Disclosed is a method of drilling, desmearing, and additively circuitizing a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board is drilled under conditions which produce glass and polymer smeared vias and through holes. The particulate debris is removed by vapor blasting the drilled printed circuit board. Next the printed circuit board is soaked in a solvent to swell the drill smear on the circuit interplanes of the printed circuit board. This solvent is then removed by entrainment in a gas, and a stream of an aqueous, acidic, oxidizing solution is passed through the printed circuit board holes to remove swollen smear in the thru holes and produce an etchback of conductors. After a water rinse an aqueous reducing solution is passed through the printed circuit board to reduce and remove aqueous acidic oxidizing solution, e.g., residual aqueous acid oxidizing solution. The printed circuit board is rinsed to remove the aqueous reducing solution. The surface of the printed circuit board is then seeded, the intended circuitization is photolithographically defined on the printed circuit board, and the circuitization, including the surface circuitization and the plated through hole circuitization, is additively plated.

The general structures and manufacturing processes for electronic packages are described in, for example, Donald P. Seraphim, Ronald Lasky, and Che-Yo Li, Principles of Electronic Packaging, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, N.Y., (1988), and Rao R. Tummala and Eugene J. Rymaszewski, Microelectronic Packaging Handbook, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, N.Y. (1988), both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
As described by Seraphim et al., and Tummala et al., an electronic circuit contains many individual electronic circuit components, e.g., thousands or even millions of individual resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and transistors. These individual circuit components are interconnected to form the circuits, and the individual circuits are further interconnected to form functional units. Power and signal distribution are done through these interconnections. The individual functional units require mechanical support and structural protection. The circuits require electrical energy to function, and the removal of thermal energy to remain functional. Microelectronic packages, such as, chips, modules, circuit cards, circuit boards, and combinations thereof, are used to protect, house, cool, and interconnect circuit components and circuits.
Within a single integrated circuit, circuit component to circuit component and circuit to circuit interconnection, heat dissipation, and mechanical protection are provided by an integrated circuit chip. This chip is referred to as the "zeroth" level of packaging, while the chip enclosed within its module is referred to as the first level of packaging.
There is at least one further level of packaging. The second level of packaging is the circuit card. A circuit card performs at least four functions. First, the circuit card is employed because the total required circuit or bit count to perform a desired function exceeds the bit count of the first level package, i.e., the chip. Second, the circuit card provides for signal interconnection with other circuit elements. Third, the second level package, i.e., the circuit card, provides a site for components that are not readily integrated into the first level package, i.e., the chip or module. These components include, e.g., capacitors, precision resistors, inductors, electromechanical switches, optical couplers, and the like. Fourth, the second level package provides for thermal management, i.e., heat dissipation.
There is frequently a third level of packaging. This is the "board." The board carries both first and second level packages.
Packages may be characterized by the material used as the dielectric, i.e., as ceramic packages or as polymeric packages. The basic process for polymer based composite package fabrication is described by George P. Schmitt, Bernd K. Appelt and Jeffrey T. Gotro, "Polymers and Polymer Based Composites for Electronic Applications" in Seraphim, Lasky, and Li, Principles of Electronic Packaging, pages 334-371, previously incorporated herein by reference, and by Donald P. Seraphim, Donald E. Barr, William T. Chen, George P. Schmitt, and Rao R. Tummala, "Printed Circuit Board Packaging" in Tummala and Rymaszewski, Microelectronics Packaging Handbook, pages 853-922, also previously incorporated herein by reference.
In the normal process for package fabrication a fibrous body, such as a non-woven mat or woven web, is impregnated with a resin. This step includes coating the fibrous body with, for example, an epoxy resin solution, evaporating the solvents associated with the resin, and partially curing the resin. The partially cured resin is called a B-stage resin. The body of fibrous material and B stage resin is called a prepreg. The prepreg, which is easily handled and stable, may be cut into sheets for subsequent processing.
Typical resins used to form the prepreg include epoxy resins, cyanate ester resins, polyimides, hydrocarbon based resins, and fluoropolymers. One epoxy prepreg is the FR-4 prepreg. FR-4 is a fire retardant epoxy-glass cloth material, where the epoxy resin is the diglycidyl ether of 2,2'- bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane. This epoxy resin is also known as the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A, (DGEBA). The fire retardancy of the FR-4 prepreg is obtained by including approximately 15-20 weight percent bromine in the resin. This is done by partially substituting brominated DGEBA for the DGEBA.
Other epoxy resin formulations useful in providing prepregs include high functionality resins, such as epoxidized cresol novolacs, and epoxidized derivatives of triphenyl methane. The multifunctional epoxy resins are characterized by high glass transition temperatures, high thermal stability, and reduced moisture take up.
Still other epoxy resins are phenolic cured epoxies, as Ciba-Giegy RD86-170.TM., Ciba-Giegy RD87-211.TM., Ciba-Giegy RD87-212.TM., Dow Quatrex.RTM. 5010.TM., Shell Epon.RTM., and the like. These epoxies are mixtures of epoxies, with each epoxy having a functionality of at least 2, a phenolic curing agent with a functionality of at least 2, and an imidazole catalyst.
Cyanate ester resins are also used in forming prepregs. One type of cyanate ester resin includes dicyanates mixed with methylene dianiline bis-maleimide. This product may be further blended with compatible epoxides to yield a laminate material. One such laminate material is a 50:45:5 (parts by weight) of epoxy: cyanate: maleimide. Typical of cyanate ester resins useful in forming prepregs is the product of bisphenol-A dicyanate and epoxy, which polymerizes during lamination to form a crosslinked structure.
A still further class of materials useful in forming prepregs for rigid multilayer boards are thermosetting polyimides. While thermosetting polyimides exhibit high water absorption, and high cost, they have good thermal properties and desirable mechanical properties. The preferred polyimides for prepreg use are addition products such as polyimides based on low molecular weight bismaleimides.
Subsequent processing of polymeric substrates includes circuitization, that is, the formation of a Cu signal pattern or power pattern on the prepreg, or lamination of the prepreg to a power core. Circuitization may be additive or subtractive.
The above described package configuration can be circuitized by additive circuitization. In additive circuitization a thin film of a "seeding" layer, such as a thin film of palladium, is first applied to the substrate. The adhesion layer may be applied by various methods, including, by way of example, deposition from a colloidal Pd/Sn solution.
Subsequently, photoresist is applied atop the palladium "seed" layer, imaged, and developed to provide a pattern for circuit deposition. Copper circuitization is then plated onto the "seed" layer between wall of the organic, hydrophobic photoresist to provide the circuitization pattern on the surface of the package. The remaining photoresist is then stripped, leaving a thick copper plated circuitization pattern atop the thin Pd seed layer, and a thin Pd seed layer "background."
The composite printed circuit package is fabricated by interleaving cores (including signal cores, signal/signal cores, power cores, power/power cores, and signal/power cores) with additional sheets of prepreg, and surface circuitization. Holes, as vias and through holes, may be drilled in individual core structures, for example, before or after circuitization, as described above, or in partially laminated modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,775 to Warren Alpaugh, Michael Canestaro and Theron Ellis for Cleaning of High Aspect Ratio Through Holes In Multilayer Printed Circuit Boards (IBM) describes a printed circuit board process with holes drilled through an epoxy-glass panel, followed by a cleaning process and an electroless copper plating process. Alpaugh et al. describe a cleaning process for high aspect ratio through holes of multilayer printed circuit boards to remove any loosened fibrous material, epoxy, and the like, and also provides an inverted "T" structure in the printed circuit board at the interplanes of the internal conductive circuits within the printed circuit board.
According to the process of Alpaugh et al. the drilled (and smeared) printed circuit board is subjected to the following process steps.
a. After drilling, the printed circuit board is vapor blasted, for example, with a high pressure blast of a particulate slurry in water.
b. Vapor blasting is followed by soaking the printed circuit board in a suitable solvent to swell smears on the circuit interplanes of the board. Exemplary solvents are N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N,N-dimethyl formamide, and dimethyl sulfoxide. Alpaugh et al. disclose that N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone is preferred.
c. The excess solvent is removed from the printed circuit board. This is accomplished by feeding, e.g., gravity feeding, 100% methylchloroform (1,1,1-trichloroethane, CCl.sub.3 -CH.sub.3). This is disclosed to be a four minute soak followed by a 90 second air blow. The air blow is a source of atmospheric methylchloroform, an ozone depleter.
d. A unilateral stream of a cleaning solution is fed through the printed circuit board holes to remove excess fibers and smear in the holes and produce an etchback of the conductors. An exemplary cleaning solution is chrome/sulfuric acid, for example 40%-50% H.sub.2 SO.sub.4, 50-80 grams/liter CrO.sub.3.
e. The cleaning solution is then rinsed off, reduced, and removed. Alpaugh et al. disclose that in this step the Cr.sup.+6 is reduced to Cr.sup.+3 by gravity feeding sodium bisulfite through the printed circuit board.
f. Alpaugh et al. further disclose that the printed circuit board is rinsed with (deionized) water and blown dry.
The methylchloroform rinse serves three purposes. First, it removes the solvent (e.g., N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-dimethyl formamide, or dimethyl sulfoxide), which is incompatible with (1) the H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 /CrO.sub.3 desmearing bath, and, to a lesser extent, (2) the copper plating bath. Second, while the methylchloroform is, itself detrimental to the H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 /CrO.sub.3 desmearing bath, it is easily removed by air blasts. Third, absent the ozone depletion effect, methylchloroform is an ideal agent for removing the (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-dimethyl formamide, or dimethyl sulfoxide) solvent, since it does not plasticize the printed circuit board, and is neither explosive nor flammable.
To be noted is that methylchloroform (MCF) is a unique solvent that does not kill the swelling, is volatile, and is not flammable at the conditions of processing printed circuit boards. This combination of properties is unique to MCF among solvents.
Alternatives to methylchloroform are the low boiling solvents, e.g., methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropyl alcohol are flammable and explosive. Another low boiling solvent, methylene chloride (MC) is non-flammable, but toxic. High boiling solvents could not be easily removed, and would poison the H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 /CrO.sub.3 desmearing bath. Methylene chloride is not flammable, but is not as effective as methyl chloroform.
Thus, there is a need for an additive circuitization process which avoids the use of ozone depleting halohydrocarbons, flammable solvents, and contaminants that poison the copper solution. Preferably the process is compatible with present installed process equipment and presently utilized materials.

