A cradle is arranged to be clipped onto or otherwise removably secured to a writing instrument, and to hold a camera or other optical image capture device so that images of marks made by the writing instrument may be captured and transmitted to a processor for remote display, storage, and/or processing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device, system, and method for electronically capturing hand-written notes and sketches.
The invention also relates to a cradle arranged to be clipped onto or otherwise removably secured to a writing instrument, and to hold a camera or other optical image capture device (such as an optical image scanner or a lens connected to a remote camera by fiber optics, hereinafter referred to as an optical reader).
In addition, the invention relates to a note or sketch transcription device that includes an optical reader or camera held by a cradle that may be clipped or otherwise removably secured to a writing instrument, and means such as an electrical cable, fiber optic cable, or wireless transmitter for transmitting images of hand-written notes from the optical reader or camera to a central processing unit as they are being written.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a system that includes an optical reader or camera, a cradle for removably clipping or otherwise securing the optical reader or camera to a writing instrument, means such as an electrical cable, fiber optic cable, or wireless transmitter for transmitting images of hand-written notes from the optical reader or camera to a central processing unit as they are being written, and a central processing unit for receiving, processing, viewing, and/or storing the optical images.
Finally, the invention relates to a hand-written note or sketch transcription method that includes the steps of removably clipping an optical reader or camera onto a writing instrument, taking notes or drawing sketches using the writing instrument while transmitting images of the notes or sketches from the optical reader or camera back to the central processing unit for storage, display, and/or analysis, removing the cradle from the writing instrument, and removably clipping the cradle onto another writing instrument.
The device, system, and method of the invention are intended to be used with any type of hand-held writing instrument including, but not limited to, pens, lead pencils, chalk, grease pencils, and markers. Among the applications of the device, system, and method of the invention are transcription of materials written on a chalkboard by teachers or coaches, notes taken by students or employees at lectures or meetings, homework assignments by a bed-ridden or handicapped student, crime scene and suspect descriptions or sketches taken by police officers, orders taken by servers in restaurants, prescriptions written by doctors, hand-written Chinese or Japanese ideograms, and hand-written letters in languages requiring accent or inflection marks not part of a regular alphabet, such as Vietnamese or Arabic.
A significant difference between the device, system, and method of the invention and prior devices, systems, and methods for capturing images of hand-written notes, messages, or signatures, lies in the use of the afore-mentioned cradle. The cradle permits the optical reader or camera to be retro-fitted onto any of a variety of existing writing instruments, resulting in far greater versatility than is possible with prior handwriting-transcription devices, systems, and methods.
2. Description of Related Art
Despite the widespread availability of hand-held computers, personal digital assistants, and other portable data entry devices, traditional non-electronic writing instruments such as pens and pencils remain the preferred means of taking notes and creating sketches. Such writing instruments are inexpensive, convenient to carry, extremely easy to use, and essential for spontaneous presentations such as writing of mathematical formulas during a lecture, diagraming of football or basketball plays on a clipboard, and so forth. In fact, the human hand, eye, and brain are uniquely adapted to manipulating traditional writing instruments, whereas keyboards and other computer input devices tend to strain muscles, tendons, nerves, and eyes and, in case of frequent use, can cause severe and even crippling injuries due to the un-natural motions required.
The drawback of traditional writing instruments is that there is no convenient way to enable viewing of the hand-written notes, sketches, diagrams, and the like by persons remote from the location of the writer, or of saving the notes in a form that facilitates later viewing, editing, or distribution. To accomplish such remote viewing or saving of hand-written notes, the notes must be captured electronically, but electronic capture requires laborious manual input of the notes into a computing device, or time-consuming scanning of each page of notes, and is essentially impossible when the notes are written on an impermanent medium such as a chalkboard.
It has previously been proposed to eliminate the need for manual data entry of scanning by capturing the handwritten notes or sketches as they are written, using an appropriately positioned scanner or camera. The previously proposed devices, systems, and methods most relevant to the present invention have generally fallen into three categories:                I. optical readers or cameras integrated with specially-designed writing instruments;        II. systems for capturing images of entire chalkboards and other varied writing surfaces; and        III. non-optical sensors designed to be mounted on conventional writing instruments.
The basic principle of integrating an optical reader or video camera with a writing instrument has been known at least since 1965, when U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,295 issued. As concisely stated therein, integration of the optical reader and writing instrument provides a convenient "means for indicating instantaneously at remote points whatever message is being written with the utensil." The present invention, and the devices disclosed in such later patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,475,240; 5,960,124; 5,774,602; 5,748,808; 5,215,397; 5,107,541 all share this basic principle. However, despite significant advances in scanner and camera technology since 1965, integrated optical reader/writing instrument devices have yet tp attain widespread acceptance. The reason is that the prior integrated devices all possess the disadvantages, which are overcome by the present invention, that they can only be used with a single type of writing instrument, and that when the writing instrument is worn out or broken, the optical reader is rendered useless. Most individuals become accustomed-to and favor particular types of writing instruments, based on the shape of the barrel, quality of ink, lead, or other writing medium, and overall appearance of the instrument, and it is very difficult and costly to produce integrated writing/optical reader instruments that correspond in type to all of the different writing instruments currently in use. Use of the optical reader is more likely if the user does not have to give up a favored writing instrument, or abandon existing inventories of such instruments.
So far, the only way to enable transcription of notes irrespective of the type of writing instrument used to take the notes, has been to simply capture images of the entire surface on which the notes or sketches are written, as proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,044,165 and 4,511,929. These patents explicitly recognize the need to capture, for example, "handwriting on a whiteboard or chalkboard," but reject the possibility of mounting the camera on a chalk or whiteboard marker. While solving the problem of restriction to a particular writing instrument, however, such image capture systems and methods require bulky equipment and are difficult and time consuming to set up, making them impractical for most note-taking applications.
The third category of previously-proposed hand-writing capture devices, systems, and methods, involving non-optical motion sensors that may be retrofitted onto conventional writing instruments, provides greater convenience and flexibility, but in general can only be used for the more limited purpose of capturing features or characteristics of the handwriting rather than its content, and are primarily intended for signature verification. Examples include motion detectors designed to be clipped onto writing instruments, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,661; a stylus housing containing a transmit portion signals to a set of receivers, the stylus housing being designed to house a variety of writing elements including chalk, pencil lead, and markers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,565; and a biometrics sensor provided in the form of a "stylus grip 30 . . . that is compatible with conventional styluses and pencils," as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,956. The latter patent is of particular interest because the biometrics sensing "stylus grip" may be used with a "stylus" that includes an optical or imaging print sensor, but there is no suggestion in the patent to enable the grip itself to hold the optical or imaging print sensor so that the print sensor rather than the biometrics sensor may be removably secured to different writing instruments.
Also of interest as background with respect to the present invention are U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,077, which discloses an integrated optical reader/writing instrument designed to capture the crossing points of a signature rather than an image of the entire signature or other hand-written markings, U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,170, which discloses an optical reader integrated with a highlighter pen but which is designed to read the text being highlighted rather than the marks made by the highlighter pen; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,702, which discloses a "writing instrument having an integrated optical reader" that clearly is not designed to read text or images written by the writing instrument, as evidenced by the fact that the writing tip and reader tip are never made accessible at the same time (col. 3, lines 29–36), the reader tip being provided instead for general purpose scanning.
Finally by way of general background, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,548,092; 5,434,371; 5,247,137; and 5,159,321 are of interest for their disclosures of writing instruments in which marks made by the writing instrument are recorded based on signals from integral, as opposed to removable, strain gauges, pressure sensors, accelerometers, and/or other types of non-optical motion or force sensors, while U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,310,988; 5,745,177; 5,301,243; and 5,574,804 disclose pen-shaped scanners and video cameras that do not include any sort of writing instrument and which therefore cannot be used to capture images of hand-written notes or sketches to be captured as they are written.

