A damped propshaft assembly with a hollow shaft and a tuned damper, which is received in the hollow shaft and includes a liner and a damping member. The liner's mass and stiffness are tuned to attenuate one or more of a bending mode vibration and a torsion mode vibration that occurs at a first predetermined frequency. The liner is not configured to substantially damp shell mode vibration that occurs at a frequency that is not equal to the first predetermined frequency. The damping member is coupled to the liner and is configured to primarily attenuate shell mode vibration in the hollow shaft at one or more desired frequencies. The tuned damper attenuates the at least one of the bending moment vibration and the torsion mode vibration at the first predetermined frequency and also attenuates shell mode vibration. A method for forming a damped propshaft assembly is also provided.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
The consumers of modern automotive vehicles are increasingly influenced in their purchasing decisions and in their opinions of the quality of a vehicle by their satisfaction with the vehicle's sound quality. In this regard, consumers increasingly expect the interior of the vehicle to be quiet and free of noise from the power train and drive line. Consequently, vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers are under constant pressure to reduce noise to meet the increasingly stringent expectations of consumers.
Drive line components and their integration into a vehicle typically play a significant role in sound quality of a vehicle as they can provide the forcing function that excites specific driveline, suspension and body resonances to produce noise. Since this noise can be tonal in nature, it is usually readily detected by the occupants of a vehicle regardless of other noise levels. Common driveline excitation sources can include driveline imbalance and/or run-out, fluctuations in engine torque, engine idle shake, and motion variation in the meshing gear teeth of the hypoid gear set (i.e., the pinion gear and the ring gear of a differential assembly).
Motion variation is the slight variation in angular displacement between the input and output gears of a gear set. This variation is typically very small and can be on the order of tens of millionths of an inch (measured tangentially at the pitch line of the gear) for a modern automotive differential assembly. Motion variation is typically not constant (e.g., it will typically vary as a function of load, temperature, gearset build position, and break-in wear) and moreover, it cannot be reduced beyond certain levels without severe economic penalties.
Propeller (prop) shafts are typically employed to transmit rotary power in a drive line. Modern automotive propshafts are commonly formed of relatively thin-walled steel or aluminum tubing and as such, can be receptive to various driveline excitation sources. The various excitation sources can typically cause the propshaft to vibrate in a bending (lateral) mode, a torsion mode and a shell mode. Bending mode vibration is a phenomenon wherein energy is transmitted longitudinally along the shaft and causes the shaft to bend at one or more locations. Torsion mode vibration is a phenomenon wherein energy is transmitted tangentially through the shaft and causes the shaft to twist. Shell mode vibration is a phenomenon wherein a standing wave is transmitted circumferentially about the shaft and causes the cross-section of the shaft to deflect or bend along one or more axes.
Several techniques have been employed to attenuate vibrations in propshafts including the use of weights and liners. U.S. Pat. No. 2,001,166 to Swennes, for example, discloses the use of a pair of discrete plugs or weights to attenuate vibrations. The weights of the '166 patent are frictionally engaged to the propshaft at experimentally-derived locations and as such, it appears that the weights are employed as a resistive means to attenuate bending mode vibration. As used herein, resistive attenuation of vibration refers to a vibration attenuation means that deforms as vibration energy is transmitted through it (i.e., the vibration attenuation means) so that the vibration attenuation means absorbs (and thereby attenuates) the vibration energy. While this technique can be effective, the additional mass of the weights can require changes in the propshaft mounting hardware and/or propshaft geometry (e.g., wall thickness) and/or can change the critical speed of the propshaft. Moreover, as the plugs tend to be relatively short, they typically would not effectively attenuate shell mode vibration or torsion mode vibration.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,406 to Butler Jr., et al. appears to disclose a single damper that is inserted to a hollow shaft. The damper includes a pair of resilient members, which frictionally engage the interior surface of the hollow shaft, and a metal bar that is suspended within the interior of the hollow shaft by the resilient members. The '406 patent explains that at the resonant vibration frequency of the propeller shaft, "the motion of the mass is out of phase with the radial motion of the tubular propeller shaft". Accordingly, the damper of the '406 patent appears to be a reactive damper for attenuating bending mode vibration. As used herein, reactive attenuation of vibration refers to a mechanism that can oscillate in opposition to the vibration energy to thereby "cancel out" a portion of the vibration energy. The damper of the '406 patent appears to be ineffective at attenuating torsion mode vibration and shell mode vibration due to its relatively short length and its contact with a relatively small portion of the interior surface of the propshaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,751,765 to Rowland et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,184 to Stark and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,909,361 and 5,976,021 to Stark et al. disclose hollow liners for a propshaft. The '765 and '184 patents appear to disclose hollow multi-ply cardboard liners that are press-fit to the propshaft; the cardboard liners are relatively long and appear to extend substantially coextensively with the hollow shaft. The '361 and '021 patents appear to disclose liners having a hollow cardboard core and a helical retaining strip that extends a relatively short distance (e.g., 0.03 inch) from the outside diameter of the core. The retaining strip has high frictional properties to frictionally engage the propshaft. Accordingly, the liners of the '765, '184, '361 and '021 patents appear to disclose a resistive means for attenuating shell mode vibration. These liners, however, do not appear to be suitable for attenuating bending mode vibration or torsion mode vibration.
In view of the foregoing, there remains a need in the art for an improved method for damping various types of vibrations in a hollow shaft. This method facilitates the damping of shell mode vibration as well as the damping of bending mode vibration and/or torsion mode vibration.