Methyl chloroform-free desmear process in additive circuitization

International Business Machines Corporation


Deployment of a plurality of services to a plurality of nodes in a communication network during fulfillment of a service request may be facilitated. A request for the services may be received from the service consumer via a first node of the plurality of nodes. The first node is associated with the service consumer. One or more second nodes of the plurality of nodes are identified in the communication network. Each of the one or more second nodes is associated with one or more service providers. It is determined whether the first node and the one or more second nodes are capable of providing the requested services. The provision of the requested services is assigned to the first node, one or more of the second nodes, or a combination thereof, based on the determination.

The present embodiments relate to the deployment of services during fulfillment of a service request for a service consumer.
Innovative technologies in the areas of computer architecture, chip fabrication, networking, programming models, operating systems, application performance, and algorithms, among others, have transformed the computing paradigm many times. The computing industry has generally moved from main-frame computing platforms to personal microcomputer and embedded computing platforms. Recently, handheld computing devices having the similar computing power as personal microcomputers have furthermore transformed the computing paradigm. Today, a heterogeneous world of computing platforms generally exists, mainly in computer architecture and the operating systems used by these computing platforms. However, communication technology, especially the Internet (in macro scale among devices or individual systems), has revolutionized the interaction among these various heterogeneous computing platforms.
Typically, to perform some computing functionalities, a user buys a computing device and its associated software as an integrated product. If the user requires some new functionality to be performed, then he/she needs to buy additional software. However, the paradigm has been shifted towards service-oriented architecture, e.g. cloud computing, where computing is delivered as a service rather than as an integrated hardware and software product. The Internet has allowed highly distributed applications to be implemented in the form of service-oriented architecture. A service consumer may instantiate an application on-demand by requesting various available, distributed services that interact with one another to form the application.
A service provider may fulfill the service requests from the service consumer (and other service consumers). The service provider utilizes "downstream" computing platforms (e.g., computing devices within data centers) to host and provide the services. More specifically, the service provider utilizes the "downstream" computing platforms to compute the required service-related information on-demand. The service provider does not utilize any other computing platforms, other than the "downstream" computing platforms noted above, to host and/or provide the required services.
The service provider may, in some cases, have to fulfill service requests from a number of service consumers at different times. In some cases, a multiplicity of service components (e.g., computing devices within downstream data centers) are used on the service provider side to fulfill the service requests. Problematically, requests from many consumers may stretch the resources, particularly the computational capacity, of the service components. Accordingly, the service provider may be unable to promptly and efficiently provide the requested services to the service consumer on demand, as requested.

Deploying services during fulfillment of a service request


The present invention generally relates to a novel therapeutical use of liver X receptor (LXR) agonsits. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of LXR agonist for the preparation of a medicament useful for the treatment and/or the prevention of a disease associated with beta cells degeneration, such as diabetes, and a method for increasing ex vivo viability of pancreatic islet cells, comprising contacting said islet cells with a LXR agonist.

Diabetes is generally classified in two main groups. In type I diabetes, auto-immune destruction of beta cells within the islets of Langerhans leads to a marked defect in insulin production. In contrast, type II diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance in muscle, fat, and liver along with a relative impairment of insulin production in beta cells. Multiple genes contribute to susceptibility in both type I and type II diabetes, although in most cases their identities remain unknown.
Apoptosis is an active process of cellular self-destruction that is regulated by extrinsic and intrinsic signals occurring during normal development. It is well documented that apoptosis plays a key role in the plasticity of pancreatic endocrine beta cells. There is increasing evidence that in adult mammalians the beta-cell mass is submitted to dynamic changes to adapt insulin production for maintaining euglycemia in particular conditions, such as pregnancy and obesity. The control of beta cell mass depends on a subtle balance between cell proliferation, growth and cell death (apoptosis). A disruption of this balance may lead to impairment of glucose homeostasis. For example, it is noteworthy that glucose intolerance develops with aging when the replication rate of beta cell is reduced and that patients with non-insulin-dependent-diabetes mellitus have a 40-60% loss of beta cell mass as compared with nondiabetic subjects. It is generally agreed that, in insulino-resistant subjects, normoglycemia is maintained by compensatory hyperinsulinemia until the beta cells become unable to meet the increased demand for insulin, at which point Type II Diabetes breaks out.
Type II or noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is a polygenic disease and accounts for >90% of diabetes cases. This disease is characterized by resistance to insulin action on glucose uptake and impaired insulin action to inhibit hepatic glucose production.
Regulation of glucose metabolism by insulin is a key mechanism by which homeostasis is maintained in an animal. Insulin stimulates uptake of glucose from the blood into tissues, especially muscle and fat. This occurs via increased translocation of Glut4, the insulin-sensitive glucose transporter, from an intracellular vesicular compartment to the plasma membrane. Glut4 is the most important insulin-sensitive glucose transporter in these tissues. Insulin binds to its receptor in the plasma membrane, generating a series of signals that result in the translocation or movement of Glut4 transporter vesicles to the plasma membrane.
Liver X receptors (LXRs) are members of a nuclear receptor superfamily that induce ligand dependent transcriptional activation of target genes. They play important roles in cholesterol metabolism and homeostasis. Two LXR proteins (alpha and beta) are known to exist in mammals. LXRalpha expression is high in organs involved in lipid homeostasis such as intestin, brown and white adipose tissues whereas LXRbeta is more ubiquitous and enriched in tissues of neuronal and endocrine origin. Recently, LXRalpha and beta have been found expressed in pancreatic islets as well as alpha cells and beta cells (Efanov et al, Diabetes, 53(3), S75-78, 2004).
LXRalpha and LXRbeta are closely related and share 77% amino acid identity in both their DNA- and ligand-binding domains. The LXRs are also conserved between humans and other animals (e.g., rodents). Like other nuclear receptors, LXRs heterodimerize with retinoid X receptor (RXR) for function. LXRs are known to be activated by certain naturally occurring, oxidized derivatives of cholesterol, including 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol, 24(S)-hydroxycholesterol and 24,25(S)-epoxycholesterol.
LXRalpha and beta are regulators of hepatic genes involved in cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism (HMGCOA synthase/reductase, farnesyl diphosphate synthase, squalene synthase, SREBP1c, stearoyl CoA desaturase (SCD1 and 2), FAS), inhibits expression of gluconeogenic enzymes (PEPCK, fructose biphosphatase1, glucose 6 phosphatase), induce expression of transmembrane transporter (ABCA1, Glut1 and Glut4), inhibit expression of enzymes involved in glycolysis (6-phosphofructo-2-kinase) and induce pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (a negative regulator of glycolysis), decrease 11-betahydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (enzyme that reactivates inactive cortisone in active cortisol in humans). Leptin and UCP-1 have been identified as target genes of LXR (down regulation by LXR agonists). Moreover, LXRs have overlapping functions with PPARs in the negative control of the inflammatory response. LXRs inhibit the production of TNFα and IL-1β and the expression of inflammatory mediators such as COX2, iNOS, IL-6. LXR may play a key role in responses to inflammation, and because it has been shown to be important in lipid metabolism, LXR might be involved in obesity-induced inflammatory responses as well. (reviewed in Steffensen et al, Diabetes, 2004, 53(1), S36-42).
In db/db mice, T0901317, a LXR agonist described here-below, has shown to lower plasma glucose level (not in normal mice). This compound inhibits the expression of PEPCK to limit hepatic glucose output (Cao et al, J Biol Chem, 2003, 278, 1131-1136).
Culture of pancreatic islets or insulin-secreting MIN6 cells with T0901317 caused an increase in glucose-dependent insulin secretion and islet insulin content. The stimulatory effect of this compound on insulin secretion was observed only after >72 h of islet culture with T0901317. In MIN6 cells, Tularik increased protein expression of lipogenic enzymes, fatty acid synthase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase. LXR activation also produced an increase in glucokinase protein and pyruvate carboxylase (PC) activity levels. LXRs could control insulin secretion and biosynthesis via regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism in pancreatic beta cell (Efanov et al, Diabetes, 53(3), S75-78, 2004).
The pancreatic duodenal homeobox gene-1 (Pdx-1) is a master regulator of both pancreatic development and the differentiation of progenitor cells into the beta cell phenotype. Moreover, in the differentiated beta cell, Pdx1 is a glucose-responsive regulator of insulin gene expression and the function of Pdx1 in response to glucose is regulated by both its phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. During the later stages of islet development, the expression of Pdx-1 becomes mostly restricted to the mature beta cells of the endocrine pancreas. In the adult pancreas, subpopulations of somatostatin-producing and pancreatic polypeptide-producing cells also express Pdx-1, only a few glucagon-producing cells express it.
A defect in glucose sensing of the pancreatic beta cells has been observed in several animal models of type II diabetes and has been correlated with a reduced gene expression of the glucose transporter type 2 (Glut2). In a transgenic mouse model, expression of Glut2 antisense RNA in pancreatic beta-cells has been shown to be associated with an impaired glucose-induced insulin secretion and the development of diabetes. The glucose transporter type 2 (GLUT2) gene expression is selectively decreased in the beta-pancreatic cells of experimental models of diabetes and the murine GLUT2 promoter is controlled by PDX-1.


