The invention is directed to improving trench isolation between active devices by using gated sidewalls. In a first embodiment, trenches are etched into the substrate and a thin oxide film is formed to passivate the trench sidewalls and serve as a sidewall gate oxide. The oxide is removed from the bottom of the trench while leaving the sidewall oxide intact. A thin poly layer is formed into the trench so that the thin poly does not completely fill the trench, yet the thin poly film will overlie the oxide sidewalls and make contact to the exposed substrate at the bottom of the trench. The trench is then completely filled with a conformal oxide that is planarized. The planarized oxide is etched during thermal oxide etch and a sacrificial oxide is grown. Following threshold adjust implants, the sacrificial oxide is removed and the final gate sidewall oxide is formed. In a second embodiment, the process steps vary by leaving the thin oxide film at the bottom of the trench and then forming a thin poly film over the thin film oxide. The steps then continue as in the first embodiment and the thin poly in the trench is later tied to the substrate at points on the die external from the trench.

As semiconductor devices continually progress towards denser packing of active devices, isolation between active devices having the same conductivity type, such as n-channel metal oxide semiconductors (NMOS) or p-channel metal oxide semiconductors (PMOS) used as field effect transistors, becomes an extremely important issue.
Less densely packed integrated circuits (ICs) could rely on isolation by a thick field oxide, scaling technology now, however demands less isolation space between active devices (i.e., adjacent NMOS transistors) than that required when using field oxide. In response to this demand, much of the MOS fabrication now uses trench isolation between active devices.
Typically, trench isolation comprises the etching of a trench into the substrate (i.e., silicon, gallium arsenide, etc.) thereby separating adjacent devices having like conductivity. The trench is then filled, usually with oxide.
One of the problems with trench isolation is preventing a step-down at the edge of the trench into the field regions. This step causes a resulting sidewall parasitic device (resident at the trench sidewall formed between the gate poly as it crosses onto the field oxide and the sidewall of the trench.) to turn on sooner than the bulk device (i.e., NMOS device) itself. Also, the gate oxidation over the step-down is thinner, thereby degrading the reliability of the gate oxide. Finally, doping of the sidewall of the trench to increase the Vt. of the parasitic sidewall device is difficult, in that it requires either high-angled implants or some type of in-diffusion from the poly or a furnace doping process of some kind.


A plastic film tear line forming device includes a chassis, at least one vertical driver, a first cutter, and a second cutter. The chassis forms at least one opening adapted to receive a plastic film to feed therethrough. The vertical driver is mounted to the chassis. The first cutter is arranged above the opening of the chassis and is driven by the vertical driver to do a vertical movement. The first cutter has a lower end forming a plurality of first teeth, which defines therebetween first gaps. The second cutter is mounted to the chassis to be located below the opening and has an end forming a plurality of second teeth, which defines therebetween second gaps. When a plastic film is fed into the chassis through the opening, the vertical driver drives the first cutter vertically downward to penetrate through the plastic film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plastic film tear line forming device, and in particular to a device that is applicable to a tubular product-packaging plastic film and comprises two cutters forming teeth and gaps in a right-angle angularly offset arrangement in order to form a horizontal circumferentially-extending ring like tear line in two sides of the plastic film.
2. The Related Arts
Plastic packaging films have been widely used in outside packaging of containers, such as bottles and cans of beverage products. Particularly, tear lines must be provided in the portion of the plastic packaging film that corresponds to the bottle cap or can cover to allow a user to tear off the plastic film along the tear line for opening the bottle cap or can cover. An example is shown in Taiwan Patent No. 428761, which discloses an easy-tearing laser counterfeit-proof label for bottle containers, in which a conventional packaging label for cap portions of bottles and cans is provided. Such a horizontal tearing line mode only suits for localized packaging for containers, such as bottles and cans, and is not applicable to a complete sheet of plastic film for packaging the whole bottle body or can body. A packaging mode of two-section plastic film or two sheets of plastic film must be employed. This increases the volume of the packaging material and cost, making it uneconomic.
Further, an improvement over the above described is illustrated in FIG. 1 of the attached drawings, in which a pad A is provided to receive a plastic film B to pass thereon. A tear-line cutter C is located above the plastic film B and is depressed downward onto the plastic film B so as form tear lines D1, D2 respectively on opposite sides of the plastic film B. The tear-line cutter C, when depressed down onto the plastic film B, provides different penetrating forces to the two sides of the plastic film B, whereby the upper side of the plastic film B is completely penetrated through by the tear-line cutter C, but the lower side of the plastic film B is not because the tear-line cutter C is blocked by the pad A. Consequently, the perforation size and density of the tear lines D1, D2 are different (as shown in FIG. 2). This makes the tear strengths and the tensions of the upper and lower sides of the plastic film B different from each other. When the plastic film B is processed by a packaging machine to fit over the surface of a bottle or can, one of the sides may be unexpectedly torn off or broken. This affects the packaging quality of the plastic film. Further, the repeated collision between the tear-line cutter C and the pad A easily causes fast wear of the tear-line cutter C, making it necessary to frequently change the tear-line cutter C. As a consequence, installation cost of tear line forming facility of the plastic film B would be greatly increased.
Further, known prior art references, such as Taiwan Utility Model M284625, which discloses a tearing device of label fitting machine, teach arrangement of rollers and tear rollers in a label fitting machine in order to form longitudinal or lateral tear lines in a plastic packaging film. However, those known reference employ processes for forming tear lines in a plastic film that, similar to what shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, lead to different perforation sizes and density of the tear lines formed in the upper and lower sides of the plastic film. Thus, when the plastic film is processed by a packaging machine to fit over a bottle, the plastic film is stretched by the packaging machine and due to the differences of tear line tensions or stresses between the upper and lower sides of the plastic film, it easily occurs that one side of the plastic film is torn or broken.


An apparatus for dispensing hot or boiling water which is provided with a thermally insulated reservoir which is resistant to an excess pressure prevailing in the interior, an electric heating element which is arranged in the reservoir, a discharge conduit and a valve which is included in a fluid communication between the reservoir and the discharge conduit and provided with a valve seat and a movably arranged valve member which in a closed position is pressed with a closing force against the valve seat and which can be brought with an operating element to an opened position, wherein the configuration of the valve and the connection thereof to the fluid communication are such that an excess pressure prevailing in the reservoir exerts a force on the valve body which is directed opposite to the closing force, wherein the closing force is such that the valve member is pressed from the closed position when an excess pressure prevailing in the reservoir reaches a threshold value.

Such an apparatus was first described in NL-A-7112368, whose British equivalent has number GB-A-1373990. A further development of this apparatus is described in EP-B-0 467 480. The apparatus described in that specification is provided with a thermally insulated reservoir which is resistant to an excess pressure prevailing in the interior of the reservoir. The reservoir is provided with a supply conduit adjacent an underside of the reservoir which is designed for connection to the public water supply system, while in use, cold tap water is supplied from the public water supply system via the supply conduit to the reservoir, as soon as hot or boiling water is discharged from the reservoir. The reservoir further has a discharge conduit adjacent a top side of the reservoir via which discharge conduit, in use, hot or boiling water can be discharged from the reservoir. In the reservoir, an electric heating element is included. An outflow pipe is connected via a fluid communication to the discharge conduit. Further, a valve is provided. As stated in the specification, the valve can be provided with a spring biased valve member so that in case of an emergency, it can serve as a safety provision. How such a valve could be designed is not described in this specification. Neither is it described what type of emergency is intended. Independently of the foregoing, it is stated in the specification that the valve can be electrically operated. How this could be realized is not described in the specification either.
In practice, such an apparatus for dispensing boiling water is not put on the market with an electrically operable valve, and also it proves not to be simple to provide a reliable apparatus that keeps functioning in a reliable manner under the difficult conditions of dispensing boiling water.
The apparatuses of the firm of Peteri B.V which are put on the market under the brand name Quooker® are provided with a manually operated valve, more particularly a valve which is operated as a conventional tap water tap provided with a turning knob, albeit that it is provided with a safety provision. The safety provision entails that in order to be turned and hence opened, the turning knob is to be pressed-in against the spring bias. In this manner it is envisaged that the valve designed as tap can only be opened through a deliberate operation, i.e. simultaneously pressing-in and turning the turning knob of the tap. This safety provision is also described in EP0792970. With the Quookers sold in practice, an excess pressure safety provision of the reservoirs is provided on the so-called inlet combination. The inlet combination is an assembly of a number of connecting couplings and valves located upstream of the inlet of the reservoir. In the event of an excess pressure above a particular value in the reservoir, the pressure in the reservoir is reduced via the inlet combination. Steam may then be released into the sink cupboard.

Apparatus for dispensing hot or boiling water


A method of determining luster characteristics of fiber filaments utilizing a mathematical model of filament cross sectional shape and simulated impinging light to determine light distribution after interaction with the fiber and thereby determine luster properties. The method also includes a method for deriving individual filament cross sectional shapes of fibers in a bundle of touching filaments and for deriving therefrom other fiber properties and controlling the manufacturing parameters affecting such properties as well as luster properties.

