreversible damage to circuit components or to grounded structures. This arcing may be sustained over an extended period of time, which may result in poor system performance. Additionally, sustained electrical arcing may damage circuit components and present additional problems. In some cases, such arcing has the potential to cause permanent impairment of system functionality. What are needed are apparatus and methods for detecting conditions that may lead to electrical arcing occurring in an RF system or apparatus, and for taking proactive measures to prevent arcing between, across or through system components.

RF apparatus with arc prevention using non-linear devices


A digital reception apparatus includes a receiver that performs reception processing on a received signal and an adjuster that adjusts the amplitude of the received signal after the reception processing. A distortion estimator estimates a non-linear distortion of the received signal after the reception processing, the non-linear distortion being caused by the reception processing. A distortion corrector performs a distortion correction on the estimated non-linear distortion. A controller controls the adjuster based on a gain control signal such that the amplitude of a desired signal contained in the received signal after the reception processing and the distortion correction approaches a required level. The distortion estimator estimates the non-linear distortion of the received signal with reference to the gain control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reception apparatus used in a digital communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a reception apparatus used in a digital communication (hereinafter referred to as "digital reception apparatus"), on the assumption that the linearity is maintained in the reception processing on received signals, the demodulation processing has been executed on the received signals subjected to the reception processing. When the linearity is not maintained in the reception processing on received signals, characteristics of demodulated signals deteriorate which are obtained by performing the demodulation processing on the reception-processing processed received signals.
For example, a case is assumed that in the demodulation processing on the reception-processing processed received signals, unnecessary frequency signal components are divided from the reception-processing processed received signals to obtain only necessary frequency signal components. In this case, when the linearity is not maintained in the reception processing on received signals, it is difficult to divide the unnecessary frequency signal components from the reception-processing processed received signals, and also, even necessary frequency signal components are sometimes removed from the reception-processing processed received signals. The characteristics of the demodulated signals obtained by the demodulation processing thereby deteriorate.
Accordingly, the conventional digital reception apparatus is designed to highly maintain the linearity in the reception processing to the received signals.
Meanwhile, recent digital communications require communications for fast transmitting a large amount of information. In order to satisfy such a requirement, the quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or the like is applied as a modulation scheme, and/or the spread spectrum system in which a plurality of channels are multiplexed in a communication band and/or the OFDM (orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system is used as a communication system.
However, when QAM or the like is applied as a modulation scheme, and/or the spread spectrum system and/or the OFDM system is used as a communication system, a signal amount per communication band is increased. Therefore, the power/amplitude of received signals is increased, which causes a problem that it becomes very difficult to maintain the linearity in the reception processing to the received signals. As a result, the characteristics of the demodulated signals obtained by the demodulation processing deteriorate.
Therefore, in the recent case where the communication system is applied that increases the signal amount per communication band, a technique has been quite desired that highly maintains the linearity in the reception processing in the digital reception apparatus.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A seal for an exhaust duct includes a metal mesh member sandwiched between an outer plate and an inner plate. The seal includes a plurality of flexible members defined by a plurality of slots in both the inner and outer plates. The flexible members provide for expansion and contraction along with creating flexibility in the region of contact between the seal land and the seal. The metal mesh member substantially eliminates gaps and leak paths created through the slots. The metal mesh member is composed of a plurality of interwoven wire strands impregnated with a high temperature elastomeric sealant. The impregnation of high temperature elastomeric sealant over the metal mesh member improves sealing while maintaining the desired flexibility of the seal.

This invention generally relates to a seal between a fixed member and a movable member. More particularly, this invention relates to a finger seal for an exhaust duct assembly.
A gas turbine engine typically includes an exhaust duct for directing exhaust gases. Many exhaust duct assemblies include a movable portion for selectively directing the exhaust gases. Such exhaust duct assemblies includes a fixed portion and a movable portion. A seal is required between the fixed and movable portions to prevent intrusion of exhaust gases through the exhaust nozzle assembly at the interface between the fixed and movable portions.
The seal is typically provided with a plurality of fingers that are formed by a corresponding plurality of slots. The slots and finger configuration provide for flexing and expansion of the movable member relative to the fixed portion. Disadvantageously, the slots create leak paths through which exhaust gases can intrude. Known seals utilize staggered slot configurations to prevent leakage. Such staggered slots are of limited success as leak paths may still form. A known seal includes a cloth between inner and outer sheets that covers the slots. The cloth is fabricated from a temperature resistant material such as Nextel hi-temp ceramic fabric. Disadvantageously, cloth degrades and frays over time. Further the use of cloth complicates manufacture and assembly.
Accordingly it is desirable to design and develop an improved seal for an exhaust nozzle for sealing between a fixed portion and a movable portion that improves manufacturability and durability.


An electrically conductive rubber composition which can be efficiently and sufficiently foamed and crosslinked by means of a continuous crosslinking apparatus including a microwave crosslinking device and a hot air crosslinking device without generation of ammonia and carbon monoxide. The electrically conductive rubber composition comprises a rubber component, a crosslinking component for crosslinking the rubber component, and a foaming component including sodium hydrogen carbonate and citric acid.

