A communication device comprising an input device for inputting text character-by-character from a sequence of characters, a memory device for storing a plurality of reference character sequences of characters and a prediction device for comparing individual ones of the input characters with the reference character sequences and for proposing at least one of the reference character sequences after the inputting of individual input characters of the sequence of characters to be input in the case of a corresponding comparison result. The prediction device compares the input characters with not-immediately-adjacent characters of the reference character sequences. The input device may further a number of syllables or vowels between two input characters of the sequence of characters to be input and the prediction device compares the number of input syllables or vowels with corresponding numbers of syllables or vowels of the reference character sequences.

Current communication devices, particularly mobile radio devices, have an input device for inputting text character by character into the communication device, the text consisting of a sequence of characters. The communication devices usually have a memory device for storing a plurality of reference character sequences, the reference character sequences of characters comprising various words, in the manner of a dictionary, which are input relatively frequently. The communication device is capable of comparing individual ones of the characters input in succession with the reference character sequences of characters by means of a prediction device. As soon as the prediction device determines one or more of the reference character sequences with matching sequence of beginning characters to the input characters during the comparison, the prediction device proposes the corresponding reference character sequences so that the user of the communication device, in the case of a relevant proposal, no longer needs to input all of the further individual characters of the sequence of characters to be input but, instead, can select the corresponding proposal. After the complete text of usually a number of words has been input, the text is transmitted via a conventional interface of the communication device and, as a rule, via intermediate network facilities to a remote communication device of a third party and is there displayed after reception.
In a mobile radio device, the numerical keypad is normally used as input device, a number of letters and possibly special characters being allocated to each number. Modern mobile radio devices have as an alternative or additional input device a sensitive, mostly touch-sensitive, interactive display device. The display device is used, for example, for displaying a virtual keypad with letters as in the case of a computer keyboard. Individual ones of the letters displayed can be selected with the aid of a pen whereupon the letters selected are temporarily stored as current text input as input characters in a memory device of the mobile radio device. Furthermore, interactive input devices are known which have a surface on which it is possible to write with a pen. The written letters are converted into the letter code of the communication device with the aid of a method for character recognition and temporarily stored as the input characters of the text.
Such a text input via a keypad or with a pen on an interactive input and/or display device on mobile radio devices is slow and fatiguing because, for example, words used more frequently have to be input time and again in detail via character recognition or virtual keypads. Fatigue and impatience of the user occur especially with repeated inputting of text. For example, short messages according to SMS (Short Message Service) with questions "where are you?" or "when will we meet?" are frequently input. Apart from the need to be able to recognize individual words in a simple and efficient manner with the aid of a prediction device, such complex sentence structures must be input completely word for word, the prediction methods of the prediction device frequently requiring a multiplicity of characters to be input before an individual one of the words is proposed correctly. In such prediction methods, the cognitive load on the user during the selection from a list of proposals is also relatively high and tends to distract from the actual writing of words. In addition, the fewer the letters of the word that have been input, the higher the number of proposals with variants of reference character sequences with identical first input characters. It has been found that many users prefer to enter individual letters before having to continuously change to and fro between the input of the individual characters and the selection of a prediction.
Apart from the possibility of entering text via such an input device where text is input successively character by character, search machines are known from the field of computer databases, in which the search terms can be input by using dummy characters. For example, the character sequence "*br*n*" can be input with "*" as dummy character in order to have all words displayed which first contain the character sequence "br" at any position within the character sequence and then contain the character "n" at any subsequent position.

Communication device and method for inputting and predicting text


A wide-angle photographic lens system enabling correction of distortion composed of four lenses, in which a first lens, an iris, a second lens, a third lens and a fourth lens sequentially arranged along an optical axis from an object, wherein the first lens has weak refractivity, the second lens has positive refractivity, the third lens has strong positive refractivity, and the fourth lens has negative refractivity, wherein the lens system satisfies relations, |f1/f|>4, f3/f<1.5, and te/tc<0.5, wherein f1 is a focal length of the first lens, f is a total focal length of all the lenses, f3 is a focal length of the third lens, to is a lens thickness on an effective diameter of a rear surface of the third lens, and tc is a center thickness of the third lens.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a wide-angle photographic lens system composed of four lenses and, more particularly, to a wide-angle photographic lens system enabling correction of distortion, in which refractivities and shapes of respective lenses, incidence angles of a main beam of light in the lenses, and intervals between the lenses, etc. are appropriately designed, so the lens system can realize lightness and smallness and can enable correction of distortion, thereby having a distortion-corrected angle of view of 90° or more and providing an image with high resolution.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the use of mobile phone cameras and digital cameras has increased and services provided by mobile phone cameras and digital cameras are required to be diversified, for example functions such as photographing, picture transmission or communication are strongly required.
Particularly, photographic lens units of mobile phone cameras are required to provide improved and diverse functions. To this end, a new concept mobile phone, which is formed by combining a digital camera technique with a mobile phone technique and is a so-called "camera phone" (or camera mobile phone), has been proposed and spotlighted. To realize the requirements of high efficiency of the camera phone, a camera module in which an image sensor having at least 3-megapixel size has been actively studied recently.
To realize the requirements of high definition and a highly efficient function at higher than at least a 3-megapixel size, at least three to four lenses are used in the camera module of the mobile phone camera.
Examples of conventional techniques proposed to realize the requirements of high definition and high efficiency are referred to in the following patent documents.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei 08-262322 discloses a wide-angle lens system, in which a first lens having negative refractivity, a second lens having positive refractivity, and third and fourth lenses made of synthetic resin and having positive refractivity are sequentially arranged along an optical axis from an object. Here, the total focal length and ABBE numbers of the lenses are designed to satisfy predetermined conditions.
Further, Korean Patent No. 0711024 discloses a laminated lens system having ultra small size and high resolution, which is composed of a first lens, a second lens, a third lens and a fourth lens, wherein the first lens has positive refractivity, the second lens has negative refractivity, the first and second lens are made of optical glass, the front surface of the first lens and the rear surface of the second lens are configured as spherical surfaces, and the rear surface of the first lens and the front surface of the second lens are configured to form flat surfaces that are joined to each other.
As described above, although a plurality of techniques relating to optical lens systems have been proposed in the related art, a conventional wide-angle lens system having an angle of view of 90° or more is problematic in that the lens system excessively distorts images, and is not easy to realize smallness, and it increases production cost due to use of many lenses, thereby increasing the price of the lens system.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

Wide-angle photographic lens system enabling correction of distortion


A low voltage regulator integrated circuit for high speed/high frequency circuits incorporates a field effect transistor switch with a heterojunction bipolar transistor in order to reduce voltage requirements of the circuit and allow lower power voltages to be regulated. A first field effect transistor connects an unregulated power input terminal to a regulated power output terminal with a bias circuit including the heterojunction bipolar transistor provided to maintain conductance of the field effect transistor in regulating a voltage on the output terminal. A second field effect transistor can be included in the circuit to provide a power down or power saving mode of operation. An input voltage range of the voltage regulator is reduced from 3-3.5 V to 2-2.3 V using the integrated field effect transistor/heterojunction bipolar transistor device structure.

This invention relates generally to integrated circuit voltage regulators for high speed and high frequency applications, and more particularly, the invention relates to such a regulator for low voltage circuits.
Many circuit applications are now operating in a voltage range from 5 V down to 3 V and below. A typical voltage regulator reduces the output variation to a much smaller range than the input voltage thus minimizing the total bias current variation against bias voltage.
For high speed and high frequency circuits, silicon bipolar transistors and heterojunction bipolar transistors are employed in the voltage regulators. Comparing these two transistor technologies, a Gallium Arsenide HBT has a V.sub.be of 1.4 V during operation versus 0.8 V for a silicon bipolar transistor. The high V.sub.be of the GaAs HBT increases the difficulty in designing a regulator at low voltages with a power down feature. This can best be illustrated by reference to the conventional voltage regulator illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, an input voltage, Vin is passed through a transistor Q1 to provide a regulated output voltage Vout. Resistors R2, R3 are serially connected between Vout and circuit ground with a common terminal being provided with a reference voltage, Vref, which controls the bias on bipolar transistor Q2. Transistor Q2 is connected between the base of transistor Q1 and circuit ground for providing a bias voltage to transistor Q1. A resistor R1 connects the collector of transistor Q2 to Vin.
In a typical application, the circuit of FIG. 1 has the following relationships:
______________________________________ Vref is about 1.4V Vout > Vref = 1.4V V1 = Vout + V.sub.beQA1 > 2.8V Vin = V1 + .DELTA.V .sup..about. 3V, with .DELTA.V .about. ______________________________________ 0.2V
From the foregoing analysis, it will be appreciated that the circuit has difficulty in functioning when Vin drops below 3 V. Even at 3 V, it is difficult to add a power down or power saving feature to the circuit of FIG. 1. The power down feature is illustrated in the voltage regulator of FIG. 2 which is identical to the voltage regulator of FIG. 1 with the addition of transistor Q3 serially connected between transistor Q1 and Vout with a power saving voltage, PS, applied through resistor R4 to the base of transistor Q3. When PS is below 1.3 V, the power saving transistor Q3 is turned off. As a result, there is no current flowing out of Vout and no current flows through transistors Q1 and Q2. However, when the voltage PS is set to Vout (regulated) plus V.sub.be of transistor Q3, transistor Q3 is in a saturation mode with a very low V.sub.ce, which can be less than 0.5 V. The emitter voltage of transistor Q1 is at a voltage greater than Vout+V.sub.ce(Q3), or approximately 1.9 V. Therefore, Vin must be greater than 3.5 V. This increase comes from the collector emitter voltage drop of transistor Q3.
Accordingly, the use of a low input voltage presents a challenge to bipolar technology in providing a voltage regulator. A GaAs HBT faces the challenge for Vout equal 3 to 3.5 V, and the silicon bipolar transistor faces the same challenge at about 2 V.