Note and sketch transcription device, system, and method


A reading lamp system for passengers especially in an aircraft is equipped with at least one central light source preferably including a cool light lamp, the light of which is supplied through light guides such as fiber optical conductors, to individual reading lamps having a housing to which the respective light guide is connected. A liquid crystal film is positioned in the lamp housing between the light exit of the respective light guide and a lens that provides a light output from the reading lamp housing. The liquid crystal film is controllable in its light transparency by a passenger through a switch, whereby the passenger can make the liquid crystal film opaque to switch off the reading lamp or transparent to switch on the lamp. A dimmer may also be arranged to provide intermediate light level illuminations.

German Patent Publication DE 3,824,371 A1 (Aqua Signal AG), published on Sep. 14, 1989, discloses an illuminating device particularly for ships and aircraft. Lighting fixtures of the known system are connected through fiber optical conductors, through an optical system, and through a filter to a high power point light source which in turn is connected through electrical conductors to a power source such as the onboard electrical power supply. The filter eliminates from the spectrum emitted by the high power light source those wave lengths that do not contribute to the visible light spectrum, whereby only visible light enters into the fiber optical cable. The known system aims at reducing maintenance work on external signal lights in aircraft and ships. All lamps supplied by the same light source are switched on or off in unison by controlling the central light source.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,908 (Oster), issued on Oct. 27, 1907, discloses a fiber optic lighting system with bundles of fiber optical conductors which may have different lengths to feed light to individual reflectors forming light outputs. Each light output has a convex reflector held in a concave reflector. A transparent rotatable disc having sectors of different colors is positioned so that the sectors can be rotated into a light path from the light source to the inlets of the optical fiber conductor bundles. The disc is rotatable by a motor. The Oster system is especially suitable as an ornamental lighting system for trees or for display presentations. Again, all light ouputs are only switchable in unison.
The prior art discussed above does not address the problem of providing an efficient illumination for individual passenger seats to increase the passenger comfort, for example, in an aircraft passenger cabin. Conventionally, each passenger seat is illuminated by a lighting fixture including an incandescent bulb and a respective lens system installed overhead, whereby the passenger can operate a switch to activate or deactivate the individual seat or reading lamp. Some conventional incandescent bulb reading lamps with a reflector are position adjustable so that the passenger can direct the light beam to a desired area.
Conventional passenger reading lamps with incandescent bulbs have several disadvantages. Generally the incandescent bulbs require a voltage different from that of the onboard power supply network so that at least one transformer or many smaller transformers are required, generally one for each lamp unit. The total number of transformers adds to the weight of the lighting system. Further, the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs is low and unsatisfactory even if halogen lamps are used. Moreover, the exchange of defective incandescent bulbs involves a substantial maintenance effort and expense. Additionally, lighting fixtures with incandescent bulbs require a substantial space above the passenger seat. Thus, there is room for improvement.

Reading lamp system for passengers especially in an aircraft


A digital circuit is disclosed for detecting clock activity in an integrated circuit (IC) device. In one implementation, a clock detection circuit can include two flip flops. A first flip flop detects activity on the clock being tested (e.g., the flip flop is set when a positive clock edge is detected). A second flip flop is coupled to the output of first flip flop and is operable by an enable signal to sample the output of the first flip flop. The output of the second flip flop is asserted as active, when a positive clock edge occurs between the release of the reset signal on the first flip flop and the assertion of the enable signal on the second flip flop. In some implementations, one or more additional flips can be interposed between the first and second flips to control metastability.

A contactless smart card is commonly used for security access or payment systems. Contactless smart cards generally include an antenna, in the form of an inductor, coupled to an integrated circuit (IC). The IC commonly includes a capacitor which forms a resonant circuit with the antenna. A card reader presents an alternating magnetic field that excites the inductor/capacitor resonant circuit, which in turn energizes and powers the IC. The IC can then perform one or more functions, such as transmitting a card number through the antenna to the card reader.
Many smart cards include an integrated circuit (IC) device. The IC device includes various circuits and a central processing unit (CPU) for performing operations on data, including operations on secret data (e.g., manipulating a private key). The CPU can be subjected to an analysis attack by an individual seeking to recover the secret data. For example, an attacker may try to deduce a secret key by measuring various circuit voltages through the IC device, single-stepping the CPU clock, then measuring the circuit voltages again to deduce the operation performed by the CPU and the operand manipulated during the operation.
Conventional solutions to protect against analysis attacks use two low frequency detectors to detect low clock frequencies. A first low frequency detector is connected to a clock pin of the IC chip. A second, low frequency detector is connected to an internal clock. The second low frequency detector is capable of detecting lower clock frequencies than the first low frequency detector. The second low frequency detector typically includes a custom cell delay line which consumes a large area on the IC die. This large footprint can preclude using the second low frequency detector on more than one clock on the IC device.


Stroma-free hemoglobin cross-linked with reagents that mimic 2,3-diphosphoglycerate and transform stroma-free hemoglobin into a physiologically competent oxygen carrier which is retained in vivo for adequate periods of time, and thus can be used in fluids for transporting oxygen is described.

1. Stroma-Free Hemoolobin
Intravenously injected (infused) crude hemolysates and extensive hemolytic processes produced in vivo by immunological reactions involving intravascular lysis of red blood cells, are known to produce a clinical syndrome characterized by disseminate intravascular coagulation. This syndrome is often fatal and is produced by the residual red blood cell walls (stroma) and their fragments, so infused into circulating blood. Stroma-free hemolysates do not show this toxicity (See Rabiner et al, J. Exp. Med., 126:1127 (1967). As a result, it has been desired to use stroma-free hemoglobin as an oxygen carrier in cell-free transfusional fluids.
However, the use of stroma-free hemoglobin has the following two disadvantages. In vivo, the retention time of the stroma-free human hemoglobin is very short, i.e., it has a half-life on the order of 1-4 hours (see Rabiner et al, supra, and De Venuto et al, Transfusion, 17:555 (1977)). "Half-life" is defined as the time necessary to eliminate 50% of the infused hemoglobin from circulating blood. Further, outside of the red blood cells, hemoglobin has a high affinity for oxygen which, in vivo, would prevent the release, i.e., the transport, of oxygen from hemoglobin to the tissues. These disadvantages are directly the result of the molecular structure of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a tetrameric molecule having a molecular weight of 64,500 Daltons. The tetrameric molecule is formed of two pairs of alpha and beta subunits. The subunits are held together as a result of ionic and Van der Waals forces, and not as a result of covalent bonds. When hemoglobin is oxygenated, i.e., combined with oxygen, it readily forms alpha-beta dimers having a molecular weight of 32,250 Daltons. These dimers are not retained in vivo by the kidneys and are eliminated through the urine.
The tetrameric structure of hemoglobin also provides a binding site for 2,3-diphosphoglycerate. Inside red blood cells, 2,3-diphosphoglycerate combines with hemoglobin in order to decrease its oxygen affinity to a level compatible with oxygen transport. The binding of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate and hemoglobin is purely electrostatic and no stable covalent bonds are formed. Thus, when red blood cells are ruptured and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate is not retained inside the cells by the cell wall, it is released from hemoglobin. As a result, hemoglobin acquires a higher oxygen affinity. This prevents the transport of oxygen from hemoglobin to the tissues. The level of this higher affinity is sufficient such that the oxygen affinity can be considered "non-physiological".
Because of the many appealing qualities of hemoglobin, i.e., its ability to reversibly bind oxygen, the low viscosity of a hemoglobin solution and its easy preparation and storage for long periods of time, various attempts have been made in order to overcome the above described disadvantageous characteristics of stroma-free hemoglobin. These various attempts are discussed in more detail below.

Hemoglobin intramolecularly cross-linked with trivalent reagents


A pipe and a method of manufacturing same according to the pipe is formed, at least in part, with a tubular member formed of a plastic material, and dispersing a plurality of electrical current conductive materials in the plastic material for increasing the electrical conductivity of the tubular layer.