The lustrous appearance of fiber yarns, such as those used in textile and carpet applications, can be characterized in terms of various optical parameters such as those related to reflection and refraction of impinging visible light arising a air-polymer and polymer-air interfaces of individual filaments comprising the yarn. These effects lead to subjective responses in observers of a finished carpet which, for example, may be expressed as brightness and contrast. Brightness and contrast are used herein as components of the luster appearance of a carpet along with bulk of the carpet yarn. Yarn luster is a complex fuction of the cross sectional shape of the filaments comprising the yarn.
Direct measurement of yarn luster is difficult to accomplish or to express in a mathematical sense. A discussion of yarn luster properties and its dependence on filament cross section may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,367,100 - Hughey, issued Feb. 6, 1968. Cross sectional shape of the filaments in a given yarn is, in turn, dependent upon the characteristics of the orifices in the spinneret plates used to produce the yarn. The actual shape imparted to a filament by the spinneret orifice is difficult to predict as is well known in the art and explained, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,389 - Bradley et al., issued Nov. 18, 1967.
Fiber cross sectional geometries other than circular are widely employed to achieve both desired higher and lower levels of lustrous appearance of fibers for such applications. Other special geometries, such as symmetric and asymmetric multilobal cross sections, are used to impart desirable and esthetically pleasing appearance properties associated with the degree of fiber luster.
At the present time, the available processes for determining and rating such properties are largely subjective and the search for new fiber cross sections and the examination of their influence on the yarn produced from such fibers is therefore time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, because of such limitations, it has not been possible to control such properties as a part of manufacturing operations.
In addition, presently known techniques for determining analytically the actual cross sectional shape of fibers in yarns and for deriving and expressing such shapes in a mathematical format are subject to certain limitations. The conventional fiber cross sectional shape descriptors for non-round fibers are modification ratio ("MR"), the ratio of the diameters D of the circumscribed to inscribed circles, tip ratio ("TR"), the ratio of the diameters of the circle inscribed within an arm to the circumscribed circle, and arm angle ("AA"), the angle defined by tangents to the arm at the points of inflection. Such techniques are described in detail, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,939,201 - Holland and 4,492,731 - Bankar et al. The use of the parameters MR, TR and AA serve well in many cases but are subject to certain limitations. In particular, they have limited value for even slightly asymmetrical versions of multilobal fiber products.

Method for determining and controlling fiber luster properties


In an incoming call communication service using key groups to be hunted provided through a switching system, there is provided a master terminal for a group formed of a plurality of slave terminals and a call to the master terminal is connected to a call-acceptable slave terminal in the group. In this case, certain slave terminals in the group are concentrated with the other certain slave terminals without canceling the communication links at slave terminals in terminating connection. The state of use of slave terminals after slave terminal concentration is notified to the master terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a key groups to be hunted in an incoming call communication system. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of concentrating key groups to be hunted among incoming call terminals, which is used in a data switching system performing packet switching, frame relay switching, ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switching and so forth, and also relates to a switching system carrying out said method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The incoming call communication service using key groups to be hunted provided through a telephone switching system, a data switching system and so on, is a service that, in the switching system like the above, provides a key number for a plurality of subscriber terminals and if a call selects the key number, the call is made to connect with an arbitrary idle subscriber terminal among the plural subscriber terminals. This service has already been considerably popularized.
In the incoming call communication service using key groups to be hunted like this, it is desirous that concentration of slave terminals in key groups to be hunted (merely referred to as a slave terminal or slave terminals hereinafter) can be performed without canceling the counterpart communication link, and also that the state of use of slave terminals after concentration thereof can be notified to a master terminal in key groups to be hunted (referred to as master terminal hereinafter).
Heretofore, this kind of technology has been disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 63-16743 entitled "Key Number Control System." This publication describes that if the master terminal of the key number terminal group is in communication, a terminating call side switching system selects an idle slave terminal from the terminal group having key number, thereby establishing a communication line therethrough.
Hitherto, in the incoming call communication service using key groups to be hunted provided through a packet switching system, communication via an identical slave terminal was fixed to that terminal during the time from establishment of a call to cancellation of the same, so that it was not possible to change terminals among a group of slave terminals. It was also not possible to notify the state of use of slave terminals to the master terminal.
So far, in the incoming call communication service using key groups to be hunted provided through the packet switching system, communication was performed with an identical slave terminal during the time from establishment of a call to cancellation of the same, so that terminal change among a group of slave terminals was not possible. It was impossible, therefore, to effectively make use of slave terminals in correspondence with the state of communication traffic. For instance, communication links at respective slave terminals are usually less used at midnight, thus being made use of ineffectively.
If, therefore, it is possible to concentrate certain slave terminals onto certain other terminals, it becomes possible to make use of the former terminals for other purposes and also to design advantageous ways of use of slave terminals as a whole. However, there has been no proposal thus far on how to carry out such slave terminal concentration. Further, in the case of carrying out the slave terminal concentration, it is desirous to notify the state of current use of slave terminals to the master terminal after completion of the concentration, but there has been no prior art teaching how to make such a notice to the master terminal.

Method of concentrating slave terminals to be hunted in a packet switching communication pattern using a master key number


A utility kit for use in combination with a plastic construction block used for storage of water, food, medicine, staples, construction materials, or any other item that needs to be contained for storage and shipping. The utility kit includes a fire grate and utility receptacles to allow for cooking of water and food. Upon emptying of the construction block, the construction block can be used in the construction of a bunker, wall, or the like structure through conventional building construction by filling of the block with sand or dirt. The utility receptacles can be used to reinforce the construction block as well as provide sealing for half blocks. The fire grate can be dismantled and the anchoring pipes can operate to anchor construction blocks together during construction.

Humans need water, food, and shelter to survive. These essential items can be difficult due to natural or man-made disasters, or war. For instance, a drought can result in the loss of potable water, a war can result in a lack of medicine, a hurricane can result in the loss of shelter, and so forth. While providing relief supplies to such areas is critical, it is important that all aspects of the relief supplies can be used.
In many instances, potable water is provided in containers and the containers are discarded after use. Similarly, food may be provided in containers wherein the containers are discarded after use. The Applicant recognized the problems with shipping and wasted packaging. The Applicant further recognized that conventional construction materials are very expensive to ship. There are numerous reasons why a conventional structure could not be built immediately after a disaster including the lack of skilled labor. However, there is always an immediate need for shelter and waiting for construction materials and skilled labor can be impractical. For instance, after the earthquake disaster in Haiti, families were in dire need of food, water, and shelter. Transports made herculean efforts to deliver food and water, and the delivery of construction materials would naturally follow.
The Applicant was granted U.S. Pat. No. 8,316,610 for a multipurpose container having a hollow interior with a fill port opening receptive to storing of water, food, or other supplies. The container can be immediately assembled to create a temporary structure, the structure can then be dismantled as the food, water and supplies are needed. Once water, food, or other supplies are withdrawn from the containers, hereinafter referred to as construction blocks, the construction blocks can then be reused to hold earth materials to allow for structure formation. The construction blocks have interlocking protrusions and receptacles for use in aligning similar shaped construction blocks for building of a structure, the construction block further included an anchoring pipe that was attached to the external surface of the block which would be used to interconnect construction blocks.
What the applicant has discovered to be lacking in the art is for a utility kit for use in combination with construction blocks wherein the kit provides utility receptacles and a fire grate that can be used in preparing the contents of the construction block for human consumption, the utility receptacles further operate as shovels for filling of the construction blocks with earth sand or soil, and the grate can be dismantled to provide further anchoring structure.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,424 which discloses a skillet, a cooking pan, and a kettle where the cooking pan nests within the skillet and the kettle nests within the skillet over the cooking pan. The cooking pan, inverted, fits over the skillet to form a food storage container, and the skillet handle, when the assembly is assembled, fits over and around the kettle, locking the cooking assembly together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,078 discloses a survival kit, used for containing items for use in a survival emergency, which can be emptied of its contents and its parts can be assembled in varying combinations to become alternately a canteen flask, stew pot, kettle, or skillet.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,809,596 discloses a canteen and a pair of pans adapted to cap opposite sides of the canteen in a nesting engagement. The nesting engagement can be received by a kettle formed to hold the pans in place on the canteen.
Thus what is needed in the art is an apparatus that can provide necessary cooking materials and be utilized as a construction block for use in the building of bunkers, retention walls, small homes, and the like, structures for the protection of humans and their property.

Bulk liquid/material construction block utility kit


A Schottky barrier rectifier, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, includes a first conductive layer and a semiconductor. The semiconductor includes a first doped region, a second doped region and a plurality of third doped regions. The second doped region is disposed between the first doped region and the first conductive layer. The plurality of third doped regions are disposed in the second doped region. The first doped region of the semiconductor is heavily doped with a first type of dopant (e.g., phosphorous or arsenic). The second doped region is moderately doped with the first type of dopant. The plurality of third doped regions are moderately to heavily doped with a second type of dopant.

