In an aspect, a conveyor system is provided for a vehicle having wheels. The conveyor system includes a conveyor having an inlet end positioned to receive a vehicle to be conveyed, and an exit end positioned for exiting of the vehicle off of the conveyor, and a surface positioned proximate to at least one of the inlet end and the exit end. The surface is positioned to support at least one of the wheels while at least another of the wheels is supported on the conveyor. The surface has surface properties selected such that a coefficient of friction between the surface and tire rubber is below a selected threshold so as to permit sliding of the at least one of the wheels on the surface while the at least another of the wheels is supported on the conveyor.

Vehicle conveyors are known. A vehicle can enter onto the vehicle conveyor, and can be transported by the vehicle conveyor along a selected path. During entry of the vehicle onto the vehicle conveyor there is a point at which one or more front wheels are positioned on the endless belt(s). As will be appreciated, in this state, the rear wheels of the vehicle are not yet positioned on the vehicle conveyor. If the rear wheels of the vehicle are braked or somehow otherwise unable to freely rotate, they can resist forward movement of the vehicle via friction between the rear wheels and the inlet surface at the inlet end of the vehicle conveyor.
Similarly, when a vehicle is exiting from the vehicle conveyor, there is a point at which its one or more front wheels will be positioned on the exit surface that is at the exit end of the vehicle conveyor, while its rear wheels are still positioned on the vehicle conveyor. If the front wheels are not able to freely rotate, either as a result of the application of a brake or the vehicle being in park (for an automatic transmission vehicle), friction between the locked front wheels of the vehicle and the exit surface can resist forward movement of the vehicle being urged forward by contact between the rear wheels and the vehicle conveyor.
Both of the above scenarios can strain the drive motor(s), conveyor surfaces (e.g., belt or belts as the case may be), or other parts of the vehicle conveyor and can potentially damage components of the vehicle, such as the tires and transmission.

Vehicle conveyor system and surface system for a vehicle conveyor


An integrated propulsion and guidance system for an aircraft or other vehicle includes an engine coupled to a propeller via a driveshaft to produce propulsive force. One or more of the propeller blades are pivotably mounted with respect to the hub of the propeller. A control signal is provided to adjust the blade pitch of the pivotable blades as the blades rotate about the hub. The change in blade pitch as the blade rotates produces a torque imbalance that can be used to control the heading of the vehicle. By varying the magnitude and phase of the control signal provided to the propeller, the torque can be applied in a multitude of distinct reference planes, thereby allowing the orientation of the vehicle to be adjusted through action of the pivotable propeller blade(s).

Various types of manned and unmanned aircraft have been in use for a wide array of commercial, military, homeland security and other purposes for many years. Many of these aircraft are guided by re-directing air passing across a wing or other control surface using conventional control surfaces such as ailerons, flaps, rudders, elevators, vertical stabilizers and the like. Other aircraft are further guided by so-called "vectored thrust" techniques whereby a moveable nozzle adjusts the direction of thrust produced by an engine. Although not common on commercial aircraft, vectored thrust techniques are commonly employed in fighter planes, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft and the like.
While conventional guidance systems using vectored thrust and/or control surfaces are effective for many purposes, the full potential of various aircraft is limited by the propulsion and control systems currently available. For very slow-moving aircraft, for example, very precise control is typically desired, yet this level of control is not generally available from conventional control surface assemblies. While vectored thrust assemblies have been used in VTOL systems, the mechanical linkages commonly used in such systems (particularly in aircraft such as the V-22 Osprey, wherein the entire engine pod pivots to alternate between vertical and horizontal thrust) can be highly complicated, thereby resulting in increased cost and weight. Accordingly, it is desirable to create a vehicle control and propulsion system that is able to precisely propel and guide the aircraft in a variety of highly demanding environments and applications. In addition, it is desirable to create a technique for controlling and propelling an aircraft that is effective at low speeds, that operates without complex linkages at a relatively low cost, and that provides precise control of the vehicle. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for vehicle control using variable blade pitch


A surgical forceps particularly useful in least invasive surgery includes an elongate probe formed of an outer tubular member and an inner member movable in the outer probe member, stationary and movable jaws coupled with the distal ends, respectively, of the outer and inner probe members, and a handle squeezable to move the movable jaw relative to the stationary jaw to rearwardly or forwardly cut tissue or grasp tissue. A force diverting mechanism is responsive to the force applied to the handle exceeding a predetermined force to provide the surgeon with an indication of the excessive force and protects the jaw components at the distal end of the surgical forceps. A suction passage is formed in the forceps for aspirating cut tissue and assisting the positioning of tissue between the jaws, and suction can be produced continuously or controlled via the handle. The handle includes locking and latching mechanisms to hold the jaws in a closed position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to intra-articular devices and, more specifically, to surgical suction forceps for cutting or grasping tissue and applying suction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Intra-articular surgical devices for cutting and aspirating tissue from the body are well known, as exemplified by the C-Cutter of the IntraArc Arthroscopy Blade System of Concept and as further exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,825 to Bays et al and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,662,371 and 4,522,206 to Whipple et al. Such surgical devices or instruments typically include a movable jaw and a stationary jaw mounted, respectively, on distal ends of relatively movable inner and outer tubular members to permit the jaws to engage tissue when the movable jaw is moved relative to the stationary jaw in response to movement of the inner tubular member produced by a drive at the proximal end of the instrument. With the inner and outer tubular members having an elongate configuration, surgical cutting and grasping instruments characterized by cooperating, closable jaws have particular utility in closed, or least invasive, surgical procedures, including arthroscopy, by allowing the jaws to be positioned to engage tissue at a surgical site via insertion through a small portal with minimal trauma. Such instruments are referred to herein as suction forceps. The jaws of such suction forceps can be driven either manually, as exemplified by the Whipple et al patents and by the various Shutt forceps of Concept, or with a power drive as exemplified by the Concept IntraArc Arthroscopy Power System and C-Cutter and the Bays et al patent, the drive serving to move the inner elongate member relative to the outer elongate member to, in turn, open and close the jaws.
Some of the disadvantages of prior art suction forceps are that, when the jaws are operated or driven manually by a pivotal handle, components at the distal end can be broken if excessive force is applied to the handle creating the opportunity for severed parts to be introduced at the surgical site, and that the movable jaw is unable to scoop up and cut tissue in a rearwardly directed cutting action and is generally incapable of readily cutting tissue positioned so as to require a "backbiting" cutting action. Additionally, the movable jaws in manually operable suction forceps frequently cannot be effectively locked in a "closed" position for safety in handling the instruments and for enhanced manipulation in closely confined surgical sites. Locks proposed in the past for securing manually movable operating handles in a position corresponding to a closed position for the movable jaws are structurally and functionally complicated and are incompatible for use under the time constraints of surgery. Moreover, the locks frequently are accidentally defeated during normal handling of the surgical instruments and, therefore, are unreliable. When cooperating, closable jaws are used to grasp tissue, the grasping jaws must be securely closed around the tissue to obtain a firm holding grip thereon. In many cases, it is difficult to reach tissue with the grasping jaws o to initially draw tissue between the jaws when the jaws are positioned proximate, but in less than direct engagement with, tissue.


A method and apparatus for reclaiming memory space allocated to data structures comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers. The memory allocated to data objects is reclaimed using two systems. In the first system (240), the data structures are traversed to identify those objects to which no references are made by the pointers of other objects, and the memory allocated to those objects to which no references are made is reclaimed. In the second system (210), objects which are not descendants of root objects are determined and the memory allocated to those objects is reclaimed. Cycles of the first system are interleaved with cycles of the second system.