Low voltage regulator having power down switch


The present invention relates generally to a turbine engine (10) comprising a housing (12) in which a rotor (14) is rotatably mounted. The housing (12) of the turbine engine (10) is of a split casing construction including a center casing (24) sandwiched between a pair of outer casings, namely an inlet outer casing (26) and an outlet outer casing (28). The rotor 14 is shaped circular in profile and includes three working surfaces generally defined by a peripheral surface (32) and a pair of opposing sides surfaces (34) and (36), respectively. The peripheral surface (32) of the rotor (14) which acts as a fist stage of the turbine (10) includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced and generally axially directed ribs in the form of a series of arcuate flutes such as (38). The rotor (14) also includes a plurality of angularly spaced and radially extending rotor blades such as (40) which in transverse cross-section are aerofoil shaped with at least a portion of the concave or generally flat and convex surfaces of each of the blades (40) defining two further working surfaces of the rotor (14).

The present invention relates generally to a turbine engine and relates particularly, though not exclusively, to a rotor of a turbine engine which is driven by a working fluid.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a rotor of a turbine engine, said rotor being shaped substantially circular in profile and including three working surfaces generally defined by a peripheral and a pair of adjacent or opposing surfaces, respectively, of the rotor whereby in operation a working fluid introduced into the turbine engine acts consecutively on the peripheral and thereafter the pair of adjacent or opposing surfaces of the rotor in three respective stages of the turbine to effect rotation of the rotor.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a turbine engine comprising a housing within which a rotor is rotatably mounted, said rotor being shaped substantially circular in profile and including three working surfaces generally defined by a peripheral and a pair of adjacent or opposing surfaces, respectively, of the rotor whereby in operation a working fluid introduced into the housing of the engine acts consecutively on the peripheral and thereafter the pair of adjacent or opposing surfaces of the rotor in three respective stages of the turbine to effect rotation of the rotor.
Preferably the peripheral surface of the rotor includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced and generally axially directed ribs. More preferably the plurality of ribs are in the form of a series of arcuate flutes each being formed in the periphery of the rotor wherein the working fluid introduced tangentially onto the peripheral surface of the rotor is in a first stage of the turbine directed axially toward one of the pair of opposing side surfaces.
Typically the pair of adjacent surfaces of the rotor are generally defined by a plurality of angularly spaced and radially extending rotor blades. More typically the blades are shaped in cross-section and/or angularly oriented relative to an axis of the rotor whereby in operation the working fluid acts on adjacent and/or opposing surfaces of the rotor blades in a second and third stage of the turbine engine. Alternatively the pair of opposing surfaces of the rotor each include a series of angularly spaced and radially extending other ribs formed on respective opposing faces of the rotor. In this embodiment the other ribs are formed as other flutes in a swirl configuration in the pair of opposing faces of the rotor.
Preferably the housing is constructed as a split casing. More preferably the housing includes a centre casing sandwiched between a pair of outer casings. In this example the rotor is substantially enclosed circumferentially by the centre casing which includes one or more tangentially directed inlets for the working fluid.
Typically the pair of outer casings include an inlet outer casing and an outlet outer casing, respectively. More typically the inlet outer casing includes an annular groove being adapted to receive the working fluid from the first stage and redirect said fluid to the second stage. Even more typically, the outlet outer casing includes an annular recess being adapted to receive the working fluid from the second stage and redirect said fluid to the third stage. In this embodiment the annular recess includes a series of further flutes being angularly spaced and directed generally radially inward so as to promote a corresponding xe2x80x9cflowxe2x80x9d of the working fluid.
Preferably the housing further includes an exhaust casing mounted to the outlet outer casing and adapted to axially discharge the working fluid from the turbine engine. More preferably the exhaust casing includes an exhaust nozzle and internally is shaped in the general form of a conical frustum having its large diameter end disposed adjacent the rotor. In this example the exhaust nozzle includes a baffle plate which is designed to control the pressure of the working fluid at the third stage of the turbine.
Typically the turbine engine is adapted to operatively couple to an alternator for power generation. More typically the turbine engine is operatively coupled to a waste heat source which exchanges heat with the working fluid prior to its introduction into the turbine. Generally the working fluid is a working gas such as LPG or a refrigerant gas.


A pocket dictation machine (1), which is held in one hand in its dictation-recording mode and whose functions required in this mode can be started by a control member (23, 25), can also be operated in a second mode for the transcription of dictations, in which the functions required for this second mode can be started by remote control by a suitable control device (29) instead of by the control member.

The invention relates to a pocket dictation machine which is held in one hand during operation in its mode for recording dictations and which is constructed to store and reproduce the speech signals corresponding to the dictations and appearing in a time sequence, which machine comprises a housing and a holder compartment, which is enclosed by the housing and is adapted to receive a storage medium for storing the speech signals in correlation with their time sequence, and is constructed to carry out a forward function and a reverse function, in which forward function the speech signals can be stored in the storage medium in correlation with their time sequence starting from a storage starting position, or speech signals previously stored in the storage medium in correlation with their time sequence can be read from the storage medium in correlation with their original time sequence, and in which reverse function it is possible to return to the storage starting position after storage or read-out in correlation with the original time sequence has been effected in a direction away from said storage starting position, which machine comprises at least one control member which can be switched by hand between at least two active positions, including one forward-active position and one reverse-active position, in which machine in its dictation-recording mode the forward function can be started by setting the relevant control member by hand to its forward-active position and the reverse function can be started by setting the relevant control member by hand to its reverse-active position.
Pocket dictation machines of the type defined in the opening paragraph have been known for a long time in a wide variety. For example, such a pocket dictation machine for magnetic tapes accommodated in cassettes and used for storing the speech signals corresponding to the dictations has been put on the market by the assignee under the type number LFH 0195. The oldest dictation machine of this type was already put on the market by the assignee in the year 1967.
These known pocket dictation machines are constructed only for recording dictations and the appropriate functions during which the successive speech signals are recorded and reproduced can be switched on by means of control members provided on these pocket dictation machines. The control members are constructed to be actuated while the pocket dictation machine is held in the hand. Therefore, such pocket dictation machines are neither intended nor suited for the transcription of dictations, i.e. for the production of type-written documents to take down the contents of the dictation, because the hands and fingers are then needed to operate a typewriter keyboard or a corresponding alphanumeric keyboard in order to transcribe the dictations and cannot be used for switching on the functions of a pocket dictation machine by hand. Therefore, the transcription of dictations recorded by means of a such pocket dictation machines, i.e. typing out of the dictation, is always effected by means of a separate machine, i.e. a transcription machine into which the storage medium storing the speech signals corresponding to the recorded dictations is loaded after its removal from such a known pocket dictation machine. Thus, for transcribing dictations recorded with such a known pocket dictation machine the storage medium should first be removed from the pocket dictation machine and, secondly, a separate transcription machine is needed into which this storage medium is inserted in order to transcribe the dictations.
Such transcription machines for magnetic tapes accommodated in cassettes for the storage of the speech signals corresponding to the dictations have also been known for a long time. Such a transcription machine, for example, has been put on the market by the assignee under the type number LFH 0304. Such transcription machines are so-called desk-top machines whose functions during transcription, which is functionally different from the operation during dictation recording, are switched on by remote control with the aid of a foot switch. With such transcription machines it is not possible to record dictations.

Pocket dictation machine having a remote control device


A method for controlling an interventional magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) system configured to control a heating mode of an iMRI guidewire, the method comprising: controlling, during an iMRI procedure, a magnitude of an induced current in a single-layer MRI radio frequency (RF) coil used in the iMRI procedure, or a phase of the induced current by adjusting at least one of: a difference between a working frequency of a whole body coil (WBC) used in the iMRI procedure and a resonant frequency of the single layer MRI RF coil, a coil loss resistance of the single layer MRI RF coil, or a blocking impedance of an LC circuit connected in parallel with the single-layer MRI RF coil; and controlling a heating mode of the guidewire based, at least in part on the magnitude or phase.