Referring to FIG. 1, a plot of the current-voltage characteristics of an exemplary p-n junction (e.g., semiconductor junction) diode and an exemplary Schottky (e.g., semiconductor-metal junction) diode, in accordance with the conventional art, is shown. It is appreciated that the plots are for illustrative purposes and do not necessary represent a particular p-n junction diode or Schottky diode. In a forward-biased state, the p-n junction diode typically has a fully conducting voltage drop of approximate 1V, for large currents. In a reverse-biased state, a leakage current, which is proportional to the junction area, flows in the p-n junction diode. The leakage current exhibits a strong temperature dependence, approximately doubling for every 10° C. rise in temperature. If the reverse-biased voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage of the device, the reverse current increases rapidly.
The leakage current characteristics and breakdown voltage of p-n junction diodes may readily be utilized in rectifier applications and the like. However, the voltage drop across the p-n junction diode during forward-biasing results in significant power consumption when relatively large currents flow through the p-n junction diode.
In a forward-biased state, the Schottky diode typically exhibits a fully conducting voltage drop of approximate 0.5V, for large currents. In a reverse-biased state, a substantial leakage current flows at relatively low reverse voltages. The Schottky diode also exhibits a weak "knee" as the device enters breakdown. Thus, the Schottky diode suffers from both a higher leakage current and a low breakdown voltage in the reverse-biased direction, as compared to a p-n junction diode.
The reduced voltage drop across the Schottky diode during forward-biasing would make the device advantageous for use in rectifier applications and other similar applications. However, the substantial leakage current and relatively low breakdown voltage limits use of the Schottky diode to low voltage applications.
Thus, in the conventional art the use of diodes, in rectifier applications and the like, suffer from higher forward voltage drop, higher leakage current and/or low breakdown voltage.

Schottky barrier rectifier and method of manufacturing the same


A rotary temperature control system for use in controlling the temperature of a blended air stream supplied to a vehicle passenger compartment includes a manually operable rotary control knob operatively connected with a control pulley that is, in turn, connected through a pull-pull cable system to a vent pulley. The vent pulley operates a blend door that controls the output temperature of a blended air stream. A drive connection between the vent pulley and a drive shaft of the blend door includes non-circular gears for producing a predetermined generally non-linear relationship between rotary movement of the control pulley and rotary movement of the output shaft to produce a generally linear relationship between the rotary movement of the control pulley and the temperature of the air stream throughout a major portion of the rotary movement of the control pulley.

The subject invention is directed to a temperature control system for vehicles and, more particularly, to a variable temperature control system for controlling the temperature of air supplied to a vehicle's passenger compartment.
In the typical vehicle heating and air conditioning system, temperature controlling is accomplished by controlling the setting of a vent damper or blend door located in the passenger air supply system duct work. Often a rotary knob located at the control panel is drivingly connected to the blend door through a mechanical cable or linkage arrangement. The loads required to operate the blend door have generally required relatively rigid control cables and linkages.
Various proposals to simplify or improve the drive connection between the operating knob and the blend door have been presented. However, problems with respect to high operating knob force requirements and the routing the drive connection between the knob and blend door have persisted. In addition, readjustment of control cable length after installation has also been a problem.
A further drawback to prior systems has been the difficulty of achieving a linear relationship between knob movement and output air temperature. Generally, this has only been achievable through the use of electronic systems or by a mechanical system of cams and rigid push-pull cables. The electronic systems are costly, and the systems incorporating rigid push-pull cables present difficult routing problems and substantially limit the use of the systems.

Variable temperature control system for vehicles


Interconnect validation instruments and methods are provided. In one embodiment, an interconnect validation instrument has a shell with an opening at first end thereof and a second end opposite the first end. The second end has a plurality of holes. Each of the plurality of holes is adapted to receive a respective one of a plurality of pins therein. Each of the plurality of holes is further adapted to align the respective one of the plurality of pins when received therein when the respective one of the plurality of pins is not aligned.

Pin sets are frequently disposed on circuit boards, such as backplanes, communications boards, or the like, of computer systems, e.g., network servers or the like, for facilitating electrical connections between various electrical components of the computer systems. A cable often connects a pin set at one location of a computer system to a pin set at another location of the computer system. For example, in some applications, a cable is used to connect a pin set on backplane of a server to a pin set on a communications board of the server. For other applications, the processing capability of a server is expanded by using a cable to interconnect a pin set connected to a processor of the server to a pin set connected to another processor of the server.
Pin sets are often disposed on a circuit board so that the pins protrude from a surface of the circuit board. The pins are received in pin-receiving sockets of a cable connector connected to a cable to connect the pin set to the cable. For some applications, a shroud is pressed onto the pins to help align and/or orient the cable connector. Typically, the shroud has a plurality of holes passing therethrough so that when the shroud is pressed onto the pins, each of the pins respectively passes through one of the holes of the shroud.
One problem with connecting cable connectors to pin sets, such as pin sets protruding from circuit boards, is that the pins do not always properly align with the pin-receiving sockets of the cable connector, for example, because one or more pins are bent. In situations where there is misalignment between pins and the respective receiving sockets of the cable connector, forcing the cable connector on the pin set in spite of the misalignment can damage the cable connector. Damage to cable-connectors due to relatively large misalignment is usually substantial and usually results in the immediate replacement of the cable connector and immediate replacement or repair of any misaligned pins. Damage to cable-connectors due to relatively small misalignment is not readily detected and is often manifested in poor contact between the cable connectors and the pins during use, at which time the cable connector is replaced and any misaligned pins are replaced or repaired.
However, the procedure for repairing misaligned pins usually involves visual inspection and applying fingers and/or tools not specifically intended for pin repair, such as screwdrivers, knives, tweezers, or the like, to the misaligned pins. This procedure is frequently ineffective because, for many applications, the alignment tolerances between the pins and the pin connector are small, e.g., because the diameter of the pins and the spacing between adjacent pins are small, as are the diameter of and spacing between the pin-receiving sockets of the cable connector, making it difficult to accurately align the pins and/or to accurately visually verify the alignment of the pins.
In view of the above problem, pin sets are visually inspected prior to connecting cable connectors thereto. However, visual detection of misaligned pins, e.g., due to small alignment tolerances, is often difficult. Moreover, the repair procedure described above is usually used to repair any misaligned pins that can be visually identified.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A solder preform for attaching an optical fiber having a diameter to a fiber attach pad, the solder preform comprising a body including solder at least on a bottom surface thereof, the body having a groove extending along a first face from a first end to a second, the groove being larger in width than the diameter of the optical fiber to allow unimpeded alignment of the optical fiber. The solder preform above, wherein the body is formed substantially as a geometric shape, for example, a substantially rectangular box, a substantially cubical box, substantially a cylinder, substantially a semi-cylinder, substantially a sphere, substantially a semi-sphere, and substantially a cone or any geometric shape having a flat surface and a groove found therein.

The importance of achieving accurate mutual alignment of individual components in any optical system is well known. The miniature dimensions of components used in modern optical communication systems render such alignment difficult both to achieve and to maintain. For example, one problem in the construction of laser transmitters is that of efficiently coupling the optical output from a laser diode into an optical fiber. To obtain efficient coupling, the fiber end is desirably precisely aligned with the emitting area of the laser. When such alignment is achieved, the fiber is then fixed in place, ideally by a method that ensures alignment is sustained throughout the device lifetime.
Typically, a fiber is held in alignment with a laser using either epoxy, laser weld, or solder attachment techniques. Epoxy attachment is low cost but is not reliable over a long period of time due to outgassing and alignment shifts arising from aging and temperature cycling. Laser weld techniques are reliable but require costly ferrulization of the fiber and specially designed mounts or clips to allow weld attachment of the ferrulized fiber. Solder attachment techniques, on the other hand, are reliable and low cost, and thus have become prevalent in the art.
Currently, solder attachment may be attained through many techniques including: the application of a wire solder melted as it is fed into a desired location to secure a fiber; a sheet based preform that is placed either underneath, on top of, or surrounding the optical assembly prior to soldering; the application of molten solder directly at the point of attachment; and a blob preform with a fiber feedthrough through which a fiber is threaded prior to soldering.
The current methods of solder attachment undesirably impede motion of the optical fiber due to the weight of the preform placed over the fiber. Consequently, it may be more difficult to align and optimize a laser output signal to an optical fiber when both the fiber and the solder preform must be moved. Additionally, a desirable alignment of the fiber with the laser may be altered during soldering due to, for example, capillary stresses from the molten solder. These stresses may result in a misalignment of the fiber upon attachment even though the fiber was aligned before the solder was melted.
Even further problems may arise from the step of soldering a wire or preform to an optical fiber, which may include resistive heating, laser heating, or oven heating to melt the wire or preform. In this step, the optical fiber may be subjected to high power laser radiation and/or high temperatures needed to melt the solder, resulting in undesirable stresses due to thermal shock as well as possible alterations of optical properties of the optical fiber.
In the case of fiber feedthrough solder preforms, an extra manufacturing step may be required to feed an optical fiber through the solder perform, adding undesirable manufacturing costs.