The present invention relates to a temperature controlled pipe and a method of manufacturing same, and, more particularly to a pipe that can be heated.
When crude oil, gas, or other similar fluids are transported through pipes and/or risers in subsea environments, several challenges are presented with respect to designing the pipes and risers for transporting the fluids. For example, the pipes and risers must provide a fluid barrier while being resistant to collapse and penetration yet must be flexible and connectable to other equipment. Also, the temperature of the fluid flowing the pipe often must be maintained above a minimum value to insure that the conveyed fluid flows freely. For example, when the conveyed fluid is primarily methane, moisture present in the gas can form methane hydrate when the pressure is sufficient and the temperature is not sufficiently high. These, hydrates build locally and tend to clog the pipe. Also, when the conveyed fluid is crude oil with an excessive amount of wax dissolved in the oil, wax can build up on the walls of the pipe, which leads to a decreased flow in the pipe and associated oil production.
Therefore, several attempts have been made to heat flexible pipes, such as by wrapping an electric heater wire around the pipe or embedding such a wire in a layer of the pipe. However, these arrangements are less than optimum since, in general, the compositions of the various layers of pipe are not good conductors of the heat or electrical current.
The embodiments of the present invention overcome these deficiencies.

Temperature controlled pipe and method of manufacturing same


A device for measuring the temperature of molten metal irrespective of the nature of the metal, particularly, an immersion/contact type temperature sensing device involving optical fiber which can be universally used for different materials and would be adapted for safe and repetitive immersion in molten metal for measurement of molten metal temperatures and the like. The proposed immersion/contact type temperature sensing device involves combination two-color and multi-color pyrometric detection technique is capable of cost effective and discrete-time temperature measurement of molten metal. The advancement is thus directed to serve as a ready and fast accurate measurement of molten metal temperature and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to advancements in measurement of temperature of molten metal and the like and, in particular, to advancements in immersion-type sensor for measurement of temperature of molten metals and more particularly to an optical fiber based temperature sensor. Importantly, the sensor of the invention is directed to a user friendly and cost effective discrete-time temperature measurement of molten metal. Advantageously the invention directed towards the development of a temperature sensor device, which is invulnerable to external electromagnetic radiation, is cost effective and not prone to changes in material emmissivities and can be used to measure the temperature of the molten metal irrespective of the nature of the metal.
2. Description of the Related Art
The knowledge of liquid metal temperature is essential as it directly influences the quality of the end product as well as the productivity of the metal plant. To measure the molten metal temperature, different immersion type temperature measurement techniques are used. Amongst all these techniques, optical temperature measurement and thermoelectric temperature measurement are widely used.
Traditionally, the immersion type thermoelectric temperature sensors are based on thermocouples but these are not viable in several applications. Specifically, they are not immune to electromagnetic radiation, have slow response times and allow for low sampling frequencies. The use of non-contact pyrometry for the measurement of steel temperatures is a known technique and several patents cover various details of this technique—for. e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,698, U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,540 etc. The major drawback of non-contact pyrometry is that the incident radiation is received not only from the hot body to be measured but other hot bodies that are invariably present in the vicinity. These bodies have different emissivities and introduce complex errors that are difficult to quantify and eliminate. In general, non-contact pyrometry techniques have high errors and some might be outside the tolerance of those acceptable to the industry.
It is also known in the art to involve contact/immersion type temperature sensors wherein instead of picking up radiation from the surface of a hot body and analyzing it for temperature, a probe containing an optical fiber is immersed into the metal. U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,031 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,910 B1 describe a similar technique for temperature measurement wherein an optical fiber in reel form is carried. One end of the reel is immersed into the molten metal and the other end is connected to a radiation thermometer, which is essentially an optical pyrometer. However, as a consequence of using the optical fiber in a reel form a length of fiber equal to the thickness of the slag is always wasted on each immersion. This causes losses of the expensive optical fiber during each measurement.
A second problem associated with the presently available contact/immersion type measurements is that when the tip of the optical fiber which is metal-covered is kept immersed into the molten steel for a long time after detecting the temperature of the molten steel, the metallic coating layer of the optical fiber becomes gaseous in the high temperature environment. Then, the generated gas is ejected from the tip of the optical fiber, and is ignited if oxygen is present. To prevent such an accident, the tip of the metal-covered optical fiber is drawn up from the molten steel immediately after measuring the temperature of the molten steel. Then, the tip once used as the temperature measuring element is cut off before next temperature measurement cycle, and the fresh tip is immersed into the molten steel at the next measuring cycle.
The third drawback is that the signal from the hot body is significantly attenuated along the length of the fiber. Thus, the signal received by the radiation thermometer is weak and the signal to noise ratio is low. In addition, the attenuation is dependent non-linearly on the length and since the length of the fiber keeps changing, continuous adjustment has to be made for this changing attenuation. This introduces errors into the measurement.
The fourth limitation is that the above discussed techniques are designed to be continuous measurement techniques and are not suitable in areas where only instantaneous temperature at critical instances of time is required. By using the continuous techniques, the user is forced to measure the temperature continuously over the entire time range and even during phases when the temperature is non-critical. This leads to economic inefficiency
Apart from the above constructional limitations of the present available measuring systems, it is also experienced that such systems also have some limitations in achieving accurate and faster measurement of temperature. The typical techniques used for temperature measurement by radiation pyrometers in the industry are one-color and two-color pyrometry. In one-color pyrometer, the wavelengths are not differentiated and the entire radiation incident on the pyrometer is measured and correlated to temperature using the Stefan-Boltzmann law. In two color pyrometry, two wavelengths are selected and the intensities of the radiation at these two wavelengths is measured and correlated to temperature by using the Planck's Law. However, Planck's Law is a generic correlation between the temperature of the hot body and the wavelength and intensity of the emitted radiation. By reducing the Planck's Law to only 2 wavelengths, a drastic simplification is effected. An inherent assumption is that the emissivity of the body does not change with wavelength. Multi-wavelength pyrometry eliminates the 2-color pyrometry assumptions. In addition, any chemistry effects on the spectrum are eliminated. Multi-wavelength pyrometry is a known technique and U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,010 B1 discloses a method and apparatuses for measuring the temperature of a radiating body utilizing multi-wavelength pyrometry techniques. However, on account of the quantity of data to be handled to accurately predict the temperature, multi-wavelength pyrometry tends to involve intense, time-consuming processing steps.
Thus all such known techniques especially contact type temperature sensor for the measurement of molten metal temperature are either devices which are complex and/or cost extensive to use and hence not convenient for wide scale repetitive use for measurement of temperature of the molten metal and/or have limitations in reaching to the desired accurate and faster determination of temperature of molten metal/steel. There has been thus a need in the art to develop a method and apparatus for molten metal temperature measurement customized for multiple uses and adaptable to any type of metal and which would also be accurate and faster for the purposes of desired temperature determination.

Immersion type sensor for measuring temperature


An organic light emitting display device includes: a scan driver configured to sequentially supply a scan signal to scan lines, and supply an emission control signal to emission control lines; a data driver configured to supply a data signal to data lines; a pixel unit (pixel region) including pixels connected with the scan lines, the emission control lines, and the data lines and receiving a first power source which is a high potential pixel power source, a second power source which is a low potential pixel power source, and a third power source which is an initialization power source; and a wiring connecting an anode electrode of an organic light emitting diode of a first pixel in a first horizontal line and a first electrode of a transistor connected with the third power source of a second pixel in a second horizontal line while being adjacent to the first pixel.