Conventional approaches to interventional magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) may result in unwanted radio frequency (RF) heating of endovascular (i.e., intravascular) guidewires or other metal devices used during an iMRI procedure. In a conventional iMRI procedure, a guidewire tip can reach a temperature of up to 74° C. after only thirty seconds of scanning. This level of heating is not safe for patients, limits the amount of imaging data that may be acquired, and thus minimizes the utility of endovascular guidewires used in iMRI. A typical iMRI procedure employs a whole body coil (WBC) as part of an MRI system. A WBC coil is a powerful RF transmitter that may generate more than 25 uT at 1.5 T and consume many KW of power. The guidewire may resonate with the WBC of the MRI system, causing excessive heating of the guidewire.
Conventional approaches to minimizing guidewire heating during iMRI procedures may use different types of guidewire. One approach uses a non-conductive core and non-magnetic wire. A second approach uses a transformer style guidewire in which a longer metal wire is broken into many small sections of metal wire. A third approach uses several layers of conductors and dielectric material. An issue that reduces the effectiveness of all three conventional approaches to mitigating unwanted RF heating is that a new kind of guidewire needs to be developed for each of the three different approaches, which renders the current metal wires available in the market unusable, thereby increasing costs.
Another approach to mitigating unwanted RF heating of guidewires during iMRI is to use parallel transmitting (pTx) coils as transmitting coils. A pTx approach includes many transmit (Tx) modes supported by pTx coils. By controlling the magnitude and phase of each transmit coil, the pTx coils can generate modes that induce little heat on a guidewire tip. A mode in this approach is defined as one combination of all transmitting coils in which each coil has its own unique magnitude and phase. In a pTx approach, a mode having lower induced heat compared to a conventional WBC approach may be defined as a low heat mode. There may be many low heat modes for pTx coils. The low heat modes are not as effective as a conventional WBC Tx field regarding Tx field uniformity but can still generate acceptable MRI images for iMRI applications. Examples of a parallel transmitting approach include M. Etezadi-Amoli et al, "Controlling induced currents in guidewires using parallel transmit", Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 18 (2010), M. Etezadi-Amoli et al, "Transmit array concepts for improved MRI safety in the presence of long conductors", Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 17 (2009), and Natalia Gudino et al, "Parallel transmit excitation at 1.5 T based on the minimization of a driving function for device heating", Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 21 (2013). However, a drawback of the parallel transmitting approach is that it requires a dedicated pTx MRI system. Dedicated pTx MRI systems at 1.5 T and 3 T are not in wide use, and are extremely expensive. Furthermore, institutions may not wish to have duplicative MRI and pTx iMRI systems. This limits the usefulness of conventional pTx approaches for mitigating unwanted RF guidewire heating.
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, including an iMRI system, may include two kinds of MRI RF coils. The first kind of MRI RF coil is a transmit (Tx) coil. A Tx coil, while operating in Tx mode, transmits high power RF energy into the anatomy of the subject being imaged to excite nuclei spins in the tissue being imaged. The second kind of MRI RF coil is a receive (Rx) coil. An Rx coil, while operating in Rx mode, detects weak signals from nuclei spins of the anatomy being imaged. A conventional MRI system uses a built-in whole body coil (WBC) as a Tx coil. In a conventional MRI system, due to the geometric size of the WBC, the WBC applies RF energy to a much larger region of tissue than is required to image a given region of interest. For example, when a head scan is performed and a WBC is used, not only the head, but also the shoulders and chest also receive a high level of RF energy. This creates a high level specific absorption rate (SAR) issue which limits the clinical utility of MRI systems that use a conventional WBC/Rx coil approach. As a result, a local Tx coil is frequently used to mitigate the SAR problem.
A local Tx coil is designed to apply RF energy into only the anatomy being imaged. There are two conventional approaches to transmitting energy from a power source to a local Tx coil. A first conventional approach is to use a direct connection between the power source to the Tx coil using wires. A direct connection using wires is energy efficient because the energy loss in the connection wires is trivial. A disadvantage of direct connection using wires is that dedicated wiring is required, which increases the cost and complexity of the coil.
A second conventional approach to transmitting energy from a power source to a local Tx coil is to use inductive coupling. For the inductive coupling approach, a primary coil is directly connected to a power source. The primary coil may be a WBC or another large coil. The primary coil is a resonant LC circuit. A smaller second coil (i.e., a local coil) is also used. The second coil is another resonant circuit and is inductively coupled to the primary coil. Thus, energy can be transferred from the primary coil to the second coil. The second coil can be used to excite nearby anatomy more efficiently than the WBC because the second coil is smaller and closer to the nearby anatomy than the WBC. Compared to the first approach using a direct connection with wires, the inductive coupling approach may be less efficient than direct wiring but is still more efficient than a conventional WBC. One benefit of the inductive coupling approach is that no special wiring is required. However, conventional inductive coupling approaches require the use of multiple coils. For example, a conventional inductively coupled knee coil uses two layers of RF coils. The first (inner) layer includes a plurality of Rx coil elements which detect signals from the anatomy while operating in Rx mode, and which are decoupled from the transmitting field while operating in Tx mode. The second (outer) layer is typically a standard birdcage coil that inductively couples to a WBC to create a local amplified transmitting field in Tx mode and which is disabled in Rx mode. However, this conventional inductively coupled dual layer coil has drawbacks. For example, all the individual Rx coil elements in a conventional dual layer coil need associated circuits for decoupling the Rx coil and the local Tx coil while operating in Tx mode. Conventional inductively coupled dual layer coils also require circuits for switching off the Tx coil while operating in Rx mode, which requires complex and expensive control circuitry. This leads to complex and expensive coils. These multiple decoupling circuits and complex control circuits can also decrease the signal to noise ratio (SNR), thereby reducing image quality. Furthermore, the outer layer, by its proximity to the inner layer, will create additional noise when the inner layer is operating in Rx mode. Thus, conventional approaches to mitigating unwanted RF heating of guidewires in iMRI procedures, and the coils used therein, are suboptimal.

Minimizing intravascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidewire heating with single layer MRI transmit/receive radio frequency coil


A method for moving an executing process from a source isolation scope to a target isolation scope includes the step of determining that the process is in a state suitable for moving. The association of the process changes from a source isolation scope to a target isolation scope. A rule loads in association with the target isolation scope.

Computer software application programs, during execution and installation, make use of a variety of native resources provided by the operating system of a computer. A traditional, single-user computer is depicted in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1A, native resources provided by the operating system 100 may include a file system 102, a registry database 104, and objects 106. The file system 102 provides a mechanism for an application program to open, create, read, copy, modify, and delete data files 150, 152. The data files 150, 152 may be grouped together in a logical hierarchy of directories 160, 162. The registry database 104 stores information regarding hardware physically attached to the computer, which system options have been selected, how computer memory is set up, various items of application-specific data, and what application programs should be present when the operating system 100 is started. As shown in FIG. 1A, the registry database 104 is commonly organized in a logical hierarchy of "keys" 170, 172 which are containers for registry values. The operating system 100 may also provide a number of communication and synchronization objects 106, including semaphores, sections, mutexes, timers, mutants, and pipes. Together, the file system 102, registry database 104, objects 106, and any other native resources made available by the operating system 100 will be referred to throughout this document as the "system layer" 108. The resources provided by the system layer 108 are available to any application or system program 112, 114.
A problem arises, however, when execution or installation of two incompatible application programs 112, 114 is attempted. As shown in FIG. 1A, two application programs, APP1 112 and APP2 114, execute "on top of" the operating system 100, that is, the application programs make use of functions provided by the operating system to access native resources. The application programs are said to be incompatible with one another when they make use of native resources 102, 104, 106 in a mutually exclusive manner either during execution or during the installation process. APP1 112 may require, or attempt to install, a file located by the pathname c:\windows\system32\msvcrt.dll and APP2 114 may require, or attempt to install, a second, different file that is located by the same pathname. In this case, APP1 112 and APP2 114 cannot be executed on the same computer and are said to be incompatible with one another. A similar problem may be encountered for other native resources. This is, at best, inconvenient for a user of the computer who requires installation or execution of both APP1 112 and APP2 114 together in the same operating system 100 environment.
FIG. 1B depicts a multi-user computer system supporting concurrent execution of application programs 112, 114, 112′, 114′ on behalf of several users. As shown in FIG. 1B, a first instance of APP1 112 and a first instance of APP2 114 are executed in the context of a first user session 110, a second instance of APP1 112′ is executed in the context of a second user session 120, and a second instance of APP2 114′ is executed in the context of a third user session 130. In this environment, a problem arises if both instances of APP1 112, 112′ and both instances of APP2 114, 114′ make use of native resources 102, 104, 106 as if only a single user executes the application. For example, the APP1 112 may store application specific data in a registry key 170. When the first instance of APP1 112 executing in the first user context 110 and the second instance of APP1 112′ executing in the second user context 120 both attempt to store configuration data to the same registry key 170, incorrect configuration data will be stored for one of the users. A similar problem can occur for other native resources.
The present invention addresses these application program compatibility and sociability problems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for moving processes between isolation environments