Solder preform for low heat stress laser solder attachment

Matsushita Electric Industrial, Co., Ltd.


An embodiment of the invention provides a display panel, which includes a substrate having a pixel region and a peripheral region, a control element overlying the pixel region of the substrate, a conducting layer overlying the substrate in the peripheral region, a first insulating layer overlying the conducting layer in the peripheral region, wherein a ratio between an area of the first insulating layer and an area of the conducting layer in the peripheral region is between about 0.27 and 0.99, a lower electrode layer overlying the first insulating layer, and a second insulating layer overlying the lower electrode layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display panel and a system for displaying images utilizing the same, and in particular relates to an AM-OLED panel and design method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active light emitting devices, such as light emitting diodes and organic light emitting diodes, have been widely used in flat panel displays, wherein active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AM-OLED) panels have attracted much attention due to characteristics, such as thin dimension, light weight, spontaneous luminescence with high luminance efficiency, low power consumption, wide viewing angle, high contrast, high-response speed, and full color.
For AM-OLED panels, wide and long metal traces, for example metal traces having widths larger than 100 μm, are generally used as power lines around a peripheral region of the panel for providing power needed for display. The metal traces in the peripheral region and electrode layers (anode or cathode) in a pixel region may be in the same layer formed simultaneously. However, the metal traces in the peripheral region are relatively wide and occupy a relatively large area. Thus, the surface topography (or surface morphology) of the metal traces is quite different from that of the electrode layers in the pixel region. For example, the metal traces in the peripheral region may have insufficient surface roughness, thus negatively affecting the quality of the subsequently formed material layers. For example, an insulating layer formed overlying the metal traces in the peripheral region may be too thin to effectively isolate two metal traces underlying and overlying the insulating layer, respectively. Thus, a short may occur between the two metal traces, negatively and seriously affecting the operation of the display panel. Moreover, because the metal traces in the peripheral region have a relatively large area, high stress may be generated in the metal traces.
Therefore, a display panel having improved quality is desired.

Display panel and system for displaying images utilizing the same


An electrical circuit contains volatile states that are lost without continued application of power to circuit elements to preserve their volatile states. A first power source in the circuit provides power to the volatile state circuit for holding and preserving their volatile states. A power selection circuit is coupled to the circuit elements and has a plurality of selectable modes. A first mode of operation of the power selection circuit is selected when the circuit elements are to be operated at a first power level via the first power source which constitutes a first mode of operation. A second mode of operation is selected when the volatile state circuit elements are to be operated under a condition where the first power source is inactivated, such as, for example, during a circuit backup or standby operation. During the second mode of operation, the circuit elements volatile states are preserved via a power selection circuit that provides power from a second power source at a second power level, different from the first power level, to the volatile state circuit elements in place of the first power source.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to digital circuit design, and more particularly, to the design of volatile circuits that contain volatile data states that may be lost without the continued application of applied power. An example of such a volatile circuits are digital memory circuits capable of retaining the data state of each memory cell during power-down periods in which the primary power source for the memory circuit is uncoupled from the memory circuit or, otherwise, interrupted or rendered inactive to the memory circuit. A particular example of such a memory circuit is a random access memory (RAM) circuit.
B. Background of the Invention
An ongoing trend to reduce the size of the components or elements or devices in digital integrated circuits is leading to geometries that enable the operation of circuits having volatile circuit elements, such as, for example, memory cells, flip flop devices, etc., using a lowered power level of about 1.8 volts. Power at this level is typically provided from a conventional unregulated external power source of about 3.0+/−10% volts using an internal low dropout (hereinafter "LDO") power supply regulator. Nonetheless, when such low voltage devices are inactive or turned off, the leakage currents exhibited are substantially large relative to the same kind of devices configured using earlier versions of CMOS technology. Such earlier devices typically operate from an unregulated external power source of about 3.0 volts with lower leakage current.
In modern CMOS processes, adequately low standby currents cannot be achieved simply by making all circuit nodes in such a circuit design static because of these excessive leakage currents in smaller geometry devices when placed in an "off" or inactive state. Previous solutions to this problem have concentrated on employing analog circuit techniques to reduce these leakage currents. Examples of these techniques are the employment of a reverse substrate bias and the interposition of much less leaky high voltage transistors in each leakage path, such as employing thicker gate oxide, deeper junctions, and larger dimension devices, such as transistor components or elements. These solutions are complex and do not guarantee the desired results.
What is need is a way to provide for memory circuit backup of their volatile memory states with respect to newer lower voltage operating CMOS circuits employing an approach that provides for lower leakage during periods of circuit power extension or turn-off. The approach here utilizes digital circuit state retention in the absence of normal circuit power or inactivation.

Backup for circuits having volatile states


A vibration damper includes a first damping member coupled to a compressor, a second damping member coupled to the first damping member, and a dispersion member between the first and second damping members to disperse torsional vibration forces from the compressor. The dispersion member may also serve to disperse axial and torsional vibration forces received from the compressor through the first damping member.

1. Field
One or more embodiments described herein relate to dampening vibration in a mechanical device.
2. Background
Compressors are used in various applications to compress gas or liquid. Examples of compressors include reciprocating compressors, scroll compressors, vane compressors, and centrifugal compressors. Scroll compressors are often used in refrigerators and air conditioners. In these or other compressors, or indeed in other types of mechanical devices, internal vibrations are generated which tend to degrade performance.


An efficient and intuitive means, method and apparatus for displaying and searching information organized in a hierarchical manner. The presented method for displaying and searching information utilizes methods residing at the nodes of the hierarchically organized information.

Much of the information presented to computer users today is presented using a tree structure. A tree structure, when referring to a computer user interface, is a structure where groups are associated with entities within the groups which may be associated with even more refined entities within a group. It provides a hierarchical view of a collection of information. An example of this would be a tree structure (a part of which is shown in FIG. 1) where the countries of the world are listed, each country containing its associated states, each state containing its associated counties and each county having its associated towns. As shown in FIG. 1 when looking at North Carolina, much of the tree is not visible on the screen due to the substantial amount of information contained within the tree.
A large percentage of network management programs today are required to be scalable. In order to manage a large number of users with respect to different applications, the applications must group users and networks in some form of hierarchy. The hierarchy is typically mapped on to the tree display for the user of the program. As seen in FIG. 1, as the number of users and information in the tree increase, the tree becomes difficult to view, search and manage. Simple search mechanisms are typically offered and these have limited use for finding simple strings within the data. There are no known methods or systems for providing a contextual search within the hierarchy of a tree. A need exists for an uncomplicated method to subset and display hierarchical information to a user without significantly increasing the screen clutter and requiring significant amounts of screen space.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient means for searching hierarchically organized information. It is another object of the present invention to minimize the screen utilization introduced by this searching mechanism. It is yet another objective to provide means for the user to receive additional information or assistance in the searching without requiring additional screen space. It is yet another object of the present invention to enable the user to fold levels of information that are currently uninteresting without disturbing the association with parent nodes.
The present invention achieves the foregoing objects by providing a method, system and program product for searching hierarchical trees more effectively. The hierarchical set of information has at least three pieces of information contained at each node of the tree. The three components are (1) the data contained at the node (2) a text entry field for a subset key for the node, and (3) the count of children for the node. This enables more efficient searching and reporting of the information contained within the hierarchical structure.

Subset search tree integrated graphical interface

International Business Machines Corporation


A drive adapter for use with a first wrench including a first type drive lug of a first size and for use with a second wrench including a second type drive lug of a second size. The drive adapter comprises a main body including a first end, a second end and an axial hole therethrough. The first end includes a hole of a first size adapted to receive the first wrench first type drive lug while the second end includes a hole of a second size adapted to receive the second wrench second type drive lug. The drive adapter further comprises a rod including a first type drive lug of a first size and a second type drive lug of a second size where the rod first type drive lug is adapted to slideably engage the main body first end hole and the rod second type drive lug is adapted to slideably engage the main body second end hole so that the rod is repositionable along the main axial body hole. In a first mode of operation, the rod is selectively moveable to a first operative position wherein the rod first type drive lug extends outward from the main body and the rod second type drive lug is recessed inside the main body so that the second wrench may be operatively connected to the main body second end hole. Similarly, in a second mode of operation, the rod is selectively moveable to a second operative position wherein the rod second type drive lug extends outward from the main body and the rod first type drive lug is recessed inside the main body so that the first wrench may be operatively connected to the main body first end hole.