The present invention relates to a memory reclamation method and apparatus and in particular, though not exclusively, to such method and apparatus in which repeated sweeps of memory using alternative algorithms are made.
Garbage collection is the automated reclamation of system memory space after its last use by a programme. A number of examples of garbage collecting techniques are discussed in xe2x80x9cGarbage Collectionxe2x80x94Algorithms for Automatic Dynamic Memory Managementxe2x80x9d by R. Jones et al, pub. John Wiley and Sons 1996, ISBN 0-471-94148-4, at pages 1 to 18, and xe2x80x9cUniprocessor Garbage Collection Techniquesxe2x80x9d by P. R. Wilson, Proceedings of the 1992 International Workshop on Memory Management, St. Malo, France, September 1992. Whilst the storage requirements of many computer programs are simple and predictable, with memory allocation and recovery being handled by the programmer or a compiler, there is a trend toward functional languages having more complex patterns of execution such that the lifetimes of particular data structures can no longer be determined prior to run-time and hence automated reclamation of this storage, as the program runs, is essential.
A common feature of a number of garbage collection reclamation techniques, as described in the above-mentioned Wilson reference, is incrementally traversing the data structure formed by referencing pointers carried by separately stored data objects. The technique involves first marking all stored objects that are still reachable by other stored objects or from external locations by tracing a path or paths through the pointers linking data objects.
This may be followed by sweeping or compacting the memoryxe2x80x94that is to say examining every object stored in the memory to determine the unmarked objects whose space may then be reclaimed.
Each garbage collection algorithm has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. For example a mark-sweep garbage collector is able to detect all unused objects and reclaim the memory occupied by them in a single mark-sweep pass through the memory heap. However, garbage cannot be identified for certain until all used objects have been marked. In contrast, a reference counting garbage collector is able to detect unused objects and immediately reclaim memory occupied by them. Unfortunately, reference counting cannot, by itself, identify unused circular loops of objects, where the tail of a list is linked to the head.
Furthermore, some garbage collected languages and environments such as Java ((copyright)Sun Microsystems Inc.), Modula-3 and Cedar support the is concept of finalisation, which it is necessary that garbage collection algorithms cater for. Stored data objects created by a program process may have an associated finaliser procedure which is to be executed after the object is detected as unmarked and nominally becomes available for garbage collection but before the memory occupied by the data object is reclaimed. The purpose of this feature is to allow an object to clean up any other system resources the object has claimed before it is destroyed. For example, the finaliser for a Java File Object would close all the system file handles held by the object.
However, a finaliser is just a special type of procedure associated with an object with all the power of the programming language available to it. The finaliser procedure can therefore access and manipulate all data objects accessible from the object being finalised. Therefore, all objects accessible by a finaliser, such as descendant objects accessible from referencing pointers held by the data object, must be explicitly excluded from garbage collection. Furthermore, it is possible for the finaliser method to resurrect any such objects accessible by a finaliser, including the object being finalised itself, by making the object accessible to the program process again. Consequently, a garbage collection procedure cannot delete any objects that are accessible by a finalisable object until its finaliser has executed and the accessibility of the objects has been re-evaluated. In Java and other languages, the possibility of an object repeatedly resurrecting itself is typically removed by stating that the finaliser for each instance is executed only once. This control on finalisation will be assumed herein.
In PC""s or workstations, the extra processing and memory load to support finalisation is not usually a problem due to the amount of memory typically available in a PC, although the support will, of course, affect the overall efficiency. In low-memory environments such as set-top boxes, however, support for finalisers can cause problems and even a concurrent or incremental garbage collector may have to halt the program until it has executed some or all of the outstanding finalisers and reclaimed any memory used by them.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of reclaiming memory space allocated to data structures comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers, in which the memory allocated to data objects is reclaimed using two systems: a first system, by which the data structure is traversed to identify those objects to which no references are made by the pointers of other objects, and reclaiming the memory allocated to those objects to which no references are made; and a second system, which determines which objects are not descendants of root objects and reclaiming the memory allocated to those objects, wherein cycles of the first system are interleaved with cycles of the second system.
The second system may determine which objects are descendants of root objects from a mark associated with each object, which mark has been set by the first system if the object is a descendant of a root object.
An advantage of the present invention is that one traversal of the heap gives information required for memory reclamation using both systems.
The cycles of the first system may reclaim the memory allocated to a group of data objects the pointers of which reference each other but none of which are referred to by the pointer of a root object.
The interleaving of first and second systems may be performed according to predetermined criteria including: cycles of the first system may be performed until no unreferenced objects are found, followed by a cycle of the second system; a cycle of the first system may be interleaved between cycles of the second system; a first number of cycles of the first system are interleaved between a second number of cycles of the second system. A global indicator may dictate from which system the next memory reclamation cycle will be derived.
The memory space may be traversed in a first direction during even numbered cycles and traversed in a second, alternate, direction during odd numbered cycles. A first mark may be associated with objects referenced by pointers of other objects found during the traversal in the first direction. A second mark may be associated with objects referenced by pointers of other objects found during the traversal in the second direction. An object found to be unreferenced by pointers of other objects traversed in one direction and not having the mark from a prior traversal in the alternate direction may be deleted.
Changes to pointers referencing objects may be monitored and the first system may only traverse a data structure to identify those objects to which no references are made by the pointers of other objects when a change to a pointer referencing a constituent object of the data structure occurs. If a change to a pointer which uniquely references an object occurs, the uniquely referenced object may be immediately deleted.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing apparatus comprising a data processor coupled with a random access memory containing data structures comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers, the processor being configured to provide the following for operating on the stored plurality of data objects: first means for traversing the data structures to identify those objects to which no references are made by the pointers of other objects, and for reclaiming the memory allocated to those objects to which no references are made; and second means for determining which objects are not descendants of root objects and for reclaiming the memory allocated to those objects, wherein cycles of the first means are interleaved with cycles of the second means.
In the present invention, repeated sweeps of heap memory are performed using alternating complementary garbage collection methods to improve the efficiency of garbage collection, utilising the benefits of each method whilst avoiding their inherent weaknesses. Advantageously, the garbage collection method of the present invention identifies finaliser-accessible objects.
More advantageously, finalisable objects identified are topologically ordered and executed to avoid having to repeatedly process a finalisable object and its descendants which are descendants of another finalisable object.
Furthermore, the method of the present invention is composed of a number of simple steps, thereby permitting fine-grained incremental implementations of the garbage collector.


The present invention relates to a foldable honeycomb structure and method for making the same. The method comprises (a) providing a plurality of flat strips; (b) forming a pair of longitudinal creases in each strip thereby defining the first two longitudinal margins of each strip and a central portion of each strip between the creases; (c) folding each strip along said creases so that each folded strip has two exposed outside surfaces; (d) applying at least three longitudinal glue lines to the exposed outside surface of each folded strip; and (e) stacking the glued strips. As a result, it need not open the longitudinal margins during the process of applying the longitudinal glue lines, which can avoid the deformation of the strip and have a precise gluing position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foldable honeycomb structure and the method for making the same, and particularly relates to a foldable honeycomb structure made through a simple process and the method for making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic sectional view of a first kind of conventional foldable honeycomb structure is shown. The conventional foldable honeycomb structure 1 is applied to thermal insulation devices such as window curtain, and can be texture or non-texture, as shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 1, the honeycomb structure 1 is a double cell row structure, in which the reference numbers 11a, 11b, 11c, 12a, 12b and the like refer to a cell, the cells 11a, 11b, 11c refer to a first row, and the cells 12a, 12b refer to a second row.