A semiconductor device is composed of a semiconductor chip, aluminum pads formed on the semiconductor chip, alloy ball bumps, which are formed on the aluminum pads, containing gold and Pd, and gold wires, which are connected to the alloy ball bumps, having a surface made of gold. The alloy ball bumps may be composition containing gold not less than 98 mass % to not more than 99.5 mass % and palladium not less than 0.5 mass % to not more than 2 mass %. The semiconductor device having above configuration is excellent in long-term reliability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a development of method for connecting semiconductor element by various wire bonding methods is energetically performed, with the object of realization of high reliability of semiconductor elements. As this kind of technique, there is one, which is described in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-237263. FIG. 4 shows a semiconductor device described in the literature.
The semiconductor device (a high frequency circuit device 200) is composed of a high frequency semiconductor substrate 204 and a high frequency circuit substrate 206 on a base plate 201. A high frequency transmission line 205 is provided on the high frequency circuit substrate 206.
On the other hand, a bonding pad 208 is formed on the high frequency semiconductor substrate 204. Metal bumps 211 are formed on the bonding pad 208. A bonding wire 207 lengthened from a starting point of wire bonding 209 is connected to the metal bumps 211.
On this technique, in order to be obtained sufficient maintenance of reliability in a connecting portion, the metal bumps 211 of gold or copper are formed previously on the bonding pads 208, to which wire bonding is carried out.
Further, as this kind of technique, there is one, which is described in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-15677. FIG. 5 shows a semiconductor device described in the literature.
This semiconductor device 300 is composed of a lower side semiconductor chip 303 and an upper side semiconductor chip 306 on an interconnect substrate 301. The lower side semiconductor chip 303 is provided in face down to be connected to the interconnect substrate 301 through gold ball bumps 304a, 304b. The semiconductor chip 306 is provided on the lower side semiconductor chip 303 through an adhesive 307 so that a main face of the semiconductor chip 306 faces upward. A side face and an underside of the semiconductor chip 303 are covered with a adhesive resin layer 309, thus the semiconductor chip 303 is fixed on the interconnect substrate 301 with the adhesive resin layer 309.
Electrode pads 310a, 310b, made of aluminum or the like are formed, on a top surface of the upper side semiconductor chip 306. Connection pads 302a, 302b made of aluminum or the like are also formed, on a top surface of the interconnect substrate 301. The electrode pads 310a, 310b are respectively connected to the connection pads 302a, 302b with bonding wires 308a, 308b.
In this technique, the above described structure is adopted, with the object to mount a plurality of semiconductor elements with high density. Further, the wire bonding is directly performed on the electrode pads 310a, 310b, and the connection pads 302a, 302b made of aluminum or the like.
Further, as this kind of technique, there is one, which is described in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1999-97476. FIG. 6 shows a semiconductor device described in the literature.
The semiconductor device 400 is provided with a lead wire 405 within an insulating film 410. A semiconductor chip 401 is formed on the insulating film 410 and the lead wire 405 through an adhesive tape 406. An electrode pad 402 is formed on the semiconductor chip 401. A gold ball bump 414 on the electrode pad 402 is formed.
A bonding wire 404 lengthened from a wire bonding starting point 415 on the lead wire 405 is connected to the gold ball bump 414. All of the adhesive tape 406, the semiconductor chip 401, the electrode pad 402, the gold ball bump 414, the bonding wire 404 and the wire bonding starting point 415 are sealed with a resin sealing body 407. A solder ball 408 is formed at the reverse side of the insulating film 410.
In this technique, with the object to miniaturize the semiconductor device, after forming the gold ball bump 414 on the electrode pad 402, a reverse wire bonding is preformed from the wire bonding starting point 415 to the gold ball bump 404, while lengthening the bonding wire 404 with an angle near to perpendicularity.

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same


An information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a first transmission means that transmits to a Web server first request data describing contents of a user's instruction via an operation screen displayed with a Web browser, an execution means that receives from the Web server response data to the first request data from the first transmission means and executes image processing based on the received response data, and a second transmission means that transmits second request data to the Web server based on the response data received from the Web server. The response data received from the Web server includes plural addresses to be accessed according to events that can occur when the execution means executes the image processing. The second transmission means transmits the second request data to one of the addresses corresponding to an event having occurred when the execution means has executed the image processing.

Some information processing apparatuses (for example, PCs) connected to a Web server on a network are provided with a Web browser that displays operation screens provided from the Web server. When the Web browser issues a request to the Web server for an operation screen, a Web application provided to the Web server makes a response to the information processing apparatus, that is, it transmits hyper text markup language (HTML) file data for displaying the operation screen with the Web browser in accordance with the request from the apparatus. Upon receiving the response from the Web server, the Web browser analyzes the HTML file data, and generates the operation screen based on the description in the HTML file. Moreover, after the user inputs instruction data via the operation screen displayed with the Web browser, the Web browser notifies the provided instruction to the Web server. Then the Web application in the Web server having received the notification executes processing according to the provided instruction.
In recent years, some multi function peripherals (MFPs) each having a scanner and a printer are provided with the above Web browser. Such MFPs receive operation screen data from a Web server, display the operation screen with the Web browser in themselves by using the foregoing procedure, and then accept various instructions from a user.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-127503 (Literature 1), a Web server provides operation screens on which instruction data is inputted to use various functions provided to a MFP. That is, the user of the MFP inputs data describing an instruction to the MFP via an operation screen displayed with the Web browser. Then the received instruction is notified to the Web server according to the Web browser in the MFP. The Web server having received the notification requests the MFP to execute various kinds of processing according to contents of the instruction data inputted by the user. Thereafter, the MFP having received the request executes the requested processing. Thus there is no need for the MFP to hold all operation screens (menu data and so on) to be displayed on the display panel of the MFP, and the operation screens can be changed easily with the Web server.
Furthermore, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-135644 (Literature 2), as in the case of Literature 1, a Web server provides operation screens on which instruction data is input to use various functions provided to a MFP. Likewise, the user of the MFP inputs data describing an instruction to the MFP. Then the provided instruction is notified to the Web server as a request by using the Web browser in the MFP. The Web server having received the notification creates a script in which various kinds of processing to be executed by the MFP are described based on the provided instruction. The created script is sent from the Web server to the MFP as a response to the request from the Web server.
In general, where a Web application provided to a Web server executes processing based on instruction data input via an operation screen displayed with a Web browser, another screen is displayed with the Web browser in accordance with the completion of the processing at the Web application. That is, upon completing processing at the Web application, the Web server generates HTML data describing an operation screen for notifying the processing completion or an operation screen for making the user perform the next operation. Then the generated HTML data is transmitted to the Web browser as a response to the request from the Web browser.
On the other hand, in some Web browsers provided to information processing apparatus such as PCs and MFPs, a time limit (timeout period) is set from the sending of a request to a Web server to the reception of a response from the Web server. When no response is made from the Web server within the timeout period, the Web browser executes timeout processing. Timeout processing refers to processing for invalidating an issued request. By invalidating the issued request, another request can be issued instead of waiting a response to the request, for example.
In Literature 1, however, in the case where the Web browser in the MFP sends a request to the Web server and then the Web server requests the MFP to execute processing based on the request, the following problems can be considered. That is, in Literature 1, the result of the processing executed by the MFP is notified to the Web server temporarily. Then the Web server having received the notification transmits HTML data describing the processing result to the Web browser as a response to the request having been sent initially from the Web browser. At that time, there is a possibility that it takes time for the MFP to execute the processing in accordance with the request from the Web server. In that case, a long period of time is required from the reception of the request from the Web browser at the Web server to the reception of the response at the Web browser, and thus the foregoing timeout processing is executed at the Web browser. As a result, it becomes impossible for the Web browser to receive the response from the Web server normally, and therefore the result of the processing executed by the MFP cannot be notified to the user.
On the other hand, in Literature 2, the Web browser in the MFP receives a request for processing execution from the Web server as a response to the request from the Web browser. In that case, no timeout occurs at the Web browser. In Literature 2, however, after the Web server has passed script data to the MFP as a response, another display cannot be produced with the Web browser on the instruction of the Web server. Because of this, during the execution of the script and after the execution, it is difficult to dynamically change display of processing at the MFP from the Web application.

Information processing apparatus, web server, control method and storage medium


A synchronized video monitoring system may include a plurality of separate sensor modules that each include a lens assembly, an image sensor, and a sensor controller. Each sensor module may be connected to a data bus. A collection module that includes a digital image compressor engine may also be connected to the data bus. Each sensor module may capture an image of a field of view of a monitored area. Each sensor module may insert its image data onto the data bus within a different allotment of time within a frame capture cycle. The collection module may compress and encode the image data received from each sensor module, and may generate a composite video image frame. Each region of the composite video image frame may depict image data captured by a different sensor module.