1. Field
An aspect of an embodiment of the present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various flat panel display devices, which are lighter and have smaller volume compared to a cathode ray tube, have been developed.
Particularly, an organic light emitting display device among the flat panel display devices display an image by using (utilizing) an organic light emitting diode, which is a self-light emitting device, thereby exhibiting excellent luminance and color purity and thus attracting attention as a next generation display device.
The organic light emitting display device is divided into a Passive Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (PMOLED) and an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED).
The AMOLED includes a plurality of pixels positioned at cross portions (regions) of scan lines and data lines. Further, each pixel includes an organic light emitting diode and a pixel circuit for driving the organic light emitting diode. The pixel circuit is typically formed of a switching transistor, a driving transistor, and a storage capacitor.
The AMOLED has an advantage of low power consumption, thereby usefully used in a portable display device and the like.
However, in the case of the AMOLED, a small leakage current may be generated in the driving transistor while implementing a black image due to a device characteristic of the driving transistor included in the pixel circuit, and luminance to implement the black image (black luminance) is increased by the leakage current, so that the black image fails to display complete black.
This causes deterioration of a contract ratio quality of the organic light emitting display device.

Organic light emitting display device having a wiring connecting a first pixel with a second pixel


A contact used in a cable assembly for connecting to cables includes a flat portion extending along a horizontal direction, a flat connecting portion forward extending from the flat portion, a pair of fastening arms respectively extending from two sides of the flat portion along a vertical direction and a mating portion formed by two curving pieces and respectively forwardly extending from the fastening arms; wherein said cables are soldered on the contacts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a cable assembly, and more particularly to a cable connector with special contacts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wire harness connector is widely used in many electrical device for its well transmitting feature. TW Patent No. 302564 discloses an electrical connector which includes a housing with a plurality of receiving holes, a plurality of contacts received in the receiving holes, and cables crimped by the contacts. The contacts are crimping contacts, thus, in assembly, the contacts are needed to be connected to the cables firstly and then be inserted into the receiving holes of the housing one by one. Thus, this type of contacts reduce producing efficiency and is not fit for roboticized production.
Hence, in this art, a contact to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art should be provided.

Contact and cable assembly with the contact


This invention relates to a safety belt system for vehicles comprising a belt retractor 10 and a webbing clamping mechanisms 12 arranged downstream of the retractor 10 and having two clamping wedges 46 and 48 which are arranged opposite each other in a housing on either side of the webbing. When the slide faces 54, 56 bear on the support surfaces 42, 44 the clamping faces 50, 52 of the clamping wedges 46, 48 form an angle of about one degree with each other which is open in the direction G of the belt withdrawal. Holding devices 402, 404; 410, 414 are provided for holding said clamping wedges 46, 48 in said rest position with their slide faces 54, 56 inclined to said support surfaces 42, 44 and their clamping faces parallel to the webbing. The holding devices become ineffective under load so that the slide faces 54, 56 make a surface contact with said support surfaces 42, 44 and the clamping faces 50, 52 form an angle of about one degree with each other which is open in the direction (G) of belt withdrawal.

The present invention relates to a safety belt restraining system for vehicles, comprising a belt retractor with a frame and a webbing clamping means arranged downstream of the retractor and having two clamping wedges which are arranged opposite each other in a housing on either side of the webbing.
In such a system, which for example is known from DE-OS-3, 330, 938, the webbing clamping means serve the purpose of eliminating or at least reducing the film reel effect on blocking of the belt retractor activated in vehicle-sensitive or webbing-sensitive manner, said effect being the cause for the withdrawal of a few centimeters of webbing length by tightening of the webbing coil after blocking of the webbing reel in conventional belt retractors. Furthermore, the webbing clamping means relieves the belt retractor so that the latter can be dimensioned for small mechanical loads.
Webbing clamping means must be able to take up a very large force exerted on the webbing over their relatively small longitudinal extent in the direction of the webbing path. Consequently, in the event of a vehicle collision the webbing is subjected to extremely high loads in the region of the engagement of the clamping means. However, in normal vehicle operation as well, the webbing can be subjected to loads by the webbing clamping means. For it is desirable to keep the response threshold of the webbing clamping means as low as possible to ensure that said clamping means functions as early as possible in the event of a vehicle collision. However, with a low response threshold even in normal vehicle operation the webbing is frequently, usually at the same point, acted upon by the webbing clamping means and in the course of time can be damaged in a manner affecting safety.
The known construction of the webbing means with clamping wedges arranged on either side of the webbing is able to reduce said stresses because the clamping wedges thereof move synchronously to each other so that no relative movement stressing the webbing takes place between them and the webbing is loaded symmetrically on both sides. However, in practical use the webbing nevertheless tears at stresses which lie substantially below the static tearing resistance of the webbing.

Safety belt restraining system for vehicles


An exciter circuit for a gas turbine engine delivers a first single high-energy spark followed by subsequent sparks of relatively lower energy to ensures start reliability by specifically clearing ice build-up at the ignition plugs.

The present invention relates to an ignition system for a gas turbine engine, and more particularly to an ignition system which delivers a first single high-energy spark followed by subsequent sparks of lower energy.
Gas turbine engine ignition systems typically include an ignition exciter that generates the discharge energy used to fire the ignition plugs or igniters. These circuits are commonly used within the aviation industry, but are not limited to aircraft turbine engines. For example, gas turbine generators and other small turbine engines will typically utilize exciter circuits to provide spark energy to one or more igniter plugs.
A start sequence for a gas turbine engine that coordinates engine speed, ignition and fuel delivery to achieve a reliable start. Conventionally, a dedicated starter motor or a starter-generator, is drivably coupled to the gas turbine engine and is operated to produce rotation thereof. As the starter accelerates the engine, a fuel delivery pump driven by a gearbox attached to a rotor of the gas turbine engine provides fuel flow thereto. The igniters are then fired to effect ignition in a combustor of the engine. Upon successful ignition, and once the engine has reached a self-sustaining speed, the starter is disengaged.
In operation of gas turbine engines, specifically Auxiliary Power Units (APUs), failure to start may result due to ice build-up on the ignition plug tip. Such occurrences may be of particular concern during high altitude operation.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an ignition system for a gas turbine engine that ensures start reliability by specifically clearing ice build-up at the ignition plugs in an inexpensive, uncomplicated and lightweight arrangement.

High energy primary spark ignition system for a gas turbine engine


A system for building a three-dimensional object with a layer-based additive technique, the system comprising a controller configured to receive build sequence data for the three-dimensional object, a head assembly in signal communication with the controller and configured to form a plurality of layers of the three-dimensional object based on the build sequence data, and an insert placement apparatus in signal communication with the controller and configured to place at least one insert in the plurality of formed layers based on the build sequence data.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for building three-dimensional (3D) objects. In particular, the present invention relates to rapid prototyping/manufacturing systems and methods for building 3D objects with layer-based additive techniques.
Rapid prototyping/manufacturing systems are used to build 3D objects from computer-aided design (CAD) models using one or more layer-based additive techniques. Examples of commercially available layer-based additive techniques include fused deposition modeling, ink jetting, selective laser sintering, electron-beam melting, and stereolithographic processes. For each of these techniques, the CAD model of the 3D object is initially sliced into multiple horizontal layers. For each sliced layer, a build path is then generated, which provides instructions for the particular rapid prototyping/manufacturing system to form the given layer. For deposition-based systems (e.g., fused deposition modeling and ink jetting), the build path defines the pattern for depositing roads of build material from a moveable deposition head to form the given layer. Alternatively, for energy-application systems (e.g., selective laser sintering, electron-beam melting, and stereolithographic processes), the build path defines the pattern for emitting energy from a moveable energy source (e.g., a laser) to form the given layer.
For example, in a fused deposition modeling system, build material is extruded from a moveable extrusion head, and is deposited as a sequence of roads on a substrate in an x-y plane based on the build path. The extruded build material fuses to previously deposited build material, and solidifies upon a drop in temperature. The position of the extrusion head relative to the substrate is then incremented along a z-axis (perpendicular to the x-y plane), and the process is then repeated to form a 3D object resembling the CAD model.
In fabricating 3D objects by depositing layers of build materials, supporting layers or structures are typically built underneath overhanging portions or in cavities of objects under construction, which are not supported by the build material itself. A support structure may be built utilizing the same deposition techniques by which the build material is deposited. The host computer generates additional geometry acting as a support structure for the overhanging or free-space segments of the 3D object being formed. The support material adheres to the build material during fabrication, and is removable from the completed 3D object when the build process is complete.
While layer-based additive techniques provide durable 3D objects with high resolutions, there is an increasing demand for 3D objects containing embedded inserts, where the embedded inserts are not necessarily fabricated with the layer-based additive techniques. For example, consumers may request 3D objects containing pre-inserted bolts for allowing the 3D objects to be subsequently secured to other components. Currently, embedded inserts are manually inserted in 3D objects during the build operations, which reduces build efficiencies and may result in lower-accuracy placements of the embedded inserts. As such, there is a need for systems and methods for placing inserts in 3D objects during the build operations with layer-based additive techniques.

