An integrated semiconducting device comprises a semiconducting substrate, a plurality of grounding strips disposed above the substrate in a lower metal level of the semiconducting device, an inductor positioned in an upper metal level of the semiconducting device, and a plurality of conducting vias connected to and extending away from the grounding strips towards the inductor. The inductor, conducting via, ground strips structure forms a Faraday cage that acts as a shield against electromagnetic radiation. The number and placement of the conductive vias are adjustable and can be optimized based on the relative importance of maximizing the quality factor Q of the inductor or minimizing the capacitance between the inductor and ground.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to semiconductor devices and more specifically relates to an inductor on a conductive substrate.
2. Background Art
Since its development some decades ago, the integrated circuit (IC) has been improved and enhanced numerous times. Radio frequency integrated circuits (RF ICs) represent a single manifestation of the impressive array of IC embodiments that have arisen as a result of the considerable research and development in the field. Spiral inductors are used extensively to integrate RF functions onto ICs. The typical inductor consists of a spiral arranged in a layer of metal near the top of the wafer, a drop-down via connecting the spiral to the next metal level, and an underpass providing a connecting point exterior to the spiral structure.
Although the spiral inductor arrangement works well on chips with semi-insulating substrates like gallium arsenide (GaAs), it becomes problematic when it is used with semiconducting substrates like silicon (Si). The reason for this arises from the fact that electric fields cause current to flow in nearby conductive media. This induced current in turn causes a power loss characterized by the relationship P=I2R where I is the current and R is the resistivity of the substance in which the current is flowing. Power losses are undesirable for several reasons. Excessive power loss decreases selectivity in resonant circuits and increases noise. The relationship between power loss and energy storage in an inductor is measured by a quantity called the quality factor Q. The goal is to maximize Q, which can be done by minimizing power losses; i.e., Q is inversely proportional to the power loss.
Referring now to FIG. 3, which will help illustrate this point, a typical integrated circuit 100 comprises a semiconducting substrate 12, a dielectric 14, and a spiral inductor 16. Spiral inductor 16 lies in an upper layer of dielectric 14. Semiconducting substrate 12 is disposed below dielectric 14 and spiral inductor 16. Substrate electric field lines 18 and inductor electric field lines 20, named for the location at which they terminate, are emitted from spiral inductor 16, pass through dielectric 14 and penetrate substrate 12, causing an electric current to flow therein. Substrate electric field lines 18 represent a parasitic electric field from spiral inductor 16 which terminates in substrate 12, while inductor electric field lines 20 represent a parasitic electric field from one side of spiral inductor 16 which passes through substrate 12 and terminates on the opposite side of spiral inductor 16. Both forms of parasitic electric field (those represented by reference numerals 18 and 20) cause displacement current to flow in substrate 12. This displacement current causes a power loss in spiral inductor 16. This power loss is equal to I2R, where I represents the current flow and R represents the resistance. Semiconducting substrate 12 has an R value that is lower than an insulator would have, but R for a semiconductor is by no means zero. Spiral inductor 16 thus experiences a non-negligible, even significant, power loss.
Spiral inductor 16 is characterized by quality factor Q, which is the ratio of energy stored to power lost in the inductor. Higher Q values mean better inductor performance. In order to maximize Q, power loss must be minimized.
To minimize power loss one must prevent the electric field generated by the inductor from penetrating into the substrate. This can be accomplished by inserting a ground plane into the chip between the inductor and the substrate. Because it is grounded this plane has a much lower resistivity than does the substrate, leading to a power loss that is lower than that experienced with the substrate alone. This approach works well in applications where the ground plane can be well-separated from the substrate, as in GaAs chips where a typical separation can be around 300 microns. However, when a Si substrate is used, that relatively large separation isn""t possible and the electric field enters the substrate before the ground plane can affect it. Therefore, in order to produce the desired shielding effect in a Si chip, a ground plane must be placed very close to the inductor, perhaps 10 or 12 microns away at most.
The problem that then arises is that with the ground plane occupying a space so close to the inductor, the inductor""s magnetic field causes a current known as image current or loop current to flow in the ground plane. This image current flows in such a way as to oppose the magnetic field that is inducing it, as required by Lenz""s law. The result of this induced current flow is a drop in inductance which leads to a dramatic drop in Q. This result is just the opposite of what was intended.
A solution to the image current problem is suggested in a paper authored by C. Patrick Yue and S. Simon Wong appearing in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 33, No. 5, May 1998 entitled xe2x80x9cOn-Chip Spiral Inductors with Patterned Ground Shields for Si-Based RF IC""s.xe2x80x9d The paper proposes the use of a ground plane in which radial cuts have been made. These cuts interrupt and prevent the flow of the image current but do not cause the ground plane to lose its shielding effect with respect to the electric field. In other words, the electric field emanating from the inductor still preferentially penetrates the ground plane, where it is terminated. The result is an arrangement where the electric field is kept from penetrating the substrate, eliminating the power loss discussed above, while the induced image current in the ground plane, with its attendant problems, is simultaneously prevented. This solution is not without its drawbacks, however, and in spite of its popularity, some problems remain, as discussed below.
FIG. 4 shows a chip that uses the patterned ground plane approach. Typical integrated circuit 100 is now shown with patterned ground plane 22 inserted in a lower layer of dielectric 14 below spiral inductor 16. Patterned ground plane 22 is provided for the purpose of terminating the electric field emanating from spiral inductor 16. When substrate electric field lines 18 and inductor electric field lines 20 encounter a ground plane, the current they generate has a path of very low resistance to follow. This path leads away from semiconducting substrate 12 and since current preferentially follows a lower-resistivity path, the current flows to ground without penetrating semiconducting substrate 12. Thus, substrate electric field lines 18 are shown in this FIG. 4 as being terminated on patterned ground plane 22.
Cuts 24 in patterned ground plane 22 prevent the induction of image current by creating breaks and disruptions in the pathways where the image current would otherwise flow. Having no place to go the image current simply never is allowed to become a problem. In this way patterned ground plane 22 prevents the formation of image current at the same time that it terminates the parasitic electric field from spiral inductor 16, thus solving some, though not all, of the problems surrounding on-chip spiral inductor IC design. For an example of a problem that remains, consider that a patterned ground plane causes increased capacitance between itself and an inductor. This decreases the inductor""s self-resonant frequency, discussed below, and limits the attainable Q value for the inductor. Because maximizing Q is one of the prevailing goals in inductor-included IC design, such spiral to ground capacitance can be a real problem.
There is a particular frequency for a given inductor at which the inductor becomes self-resonant. At and above that frequency the inductor and the ground plane undergo a capacitive coupling which sets up a parallel resonance circuit and suppresses the inductor""s qualities. The system then acts just like a capacitor, i.e., as a storage device for electric, but not magnetic, energy. This self-resonant frequency is lowered with the introduction into an inductor-type IC of a ground plane, whether the ground plane be patterned or solid. What this means for an inductor in the presence of a ground plane is that its useful range is reduced. Beyond that shortcoming, the Yue-Wong approach limits the freedom with which the structure of a chip may be optimized for a particular application. Therefore, there existed a need to provide an inductor-included semiconductor device designed to reduce or substantially eliminate unwanted capacitive coupling between the inductor and ground while retaining its field-terminating effect and allowing for design optimization.
The present invention provides a way to avoid lowering an inductor""s self-resonant frequency, thus preserving the inductor""s useful operation over a wider range, while retaining the beneficial field-terminating effects of the patterned ground plane approach. The invention also allows the semiconductor to be optimized for a particular application.
According to the present invention, a semiconducting device is provided comprising a ground plane disposed between a spiral inductor and a conductive substrate. The ground plane is cut into a plurality of ground strips in order to prevent the flow of image current that would be induced in a solid ground plane by the magnetic field of the inductor. The ground strips are capacitively linked to the inductor by multiple connecting posts called conducting vias. These conducting vias are preferably formed out of a low-resistivity metal like copper or aluminum and act to terminate the parasitic electric field without excessively increasing the capacitance to ground. In the most preferred embodiment, fabrication of the conducting vias into the back-end-of-line (BEOL) metallurgy is accomplished by simply adding the via patterns to existing mask level designs and performing standard damascene fill processes as is currently practiced to form test via chains. The invention can thus be manufactured relatively inexpensively because no additional steps are necessary in the fabrication process. A further advantage of the invention is that it acts like a Faraday cage to eliminate unwanted electromagnetic radiation in the space inside the box formed by the inductor, the ground strips, and the vertical conducting vias.
Because the integrated circuit of this invention is simple to manufacture, it is easy to optimize the number and placement of the conducting vias to serve the integrated circuit""s intended purpose. The placement and density of the conducting vias would be optimized for a particular geometry of inductor for operation at a specific frequency. This optimization process would weigh the competing priorities of terminating the electric field (increasing Q by decreasing power loss in the substrate) and decreasing the parasitic capacitance present between the spiral inductor and the ground strips (increasing the self resonant frequency and thus increasing Q). A high density of conducting vias underneath the spiral inductor would provide the most effective termination of the parasitic electric field of the spiral inductor, decreasing the power loss in the substrate. This high density configuration would also have a high spiral to ground parasitic capacitance which would tend to decrease the self resonant frequency of the structure. The density of the conducting vias would then be chosen based on two possible scenarios: maximizing Q at a particular frequency, or maximizing isolation between the spiral inductor and the substrate.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Spiral inductor semiconducting device with grounding strips and conducting vias

International Business Machines Corporation


A radiotherapeutic apparatus employs a collimator (52) set below a radiation source (50) and is adapted to move along an arc (54) substantially centered on the radiation source (50). As it sweeps the arc, the collimator (52) is adjusted so as to define the appropriate shape of radiation beam. A continuous sweep over the patient avoids edge artefacts and localized accumulation of leakage.