Damped propshaft assembly and method for fabricating a damped propshaft assembly


An integrally molded housing having outwardly directed, spaced-apart arms thereon for mounting within or attachment to a panel is disclosed. The arms are located on the body portion of the housing such that a distance slightly less than the thickness of the panel in which the housing is to be received exists between the end of each arm and a circumferential flanged surface on the housing. As the housing is being received through the panel, the arms are deflected inwardly and then spring outwardly causing a surface on the end of each arm to engage a surface on a complementary keyway in the panel. Another surface is provided on the end of each arm to prevent the disengagement of the arm from the surface surrounding its adjacent complementary keyway upon longitudinal movement of the housing toward the panel. The housing can be readily removed from the panel by the application of inwardly directed pressure on the arms.

Various approaches are available for mounting a housing, such as piezoelectric igniter housing, within or to a panel. For example, one of the most obvious approaches is to provide threads on the outer surface of the housing adjacent a shoulder on same. The housing can then be received through an aperture in the panel and a nut can threadably engage the threads causing the panel to be captured between the nut and the shoulder on the housing. Alternatively, a bracket can be utilized to receive the housing and to attach same to the panel. A still another approach requires the use of a specially designed clip or fastener to attach the housing to the panel. A still another approach utilizes a bushing which surrounds the housing. After the housing and bushing have been received through an aperture in the panel, it is virtually impossible to remove the housing from the panel without destroying the bushing and/or damaging the housing. From the foregoing, it is apparent that all of these approaches require the use of an additional component, e.g., a nut, bracket, clip, fastener, bushing, etc., in order to mount the housing within or to the panel, thus increasing the cost of the overall assembly.
Because of the foregoing disadvantages associated with the prior art approaches for mounting a housing within or to a panel, it has become desirable to develop a housing which can be mounted within a panel without the use of an additional component and which permits the housing to be easily removed from the panel.