A method for forming a semiconductor structure includes providing a substrate, including a first region and a second region; forming a plurality of fin structures on the substrate; forming an isolation structure between adjacent fin structures; forming a mask layer over the substrate and the plurality of fin structures; forming an opening by removing a portion of the mask layer formed in the first region; removing a portion of the isolation structure exposed in the opening by using a remaining portion of the mask layer as a mask; removing the remaining portion of the mask layer; and forming a gate structure across the plurality of fin structures. The gate structure covers the first region.

With development of semiconductor technology, power integrated circuit (PIC) is continuously used in many fields. Laterally double-diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) transistors demonstrate characteristics of high operating voltage, simple process, and desirable processing compatibility with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes, and have thus been widely used as a power device in PICs.
Source-drain breakdown voltage (BVdss) and on-resistance (Ron) characteristics of power devices are essential for high-efficiency power circuit design. Generally, an LDMOS device requires a higher source-drain breakdown voltage and a lower on-resistance to improve the device performance. However, the on-resistance and the breakdown voltage of LDMOS devices are contradictory indicators. For example, when the on-resistance decreases, the breakdown voltage may also decrease, and vice versa.
Therefore, how to obtain a lowest possible on-resistance to reduce the conduction loss through reasonable designs while satisfying a certain breakdown voltage is an urgent problem to be solved. The disclosed semiconductor structures and fabrication methods thereof are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems in the art.

Semiconductor structure and method for forming the same

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corporation


A dual-chambered drug delivery device (201) includes a cartridge (211) having a first chamber (212) for storing a medicament and a second chamber (211) in fluid communication with the first chamber (212). A dose setting member (241) is used to set a medicament dose to be injected at an injection site. A piston (281) is disposed in the second chamber (221). An upward stroke of the piston (281) draw a portion of the medicament dose into the second chamber (221) and a downward stroke of the piston (281) expels the portion of the medicament dose. A needle (205) communicates with the second chamber (221) for sequentially injecting the portions of the medicament dose into the injection site.

Insulin and other injectable medications are commonly given with syringes into the intradermal layer of the skin and other dense tissues. Intradermal medication injections result in faster uptake of the medication, thereby resulting in improved therapy. Such injections require higher injection pressures, upwards of 200 psi, than traditional subcutaneous injections.
Techniques and devices are known for administering an injection into the intradermal region of the skin. One method, commonly referred to as the Mantoux technique, uses a "standard" needle and syringe, i.e., a syringe typically used to administer intramuscular or subcutaneous injections. The health care provider administering the injection follows a specific procedure that requires a somewhat precise orientation of the syringe with regard to the patient's skin as the injection is administered. The health care provider must also attempt to precisely control the penetration depth of the needle into the patient's skin to ensure that it does not penetrate beyond the intradermal region. Such a technique is complicated, difficult to administer, and often may only be administered by an experienced health care professional.
A conventional syringe 101 is shown in FIG. 1. The needle 103 is sufficiently long to deliver the drug to the subcutaneous region of the skin. However, a user would not be able to easily deliver the drug to the intradermal region of the skin, as discussed above.
Existing drug delivery pens offer several advantages over syringe-based systems for delivering insulin subcutaneously. Reusable drug delivery pens hold 20 or more doses without requiring the drug cartridge to be refilled. Dose setting is achieved simply with the use of a dial. However, those injection systems are designed for low pressure subcutaneous injections. Intradermal injection of insulin and other medications provides faster uptake of the drug, thereby leading to improved therapy. Existing drug delivery pens have several limitations regarding intradermal drug delivery. First, the mechanical advantage provided by the pen is minimal and requires the user to supply upwards of 20 lbs of force to generate sufficient pressure. Second, the pen components can be damaged by this high force, resulting in leaking and inaccuracy at the high pressures.
Drug delivery pens, such as the exemplary drug delivery pen 100 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, are designed for intradermal injections and typically comprise a dose knob/button 24, an outer sleeve 13, and a cap 21. The dose knob/button 24 allows a user to set the dosage of medication to be injected. The outer sleeve 13 is gripped by the user when injecting medication. The cap 21 is used by the user to securely hold the drug delivery pen 100 in a shirt pocket, purse or other suitable location and provide cover/protection from accidental needle injury.
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the drug delivery pen 100 of FIG. 2. The dose knob/button 24 has a dual purpose and is used both to set the dosage of the medication to be injected and to inject the dosed medicament via the leadscrew 7 and stopper 15 through the medicament cartridge 12, which is attached to the drug delivery pen through a lower housing 17. In standard drug delivery pens, the dosing and delivery mechanisms are all found within the outer sleeve 13 and are not described in greater detail here as they are understood by those knowledgeable of the prior art. The distal movement of the plunger or stopper 15 within the medicament cartridge 12 causes medication to be forced into the needle 11 of the hub 20. The medicament cartridge 12 is sealed by septum 16, which is punctured by a septum penetrating needle cannula 18 located within the hub 20. The hub 20 is preferably screwed onto the lower housing 17, although other attachment means can be used, such as attaching to the cartridge. To protect a user, or anyone who handles the pen injection device 100, an outer cover 69, which attaches to the hub 20, covers the hub. An inner shield 59 covers the patient needle 11 within the outer cover 69. The inner shield 59 can be secured to the hub 20 to cover the patient needle by any suitable means, such as an interference fit or a snap fit. The outer cover 69 and the inner shield 59 are removed prior to use. The cap 21 fits snugly against outer sleeve 13 to allow a user to securely carry the drug delivery pen 100.
The medicament cartridge 12 is typically a glass tube sealed at one end with the septum 16 and sealed at the other end with the stopper 15. The septum 16 is pierceable by a septum penetrating cannula 18 in the hub 20, but does not move with respect to the medicament cartridge 12. The stopper 15 is axially displaceable within the medicament cartridge 12 while maintaining a fluid tight seal.
The backpressure in subcutaneous injections is not very large, while the backpressure associated with intradermal injections may be many times greater than that of subcutaneous injections. Existing drug delivery pens require a large force to inject medication into the intradermal layer, thereby making the intradermal medication injection difficult. For example, the backpressure often exceeds 200 psi for an intradermal injection, while the backpressure for a subcutaneous injection is generally in the range of 30-50 psi. Thus, a need exists for a drug delivery pen that provides a mechanical advantage to facilitate an injecting a medicament dose intradermally. Furthermore, the drug delivery pen components can be damaged due to the high pressures associated with intradermal injections, thereby resulting in medication leakage and dose inaccuracy.

Multi-stroke delivery pumping mechanism for a drug delivery device for high pressure injections