A collimator marketed by Nomos Corporation; US., consist of two rows of binary collimators called vanes. Each vane can be in or out and typically covers an area of 1 cm by 1 cm when projected to the patient. These two rows cover an area of 20 cm by 2 cm. Usually the collimator is rotated around the patient and the vanes moved in and out of the radiation field in order to modulate the intensity of the radiation and create the desired dose distribution inside the patient. The system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,619.
At the completion of the irradiation, one longitudinal slice of the patient has been irradiated and the patient is moved longitudinally (indexed) to the position for the next slice. This motion needs to be very precise as inaccuracies lead to over or under dosages in the tumour and might jeopardise the patient's outcome.


A device for perutaneous treatment by a serotonin receptor antagonist, comprising at least three layers including A) a drug-impermeable backing layer, B) a drug storage layer provided between the packing layer and a drug release layer and containing serotonin receptor antagonist, and C) a drug release layer constituted of a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer capable of controlling the release of a drug.

This invention relates to an apparatus for administering a vomiting depressant at the time of chemotherapy of cancer. More particularly, this invention relates to a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus which enables to control ooze of liquid medicine from a drug storage layer during preservation of the apparatus by laminating a pressure-sensitive adhesive for controlling ooze of medicine to a drug releasing surface, and to a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus containing serotonin-receptor antagonist which is characterized by enabling to administer the predetermined amount of the serotonin-receptor antagonist precisely and certainly to a patient.
In a field of percutaneous therapeutics, a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus such as Estraderm, Nitorderm and so forth have been conventionally developed and used clinically. However, in these conventional apparatuses, in the case of, for example, Estraderm, there occur that adhesion of the apparatus to skin decreases due to an interaction with medicine during preservation. Such decline of adhesion of a patch medicine during administration causes a decline of area for absorbing medicine and there is a case where blood concentration of drug sufficient for therapeutics can not be obtained, which may be possibly a deadly problem to the patch medicine. Several percutaneous therapeutic apparatuses have been proposed in which a medicine releasing surface and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer having to do with adhesion to skin are separated.
For example, Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No.61-265150 discloses an example in which a medicine storage layer is separated from an adhesive existing on the outer periphery of the medicine storage layer by a circumferential se. The percutaneous therapeutic apparatuses described in examples disclosed in Unexamined Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No, 60-63344, Unexamined Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. 62-182942, Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 62-195326, Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No1-224312, Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 4-46592, Japanese National Publication No. 6-503252, Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No.-1283 and Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 62-212320 are common to Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 61-265150 on the point that an interaction of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on the periphery of the medicine releasing surface with the medicine storage layer are disconnected.
However, when such pressure sensitive adhesive layers as described in these examples are placed to the periphery of the medicine-releasing surface, the apparatus as a whole is bulky and, as a result, adhesion to skin lowers. There is a fear of increase in skin irritation in cases where the area of the pressure sensitive adhesive is enlarged in order to rise the adhesion or adhesive force.
On the other hand while serotonin (5-HT3)-receptor antagonist which is used as antiemetic for inhibiting vomiting which occurs often at the time of administration of cancer chemotherapeutic is used in therapeutics by oral administration and so forth, the control of blood concentration of drug is difficult and there occurs a problem that side effect on extrapyramidal motor system. In recent years, developments of a patch medicine have been tried in order to solve these problems as proposed in, for example, Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 5-79646 and so forth which, however, encounter a problem of adhesion to skin and which hardly exhibit sufficient drug efficacy. And, a patch medicine in which butyrophenone-group drug is contained in acrylic ester polymer base is proposed in Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-113533. However, an acrylic type pressure-sensitive adhesive is low in its drug releasing property and has a strong irritation to skin, and, it is no, therefore, equal to long-term continuous administration. And, there is fear that these pharmaceutical preparations the release of which is not controlled rise blood concentration temporarily because of rapid rising of initial release and increase an occurrence of side effect.
The problems to be solved by this invention are to get rid of lowering of adhesion resulted from an interaction of an apparatus with medicine during preservation of the apparatus and increase of skin irritation accompanying with enlargement of bulk caused by placing a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on the periphery.
And, this invention relates to an apparatus for supplying to skin surface an effective amount of serotonin-receptor antagonist for therapeutics from a liquid medicine storage layer through a medicine releasing layer and, more particularly, relates to a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus the medicine-releasing surface of which is sealed to make a loss in medicine substantially zero when using the apparatus and which is able to apply to a patient the predetermined amount of the serotonin-receptor antagonist precisely and certainly.
Inventors of this invention have made devotedly many researches and developments in order to solve the aforementioned problems. As a result, we have discovered that release of drug can be controlled and simultaneously medicine can be prevented from oozing by making use of a medicine-releasing layer comprising a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer which is able to control the release of drug in a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus. That is to say, according to the percutaneous therapeutic apparatus of this invention having a medicine-releasing layer comprising a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer which is able to control release of the drug, good adhesion can be obtained and increase of skin irritation resulted from enlarged bulk can be prevented and, simultaneously, ooze of the medicine can be prevented during preservation and an effective amount of the medicine for therapeutics can be released precisely and certainly from the present apparatus after sticking the present apparatus on skin of a patient.
That is to say, this invention provides a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus which enables;
(1) to control release of medicine by a simple structure,
(2) to improve preservation-stability of medicine,
(3) to lower irritation to skin,
(4) to obtain good adhesion to skin,
(5) to obtain high cohesive force of a pressmen sensitive adhesive.
This invention relates to a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus having at least three layers comprising;
(A) a medicine non-permeable backing layer,
(B) a medicine storage layer containing serotonin-receptor antagonist between the backing layer and a medicine-releasing layer,
(C) a pressure-sensitive layer which is able to control release of medicine.
The percutaneous therapeutic apparatus of this invention can be provided with a release liner layer which is able to be released when using outside the aforementioned medicine-releasing layer. And, the medicine-releasing layer of this invention which controls the release of medicine can include a medicine-permeable film (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as porous layer) other than for the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.
Further, the invention also provides a percutaneous-absorption pharmaceutical preparation containing serotonin-receptor antagonist which can be administered stably over a long period of times.
More in detail, this invention provides a percutaneous therapeutic apparatus having a medicine-releasing layer containing a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer enabling to control release of drug comprising pressure-sensitive adhesive containing rubber elastomer, tackifier resin and softening agent or pressure-sensitive adhesive further containing acrylic type pressure-sensitive adhesive other than these components.
Further more in detail, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of this invention is prepared by applying the aforementioned pressure-sensitive adhesive to whole area of the medicine-releasing surface.

Transdermal preparation containing serotonin receptor antagonist


A system includes first unit, a processor and a transmitter. The processor is located in the first unit to generate data to be communicated to a second unit that is physically separated from the first unit. The transmitter includes an antenna, a first circuit and a push-pull amplifier. The first circuit generates signals that are indicative of the data, and the push-pull amplifier drives the antenna with a signal that is indicative of the data in response to the signals generated by the first circuit. The amplifier also establishes an output power from the amplifier to the antenna to less than about one hundred milliwatts.