Twin-roll caster for continuously casting metal strip comprises a pair of parallel casting rolls (1) each provided with longitudinal cooling water passages (26) adjacent other casting surfaces 25 of the rolls. Passages (26) are interconnected in groups of three to form three pass zig-zag water flow channels for flow of water back and forth between the roll ends. The roll ends are notched to form outwardly facing shoulders (44) for engagement with casting pool confining plates (10). Cooling water flows to and from the passages (26) through radial passages (35, 36) in roll end walls (27, 28) in the vicinity of the shoulders (44).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to twin roll casting of metal strip. It has particular, but not exclusive application to the casting of ferrous metal strip.
2. Description of Related Art
In a twin roll caster molten metal is introduced between a pair of contra-rotated horizontal casting rolls which are cooled so that metal shells solidify on the moving roll surfaces and are brought together at the nip between them to produce a solidified strip product delivered downwardly from the nip between the rolls. The term "nip" is used herein to refer to the general region at which the rolls are closest together. The molten metal may be poured from a ladle into a smaller vessel from which it flows through a metal delivery nozzle located above the nip so as to direct it into the nip between the rolls, so forming a casting pool of molten metal supported on the casting surfaces of the rolls immediately above the nip. This casting pool may be confined between side plates or dams held in sliding engagement with the ends of the rolls.
The casting surfaces of the casting rolls are generally provided by outer circumferential walls provided with longitudinal cooling water passages to and from which water is delivered through generally radial passages in end walls of the rolls. When casting ferrous metals the rolls must support molten metal at very high temperatures of the order of 1640.degree. C. and their peripheral surfaces must be maintained at a closely uniform temperature throughout in order to achieve uniform solidification of the metal and to avoid localised overheating of the roll surface.
It has been found that very small changes in cooling efficiency across each roll from one end to the other can cause the production of strip of asymmetrically cross section ie. strip having an asymmetrical thickness variation across the width of the strip.
The most desirable strip cross-section may vary according to the particular use intended for the strip. For example, if the strip is to be subsequently cold rolled it should desirably be produced with a small positive crown in the centre, ie. it should be slightly thicker in the centre than at its edges. However, if the strip is to be subsequently used in its as-cast state it may be produced with uniform thickness across its width. The casting rolls must be machined to an initial profile such that when they expand on heating to their operating temperature they adopt a profile which produces a strip of the required shape. In all cases it is desirable that the shape of the strip be symmetrical. However, this has proved very difficult and we have found in particular that the shape of the strip will commonly depart from the desired design shape toward the outer edges of the strip and in particular one edge margin is often significantly thicker than the other.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Limited


The semiconductor package contains the substrate with a stacked structure; the semiconductor device mounted on the top of the substrate and provided with the electrode pads; the input/output terminals on the bottom of the substrate, which connects the semiconductor package to the printed circuit board; and the conductive tubes going through the substrate, which connects the input/output terminals and the electrode pads. The surface-mounted semiconductor package has the protecting device on its sides. The protect device prevents water and the like from infiltrating the edges of the substrate, and additionally avoid a crack of the substrate due to expansion of the water. Furthermore, the protecting device has the pairs of lands on both sides of the substrate, which fasten the edges of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor package, such as a surface-mounted semiconductor package, which is mounted on the surface of a printed circuit board with input/output pins not inserted thereinto, and its manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, a more sophisticated function of a semiconductor package, such as an IC package built into electronic devices including personal computers or the like, requires more numbers of input/output pins. As a matter of fact, the number of input/output pins per package has reached a few hundred.
One of those packages is a Quad Flat Package (QFP), where the input/output pins are arranged on four sides of the square package. However, as more and more input/output pins are used, the package must be increased in size to allow more pins to be arranged on its sides, thus requiring more space.
In order to arrange more pins in a limited space on this type of package, reduction of the pin-to-pin pitch is necessary. However, when the package is mounted on the printed circuit board, for example, by soldering, the input/output pins to be densely arranged sometimes causes electric shorts therebetween.
To solve this problem, a Ball Grid Array (BGA), shown in FIGS. 10, 11(a), and 11(b), has been introduced recently as a new type of package to allow more input/output terminals to be placed.
FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view of a conventional surface-mounted semiconductor package of a BGA type, and FIG. 11(a) and 11(b) are the enlarged sectional views of the part of the semiconductor package surrounded by the rectangle indicated by the symbol A in FIG. 10.
On the semiconductor package shown in FIG. 10, the semiconductor device 1 is attached by bonding, using, for example, adhesives, in a predetermined area on the substrate 2, which includes the stacked fibers 2a such as glass fibers bound by epoxy resin, as shown in FIG. 11(a) and FIG. 11(b). The electrode pads on the semiconductor device 1 are connected via the bonding wires 3 to the conductive patterns 4 on the substrate 2, and the semiconductor device 1 and the bonding wires 3 are sealed with the resin material 5.
On the bottom of the substrate 2 are formed the conductive patterns 6 which correspond to the conductive patterns 4. The corresponding conductive patterns 4 and 6 are electrically connected through the cylindrical conductive coatings 7 formed on the inside walls of the through-holes in the substrate 2. With both of-the semiconductor device 1 and the bonding wires 3 being sealed with the resin material 5, the bumps 8 to be made of material such as solder, are formed on the conductive pattern 6. The bumps 8, which serve like the input/output pins of the QFP, fix the semiconductor device 1 on the printed circuit board 9b, which an electric connection therebetween are performed.
Though the input/output pins of the QFP arranged in line on every side of the package, the bumps 8 of the BGA are placed on the bottom surface of the package in a matrix form. This placement of the BGA solves the problems of the QFP because the pitch between the bumps 8 may be widened.
However, the conventional surface-mounted semiconductor packages of the BGA type, has a drawback in that the water 9 easily pervades the substrate 2 composed of stacked fiber 2a, causing the substrate 2 to be crack.
In particular, once the bumps 8 are heated, so as to melt the bumps, when the package is mounted on the printed circuit board 9b, the water 9 lying in the substrate 2 expands rapidly through the heat of the bumps 8, sometimes causing a crack 9a to form in the substrate 2, as shown in FIG. 11(b). If the crack 9a reaches the cylindrical conductive coating 7 positioned near an edge of the substrate 2, the cylindrical conductive coating 7 is broken, thus breaking the electric connection.