Socket sets are well known. Generally, socket sets come in a variety of different styles which are suited for different uses. A typical socket has one end for detachably mounting to a wrench or other hand tool (hereinafter collectively referred to as "wrench") and another end for operative engagement with a nut, bolt, bit or the like, such as: hex head nuts and bolts, star head nuts and bolts, other polygonal head nuts and bolts, Allen head bolt, Phillips screws and slotted screws (hereinafter collectively referred to as "nut" or "nuts"). Additionally, each socket in a socket set comes with a different size operative end for engagement with different size nuts. In contrast, the mounting end of each socket is generally of the same size for detachably mounting to a wrench having a drive lug of a particular size.
However, the size of the mounting end of each socket is generally dependent upon the size of the operative end. For example, a hex head socket set having operative ends ranging from 1/8 inch to 1.0 inch may include mounting ends of three different sizes. Additionally, the mounting ends (sometimes referred to as the female end) for each socket in a socket set accept the same type of drive lug (sometimes referred to as the male end), such as a square drive. Generally, it is common for a 1/8 inch hex head socket to have a mounting end which requires a 1/4 inch square drive lug, a 1/2 inch hex head socket to have a mounting end which requires a 3/8 inch square drive lug and a 1 inch hex head socket to have a mounting end which requires a 1/2 inch square drive lug. Still larger range sockets may require even larger size drive lugs.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a variety of different size drive lugs to accommodate the different size mounting ends of the various sockets. In many instances, this is accomplished by utilizing a plurality of different wrenches with the socket set. Thus, in the example above, a first wrench having a 1/4 inch drive lug, a second wrench having 3/8 inch drive lug and a third wrench having 1/2 inch drive lug wrench be required. Although this approach generally works well, it requires the purchase of a plurality of wrenches which adds to the overall cost of the tools and increases the amount of storage space needed. Additionally, there are instances when it is desirable to use the 1/4 inch drive lug wrench to drive a socket having a mounting end which requires a 1/2 inch drive lug. This situation typically arises when working in close quarters where the surrounding space is not adequate to provide enough working room to maneuver the 1/2 inch drive lug wrench which is often considerably larger than the 1/4 inch drive lug wrench. On the other hand, there are instances when it is desirable to use the 1/2 inch drive lug wrench to drive a socket having a mounting end which requires a 1/4 inch drive lug. This situation typically arises when the extra leverage of the larger 1/2 inch drive lug wrench is required to apply greater amounts of torque to the nut.
Prior art adapters have been developed which have attempted to solve these problems. Generally, the prior art adapters include one end having a drive lug of a first size and another end having a socket for accepting a drive lug of a second size. In this manner, the socket end of the prior art adapter can be operatively connected to a wrench having a drive lug of the second size. Thus, the wrench is effectively converted to having a drive lug of the first size.
Although such prior art adapters generally work well, they suffer from certain drawbacks and disadvantages. Such prior art adapters are typically of unitary construction such that the drive end and the socket end are fashioned out of a single piece of material. Accordingly, the prior art adapters are only capable of converting a wrench having a first size drive lug to a second size drive lug. Thus, a separate adapter is necessary for each drive lug conversion. This requires a large number of adapters to accommodate the various drive lug conversions (1/2 inch to 3/8 inch, 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch to 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch, etc.) which adds to the overall cost of the tools and increases the amount of storage space needed.
Based on the above discussion, it becomes apparent that there is a need for a drive adapter capable of performing multiple conversions. In this manner, the number of drive adapters necessary and overall tool costs would be reduced.


An automatic quadrilateral surface discretization method and apparatus is provided for automatically discretizing a geometric region without decomposing the region. The automated quadrilateral surface discretization method and apparatus automatically generates a mesh of all quadrilateral elements which is particularly useful in finite element analysis. The generated mesh of all quadrilateral elements is boundary sensitive, orientation insensitive and has few irregular nodes on the boundary. A permanent boundary of the geometric region is input and rows are iteratively layered toward the interior of the geometric region. Also, an exterior permanent boundary and an interior permanent boundary for a geometric region may be input and the rows are iteratively layered inward from the exterior boundary in a first counter clockwise direction while the rows are iteratively layered from the interior permanent boundary toward the exterior of the region in a second clockwise direction. As a result, a high quality mesh for an arbitrary geometry may be generated with a technique that is robust and fast for complex geometric regions and extreme mesh gradations.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for automated quadrilateral surface discretization of a geometric region. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an automated quadrilateral mesh generation method and apparatus using a paving technique which automatically generates a mesh of quadrilateral elements without decomposition of the geometric regions and which is particularly useful in mesh generation for finite element analysis.

Automated quadrilateral surface discretization method and apparatus usable to generate mesh in a finite element analysis system


A method and electrical system for controlling the power supply of an electric motor, in particular the electric motor of a vehicle that can be electrically driven, includes a control device that controls the power supply of the electric motor by an energy store. The energy store comprises a plurality of modules that are exposed to stress due to repeated charging and/or discharging and undergo an aging process as a result of said stress. In order to decouple the service life of the energy store from the service life of a vehicle, for example, the control device controls the charging and/or discharging of at least two modules differently such that said modules exhibit a stress difference so as to selectively reduce the aging process of the module being exposed to less stress.

The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling the power supply of an electric motor, in particular the electric motor of a vehicle that can be electrically driven.
In order to reduce automobile emissions, increased emphasis is currently being placed on developing drive concepts for electrically driven vehicles such as pure electric vehicles or hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Operating electric vehicles using motors and generators requires having an electrical energy store in the vehicle.
Particularly when supplying power to electric vehicles, the energy store is frequently discharged and then recharged. Repeatedly discharging and charging the energy store stresses it, causing it to undergo an aging process after a certain period of time, which diminishes its performance and capacity over time. The end of the service life may therefore be marked by a significant reduction in performance and capacity, creating the necessity of a costly replacement of the energy store.
A method is therefore known from EP 0 913 288 B1 for maintaining the charge capacity of traction battery modules of a hybrid electric vehicle. In this method, while the vehicle is idle or the ignition is switched off, the energy store is maintained by fully charging only a single module and then partially discharging it.

Method for controlling the power supply of an electric motor


A cable fixture including a holding section for holding a cable relative to a chassis; and a fitting section formed integrally with the holding section and operative to fix the holding section to the chassis, wherein the cable is fitted, from one side, to and hooked on a hole provided in the vicinity of an opening formed in the chassis for permitting the cable to pass therethrough, by the fitting sections provided at both end portions of the holding section, and the wiring direction of the cable fixed by the holding section coincides substantially with the fixing direction in fixation of the chassis by the fitting sections.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable fixture used for mounting a cable and the like to a chassis of an electronic apparatus or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a cable fixture for fixing a flat cable to a chassis fabricated from sheet metal, there is known a fixture disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2004-239325, hereinafter referred as Patent Document 1.
Patent Document 1 describes a fixture which is used for mounting electronic parts, cables and the like to a chassis of an electronic apparatus or the like and which permits a detaching operation to be easily carried out from the face side of the chassis.
The fixture has a holding section for holding a component part onto the chassis, and a fitting section which is provided as one body with the holding section and which is for fixing the holding section to the chassis. The fitting section has a base having a flat bottom surface capable of making contact with the face of the chassis, a clamping piece projected on the bottom surface of the base and fitted from one direction to an inner edge part of a hole provided in the chassis so as to clamp the inner edge part, and a lock body projected on the bottom surface of the base and engaged with an inner edge part of a hole provided in the chassis so as to lock the base from moving in the opposite direction.
This configuration ensures that the operations for mounting and dismounting the fixture onto and from the chassis can be carried out easily.
On the other hand, inside an electronic apparatus, there are cases where a ground line provided in a cable should be grounded or insulated by joining the ground line to a chassis or a shielding sheet metal (hereinafter referred to as "the shield sheet metal") at an arbitrary position. For example, in order to cope with EMC (Electro-Magnetic Compatibility), a transfer from conductive connection to an insulated condition in a fixed condition may be performed between the shield sheet metal and the cable, or a transfer from the insulated condition to the conductive connection at that location may be performed.
There are cases where a wire harness (hereinafter referred to as "the harness") obtained by adjusting and combining the length of wires, the number of wires and terminating treatments to complete a single component part which can be easily attached to an apparatus is to be put into conductive connection between locations, between which a current is to be passed, of a sheet metal used for an electronic apparatus casing or the like. In such a case, there has been a need to provide the harness substantially in parallel to the surface of the sheet metal. This arrangement is adopted because, where the harness is substantially parallel to the sheet metal, the desired conduction can be secured by pressing the harness against the sheet metal by use of existing clampers.
On the other hand, where the harness is so disposed that its wiring direction is substantially orthogonal to the surface of the sheet metal, there is a need to partly deform the harness so as to be substantially parallel to the sheet metal, or to deform the sheet metal so as to obtain a parallel relationship.
In the former approach, the harness is deformed, so that a mechanical stress may be generated in the harness itself or in a connector or a device connected with the harness, and it may be necessary to cope with this problem. On the other hand, in the latter approach, no mechanical stress is exerted on the harness, but there is a need to modify the die for forming the sheet metal in coping with the EMC, so that the coping with this problem takes more time and cost.
Here, the EMC includes both the condition where EMC (Electro Magnetic Interference) possibly serving as an interference source of not less than a certain level against external apparatuses is not generated and the condition where such EMS (Electro Magnetic susceptibility) that the operations of the relevant apparatus itself are not hampered by external electromagnetic waves.
There are cases where the harness is disposed so that its wiring direction is substantially orthogonal to the surface of the sheet metal and where there is a need to cope with EMC. For example, there is a case where a flexible cable for connection between a device and a connector is passed through an opening part of the shield sheet metal, there is a need to provide conductive connection between the cable and the shield sheet metal for coping with EMC, and, further, a deformation of the flexible cable to put it into conductive connection to the shield sheet metal would exert a heavy stress on the flexible cable, possibly causing a reduction in device performance. In such a case, the following measure has been adopted.
A configuration has been adopted in which two conductive elastic bodies are disposed, without any gap therebetween, in an opening part of a shield sheet metal through which a flexible cable is passed, the flexible cable is passed between the two conductive elastic bodies, conductive connection between the flexible cable and the conductive elastic bodies is secured by the elasticity of the conductive elastic bodies, and, further, the conductive elastic bodies are fixed to the shield sheet metal by use of a conductive adhesive double coated tape, thereby securing conductive connection between the shield sheet metal and the flexible cable.