The invention generally relates to a technique and apparatus for low power wireless communication.
In a typical computer system, a main computer unit (a desktop or laptop computer, for example) communicates with various peripheral devices, such as a printer, a keyboard, a mouse, etc. Traditionally, this communication has been made possible by various cables that connect the computer unit to the peripheral devices. However, these cables place restraints on the positions of the peripheral devices relative to the computer unit, as well as contribute to excessive clutter near the computer unit.
For purposes of eliminating the cable connections between the peripheral devices and the main computer unit, short-range wireless links may be used. As an example, communication over these wireless links may be defined by a standard, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b standard, IEEE Std. 802.11, published in 1999, and IEEE Std. 802.11b, published as a supplement to the IEEE Std. 802.11 in 1999. As another example of another standard, communication over the wireless links may be defined by what is called the Bluetooth standard, set forth by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) in a specification entitled, "Specification of the Bluetooth System, Volume 1: Core and Volume 2: Profiles," version 1.1, February 2001. As an example of the implementation of one of these standards, a computer system 10 may have several wireless devices that communicate over short range microwave links. For example, a main computer unit 12 may communicate over wireless links with various peripheral devices, such as a printer 14, a keyboard 16, a mouse 18, a local area network (LAN) access point 22 and a personal digital assistant (PDA) 20. The main computer unit 12 may also communicate via wireless links with one or more other computer systems, such as a computer system 29 that is depicted in FIG. 1.
A conventional wireless device that implements the IEEE 802.11b standard may include a transceiver semiconductor package, or "chip," to demodulate signals received from an antenna of the device and modulate signals to be transmitted from the antenna. For purposes of transmitting, this transceiver chip generates a pair of balanced, modulated carrier signals. In this context, "balanced signals" refers to a pair of signals in which a current that is associated with one of the balanced signals is equal in magnitude but one hundred eighty degrees (180°) out of phase with the current that is associated with the other balanced signal. Balanced signals are ideally symmetrical with respect to ground. Thus, due to this balanced arrangement, all of the current that is communicated from one balanced output terminal of the transceiver chip returns to the other balanced output terminal of the transceiver chip without returning through ground.
In addition to the transceiver chip, the transmitter circuitry of a conventional wireless device typically includes a single-ended amplifier to generate a signal to drive the antenna in response to the balanced signals that are provided by the transceiver chip. For purposes of interfacing the amplifier to the transceiver chip, the transmitter circuitry includes a balun that transforms the balanced signals provided by the transceiver chip into a single-ended signal that is received and amplified by the amplifier. Besides transforming the balanced signals into a single-ended signal, this circuitry also attempts to match the output impedance of the transceiver to the input impedance of the amplifier. Additional impedance matching circuitry may be used between the amplifier and the antenna for purposes of attempting to match the output impedance of the amplifier to the impedance of the antenna. Unfortunately, the input and output impedances of the amplifier are typically complex and small, a condition that presents challenges in designing the impedance matching circuitry and may cause excessive power dissipation by the transmitter circuitry.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an arrangement that addresses one or more of the problems states above.

Technique and apparatus for low power wireless communication


A disk surface has a keep-out region and a certified region. A transducer associated with the disk surface writes servo information in the keep-out region under control of a servo track writer. The transducer then writes data in a temporary utility zone in the keep-out region. Next, a self-servo write operation uses data in the temporary utility zone to write servo information in the certified region. Thereafter, data is transferred from the temporary utility zone to a final utility zone in the certified region.

Disk drives store information on magnetic disks. Typically, the information is stored in concentric tracks on the disk and the tracks are divided into servo sectors that store servo information and data sectors that store customer data. A transducer (head) reads from and writes to the disk. The transducer is mounted on an actuator arm that moves the transducer radially over the disk. Accordingly, the actuator arm allows the transducer to access different tracks on the disk. The disk is rotated by a spindle motor at high speed which allows the transducer to access different data sectors on the disk.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional disk drive 10 that includes a magnetic storage disk 12 that is rotated by a spindle motor 14. The spindle motor 14 is mounted on a base plate 16. An actuator arm assembly 18 is also mounted on the base plate 16.
The actuator arm assembly 18 includes a transducer 20 mounted on a flexure arm 22 which is attached to an actuator arm 24 that rotates about a bearing assembly 26. The actuator arm assembly 18 also contains a voice coil motor (VCM) 28 which moves the transducer 20 relative to the disk 12. The spindle motor 14, the transducer 20 and the voice coil motor 28 are coupled to electronic circuits 30 mounted on a printed circuit board 32. The electronic circuits 30 include a read/write channel, a microprocessor-based controller and a random access memory (RAM).
The disk drive 10 typically includes multiple disks 12 and therefore multiple actuator arm assemblies 18. However, the disk drive 10 can include a single disk 12.
FIG. 2 illustrates the disk drive 10 coupled to a host computer 33 by an input/output port 34. The disk drive 10 includes a controller 36, a read/write channel 38 and interface 40. The host computer 33 uses the disk drive 10 as a data storage device. The host computer 33 delivers data access requests to the disk drive 10 via the port 34. In addition, the port 34 transfers customer data between the disk drive 10 and the host computer 33 during read and write operations.
Data is stored on the disk 12 as magnetic polarity transitions in substantially concentric tracks on its surface. Data is read from the disk 12 by positioning the transducer 20 above a desired track and sensing the magnetic polarity transitions stored within the track as the track moves below the transducer 20. Similarly, data is written to the disk 12 by positioning the transducer 20 above a desired track and delivering a write current representative of the desired data to the transducer 20.
The VCM 28 positions the transducer 20 relative to the disk 12 in response to a control signal (icontrol) generated by the controller 36. The controller 36 generates the control signal in response to an access command received from the host computer 33 via the interface 40 or in response to servo information read from the disk 12.
The channel 38 processes data that is read from or written to the disk 12. During a read operation, the channel 38 converts an analog read signal generated by the transducer 20 into digital data for the controller 36. The channel 38 also recovers timing information from the analog read signal. During a write operation, the channel 38 converts customer data received from the host computer 33 into a write current that is delivered to the transducer 20 to write the customer data to the disk 12. The channel 38 also continually processes servo information read from the disk 12 and delivers the processed servo information to the controller 36 for positioning the transducer 20.
FIG. 3 is a top view of the disk 12 illustrating a typical organization of data. The disk 12 includes concentric data storage tracks 42 for storing data. The tracks 42 are illustrated as centerlines, however the tracks 42 each occupy a finite width about a corresponding centerline. Disk 12 also includes radially-aligned servo spokes (or wedges) 44 that cross the tracks 42 and store servo information in servo sectors in the tracks. The servo information is read by the transducer 20 during read and write operations to position the transducer 20 above the desired track 42. More specifically, the servo information includes servo bursts (A, B, C and D servo bursts or the like) to generate a position error signal (PES) to position the transducer 20 relative to a track centerline during a track following operation. The disk 12 also includes customer data regions 46 between the servo spokes 44 that cross the tracks 42 and store customer data in data sectors in the tracks 42. The customer data is received from the host computer 33.
Although a small number of the tracks 42, the servo spokes 44 and the customer data regions 46 are shown for ease of illustration, the actual number of the tracks 42, the servo spokes 44 and the customer data regions 46 is considerably larger.
The disk 12 also includes a keep-out region 302 near disk's inner diameter (ID) and a keep-out region 304 near the disk's outer diameter (OD). The keep-out regions 302 and 304 are reserved for disk slip of the disk 12 based on built-in tolerance for expected disk slip. That is, no customer data is stored in the customer data regions 46 in the keep-out regions 302 and 304 because if disk slip occurs, for example due to the disk drive 10 being bumped during shipping, handling or use, the disk drive manufacturer cannot guarantee that the customer data stored in the keep-out regions 302 and 304 will be accessible. The keep-out regions 302 and 304 have sizes based on expected disk slip, and are shown with exaggerated sizes for illustrative purposes.
The disk 12 also includes a certified region 306 between the keep-out regions 302 and 304. The certified region 306 is immune to disk slip. That is, customer data is stored in the customer data regions 46 in the certified region 306 because if disk slip occurs, the disk drive manufacturer guarantees that the customer data stored in the certified region 306 will be accessible in the absence of catastrophic failure, media defects and the like. In contrast, the keep-out regions 302 and 304 are uncertified regions on the disk 12.
The disk 12 also includes a utility zone 310 located in the certified region 306. The utility zone 310 stores data for the proper operation of the disk drive 10. For example, the utility zone 310 can include a log of bad data sectors on the disk 12, diagnostic information, read channel tables, test scripts, test results, error counters, performance metrics, micro-jog tables, servo optimization tables, drive code, test code and debug information. The utility zone 310 is shown as a single track located near the ID of the disk 12. However, the utility zone 310 can include multiple tracks and can be located near the OD of the disk 12 or at any other location in the certified region 306.
During disk drive manufacturing, a servo track writer (STW) positions the transducer at radial positions over the disk so that the transducer writes the servo information on the disk with high positional accuracy. The STW is an expensive piece of capital equipment, and even a small reduction in the servo information needed to be written by the STW can result in significant time and cost savings. Furthermore, as the tracks per inch (TPI) increases, the servo write time increases since the STW makes more circumferential passes over the disk, thereby increasing the demands on the STW. Thus, unless more STWs are supplied, manufacturing times will continually increase as the TPI increases.
Disk drives have been designed to perform self-servo writing in an effort to reduce STW usage. During self-servo writing, the disk drive uses temporary servo information stored on the disk and self-servo-writing instructions stored in the utility zone to write the final servo information on the disk. Unfortunately, a discontinuity may occur in the certified region between the final servo information and the utility zone.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart 400 illustrating self-servo writing that causes a discontinuity between the final servo information and the utility zone.
The disk drive is placed in a first station that includes a STW (step 410). The STW is used to write a small band of final embedded servo information in a circumferential fashion in the certified region of the disk. The STW is also used to write temporary spiral servo information across the remainder of the certified region. More specifically, instead of using the STW to write embedded servo information in a circumferential fashion at each radius in the certified region, the STW is used to write temporary servo information in a spiral fashion by moving the transducer in a controlled manner (at a constant velocity or along a velocity profile) from the edge of the band of the embedded servo information to the edge of the certified region as the disk spins. By writing the temporary servo information in a spiral fashion, the servo write time for the remainder of the certified region is a function of the number of spirals rather than the number of tracks. However, the STW is not used to write servo information in the keep-out region.
Next, the disk drive is moved to a second station, so as to free-up the STW at the first station for other disk drives (step 420). At the second station, which includes a host connection to the disk drive, self-servo writing instructions are loaded (written) into a utility zone that is within the small band of embedded servo information in the certified region. Diagnostic information and self-test code may also be loaded into the utility zone.
Next, the disk drive is moved to a third station (step 430). The disk drive is powered-on, reads the self-servo writing instructions in the utility zone, and converts the spiral servo information into embedded servo information without further assistance from the STW. More specifically, the disk drive positions the transducer by servoing on the spiral servo information to self-servo write embedded servo information in the remainder of the certified region using the self-servo writing instructions. However, the self-servo writing does not write servo information in the keep-out region. FIG. 5A illustrates a discontinuity 510 between the embedded servo information in the utility zone written using the STW and the embedded servo information in the certified region adjacent to the utility zone written by the self-servo writing. The discontinuity 510 extends substantially about a radius of the disk surface. The discontinuity 510 reflects that the embedded servo information in the utility zone is radially incoherent with the embedded servo information outside the utility zone. The discontinuity 510 arises (or is likely to exist) since the embedded servo information in the utility zone is written at a significantly earlier time than the embedded servo information outside the utility zone. Thus, the discontinuity 510 may be due to changes in environmental conditions between the two servo writing operations. For example, thermal changes may occur between the two servo writing operations. In addition, handling the disk drive (such as moving it from station-to-station) may cause alignment changes (such as spindle tilt).
Because the utility zone is accessed during normal operation of the disk drive, the transducer must cross over the discontinuity during seek operations that move the transducer into or out of the utility zone. As a result, special drive code is required to accommodate the discontinuity. Furthermore, accessing the special drive code may delay the seek operations, thereby degrading the performance of the disk drive.
Accordingly, there is a need for self-servo writing without creating a discontinuity between the final servo information and the utility zone.