A nitride LED having a laminated structure in which a substrate, a n-type cladding layer, an active layer, a p-type cladding layer, and a multi-ohmic contact layer are sequentially stacked, and a manufacturing method thereof, are provided. In the nitride LED, the multi-ohmic contact layer includes multiple layers of a first transparent film layer/silver/second transparent film layer. In the nitride LED and a manufacturing method thereof, ohmic contact characteristics with respect to the p-type cladding layer are enhanced, thereby exhibiting a good current-voltage characteristic. Also, since the transparent electrodes have a high light transmitting property, the light emitting efficiency of the device is increased.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-95957, filed on Dec. 24, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nitride light emitting device (LED) and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a nitride LED having an electrode structure of improved emission efficiency and enhanced driving capability and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, transparent conductive films are used in various applications, including photoelectronic devices, displays, or energy industry.
In the field of LEDs, there has been developed a transparent conductive film electrode for smooth hole injection and high-efficiency light emission.
Currently, transparent conducting oxide (TCO), transparent conducting nitride (TCN), and the like, are most actively researched as transparent conductive film materials.
Examples of the transparent conductive oxide include indium oxide (In2O3), tin oxide (SnO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), indium tin oxide (ITO), and the like, and examples of the transparent conductive nitride include titanium nitride (TiN), and the like.
These materials, however, have limitations to be employed alone as a p-type transparent electrode of a top-emitting gallium nitride based LED because they have a relatively large sheet resistance value, high light reflectivity, and a relatively small work function value.
That is to say, the above-noted transparent conductive films, which have a relatively large sheet resistance, that is, substantially 100 Ω/squ may make it difficult for a LED to perform current spreading in a horizontal direction with respect to the LED, that is, in a direction parallel to an interface surface of the LED, during film formation using PVD such as sputtering, e-beam evaporation, or a heat evaporation. In addition, the transparent conductive film makes it difficult to achieve vertical injection of holes smoothly in a vertical direction. Thus, such transparent conductive films are limited in achieving large-area, large-capacity, high brightness LEDs.
Further, the above-mentioned transparent conductive films deteriorate light emitting efficiency because they have high reflectivity with respect to light emitted from the gallium nitride based LEDs.
Next, since transparent conductive films, including indium tin oxide (ITO), titanium nitride (TiN), and the like, have a relatively small work function value, it is quite difficult to form an ohmic contact through a direct contact with p-type gallium nitride.
Finally, when transparent conductive oxide (TCO) is employed as an electrode such that it is brought into a direct ohmic contact with a gallium nitride based compound semiconductor, oxidation of gallium is likely to occur on a gallium nitride surface during formation of a film, resulting in generation of gallium oxide (Ga2O3), which is an insulating material, making it difficult to form a good ohmic-contact electrode.
Meanwhile, in achieving a LED prepared from a gallium nitride based compound semiconductor or a laser diode (LD), the structure of an electrode for forming an ohmic contact between the semiconductor and the electrode becomes quite an important factor.
Such gallium nitride based LEDs are classified as top-emitting light emitting diodes (TLEDS) and flip-chip light emitting diodes (FCLEDS).
In the TLEDS, which are currently widely used, light is emitted through an ohmic contact layer being in contact with a p-type cladding layer. In order to achieve high-brightness TLEDS, one requirement is to form a current spreading film, that is, a current spreading layer, as a good ohmic contact layer for compensating for a high level of sheet resistance of the p-type cladding layer having a low hole concentration. Therefore, it is necessary to provide for smooth hole injection, current spreading, and high light emission performance by forming a current spreading film layer having a low sheet resistance value and a high degree of light transmittance.
The known TLEDS have an electrode structure in which a nickel (Ni) layer and a gold (Au) layer are sequentially laminated on a p-type cladding layer.
The nickel/gold layer structure has good specific contact resistance in a range of about 10−3 to about 10−4 Ω° C., and is used as a semi-transparent ohmic contact layer.
When such a nickel/gold layer structure is annealed at a temperature of about 500° C. to about 600° C. under an oxygen atmosphere, nickel oxide (NiO), i.e., p-type semiconductor oxide, is formed at an interface between a gallium nitride based p-type cladding layer and a nickel layer as an ohmic contact in an island shape, thereby reducing a Schottky barrier height (SBH) and easily supplying holes as multiple carriers to a region around the p-type cladding layer.
In addition, annealing of the nickel/gold layer, followed by forming the p-type cladding layer, removes a Mg—H intermetallic compound for reactivation of increasing a magnesium dopant concentration on a gallium nitride surface, thereby increasing the concentration of effective carriers on the surface of the p-type cladding layer to 1018 or greater. The increased concentration of effective carriers is believed to cause tunneling conductance between the p-type cladding layer and the ohmic contact layer containing nickel oxide, exhibiting an ohmic conducting characteristic with low specific contact resistance.
However, the TLEDS using a semi-transparent nickel/gold film electrode is poor in light emitting efficiency due to presence of a light transmittance suppressing component, that is gold (Au), which is a limitation in achieving next-generation large capacity, high-brightness LEDs.
To increase emission of heat generated during operation of a LED and light emission efficiency, a reflective layer has been employed to radiate light through a transparent substrate made of sapphire in the FCLEDS structure, which, however, has several limitations, including high resistance due to oxidation and poor adhesion of the reflective layer.
To overcome such problems with the TLEDS or FCLEDS structure, transparent conductive oxide having better transmittance than a semi-transparent nickel/gold layer structure used for the existing p-type ohmic contact layer, e.g., ITO, has been proposed as a material for a p-type ohmic contact layer. However, although the ITO ohmic contact layer increases the output power of the LED, it requires a relatively high operation voltage, which is still a limitation as a candidate material for use in large-area, high-capacity, high-brightness LEDs.
As described above, it is quite difficult to develop a transparent electrode for establishing an ohmic contact for several reasons that follow.
First, low hole concentration and high sheet resistance of not less than 104  Ω/squ of p-type gallium nitride make it difficult to form a transparent electrode.
Second, since there is no transparent electrode material having a relatively high work function value than that of p-type gallium nitride, a high schottky barrier is formed at an interface between p-type gallium nitride and the electrode, thereby making smooth hole injection difficult.
Third, most of transparent electrode materials exhibit contradictory electrical and optical characteristics and have a high degree of light transmittance, so that they typically have large sheet resistance, thereby sharply reducing a tendency of horizontal current spreading. Accordingly, a large amount of heat is generated between p-type gallium nitride and the transparent electrode, shortening the life of a device and impairing the reliability in the operation of the device.

Nitride light emitting device and manufacturing method thereof

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology


A cam 13 formed so that cam height and a cam operation angle continuously change, and constituted to be rotated integrally with a camshaft 11 and relatively movable in an axial direction thereof, a valve lifter 20 pressed by a cam surface of the cam 13 to advance and retreat a valve, and an accelerator shaft unit 40 for moving the cam 13 in the axial direction of the camshaft 11 are included. The accelerator shaft unit 40 includes an accelerator shaft 41 placed to be capable of reciprocating in the axial direction of the camshaft, and an accelerator fork 42 supported at the accelerator shaft 41 and engaging with the cam 13, and has an adjust mechanism 70 for finely adjusting a relative position in an axial direction of the accelerator fork 42 with respect to the accelerator shaft 41.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a valve driving apparatus for performing variable control of a lift amount, lift timing and an actuated angle in accordance with an accelerator opening in an internal combustion engine in a motorcycle, an automobile or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this type of internal combustion engine, combination of a variable phase and cam switching begins to appear recently, and thereafter, a method with use of a three dimensional cam for making the actuated angle and the lift amount continuously variable is proposed. For example, there is a method in which a follow-up mechanism for a change in a contact angle is provided at a top portion of a direct striking type cylinder tappet, and by sliding the three-dimensional cam in an axial direction, the valve lift amount is made continuously variable.
This type of three-dimensional cam is provided extensively with a cam portion gradually inclined in a longitudinal direction (axial direction of a camshaft), and is formed in a shape to continuously change the valve lift amount. In this case, setting is made such that a cam operation angle and lift timing are changed synchronously with cam height, namely, the cam operation angle becomes larger as the valve lift amount becomes larger, and the lift timing of the valve is capable of being changed. By moving such a cam along the camshaft, the lift amount, the actuated angle and lift timing of an intake valve can be controlled to be continuously variable via the valve lifter including the tappet.
By applying such a three-dimensional cam to, for example, the intake valve at an intake side, a throttle valve to form a mixture is eliminated, and a so-called non-throttle valve engine can be realized. Incidentally, when fine adjustment of the valve lift amount is performed, or tuning of cylinders is performed in a multi-cylinder engine, fine adjustment of a tappet guide is performed in a slide direction of the cam with use of, for example, an eccentric cam in the prior art.
On the occasion of fine adjustment of the valve lift amount (intake boost) or tuning of the cylinders as described above in the above prior art, fine adjustment or tuning is performed with a cylinder head cover being removed from a cylinder head. In this case, if fine adjustment is performed for an intake boost with the engine being rotated, lubricant oil easily scatters, and therefore it is necessary to prevent scattering of oil with use of a special tuning cover. When tuning is performed without rotating the engine, it is necessary to use a device for measuring the valve lift amount in the cylinder head unit.
Further, on the occasion of maintenance of the cylinder head unit in a maintenance service and the like after manufacture and shipment, there is no other way except for taking the method for preventing scattering of oil by removing the cylinder head cover and using the tuning cover, and tuning cannot help being performed at much expense in time and effort.

Valve driving apparatus and internal combustion engine including the same


A hand-held viewer for producing a magnified image of an object has a pivotable and swivelable object mount so that an object of interest may be positioned in a plurality of orientations within the viewable area and at different distances from the lens. One presently preferred object mount comprises a yoke with spaced apart arms having slots running along their length for mounting a microscope slide or a photographic slide such as film strips or 35 mm positives. The hand-held viewer desirably includes a detachable background screen assembly to provide a contrasting background against which to view the photographic slide or other object. In a preferred embodiment, the lens may be focused by rotating a thumb-wheel within and extending partially through the body of the viewer.

The study of biology and other natural sciences commonly involves microscopes and magnifying glasses to view small objects of interest. Relatively inexpensive microscopes are known for educational use by children. Some such devices may be used indoors and outdoors.
One hand-held magnifying device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,016. The '016 patent discloses a hand-held magnifying device having a small body that includes a fixed magnifying lens. A slidable adjusting tube is positioned near the lens for focusing. The adjusting tube is adapted to receive an object-supporting slide or panel (carrying an object of interest) so that the slide or panel is perpendicularly oriented to the adjusting tube. The end portion of the slide or panel, which may be formed to provide a transparent enclosure to hold an insect or the like, is positioned in alignment with the lens. By sliding the adjusting tube relative to the body of the device and in a direction parallel to the axis of view, the distance between the object and the lens is varied to bring the object into focus. The adjusting tube may be rotated about its axis to move the object being viewed from left to right within the field of view. The slide may be inserted more or less deeply into the adjusting tube to position the object relative to the lens in a rectilinear manner.
The device of the '016 patent has several drawbacks. First, the '016 viewer is difficult to use in that the plunger can easily be inadvertently pressed or moved while an object is being viewed, causing the object to move out of focus. Second, the object holder cannot be angled relative to the axis of view to permit the user to easily focus on part of the object that does not present itself "full-face" in front of the lens. Third, the object holder of the '016 device has to be moved in each direction separately when positioning an object in front of the lens, which does not allow for fluid, three-dimensional movement of the object mount. Because the '016 device requires considerable manual dexterity to focus and to manipulate the object holder, it is difficult for children to use, particularly when the object observed is a moving object.


An apparatus for acoustic percussion of the human and animal body, the apparatus including an oscillator circuit for creating electrical signals for exciting a loudspeaker and producing sound waves; a waveform shaping circuit for shaping the electrical signals created by the oscillator into a waveform; an amplifier circuit for amplifying the signals shaped by the waveform shaper to the level required by the loudspeaker; a loudspeaker for producing sound waves when excited by the electrical signals created by the oscillator and shaped by the waveform shaper; a potentiometer to control the waveform rate created by the waveform shaper; a potentiometer to control the tone produced by the oscillator; and a potentiometer to control the volume of the sound produced by the loudspeaker. A preferred embodiment includes a battery for powering the apparatus, an activating mechanism, and a case or container for packaging the components of the apparatus.