Cable fixture for mounting a cable to an electronic apparatus


Devices and methods for preparing a surgical site, and in particular vertebral members, which may include a retractable tool and an actuator. The tool may include distal and proximal members. A distal side of the distal member may be fixed in a longitudinal direction and pivotable at a point of rotation. A proximal side of the proximal member may be pivotably connected to the actuator. In a retracted position, the distal member may be pivotably connected to the proximal member longitudinally in between the point of rotation and the proximal side of the proximal member. Moving the actuator in a distal direction may push the proximal member and the distal member such that the proximal member pivots with respect to the actuator and distal member, the distal member pivots with respect to the proximal member and point of rotation, and the proximal member and distal member move laterally outward.

Field
The present embodiments relate to devices and methods for preparing surgical sites, and in particular, vertebral members, and more particularly, to devices and methods for preparing an intervertebral space between two adjacent vertebral bodies of two vertebrae of a spinal column, including, for example, sizing, surface preparation, and distraction.
Background
There remains a need for devices and methods for preparing a surgical site, and in particular, for preparing an intervertebral space for receiving an implant, such as a vertebral fusion implant.

Devices and methods for preparation of vertebral members


A method for controlling a reductant buffer level in an exhaust gas after treatment device connectable downstream of an internal combustion engine includes performing a first reductant injection of a first amount upstream the exhaust gas after treatment device, performing a second reductant injection of a second amount upstream the exhaust gas after treatment device, which second amount is different to the first amount, evaluating the NOx conversion resulting from the first and second reductant injections downstream the exhaust gas after treatment device to obtain a first and second result, controlling a further reductant injection in dependence of the first and second results from the first and second NOx conversion evaluations.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a reductant buffer level in an exhaust gas aftertreatment device according to the preamble of the independent claim.
Present regulatory conditions in the automotive market have led to an increasing demand to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions in present vehicles. These regulatory conditions must be balanced with the demands of a consumer for high performance and quick response for a vehicle.
A diesel engine has an efficiency of up to about 52% and is thus the best converter of fossil energy. NOx emission concentration is dependent upon local oxygen atom concentration and the local temperature. Said high efficiency is however only possible at an elevated combustion temperature at which high NOx levels are inevitable. Moreover, a suppression of NOx formation by internal means (air/fuel ratio) has the tendency to cause an increase in particulates, known as the NOx-particulates trade off. Furthermore, an excess of oxygen in the exhaust gas from a diesel engine prevents the use of stoichiometric 3-way-catalyst technology for reduction of NOx as is used in gasoline engine cars from the late 80-ties.
Reducing the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) in exhaust gases from a diesel engine has become a very important problem in view of the protection of environment and the saving of finite fossil energy supply.
Vehicles equipped with diesel or other lean burn engines offer the benefit of increased fuel economy, however, catalytic reduction of NOx emissions via conventional means in such systems is difficult due to the high content of oxygen in the exhaust gas. In this regard Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalysts, in which NOx is continuously removed through active injection of a reductant into the exhaust gas mixture entering the catalyst are known to achieve high NOx conversion efficiency. Urea based SCR catalysts use gaseous ammonia as the active NOx reducing agent. Typically, an aqueous solution of urea is carried on board of a vehicle, and an injection system is used to supply it into the exhaust gas stream entering the SCR catalyst where it decomposes into hydro cyanic acid (NHCO) and gaseous ammonia (NH3), which is then used to convert NOx.
However, in such systems, urea injection levels have to be very precisely controlled. Under-injection of urea may result in sub-optimal NOx conversion, while over-injection may cause tailpipe ammonia slip. In a typical urea-based SCR catalyst system, the amount of urea injected is in proportion to the exhaust gas NOx concentration that represents a trade-off between maximum NOX conversion and minimum ammonia slip.
NOx conversion efficiency of an SCR catalyst is improved in the presence of adsorbed ammonia. However, it is not necessary that all of the catalyst storage capacity is utilized by ammonia in order to achieve optimal NOx conversion efficiency. On the other hand if too much ammonia is stored in the catalyst under certain operating conditions, such as high temperatures, some of the adsorbed ammonia in the catalyst may desorb and slip from the catalyst or to be oxidized to NOx and thereby reducing the overall NOx conversion efficiency.
The problem with a reductant storage catalyst is the control of the amount of reductant stored in said catalyst since a direct measurement is not possible.
It is desirable to provide an improved method for controlling a reductant buffer level in an exhaust gas aftertreatment device which keeps the system out NOx levels at a low level.
In a first aspect of the invention it is provided a method for controlling a reductant buffer level in an exhaust gas aftertreatment device connectable downstream of an internal combustion engine. Said method comprising the steps of: performing a first reductant injection of a first amount upstream said exhaust gas aftertreatment device, performing a second reductant injection of a second amount upstream said exhaust gas aftertreatment device, which second amount is different to said first amount. Said method further comprising the steps of: evaluating the NOx conversion resulting from said first and second reductant injections downstream said exhaust gas aftertreatment device to obtain a first and second result, controlling a further reductant injection in dependence of the first and second results from said first and second NOx conversion evaluations.
An advantage of the present example embodiment of the invention is that the evaluation step and the control step, forming an open loop experiment, can be added to any present control method for the buffer level in the exhaust gas after treatment system.
Another advantage of the present example embodiment of the invention is that the NOx conversion may be kept at a minimum while the open loop experiment is taking place.
In another example embodiment of the present invention a further injection amount after said evaluating step may be increased or decreased compared to said first injection if said second result from said second NOx conversion evaluation is higher or lower than said first result from said first NOx conversion evaluation given that the second injection amount was higher than the first injection amount.
In still another example embodiment of the present invention said further injection after said evaluating step may be decreased or increased compared to said first injection if said second result from said second NOx conversion evaluation is higher or lower than said first results from said first NOx conversion evaluation given that the second injection amount was lower than the first injection amount.
An advantage of these embodiment s are that small alterations of the injected reductant immediately result in a change of NOx reductant level which in turn gives an indication of a empty or full exhaust gas after treatment reductant buffer.
In still another example embodiment of the present invention said method further comprising the step of continuing said increased or decreased further injection until a predetermined level of NOx conversion is reached.
An advantage of this embodiment is that an existing buffer management method may be improved by additional method steps which are independent of said existing buffer management method.
Another advantage of this embodiment is that the buffer level can be kept at an optimal level irrespective of the starting conditions.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that the open loop experiment may be initiated as often as one may require.