Method and apparatus for providing a temporary utility zone in a disk drive


To overcome problems there is to be provided useful information to a user, by counting the number of detected RF tags. As a means for solving the problems an information-providing server 20 according to the present invention acquires IDs of RF tag readers disposed near by the Ferris wheel, when there has been presented to the information providing server 20, as a notifying condition, the condition that a user desires to receive an e-mail on the occasion of the number of persons waiting in line for a Ferris wheel having become seven or less. Then after having acquired the number of plural IDs of the RF tags detected by the RF tag readers having the acquired IDs, the information-providing server 20 acquires attribute information of the RF tags. The information providing server 20 counts the number of IDs of RF tags whose attribute is a person, referring to the attribute information. When the counted result has become seven or less, the information providing server 20 transmits an e-mail notifying to the effect that the congestion has been relieved to the mobile terminal 10.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a server apparatus and an information providing method.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, a commodity management system utilizing RF tag has been proposed. For example, in the patent literature 1, there is disclosed a book distribution system, in which the genuine/false decision of a point coupon of a book is carried out by comparing the information of RF tag built-in the point coupon in the book jacket with the information of issued RF tag registered in the server of the publisher. In this book distribution system, only in the case where the point coupon is determined to be genuine, the point coupon is made to be available as a note being equivalent to cash. Thereby, a convenience is provided to a normal purchaser, while sold books are prevented from being returned illegally.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-94858

Server apparatus and information providing method


A multi-beam scanning optical system which obtains an image by reducing an error between the imaging positions of light beams from a plurality of light sources without any complicated adjustment, and an image-forming apparatus using the same. The multi-beam scanning optical system includes the elements of a first optical system for converting divergent light beams emitted from a light source means having a plurality of light sources into substantially parallel light beams or convergent light beams, a second optical system for forming the light beams converted into the substantially parallel light beams or convergent light beams into linear images elongated in the main scanning direction, a deflector for reflecting/deflecting incident light beams in the main scanning direction, a stop for limiting the width of incident light beams, and a third optical system for forming the light beams reflected/deflected by the deflector into images on a scanned surface and making the deflecting surface and the scanned surface substantially conjugate to each other in a sub-scanning cross-section. The respective elements are set to satisfy a conditional expression which includes the interval between light sources in the main scanning direction, the focal length of the collimator lens, the distance from the stop to the surface of the deflector, the focal length of the imaging optical system in the main scanning direction, and the number of pixels per inch on the scanned surface in the main scanning direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-beam scanning optical system and an image forming apparatus using the same and, more particularly, to a multi-beam scanning optical system suitably used for an image forming apparatus applicable to any of monochrome image and color image, e.g., a laser beam printer or digital copying machine, which can attain a high operation speed and high recording density by using a light source means with a plurality of light sources.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 7 is a sectional view (main scanning sectional view) of the main part of a conventional multi-beam scanning optical system in the main scanning direction.
Referring to FIG. 7, a plurality of light beams emitted from a multi-beam semiconductor laser (multiple light sources) 71 having a plurality of light sources (light-emitting units) are converted into substantially parallel light beams or convergent light beams by a collimator lens 72, and the light beams strike a cylindrical lens 74 while the cross-sectional area of the light beams is limited by an aperture stop 73. Of the light beams incident on the cylindrical lens 74, light beams in a main scanning cross-section emerge without any change. In a sub-scanning cross-section, light beams converge and are formed into almost linear images (elongated in the main scanning direction) on a deflecting surface (reflecting surface) 75a of an optical deflector 75. Note that each of the collimator lens 72, aperture stop 73, cylindrical lens 74, and the like forms one element of an incidence optical system. A plurality of light beams reflected/deflected by the deflecting surface 75a of the optical deflector 75 are formed into spots on a photosensitive drum surface 77 by an imaging optical system (fxe2x88x92xcex8 lens system) 76. By rotating the optical deflector 75 in the direction indicated by an arrow C, these light beams are scanned on the photosensitive drum surface 77 at a constant speed in the direction indicated by the arrow D (main scanning direction). With this operation, an image is recorded on the photosensitive drum surface 77 serving as a recording medium.
In such a multi-beam scanning optical system, to accurately control the write position of an image, a write position sync signal detection means is generally arranged immediately before an image signal write position.
Referring to FIG. 7, a bending mirror (BD mirror) 78 reflects, toward the BD sensor 81 side, a light beam (BD light beam) for detecting a write position sync signal for adjusting the timing at a scanning start position on the photosensitive drum surface 77. A slit (BD slit) 79 is located at a position equivalent to the photosensitive drum surface 77. A BD lens 80 serving as an imaging means makes the BD mirror 78 and BD sensor 81 optically conjugate to each other, thereby correcting a tilt of the surface of the BD mirror 78. The optical sensor (BD sensor) 81 serves as a write position sync signal detection element. Note that each of the BD slit 79, BD lens 80, BD sensor 81, and the like forms one element of a write position sync signal detection means 91.
Referring to FIG. 7, the timing at a scanning start position for image recording on the photosensitive drum surface 77 is adjusted by using an output signal from the BD sensor 81.
In this multi-beam scanning optical system, as shown in FIG. 8, if a plurality of light sources (light-emitting units) A and B are placed vertically in the sub-scanning direction, the distance between scanning lines on a scanned surface in the sub-scanning direction becomes much larger than the recording density. For this reason, in general, as shown in FIG. 9, the plurality of light sources A and B are placed obliquely in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the main scanning direction, and a tilt angle xcex4 is adjusted to accurately match the distance between the scanning lines on the scanned surface in the sub-scanning direction to the recording density.
If a relative wavelength error occurs in light beams emitted from the plurality of light sources, relative focus errors occur on the scanned surface in the main and sub-scanning directions in correspondence with the respective light-emitting units, resulting in a deterioration in image quality. For this reason, a collimator lens having undergone proper chromatic aberration correction is used to prevent relative focus errors in the main and sub-scanning directions from occurring even if a relative wavelength error occurs in light beams emitted from a plurality of light sources, thereby effectively preventing a deterioration in image quality.
In the multi-beam scanning optical system having the conventional arrangement described above, since a plurality of light sources are placed obliquely in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the main scanning direction, light beams emitted from the light sources A and B strike the deflecting surface of the optical deflector (polygon mirror) at positions spaced apart from each other in the main scanning direction, and are reflected/deflected by the optical deflector at different angles, as shown in FIG. 10. As a consequence, spots are formed on the scanned surface 77 at positions spaced apart from each other in the main scanning direction (beams A1 and B1).
In the multi-beam scanning optical system having this arrangement, therefore, image data are sent with a timing shift of a predetermined time xcex4T such that a light from a given reference light source is formed into an image on the scanned surface, and then a light beam from another light source is formed into an image at the same imaging position.
Referring to FIG. 10, when the timing shifts by xcex4T, the deflecting surface 75a is set at the angle of a deflecting surface 75b. At this time, a beam B2 is reflected/deflected by the deflecting surface 75b in the direction indicated by an arrow B2xe2x80x2, i.e., in the same direction indicated by an arrow A1xe2x80x2 as that of the beam A1, thereby matching the imaging positions of the respective spots to each other.
Consider a case wherein a focus error occurs in the main scanning direction due to some cause, e.g., a positional error between the scanned surface and the optical unit holding the optical system or a mounting error in mounting an optical component in the optical unit. Assume, in this case, that a normal position 77a of the scanned surface 77 shifts to a position 77b. In this case, as is obvious from FIG. 10, the imaging position of each beam shifts in the main scanning direction by xcex4Y.
In the prior art, when the imaging positions of light beams from a plurality of light sources (multi-beam semiconductor laser) shift in the main scanning direction, the printing precision and image quality deteriorate.
There are various factors that cause focus errors in the main scanning direction. It is very difficult to reduce all these factors to zero. Even if such adjustment is to be made, the adjustment process will cost much. In addition, recently, an optical system having an fxe2x88x92xcex8 lens made of a plastic material is often used in consideration of cost. A plastic lens is manufactured by injection molding. The surface precision of this lens is inferior to that obtained by polishing optical glass. In such plastic lens, in particular, errors tend to occur in some portions in convex forms with respect to design values, but errors tend to occur in other portions in concave forms with respect to design values. When focus errors are caused by such surface precision errors, it is impossible to correct the focus errors throughout the scanned surface. It is therefore difficult to correct a deterioration in image quality due to the occurrence of errors in the imaging positions of light beams from a plurality of light sources in the main scanning direction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an multi-beam scanning optical system which can effectively reduce errors in the imaging positions of light beams from a plurality of light sources in the main scanning direction and obtain a high-quality image at high speed, without requiring any complicated adjustment, by properly setting the respective elements of the multi-beam scanning optical system, and an image forming apparatus using the multi-beam scanning optical system.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-beam scanning optical system comprising light source means having a plurality of light sources spaced apart from each other at least in a main scanning direction, a collimator lens for converting a plurality of divergent light beams emitted from the light source means into substantially parallel light beams or convergent light beams, deflection means for reflecting/deflecting the plurality of light beams in the main scanning direction, a stop which is interposed between the collimator lens and the deflection means to limit a width of incident light beams, and an imaging optical system for forming the plurality of light beams reflected/deflected by the deflection means into images on a scanned surface and making the deflecting surface and the scanned surface substantially conjugate to each other in a sub-scanning cross-section, wherein letting S1 be an emission point interval between the plurality of light sources in the main scanning direction, f1 be a focal length of the collimator lens, L1 be a distance from the stop to the deflecting surface of the deflection means, f3 be the focal length of the imaging optical system in the main scanning direction, and N1 be the number of pixels per inch on the scanned surface in the main scanning direction, a condition given by             S1      xc3x97      L1              f1      xc3x97      f3        ≤            25.4      N1        xc3x97          1      4
is satisfied.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the multi-beam scanning optical system further comprises write position sync signal detection means for controlling a timing at a scanning start position on the scanned surface by using one of the plurality of light beams reflected/deflected by the reflection means, and controls the timing at the scanning start position on the scanned surface with respect to one of the plurality of light beams emitted from the light source means.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the multi-beam scanning optical system further comprises write position sync signal detection means for controlling a timing at a scanning start position on the scanned surface by using all the plurality of light beams reflected/deflected by the reflection means, and controls the timing at the scanning start position on the scanned surface with respect to the plurality of light beams emitted from the light source means.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the write position sync signal detection means has a slit, and the slit can move in a direction of the center of a light beam incident on the slit.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the write position sync signal detection means has a slit, and the slit can pivot within a cross-section substantially perpendicular to the center of a light beam incident on the slit.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the plurality of light sources comprise monolithic devices.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus which comprises the multi-beam scanning optical system set out in the foregoing, a photosensitive member disposed on the scanned surface, a developing unit for developing, as a toner image, an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member by a light beam scanned by the multi-beam scanning optical system, a transfer unit for transferring the developed toner image onto a transfer member and a fixing unit for fixing the transferred toner image on the transfer member.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus which comprises the multi-beam scanning optical system set out in the foregoing and a controller for converting code data input from an external device into an image signal and inputting the signal to the multi-beam scanning optical system.