Surface-mounted semiconductor package and its manufacturing method


A system for estimating a trajectory of a vehicle includes vehicle state sensors detecting a state of movement of the vehicle and environment sensors monitoring an environment of the vehicle. A free space module determines a free space corridor based on the detected state of movement of the vehicle and the monitored environment of the vehicle. A goal point determination module determines at least one goal point for the trajectory to be estimated based on the free space corridor. A trajectory planning module estimates a reference trajectory based on the at least one goal point and calculates a deviation between an actual trajectory and the reference trajectory of the vehicle. A trajectory control module minimizes the deviation between the actual trajectory and the reference trajectory of the vehicle and outputs optimal control parameters for the movement of the vehicle based on the minimized deviation.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have been developed to support drivers in order to drive a vehicle more safely and comfortably. These systems comprise, for example, adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane keeping assistance (LKA).
An adaptive cruise control attempts to maintain a speed set by a driver of the vehicle or to keep a certain distance to a target vehicle in front of the vehicle comprising the adaptive cruise control. Therefore, the adaptive cruise control is effective only to control the speed of the vehicle in a longitudinal direction, and the driver has to control a steering wheel of the vehicle, i.e. any lateral movement.
On the other hand, lane keeping assistance is provided for lateral control and keeps a vehicle in a lane by steering the wheels in order to compensate for any undesired lateral deviations with respect to a distance from lane markers, for example. However, if lane keeping assistance is activated, there is no speed control for the vehicle. Although the steering is controlled by the lane keeping assistance, a driver still has to control a steering wheel and to take over control if necessary.
Furthermore, if an adaptive cruise control and a lane keeping assistance were activated at the same time, the vehicle might be understeered in a longitudinal and lateral direction since these systems are usually not coupled and their control signals are treated separately.
In order to improve the capability of vehicles regarding autonomous driving, trajectory planning has been developed to allow a synchronous control of a vehicle in both longitudinal and lateral direction. In addition, a planned trajectory is usually updated if the driving situation changes. However, collision avoidance has not been considered a priori in many of the proposed trajectory planning systems.
In order to determine a collision free space in front of a vehicle, a so-called occupancy grid technique has been proposed which analyzes the state of cells defined by a grid in front of the vehicle. For each cell it is checked if it is occupied, partly occupied, occluded or free by using sophisticated mathematical methods. In order to guarantee a collision-free space in front of a vehicle, the size of the grid, i.e. the number of its cells, is getting large if the curvature of the road increases. Furthermore, the occupancy grid is usually designed on the basis of a world coordinated system. That is, the occupancy grid technique requires multiple transformation steps since trajectory planning is usually performed in a vehicle coordinate system. Thus, using the occupancy grid technique in addition to trajectory planning is accompanied by a high computational effort.
Accordingly there is a need to provide a system and a method which are able to identify a collision free and optimal lane keeping trajectory for a vehicle.