Video cameras may be used to monitor various areas, such as the interior of a building or vehicle. In some cases, if the interior of the building or vehicle is sufficiently large, and there is a desire to monitor a large portion of the interior, it may be necessary to install multiple video cameras, such that different cameras are tasked with monitoring different sections of the interior.
However, multi-camera systems typically pose several challenges for video monitoring over single-camera systems. For example, if each camera in a multi-camera monitoring system records footage on a separate computer-readable medium, it may be necessary for personnel to review the footage of each camera separately in order to adequately analyze the entire monitored interior. Moreover, multi-camera systems may pose significant additional expenses for an organization, since each individual camera may be costly to purchase or maintain.
Accordingly, video monitoring systems may be improved by techniques for capturing video footage of multiple areas of an interior without the need for separate, fully functional and independent cameras.

UTC FIRE & SECURITY AMERICAS CORPORATION, INC.


A composition for removing a conductive material and a manufacturing method of an array substrate using the composition, wherein the composition may include a nitric acid of about 3 to 15 wt %, a phosphoric acid of about 40 to 70 wt %, an acetic acid of about 5 to 35 wt %. The composition may further include a chlorine compound of about 0.05 to 5 wt %, a chlorine stabilizer of about 0.01 to 5 wt %, a pH stabilizer of about 0.01 to 5 wt %, and water of residual quantity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition for removing conductive materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to a composition for removing all of aluminum, molybdenum and indium tin oxide and a manufacturing method of an array substrate using the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display devices are widely used flat panel display devices. A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes an upper substrate, a lower substrate and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. Electrodes are formed on the upper substrate and the lower substrate, respectively. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes, an electric field is induced between the electrodes. Liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer are rearranged according to the electric field to thereby control the transmittance of light through the liquid crystal molecules.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an array substrate for an LCD device according to the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, a gate electrode 14 is formed on a transparent substrate 12 by depositing a first metal layer and then patterning it through a first mask process. The first metal layer may include a conductive metallic material, such as aluminum (Al), an aluminum alloy such as AlNd, molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W) or chromium (Cr). An aluminum alloy, such as AlNd, having a low resistivity may also be included. The gate electrode 14 may also have a double-layered structure including an aluminum alloy, such as AlNd, and molybdenum (Mo) as illustrated. Although not shown, in the first mask process, a photoresist (PR) layer is formed on the first metal layer. The PR layer may be a positive type PR in which a portion exposed to light is removed after developing or a negative type PR in which a portion not exposed to light is removed after developing. A mask including a light-transmitting portion and a light-blocking portion is disposed over the PR layer. The PR layer is exposed to light through the mask and then is developed to form a PR pattern selectively exposing the first metal layer. The first metal layer may be wet-etched or dry-etched by an etchant using the PR pattern as an etching mask, and thus the gate electrode 14 is formed. Next, the PR pattern is removed through a process, such as an ashing process or a stripping process.
A gate insulating layer 16 is formed on the substrate 12 including the gate electrode 14 thereon. The gate insulating layer 16 may include an inorganic insulating material, such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiO2).
An active layer 18, an ohmic contact layer 20 and source and drain electrodes 22a and 22b are formed on the gate insulating layer 16 by depositing and then patterning an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer, an impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer and a second metal layer through a second mask process. The second metal layer may include molybdenum (Mo). In the second mask process, a PR layer is formed on the second metal layer, and a mask is disposed over the PR layer. The PR layer is exposed to light through the mask and then is developed to form a PR pattern selectively exposing the second metal layer. The second metal layer may be wet-etched or dry-etched by an etchant. The impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer and the intrinsic amorphous silicon layer may be sequentially dry-etched to thereby form the active layer 18, the ohmic contact layer 20 and the source and drain electrodes 22a and 22b. Here, the etchant may be a solution including hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Next, the PR pattern is removed by a process, such as an ashing process or a stripping process.
A passivation layer 24 is formed on the substrate 12 including the active layer 18, the ohmic contact layer 20 and the source and drain electrodes 22a and 22b by coating a transparent organic insulating material, such as benzocyclobutene (BCB) or acrylic resin, or depositing an inorganic insulating material, such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiO2). The passivation layer 24 is patterned through a third mask process to thereby form a contact hole 26 exposing a part of the drain electrode 22b.
A pixel electrode 28 may be formed on the passivation layer 24 by depositing a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) and then patterning it through a fourth mask process. The pixel electrode 28 contacts the drain electrode 22b via the contact hole 26. The fourth mask process may include a wet-etching process or a dry-etching process similar to the first and second mask processes. In the fourth mask process, a nitrohydrochloric acid or an oxalic acid may be used as etchant for forming the pixel electrode 28.
As described previously, an array substrate for a liquid crystal display device may be manufactured through four-mask processes. Because different kinds of etchant are used in respective mask processes for forming the metallic patterns, such as the gate electrode 14, the source and drain electrodes 22a and 22b and the pixel electrode 28, various facilities are required. Accordingly, productivity is lowered, and costs for the facilities are increased.

Composition for removing conductive materials and manufacturing method of array substrate using the same


A capacitor 12 is formed by laminating a lower electrode 12b, a dielectric 12e and an upper electrode 12t in this order. An inductor 14 is formed as a thin metal wiring of a spiral shape so as to have an inductor component. The inductor 14 is formed in the same wiring layer and of the same metal material as the lower electrode 12b of the capacitor 12 connected to a base electrode 11b of a transistor 11. The DC bias is inputted to the base B of the transistor 11 through the inductor 14 of a spiral shape from the DC bias supply wiring BP, and a radio frequency signal is inputted to the base B of the transistor 11 through the capacitor 12.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus having, integrated on a semiconductor substrate, an active element such as a transistor and a passive element such as a capacitor, the apparatus being used for a signal transmitter of a wireless communication device such as a cellular phone using a radio frequency band.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, in order to obtain a high output, a semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus for use in a radio frequency signal power amplifier is configured such that a plurality of transistors (for example, heterojunction bipolar transistor) having a superior radio frequency characteristic are connected in parallel with each other so as to combine outputs of the respective transistors. This configuration is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,353, U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,648, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-196865. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a conventional semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus 100 so configured. A semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 6 is configured such that a plurality of cell circuits (circuits each enclosed by dotted lines in FIG. 6) each including a transistor 101, a capacitor 102 and a resistor 103 are connected in parallel with each other.
In FIG. 6, a DC bias supplied from a bias circuit (not shown) is supplied to a base B of each transistor 101 via each resistor 103. On the other hand, a radio frequency signal which is an AC signal is inputted to the base B of each transistor 101 via each capacitor 102. Thus, a DC bias and a radio frequency signal are inputted to the base B of the transistor 101 via different routes for the following reasons.
The transistor 101 generates a heat due to a current density of an AC current being increased during a high output operation. Such heat generation is not uniform among all the transistors 101 due to characteristic variations among the transistors 101 and the like. Therefore, a certain transistor 101 of a high temperature exhibits a thermal runaway due to a high heating value during operation, which may cause an element destruction due to an increased base current. Therefore, in order to suppress the thermal runaway, a resistor (base ballast resistor) 103 is serially connected to the base B of each transistor 101 so as to reduce base bias current supplied from the bias circuit when a base voltage is increased in the transistor 101. However, the resistor 103 causes a power gain reduction for a radio frequency signal. Therefore, a radio frequency signal is inputted to the base B of each transistor 101 via the capacitor 102.
However, in the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 6 of the aforementioned configuration, a portion of radio frequency signals supplied to the base B of the transistor 101 via the capacitor 102 escapes into (leaks into) a bias circuit via the resistor 103. Therefore, there is a problem that the escape of the radio frequency signal causes an interference between a DC bias and a radio frequency signal, thereby generating a noise. That is, there is, for example, a problem that when a nose is generated from a power amplifier of a signal transmitter in a wireless communication device, the noise is detected in a signal receiver, which represents a quality degradation of a received signal.

Semiconductor integrated circuit apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A process for efficiently preparing fine zeolite particles comprising synthesizing zeolite in the presence of an alkaline earth metal-containing compound and/or with controlling the preparation process of zeolite, thereby giving fine zeolite particles being composed of crystalline aluminosilicate, the fine zeolite particles having a fine average primary particle size, being excellent in the cationic exchange properties and the oil-absorbing ability, having a fine average aggregate particle size, and being excellent in the dispersibility; fine zeolite particles obtainable by the above process; and a detergent composition comprising the fine zeolite particles, the detergent composition being excellent in the detergency.