Error reduction in a multi-beam scanning optical system, and image-forming apparatus using the same


A vehicle electric drive system has an internal combustion engine which drives an electric generator. The generator powers a motor which drives the wheels. The system has operator controls including a speed control member movable from a zero speed position to a high speed position, an FNR direction control member having forward, neutral and reverse positions. The system also includes a wheel speed sensor and an electronic control unit. Upon startup, the control unit senses the position of the direction control member, senses wheel speed, and senses position of the speed control member. The controller prevents vehicle operation if the direction control member is not in its neutral position, or the sensed wheel speed is not close to zero, or the speed control member is not near its zero speed position. The controller permits vehicle operation if the direction control member is in its neutral position, and the sensed wheel speed is close to zero, and the speed control member is near its zero speed position.

This invention relates to an electric drive system for a vehicle.
Vehicle electric drive systems or AC electric traction drives have been proposed to overcome some of the deficiencies of mechanical transmission systems, such as a limited number of speeds, increased costs of engineering and manufacturing components, and limiting vehicle configuration options. One such hybrid electric drive system for a vehicle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,785, issued 10 Dec. 2002 and assigned to the assignee of this application. This hybrid electric drive system includes an engine driven electrical generator and electric motors for driving the traction wheels or belts, and for driving auxiliary power units such as the PTO or fan drives.
This hybrid electric drive system also includes a speed control pedal, and a forward-neutral-reverse directional control lever. With such controls, the operator can select one of several operating modes, including a mode wherein vehicle motion can be initiated by switching the directional control into the forward or reverse position and moving the speed control into a non-zero speed position. In this mode, the operator may quickly reverse direction by simply switching the directional control to the opposite direction. This is useful, for example, when operating a loader, where it is desirable to change direction quickly and often.
Both conventional tractors and tractors with infinitely variable transmissions (IVT) employ interlocks to prevent the operator from inadvertently starting the tractor in an unsafe condition. For example, many tractors sense transmission gear engagement and prevent the engine from starting if the transmission is engaged. Such an interlock cannot be used with a hybrid electric vehicle, because there is not a transmission with a gear ratio to be sensed.

Startup interlock for vehicle electric drive system


An organic electrolyte solution including a solvent; an electrolyte including a metal-ligand coordination compound; and an additive including a hydrophobic group and a metal affinic group.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an organic electrolyte solution and a redox flow battery including the same, and more particularly, to an organic electrolyte solution for a battery having high energy density, and a redox flow battery including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Secondary batteries are highly efficient energy storage systems which are widely used for mobile phones and large power storage devices. Specifically, secondary batteries are used in semiconductor and liquid crystal devices, acoustic devices, and information and communication devices such as mobile phones and laptop computers. More recently, secondary batteries are being used as power sources in hybrid vehicles.
Power storage systems for portable electronics and hybrid vehicles desirably provide a stable energy supply and high energy conversion efficiency. Recently, redox flow batteries are being considered to provide a secondary battery having larger capacity and improved durability, such as a capacity and durability suitable for grid power storage systems.
Unlike other batteries, an active material of the redox flow battery is in a liquid state instead of a solid state, and the redox flow batteries use a mechanism of storing and generating electric energy according to an oxidation/reduction reaction of catholyte and anolyte ions at a cathode and an anode, respectively.
In other words, the redox flow batteries include an electrolyte solution, wherein an active material of an electrode is dissolved in a solvent. The catholyte is oxidized and the anolyte is reduced when the redox flow battery including the catholyte and the anolyte, which have different oxidation states, is charged, and the electromotive force of the redox flow battery is determined by a difference between standard electrode potentials)(E0) of a redox couple of the catholyte and the anolyte. The catholyte and anolyte are supplied from respective electrolyte solution tanks by a pump. Oxidation and reduction of the electrolytes occurs simultaneously on the surfaces of the cathodes and anodes in the redox flow battery, similar to other types of batteries. Also, because the electrolyte solution tanks may be easily scaled, redox flow batteries may have power characteristics like fuel cells.
However, since the solubility of the catholyte and/or the anolyte of a redox flow battery may be insufficient, it can be difficult to obtain a redox flow battery having a desired energy density. Thus there remains a need for an improved electrolyte for a redox flow battery.