System and method for trajectory estimation


An OLED display device and a method of fabricating the same. The OLED display device has at least one of a common power bus line or a cathode bus line formed at a peripheral portion of the OLED display device. By forming a lower line when a gate electrode of a thin film transistor is formed, and forming an upper line connected to the lower line through a contact hole when source and drain electrodes of the thin film transistor are formed, a dual structure of lower and upper lines is formed. As such, the OLED display device can reduce the width of interconnections without a high voltage drop to thereby increase an emission area of a light emitting portion of the OLED display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device and a method of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to an OLED display device and a method of fabricating the same having a dual structure of lower and upper lines connected through a contact hole to form a common power bus line and/or a cathode bus line.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in order to reduce the heavyweight and large volume of a conventional display device such as a cathode ray tube, attentions have been directed to flat panel display devices such as a liquid crystal display device, an OLED display device, a plasma display panel, and so on.
However, since the liquid crystal display device is not a self-emitting device and instead is a light receiving device, it has a limitation in brightness, contrast, viewing angle, large-sized display, and so on. By contrast, the PDP is a self-emitting device, but it is heavier than the other flat panel display devices and has high power consumption, and its manufacturing method is complicated. On the other hand, since the OLED display device is a self-emitting device, it has an excellent viewing angle and contrast, and since it is not necessary to employ a backlight, it is possible to realize a lightweight and compact display device with reduce power consumption.
In addition, the OLED display device can be driven at a low direct current voltage, has a fast response time, and has a high impact resistance because, as a whole, it is made of a solid material. Also, the OLED display device has a broad usage temperature range, and its manufacturing method is simple.
Referring to FIG. 1, a light emitting portion 102 is disposed on a substrate 101. The light emitting portion 102 is composed of unit pixels including a first electrode, an organic layer having at least an organic emission layer, and a second electrode. A scan driver 103 and a data driver 104 are disposed at the peripheral portion of the light emitting portion 102 to transmit electrical signals to the unit pixels. A common power supply bus line 105 and a cathode bus line 106 are also disposed at the peripheral portion of the light emitting portion 102 to supply power. In addition, pads 107 for connecting the common power supply bus line 105 and the cathode bus line 106 with external devices are disposed on the substrate 101 together with the light emitting portion 102.
In FIG. 1, the common power supply bus line 105 and the cathode bus line 106 are made of wide (or broad) metal interconnections in order to supply sufficient power to the unit pixels without a high voltage drop.
However, the broad width of the conventional common power supply bus line and cathode bus line makes it difficult to increase an area of the light emitting portion.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Organic light emitting display device and method of fabricating the same


A method and system include de-keying a base station in a conventional TDMA communications system and staffing a timer in the base station when the base station de-keys. The method and system further include receiving a transmission from a mobile station and re-keying and repeating the transmission, if the transmission is received with proper synchronization before expiration of the timer.