Referring to FIGS. 3a to 3d, schematic views of a method for making the conventional foldable honeycomb structure in FIG. 1 are shown. First, a flat strip 13 with a length extending longitudinally is provided as shown in FIG. 3a. The strip 13 has a first surface 131 and a second surface 132.
Next, referring to FIG. 3b, a first longitudinal crease 14 and a second longitudinal crease 15 are formed on the strip 13, so as to define a first longitudinal margin 16, a central portion 17 and a second longitudinal margin 18 on the strip 13. Then, the first longitudinal margin 16 of the strip 13 is folded towards one side (upside) of the strip 13 along the first longitudinal crease 14, and the second longitudinal margin 18 of the strip 13 is folded towards the other side (underside) of the strip 13 along the second longitudinal crease 15, thereby forming an approximate Z-shape appearance. The first longitudinal margin 16 has a first surface 161 and a second surface 162; the central portion 17 has a first surface 171 and a second surface 172; and the second longitudinal margin 18 has a first surface 181 and a second surface 182, wherein the first surfaces 161, 171, 181 are the same as the first surface 131 of the strip 13, and the second surfaces 162, 172, 182 are the same as the second surface 132 of the strip 13.
Next, referring to FIG. 3c, a first glue line 191, a second glue line 192 and a third glue line 193 are applied longitudinally to the folded strip 13. The first glue line 191 is applied on the inside surface where the first longitudinal margin 16 and the central portion 17 are overlapped, i.e. between the first surface 161 of the first longitudinal margin 16 and the first surface 171 of the central portion 17, and the first glue line 191 is at the free end of the first longitudinal margin 16. The second glue line 192 is applied to the second surface 172 of the central portion 17 at the position where the central portion 17 and the second longitudinal margin 18 are not overlapped, and the second glue line 192 is usually at the position corresponding to half of the width of the first longitudinal margin 16. The third glue line 193 is applied to the first surface 181 of the second longitudinal margin 18, and is at the free end of the second longitudinal margin 18.
Next, referring to FIG. 3d, the glued strips 13 are stacked; the first glue line 191 is used for adhering the free end of the first longitudinal margin 16 to the central portion 17; the second glue line 192 is used for adhering the central portion 17 to a first longitudinal margin of another adjacent (underlying) strip; and the third glue line 193 is used for adhering the second longitudinal margin 18 to a central portion of another adjacent (underlying) strip. The expanded view after adhering is as shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic sectional view of a second kind of conventional foldable honeycomb structure is shown. The conventional foldable honeycomb structure 2 is a four-cell row structure.
Referring to FIGS. 5a to 5d, schematic views of a method for making the conventional foldable honeycomb structure in FIG. 4 is shown. First, referring to FIG. 5a, a flat strip 23 with a length extending longitudinally is provided. The strip 23 has a first surface 231 and a second surface 232.
Then, referring to FIG. 5b, a first longitudinal crease 24 and a second longitudinal crease 25 are formed on the strip 23, so as to define a first longitudinal margin 26, a central portion 27 and a second longitudinal margin 28 on the strip 23. After that, the first longitudinal margin 26 of the strip 23 is folded towards one side (upside) of the strip 23 along the first longitudinal crease 24, and the second longitudinal margin 28 of the strip 23 is folded towards the other side (underside) of the strip 23 along the second longitudinal crease 25, thereby forming an approximate Z-shape appearance. The first longitudinal margin 26 has a first surface 261 and a second surface 262, the central portion 27 has a first surface 271 and a second surface 272, and the second longitudinal margin 28 has a first surface 281 and a second surface 282, wherein the first surfaces 261, 271, 281 are the same as the first surface 231 of the strip 23, and the second surfaces 262, 272, 282 are the same as the second surface 232 of the strip 23.
Then, Referring to FIG. 5c, a first glue line 291, a second glue line 292, a third glue line 293, a fourth glue line 294 and a fifth glue line 295 are applied longitudinally to the folded strip 23. The first glue line 291 is applied to the inside surface where the first longitudinal margin 26 and the central portion 27 are overlapped, i.e. between the first surface 261 of the first longitudinal margin 26 and the first surface 271 of the central portion 27, and the first glue line 291 is at the location corresponding to the free end of the first longitudinal margin 26. The second glue line 292 is applied to the second surface 272 of the central portion 27 at the location where the central portion 27 and the second longitudinal margin 28 are not overlapped, and the second glue line 292 is usually at the location corresponding to half of the width of the first longitudinal margin 26. The third glue line 293 is applied to the first surface 281 of the second longitudinal margin 28, and is at the free end of the second longitudinal margin 28. The fourth glue line 294 is applied to the inside surface where the second longitudinal margin 28 and the central portion 27 are overlapped, i.e. between the second surface 282 of the second longitudinal margin 28 and the second surface 272 of the central portion 27, and the fourth glue line 294 is two thirds of the width of the second longitudinal margin 28 away from the second longitudinal crease 25. The fifth glue line 295 is applied to the first surface 281 of the second longitudinal margin 28, and is one third of the width of the second longitudinal margin 28 away from the second longitudinal crease 25.
Next, referring to FIG. 5d, the glued strips 23 are stacked, wherein the first glue line 291 is used for adhering the free end of the first longitudinal margin 26 to the central portion 27. The second glue line 292 is used for adhering the central portion 27 to a first longitudinal margin of another adjacent (underlying) strip. The third glue line 293 is used for adhering the second longitudinal margin 28 to a central portion of another adjacent (underlying) strip. The fourth glue line 294 is used for adhering the second longitudinal margin 28 to the central portion 27. The fifth glue line 295 is used for adhering the second longitudinal margin 28 to a central portion of another adjacent (underlying) strip. The expanded view after adhering is as shown in FIG. 4.
The first kind of conventional double cell row honeycomb structure 1 of FIG. 1 and the second kind of conventional four cell row honeycomb structure 2 of FIG. 4 and other methods of making the same have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,482,750, 5,670,000, 5,702,552, 6,319,586. The most important problem of the honeycomb structure and method for making the same described above resides in that the glue lines are between the central portions and the longitudinal margins. Taking the double cell row honeycomb structure 1 of FIG. 3c for example, the first glue line 191 is applied to the inside surface where the first longitudinal margin 16 and the central portion 17 are overlapped. During practical production process, since the first longitudinal margin 16, the central portion 17 and the second longitudinal margin 18 are very close when the strip 13 is folded as an approximate Z-shape as shown in FIG. 3b. Therefore, when the first glue line 191 is to be applied, a strip opener is required to be interposed between the first longitudinal margin 16 and the central portion 17 to open the first longitudinal margin 16, such that the gluing nozzle can go deep into the gap between the first longitudinal margin 16 and the central portion 17 to apply the first glue line 191. In this way, the strip 13 will be subjected to a force, which results in the bending deformation of the central portion 17, and thus the precision of gluing position is affected, as well as the aesthetic appearance of the final products.
Similarly, taking the four cell row honeycomb structure 2 of FIG. 5c for example, the first glue line 291 is applied to the inside surface where the first longitudinal margin 26 and the central portion 27 are overlapped, and the fourth glue line 294 is applied to the inside surface where the second longitudinal margin 28 and the central portion 27 are overlapped. The above-mentioned problem of requiring a strip opener is not yet eliminated.
Furthermore, another problem of the above honeycomb structure and method for making the same resides in that it employs the same strip, and if a manufactured honeycomb structure is desired to have two sides of different colors, the difficulty in dyeing will be increased; or if a manufactured honeycomb structure is desired to have two sides with different material properties, it is very difficult to manufacture the strip.
Consequently, there is an existing need for a foldable honeycomb structure and method for making the same to solve the above-mentioned problems.