Method for controlling the reductant buffer level in an exhaust gas aftertreatment device


A system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuit including an interleaved delta-sigma analog to digital converter (ADC) provides for reduced noise in the ADC conversions. The ADC is operated intermittently and the balance of the digital circuits forming the system are halted while the conversions take place. The halted portion of the system may include an output low-pass filter of the ADC. The system may include a processor core or other logic having a clock frequency unrelated to the ADC modulator clock frequency that is not otherwise clock-managed to reduce noise induced in the converter output by the operation of the core or other logic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to analog-to-digital converters, and more specifically, to an on-chip system including a delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that is operated intermittently while the remainder of the system is halted to reduce noise.
2. Background of the Invention
System-on-Chip (SoC) integrated circuits are ubiquitous in embedded applications such as household devices, personal computers and industrial electronics. SoCs reduce the cost of systems and increase their performance by reducing the parts count and decreasing the number of interconnects required to implement a given device. SoCs frequently include analog conversion components such as ADCs and digital-to-analog converters (DACs) in order to provide a system interface to analog signals, perform analog measurements and to provide analog outputs.
Delta-sigma modulator based analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are in widespread use and are particularly desirable for use in SoC circuits. SoC circuit are typically either entirely digital or are mixed-signal with some analog circuits, but having at least one large-scale digital logic block, such as a processor core. Delta-sigma modulator based ADCs typically have relatively low analog circuit performance requirements and small analog circuit area. Therefore, they are ideal for mixed-signal circuits in which analog and digital signals and components coexist.
The delta-sigma modulator based ADC typically includes an analog loop filter that receives an input signal and a quantizer that converts the analog output of the loop filter to a digital representation. A feedback signal provided from the output of the quantizer is introduced to the analog loop filter to close the loop such that the average output of the quantizer is equal to the value of the input signal. The output of the quantizer is then filtered by a low-pass digital filter having a large number of taps, in order to provide an accurate conversion result from the quantizer output, which typically includes thousands of values per conversion cycle.
Since the operation of the delta-sigma modulator based ADC as described above is a quasi-continuous process within both the loop filter and the digital low-pass filter at the output, delta-sigma modulator based ADCs are typically operated continuously, unlike so-called "flash" ADCs or successive-approximation ADCs, which can be used to acquire a single sample and then be shut down between sampling/conversion cycles. Interrupting the operation of the converter between samples will cause disruption of the operation of the analog loop filter. Therefore delta-sigma modulator based ADCs are typically designed to operate continuously producing a sample value at the end of a period corresponding to the sampling rate.
In an SoC design, the ADC typically coexists with a large amount of digital logic, which typically implements a processor core or a dedicated signal processing circuit. Such circuits generate a large amount of switching noise on power supply rails of the integrated circuit, as well as generating noise on signal lines within the ADC portion of the integrated circuit that affect the converter output values. The noise level at the ADC input affects the useful resolution of the converter and is typically manageable only by adjusting the circuit layout and "managing" the timing of the digital switching signals so that all of the transitions occur over a small portion of the ADC conversion cycle. The highest frequency digital circuit clocks are typically the signals that are managed, as those clocks are responsible for the majority of the noise generated in the analog circuits.
However, digital circuits that are operated with an asynchronous clock with respect to the converter clock, and those that have some level of asynchronous operation, such as processors, which are affected by program flow as well as clock state cannot be managed in the manner described above, as logic transitions can and will occur at any point in the ADC conversion cycle. Further, when a processor core instruction rate is much higher than the converter sample rate, the various phases of instruction processing will lie throughout the conversion cycle and cannot be held to just a small window without affecting performance of the core.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an SoC including a delta-sigma ADC that can be operated in a manner that reduces or eliminates the noise generated in during analog signal conversions by a processor core or other digital circuit.

System-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuit including interleaved delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC)


A fluid reservoir assembly having a pan defining a drain opening and a plug disposed therein is disclosed. The pan includes a pair of ramps disposed on an inner surface thereof adjacent the drain opening. The plug includes a pair of wings in engagement with the ramps. The ramps increase in height relative to the inner surface of the pan along a first direction of rotation about the central axis. The plug is drawn into sealing engagement with an outer surface of the pan by rotating the plug in the first direction of rotation about the central axis thereby moving the wings up the ramps. The pan includes at least one stop to prevent over-rotation of the plug. The ramps define a recess to secure the wings in a closed position.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally relates to a fluid reservoir assembly for storing a fluid therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fluid reservoir assemblies, typified by an oil pan for an engine, include a pan for storing a fluid therein. The pan includes an inner surface and an outer surface and defines a drain opening. To prevent fluid leakage, a plug is in sealing engagement with the outer surface of the pan. The plug includes a base and a shaft extending from the base through the drain opening along a central axis. Typically, the shaft of the plug is in threaded engagement with the pan, thereby attaching the plug to the pan. In such configurations, both the pan and the plug are manufactured from a metal.
Many alternative plugs also exist. One such alternative plug is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,567 to Rabalais (the '567 patent). The '567 patent discloses a plug that includes a base and a shaft extending from the base to a distal end. A clamping member is couple to the distal end of the shaft via a threaded pivot member in threaded engagement with the shaft. The clamping member includes a pair of wings extending radially outward from the shaft. The pair of wings engages the inner surface of the pan. A tool is utilized to rotate the shaft relative to the base and the clamping member, thereby moving the clamping member up or down the shaft, without rotating relative to the pan, through the threaded engagement between the pivot member and the shaft, to draw the base into sealing engagement with the outer surface of the pan. However, drawing the base of the plug tight against the outer surface is difficult as the clamping member tends to unintentionally rotate with the shaft, thereby not advancing nor retreating along the central axis of the shaft relative to the base.
Another alternative plug for sealing a fluid reservoir is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2006/0054401, Ser. No. 10/897,865 to Wilkins (the '401 publication). The '401 publication discloses a polymer plug for sealing an oil gallery of an internal combustion engine. The oil gallery includes an annular groove, and the polymer plug includes a detent clip having a flange in interlocking engagement with the annular groove to retain the plug within the oil gallery. A boot is disposed at an end of the plug within the oil gallery in sealing engagement with the oil gallery to prevent fluid leakage. The detent device is manually depressed by a user to disengage the flange from the annular groove. However, the polymer detent device is sometimes difficult to grasp and is weakened by repetitive flexing while being removed.


A gate stack structure. The structure includes (a) a semiconductor region and (b) a gate stack on top of the semiconductor region. The gate stack includes (i) a gate dielectric region on top of the semiconductor region, (ii) a first gate polysilicon region on top of the gate dielectric region, and (iii) a second gate polysilicon region on top of the first gate polysilicon region and doped with a type of dopants. The structure further includes (c) a diffusion barrier region and a spacer oxide region on a side wall of the gate stack. The diffusion barrier region (i) is sandwiched between the gate stack and the spacer oxide region and (ii) is in direct physical contact with both the first and second gate polysilicon regions, and (iii) comprises a material having a property of preventing a diffusion of oxygen-containing materials through the diffusion barrier region.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to gate stacks, and more particularly, to a gate stack of a transistor wherein the top region of the gate stack is less likely to break off than the top region of a typical gate stack during the fabrication of the transistor.
2. Related Art
A typical fabrication process of a transistor can start with the formation of a gate stack on a semiconductor substrate. Then, the gate stack can be used to define the source/drain regions of the transistor in the substrate. Eventually, the gate stack becomes the gate of the transistor. There is always a need to reduce the resistance of the gate of the transistor to improve the performance of the transistor.
Therefore, there is a need for a novel gate stack whose resistance is relatively lower than that of the prior art. Also, there is a need for a method for forming the novel gate stack.

International Business Machines Corporation


Whenever the Receiver of this invention receives an AMD PDU or a UMD PDU with its “Length Indicator” having an invalid or a reserved value, the Receiver discards such a PDU and treats it as never received. The Receiver may report its receiving status accordingly if a report is required. This invention avoids invoking unnecessary RLC reset procedures and reduces the chance of losing HFN synchronization during AM or UM data transmissions.