System for building three-dimensional objects containing embedded inserts, and method of use thereof


A semiconductor device has a plurality of first opening portions formed in an interlayer insulating film. The surface is covered with a metal film with a surface having concavities and convexities which scatter reflected light. Size of the first opening portion is of the same level as a contact hole of a component and cannot be recognized by an image recognition apparatus. The metal film can be recognized by the image recognition apparatus. By forming a TiN film serving as a reflection prevention film on an end of the metal film, portions that can easily scatter light and a portion that cannot easily reflect light are adjacent in an alignment marker. A passivation film is formed on the interlayer insulating film and the TiN film. Recessed portions disposed in the metal film are exposed to a second opening portion formed in the passivation film and the TiN film.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
B. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, active components and passive components configuring a circuit are disposed on a substrate of a semiconductor device. The active components are transistors and diodes, for example. The passive components are resistors and capacitors, for example. Furthermore, an alignment marker generally is disposed on the substrate of a semiconductor device, separately from such components. The alignment marker is used as a position recognition pattern that is used for automatically performing positioning between a photomask and a wafer when components are produced in a wafer process. In addition, the alignment marker is used as a pattern for automatically recognizing the position of a chip or the coordinates on a chip in a die-bonding process or a wire-bonding process of a semiconductor chip in an assembly process.
As a semiconductor device in which such an alignment marker is disposed, the following device has been proposed. FIG. 11 is a plan view that illustrates the structure of an alignment marker of a conventional semiconductor device. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view that illustrates the cross-sectional structure taken along cutting plane line AA-AA′ represented in FIG. 11. FIGS. 11 and 12 are FIGS. 1 and 2 represented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904. By forming a plurality of opening portions 105 in an interlayer insulating film 104 and covering the surface thereof with a metal film 106, the surface of the metal film 106 is formed to be uneven, whereby reflected light is scattered. The size of the opening portion 105 is the size of a level that is the same as that of a contact hole of the component and of a level that is not recognizable for an image recognition apparatus. The size of the metal film 106 is of a level that is recognizable for an image recognition apparatus (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904).
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904, by actively using light that is scattered by being reflected on the metal film, even when the semiconductor device is tilted or the thickness of a passivation film is uneven, the alignment marker can be recognized with high precision. In addition, since the sizes of the opening portion and the contact hole are small to be unrecognizable for an image recognition apparatus, the alignment marker can be recognized with high precision without using an expensive image recognition apparatus capable of recognizing fine patterns. Accordingly, the cost of the manufacturing process and the product unit price can be easily lowered. In FIGS. 11 and 12, a semiconductor substrate 101, a SiO2 layer 102, a polysilicon film 103, and a passivation film 107 are illustrated.
In recent years, in order to improve the degree of integration or lower the cost, a gate length and a wiring width tend to be micronized in semiconductor devices. As a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device to which a micronizing technology is applied, a method has been proposed in which a reflection prevention film used for preventing light from irregularly reflecting on an aluminum (Al) film at the time of exposing a patterning resist mask of the Al film is formed on the Al film (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,106). As another method, a method has been proposed in which a titanium nitride (TiN) film disposed on an alignment mark is removed with the TiN film remaining on a fuse for preventing the reflection of light on the fuse and improving the reading precision of the alignment mark (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-012078).
Generally, a TiN film is used as the reflection prevention film and is formed on an Al film that is formed as a metal wiring. In a case where the metal wiring is configured only by the Al film, light is irregularly reflected on the metal wiring at the time of exposing a patterning resist mask of the metal wiring, which is a factor for degrading micronizing the pattern size. Accordingly, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,106 and JP-A No. 2005-012078, as an outermost surface layer of the metal film configuring the metal wiring, a TiN film on which it is difficult for light to be reflected is formed, whereby the pattern size is micronized in the exposure process. In addition, the TIN film suppresses the growth of hillocks (fine projections) generated from the Al film when the product is heated or heat-treated in the manufacturing process.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904 described above, the recognition precision of the alignment marker is improved by using light that is reflected on the metal film. On the other hand, according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,106 and JP-A No. 2005-012078, by arranging the reflection prevention film that prevents light from being reflected on the metal film, for example, the gate length and the wiring width are micronized. Accordingly, in a case where the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,106 or JP-A No. 2005-012078 is applied to the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904, the function of the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904 is offset by the function of the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,106 or JP-A No. 2005-012078, whereby the advantage of improving the recognition precision of the alignment marker disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904 cannot be acquired (trade-off relation). In other words, in a semiconductor device in which the alignment marker disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,904 is disposed, there is a problem in that micronization is difficult to be achieved.
The present invention solves the problems of the conventional technologies described above, and provides a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device capable of realizing high position recognition precision and micronization.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A post system for a railing, the post system including a railing post, an insert and a post base. The railing post includes an elongated tubular body with first and second ends. The insert may snugly be insertable within the first end of the railing post. The post base may be connectable to the first end of the railing post and may have an inner member and an outer member substantially encasing the inner member. The inner member may be constructed from a first material, while the outer member may be constructed of a second material. The post base may include a base member and a housing member connected to and extending from the base member. The housing member may be adapted to engage the railing post.

Railings for any number of outdoor applications are well known. For example, residential decks, pool decks, playgrounds, etc., all utilize any number of conventional railings. Such railings are typically made of pressure treated lumber or aluminum particularly suited for outdoor use. Railings typically include hand and base rails attached to post supports. Post supports, in turn, attach to a deck surface or the like.
Building codes have been implemented in various jurisdictions throughout the world. Typically, in order to safeguard the public, these codes set out minimum performance requirements. One such requirement relates to railing posts. Here, posts are required to meet certain horizontal load requirements.
In the past, when such load requirements are applied to traditional posts, the posts have been known to fail by either deflecting more than what is allowable under code or by simply disengaging from a deck surface. Consequently, such posts are undesirable, particularly in the residential railing industry where homeowners frequently install or build their own railing systems.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved post system for railings which overcomes the deficiencies noted above.


A new Lobelia plant named ‘Tec Travio’ particularly distinguished by the large intense purple-violet colored flowers, medium green foliage, vigorous, mounding, but semi-trailing and well branched habit with early flowering.

The present invention comprises a new Lobelia, botanically known as Lobelia erinus, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Tec Travio'.
'Tec Travio' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has large intense purple-violet colored flowers, medium green foliage, vigorous, mounding but semi-trailing and well branched habit with early flowering.
'Tec Travio' originated from a hybridization made in a controlled breeding environment in Andijk, Netherlands. The female parent was the proprietary, unpatented plant designated 'LOB06-225-1' with pink flower color, smaller flower size, and lighter green leaves.
The male parent of 'Tec Travio' was an unpatented, proprietary plant designated as 'LOB02-14-1' with blue flower color, lighter green leaves, larger flower size and is less trailing in habit. The resultant seed was sown in September 2006.
'Tec Travio' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in December 2006 in a controlled environment in Andijk, Netherlands.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'Tec Travio' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in December 2006 in a controlled environment in Andijk, Netherlands.