Foldable honeycomb structure and method for making the same

Metal Industries Research & Development Centre


Printed wiring boards for communications connectors are provided that include a mounting substrate having at least first through third input terminals and first through third output terminals. A first conductive path connects the first input terminal to the first output terminal, a second conductive path connects the second input terminal to the second output terminal and a third conductive path connects the third input terminal to the third output terminal. A first inductor and a first capacitor are coupled between the first conductive path and the second conductive path, where the first inductor and the first capacitor are arranged in series to provide a first series inductor-capacitor circuit. A second capacitor is coupled between the third conductive path and the second conductive path through the first inductor to provide a second series inductor-capacitor circuit that shares the inductor of the first series inductor-capacitor circuit. Communications connectors that include such wiring boards or equivalent structures are also provided.

In an electrical communications system, it is sometimes advantageous to transmit information signals (e.g., video, audio, data) over a pair of conductors (hereinafter "conductor pair" or "differential pair") rather than over a single conductor. The conductors may comprise, for example, wires, contacts, wiring board traces, conductive vias, other electrically conductive elements and/or combinations thereof. The signals transmitted on each conductor of the differential pair have equal magnitudes, but opposite phases, and the information signal is embedded as the voltage difference between the signals carried on the two conductors. This transmission technique is generally referred to as "balanced" transmission.
When a signal is transmitted over a conductor, electrical noise from external sources such as lightning, electronic equipment, radio stations, etc. may be picked up by the conductor, degrading the quality of the signal carried by the conductor. With balanced transmission techniques, each conductor in a differential pair often picks up approximately the same amount of noise from these external sources. Because approximately an equal amount of noise is added to the signals carried by both conductors of the differential pair, the information signal is typically not disturbed, as the information signal is extracted by taking the difference of the signals carried on the two conductors of the differential pair, and thus the noise signal may be substantially cancelled out by the subtraction process.
Many communications systems include a plurality of differential pairs. For example, a high speed communications system that is used to connect computers and other devices to local area networks and/or to external networks such as the Internet will typically include four differential pairs. In such a system, channels are formed by cascading plugs, jacks and cable segments. In these channels, when a plug mates with a jack, the proximities and routings of the conductors and contacting structures within the jack and/or plug can produce capacitive and/or inductive couplings. Moreover, in the cable segments of these channels, four differential pairs are usually bundled together within a single cable, and thus additional capacitive and/or inductive coupling may occur between the differential pairs in each cable. These capacitive and inductive couplings give rise to another type of noise that is called "crosstalk."
"Crosstalk" in a communication system refers to an unwanted signal that appears on the conductors of an "idle" or "victim" differential pair that is induced by a disturbing differential pair. "Crosstalk" includes both near-end crosstalk, or "NEXT", which is the crosstalk measured at an input location corresponding to a source at the same location (i.e., crosstalk whose induced voltage signal travels in an opposite direction to that of an originating, disturbing signal in a different path), as well as far-end crosstalk, or "FEXT", which is the crosstalk measured at the output location corresponding to a source at the input location (i.e., crosstalk whose signal travels in the same direction as the disturbing signal in the different path). Both NEXT and FEXT are undesirable signals that interfere with the information signal.
A variety of techniques may be used to reduce crosstalk in communications systems such as, for example, tightly twisting the paired conductors (which are typically insulated copper wires) in a cable, whereby different pairs are twisted at different rates that are not harmonically related, so that each conductor in the cable picks up approximately equal amounts of signal energy from the two conductors of each of the other differential pairs included in the cable. If this condition can be maintained, then the crosstalk noise may be significantly reduced, as the conductors of each differential pair carry equal magnitude, but opposite phase signals such that the crosstalk added by the two conductors of a differential pair onto the other conductors in the cable tends to cancel out.
While such twisting of the conductors and/or various other known techniques may substantially reduce crosstalk in cables, most communications systems include both cables and communications connectors (i.e., jacks and plugs) that interconnect the cables and/or connect the cables to computer hardware. Unfortunately, the jack and plug configurations that were adopted years ago generally did not maintain the conductors of each differential pair a uniform distance from the conductors of the other differential pairs in the connector hardware. Moreover, in order to maintain backward compatibility with connector hardware that is already installed, the connector configurations have, for the most part, not been changed. As such, the conductors of each differential pair tend to induce unequal amounts of crosstalk on each of the other conductor pairs in current and pre-existing connectors. As a result, many current connector designs generally introduce some amount of NEXT and FEXT crosstalk.
Pursuant to certain industry standards (e.g., the TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 standard approved Jun. 20, 2002 by the Telecommunications Industry Association), each jack, plug and cable segment in a communications system may include a total of eight conductors 1-8 that comprise four differential pairs. By convention, the conductors of each differential pair are often referred to as a "tip" conductor and a "ring" conductor. The industry standards specify that, in at least the connection region where the contacts (blades) of a modular plug mate with the contacts of the modular jack (i.e., the plug-jack mating region), the eight conductors are generally aligned in a row, with the four differential pairs specified as depicted in FIG. 1. As known to those of skill in the art, under the TIA/EIA 568, type B configuration, conductor 5 in FIG. 1 comprises the tip conductor of pair 1, conductor 4 comprises the ring conductor of pair 1, conductor 1 comprises the tip conductor of pair 2, conductor 2 comprises the ring conductor of pair 2, conductor 3 comprises the tip conductor of pair 3, conductor 6 comprises the ring conductor of pair 3, conductor 7 comprises the tip conductor of pair 4, and conductor 8 comprises the ring conductor of pair 4.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the connection region where the contacts (blades) of a modular plug mate with the contacts of the modular jack, the conductors of the differential pairs are not equidistant from the conductors of the other differential pairs. By way of example, conductor 2 (i.e., the ring conductor of pair 2) is closer to conductor 3 (i.e., the tip conductor of pair 3) than is conductor 1 (i.e., the tip conductor of pair 2) to conductor 3. Consequently, differential capacitive and/or inductive coupling occurs between the conductors of pairs 2 and 3 that generate both NEXT and FEXT. Similar differential coupling occurs with respect to the other differential pairs in the modular plug and the modular jack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,358 to Adriaenssens et at. (hereinafter "the '358 patent") describes multi-stage crosstalk compensating schemes for plug-jack combinations. The entire contents of the '358 patent are hereby incorporated herein by reference as if set forth fully herein. The connectors described in the '358 patent can reduce the "offending" crosstalk that may be induced from the conductors of a first differential pair onto the conductors of a second differential pair in, for example, the plug-jack mating region where the blades of a modular plug mate with the contacts of a modular jack. Pursuant to the teachings of the '358 patent, a "compensating" crosstalk may be deliberately added, usually in the jack, that reduces or substantially cancels the offending crosstalk at the frequencies of interest. The compensating crosstalk can be designed into the lead frame wires of the jack and/or into a printed wiring board that is electrically connected to the lead frame within the jack. As discussed in the '358 patent, two or more stages of crosstalk compensation may be provided, where the magnitude and phase of the compensating crosstalk signal induced by each stage, when combined with the compensating crosstalk signals from the other stages, provide a composite compensating crosstalk signal that substantially cancels the offending crosstalk signal over a frequency range of interest. In two stage compensation schemes, the first stage has a polarity that is opposite the polarity of the offending crosstalk, while the second stage has a polarity that is the same as the polarity of the offending crosstalk (note that either or both of the first and second stages may have multiple sub-stages). The multi-stage (i.e., two or more) compensation schemes disclosed in the '358 patent can be more efficient at reducing the NEXT than schemes in which the compensation is added at a single stage, especially when the second and subsequent stages of compensation include a time delay that is selected and/or controlled to account for differences in phase between the offending signal and the first stage compensating crosstalk signal. Efficiency of crosstalk compensation may be increased if the first stage or a portion of the first stage design is contained in the lead frame wires or is otherwise at little or no delay from the plug-jack mating region.
Although extremely effective, the NEXT compensating scheme of the '358 patent suffers a drawback in that the NEXT margin relative to certain performance standards set forth by industry groups such as the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) may tend to deteriorate at low frequencies (e.g., below approximately 100 MHz) when a high crosstalk plug is used with the jack (i.e., a plug having crosstalk levels at the high end of the acceptable range specified in the relevant industry standards), and at high frequency (e.g., beyond approximately 250 MHz) when a low crosstalk plug is used with the jack (i.e., a plug having crosstalk levels at the low end of the acceptable range specified in the relevant industry standards). In particular, when the net compensation crosstalk in a two-stage compensated jack is less than the original crosstalk (i.e. when a high crosstalk plug is inserted into the jack), the plug-jack combination is said to be under-compensated, and the resultant NEXT frequency characteristic builds up to a peak that causes NEXT marginality at low frequencies before a null sets in at a frequency point determined by the inter-stage delays and the magnitudes of the compensating stages.
On the other hand, when the net compensation crosstalk in such a jack is more than the original crosstalk (i.e. when a low crosstalk plug is inserted), the plug-jack combination is said to be over-compensated, and the resultant NEXT frequency characteristic does not have a null, but the slope of the NEXT frequency characteristic gradually increases, tending towards as much as 60 dB/decade at very high frequencies, and thereby exceeding the TIA limit slope of 20 dB/decade.
Thus, while the low frequency performance of a jack can be improved by increasing the "composite" crosstalk compensation level (i.e., the sum of the crosstalk provided by each stage of a multi-stage crosstalk compensation circuit) when a high crosstalk plug is used with the jack, such an action would lead to further deterioration of the high frequency performance of the jack when a low crosstalk plug is used with the jack. Conversely, while the high frequency performance of a jack can be improved by decreasing the composite crosstalk compensation level when a low crosstalk plug is used with the jack, such an action would lead to further deterioration of the low frequency performance of the jack when a high crosstalk plug is used with the jack.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,190,594 to Hashim et al. ("the '594 patent"), which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses communication connectors for simultaneously improving both the high frequency NEXT performance when a low crosstalk plug is used in the connectors and the low frequency NEXT performance when a high crosstalk plug is used. In particular, the '594 patent describes communications connectors which include series inductor-capacitor circuits in which the resultant capacitive coupling is biased so as to reduce the normalized composite crosstalk compensation level with increasing frequency, thereby providing improved high frequency performance without degrading the low frequency performance of the connector.

Printed wiring boards and communication connectors having series inductor-capacitor crosstalk compensation circuits that share a common inductor


An audio system performing a class-D amplification includes a first pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generation unit and a second PWM signal generation unit. The first PWM signal generation unit generates a first switching signal based on a first audio signal. The second PWM signal generation unit generates a second switching signal based on a second audio signal. The second switching signal has a frequency difference with respect to the first switching signal such that a harmonic frequency component generated by interference between the first switching signal and the second switching signal is removed. Accordingly, the audio system performing the class-D amplification may improve a signal to noise ratio by minimizing influence of the harmonic frequency components on the first and second switching signals.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an audio system and, more particularly, to an audio system having an improved signal to noise ratio (SNR) and a method of controlling an audio system.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Audio amplifiers are typically classified as either class-A, class-B, class-AB, or class-D according to a driving circuit of the audio amplifier known as the output stage.
In the class-A output stage, bias voltages are applied to output transistors in a mute state, in which no signal is output, and a bias current flows through the output transistors in the mute state. Thus, the class-A output stage has high thermal dissipation and low thermal efficiency. The class-B output stage is configured to prevent the bias current in the mute state. Significant crossover distortion, however, is caused in the class-B output stage when the output signal passes through a reference voltage, that is, when the output transistors are turned off. The class-AB output stage is configured to have a small bias current in the mute state to achieve the lower distortion of the class-A configuration and the higher efficiency of the class-B configuration. The crossover distortion, however, still exists and a high-capacity heat sink is required in the class-AB output stage.
The class-D output stage includes transistors operating as an ON/OFF switch. A turn-on resistance of the transistors is relatively small, and thus the class-D output stage has a high efficiency. According to an IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard, the class-D amplifier is defined as any amplifier, "in which the current in each active device supplying the load is switched from zero to a maximum value by a carrier signal, modulation of which conveys the useful signal." Accordingly the class-D output stage includes all of the output stages, that is, the driving circuits are operated by a switching amplification regardless of whether an analog input or a digital input is received and regardless of the types of the internal signal processes used. The audio amplifiers including such a class-D output stage or a class-D driving circuit are referred to as digital amplifiers or digital amps.
Because of superior characteristics of the class-D amplifier, numerous audio systems reproduce sounds from audio signals by using the class-D amplifier. Recently, according to demands of users, audio systems generally include at least two amplifiers for playing stereo audio signals.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system 100 for recording and playing a stereo audio signal.
In a device 100a for recording stereo audio signals, at least two microphones 115a and 115b receive sounds from sound sources 110a and 110b. A first amplifier 120 amplifies the received sounds and a recorder 130 records the amplified sounds and stores the recorded sounds in a storage device 100b, such as a compact disc (CD).
In a device 100c for playing the recorded stereo audio signals, a player 140 outputs the signals based on data in the storage device 100b, such as the CD, using at least two independent audio channels. A second amplifier 150 may amplify the outputted signals and speakers 160a and 160b convert the amplified signals to sound waves.
Although at least two independent audio channels have substantially identical structure, a signal to noise ratio (SNR) may be degraded by interference between the class-D channels when noises occur in the audio band of 20 Hz to 200 kHz.

Audio system for improving a signal to noise ratio


An apparatus for determining the boiling temperature of a brake fluid to in turn determine the water content therein includes an electrically heatable sensor element (13) immersed into the fluid under test, a power source (12) supplying a current of a constant amplitude, and a measuring system (15) for measuring the voltage drop on the sensor element (13). A stable cellular convection heat transfer mechanism into the surrounding fluid arises, with the voltage drop across the sensor element (13) being indicative of the boiling point of the fluid. The sensor element is in the form of a linear conductor (13', 20, 21) clamped on either end. The sensor element also may comprise a plurality of linear conductors (13', 20, 21) of this type connected in parallel or in series.