This invention relates generally to the field of medical diagnostics devices, and more particularly to an apparatus for acoustic percussion of the human and animal body. The difference between an ultrasound machine and this apparatus is that the apparatus of the instant invention uses sound waves in the audible range, and the detection is via an acoustic detector/amplifier (stethoscope), again in the audible range. Changes in the quality of sound (pitch, echo, etc.) reflect a solid-fluid-air transition.
Acoustic percussion is a well-known method for detecting internal organs and structures, air-fluid levels, air-fluid-solid transitions, and bone density. It is performed manually, by knocking with the finger on a specific location on the body, and listening to the echo. Experienced physicians can perform preliminary diagnostics using this method.
The shortcomings of manual percussion have to do with physical attributes (e.g. small fingers, lack of strength, poor dexterity), with difficulty of diagnosis, and with inconsistent force application in performing manual percussion. Moreover, both hands are needed in order to perform manual percussion; thus, a stethoscope cannot be used simultaneously. Electronic percussion can be done with one hand, freeing the other hand to listen with a stethoscope. This allows for greater diagnostic accuracy, especially in obese patients, for whom manual percussion is obscure and imprecise. Physicians are often reluctant to refer obese patients to ultrasound just for liver/spleen evaluation, especially due to cost management efforts and time constraints. Therefore, the aid of an electronic percussion apparatus not only will assist the physician, but will also lower medical cost, while enhancing the medical care provided to the patient.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a mean to ease the detection and evaluation in a human and animal body, of internal organs and structures, air-fluid levels, air-fluid-solid transitions, and bone density.
Another object of the invention is to help the detection of the above in body locations when manual percussion does not work.
Another object of the invention is to help the detection of the above for physicians who have limitations in their ability to perform manual percussion.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for acoustic percussion of a body, said apparatus comprises an electronic circuit, performing as an oscillator, creating electrical signals capable of exciting a loudspeaker, and producing sound waves; an electronic circuit, performing as a waveform shaper for the electrical signals created by said oscillator, shaping the said electrical signal in a form of a waveform; an electronic circuit, performing as an amplifier for the electrical signals shaped by said waveform shaper, amplifying the signals to the level required by the loudspeaker; a loudspeaker, producing sound waves when excited by said electrical signals created by said oscillator, and shaped by said waveform shaper; a potentiometer or other control means, to control waveform rate created by said waveform shaper; a potentiometer or other control means, to control the tone produced by said oscillator; and a potentiometer or other control means, to control the volume of the sound produced by said loudspeaker.

Apparatus for acoustic percussion of a body


A laser processing method comprises generating a laser beam comprising laser pulses having a duration less than 1000 ps, focussing the laser beam to form a focal region inside a transparent material and varying the position of at least one of the focal region and the transparent material so as to provide a pulse-to-pulse overlap of between 45% and 99%, thereby to form a smooth material modification inside the transparent material.

A method of transparent material processing with an ultrashort pulse laser is described in US patent publication number US2010/0025387, published on 4 Feb. 2010. This patent publication describes producing reflective marks which are difficult to detect with or without edge illumination. As described in paragraph [0168] of US2010/0025387, the reflective marks are produced when a "planar" crack is formed inside the material, the plane of the crack being defined by the axis of the writing laser beam and the direction of translation.
For some applications, the formation of cracks can be undesirable. For instance, in relation to gemstones such as diamond, cracks could devalue the stones. In touch-screen display materials, cracks could result in decreased strength, thereby increasing the touch screen's tendency to break.


A gate driving method and apparatus for a liquid crystal display panel is disclosed that minimizes deterioration of picture quality caused by a variation in a gate low voltage. A liquid crystal cell matrix is defined by intersections between gate lines and data lines having corresponding thin film transistors. A gate driver applies a gate high voltage, which is at least equal to the turn-on voltages of the thin film transistors, to the gate lines in a corresponding period, and applies an independent gate low voltage to the gate lines divided into a plurality of blocks as turn-off voltages of the thin film transistors in each block.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a gate driving method and apparatus for a liquid crystal display panel that minimizes deterioration of picture quality caused by a variation in a gate low voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) controls light transmittance of a liquid crystal having a dielectric anisotropy using an electric field to thereby display a picture. To this end, the LCD includes a liquid crystal display panel for displaying a picture, and a driving circuit for driving the liquid crystal display panel.
In the liquid crystal display panel, liquid crystal cells arranged in a matrix type control the light transmittance in accordance with pixel signals to thereby display a picture.
The driving circuit includes a gate driver for driving gate lines of the liquid crystal display panel, a data driver for driving the data lines, a timing controller for controlling the driving timing of the gate driver and the data driver, and a power supply for supplying power signals required for driving the liquid crystal display panel and the driving circuit.
The data driver and the gate driver are separated into a plurality of drive integrated circuits (IC's). Each of the integrated drive IC's is mounted in an opened IC area of a tape carrier package (TCP) or in a base film of the TCP by a chip on film (COF) system, to thereby be connected to the liquid crystal display panel by a tape automated bonding (TAB) system. Alternatively, the drive IC may be directly mounted onto the liquid crystal display panel by a chip on glass (COG) system. The timing controller and the power supply are mounted onto a main printed circuit board (PCB).
The drive IC's connected to the liquid crystal display panel by the TAB system are connected, via the TCP, a sub-PCB (i.e., a gate PCB and a data PCB) and a flexible printed circuit (PCB), to the timing controller and the power supply on the main PCB.
The drive IC's mounted onto the liquid crystal display panel by the COG system are connected, via line on glass (LOG) type signal lines provided at the FPC and the liquid crystal display panel, to the timing controller and the power supply on the main PCB.
Recently, when the drive IC's are connected, via the TCP, to the liquid crystal display panel, the LCD adopts LOG-type signal lines to reduce the number of PCB's, thereby having a thinner thickness. Particularly, the gate PCB delivering a relatively small number of signals is removed, and a plurality of signal lines for applying gate control signals and power signals to the gate drive IC's are provided on the liquid crystal display panel in a LOG type. Thus, the gate drive IC's mounted in the TCP receives the control signals from the timing controller and the power signals from the power supply by way of the main PCB, FPC, the data PCB, the data TCP, the LOG-type signal lines and the gate TCP in turn. In this case, since the gate control signals and the gate power signals applied to the gate drive IC's are distorted by line resistances of the LOG-type signal lines, deterioration in the picture quality displayed on the liquid crystal display panel becomes a problem.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, a LOG-type LCD removed with the gate PCB includes a data PCB 16, a data TCP 12 mounted with a data driving IC 14 and connected between the data PCB 16 and a liquid crystal display panel 6, and a gate TCP 8 mounted with a gate driving IC 10 and connected to the liquid crystal display panel 6.
In the liquid crystal display panel 6, a thin film transistor array substrate 2 and a color filter array substrate 4 are joined to each other with having a liquid crystal therebetween. Such a liquid crystal display panel 6 includes liquid crystal cells defined at intersections between gate lines GL and data lines DL, each of which has a thin film transistor as a switching device. The thin film transistor applies a pixel signals from the data line DL to the liquid crystal cell in response to a scanning signal from the gate line GL.
The data drive IC 14 is connected, via the data TCP 12 and a data pad of the liquid crystal display panel, to the data line DL. The data drive IC 14 converts a digital pixel data into an analog pixel signal to apply it to the data line DL. To this end, the data drive IC 14 receives a data control signal and a pixel data from a timing controller (not shown) and a power signal from a power supply (not shown) by way of the data PCB 16.
The gate drive IC 10 is connected, via the gate TCP 8 and a gate pad of the liquid crystal display panel 6, to the gate line GL. The gate drive IC 10 sequentially applies a scanning signal having a gate high voltage VGH to the gate lines GL. Further, the gate drive IC 10 applies a gate low voltage VGL to the gate lines GL in the remaining interval excluding the time interval when the gate high voltage VGH has been supplied.
To this end, the gate control signals from the timing controller and the power signals from the power supply are applied, via the data PCB 16, to the data TCP 12. The gate control signals and the power signals applied via the data TCP 12 are applied, via a LOG-type signal line group 20 provided at the edge area of the thin film transistor array substrate 2, to the gate TCP 8. The gate control signals and the power signals applied to the gate TCP 8 are inputted, via input terminals of the gate drive IC 10, within the gate drive IC 10. Further, the gate control signals and the power signals are outputted via output terminals of the gate drive IC 10, and applied, via the gate TCP 8 and the LOG-type signal line group 20, to the gate drive IC 10 mounted in the next gate TCP 8.
The LOG-type signal line group 20 is typically comprised of signal lines for supplying direct current driving voltages from the power supply, such as a gate low voltage VGL, a gate high voltage VGH, a common voltage VCOM, a ground voltage GND and a base driving voltage VCC, and gate control signals from the timing controller, such as a gate start pulse GSP, a gate shift clock signal GSC and a gate enable signal GOE.
Such a LOG-type signal line group 20 is formed from the same gate metal layer as the gate lines at a specific pad area of the thin film transistor array substrate 2 in a fine pattern. Thus, the LOG-type signal line group 20 has a larger line resistance than the signal lines on the existent gate PCB. This line resistance distorts gate control signals (i.e., GSP, GSC and GOE) and power signals (i.e., VGH, VGL, VCC, GND and VCOM), thereby causing deterioration in the picture quality such as a horizontal line (i.e., gate dim) 32, cross talk in the dot pattern or a greenish tinge to the color, etc.
FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the horizontal line phenomenon caused by the LOG-type signal line group 20.
Referring to FIG. 2, the LOG-type signal line group 20 is comprised of a first LOG-type signal line group LOG1 connected to an input terminal of a first gate TCP 8, a second LOG-type signal line group LOG2 connected to an input terminal of a second gate TCP 9, and a third LOG-type signal line group LOG3 connected to an input terminal of a third gate TCP 13. The first to third LOG-type signal line groups LOG1 to LOG3 have line resistances aΩ, bΩ and cΩ proportional to the line length thereof, respectively, and are connected, via the gate TCP's 8, 9 and 13, to each other in series.
Thus, the first gate drive IC 10 is supplied with gate control signals GSP, GSC and GOE and power signals VGH, VGL, VCC, GND and VCOM voltage-dropped by the line resistance aΩ of the first LOG-type signal line group LOG1; the second gate drive IC 11 is supplied with those voltage-dropped by the line resistances aΩ+bΩ of the first and second LOG-type signal line groups LOG1 and LOG2; and the third gate drive IC 15 is supplied with those voltage-dropped by the line resistances aΩ+bΩ+cΩ of the first to third LOG-type signal line groups LOG1 to LOG3.
Accordingly, a voltage difference is generated among gate signals VG1 to VG3 applied to the gate lines of first to third horizontal blocks A to C driven with different gate drive IC's 10, 11 and 15, thereby causing horizontal lines 32 among the first to third horizontal line blocks A to C.
FIG. 3 shows a gate signal waveform applied to a plurality of gate lines GLi to GLi+3 included in the liquid crystal display panel 2 shown in FIG. 1.
Each of the gate lines GLi to GLi+3 is maintained at a gate low voltage VGL except for a horizontal period Hi when each gate line is supplied with a gate high voltage VGH upon arriving at a sequence to be scanned. Because a gate insulating film exists at the intersection of the gate line GLi and the data line DL a parasitic capacitor is formed. However, the parasitic capacitor causes instability as the gate low voltage VGL supplied to the gate line GLi is swung in response to a pixel signal applied to the data line DL.
For instance, the gate low voltage VGL is alternately swung toward a positive polarity and a negative polarity every horizontal period in accordance with an average value of pixel signals applied to one horizontal line while alternating a positive polarity and a negative polarity, as shown in FIG. 3, in response to a dot inversion system. Such a swing phenomenon of the gate low voltage VGL is generated similarly at other gate lines to which the gate low voltage VGL is commonly applied via the gate drive IC and the LOG-type signal lines. In this case, a swing width of the gate low voltage is enlarged due to a load amount applied to the gate low voltage VGL, that is, a large parasitic capacitor (i.e., a parasitic capacitor between the gate line and the data line) and a large line resistor of the LOG-type signal line. Such an unstable gate low voltage VGL varies the pixel voltage via a storage capacitor Cst provided between the pixel electrode and the pre-stage gate line. As a result, when a specific dot pattern is displayed by a dot inversion system, a greenish tinge in which a green (G) pixel having a polarity contrary to adjacent red (R) and blue (B) pixels is observed at a relatively large brightness is generated thereby causing deterioration of the picture quality. Furthermore, when a window pattern is displayed using a dot inversion system, horizontal cross talk in which a peripheral area adjacent to the window pattern in a horizontal direction is observed during generation of a relatively large brightness causes deterioration in the picture quality.