Organic electrolyte solution and redox flow battery including the same


A thermal transfer sheet having a base film, a heat resistant layer which is formed on one surface of the base film by coating a composition which contains (A) a compound having at least two (meth)acryloyl groups and (B) at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of a syrene-alkyl (meth)acrylate copolymer and an .alpha.-methylstyrene-alkyl (meth)acrylate copolymer and cured with an activation energy ray, and heat transfer coloring material layer on the other surface of the base film, which sheet has maintains good runnability and prevents deposition of a thermal head tailings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal transfer sheet which is used in a recording system for thermally transferring a coloring material with heat-application means such as a thermal head.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of office automation, a thermal transfer recording system is used in various terminal equipments such as a facsimile machine or a printing machine. This recording system is advantageous over other recording systems such as electrophotographic type or ink jet type ones because of easy maintenance of the machine, easy operability, low costs of the machine and consumables.
Since the thermal transfer sheet is heated with a thermal head at high temperature in the thermal transfer recording system, if a base film of the thermal transfer sheet has insufficient heat resistance, it is fusion-bonded to the thermal head, which results in generation of sticking noise or deposition of thermal head tailings. When the fusion bonding becomes severe, running of the thermal head is impossible so that no recording is possible.
To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. 7467/1980 proposes the supply of a heat resistant resin layer such as a silicone resin or an epoxy resin on the base film, and Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. 129789/1982 proposes the supply of a resin layer containing a surfactant which is in a solid or semisolid state at room temperature on the base film. However, these measures require a large amount of energy for heat-curing the resin. In addition, the base film suffers from deformation wrinkles caused by heat, so that the coloring material layer is irregularly coated on the base film and therefore printing quality is deteriorated. When the surfactant is added to the resin layer, it will adhere to the thermal head to cause printing slips.
With the increase of the energy applied to the thermal head due to recent high speed printing, the thermal transfer sheet receives large load. Then, it is difficult to improve the runnability of the thermal head by the methods disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Kokai Publications.
As further methods for solving the above problem, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. 27289/1986 proposes the supply of a heat resistant layer of a UV-curable resin such as polyester acrylate on the base film and Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. 207679/1987 proposes the supply of a cured layer of a silicone having radically polymerizable double bonds.
While the base film having such layer is excellent in heat resistance, it has an insufficient slipping property, so that the runnability of the thermal head may not be improved, or the uncured silicone migrates on a surface of the base film on which the coloring material layer will be formed. Thereby, the coloring material layer is irregularly coated. In addition, the uncured silicone migrates in the coloring material layer so that the normal printing is interfered.
To reduce recording cost in the thermal transfer recording system, a repeated use type thermal transfer sheet is being developed. Therefore, a heat resistant layer is required, which does not deteriorate the runnability of the thermal head even when it is repeatedly heated by the thermal head and prevents deposition of the thermal head tailings.


A high-speed incrementer array for incrementing a data input value by a binary one, wherein the data input value comprises a plurality of input bit values. The incrementer array includes a plurality of word lines, bit-line pairs, and sense amplifiers. The input bit values are received as a plurality of complement input signals and a plurality of true input signals. The complement input signals are transmitted on the plurality of word lines that form the rows of the array. Each one of plurality of bit-line pairs is located in a respective column of the array and is coupled to particular ones of the word lines in the rows of the array. Each one of the plurality of sense amplifiers is coupled to a respective bit-line pair for sensing a voltage difference between the bit-line pair, such that the bit-line pair and the sense amplifier perform a logical NOR of the complement input signals to produce a NOR output. Each one of the plurality of exclusive-or gates is coupled to a respective NOR output and to a particular one of the true input signals for generating an incremented output signal.

Higher performance has been demanded of most microprocessors recently. Therefore, higher performance for each microprocessor function is required. Among the most basic functions of microprocessors are various arithmetic operations, such as simple addition. Therefore, an important circuit in a microprocessor is an adder, which adds two or more data values and produces a result.
Besides adding the values of two variables, the adder is also used to calculate memory addresses. Consider for example the accessing of sequential memory addresses by the microprocessor. After accessing the first memory addresses, access of the second memory address requires that the adder add the value of the first memory address to a second value to produce the next memory address. Since the addresses are sequential, in this example the second value to be added to the first address is the number one. The faster the adder can increment a memory address to generate the next address, the faster the microprocessor can access memory, which increases overall performance. An adder, however, conventionally requires larger area for higher performance. A large area of a circuit inevitably leads to a large chip size, which contradicts the current requirements of microprocessors; higher performance coupled with a small area.
Accordingly, what is needed is an incremental arithmetic function for a microprocessor that requires a small area, while providing high-performance. The present invention addresses such a need.

High speed incrementer with array method

International Business Machines Corporation


A time synchronization method, applied to a power-line communication (PLC) network that includes a head end node and at least one tail end node coupled to the head end node. The method includes the head end node generates data about voltage zero-crossing points based on reference time, where the data about the voltage zero-crossing points includes zero-crossing time points of the voltage zero-crossing points. When a first timing point arrives, the head end node sends first information to the tail end node, where the first information includes a timestamp of a first zero-crossing point, the first zero-crossing point is a voltage zero-crossing point closest to the first timing point, and the timestamp of the first zero-crossing point is used by the tail end node to determine a zero-crossing time point of a second zero-crossing point.

With construction of a power Internet of things develops, a scenario of using power-line communication (PLC) is extended from a previous meter communications unit to an Internet of things communications unit. In the scenario of power Internet of things, devices in a PLC network need to record electrical quantity waveform data such as a current and a voltage. In China, a frequency of an industrial-frequency alternating current is 50 hertz (Hz), and a cyclic wave of the alternating current is 20 milliseconds (ms). This requires that devices for data collection in the PLC network support time synchronization. In addition, time synchronization precision ensures that power data quality collected by different nodes in a same station (STA) simultaneously is in a same cycle, to ensure that current quality is determined correctly.
In an existing technology, for example, in the technical specifications of the data link layer communications protocol part in Low Voltage Power Line Broadband Communication Interoperability Technical Specification issued by the state grid, there is no specific stipulation on a method for implementing time synchronization between a head end node and a tail end node in a PLC network and time accuracy of the tail end node, provided that a necessary time sequence regulation is met. Therefore, in a current PLC network, vendors differ in an implementation method and accuracy of time synchronization precision between a central coordinator (CCO) at a head end of the PLC, and a proxy coordinator (PCO) and a STA that are at a tail end of the PLC, and synchronization accuracy of some products is low. A PLC network indicates longer synchronization time, more PLC network layers cause a larger error that even reaches a millisecond level. In this case, how to resolve the problem of poor time synchronization accuracy of products from different vendors so that all nodes in the PLC network can maintain precise time synchronization to avoid inconsistency of cyclic waves of synchronously collected data is an urgent problem to be resolved.

Time synchronization method and apparatus, and storage medium


An electron microscope includes a stage on which a sample is capable of being placed, a beam generator, a detector, a display, and a controller. The beam generator emits a charged particle beam with which the sample is irradiated. The detector detects a secondary electron or an electron generated from the sample by irradiation with the charged particle beam. The display displays an image of the sample based on a signal from the detector. The controller executes a first irradiation process of specifying a position of a hole bottom by scanning the sample with the charged particle beam when capturing an image of the hole bottom of a hole provided in the sample, and executes a second irradiation process of imaging a shape of the hole bottom by irradiating the hole bottom with the charged particle beam via the hole.

A scanning electron microscope is used to observe a sample by irradiating the sample with an electron beam and detecting a secondary electron or reflected electron generated from the sample. In order to observe a bottom surface of a contact hole or memory hole with such a microscope, it is necessary to detect the secondary electron or reflected electron generated from the bottom surface of the contact hole or memory hole.
However, in a three-dimensional memory cell array in which memory cells are three-dimensionally arranged, an aspect ratio of the memory hole becomes very high as the degree of integration increases. When the aspect ratio of the memory hole becomes higher, the secondary electron or reflected electron from the bottom surface is difficult to reach an upper end opening of the memory hole. When the periphery or side wall of the memory hole is irradiated with an electron beam (primary electron), the front surface or side wall of the sample is charged, and thus the secondary electron or reflected electron receives an asymmetrical force from a charge at the upper end opening or the side wall of the memory hole and is difficult to exit from the memory hole.

Electron microscope and beam irradiation method


Systems and methods for minimizing pressure fluctuations within a pumping apparatus are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention may serve to reduce pressure variations within a fluid path of a pumping apparatus by avoiding closing a valve to create a closed or entrapped space in the fluid path and similarly, avoiding opening a valve between two entrapped spaces. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention may serve to operate a system of valves of the pumping apparatus according to a valve sequence configured to substantially minimize the time the fluid flow path through the pumping apparatus is closed (e.g. to an area external to the pumping apparatus).