The present invention is concerned with an apparatus for determining the condition of a pressure transmitting fluid, in particular, for checking or monitoring the water content or the boiling temperature of a hygroscopic brake fluid. Such apparatus typically comprises an electrically heatable sensor element immersed in the fluid to be tested, a power source supplying an electric current of constant magnitude to the sensor, and a measuring device measuring the voltage drop across the sensor element to determine the temperature-dependent resistance of the sensor element. The sensor element is of a configuration and size and the heating current being at a magnitude such that heating of the sensor element over the duration of the period of measurement causes a stable cellular convection to arise in a temperature range below the boiling temperature of the fluid. The voltage drop across the sensor element is an accurate indicator of the water content of the liquid.
An apparatus of the afore-described type is disclosed by German published patent application DE 35 22 774 A1. The sensor element of the apparatus is configured and the current supply devised such that at the time of measurement, a stable cellular convection arises. This requires a heating of the sensor element to a predetermined temperature which is within a temperature range just below the boiling temperature of the fluid to be tested, it being imperative for the sensor element not to be heated to the boiling temperature of the fluid under test.
According to the referenced German application, it is suggested to form the sensor element as a hollow body having an open wall; as a hollow helix; as a perforated tube or the like to favor the formation of convection cells and of the stable cellular convection, respectively, during the measuring time. However, sensor elements of that type are relatively costly which applies, in particular, if a stationary assembly in an automotive vehicle or in each of the wheel brakes of an automotive vehicle, respectively, is desired. Moreover, the requirements placed upon the mechanical stability of the sensor element, in that case, are particularly high.
The invention is, therefore, based on the problem of providing a mechanically stable yet low-cost sensor element for use with an apparatus of the afore-mentioned type, permitting the formation of a stable cellular convection during the measuring process.

Apparatus for determining the condition of a pressure transmitting fluid


A position detector is for detecting a position of liquid held in a vessel. The position detector includes a sound wave generator disposed in contact with the vessel and having a plurality of sound generating elements for generating a sound wave by electrical energy; and a measuring unit that measures electrical characteristics of each of the sound generating elements based on the electrical energy reflected from each of the sound generating elements. The position detector also includes a determining unit that determines the presence or absence of the liquid at a position of each of the sound generating elements based on difference in the electrical characteristics measured at the measuring unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a position detector, a position detecting method and an analyzer for detecting a position of liquid held in a vessel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the analyzer analyzes constituent concentration or the like of a specimen by measuring optical characteristics of the liquid held in a reaction vessel (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-116213).
In the analyzer, when a capacity of the reaction vessel to be used becomes as small as a few nanoliters (nL) to several tens of microliters (μL), an opening through which liquid such as a reagent and a specimen is dispensed becomes relatively narrow relative to the reaction vessel due to downsizing and an effect of surface tension of the liquid becomes extremely large. Therefore, when using the downsized reaction vessel, there has been a case in which in the reaction vessel, the liquid such as the reagent and the specimen is held in the vicinity of the opening and is not introduced to the bottom portion thereof, thus making it impossible to know at which position of the reaction vessel the liquid exists.

Position detector, position detecting method and analyzer


A guiding tool for a sewing machine includes a first guiding member and a second guiding member. Each of the first guiding member and the second guiding member includes a base portion having a predetermined periphery, a guide surface facing to a side of the base portion, and a connecting portion for connection of the first guiding member and the second guiding member. The base portion includes a bottom surface provided with an attaching portion for attaching the guiding tool to an attachment surface of an object due to adhesion or suction. The guide surface of the first guiding member and the guide surface of the second guiding member are configured to be flush with each other when the first guiding member and the second guiding member are connected to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guiding tool for guiding material to be stitched with a sewing machine. The present invention also relates to a set of such a guiding tool and a ruled sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
In performing sewing work with a sewing machine, use may be made of a guiding tool for guiding fabric (or other materials) so as to provide a margin of a constant width. JP-U-S54-6591Y, for example, discloses a guiding tool provided with a permanent magnet for a metal needle plate. In use, the guiding tool is attached magnetically to a desired spot of the needle plate of the sewing machine, and the fabric is fed forward through the sewing machine while the edge of the fabric being kept in contact with a guide surface of the guiding tool.
The conventional guiding tool utilizes magnetic force for attachment. Thus, when the needle plate is made of a nonmagnetic material such as a synthetic resin, the guiding tool cannot be used for the plate. Further, the guide surface of the conventional tool is rather short, which may be disadvantageous to guiding the fabric properly.

Guiding tool for sewing machine and set of guiding tool and ruled sheet


An electric discharge lamp has a ceramic luminous tube 5 and filled with xenon gas, a pair of electrodes 9, 10 held by the ceramic luminous tube, and a glass outer tube 6 accommodating the ceramic luminous tube and the pair of electrodes. The ceramic luminous tube includes a luminous portion 7 emitting light by electric discharge, and a pair of small diameter tube portions 8, 8 respectively connected to both end portions of the luminous portion in a longitudinal direction. Value of P/(r•t) is not less than 4.8 and not more than 32, where P (atm) is pressure of xenon gas filled into the ceramic luminous tube, r (mm) is an inner diameter of the luminous portion of the ceramic luminous tube, and t (mm) is thickness of the luminous portion of the ceramic luminous tube.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and devices consistent with the present invention relate to an electric discharge lamp and, more particularly, to an electric discharge lamp including a ceramic luminous tube.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in a related art headlight for a vehicle, an incandescent lamp (incandescent bulb), a halogen lamp (halogen bulb) or an electric discharge lamp (electric discharge bulb) is used for the luminous source.
In a headlight using an incandescent lamp or a halogen lamp for the luminous source, a filament of the incandescent lamp or the halogen lamp forms a rod-shaped luminous portion and is substantially uniformly luminous. Accordingly, when the incandescent lamp or the halogen lamp is used in a reflection type lighting device, which includes a reflector, a light distribution control can be executed by changing a shape of a reflecting face of the reflector.
On the other hand, in a related art headlight having an electric discharge lamp, since a quantity of light of the electric discharge lamp is larger than that of the incandescent lamp or the halogen lamp, the luminance can be enhanced. Further, the life of the electric discharge lamp is longer than that of the incandescent lamp or the halogen lamp.
As described above, the luminance of the electric discharge lamp is higher than that of the incandescent lamp or the halogen lamp and the life of the electric discharge lamp is longer than that of the incandescent lamp or the halogen lamp. Thus, headlights including the electric discharge lamp have come into wide use recently.
Concerning the related art electric discharge lamp, a luminous tube made of glass is used. A pair of electrodes are held in the luminous tube and a rare gas is filled in the luminous tube. However, metallic halide filled in the luminous tube tends to corrode the luminous tube made of glass. Accordingly, blackening or devitrification is caused, and it becomes difficult to obtain a proper light distribution. Further, as the corrosion increases, the life of the electric discharge lamp is shortened.
Thus, a related art electric discharge lamp has been proposed which has a luminous tube made of ceramics instead of the glass luminous tube. For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication JP-A-2004-103461 describes a related art electric discharge lamp including a ceramic luminous tube.
In the related electric discharge lamp described in the JP-A-2004-103461, a pair of electrodes are held by the ceramic luminous tube and a hermetic space is formed in the ceramic luminous tube. The hermetic space formed in the ceramic luminous tube is filled with rare gas such as xenon gas and metallic halide. The ceramic luminous tube is covered with an outer tube made of glass and the hermetic space is also formed between the ceramic luminous tube and the outer tube.
Since the ceramic luminous tube is stable with respect to metallic halide, the life of the electric discharge lamp described above is advantageously longer than that of the electric discharge lamp having a glass luminous tube.
However, there are also a number of disadvantages. For example, in the electric discharge lamp, at a time of electrical discharge, a so-called arc-bend is generated in which a central portion of an arc generated between a pair of electrodes is bent upward. Accordingly, a temperature of an upper portion of the luminous tube becomes higher than a temperature of other portions.
When the temperature of the upper portion of the luminous tube becomes higher than the temperatures of the other portions, there is a possibility of generating cracks in the luminous tube by thermal stress depending upon the heat resistance and the thermal shock property of the luminous tube.
Since it is known that by lowering the pressure of the rare gas, such as xenon gas filled in the luminous tube, the arc-bend is suppressed, it has been considered to decrease the pressure of the rare gas in order to suppress the generation of arc-bend. However, when the pressure of rare gas is decreased, a disadvantage results in that the luminous efficiency is deteriorated.