A method of controlling a transverse shape of a strip rolled by a rolling mill having a plurality of shape correcting devices, the method including the steps of detecting a change in a strip rolling force, and a tension distribution of the rolled strip in the width direction. Based on the detected tension distribution, a strain distribution of the rolled strip is calculated, and the calculated strain distribution is used to calculate a shape parameter which represents a shape error of the rolled strip. Based on the detected change in the rolling force and the calculated shape parameter, disturbance values of the rolling mill which should be zeroed by the shape correcting devices are estimated so as to offset a delay in the detection of the tension distribution which is reflected on the shape parameter. The shape correcting devices are controlled according to the estimated disturbance values, without an influence of the delay in the detection of the tension distribution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a method of controlling the shape of a strip rolled by a rolling mill, and more particularly to a method suitable for precisely controlling the shape of the rolled strip in its width direction.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A rolling mill having four or six rolls is known for rolling an aluminum strip or other metal strips. To avoid defects or shape errors so-called "edge wave" along the edges of the rolled strip and "center buckling" in a middle portion of the rolled strip as viewed in the direction of width of the strip, there have been used various shape correcting devices such as: press-down or roll tilt adjusting device for tilting a pair of work rolls of the mill; work roll bending force adjusting device for adjusting the bending force applied to the work rolls; bending force differential adjusting device for adjusting a difference between the bending force values as measured at both ends of the rolls; and intermediate roll bending force adjusting device for adjusting the bending force applied to intermediate rolls between which the work rolls are disposed. These shape correcting devices function to make appropriate corrections to eliminate the shape errors of the rolled strip.
An example of a strip shape control system for a thin-strip rolling mill is disclosed in Publication 1-50485 (1989) of examined Japanese Patent Application. This strip shape control system includes a shape sensor having a plurality of sensing elements disposed at different positions in the direction of width of the strip, and providing output signals which collectively represent the strip shape. The strip shape control system further includes a plurality of shape correcting devices such as: bending mechanisms for bending the rolls in the horizontal plane; bending mechanisms (usually referred to as "jacks") for bending the rolls in the vertical plane, and press-down or tilting mechanism (usually referred to as "screws") for tilting the rolls in the vertical plane. A controller capable of performing arithmetic operations is provided to obtain the shape distribution of the rolled strip detected by the shape sensor, and a calculated desired shape distribution of the strip, as functions of the transverse position in the width direction of the strip. Further, the detected shape distribution is obtained as a function of the transverse position of the strip, with respect to the unit operation amount of each shape correcting device. Based on these functions obtained, the controller calculates an evaluating function for evaluating the shape of the rolled strip over the entire width of the strip, and calculates the operation amounts of the shape correcting devices that minimize the evaluating function, so that the shape correcting devices are activated by the calculated operation amounts, to control the transverse shape distribution of the rolled strip.
However, the known shape control system or method for a thin-strip rolling mill indicated above is susceptible to an influence of a delay in the detection of the strip shape distribution by the shape sensor, which inevitably results in delayed response of the adjusting actuators of the roll bending and tilting mechanisms ("jacks" and "screws") due to the delayed detection by the shape sensor. Accordingly, the known strip shape control method suffers from delayed control of the strip shape in response to the detected output of the shape sensor, leading to potential difficulty in assuring sufficiently high precision of the strip shape control. Further, since the method in question does not utilize a detected change in the rolling force, the method has a tendency of low response to the strip shape variation due to the change in the rolling force, which occurs when the rolling speed is changed. This problem is serious particularly in the case of rolling of an aluminum strip.

Method of controlling transverse shape of rolled strip, based on tension distribution


An article of athletic footwear with a sole incorporating low friction surfaces for sliding across a protruding feature on a supporting surface and walking surfaces for other athletic pursuits, and a method of making same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to articles of footwear, and more particularly to articles of footwear adapted to support the traditional functions of footwear as well as to facilitate sliding over, for instance, a pipe, a rail, an edged surface or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Athletic pursuits have long been a popular and pleasurable pastime, favored by young and old alike as an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. The number and variety of sports being played have increased steadily throughout the ages, and have seen an especially marked rise in the past two decades that has been fueled, at least in part, by substantial advances in equipment technology. For the great majority of athletic activities, the single most important piece of equipment is comprised of the footwear worn while engaging in the particular sport.
Athletic footwear is currently available in a bewildering array of styles, each specifically adapted for a particular use and ranging from lightweight, high traction running shoes to rigid, protective ski boots. More practical footwear is also available in many choices, from comfortable shoes for walking over extended periods of time to heavily insulated and reinforced work boots. Some articles of footwear are designed to facilitate a variety of activities such as running, walking, jumping, and skateboarding.
Skateboards consist of four wheels mounted on a semi-rigid board in a box configuration. The boards combine the excitement of skating with the mobility of running by enabling recreational access to a wide variety of surfaces and allowing the user to traverse sidewalks, roads, and other rollable surfaces. Highly athletic youthful users have discovered a relatively new use for skateboards. It has been discovered that the configuration of the skateboard also allows skaters to slide sideways across a protruding feature on a supporting surface, such as an edge, a ridge, a curb, a handrail, a pipe or the like, by engaging the underside of the board with, for instance, a pipe rail and then sliding laterally or longitudinally along the rail. Popularly referred to as "grinding," this is an exciting acrobatic maneuver that greatly increases the enjoyment of skateboarding by expanding the options available in using them.
As noted above, grinding maneuvers do not engage the wheels of the skateboard directly but rather the underside of the board, which is typically made of wood or hard plastic. These materials offer the requisite low coefficient of friction which enables the sliding maneuver across an abrasive surface such as a concrete curb. On the other hand, hard surface athletic footwear, such as running shoes, typically incorporate high friction cushioned soles that greatly aid in walking or running but inhibit sliding movements. More recently, other sports such as in-line skating and snowboarding have evolved to utilize grinding maneuvers. Unfortunately in order to perform grinding maneuvers with skateboards, in-line skates and snowboards, users must have a relatively high level of expertise. Furthermore, since skateboards, in-line skates, and snowboards are rather bulky, they are not convenient to carry around and are often unacceptable in everyday settings, such as office, bus, etc. Therefore, although enjoyable and exciting, grinding currently requires a high level of skill accompanied with specialized equipment adaptable in limited circumstances.
The idea of sliding across a surface while standing upright is not new, and various inventors have endeavored in the past to capitalize on this idea by proposing various devices to enable one to engage in this activity. One such device is built from a low friction material and attached to the sole of the shoe in the arch region, thereby allowing the user to slide across a smooth flat surface such as a dance floor. The device may extend below the heel of the shoe, and leaves the forefoot area exposed so that the user may engage the floor with the sole to be able to push off into a sliding maneuver. A device of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,572,671 to Shaw. Another shoe that has been proposed incorporates a low friction region protruding centrally from the sole with high friction areas surrounding the protuberance. The user can thus engage the supporting surface by tilting the foot to lower the high friction areas of the sole, and can slide by pushing off and balancing on the protruding area. U.S. Pat. No. 1,984,989 to Reed discloses a device of this type. Both of the devices described above are designed for use on flat, smooth surfaces, such as dance floors, and neither device lends itself to use with a normal walking or running gait. Thus, although well adapted for their intended use as dance footwear, these devices are of limited usefulness and are not the ideal solution for persons desiring to engage in grinding activities.
Bicycle shoes have been proposed with steel soles to provide rigid support on the bicycle pedals. Work shoes and hiking boots have been proposed which incorporate metal shanks in the arch area to provide support against the bottom of the foot.
Shoes have also been proposed with exterior metal support but without concern for sliding over a rail or the like. Prior art footwear of this type is typically equipped with different types of reinforced arch supports, often in the form of plates attached to the bottom surface of the sole in the arch region for gripping a tool such as a shovel or a ladder rung. Devices of this type are disclosed in, among others, U.S. Pat. Nos. 881,079 to Jolitz and 5,134,791 to Gregory. Such devices are designed to support the user's foot while engaging in labor intensive activities such as digging or climbing a ladder, and are intended to restrict sliding on the support surface and to distribute shock. These plates are generally manufactured from a metal such as steel, and therefore provide an incidental and highly limited capacity for sliding on rough surfaces such as curb corners and the like.
What is now needed is an article of footwear that accommodates the traditional functions of walking, running and jumping, and that also facilitates sliding across surfaces such as concrete curbs and steel handrails by incorporating one or more suitable sliding surfaces. The sliding surfaces should not interfere with the other functions of the shoe, and therefore should not be comprised of unduly bulky or heavy elements and should not impede interaction of the sole with the supporting surface during a normal walking or running gait. The sliding surfaces will ideally be of low coefficient of friction and high abrasion resistance to withstand repeated sliding across abrasive supporting surfaces such as concrete.