There are many applications for which precise control over the amount and/or rate at which a fluid is dispensed by a pumping apparatus is necessary. In semiconductor processing, for example, it is important to control the amount and rate at which photochemicals, such as photoresist chemicals, are applied to a semiconductor wafer. The coatings applied to semiconductor wafers during processing typically require a flatness across the surface of the wafer that is measured in angstroms. The rates at which processing chemicals are applied to the wafer has to be controlled in order to ensure that the processing liquid is applied uniformly.
Many photochemicals used in the semiconductor industry today are very expensive, frequently costing as much as $1000 a liter. Therefore, it is preferable to ensure that a minimum but adequate amount of chemical is used and that the chemical is not damaged by the pumping apparatus. Current multiple stage pumps can cause sharp pressure spikes in the liquid. For example, negative pressure spikes may promote out gassing and bubble formation in the chemical which may cause defects in wafer coating. Similarly, positive pressure spikes may cause premature polymer crosslinking which may also result in coating defects.
As can be seen, such pressure spikes and subsequent drops in pressure may be damaging to the fluid (i.e., may change the physical characteristics of the fluid unfavorably). Additionally, pressure spikes can lead to built up fluid pressure that may cause a dispense pump to dispense more fluid than intended or dispense the fluid in a manner that has unfavorable dynamics.
In particular, pressure spikes may be caused by the opening and closing of valves within the pumping apparatus. Thus, what is needed is a sequence for the opening and closing of valves within a pumping apparatus which minimizes or reduces pressure variations within the fluid.

System and method for valve sequencing in a pump


A saber saw including: a motor; a housing accommodating the motor; a plunger held to be reciprocatable in the housing and to which a blade is mounted at a leading end thereof, and a movement converting part provided between the motor and the plunger and is configured to convert rotation movement of the motor into reciprocating movement of the plunger, wherein a bearing metal is fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the plunger.

As a reciprocating cutting tool that is driven by a driving source such as electric motor, a saber saw has been known. As well known, the saber saw reciprocates a reciprocating shaft (hereinafter, referred to as a plunger) having a substantially linear saw blade (hereinafter, referred to as a blade) mounted at a leading end thereof, thereby cutting wood, steel, pipe and the like by the blade.
An example of a structure of a related-art saber saw is shown in FIG. 7 (see, for example, JP-A-2002-79417). FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an entire saber saw 101 according to the related-art technology. A motor 7 is embedded in a motor housing 2 made of resin and a handle 3 is connected to a rear part of the motor housing 2. In the handle 3 having a D shape when in a side view, a switch 4 that controls power feed to the motor 7 is embedded. When a trigger 4 a is pulled, the motor 7 is rotated. An inner cover 5 and gear cover 6 made of metal and accommodating a power transfer means are provided at the front of the motor housing 2. The motor housing 2 and a front cover 26 configure a housing of the invention. A part of an outer side of the housing is provided with the front cover 26 made of an electrical insulating and heat insulating elastic member having a large frictional coefficient. A base 25 for pressing and stabilizing the saber saw 101 body to a material to be cut upon a cutting operation is attached to a leading end-side corresponding to the front of the gear cover 6 so that it can be advanced and retreated. Upon the cutting operation, it is possible to stabilize the saber saw 101 by pushing the base 25 against the material to be cut.
A driving gear 8 is configured integrally with or by a separate member from a leading end of a motor shaft 7a. Rotation movement of the motor shaft 7a is converted into reciprocating movement of a plunger 120 by a movement converting part. The plunger 120 holds a blade 27 via a blade holder (blade holding unit) 23 at a front end portion of and reciprocates the blade 27 forward and backward, thereby cutting the material to be cut. The blade holder 23 is configured such that attach and detach of the blade 27 can be realized by one touch by operating a rotatable knob 24. The blade 27 can be mounted to the blade holder in an upper-lower reverse direction. The movement converting part that converts the rotation movement of the motor 7 into the reciprocating movement of the plunger 120 in the forward and backward direction includes a second shaft 9 that is provided in parallel with the motor shaft 7a, a driven gear 10 that is attached to the second shaft 9 so as not to be rotatable, a first inclined shaft part 9a that is provided at the front of the second shaft 9 and is provided with a predetermined angle relative to a shaft center of the driven gear 10, a second inclined shaft part 9b that has an opposite phase to the first inclined shaft part 9a and is provided with a predetermined angle relative to the shaft center of the driven gear 10, and a first reciprocating plate 18 and a second reciprocating plate 33 that are attached to the respective inclined shaft parts via bearings 17, 32.
As the driven gear 10 is engaged with the driving gear 8, the rotation of the electric motor 7 is decelerated with a predetermined reduction ratio and the second shaft 9 is rotated (deceleration unit). The rotation movement of the second shaft 9 is transferred as the rotation movement of the first inclined shaft part 9a and rotates the first reciprocating plate 18, which is held at the inclined shaft part by two bearings 17, and a sub shaft 11, which is provided to be concentric with the shaft center of the driven gear 10. A leading end of an oscillating shaft part 18a of the first reciprocating plate 18 is formed with a spherical part 18b. The spherical part 18b is positioned in an opening 120b of the plunger 120 and is rollably engaged in the opening with a slight gap. As the second shaft 9 is rotated, the first reciprocating plate 18 is moved forward and backward. Therefore, the plunger 120 is reciprocated forward and backward by the spherical part 18b that is positioned at an upper end of the first reciprocating plate 18 and in the opening 120b of the plunger 120. The plunger 120 is arranged inside a guide sleeve 113 attached to the gear cover 6 and is supported to an inside of a first bearing metal 19 attached to the guide sleeve 113 so that it can reciprocatingly slide in an axial direction. The first bearing metal 19 is a substantially cylindrical sliding bearing (or plain bearing) and an outer periphery thereof is fixed to the guide sleeve 113 and an inner periphery thereof slides with an outer peripheral surface of the plunger 120.
In the meantime, the exterior of the plunger 120 is provided with a balance weight 31 that is engaged with a portion of the plunger 120 and reciprocates forward and backward in an opposite phase to the plunger 120. The balance weight 31 is moved in the axial direction (front-rear direction) by the second reciprocating plate 33. The second reciprocating plate 33 is held at the second inclined shaft part 9b having a predetermined angle relative to the shaft center of the driven gear 10 via the bearings 32. As the second shaft 9 is rotated, the second reciprocating plate 33 is moved forward and backward in the opposite phase to the first reciprocating plate 18, thereby reciprocating the balance weight 31. The reciprocating movement of the balance weight 31 is configured to have an opposite phase to the plunger 120 enabling an inversion movement (movement having a phase difference of 180°).
In the saber saw 101, the plunger 120 slides inside the first bearing metal 19 and the guide sleeve 113. However, a large diameter part 120c of the plunger 120 and a fitting part of the guide sleeve 113 are not in a complete non-contact state and may partially contact upon the sliding. Thus, wearing and heat generation inevitably occurs, which becomes an obstacle in prolonging a lifespan of the saber saw. Also, in order to prolong the lifespan and to improve the rigidity of the saber saw, it is considered to enlarge the first bearing metal 19 (to lengthen the first bearing metal 19 in the axial direction). However, in this case, it is necessary to increase an axial length (front-rear length) of the guide sleeve 113 so as to be able to accommodate the enlarged first bearing metal 19. As a result, the saber saw 1 body is enlarged.