Electric discharge lamp having ceramic luminous tube


A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel prevents the introduction of static electricity from the exterior of a liquid crystal panel. According to the method, edges of a lower glass substrate on which a liquid crystal material layer and an upper glass substrate are disposed are dipped into an etchant. At this time, the ends of the test electrodes formed on the lower glass substrate are removed. The ends of the test electrodes are removed, and consequently an introduction path of stripe-shaped defect is not generated within the liquid crystal panel. Also, the yield of the liquid crystal panel is greatly improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly, to a method of eliminating static electricity introduced from the exterior of the liquid crystal display (LCD).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, static electricity is substantially stationary as an electric charge existing on a nonconductor and is produced by friction or an electrostatic induction, or other such conditions. Static electricity creates problems in a liquid crystal panel during a manufacturing process of the liquid crystal panel so as to cause a reduction in a manufacturing yield of the liquid crystal panel.
For instance, as shown in FIG. 1, the conventional liquid crystal panel includes a thin film transistor (TFT) matrix 20 formed on a lower glass substrate 10, a shorting bar for gate lines 22 for testing gate lines of the TFT matrix 20, and a shorting bar for data lines 24 for testing data lines of the TFT matrix 20. The gate lines of the TFT matrix 20 are connected to the gate line shorting bar 22 via gate line test electrodes 16 while the data lines of the TFT matrix 20 are connected to the data line shorting bar 24 via data line test electrodes 18.
The upper end of the lower glass substrate 10 is provided with a gate pad area 10a including a gate driving integrated circuit(IC), and the left end of the lower glass substrate 10 is provided with a data pad area 10b including a data driving IC. Further, the center of the lower glass substrate 10 is provided with the TFT matrix 20 switched by control signals and video signals of the gate and data driving ICs.
The shorting bars 22 and 24 are connected to the TFT matrix 20 to test a characteristic of the TFT. For this purpose, the shorting bars 22 and 24 are connected to the gate line test electrodes 16 and the data line test electrodes 18, respectively, each of which is connected to the gate lines and the data lines of the TFT matrix 20, thereby forming an electrical path along with the TFT matrix 20. Also, the shorting bars 22 and 24 deliver a test signal from outside of the TFT matrix 20 into the interior of the TFT matrix 20 to test the TFT matrix 20. Such a characteristic test of the TFT matrix 20 is carried out after the TFT matrix 20 has been formed on the lower glass substrate and before a liquid crystal material is disposed thereon. Since the shorting bars 22 and 24 can be formed on the gate pad area 10a and the data pad area 10b due to a structural characteristic of the LCD, the shorting bars 22 and 24 are located at the opposite edges of the gate pad area 10a and the data pad area 10b. Such a structural characteristic may be applied to a liquid crystal panel of a chip on glass (COG) type or a TFT panel manufactured by a low-temperature poly-silicon process.
A liquid crystal material layer 14 and an upper glass substrate 12 are sequentially disposed on the lower glass substrate 10 which has been determined to be normal by the test of the TFT matrix 20 as described above. The lower glass substrate 10 along with the liquid crystal material layer 14 and the upper glass substrate 12 disposed on the lower glass substrate 10 is cut off along lines A-Axe2x80x2 and B-Bxe2x80x2 as shown in FIG. 1, thereby providing a liquid crystal panel shown in FIG. 2.
However, the cut gate line test electrodes 16 and data line test electrodes 18 are exposed at the edge of the lower glass substrate 10 of the liquid crystal panel having a sequentially disposed structure as shown in FIG. 2. The exposed test electrodes 16 and 18 apply static electricity from the exterior to the gate lines and data lines of the TFT matrix 20, respectively. This application of static electricity causes damage to the TFTs included in the TFT matrix 20. As a result, a stripe-shaped defect is generated at the liquid crystal panel and a manufacturing yield of the liquid crystal panel is reduced.
To overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel so as to prevent an introduction of static electricity from the exterior of the liquid crystal panel.
In order to achieve these and other advantages provided by preferred embodiments of the present invention, a method according to one aspect of preferred embodiments of the present invention includes an etching step for removing the ends of test electrodes formed on a lower glass substrate on which a liquid crystal material layer and an upper glass substrate are disposed.

Liquid crystal panel having etched test electrodes


A fire's electrostatic field is used to directly control and extinguish a fire. A flame is, in and of itself, a virtual electrode. The inventive electro-static fire control and extinguishing device uses at least one common electrode and allows the fire's own electrostatic field to act as the other virtual electrode to repel the fire's flame, controlling the spread of the fire or to control its direction or to totally extinguish it. The electro-static fire control and extinguishing device exploits the electrostatic properties of the fire's flame, directly using at least one electrode set at the appropriate electrostatic charge to create the desired fire control while the fire acts as the second source of the electrostatic field in which the electrostatic attraction/repulsion interaction takes place. A high voltage electrostatic field is produced by a high voltage static generator and the desired charge level is delivered to the flame via a conductive grid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fire control and extinguishing apparatus and, more particularly, to a device employing electrostatic charges to extinguish flames.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In most cases, fires are controlled and extinguished using water and/or chemicals. However, the prior art teaches of using electrostatic energy to detect and extinguish fires.
The U.S. Patent to Hemming issued on Aug. 25, 1987, as U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,644, discloses an ignition and fire suppressing system for an electrostatic sprayer. The system uses a pressurized, non-ignitable fire suppressing gas source that makes use of electrical properties of flame gases to create a non-ignitable atmosphere.
The U.S. Patent to Tolmie issue Sep. 25, 1979, as U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,903, discloses a fire detecting and extinguishing system for use within a copying machine. Herein, means are provided for detecting the ionization causing a substantial increase in the conduction of energy between a pair of flame detecting electrodes. The increased current causes an alarm and the automatic ejection of a coolant or extinguishing chemical on the fire.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,842, issued to Purt on Oct. 16, 1973, teaches of a fire alarm signaling system wherein air is removed from spaces to be sensed and detected for the presence of certain characteristics of fire, e.g., the presence of carbon monoxide. The system provides and early warning fire alarm system for rapid detection by analyzing the dynamic properties that meet the criterion for fire.
Fire alarm and extinguishing systems have been proposed in the prior at in which various characteristics and phenomena incident to a fire are utilized to detect the presence of a fire and provide extinguishing means based on electro-chemical properties, inherent in flames. None of these patents either teaches or suggests putting out fires by exploiting the fire's electrostatic properties present within the fire, with the aid of a high voltage generator generating a high voltage electrostatic field immediately proximate the fire.

Electrostatic fire control and extinguishing device


The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a thin film transistor pixel unit, comprising: forming a metal oxide layer, a gate insulating layer, a gate metal layer and an etching barrier layer on a substrate, wherein the metal oxide layer is in a thin film transistor region; through a same mask, etching a part of the etching barrier layer, the gate metal layer and the gate insulating layer on the substrate for forming a gate region, source and drain regions for forming contact vias, a gate interface region, and a storage capacitor region, respectively. Through additional steps including etching, metallizing, and filling, a source contact via is formed in the source region, a drain contact via is formed in the drain region, and a connecting contact via is formed in the gate interface region, respectively.

Thin film transistor (TFT), such as In—Ga—Zn—O (IGZO) TFT, is a basic circuit component that can be widely used in various electronic system, and has many advantages, such as high electron mobility, low temperature manufacturing process, high stability, transparency and so on. However, with the present manufacturing process for thin film transistor, due to the increased overlaps between gate and source, and between gate and drain, the gate-source parasitic capacitance increases, so that the overall performance of the thin film transistor becomes bad. Further, there is high requirement of alignment between source contact via and gate, and between drain contact via and gate; low-precision mask focusing can cause the source and drain contact vias to become asymmetric, open circuit or short circuit may even arise, and reliability becomes low.

Manufacturing method of a thin film transistor and pixel unit thereof


The Resolution and Device Independent Plain-Paper Input System allows for quick and easy creation of hard-copy data input packages without the use of special forms or complex and costly special forms scanning machines. Input pages may be created on any personal computer and printed using any laser or inkjet type printer or copy machine. Personalized data may easily be encoded onto the forms at the time of printing. Additionally, forms may be output directly to formatted disk files such as adobe acrobat for viewing before printing. Completed forms may be scanned and the data read using a large variety of scanning devices such as high-speed digital copy machines, personal computer page scanners and fax machines.

1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to the capability to design and use plain paper systems for data gathering, specifically to a method whereby a individual may design a data input form, print that input form using any generally available printing device and have the results acquired through any generally available scanning device.
2. Prior Art
Previously, large volume data input into computers required the use of pre-printed and specially designed scanning sheets. These sheets, from companies such as Scantron, were designed so that a limited number of input fields were aligned in columns that were read by a specially designed scanning device. These input sheets required the use of a neutrally reflective background color for the main body of the sheet where the input was defined through the use of a number 2 pencil in specific areas of the sheet. This technology dates back many decades and most school children in the world have had the experience of taking a test using one of these input sheets. More recent efforts to replace this technology have focused on the use of optical character recognition and pattern matching to find the user input values.
The problem with the Scantron-type technologies is that pre-printed forms are required that can only be obtained from a limited number of companies. The individual users do not have the capability to create their own input forms without the time and expense of having the forms sent out for printing by the maker of whatever specific scanning device they happen to own. Additionally, since the forms created for these systems generally require offset printing, individualization of input sheets for the form user is only possible through costly and time-consuming additional steps.
The key problems with the optical character recognition and pattern matching technologies include low reliability and the input sheets being limited to a specific number and types of devices. Additionally, stray marks on the pages can easily render them unusable.
Some of the largest users of these types of data input devices are school districts and standardized testing services for recording the answers to student tests. Answers required for these types of sheets usually involve multiple choice (A-F), true/false, numeric answers and rubrics. Additional information that may be gathered include information like social security numbers, student id's, names, addresses and phone numbers.