Zeolite has been utilized for detergent builders as a water-softening agent owing to its ion-exchange properties. The ion exchange properties are greatly dependent on the primary particle size of the zeolite. Since zeolite having a very fine primary particle size is excellent in the ionic exchange speed, it has been known to exhibit a high deterging performance.
In addition, there have been known that the fine zeolite particles have the merits of having little deposition on clothes and reducing turbidity, so that the fine zeolite particles are useful as detergent builders.
As a process for preparing such fine zeolite particles, there are given examples in which synthesis is completed under specified feeding composition of the raw materials and reaction conditions (temperature and time), when zeolite is synthesized by mixing sodium aluminate with sodium silicate as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. Sho 60-127218 and Sho 62-275016. When very fine zeolite is synthesized by the process as described above, the process has to be carried out under certain restricted conditions in the feeding composition of the raw materials and the reaction conditions, so that there arise problems such as lowered productivity.
There has been reported that the particle size of zeolite is made very fine by adding a soluble hydrocarbon such as saccharose as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 60-118625. However, when the present inventors have applied this process to the synthesis of zeolite, an effect of reducing a primary particle size could not be found even when adding the soluble hydrocarbon as described above.
On the other hand, the alkaline earth metal is an element which can be easily substituted with Na in zeolite. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the function as an ion-exchangeable cation, there are many cases where the alkaline earth metal is considered to have the same value as the alkali metal. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 55-116617 discloses that zeolite is utilized as an adsorbent having heat stability, wherein sodium in zeolite is partly substituted with an alkaline earth metal.
However, there have not yet been any reports describing that an alkaline earth metal is intentionally and positively added during synthesis of zeolite, to give a product which exhibits an excellent function as a water-softening agent, nor any reports describing that the alkaline earth element is an essential element indispensable for making its primary particle size small.
In addition, there has been tried to make the particle size small from the viewpoint of preparation process. For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 62-46494 discloses that zeolite is mechanically pulverized by utilizing various kinds of mixing apparatus. However, there is much room for improvement from the viewpoints of the performance of the fine zeolite particles and the production efficiency.
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for efficiently preparing fine zeolite particles comprising synthesizing zeolite in the presence of an alkaline earth metal-containing compound and/or with controlling the preparation process of zeolite, thereby giving fine zeolite particles being composed of crystalline aluminosilicate, the fine zeolite particles having a fine average primary particle size, being excellent in the cationic exchange properties and the oil-absorbing ability, having a fine average aggregate particle size, and being excellent in the dispersibility; fine zeolite particles obtainable by the above process; and a detergent composition comprising the fine zeolite particles, the detergent composition being excellent in the detergency.
The above object and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.

Process for preparing fine zeolite particles


A kit for performing an assay for determining an analyte in a sample with an extended shelf-life, wherein the kit comprises a chemiluminescent cyclic dihydrazide, an enhancer, a co-enhancer, and a peroxide oxidizer. The kit is useful in blot assays and immunoassays for the detection of proteins and nucleic acid molecules.

The chemiluminescent oxidation of luminol catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) finds wide employment in analytical tests of antigens, antibodies and nucleic acids, and, in particular, blotting tests, e.g. Dot and Western Blots (proteins), Southern and Northern Blots (nucleic acids), as well as in Enzyme Linked Immunoassays (EIA, for either protein or nucleic acids).
It is known that the chemiluminescent oxidation of luminol catalyzed by HRP can be made faster and more efficient by adding an electron mediator, or enhancer, as shown, for example, by Kricka L J (1991), Clinical Chemistry, 37:1472-1481; or by Kricka L J, Voyta J C and Bronstein I in "Chemiluminescent Methods for Detecting and Quantitating Enzyme Activity" (2000), Methods Enzymol; 305:370-390.
The mechanism of the enhanced chemiluminescence reaction (ECL), where luminol and an enhancer are oxidized simultaneously, has been described as follows [Lind J, Merenyi G, and Eriksen T E (1983), J Am Chem Soc, 105: 7655-7661]. In the first step of ECL, the enhancer (E), which is a more active substrate for HRP than luminol, is oxidized by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of HRP according to a "ping-pong" mechanism:HRP+H2O2→HRP-I  (1)HRP-I+E→HRP-II+E.  (2)HRP-II+E→HRP+E.  (3)where E is the enhancer, E. is a radical product of one-electron oxidation of the enhancer, HRP is the Horseradish Peroxidase enzyme in its Fe(III) resting state, HRP-I and HRP-II are the oxidized intermediates of the peroxidase, which are, by two and one oxidation equivalents, above the resting state, respectively. Then, the radical product of the enhancer (E.) reacts reversibly with a luminol molecule (LH−) [Easton P M, Simmonds A C, Rakishev A, Egorov A M, and Candeias L P (1996), J Am Chem Soc; 6619-6624]:E.+LH−⇄E+L.−  (4)
Thermodynamically, the position of redox equilibrium (4) is determined by the difference between the reduction potentials of the enhancer and luminol radicals under the conditions of the experiment. Once formed, two luminol radicals (L.−) dismute to luminol anion (LH−) and diazaquinone intermediate (L):2L.−→LH−+L  (5)
The diazaquinone intermediate (L) reacts with hydrogen peroxide with formation of a luminol peroxide (LO22−), which collapses to the excited state of 3-aminophthalate ([AP2−]*) with expulsion of molecular nitrogen; [AP2−]* then returns to the ground state (AP2−) with emission of a photon (hν) at 425 nm:L+H2O2→LO22−→[AP2−]*+N2→AP2−+hν   (6)
The intensity of emitted light is proportional to the square of the rate of generation of luminol radicals (L.−). The quadratic relation is a consequence of the mechanism of generation of the excited species, which involves the dismutation of two luminol radicals, Equation 5. In turn, the rate of generation of luminol radicals is given by the rate of enzyme turnover, weighted by the fraction of the radicals generated that results in luminol radicals (L.−) after redox equilibrium (4). The rate of enzyme turnover is governed by the rate-determining step, the reduction of HRP-II to ferric enzyme (HRP), Equation (3). In conclusion, the enhancement of chemiluminescence can be described to a good approximation by considering (a) the acceleration of the enzyme turnover by reaction of the enhancer with HRP-II and (b) the reversible electron-transfer reaction between the enhancer radical and luminol.
A number of compounds were successfully used in the enhancement of HRP-induced chemiluminescence including luciferin, 6-hydroxybenzotriazols, p-iodophenols, p-coumaric acid and other phenolic enhancers (Thorpe G H G and Kricka L J (1986) Methods Enzymol 133:331); aromatic amines (U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,950); acetanilides (Eur. Pat. Appl. No. 603953); N-substituted phenothiazines (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,171,688 and 6,432,662); boronic acids (U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,168).
A further, great increase in chemiluminescent light emission was obtained with certain 4-dialkylaminopyridines, such as 4-morpholino-pyridine (MORP), 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) and 4-pyrrolidinopyridine (PPY), as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,803,573. These compounds, belonging to the class of 4-aminopyridines, provide a further enhancement in light output only when used in conjunction with primary, electron transfer type, enhancers. Thus, they can been described as secondary enhancers, or co-enhancer, as in Vdovenko M M, Della Ciana L, and Sakharov I Y (2009) Anal Biochem 392:54. Addition of 4-dialkylaminopyridines to a substrate solution containing the SPTZ enhancer significantly increased the rate of production of SPTZ cation radicals, equations (2) and (3), thus increasing HRP turnover as described in Sakharov I Y and Vdovenko M M (2013) Anal Biochem 434:12. Another group of compounds behaving as co-enhancers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,040,252. These co-enhancers belong to the class of N-azoles, the most useful being imidazole, 1-methyl-imidazole, 1,2,3-triazole and 1,2,4-triazole.
In practical operation, the user will mix two separate, previously prepared buffer solutions, one part containing the luminol and enhancers, the other part the peroxide oxidizer. While the two separate solutions can be stored for a long period of time, the resulting "Working Solution" obtained by mixing the two partial solutions has limited stability, ranging from a few hours, to, at most, several days.
Thus, it is desirable to eliminate the need to mix separate components at the time of the test procedure, without reducing or compromising the performance of the substrate.
Previous attempts at providing complete peroxidase substrates with extended storage stability have met very limited success. For example, Giri in U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,679 discloses formulations with extended stability, containing enhancers and peroxide stabilizers. However, no stability data are reported. Similarly, Woerner, in U.S. Pat. Appl. 2007/0264647, describes the use of stannous halides as stabilizers of hydrogen peroxide under alkaline conditions for use in chemiluminescent, fluorescent and colorimetric detection of peroxidase type assays. While it is claimed that, "by stabilizing and/or enhancing hydrogen peroxide in the buffer system, the compositions used in such assays may have a higher shelf life", no experimental evidence is given.
Thus, notwithstanding what has been previously reported, there is still a need for improved formulations of substrates for the enhanced chemiluminescent detection of peroxidase with all the components mixed in a buffer solution and with an extended shelf life.

Chemiluminescent substrates for peroxidase with extended shelf-life


A reproducing apparatus has a memory for storing compressed image data; a unit for supplying the stored data to a reproducing unit for reproducing the stored data as a visual image; and a unit for causing the memory to retain the compressed image data irrespective of the operation of the supplying unit.