Techniques for defining object classes at run time which are indistinguishable from object classes compiled at compile time. The techniques are applied to widgets employed in X window systems. Further disclosed are new kinds of widgets. One of the new kinds is a widget which has monitor functions associated with specific resources. When the resource is accessed, the monitor function is executed. Another is a widget which has a callback tester function associated with a list of callback functions. The callback tester performs a test whenever any resource of the widget is modified, and if the test succeeds, the functions on the list of callback functions are invoked. Other kinds of widgets are adapted to representing servers and clients. In these widgets, resources represent interprocess communications and operations on the resources are related to the interprocess communication.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally concerns systems which are constructed using programs organized around objects and more particularly concerns objects whose classes are defined at compile time. In an embodiment of the invention, the objects are widgets of the type employed in the X Window graphical user interface system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Two approaches have generally been used in the prior art to create systems for executing applications. The first approach has been to write a single program for the entire application; for example, a payroll application might be written as a single COBOL program.
The second approach has been to use a set of cooperating processes to create the application. In this context, a process is an instance of a program in execution. For example, the payroll application might employ a first program executing in one process to collect the data, a second program executing in another process to sort the data, a third program executing in a third process to update the payroll records, a fourth program executing in a fourth process to print the payroll records, and so on. Communication between the cooperating processes is by means of inter-process communications. The second approach has several important advantages over the first. To begin with, the programs executed in the processes are often standard utility programs, instead of custom-made programs, and it is generally faster and cheaper to combine such standard utility programs than it is to write new code. Further, the second approach is better adapted to systems having more than one processing unit: each of the processes can can run on a different processing unit, and if the application is of the right kind, the programs can be executing in the processes in parallel. Finally, since the processes communicate by means of inter-process communications, the applications are easily adapted to distributed systems, i.e., multi-processor systems in which the processors are in different locations.
A problem for the technique of creating an application as a set of cooperating processes has been the increased use of objects to organize programs. An object is an entity operated on by a program. Whenever the program operates on the object, it must do so using a set of operations defined for the object. The chief advantage of using objects to organize programs is that an object can be dealt with as a logical entity in the program, without regard to the manner in which the logical entity is actually implemented. For example, as a logical entity, a queue has four operations: creating the queue, destroying the queue, adding a value to the tail of the queue, and taking a value from the head of the queue. If a program only uses those operations on the data structure representing the queue, then the data structure may be changed without affecting other parts of the program.
In many object-based programming systems, objects have classes. An object's class is the set of operations defined for the object. For instance, an object upon which the operations of creation, destruction, adding a value to the tail, and taking a value from the head can be performed is an object of class queue. Classes may stand in hierarchical relations with other classes. For example, a program may require a queue upon which not only the four operations listed above can be performed, but also an additional operation: finding the number of items presently in the queue. The addition of the new operation results in a new class of queue objects. Since the new class has all of the operations of the original queue class, the new class is a subclass of the original queue class and the original queue class is a superclass of the new queue class.
The hierarchy may be many levels deep. Each class in the hierarchy is a subclass of all of the classes between it and the first class in the hierarchy and a superclass of all classes below it in the hierarchy. Further, a subclass inherits all of the operations defined for all of its superclasses, i.e., an operation defined for any of the superclasses can be performed on objects of the subclass. Inheritance greatly increases the efficiency of programming with objects, since all that is required to define a new object class is a definition of the new operations; all of the inherited operations are defined in the superclasses.
There are two reasons why object-oriented programming conflicts with the technique of creating an application as a set of cooperating programs. The first reason is that an object's class is defined at compile time, that is, at the time that the source code for the program is translated into object code which can be executed by an actual computer system. The technique of creating an application as a set of cooperating processes, on the other hand, often requires that the cooperating processes must be able to create objects whose class is defined at run time, that is, when the application is actually executed by the computer system.
The second reason is the difficulty of communicating with processes in programs written using the X Window graphical user interface system. The X Window system uses objects called widgets. Unfortunately, the class hierarchy for widgets does not include operations which permit easy communication with processes, and consequently, the X Window graphical user interface system cannot be used with applications implemented as cooperating procedures.
It is an object of the invention disclosed herein to solve these and other problems of object-based programming systems generally and of the X Window system in particular.

Objects with run-time classes and methods of making them


An automated form filler and script executor is integrated with a web browser engine, which is communicatively coupled to a web crawler, thereby enabling the crawler to identify dynamic web content based on submission of forms completed by the form filler. The crawler is capable of identifying web pages containing forms that require submission, and JavaScript code that requires execution, respectively, for requesting dynamic web content from a server. The form filler systematically completes the form based on various combinations of search parameter values provided by the web page for requesting dynamic content. Duplicate forms are detected, so that the crawler does not unnecessarily re-process forms that are similar to forms that have already been processed. The crawler may also determine which JavaScript links in a page are relevant for execution, so as to avoid unnecessary execution of irrelevant JavaScript links.

World Wide Web—General
The Internet is a worldwide system of computer networks and is a public, self-sustaining facility that is accessible to tens of millions of people worldwide. The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web, often abbreviated "WWW" or simply referred to as just "the web". The web is an Internet service that organizes information through the use of hypermedia. The HyperText Markup Language ("HTML") is typically used to specify the contents and format of a hypermedia document (e.g., a web page).
In this context, an HTML file is a file that contains the source code for a particular web page. A web page is the image or collection of images that is displayed to a user when a particular HTML file is rendered by a browser application program. Unless specifically stated, an electronic or web document may refer to either the source code for a particular web page or the web page itself. Each page can contain embedded references to images, audio, video or other web documents. The most common type of reference used to identify and locate resources on the Internet is the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL. In the context of the web, a user, using a web browser, browses for information by following references that are embedded in each of the documents. The HyperText Transfer Protocol ("HTTP") is the protocol used to access a web document and the references that are based on HTTP are referred to as hyperlinks (formerly, "hypertext links").
Static web content generally refers to web content that is fixed and not capable of action or change. A web site that is static can only supply information that is written into the HTML source code and this information will not change unless the change is written into the source code. When a web browser requests the specific static web page, a server returns the page to the browser and the user only gets whatever information is contained in the HTML code. In contrast, a dynamic web page contains dynamically-generated content that is returned by a server based on a user's request, such as information that is stored in a database associated with the server. The user can request that information be retrieved from a database based on user input parameters.
The most common mechanisms for providing input for a dynamic web page in order to retrieve dynamic web content are HTML forms and Java Script links. HTML forms are described in Section 17 (entitled "Forms") of the W3C Recommendation entitled "HTML 4.01 Specification", available from the W3C® organization; the content of which is incorporated by this reference in its entirety for all purposes as if fully disclosed herein.
Search Engines
Through the use of the web, individuals have access to millions of pages of information. However a significant drawback with using the web is that because there is so little organization to the web, at times it can be extremely difficult for users to locate the particular pages that contain the information that is of interest to them. To address this problem, a mechanism known as a "search engine" has been developed to index a large number of web pages and to provide an interface that can be used to search the indexed information by entering certain words or phases to be queried. These search terms are often referred to as "keywords".
Indexes used by search engines are conceptually similar to the normal indexes that are typically found at the end of a book, in that both kinds of indexes comprise an ordered list of information accompanied with the location of the information. An "index word set" of a document is the set of words that are mapped to the document, in an index. For example, an index word set of a web page is the set of words that are mapped to the web page, in an index. For documents that are not indexed, the index word set is empty.
Although there are many popular Internet search engines, they are generally constructed using the same three common parts. First, each search engine has at least one, but typically more, "web crawler" (also referred to as "crawler", "spider", "robot") that "crawls" across the Internet in a methodical and automated manner to locate web documents around the world. Upon locating a document, the crawler stores the document's URL, and follows any hyperlinks associated with the document to locate other web documents. Second, each search engine contains an indexing mechanism that indexes certain information about the documents that were located by the crawler. In general, index information is generated based on the contents of the HTML file associated with the document. The indexing mechanism stores the index information in large databases that can typically hold an enormous amount of information. Third, each search engine provides a search tool that allows users, through a user interface, to search the databases in order to locate specific documents, and their location on the web (e.g., a URL), that contain information that is of interest to them.
The search engine interface allows users to specify their search criteria (e.g., keywords) and, after performing a search, an interface for displaying the search results. Typically, the search engine orders the search results prior to presenting the search results interface to the user. The order usually takes the form of a "ranking", where the document with the highest ranking is the document considered most likely to satisfy the interest reflected in the search criteria specified by the user. Once the matching documents have been determined, and the display order of those documents has been determined, the search engine sends to the user that issued the search a "search results page" that presents information about the matching documents in the selected display order.
Web Crawlers
There are many web crawlers that crawl and store content from the web. The web is becoming more dynamic by the day, and a larger share of the content is only accessible from behind Flash (a vector-graphic animation technology), HTML forms, JavaScript links, etc. There is no readily available technique for a crawler to get past HTML forms, which are meant primarily for real users, and JavaScript content, which are written with browsers in mind, in order to access the dynamic web content behind the HTML forms and Java Scripts. Consequently, a basic crawler gets only the static content of the web, but fails to crawl dynamic content, also referred to as the "deep web" and the "invisible web".
For domain-specific crawlers (also referred to as "vertical crawlers") to access dynamic content, the crawlers typically must have some mechanism to fill out forms and follow JavaScript links. For instance, in the jobs domain, most job postings are requested by submitting HTML forms. Possible approaches to identifying and submitting forms, for vertically crawling a given web site, include manual approaches, in which a human supplies the information for the crawler to use to fill in the forms used by the web site. The human examines each web site that requires form-filling, and provides information in a script or configuration file, instructing the crawler how to fill each form on the site. Manual approaches are labor intensive and not easily scalable.
Some shortcomings associated with the manual approaches are as follows.
(1) Scripts and configuration files are site specific. It would be a complex and expensive manual process to write these configurations for all the domain-specific sites on the web.
(2) Configuration files have to be rewritten if the site structure changes. That is, if the HTML form is changed or the web site itself has changed, these configuration files must be manually rewritten.
(3) JavaScript-based forms or links are extremely difficult to manually identify. For some web sites, execution of Java Script functions is necessary to submit forms or to generate the link to the next page. These JavaScript functions could involve a considerable amount of code, which makes it difficult to manually identify and interpret the code for the form submission logic.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for improved techniques for crawling dynamic web content.
Any approaches that may be described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Techniques for crawling dynamic web content