Footwear apparatus with grinding plate and method of making same


A non-destructive method and apparatus for determining the thickness of individual layers of different materials in a multilayer structure particularly useful in analyzing the layers in a multilayer plastic fuel tank, utilizes a constant and relatively high frequency ultrasonic pulse transmitted into the multilayer structure and records the time when interference pulses are received to determine the thickness of the individual layers in the multilayer structure. The interference pulses are generated at the interface between adjacent layers of sufficiently different materials and thus, the time between interference pulses is a function of the amount of time needed for the ultrasonic pulse to pass through a layer of material. The duration between reflected pulses is called the transmission time which is the time for the ultrasonic frequency to originally pass through the material and also the time for the reflected pulse to bounce back to the transducer and is thus equal to twice the time needed for the ultrasonic pulse to pass through the layer. Therefore, the thickness of a layer within a multilayer structure can be readily computed as one-half of the transmission time multiplied by the speed of sound through the material comprising that layer.

Environmental concerns and regulations have spurred the need to reduce the amount of hazardous hydrocarbon vapors emitted by vehicles and have led to the development of new technologies for manufacturing plastic fuel tanks. A fuel tank constructed from a single layer of a plastic, such as high density polyethylene, has been found to have an unacceptably high permeation rate of fuel vapor therethrough. Therefore, current plastic fuel tanks are formed with multiple layers one of which is a vapor barrier layer and these tanks have reduced the amount of hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere by as much as 60 times over single layer untreated plastic fuel tanks.
A typical multilayer plastic fuel tank construction comprises an outer layer of high density polyethylene, an inner layer of high density polyethylene, and a vapor barrier layer disposed between them. The vapor barrier layer is typically a polymer such as ethylene vinyl alcohol which requires an adhesive layer adjacent both the outer and inner layers to join the high density polyethylene with the ethylene vinyl alcohol. A multilayer plastic fuel tank is more difficult to manufacture than a single layer plastic fuel tank. In mass production, to insure the quality of multilayer fuel tanks and the vapor barrier, it is important to determine the thickness of the individual layers of the multilayer structure and in particular the adhesive and barrier layers both from one tank to the next and at various locations within an individual tank. The most critical and difficult areas to measure tend to be at the corners, edges and other areas of the tank where the contour of the multilayer wall changes rapidly.
Previously, testing and sampling of manufactured plastic fuel tanks required cutting a cross section from various portions of the fuel tanks and preparing each cross section to be visually inspected under a microscope to measure the thickness of the various layers. This is undesirable because of the time required to prepare and inspect the sample cross sections of the fuel tank and also because of the destruction of the fuel tank as well as the scrap and waste created when conducting such a test.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,165 discloses a non-destructive method for determining the thickness of a barrier layer in a multilayer plastic fuel tank which utilizes an interference technique with a varying frequency and relatively low frequency and continuous ultrasonic signal to determine a frequency which produces an attenuated signal which can thereby be used to determine the thickness of only the vapor barrier.

Ultrasonic thickness measurement of multilayer structures


This semiconductor device is provided with a device substrate in which a semiconductor circuit including two high frequency amplifiers; a cap substrate and a sealing frame of a conductor which forms and air-tightly seals space surrounding an area, in which the semiconductor circuit is formed, between the device substrate and the cap substrate, wherein the sealing frame is configured as a line of a 90-degree hybrid circuit or a line of a rat-race circuit.

In general, regarding a semiconductor chip, due to water in atmosphere, corrosion, etc. of electrode is generated so as to cause a malfunction, therefore a semiconductor chip may be packaged so as to have a hollow air-tight configuration. Further, regarding a semiconductor chip which operates with high-frequency, in order to prevent instability of operation due to influence of external radio wave and a problem regarding unnecessary radiation which is emitted from a semiconductor itself, it is required for a package to have an electromagnetic shield function. Regarding a material of a package of the above mentioned chip, in general, a process of metal-cap is performed on a base material such as CuW, etc., however, it is expensive to perform a process of metal-cap, and performing the above mentioned process is a factor to increase cost. On the other hand, recently, a method, in which a semiconductor chip is packaged by chip scale (CSP: Chip Scale Package) so as to reduce a cost of packaging, has been greatly developed.
In conventional semiconductor devices having general hollow configurations (cavity), a cavity is realized by joining a device substrate and a cap substrate with a sealing frame of a conductive material (refer to Patent Document 1) or by joining a wall of a first package and a second package (refer to Patent Documents 2 and 3). A sealing frame and a wall are mounted only for realizing a cavity, and in a case where a matching circuit is mounted, it is configured such that at inner side of a sealing frame or a wall, that is, in a cavity, a matching circuit is arranged separately from a sealing frame or a wall.

Semiconductor device comprising sealing frame configured as a conductor


Disclosed is a method for displaying various information on a display section of a mobile communication terminal to efficiently utilize a screen in a standby state of the mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication terminal alternately displays basic information and user information set by the user on a display section through dividing display time thereof. Thus, the user repeatedly views basic information, which is basically displayed on the display section, and special information to be remembered or memorized. The display section is used for language study and schedule display. The method allows the mobile communication terminal to match with various demands of the users, so that efficiency of the mobile communication terminal is improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a method for displaying information in a display section of a mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as mobile communication terminals have been widely used, various services, such as traffic information services informing drivers of traffic situations through a screen of a mobile communication terminal while a vehicle is in motion, MY-BELL services allowing users to register special ringer sounds in their mobile phones, and message transmission services notifying users of an arrival of a message in a voice mail system by transmitting characters to a user's mobile phone, have been provided. Since such mobile communication terminals are equipped with various functions, such as a voice mail receiving function and a special information receiving function allowing users to receive various supplementary services from service providers, users of the mobile communication terminals may use various functions of the mobile communication terminals in addition to a basic communication function thereof.
The variety of such services and supplementary functions for the mobile communication terminal have gradually increased. In addition, as a screen size of the mobile communication terminal increases, the number of pixels used in the mobile communication terminal has gradually increased. Accordingly, it is necessary to effectively use and variously utilize the screen of the mobile communication terminal. In order to cope with various demands of users while increasing an effective value of the screen, it is necessary to utilize the screen in conjunction with various services and supplementary functions of the mobile communication terminal. For example, when a user inputs a short sentence via input keys, a conventional mobile communication terminal sequentially displays each word of the short sentence in a screen or displays the short sentence on a sliding manner. Such a displaying method is effective if the user inputs only one short sentence. According to the above displaying method, the conventional mobile communication terminal may continuously display only one short sentence, so the effective value of the screen is lowered.
As described above, when the user inputs the short sentence via input keys, the conventional mobile communication terminal sequentially displays each word of the short sentence on the screen or displays the short sentence in a sliding manner. However, such a displaying method of the conventional mobile communication terminal is limited, such as when displaying information about English study which the user must memorize, or when displaying various information specially required by the user. In addition, according to the conventional displaying method, the mobile communication terminal cannot alternately display various information on the screen thereof and cannot display information in various manners.