2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image reproducing apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
As recent standards of television broadcasting, in addition to a conventional NTSC system having an aspect ratio of 3:4 and 525 scan lines, there has been proposed a more precise television system such as an HDTV system having an aspect ratio of 9:16 and 1125 scan lines which system is intended to be used in practice. This HDTV system has image information about five times as much as the NTSC system, and the screen is wide. Thus, fine and outstanding images can be obtained.
The amount of information is great so that it is impossible to transmit the information as it is to each house, because of restrictions of broadcasting waves and communication capacity. Therefore, image information is transmitted while using a so-called distribution quality lower than the original image quality at a studio (i.e., having a narrower bandwidth), and also compressing the bandwidth. Table 1 shows examples of various factors of studio quality and distribution quality of the HDTV system.
Moving images of the HDTV at each house are essentially limited to the distribution quality.
Apart from the above, since the HDTV system uses a larger number of scan lines and has fine images with less flicker, not only moving images but also still images are fine and outstanding, leaving possible applications to arts, culture, education, animation and other fields. In general, television viewers look at a single still image for several seconds to ten and several seconds so that the quality of a still image is desired to have the studio quality.
In this regard, in addition to an HDTV moving image transmission/reception (reproduction) apparatus, an HDTV still image transmission/reception (reproduction) apparatus has been proposed. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the structure of a still image receiving apparatus. A receiver 10 receives a broadcasting wave from an antenna and derives therefrom a bandwidth-compressed still image information signal. A still image decoder 12 decodes the compressed still image signal outputted from the receiver 10 and expands its bandwidth to thereby output original still image data. The image data outputted from the decoder 12 is developed and stored as a still image in a frame memory 14 under control of a frame memory controller 16. After the necessary image data is stored in the frame memory 14, the frame memory controller 16 reads the stored data at a faster scan rate. The read data is converted into an analog signal by a D/A converter 18, and applied to a monitor 20 which then displays the received image.
An output from a power source 22 is connected via a power source switch 24 to the receiver 10, decoder 12, frame memory 14, frame memory controller 16, D/A converter 18, and monitor 20. When the power source switch 24 is turned off, the circuits 10 to 20 becomes inactive.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Studio Distribution Quality Quality ______________________________________ Scan Lines 1125 lines 1125 lines Brightness (Y) 30 MHz 20 MHz Brightness Sampling 74.25 MHz 48.6 MHz Frequency Color Difference 15 MHz 7 MHz Bandwidth (Pr, Pb) Color Difference 33.125 MHz 16.2 MHz Sampling Frequency ______________________________________
With the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 7, if still images are transmitted at a relatively long interval (e.g., several ten seconds), a still image may not be displayed on a monitor for a long time after the power source switch is turned on.
If power is always supplied at least to the circuits 10, 12 and 16, a broadcast image can be displayed on the monitor 20 immediately after the power source switch is turned on. Such arrangement is however not practical because of a large power consumption by the decoder 12 and frame memory.
If the power source switch is to be manually turned on or off, it must be turned on before a still image data is transmitted and turned off after the end of broadcasting, requiring cumbersome user activity. In addition, turning on or off the power source switch may be inadvertently missed. If the apparatus is maintained by being turned on for a long period without noticing it, the apparatus may become overheated and dangerous.


A method for digitizing drilling jigs comprising: insertion in a jig hole of a feeler pin provided with a rounded-shaped head having the same diameter as the hole, such feeler pin being connected to a measuring system suitable for finding its position continuously. The method includes storing of the coordinates of a point on the hole axis nearby the surface of the jig; deep insertion of the feeler pin and finding of the coordinates of a second point on the hole axis nearby the back; and calculation of the axis inclination through the coordinates of the two points found.

This invention proposes a method for digitizing drilling jigs, i.e., a method which allows measuring in a jig the exact position and inclination of the axes in a set of holes so as to carry out the drilling automatically.
The method can be satisfactorly applied, but not limited to, in the field of aeronautical constructions where, on the one hand, automatization is the trend in manufacturing and assembling and, on the other, a perfect interchangeability of the new parts with the older, e.g. machined through manual systems with jigs and templates, is required.
Until a few years ago, drilling, flaring and riveting for most parts of the airplanes were carried out through mere manual techniques, which means inaccuracy, long time and high costs.
Since the tolerances allowed for working the parts of airplans are very restricted, in case of drilling, flaring and so on, operators were supported by jigs and templates in the correct positioning of the tool.
Recently, machine tools capable of carrying out automatically such machinings have been developed.
Nevertheless, in order to manufacture spare parts for replacing the parts previously manufactured by means of jigs, which are to be perfectly interchangeable, using such new techniques in their production is neither practical nor economical.
As a consequence, every part is still machined by means of jigs. However, means suitable for automatizing every machining as much as possible are more and more required for machinings based on the use of jigs.

Method and tool for the digitizing of drilling jigs


The present invention is a method of providing a protective covering on an electronic package including a first circuitized substrate, a semiconductor chip positioned on and electrically coupled to the first substrate, and a plurality of conductors also on the substrate for electrically connecting the substrate to an external circuitized substrate. In one version, the method comprises covering substantially all of the external surfaces of the substrate, the semiconductor chip and a portion of the plurality of conductors with a protective covering from immersion in a dielectric solution (e.g., TEFLON AF). The coatings can also be applied by brushing, spraying, or chemical vapor deposition. In an alternative embodiment, all of the external surfaces, including all of the conductors, are coated with the protective covering (e.g., to facilitate package shipment or other handling). The resulting electronic packages are also described herein.

There have been previous attempts to apply coatings onto electronic packages, including attempts to encapsulate chips and conductors with the main emphasis of providing mechanical strength to the conductors. However, such efforts have not typically solved problems associated with moisture sensitivity.
In electronic chip carrier packages, moisture can cause various problems such as delamination, corrosion, formation of plated fiber shorts, chip cracking and debonding. This may result in yield loss and/or functional failure during assembly and reliability testing. Organic packages are particularly susceptible to moisture due to the hydrophilic nature of resins such as epoxies and polyimides when exposed to moisture, and are susceptible to the brittleness of glass reinforcement interfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,957 to Urushima shows a process for building/assembling a chip onto a flexible film member. The assembly process involves using a piece of resin, to encapsulate the wire bond leads and act to hold the chip to the film. While the purpose of this resin is in part to prevent corrosion/oxidation, and to mechanically protect the wire bond leads, it is used in an entirely different location and with a completely different purpose than the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,957 describes the use of a wire bond encapsulant which is applied only to the wire bond area. The present invention, on the other hand, involves using a protective coating over substantially the entire assembled package including, chip, wires (if used), or solder joints and the chip carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,203 to Lin covers the concept of building an EMI shielded chip carrier package by shielding the chip and wire bonds. The bottom is shielded with a buried power plane or reference plane, and the top is shielded with a conductive encapsulate. The two shielding layers are electrically connected via plated thru holes. The chip and wire bonds are first covered with a non conductive encapsulant. Lin is different from the present invention for substantially the same reasons as Urushima above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,775 to Brooks discloses using stacked and bonded metal balls as the electrical connection points. The chip is enclosed in an encapsulation material. The primary function of the encapsulant material appears to be to provide mechanical support for the chip and ball towers. The encapsulation is performed in two steps. First, a layer of encapsulant is formed within a mold or cavity. Next, the ball stacked chip is placed in the cavity and additional encapsulant is flooded into the mold and around the stacked ball towers. These two encapsulant layers form part of the chip package. The primary subject covered by Brooks appears to be the concept of using stacked metal balls as electrical leads, with the primary purpose of the encapsulant layer being to support and strengthen these leads.
U. S. Pat. No. 4,351,101 to Young shows a method of making connection to CCD (charged coupled device) chips. The method describes how metal pads are allowed to sink through a layer of uncured epoxy, via gravity, as an improvement over the previous method which involved hours of lapping (mechanical sanding).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,617 to Sardella covers a method of making a two-part case for early transistor packages, (circa 1955). The case consists of two pieces of TEFLON, (or other fluorocarbons), which are mechanically machined to form a hollow tube and a plug, both threaded. TEFLON is a trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc. The transistor is placed into the tube, the tube is filled with epoxy encapsulant and the plug is screwed into the tube. The transistors are covered for improved resistance to vibration, moisture and mechanical damage.
The glasses used in electronic packaging of semiconductor and other electronic devices may successfully provide hermetic packaging; however, such glasses may create problems. Conventional sealing glasses are usually brittle and glass sealed semiconductor packages require special care in handling both during and subsequent to processing. This is necessary to avoid fracture of the glass and resulting loss of package hermeticity. The methods of applying the glass to the components to be sealed are also generally somewhat tedious and costly. One known method of applying the glass is to mix finely powdered glass with a suitable vehicle. The mixture is then silk screened in place upon the components. Next, the glass applied component is fired to coalesce the individual glass particles into a continuous glass coating in the areas previously silk screened. At the same time, any residue from the vehicle used during silk screening is driven off.
The present invention comprises a product (electronic package) and a method for making said product, that contains a semiconductor chip wherein substantially the entire electronic package is encapsulated with a solution which forms a protective coating sufficient to protect the electronic package from exposure to moisture and other adverse environmental conditions.