This invention relates to wireless communication. More particularly, this invention provides more efficient way to handle several abnormal cases for Acknowledged Mode transmission and Unacknowledged Mode transmission.
Under the acknowledged mode (AM) in a wireless communication network, data transferred between two RLC peer entities (a UE or a UTRAN can be either a Sender or a Receiver) is in the Packet Data Unit (PDU) format. FIG. 1 illustrates the simplified procedure for Acknowledged mode data (AMD) transfer.
The Sender packages a Radio Link Control (RLC) Service Data Units (SDUs) received from upper layers into one or multi fixed-size AMD PDUs. If the AMD PDU is transmitted for the first time, the Sender shall set the "Sequence Number" field, its "Length Indicator" field and its "Polling Bit" accordingly. Otherwise, if the AMD PDU is retransmitted, the Sender uses the same "Sequence Number" as the original AMD PDU has. The Sender will update the "Length Indicator" field of a retransmitted AMD PDU due to that a piggybacked STATUS PDU is involved. Of course the Sender also sets the "Polling bit" accordingly. Afterward, if one or more AMD PDUs have been scheduled for transmission or retransmission, the Sender shall submit any ready AMD PDUs to lower layer to transmit.
Upon receiving an AMD PDU, the Receiver shall update its state variables for each received AMD PDU. The Receiver reassembles the received AMD PDUs into RLC SDUs. If "In-Sequence Delivery" is configured, the Receiver delivers the RLC SDUs in-sequence (i.e. in the same order as the RLC SDUs were originally transmitted by the peer entity—the Sender) to upper layers through the AM Service Access Point (AM-SAP). Otherwise, deliver the RLC SDUs in arbitrary order to upper layers through the AM-SAP.
Furthermore, the Sender and the Receiver uses a RLC reset procedure to resynchronize the peer entities when an abnormal condition happened. FIG. 2 illustrates the elementary procedure for an RLC reset. During the reset procedure the hyper frame numbers (HFN) in the Sender and the Receiver are synchronized. Usually, the RESET PDUs and the RESET ACK PDUs have higher priority than AMD PDUs. When a reset procedure has been initiated it can only be ended upon reception of a RESET ACK PDU with the same Reset Sequence Number (RSN) value as in the corresponding RESET PDU, or upon request of re-establishment or release from upper layer. A reset procedure is not interrupted by the reception of a RESET PDU from the peer entity.
The Sender and the Receiver use many techniques, such as the "Sequence Number" of each PDU, the "Length Indicator" with allowable values or reserved values, the transmitting and receiving window size and others, to monitor any error occurring during transmission and to maintain synchronization between them.
FIG. 3 illustrates how an AMD PDU with abnormal condition is processed. If the Receiver receives an AMD PDU outside the range of its reception window (Steps 5 and 10), the Receiver will discard the AMD PDU (Step 15) and go to Step 20. If the sequence number is within the range, then the Receiver checks if the value of "Length Indicator" of the received PDU is invalid or reserved (Step 40). If the "Length Indicator" has an invalid or a reserved value, the Receiver discards this AMD PDU and treats the discarded AMD PDU as a missing one (Step 50). An invalid value of the "Length Indicator" can be a value greater than the size of data field in the PDU. Additionally, an invalid value can be caused by using any value that violates the rules of the RLC protocol, such as using both values of 1111110 and 1111111 for "Length Indicator" in the same PDU, using the value 1111110 not followed by an extension bit of value 0, or using an incorrect order of the "Length Indicators" etc. Otherwise, if the "Length Indicator" is valid and is not reserved, the Receiver shall update its state variables (Step 45). Next, at Step 20, the Receiver checks if the "polling Bit" of the received AMD PDU is set to be "1". If it is, the Receiver shall initiate the STATUS PDU transfer procedure (Step 30) and then reassemble the received AMD PDUs into RLC SDUs (Step 55). Moreover, if the "Polling Bit" is not "1", the Receiver further checks if the "Missing PDU Indicator" is configured and the Receiver detects any missing AMD PDU (Step 25). If the Indicator is configured and a PDU is missing, the Receiver initiates the Status PDU transfer procedure in Step 30 and then go to Step 55. However, if "Missing PDU Indicator" is not configured or if the Receiver detects no missing PDU, the receiver will reassemble the received AMD PDU(s) into RLC SDU(s) and deliver the AMD SDU(s) to upper layers through AM_SAP (Steps 55, 60).
Also at the Receiver side, once the triggering of a STATUS report has occurred, as shown in FIG. 4, the Receiver first checks if there are active status prohibit functions or active "EPC mechanism" (Steps 70, 75). If there is, the Receiver delays the submitting of the STATUS PDU until the "STATUS prohibit" or "EPC mechanism" becomes inactive (Step 100). Otherwise, the Receiver shall include negative acknowledgements for all AMD PDUs detected as missing and positive acknowledgements for all AMD PDUs received up to at least VR(R) and set up optional Super Field variables into a STATUS PDU, which will be sent back to the Sender (Steps 80, 85, 90, and 95). At the Sender side, when the Sender receives a STATUS PDU from the Receiver (Step 105), the Sender checks if the STATUS PDU including "erroneous Sequence Number". If it does, the Sender shall discard the STATUS PDU and initiate the RLC reset procedure (Steps 135, 140). If the STATUS PDU does not include "Erroneous Sequence Number", the Sender updates its state variables, VT(A) and VT(MS) (Step 115). Then the Sender checks if the STATUS PDU include negatively acknowledged AMD PDUs (Step 120). If it does not, goes to Step 130. Otherwise, if it does, the Sender shall initiate the acknowledged data transfer procedure and retransmit these negatively acknowledged AMD PDUs. Last, at Step 130, the Sender processes optional Super Field variables as needed.
Under the unacknowledged mode (UM) in a wireless communication network, data transferred between two RLC peer entities also is in a Packet Data Unit (PDU) format. FIG. 5 illustrates the elementary procedure for unacknowledged mode data (UMD) transfer.
The Sender packages a Radio Link Control (RLC) Service Data Units (SDUs) received from upper layers into one or multi fixed-size UMD PDUs. The UMD PDU is transmitted once only. The Sender shall set the "Sequence Number" field and its "Length Indicator" field accordingly. For example, the UM data state variable, VT(US), contains the "Sequence Number" of the next UMD PDU to be transmitted. It shall be incremented by 1 each time a UMD PDU is transmitted. If one or more UMD PDUs have been scheduled for transmission, the Sender shall submit any ready UMD PDUs to lower layer for transmission. When the Sequence Number wraps around from the maximum value of 7-bit representation, i.e. 127, back to 0, the associated hyper frame number (HFN) is incremented by one. The HFNs are not sent explicitly in the UMD PDUs. Instead, they are maintained independently in the peer Sender and Receiver. A ciphering mechanism will use HFN as a parameter to cipher at the Sender and decipher at the Receiver. If the HFNs of the peer entity are not kept in synchronization, the ciphering mechanism will fail.
Upon receiving a UMD PDU from a Sender (Step 150), as shown in FIG. 6, the Receiver checks if the value of the "Length Indicator" of the received UM PDU is invalid or reserved (Step 155), e.g. the Receiver checks if the "Length Indicator" has a value that is either larger than the size of data field in the PDU (invalid) or a value specified to be reserved for UMD PDU for other purposes, such as functions for later releases. If it is invalid or is reserved, the Receiver discards the UMD PDU and treats the UMD PDU as missing (Step 160) then go to Step 190. Otherwise, the Receiver updates the Receiver Send Sequence State Variable, VR(US), to contain the "Sequence Number" following that of the last UMD PDU received (Step 170). For example, when a UMD PDU with "Sequence Number" x is received, the VR(US) shall be set to x+1. The Receiver further checks if any UMD PDU is missing, i.e. the Receiver checks if the updating step of VR(US) is greater than one (Step 175). If the updating step of VR(US) is not greater than one, the Receiver checks if the received UMD PDU is the first segment of an SDU by looking for a predefined "Length Indicator" value "1111100" or "1111 11111111 100", which is used to indicate the first data octet in this UMD PDU is the first octet of an RLC SDU (Steps 180, 185). If the received UMD PDU is not the first segment of an SDU, the Receiver shall assemble the received UMD PDU into RLC SDU(s) and submit the RLC SDU(s) to upper layer through UM-SAP (Steps 195 and 200). However if there is any missing UMD PDU detected in Steps 175 and 160, the Receiver shall discard any SDU(s) having segments in the missing UMD PDU(s) (Step 190).
Overall, the prior art has an inefficient way to process an AMD PDU with its "Length Indicator" having an invalid or a reserved value in an Acknowledged Mode transmission. There are cases caused by the physical layer CRC residue error so that the erroneous bit string of the AMD PDU is not detected by the CRC scheme. In this situation, sequence number of the AMD PDU might also contain errors. The Receiver treats an AMD PDU with its "Length Indicator" having an invalid or a reserved value as a missing PDU. See Step 50 in FIG. 3. When a status report is triggered, the report would include negative acknowledgement of this AMD PDU of possible contaminated sequence number. See Step 80 in FIG. 4. Moreover, if the contaminated sequence number is outside the transmission window, the Sender recognizes this status report as containing an "erroneous Sequence Number" and will initiate a RLC reset procedure accordingly. (See Step 140 in FIG. 5). Thus, when the AMD PDU with invalid or reserved length indicator is treated as a missing PDU, the Sender might initiate an unnecessary RLC reset procedure.
The similar inefficient process also occurs in an Unacknowledged Mode Transmission. Where the Receiver may receive a UMD PDU with its "Length Indicator" having an invalid or a reserved value. Just as the AM transmission, this may because of a physical layer CRC residue error, i.e., there are errors in the bit string of the UMD PDU and these errors are not detected by the CRC scheme. In this situation, sequence number of the UMD PDU might also contain errors. In the prior art design, the Receiver treats a UMD PDU with invalid or reserved "Length Indicator" as a missing PDU. If the sequence number is also contaminated, the Receiver will discard wrong SDUs. See Steps 160 and 190 in FIG. 6. In addition, if the contaminated sequence number changes the order from increment to decrement compared to the previously received UMD PDU, the Receiver will discard the UMD PDU but will mistakenly increment the HFN value so that the HFNs will not be synchronous with the Sender any more. Consequently, the ciphering mechanism will fail and cause all the following transmitted UMD PDUs lost. Thus, when the UMD PDU with a "Length Indicator" having an invalid or a reserved value is treated as a missing PDU, the Receiver might discard wrong SDUs and also might make the HFNs unsynchronized with the Sender.

Abnormal case handling for acknowledged mode transmission and unacknowledged mode transmission