Gate driving method and apparatus for liquid crystal display panel


Heterogeneous nanowires having a core-shell structure consisting of single-crystal apatite as the core and graphitic layers as the shell and a synthesis method thereof are provided. More specifically, provided is a method capable of producing large amounts of heterogeneous nanowires, composed of graphitic shells and apatite cores, in a reproducible manner, by preparing a substrate including an element corresponding to X of X5(YO4)3Z is a chemical formula for apatite, adding to the substrate a gaseous source containing an element corresponding to Y of the chemical formula, adding thereto a gaseous carbon source, and allowing these reactants to react under optimized synthesis conditions using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and to a method capable of freely controlling the structure and size of the heterogeneous nanowires and also to heterogeneous nanowires synthesized thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heterogeneous nanowires having a core-shell structure consisting of single-crystal apatite as the core and graphitic layers as the shell and to a synthesis method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method capable of producing large amounts of heterogeneous nanowires, composed of graphitic shells and apatite cores, in a reproducible manner, by preparing a substrate including an element corresponding to X of X5(YO4)3Z which is a chemical formula for apatite, adding to the substrate a gaseous source containing an element corresponding to Y of the chemical formula, adding thereto a gaseous carbon source, and allowing these reactants to react under optimized synthesis conditions using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and to a method capable of freely controlling the structure and size of the heterogeneous nanowires and also to heterogeneous nanowires synthesized thereby. The examples of the present invention show the results of using calcium or strontium as an element corresponding to X of the chemical formula, the results of using phosphine containing phosphorus for the formation of Y of the chemical formula, and the results of using acetylene (C2H2), methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4) or propane C3H8) as a gaseous carbon source tor the formation of graphitic layers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Crystalline carbon materials such as graphene are known as advanced materials having very excellent electrical, mechanical, chemical and physical properties and have recently been used in a wide range of applications, including electrode materials, reinforced composite materials, and optical materials.
Carbon nanowires are advanced materials having a shell structure consisting of graphene rolled up into a cylinder shape having a diameter of nanometer order and can be broadly classified into carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and carbon nanocables. Carbon nanocables generally refer to structures in which materials having the shape of rods or wires are included in the hollow spaces of graphitic shells, unlike carbon nanotubes or carbon nanowires.
When the material included in such carbon nanocable structures to form the core is disadvantageous that it is sensitive to external environmental factors (for example, it is easily to be oxidized, or is adversely affected by acid or is sensitive to water), or the mechanical and physical properties are inherently weak or the electrical properties thereof are not excellent, the graphitic shells surrounding the surface of the core materials can overcome such disadvantages, and thus are highly beneficial.
In addition to the fact that the inherent properties of the core material can be maintained by the graphitic shells, the properties of the core material which is very excellent in one of the electrical, mechanical, chemical and physical properties can be additionally improved by the graphitic shells.
Meanwhile, carbon nanocable structures can be formed by various methods. The most general method is an in-situ formation method that is based on chemical vapor, deposition (CVD) or arc discharge. In this method, cores which can be present in carbon nanotubes are made mainly of transition metals having an excellent catalytic activity of forming carbon nanotubes. In recent years, nanosized metal oxides have been reported to be able to form such graphitic shells. The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism is primarily responsible for the synthesis of carbon nanocables by the above method.
Another method is a method of filling a liquid or gaseous material into prepared carbon nanotube structures using capillary action, a wet-chemical method, and a nano-filling reaction. In this method, mass production is not easier than in the in-situ formation method, but there is an advantage in that various materials can be used as the core material.
Meanwhile, it has not yet been reported that bio-minerals such as apatite can be formed directly into carbon nanotube structures which comprise, for example, graphitic shells. Calcium phosphate compounds are typical minerals and can typically be developed to the chemical structure of apatite, which is generally represented by X5(YO4)3(Z), wherein X may represent Ca, K, Na, Sr, Ba, Mg, Pb, Cb or Zn, Y may represent P, As, V or S, and Z may represent OH−, F−, CO3− or Cl−. Compounds represented by the chemical formula have various properties and structures depending the components and composition ratios of X, Y and Z.
Particularly, compounds in which X is Ca and Y is P are calcium phosphate compounds which have various properties and structures depending on whether Z represents OH−, F−, O−, CO3− or Cl−. Specific examples of the calcium phosphate compounds include hydroxyapatite: HA (Ca/p=1.67)−Ca5(PO4)3(OH); fluoroapatite: (Ca/p=1.67)−Ca5(PO4)3(F); carbonated apatite: (Ca/p=1.67)−Ca10(PO8)6(CO3)(OH), oxyapatite: OA (Ca/p=1.67)−Ca10(PO4)6O; octacalcium phosphate; OCP (Ca/p=1.33)−Ca8H2(PO4)65(H2O); tricalcium phosphate: OCP (Ca/p=1.5)−Ca3(PO4)2; tetracalcium phosphate: OCP (Ca/p=2.0)−Ca4(PO4)2O; brushite; (Ca/p=1.0)−CaH(PO4)2(H2O); and monetite: (Ca/p=1.0)−CaH(PO4)).
These compounds generally have very excellent biocompatibility and are used mainly in the biotechnology field related to the production of artificial teeth and bones, but are known to have low mechanical strength and insufficient electrical and chemical properties.
In addition, the synthesis of calcium phosphate compounds is generally carried out in a moisture- or oxygen-rich atmosphere because of their structural characteristics. Such conditions for the synthesis of calcium phosphate compounds are significantly inconsistent with conditions for the production of graphitic structure, and thus two kinds of materials (graphitic shells and calcium phosphate compounds) were difficult to synthesize simultaneously under the same conditions. Accordingly, there is a need to form composites of calcium phosphate compounds and graphitic nanostructures, thereby improving the mechanical and physical properties of the calcium phosphate compounds.