Method for providing a protective coating and electronic package utilizing same

International Business Machines Corporation


A tool and method is provided for installing nut-clips or like components, wherein safety and ease of installation are significantly improved over the prior art, and installation time is substantially reduced. A useful embodiment is directed to apparatus for use in attaching a nut-clip or other hardware component to structure having a slot defined by spaced apart edges, wherein the nut-clip has first and second resilient spaced apart hook flanges. The apparatus includes a holder adapted to receive the nut-clip, and a blade member positioned to bear against the first flange member when the nut-clip is received into the holder. A magnet or other element is provided for releasably retaining the nut-clip in the holder. A handle, which can be grasped by the single hand of a user, is attached for maneuvering the holder and retained nut-clip to position the second flange against one of the slot edges, and to thereafter apply force, through the blade member, to reduce the spacing between the first and second flanges. The two hook flanges can then be inserted into the slot, to firmly attach the nut-clip to the structure.

1. Technical Field
The invention disclosed and claimed herein generally pertains to a tool apparatus and method for quickly and efficiently attaching hardware components to a structure. More particularly, the invention pertains to apparatus of the above type wherein the structure comprises support members provided with rectangular slots, and hardware components are provided with pairs of spaced apart flanges for insertion into respective slots. Even more particularly, the invention pertains to apparatus of the above type wherein the hardware components comprise nut-clips provided with resilient hook flanges, the nut-clips being usefully employed to attach shelves, system components or the like to the support members.
2. Description of Related Art
Hardware parts or components known as nut-clips are used to mount electronic or other components within a system cabinet or rack. Nut-clips are also referred to as speed grip nuts and retainer nut clips. Generally, a nut-clip is a nut that is sized to mate with a bolt of specified size, wherein two resilient hook flanges are attached to opposing sides of the nut. In a typical arrangement, nut-clips are used with vertical support members that are perforated with rectangular slots, at varying levels. The hook flanges are formed of resilient material. Accordingly, a force can be applied to urge the flanges together, so that they can both be inserted into a selected slot. After insertion, the force is removed, and the hook flanges move apart, to firmly affix the nut-clip to the support member.
The conventional approach for installing nut-clips requires the installer to hold the part in one hand and a screwdriver in the other hand. The part is inserted into the cabinet by placing one tab, or flange, of the nut-clip through the slot or cut-out in the cabinet, and then compressing the other flange with the screwdriver, while forcing it into the cut-out. Routinely, the clips fly out of the installer's hands and fall into the system. Frequently, the screwdriver slips off the nut-clip, damages the cabinet and, on occasion, has injured the installer.
Because of the benefits they provide, the use of nut-clips in product manufacture continues to increase. For example, a major manufacturer of data storage systems presently uses on the order of 50 nut-clip pieces in each unit of certain products. However, the level of difficulty encountered in installing nut-clips (or speed grip nuts) into a structure such as a 19-inch cabinet/rack, using conventional procedures as described above, has negatively impacted upon production time, product quality and personal safety. Clearly, it would be of great benefit to provide a means or method for installing nut-clips that was substantially faster and safer than the currently used approach.

Tool apparatus and method for efficient attachment of hardware components


A data creation method includes: an autofluorescence data generation step of placing a focus of light having a predetermined wavelength at one set of coordinates on a predetermined focal plane, irradiating a sample positioned at the set of coordinates with excitation light containing the light to obtain autofluorescence emitted from the sample, and generating autofluorescence data including intensity data and/or spectrum data of the autofluorescence; a reflected light data generation step of irradiating the set of coordinates on the predetermined focal plane with illumination light to obtain reflected light scattered by the sample, and generating intensity data of the reflected light; and a correspondence data creation step of creating correspondence data associating the autofluorescence data and the reflected light data on the set of coordinates on the predetermined focal plane.

Conventionally, the species of microorganisms have been typically identified by isolating microorganisms from a specimen and culturing them as systematized in Koch's postulates. There have been developed methods for identifying the species of microorganisms by a metagenomic analysis based on next-generation sequencer technology (refer to Patent Literature 1, for example). According to Patent Literature 1, the species of microorganisms present in a specimen can be identified by comparing base sequences determined by a metagenomic analysis and known base sequences of the microorganisms.
Also widely known are methods for identifying the species of microorganisms by detecting autofluorescence emitted by a colony (refer to Patent Literature 2 and 3, for example). According to Patent Literatures 2 and 3, the species of microorganisms can be detected noninvasively. In addition, there have been developed methods for detecting a cell by: irradiating a fluorescence-stained cell with excitation light having different wavelength bands, photographing fluorescence emitted by the cell to obtain a plurality of images based on the excitation light, and using the obtained images (refer to Patent Literature 4, for example).
Recently, to examine the dynamic state of microorganisms, such researches have been carried out that grasp the position and the movement of the microorganisms in a three-dimensional space using a confocal microscope (refer to Non Patent Literatures 1 and 2, for example). These researches have been produced great results in chronologically and three-dimensionally observing a process of forming a complex (biofilm) of extracellular matrix components produced by a microbial community and microorganisms, for example. An idea of applying the method to identification and evaluation of microorganisms based on autofluorescence at the resolution of single-cell, however, has not been reported. Patent Literatures 1 to 4 do not consider identification of microorganisms by grasping the spatial position and the special movement in the three-dimensional space and acquiring positional information on the microorganisms noninvasively.
Furthermore, the patent documents and the non-patent documents above do not describe or suggest an idea of recording both autofluorescence emitted by a sample and reflected light in a manner associated with each other on one set of coordinates in a space.

Data creation method and data use method


A fiber optic cable comprises, in a sheath, a tube in which the optical fibers are disposed and a single reinforcing member. These components are arranged so that the neutral axis of the tube and that of the cable coincide.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention concerns a cable comprising a small number of optical fibers that has a very simple structure and consequently is very economic to manufacture.
Cables of this kind comprise, inside a sheath, a single reinforcing member and generally a single housing such as a tube in which the optical fibers are disposed. The sheath is extruded over the tube and the reinforcing member, which are positioned near each other.
2. Description of the prior art
For example, international application WO 96/15466 teaches an economic cable having the structure described above. The reinforcing member, the tube and the sheath are all of circular section. It appears that if this cable is curved the tube can be stressed in compression or in traction, according to the direction of the curvature. The skilled person is well aware that optical fibers must absolutely not be subjected to stress in traction. Any such stress increases the attenuation and reduces the lifetime of the fibers.
The present invention therefore consists in a cable comprising a housing in which optical fibers are disposed, this simple and economical cable having a structure such that the fibers are subjected to virtually no stresses if the cable is curved.


A connector includes a male connector including plural male terminals, a first body provided with the plural male terminals, and a first terminal housing formed with a first housing opening facing respective ends of the plural male terminals, and a female connector including plural female terminals paired with the plural male terminals, a female terminal box formed with plural female terminal openings facing ends of the plural female terminals respectively, and a second body provided with the plural female terminals and the female terminal box. The connector further includes foreign body preventing means for preventing a foreign body from being mixed into the specified receiving space of the first terminal housing. The foreign body preventing means includes a blocking sheet member enclosed in the specified receiving space of the first terminal housing for blocking or substantially blocking the first housing opening, and plural male terminal openings through which the male terminals pass at specified positions respectively in the blocking sheet member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, which has a high possibility of being used in a large-capacity wire harness used where large-capacity power transmission is desired in hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and the like having achieved a remarkable improvement in recent years, a large-capacity wire harness connecting a motor and an inverter is provided with a multipolar connector at one end having three three-phase AC power wires aggregated therein. The power wires have become larger-sized with higher motor power. For example, in order to enhance rigidity, the entire structure of the connector provided at one end of the wire harness has consequently tended to be large-sized.
This is disadvantageous in making products compact and lightweight. To improve such tendencies in recent years, there are market needs for a large-capacity wire harness connector, which is compact or is prevented as much as possible from being large-sized.
Refer to JP-A-2001-35589, for example.
In the above background, there is a new problem below.
That is, there is a possibility of foreign bodies such as screws (or dust) being mixed in a male-connector housing placed on an device side of the wire harness connector (halved into a male and a female connector), and rendering complete engagement and connection between the male connector and female connector impossible. In the female connector which is on the wire side, even if foreign bodies such as screws are mixed therein, they are easily noticeable and removable.
Accordingly, the present inventors have considered a foreign body preventing means, as a shutter structure, which completely covers an opening of the male-connector housing, and blocks that housing opening when in complete disengagement and disconnection between the male and female.
However, the above-considered shutter structure causes its opening/closing mechanism to be attached outside the housing (to the surface of the housing), and therefore makes the connector larger than conventional products, and goes against the recent years' market needs as mentioned above. A further improvement is desired.

Connector including foreign body preventing unit including blocking sheet member and locking unit