Resolution and device independent plain-paper input system


An applied-voltage electrical angle setting method for a synchronous motor includes detecting applied voltage and current of the synchronous motor M, calculating current peak value Ip based on the detected values while calculating present applied voltage phase α, calculating target current phase βtarg based on the current peak value Ip followed by calculating target applied voltage phase αtarg corresponding to the target current phase in a target value setting unit 20, and calculating new applied voltage electrical angle instruction value θvtarg, based on change angle Δθv obtained by correcting a difference between the present applied voltage phase α and the target applied voltage phase αtarg by response time constant L/R of the synchronous motor, rotational speed ω calculated based on the applied voltage and the current, and the previous applied voltage electrical angle instruction value θvtarg, in a voltage electrical angle instruction value setting unit 10.

In a sine wave drive system (180° energization system) whose application examples are increased as drive systems of synchronous motors (permanent magnet synchronous motors), a control of detecting a rotor position (a rotational position of the rotor) in a sensorless manner and performing the suitable energization to a stator coil is executed. As a motor control device having a function of detecting the rotor position in a sensorless manner, a motor control device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. The motor control device of Patent Document 1 determines a voltage phase of an applied voltage by a phase current detecting means for detecting a phase current of a synchronous motor, a current phase calculating means for calculating a current phase based on the detected phase current, and a voltage phase setting means for adding a predetermined phase difference to the calculated current phase to convert it to a voltage phase. Moreover, the applied voltage to the synchronous motor is set based on the voltage phase, and a command voltage determined according to an operation command.
According to the motor control device of Patent Document 1, the phase instruction value of the applied voltage to be applied to the synchronous motor is set by adding a predetermined phase difference to the detected current phase. The phase difference to be added is calculated based on the detected current peak value, an angular velocity of an induced voltage, and a target current phase (lead angle from a q-axis), or is obtained by referring to a data table from the current peak value and the angular velocity of the induced voltage.

Applied-voltage electrical angle setting method for synchronous motor, and motor control device


A wide-angle lens system includes, in an order from an object side toward an image surface side: a first lens group having positive or negative refractive power; a second lens group having positive refractive power; and a third lens group having negative refractive power. When an object position changes from an infinite distance to a nearest distance, the first and third lens groups are fixed, and the second lens group moves along an optical axis to perform focusing.

1. Field
Various embodiments of the invention relate to a photographing lens used in an electronic still camera or a digital video camera, and more particularly, to a bright wide-angle lens having a wide viewing angle by using an inner focus method.
2. Related Art
Recently, optical image-forming devices, such as digital cameras or digital camcorders, using a solid-state image pickup device, such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, have been rapidly developed and have become widespread. Accordingly, high performance photographing lens having a small and lightweight structure is required.
In the field of optical systems using the solid-state image pickup device, the optical systems need to achieve not only high resolution but also high magnification, all the while being small and lightweight. Also, because the technical expertise of consumers of cameras is continuously increasing, a lens design method that focuses on certain functions of a wide-angle lens, a telephoto lens, and a zoom lens, while satisfying miniaturization, high performance, and auto-focusing is continuously being researched.
A wide-angle lens generally uses a two-group structure called a retro-focus lens. In the two-group structure, a first group has negative refractive power and a second group has positive refractive power, and a back focal length is similar to or longer than a focal length. Here, a total length of the two-group structure is increased as a distance between the first and second groups is increased. But the back focal length is required to be equal to or larger than a predetermined distance, even as a latter group portion is moved or as the latter group portion and a former group portion are simultaneously or separately moved to perform focusing. Thus, the decrease in the total length of the two-group structure is limited. Moreover, in a bright lens, a plurality of lenses are moved during focusing for aberration correction, and thus a focusing response is not great. Also, a lens group performing the focusing is typically heavy thereby increases the load on a driving unit, and thus the focusing may not be quickly performed.

Wide-angle lens system and imaging apparatus employing the same


A siphon for a sink or similar element includes an upper part, a lower pivoting part, and a connection device disposed between the parts and a gasket. The connection device includes: at least one hinge which is used to pivot and guide the lower part around the axis of the hinge and which can be uncoupled such that the lower and upper parts can be completely separated; and a locking mechanism disposed between the lower and upper parts and which have at least one clip. The connection device can be used to align the lower part of the siphon and the upper part thereof and to compress the gasket when the two parts are connected.

By sink is meant any type of receptacle or basin drilled with a hole for the evacuation of waters, said hole being linked to a duct, itself connected to a water trap.
The water traps are devices arranged on evacuation ducts and serve mainly for preventing any communication between the soiled air and the surrounding air. Still, said water traps also prove convenient for collecting objects inserted through the evacuation hole of the waters or possibly for cleaning the duct connecting the sink to said water trap.
To this end, said water trap comprises an upper portion and a lower portion, the latter being notably intended to act as a reservoir for the objects inserted through said evacuation hole.
In order to access said lower portion, devices are known which enable to screw between themselves said lower and upper portions which include a taper or a thread.
These devices exhibit however various shortcomings among which one may note the obligation for the user to use tools specific to dismantling which may imply in practice for the user to resort to the services of a plumber.
This type of link between the upper and lower portions also exhibits a tightness defect, indeed, the pressure exerted on the seal depends in these screw-type devices on the number of screw turns performed by the user. Thus, if the user screws the lower portion excessively on the upper portion, there may result therefrom irreversible deformation of the seal due to an excessive pressure exerted. In the reverse case, if the user does not screw said lower pressure enough, there may result leakage problems, whereas said sealing joint may not fulfil its part since it is not pressed sufficiently against the walls of both upper and lower portions.
Moreover, in a case when the walls of the upper and lower portions contact the seal are not smooth, said seal matches locally the deformations of said walls. Still, in a case of unscrewing, then re-screwing, the local deformations of the seal are not arranged at the local deformations of the walls, which brings there again tightness defects.
The purpose of the present invention is to offer a water trap for a sink or similar which remedies the shortcomings aforementioned and enables manual disconnection of the upper and lower portions of the water trap without having to resort to tools.
It is another object of the present invention is to offer a water trap or similar which enables to disconnect partially or totally said upper portion from said lower portion.
It is another object of the present invention is to offer a water trap for a sink or similar which comprises means for centering lower and upper portions between themselves in order to facilitate the connection thereof.
It is another object of the present invention is to offer a water trap for sink or similar wherein said sealing joint undergoes controlled and reproducible compression at each closing of the water trap for total tightness of said water trap.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear in the following description which is given for exemplification purposes only, without being limited thereto.


According to one exemplary embodiment, a multi-mode power management unit (PMU) includes a number of switchable conductive paths, where each of the switchable conductive paths corresponds to at least one of a number of power modes. The multi-mode PMU further includes a shared inductor residing in each of the switchable conductive paths. A current can flow through the shared inductor in a same direction in each of the power modes. The multi-mode PMU further includes a controller configured to set one of the power modes using one of the switchable conductive paths. The power modes can include a battery-to-electronic system power mode and a charge-battery power mode. The power modes can further include a battery-to-electronic system/camera flash power mode, a power port-to-electronic system/battery power mode, and a battery-to-electronic system/backlight LED power mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of electrical circuits and systems. More particularly, the invention relates to circuits and systems for power management.
2. Background Art
Electronic devices, such as cellular phones, MP3 players, portable digital assistants (PDAs), and other mobile electronic devices, typically include a power management unit (PMU) for integrating various power-related functions, such as battery charging from a computer USB port or an AC power adaptor or supplying power to a USB On-The-Go (OTG) device, such as a USB hard drive, backlight LEDs, or a camera flash. In addition to the above functions, a typical PMU in an electronic device, such as a cellular phone, MP3 player, or PDA, also provides the device's system power, which may originate from, for example, the device's internal battery, a USB port on a computer, or an AC power adaptor.
To provide the above power-related functions in an electronic device, such as a mobile electronic device, a conventional PMU typically includes a separate circuit for each function. For example, the conventional PMU can include a buck-boost circuit for converting a battery voltage to a required system voltage. The conventional PMU can further include battery charger circuits for charging the electronic device's battery from an external power source, such as an AC power adaptor, USB port on a computer, or USB OTG device. The conventional PMU can further include circuits for providing power to backlight LEDs, which can illuminate a liquid crystal display (LCD), and a camera flash LED. In the conventional PMU, the aforementioned circuits typically include a number of distinct and separate inductors and one or more controllers. As a result, the conventional PMU can consume an undesirable amount of limited space in an electronic device, such as a mobile electronic device.