In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, an electrostatic copying machine, a plain paper facsimile machine or a printer-copier-facsimile multifunction machine, for example, an image is generally formed on a surface of a sheet (the term "sheet" is herein defined to include a paper sheet, a plastic film such as an OHP film and the like, and this definition is effective in the following description) through the following process steps.
First, a surface of a photoreceptor body having photoconductivity is evenly electrically charged and, in this state, exposed to light, whereby an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image to be formed on the surface of the sheet is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor body (charging step and exposing step).
Then, a toner (minute color particles) preliminarily electrically charged at a predetermined potential is brought into contact with the surface of the photoreceptor body. Thus, the toner selectively adheres to the surface of the photoreceptor body according to the potential pattern of the electrostatic latent image, whereby the electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image (developing step).
Subsequently, the toner image is transferred onto the surface of the sheet (transfer step), and fixed to the surface of the sheet (fixing step). Thus, the image is formed on the surface of the sheet.
In the transfer step, the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor body may be directly transferred to the surface of the sheet, or may be once transferred to a surface of an image carrier (first transfer step) and then transferred to the surface of the sheet (second transfer step).
A transfer roller formed from an electrically conductive rubber composition and having a predetermined roller resistance is used for transferring the toner image from the surface of the photoreceptor body to the surface of the sheet in the transfer step, for transferring the toner image from the surface of the photoreceptor body to the surface of the image carrier in the first transfer step, or for transferring the toner image from the surface of the image carrier to the surface of the sheet in the second transfer step.
In the transfer step for the direct transfer, for example, a predetermined transfer voltage is applied between the photoreceptor body and the transfer roller kept in press contact with each other with a predetermined pressing force and, in this state, the sheet is passed between the photoreceptor body and the transfer roller, whereby the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor body is transferred to the surface of the sheet.
Lately, transfer rollers to be incorporated in general-purpose laser printers and the like particularly for use in developing countries tend to be required to have a simplified construction so as to be produced at lower costs possibly by using versatile materials.
To meet the requirement, transfer rollers having a porous structure are widely used. The porous structure requires a reduced amount of a material to reduce material costs, and has a reduced weight to reduce transportation costs. The porous structure imparts the transfer roller with proper flexibility even if a plasticizer is not blended or blended in a reduced amount in the material.
For production of the transfer roller of the porous structure, it is preferred to employ the following continuous production method, for example, in order to improve the productivity of the transfer roller to further reduce the production costs of the transfer roller.
That is, the transfer roller can be continuously produced at higher productivity by extruding an electrically conductive rubber composition into an elongated tubular body by means of an extruder, continuously feeding out the extruded tubular body in the elongated state without cutting the tubular body to pass the tubular body through a continuous crosslinking apparatus including a microwave crosslinking device and a hot air crosslinking device for continuous foaming and crosslinking, and then cutting the resulting tubular body to a predetermined length.
It is preferred to use an expensive ion conductive rubber such as an epichlorohydrin rubber in combination with a crosslinkable rubber as a rubber component for the electrically conductive rubber composition in order to reduce the material costs and further reduce the production costs of the transfer roller.
A typical example of the crosslinkable rubber is an acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR). In order to further reduce the production costs of the transfer roller to meet the aforementioned requirement, it is more preferred to use a styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and an ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) in combination as the crosslinkable rubber.
The combinational use of the SBR and the EPDM makes it possible to impart the transfer roller with proper ozone resistance while further reducing the material costs.
That is, it is possible to reduce the proportion of the expensive ion conductive rubber required for the production of the transfer roller having a comparable roller resistance. In addition, the SBR is more versatile and less costly than the NBR, so that the material costs can be further reduced.
However, the SBR is insufficient in resistance to ozone to be generated inside the laser printer or the like, i.e., has poorer ozone resistance. Therefore, the SBR is used in combination with the EPDM.
The EPDM per se does not only have excellent ozone resistance, but also serves to suppress degradation of the SBR due to ozone. This improves the ozone resistance of the transfer roller.
An azodicarbonamide (H2NOCN═NCONH2, ADCA) forming agent and an urea foaming assisting agent are typically used in combination as a foaming component.
However, ADCA is decomposed through molecular vibration heating by irradiation with microwaves to produce cyanic acid, isocyanic acid, cyamelide, cyanuric acid and isocyanuric acid and the like as decomposition residue.
Urea is also decomposed through molecular vibration heating by irradiation with microwaves to produce cyanic acid and the like as decomposition residue.
These decomposition residues are liable to impair the electrical conductivity of the ion conductive rubber, to inhibit the crosslinking reaction of the rubber component and to contaminate the photoreceptor body.
To cope with this, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 propose that an additive such as sodium hydrogen carbonate (sodium bicarbonate) thermally decomposable to produce water is used in combination with ADCA and urea.
In the presence of the water produced by the decomposition of sodium hydrogen carbonate, it is possible to convert the decomposition residues into substances free from the impairment of the electrical conductivity, the inhibition of the crosslinking reaction and the contamination of the photoreceptor body through the molecular vibration heating by the irradiation with the microwaves.

Electrically conductive rubber composition, transfer roller, and image forming apparatus