Method for displaying information in a mobile communication terminal


This disclosure relates generally to an apparatus for retaining an earpiece in the ear during physical movement and exercise. In various instances, the apparatus may include a thinned region a posterior arch and ribs to allow deformation of the earmold and facilitate securing of the earmold in the concha bowl of the ear.

Portable headphone speakers for listening to sound are in common use and can have a variety of configurations. For example, larger, heavier headphones may be circumaural ("full-size" headphones that encompass the ear) or supra-aural (typically having pads that press against the ear). Smaller, lighter-weight headphones/earphones, sometimes called "ear-fitting headphones" such as earbuds or in-ear headphones may be designed to fit within a portion of the ear. Such portable headphone speakers may be used alone, in combination with a microphone for use with a mobile communication device (e.g. a cell phone) or to amplify external sounds, as with a hearing aid. Small, ear-fitting headphones that fit in the concha bowl of the ear and direct sound into the ear canal, such as earbuds and earmolds, are preferred by some users due to their smaller size and weight relative to larger, heavier headphones that encompass the ear or press against the concha and/or pinna of the ear. The smaller, in-ear headphones or earbuds may be preferred in many instances for use during exercise or other physical activity, such as running or biking However, such activities commonly include forceful movements of the head or body that can jar small-size earpiece from the user's ear. It is desirable to have an earpiece or earmold associated with the headphone that retains the headphone in the ear while moving, and is comfortable to wear.


There are provided a power amplifying transistor, a bias circuit which supplies a bias current to the base of the power amplifying transistor, a current mirror circuit which detects a peak value of the collector voltage of the power amplifying transistor, and a control circuit which, when the peak value of the collector voltage becomes higher than a voltage set in advance, controls the bias circuit to increase the bias current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power amplifier and a wireless communication device capable of limiting a degradation in a distortion characteristic which occurs with a change in load.
2. Background Art
GaAs power amplifiers are presently used widely as a power amplifier for portable telephones including those used in CDMA systems. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a wireless communication device for a portable telephone for use in a CDMA system.
In FIG. 10, ANT denotes an antenna terminal through which a signal is transmitted and received. BB denotes a baseband signal processing section which demodulates and decodes a received signal, and which encodes and modulates a signal to be transmitted. RF-IC denotes an RF circuit which performs predetermined frequency conversion on the signal output from the section BB. BPF denotes a bandpass filter. PA denotes a power amplifier which amplifies a signal output from the section RF-IC. ISO denotes an isolator which is a unidirectional power transmitting device for eliminating the influence of variation in load at the antenna terminal ANT on the power amplifier PA. DUP denotes a duplexer which is a bandpass filter through which a signal to be transmitted is supplied from the power amplifier PA to the antenna terminal ANT, and through which a received signal from the antenna terminal ANT (in a band different from that for the transmission signal) is supplied to the receiving section RF-IC.
FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional power amplifier. Circuit elements surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 11 are formed on a GaAs chip. Other circuit elements are formed as chip components and lines on a module circuit board.
IN denotes an input terminal through which an RF signal is input. OUT denotes an output terminal through which an RF signal is output. Transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are heterojunction bipolar transistors (hereinafter referred to as "HBT") for amplifying power. Transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are provided in an initial stage and in a final stage, respectively. Bias1 and Bias2 denote bias circuits for supplying bias currents to the bases of the initial-stage and final-stage transistors Tr1 and Tr2. Vcb denotes a terminal through which power is supplied to the bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2. Vref denotes a terminal through which a voltage is input to the bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2.
Rb1, Rb2, Rb12 and Rb 22 denote resistors, C1 to C4, C21 to C23, Cd1, Cd2 and Cdb, capacitors; L1 and L2 inductors, L11 and L21 to L23, lines having particular electrical lengths and functioning as inductors, and Vc2 and Vb2, collector and base voltages on the transistor Tr2.
FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram showing the bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2. Trb1 to Trb5 denote HBTs, and Rbb1 to Rbb5 resistors. Vrefb denotes an input voltage terminal for the bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2, and Vcb a terminal for power supply terminal to the collectors of the bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2. Vbo1 and Vbo2 denote output terminals of the bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2. The bias circuits Bias1 and Bias2 operate so that idling current through the power amplifying transistors Tr1 and Tr2 (bias currents when no RF signal is input) are constantly maintained with respect to temperature (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-343244).
A distortion characteristic of a power amplifier largely influences variation in load at an antenna. In CDMA power amplifiers or the like in which particular importance is attached to a distortion characteristic among output characteristics, therefore, an isolator ISO is provided immediately after the power amplifier PA as shown in FIG. 10 to prevent the power amplifier PA from being influenced by variation in load at the antenna ANT. However, the isolator is comparatively high-priced among portable telephone components and substantially large in height. There is, therefore, a strong demand for a power amplifier designed to be reduced in price and size while ensuring the desired distortion characteristic without using the isolator. The adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR) will be considered as an index of the distortion characteristic in the following description.
FIG. 13 shows a circuit for a load variation test on a conventional power amplifier without any isolator. In this circuit, a tuner for changing the impedance of the load on the circuit shown in FIG. 11 is provided on the circuit shown in FIG. 11. When the impedance ZL of the tuner is changed, the output load is changed.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing characteristics of the power amplifier shown in FIG. 13 with respect to the phase of the tuner (output load). The ACLR, the power gain, collector current Ic2 in Tr2, collector voltage Vc2 and base voltage Vb2 of Tr2 and bias current Icb2 in Tr2 when forward wave output power as monitored through a coupler was constantly maintained were measured. The input power changes with respect to the phase by following the change in gain.
Curves CA, CB, and CC in FIG. 15 are examples of load curves with respect to an intermediate point A, a high-current point B, and a low-current point C in the collector current (operating current) Ic2 shown in FIG. 14. The actual load curves are expanded as shown in FIG. 16 due to a large reactance component. However, a description is made here by using FIG. 14 for simplification of interpretation.
At the high-current point B, the load curve has a steep gradient as indicated by CB in FIG. 15, and the increase in collector current Ic2 is large. At the low-current point C, the load curve has a gentle gradient as indicated by CC in FIG. 15, and the increase in collector current Ic2 at an idling point A1, which is a bias point when no RF input power is supplied, is small. Conversely, the gain is low at the point B but high at the point C.
The distortion characteristic (ACLR) of the power amplifier is determined by distortion balance between the initial-stage and final-stage transistors. Therefore, when the collector current Ic2 is low as at the point C, a degradation in ACLR recognized by comparison when the output power is fixed is large and there is a possibility of failure to meet the requirement of ACLR. These characteristics are summarized in FIG. 17.
Power amplifiers in which the bias for a final transistor is changed by detecting input power and output power have also been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-257540, 7-22857, 2004-72250, 2002-43855, and 11-220338).
In a CDMA power amplifier, however, output power is adjusted while controlling input power and the input and output powers change at all times according to the distance between the terminal using the amplifier and a base station. Therefore, a low-operating-current condition also exists in low-output operation and it cannot be discriminated form the low-operating-current condition at the point C. In the case of a low output, the power supply voltage is reduced by using a DC-DC converter to reduce the consumption of power. In such a case, the power gain is also reduced and it is difficult in practice to detect a change in load by detecting the power gain. Further, the voltage value of Vb2 increases when the output is low, and the low-output condition cannot be discriminated from the condition at the point C through detection of Vb2. For this reason, a change in load cannot be detected by detecting the input power and output power in the conventional art. Thus, there is a problem with the conventional power amplifier in that the distortion characteristic degrades when the load changes.

Power amplifier and wireless communication device