Single-crystal apatite nanowires sheathed in graphitic shells and synthesis method thereof


A hair dye contains the powder of a poly-element mineral to improve the coloring and colorfastness of the hair dye.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hair dye which contains a poly-element mineral to increase the effectiveness and colorfastness of hair dyes applied on hair.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Conventional uiaioxidating hair dyes contain oxidative dyes such as para-phenylene amine or para-amino phenol and acidic dyes that further include contact dyes such as tar-based colorants, as described for example in Japanese application publication no. JP-2000-128750-A. Many other compositions of hair dyes are known. However, there is a need for improvements to hair dyes that can increase the colorfastness of the dye, prevent fading after multiple washes, and improve the feel of the hair after the dye is applied.


An elastomeric seating member and an assembly incorporating the same, particularly for solenoid coils of solenoid valves in ABS systems, is provided. The elastomeric seating member (40) provides a moisture resistant seal between a first housing (24) in which first members, such as the solenoid coils (26), are mounted and a second housing (48) in which electronic circuitry, such as the electronic control circuitry (38) for the solenoid valves, is mounted. The elastomeric seating member is mounted within a bore (32, 32a) communicating between the first and second housings and provides a seat for the solenoid coils and is arranged to permit the solenoid coils a limited amount of movement so that when the first housing is mounted on a valve block (20) comprising switch parts (30) of the solenoid valve, the elastomeric seating member permits the movement of the solenoid coils for alignment with the switch parts (30). The solenoid coils are coupled to the electronic circuitry in the second housing by way of wires (34) which extend from the solenoid coils through a bore (50 ) in the elastomeric seating member. The wires are electrically coupled to contacts on integral flexible finger portions (46) of a circuit board containing the electronic circuitry.

In ABS systems, it is known to connect the solenoid coils of the solenoid valves to electronic control circuitry remote from the coils by way of a conductive card (2), as shown in FIG. 1. The electronic control circuitry (not shown) is not located in the housing (4) since the circuitry can be damaged by the ambient conditions such as temperature, vibration and moisture.
The conductive card (2) is mounted in a housing (4), which also contains an array of electric solenoids (8) (only one of which is shown). Housing (4) is mounted on a valve block (10) which is of ferromagnetic material and which conducts the magnetic flux developed by solenoid coils (8). The valve block (10) comprises a plurality of domes (11) (only one of which is shown) containing mechanical switch parts (12) of the solenoid valves. Each coil (8) is annular and surrounds a respective one of the domes (11). It is important that the coil (8) is aligned accurately with respect to the dome (11) in order to obtain optimum magnetic flux. The solenoid coil (8) is coupled to conductive card (2) through holes (3) in the conductive card (2) via two stiff wire leads (14). Thus, it is important that the wire leads (14) are accurately aligned with the holes (3). Such a need for accurate alignment increases the difficulty of attaching the solenoids via the leads (14) to the conductive card (2) and increases the production costs. Furthermore, it is necessary to accurately align the solenoids (8) relative to the switch parts in blocks (10) which also increases the production costs.
To assemble this arrangement, electrical connections must be made between the control circuitry (not shown) and the conductive card (2) and between the conductive card and the solenoid coils (8)
This arrangement suffers from a number of additional disadvantages and problems due to the necessitated separation of the control circuitry and solenoid valves. For instance, a significant amount of space is required for the solenoid valves and the control circuitry, additional electrical connections must be made during assembly, the conductive card and the leads (14) can be damaged during assembly, and the conductive card may be subject to corrosion particular since the connection of the housing (4) to the valve block (10) does not provide a sufficient seal to protect the card (2) from ambient conditions.

Assembly and elastomeric seating member for providing a flexable seat for a member


A method and apparatus for testing network data signals in an optical wavelength division multiplexing network employ an optical wavelength division multiplexing function and a network analysis function to analyze the optical spectrum and extract from and insert data signals into a wavelength division multiplexing network for data signal analysis by the network analysis function.

Optical Wavelength Division Multiplexing ("WDM") has become a standard technology for fiber optic communication systems for the transmission of voice, data, the Internet, etc. WDM systems employ signals consisting of a number of different, unique wavelengths or channels, to transmit information. Each wavelength channel is modulated by a data signal, typically in the form of a stream of bits, which encode the voice or Internet traffic. As a result, a significant number of data signals may be transmitted simultaneously over a single optical fiber using WDM technology.
Despite the substantially higher fiber bandwidth utilization provided by WDM technology, multiplexing and demultiplexing create a number of serious problems that must be overcome, such as cross-talk, equalization, chromatic dispersion, network management, and routing of the information signals, for such systems to be commercially viable. Testing and troubleshooting problems are also greatly complicated by the additional components and complexity of a WDM network. Without additional testing tools, network maintenance is very difficult, resulting in significant time and effort expended to install and maintain a WDM network.
Multiplexing involves the process of combining multiple signals (each signal on its own wavelength) into a single multiple wavelength WDM signal. De-multiplexing is the opposite process in which each single wavelength is extracted and decomposed from the multiple wavelength signal. Each signal is thus reconstructed to match the original information signal before multiplexing.
Each wavelength channel has the capability to carry several gigabits of binary data per second. This is also referred to as the modulation rate. As the modulation rate is increased, more data can be carried, since each bit transmitted causes the carrier signal to be modulated. The modulation rate is currently defined by industry standards, SONET ("Synchronous Optical NETwork") developed by the American National Standards Institute ("ANSI") in the United States and used in North America, and SDH ("Synchronous Digital Hierarchy") developed by the International Telecommunication Union ("ITU") and used throughout most of the rest of the world.
Currently, nearly all information transmitted over fiber, whether voice, data, Internet, or e-mail, is done using the SONET/SDH standard. However, other standards for transmission of high data rates are emerging, such as Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The present invention applies to the transmission of SONET/SDH, Ethernet, or other standards or proprietary protocols that may emerge in the future.
Understandably, as with many standards, use of the SONET/SDH standard has become not only typical but effectively required, because both the network transmitter and the network receiver must operate under identical standards so that the receiver can decipher the information sent by the transmitter. By using equipment that conforms to the standards, carriers (companies that build and operate networks) may then mix equipment from different vendors for their networks.
One reason SONET has become so successful is that it was designed so that the integrity of the data stream can be verified, even when live traffic is being transmitted. There are a number of established test equipment vendors building test-sets for analyzing SONET and SDH. Precise measurements of the error performance of the bit stream can be made. Equivalent test equipment can be expected in the future for Ethernet and other standards that may emerge, since test and verification is required to operate a successful network.
Current technology allows for a modulation rate of between 51 Megabits per second ("Mbps") and 10 Gigabits per second ("Gbps"). An increase in the modulation rate results in a spectrally wider channel signal. Consequently, the wider signal and narrower spacing between channels mean that the signals are closer together, and thus harder to separate. As a result, data loss and distortion, such as crosstalk from adjacent signals, may occur.
As greater and greater amounts of data needed to be transmitted, further technological improvements led to the deployment of an improved, higher capacity protocol called dense wavelength division multiplexing ("DWDM"), which allows even more data streams (channels) to be transmitted over a single strand of fiber.
For data quality and system performance analysis, there are a number of very well established test equipment vendors who manufacture test-sets and testing mechanisms for analyzing SONET/SDH networks, as previously indicated. There are also established methods to look at the WDM signal, particularly on a physical layer level. For example, by looking at the WDM spectrum, various anomalies can be determined, such as cross-talk, correct channel wavelength and power levels, channel power equalization, and background noise levels.
Unfortunately, there is no effective way to combine the WDM and the SONET analytical techniques. Further, in the typical situation where there is a particular SONET/SDH (or other) signal of interest in a WDM on a fiber, it is difficult to extract and analyze that individual SONET/SDH (or other) signal.
The difficulty in using contemporary SONET/SDH testing equipment to monitor just one single WDM wavelength resides in the SONET/SDH receivers, which are designed to receive a single SONET/SDH data stream. The receivers therefore cannot be used directly to analyze WDM transmissions. If a WDM signal is directly inputted into a SONET/SDH analyzer, the test set will be unable to extract all the different individual data signals. The output will be meaningless and the test useless. It is not possible to extract each individual wavelength so that each can be analyzed individually.
Each single wavelength or carrier channel may carry upwards of 10 gigabits of data per second, each made up of thousands of tributary channels, called T1 lines. Carriers and equipment vendors find it necessary to be able to analyze each T1 and to verify each for quality. The scale of the challenge is daunting: to monitor all these information channels within the single SONET/SDH carrier channel wavelength, and then to multiply that by up to 81 or more different wavelengths that are possible in a WDM network.
The monitoring and testing generally falls into two analysis categories. One category is analyzing for defects on networks carrying live traffic, also referred to as "in service" testing. If a problem occurs, a network element will signal an alarm, which is transmitted inside the data overhead so that the remainder of the network (and the network operators) can identify the problem and react to it. It is also possible to detect transmission errors since parity checking is usually specified in the standards. By looking at the overhead for alarms and defects, the health and the quality of the circuit can be determined.
The other analysis category is bit error rate ("BER") testing. This is "out-of-service" monitoring that is performed on a line when it is out of service. In that state, there is nothing on the line except what the monitoring tester puts on it. Typically, a pseudo-random test pattern, such as 223−1, is utilized to send a number of bits in pseudo-random sequence from one end of the line to the other. It is then possible to identify if any of those bits is received in error at the other end. Note that this out-of-service bit error rate testing needs to be done for every one of those hundreds or thousands of information channels across the plurality of carrier channel wavelengths.
A long felt need therefore remains for a method and apparatus for testing SONET/SDH signals on a WDM network, in which established in-service and out-of-service SONET/SDH testing protocols and capabilities can be advantageously employed in an accurate, rapid, effective, timely, and cost effective manner. A need also remains for a testing capability that is automatic and can therefore execute when and as needed, regardless of operator availability, and is not subject to possible operator error. The same need will exist for the testing of emerging standards that will be carried in WDM channels.
Solutions to problems of this sort have been long sought, but have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Method and apparatus for testing network data signals in a wavelength division multiplexed optical network


Provided herein are cyclic peptide inhibitors of lysine-specific demethylase 1. These cyclic peptides have the potential to treat cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders.