Multi-mode power management unit with shared inductor


The output impedance matching network of a power amplifier module is improved by the addition of an intermediate set of bonding pads in close proximity to a power transistor in the power amplifier module. A tunable set of bond wires extend from the intermediate bonding pads to a transmission line that is coupled to the output of the power amplifier module. The tunable bond wires allow the inductance of the impedance matching network to be tuned and optimized.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an output impedance matching network for a MIC (Microwave Integrated Circuit) power amplifier module used in solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs).
2. Description of the Related Art
A MIC power amplifier module has an output impedance matching network to match the power transistor output impedance to the load impedance. For example, an FET power transistor has an output impedance of several ohms, whereas the load may have an impedance of 50 .OMEGA.. Tuning an impedance matching network is important in space applications because it cuts down power loss, thus saving money and weight.
An example is a 20 W internally matched power amplifier Fujitsu model FLM1415L-20, used in space satellite applications at 1500 MHz. FIG. 1 shows a plan view of this microwave integrated circuit MIC SSPA, with the lid removed. A microwave signal is fed through an input microstrip transmission line 10 which is coupled via a ceramic feed-through 12 into a copper package 14, which is gold plated on the inside. The input transmission line is then coupled by twelve gold bond wires 16 to a microstrip power splitter 20 printed on an alumina substrate 22. Twelve bond wires are sufficient to handle the power provided by input transmission line 10. Alumina dielectric substrate 22 is bonded to the inside of copper package 14 by gold germanium or gold tin solder.
Two pairs of gold bond wires 26,28 allow sufficient power to be carried from the power splitter 20 to capacitors 30,32, respectively. The plates of one side of these capacitors are formed by printing gold metalizations 34,36 on barium tetratitinate high dielectric ceramic substrates 38,40, respectively. These substrates are soldered with gold germanium or gold tin solder to the inside of copper package 14, which forms the other plate of the capacitors. Metalizations 34,36 also serve as bond pads. A gallium arsenide field effect transistor (GaAsFET) Q1 has two connected sections Q1a and Q1b with a common gate connected by gold lead 42. The Q1a and Q1b common gate has gold bond pads 44,46, respectively. Q1a and Q1b are soldered to the inside of copper package 14 by gold tin solder. Eight gold bond wires 48a-48d and 50a-50d connect bond pads 34,36 of capacitors 30 and 32 to gold bond pads 44,46 of the common gate of Q1a and Q1b. Bond wires 48a-48d and 50a-50d provide an inductance which, together with capacitors 30 and 32, forms a low pass filter (e.g. an input impedance matching network) to match the impedance of 50 .OMEGA. from the input transmission line to a low impedance at the gate of Q1. Bond wires 48a-48d and 50a-50d are pre-tuned to the correct inductance by a machine which establishes the correct spacing and shape of each bond wire loop.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show progressively larger views of Q1a and Q1b and the attached bond wires. In addition to having a common gate with bond pads 44,46, Q1a and Q1b also have a common drain with gold bond pads 58,60, which are connected by lead 56. The FET source terminals utilize via holes to make contact from the source terminal metalization 59,61 on the top surface of the FET to ground, which is provided by the floor of the package H.
Q1 drain bond pads 58,60 are connected by two sets of eight gold bond wires 62a-62p to an output power combiner bonding pad 64; multiple wires are used to accommodate the input signal plus the DC bias current in the drain. The 16 gold bond wires form a series inductor. Biasing for Q1 (not shown) is done externally. Output power combiner 64 is a gold transmission line that is printed on an alumina dielectric substrate 66 and has a defined capacitance. Substrate 66 is soldered to the inside of copper package 14 by gold tin or gold germanium solder.
The combination of the output power combiner 64 capacitance and the inductance of the bond wires 62a-62p forms a low pass output impedance matching network between the Q1 drain, which has a low impedance of about 2 .OMEGA., and an output transmission line 68 which is connected to the opposite side of power combiner 64 and typically has a 50 .OMEGA. impedance.
The series inductance of bond wires 62a-62p is the most critical element of the impedance matching network, with the length, shape and proximity of the bond wires determining the series inductance. Slight changes in these parameters have a significant impact on both the device's output power and its power added efficiency (PAE), which is defined as (Power out RF--Power in RF) divided by (Power DC). Therefore, it is desirable to optimize the value of the series inductor by tailoring the size, shape and proximity of the bond wires for each internally matched power FET.
However, standard MIC assembly procedures typically preclude altering or replacing bond wires attached to the FET devices in high reliability applications, such as satellites. A key reliability concern is the integrity of the bond wires used in the FET. The reason for this is that if a technician physically moves a bond wire with a probe, the bond wire may pull the gold bond pad metalization off the FET drain substrate. The biggest problem is that a bond wire cannot be reattached to a damaged bond pad on Q1 and the power amplifier module must be scrapped.
One conventional way of dealing with the problem is to minimize the amount of physical movement of bond wires by a technician. This reduces breakage but requires that an additional stage having tunable capacitance and inductance be added to the circuit. This is undesirable because a two stage output creates losses and reduces the power added efficiency (PAE) . What would be more desirable would be to have only one stage of tuning for the output impedance matching network, and yet overcome the problem of the bond wires pulling bond pad metalization off the drain of Q1.
FIG. 4 is the electrical schematic for the SSPA of FIG. 1, showing the impedances that are involved in the output impedance matching network. The input transmission line 10 provides a signal to the input power splitter 22' shown in FIG. 1. All other electrical equivalents are indicated in a similar fashion. A pair of inductances 26' and 28' represent the inductances of bond wires 26 and 28. These are very short bond wires and have small inductances which are of little consequence in the circuit. Capacitances 30',32' correspond to capacitors 30, 32 and inductances 48'a-d,50'a-d represent the inductance of bond wires 48a-d,50a-d. As described in connection with FIG. 1, capacitances 30', 32' and inductances 48'a-d,50'a-d form an LC circuit, identified in FIG. 4 as input impedance matching network 52, to match the 50 .OMEGA. impedance of the input transmission line 10 to the low impedance of the Q1 gate.
The bond wire inductances 62'a-p are the primary components in the LC matching circuit, identified in FIG. 4 as the output impedence matching network 69, between the low (2 .OMEGA.) output impedance of the Q1 drain and the 50 .OMEGA. impedance of the output transmission line 68. Capacitance 64' of the output power combiner 64 is also included in the output impedance matching network. The output power combiner 64 utilizes eighth-wave length transmission lines, represented schematically by capacitors 64', which are coupled to the output transmission line 68.

Tunable impedance matching network for a mic power amplifier module


A method for registering patterns on a web to provide independent scale control in both the lateral and longitudinal directions is provided. The method includes routing the web over a first roller; routing the web over a second roller and stabilizing the web; applying a pattern to the web using process hardware; measuring registration of the pattern and providing an error signal; controlling lateral position error using the error signal; controlling longitudinal position error using the error signal; controlling lateral scale error using the error signal; and controlling longitudinal scale error using the error signal. The method provides independent scale control in both the lateral and longitudinal directions. Independent scale control avoids non-linear distortions otherwise imposed by attempting to accomplish both corrections by stretching the web in both directions.

Several manufacturing processes require application of a pattern or patterns to web materials. Examples include printing, and the manufacture of electronic assemblies on flexible substrates. When multiple patterns are applied in sequence, proper alignment or registration must be achieved between patterns. Registration errors can cause misalignment between process steps or layers, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In these figures, the "+" and "●" symbols represent patterns applied in different process steps. FIG. 1 shows correct registration, where all "+" and "●" symbols are aligned. FIG. 2 shows registration error resulting from positional misalignment between the two process steps.
Registration precision is limited by manufacturing process hardware, and also by the dimensional stability of the web substrate. When the web material is dimensionally unstable, then no amount of precise position control will lead to correct registration. This is shown in FIG. 3 where the web has undergone a dimensional change between process steps. As a result, most points are not correctly aligned, even though points on the left side near the web centerline are correctly positioned.
Commonly used web materials such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) exhibit poor dimensional stability relative to requirements, for display manufacture for example. They have a high coefficient of thermal expansion, experience hygroscopic expansion in humid environments, and can exhibit anisotropic shrink when exposed to moderately high temperatures. These material properties prevent high-precision registration using position-controlled web conveyance systems, leading instead to results such as those shown in FIG. 3. Nonetheless, PET is desirable for some final products because of its transparency, light weight, flexibility, durability, and toughness. A method of precisely registering multiple patterns on a web with limited dimensional stability is needed.

Method for registering patterns on a web


A radiation detection apparatus includes conversion elements including a first electrode, a semiconductor layer, and a second electrode that are divided for each pixel; switching elements electrically connected to the first electrodes; and a first insulating layer that separates the conversion elements of adjacent pixels. The semiconductor layer is located between the first and second electrodes. A periphery of the semiconductor layer is located outside peripheries of the first and second electrodes. The semiconductor layer includes a first impurity semiconductor layer, a second impurity semiconductor layer, and an intrinsic semiconductor layer located between the first and second impurity semiconductor layers. Parameters of the apparatus are defined to set a residual charge 10 μs after the switching element is turned on to be not higher than 2%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation detection apparatus and a radiation detection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A radiation detection apparatus has been used, in which a plurality of pixels each having a combination of a conversion element and switching element are arranged. As the conversion element, a PIN diode or a MIS diode is used. In particular, a PIN structure in which a semiconductor layer is sandwiched between two electrodes can be easily manufactured, has a simple operation mechanism, and thus is widely used. By separating a semiconductor layer into islands for respective pixels, a sharp image with less crosstalk between pixels is obtained. However, in the structure in which the semiconductor layer is separated into islands, a leakage path is readily formed on the side wall of the semiconductor layer. The formation of the leakage path has adverse effects such as an increase in reverse dark current and a decrease in the dynamic range of the radiation detection apparatus. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-012697 proposes a conversion element having a structure in which the periphery of a semiconductor layer is positioned outside the periphery of an electrode in order to suppress the formation of the leakage path on the side wall of the semiconductor layer.

Radiation detection apparatus and radiation detection system