The present application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 61/871,688, filed Aug. 29, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The sequence listing that is contained in the file named "MESCP0078US_ST25. txt", which is 3 KB (as measured in Microsoft Windows®) and was created on Aug. 22, 2014, is filed herewith by electronic submission and is incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of medicine. More particularly, it concerns cyclic peptide inhibitors of lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1).
2. Description of Related Art
Lysine-rich histone tails protrude through nucleosomal DNA strands, and act as sites for several post-translational modifications (PTMs), allowing alteration of higher order chromatin structure. There are numerous lysine methylation sites on histone tails, and PTMs at specific lysine marks can promote transcriptional activation or silencing. The flavin-dependent lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) selectively removes methyl groups from mono- and di-methylated histone 3 lysine 4 (1-13K4), resulting in gene silencing. More specifically, LSD1 binds to the co-repressor protein CoREST and catalyzes the oxidative demethylation of histone 3 methyllysine 4 (H3K4me1) and histone 3 dimethyllysine 4 (H3K4me2). Methylated histone 3 lysine 4 (H3K4) is a transcription-activating chromatin mark at gene promoters, and demethylation of this mark by LSD1 is known to aberrantly silence expression of tumor suppressor genes important in human cancer. Because it is overexpressed in many human cancers. LSD 1 has emerged as an important target for the development of specific inhibitors as a new class of antitumor agents.
To date a handful of small molecule inhibitors of LSD1 have been described. Effective LSD1 inhibitors include tranylcypromine-based analogues, such as 1 and 2 (WO2010/084160; WO2011/035941), oligoamines such as verlindamycin (aka 2d) 3 (Huang et al., 2007) and related isosteric ureas and thioureas (Sharma et al., 2010; Sharma et al, 2012), and peptide based LSD1 inhibitors 4 and S (Cuthane et al., 2006; Culhane et al., 2010; Szewczuk et al., 2007; Yang et al., 2007). Fomeris et al. (2007) described a 21 amino acid peptide analogous to the histone 3 lysine tail, wherein Lys4 is replaced by a methionine compound 8, FIG. 1). Although this linear peptide is a potent inhibitor of LSD1/CoREST (Ki 0.04 μM), it has little potential for use as a drug, since it would be poorly transported across membranes, and would be rapidly hydrolyzed in viva. Cyclic peptides are more stable against proteolytic enzymes than their linear counterparts (Hruby et al., 2002), and can facilitate elucidation of bioactive conformations that are important for biological activity. To date, a cyclic peptide inhibitor of LSD1 has not been described.

Cyclic peptide inhibitors of lysine-specific demethylase 1

MUSC Foundation for Research Development


An architecture for microcontroller with embedded flash memory is provided. The microcontroller allows the reprogramming of data into the embedded flash memory of the microcontroller to be performed on-board without having to dismount the entire IC package of the microcontroller from the circuit board and then use a dedicated writer to perform the write operation. The reprogramming operation can be initiated either by an external reprogramming-enable signal or an internal reprogramming-enable signal. When either of these two signals is generated, it causes an OR gate to output a high-voltage logic signal to a multiplexer to thereby cause the multiplexer to select a ROM unit for connection to the microprocessor unit. This allows the microprocessor unit to execute a reprogramming control routine stored in the ROM unit. The flash memory unit further stores a reprogramming detection/initialization routine which checks whether a flash reprogramming request signal is issued from the main-unit interface. With this microcontroller architecture, the reprogramming of data into the embedded flash memory can be performed on-board without having to laboriously dismount the microcontroller from the circuit board. The reprogramming operation is therefore quite easy and quick to perform, thus more cost-effective than the prior art.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microcontroller architectures, and more particularly, to a microcontroller with programmable embedded flash memory, which allows the programming or reprogramming of data into the flash memory to be conveniently carried out on-board.
2. Description of Related Art
A microcontroller is a "computer-on-one-chip" integrated circuit that comes with a complete microprocessor unit and embedded memory and input/output (I/O) units. The embedded memory is usually flash memory which is an erasable, reprogrammable kind of memory that permits a data block or groups of blocks to be erased and reprogrammed without having to erasing the entire memory. Conventionally, the programming of data into the flash memory should be performed off-board and requires the use of a dedicated writer to perform.
If a microcontroller is already soldered in position on a circuit board and reprogramming of data into its embedded flash memory is required, the entire IC package of the microcontroller should be dismounted from the circuit board before the reprogramming operation can be performed. Due to this drawback, in the event that any bugs are found in the embedded flash memory in the microcontroller after the circuit boards have been delivered to the customers, the repair would involve very laborious work. There exists, therefore, a need for a method that allows the reprogramming of data into the embedded flash memory in the microcontroller to be performed on-board without having to dismount the microcontroller from the circuit board.
Various solutions to the foregoing problem have been disclosed. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,593 to Thomas et. al. teaches the use of serial port to perform the reprogramming of data into the embedded flash memory of microcontroller; and moreover, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,734 to Lawrence teaches the use of test pins for the reprogramming. These solutions, however, still have some drawbacks. First, they are not applicable to microcontrollers that are provided with no serial ports or test pins. For this kind of microcontrollers, the reprogramming requires the use of additional external circuits and modifications to the internal circuitry of the microcontroller. Second, the use of the serial port to perform the reprogramming is relative slow in speed. If the capacity of the embedded flash memory is large, it would take quite a lengthy period of time to complete the reprogramming.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a conventional architecture of microcontroller, as designated by the reference numeral I 0, which is mounted on a circuit board and connected via an interface 20 to a main unit (not shown) that is under control by the microcontroller 10. As shown, the microcontroller 10 includes a microprocessor unit 16 and a flash memory unit 12. The flash memory unit 12 is connected via an internal data bus 14 to the microprocessor unit 16, while the microprocessor unit 16 is connected via an external data bus 18 to the main-unit interface 20.
In operation, the microprocessor unit 16 executes a main control program fetched via the internal data bus 14 from the flash memory unit 12 to thereby perform a control function specific to the microcontroller 10. The control signals issued by the microprocessor unit 16 are then transferred via the external data bus 18 and the interface 20 to the main unit (not shown) which is under control by the microcontroller 10.
One drawback to the foregoing microcontroller system, however, is that when the flash memory unit 12 in the microcontroller 10 needs to be reprogrammed, the entire IC package of the microcontroller 10 should be dismounted from the circuit board and then mounted on a dedicated writer or programmer to write the new data into the flash memory unit 12. After the reprogramming is completed, the entire IC package of the microcontroller 10 is then remounted back onto the circuit board. The reprogramming is therefore quite inconvenient and time-consuming to perform.

Microcontroller with programmable embedded flash memory


A food delivery container for delivering food that is not contaminated during delivery. The container is locked with an electromechanical lock that is keyed with a unique electronic code or key that is generated during the ordering process based on information collected from the consumer. The electronic key is transmitted to the user's electronic device, such as a phone, and the user transmits the key from the electronic device to the lock to unlock the container.

Retail food delivery is a courier service in which a restaurant, store, or independent food-delivery company delivers food to a customer. An order is typically made either through a restaurant or grocer's website or phone, or through a food ordering company. The delivered items can include entrees, sides, drinks, desserts, or grocery items and are typically delivered in boxes or bags. The delivery person will normally drive a car, but in bigger cities where homes and restaurants are closer together, they may use bikes or motorized scooters.
Customers can, depending on the delivery company, choose to pay online or in person, with cash or card. A flat rate delivery fee is often charged with what the customer has bought. Sometimes no delivery fees is charged depending upon the situation. Tips are often customary for food delivery service. Contactless delivery may also be an option.
Orders are being done through their delivery websites, mobile apps, or by phone. Time of delivery usually takes around 30 to 45 minutes.
It is estimated that online restaurant ordering is growing 300% faster than dine-in traffic. "Online ordering has started to become the norm, thanks to the convenience, accuracy, and ability to integrate payments. The rise of a global pandemic has further fueled growth of food deliveries as a way to maintain social distance while still enjoying restaurant fare. At scale, ubiquitous on-demand and subscription delivery of prepared food could potentially spell the end of cooking at home."
In the US, the top three restaurant food delivery services are DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats, which together account for some 80 percent of the sector's revenue. As the number of restaurant food delivery systems has increased, so have the logistical challenges of tracking online orders—restaurants using delivery services usually must have each service's tablet or iPad to receive orders, which then must be transferred into the restaurant's own Point of Sale (POS) system. To streamline this, software-as-a-service companies have emerged to integrate the online ordering, billing and dispatching of restaurant food orders. In addition to providing online ordering software for restaurant chains (e.g. Applebee's, Cheesecake Factory, Chipotle, Shake Shack), these SaaS companies' digital platforms also provide data analysis that these restaurants use for medium- and long-term planning.
Despite the growing food-delivery market certain challenges exist. Current food delivery containers are designed based on pre-pandemic conditions. Standard food delivery containers can be opened, either intentionally or accidentally, and exposed to a contagion such as COVID-19. Thus a need exists for a system and method for a food-delivery container which allows the consumer to control access to his or her ordered food.

Systems and methods for delivering uncontaminated food orders