A conventional wireless communications system may generally comprise a set of "mobile stations," typically mobile stations are the endpoints of a communication path, and a set of "base stations," (also known as "repeaters" or "base radios") typically stationary and the intermediaries by which a communication path to a mobile station (MS) may be established or maintained. In such an environment and as is known in the art, the wireless communications system is termed "conventional" to denote the lack of a central controller to manage the communications between the MSs and the base stations. One such type of conventional wireless communications system utilizes time division multiple access (TDMA) to carry the communications of the system over a radio medium (also termed "spectrum") that is divided into time slots and such a system is termed a conventional TDMA communications system.
In a conventional TDMA communications system, each base station (BS) provides synchronization for the MSs, so that the MSs can utilize the spectrum for communication. Once synchronization between the BS and MSs is obtained, each MS can properly receive control signaling that identifies the temporal position of each time slot within the spectrum and the time slot of the spectrum each MS can utilize for communications. Because the spectrum is often shared, the BS normally de-keys when the spectrum is not in use. As is known in the art, de-key (and conjugations of "de-key") means that the BS's transmitter is turned off. Further known in the art, de-keyed means that the BS's downlink is inactive while the BS's uplink remains active and available to detect MS transmissions. When the BS is de-keyed, even though the BS is able to detect transmissions from the MS, the BS may not be able to process the transmissions because the MS may not be in synchronization with the BS. Thus, when the BS is de-keyed, a MS can not utilize the BS for communications until a) the MS sends a wakeup message to the BS which causes the BS to re-key and b) the MS synchronizes to the BS to receive timing information about the BS. After the wakeup and synchronization processes are completed, then a MS may finally utilize the BS for communications.
If the MS believes that the BS is de-keyed (e.g. due to not timely receiving synchronization), then the MS transmits the wakeup message and attempts to synchronize, which takes extra time and thus is undesirable if the MS has to send a wakeup message prior to every transmission. If the MS believes that the BS is keyed (e.g. due to timely receiving synchronization), then the MS does not transmit the wakeup message. In a conventional TDMA communications system, the MS is not explicitly notified that the BS has de-keyed. That is, there is no message that is sent from the BS to the MS that notifies the MS that the BS is about to de-key, de-keying or is de-keyed. In a conventional TDMA communications system, the MS indirectly determines that the BS has de-keyed, such as by not detecting synchronization from the BS. However, there is a finite amount of time that passes before the MS realizes that the BS has de-keyed and during this finite amount of time, if the MS sends communications to the BS, then the communications sent to the BS are ignored by the conventional TDMA communications system since (as mentioned above) the BS requires that the wakeup and synchronization processes be completed before the MS may utilize the de-keyed BS for communications.
Ignoring communications is a problem because the user of the MS does not have knowledge that the communications have not been received by the intended recipient of the communications. For example, if an emergency communication is placed by emergency personnel, as a user of a MS, and the BS is de-keyed, then the emergency personnel is not aware that the emergency communication has not reached its intended recipient, e.g. emergency personnel at a police station. In any case, ignoring communications is a problem.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method of accessing a de-keyed base station in a conventional TDMA communications system.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Method and system of accessing a de-keyed base station


The present invention relates to silane adducts having a relatively higher adhesive strength as expressed formula X3SiR1, and manufacturing method thereof. wherein X is a hydrogenated form selected from one of epoxy compounds, amino compounds and bisphenolic, and R1 is selected from one of glycidyloxypropyl group, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyl group, 3-acryloxypropyl group, 3-methacryloxypropyl group, amino-propyl group, 3-[2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethylamino]propyl group, N-methylaminopropyl group, N-phenylaminopropyl group, N,N-dimethyl-3-aminopropyl group, mercapto-propyl group, cyano-propyl group, and isocyanato-propyl group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to silane adducts used as coupling agents which adhere inorganics like metal, glass or ceramic to organic adhesives like epoxy resin, polyimide resin, polyimide-siloxane resin, and siloxane resin used in the field of semiconductor package of Board-On-Chip (BOC), and Chip Scale Package (CSP) installed on electronic devices, cellular phone and computers, etc. More specifically, the present invention relates to silane adducts having a relatively higher adhesive strength as expressed formula 1, and manufacturing method thereof.

wherein X is a dehydrogenated form selected from one of epoxy compounds, amino compounds, and bisphenolics, and R1 is a organoalkyl group, which is one of the functional group selected among glycidyloxypropyl group, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyl- group, 3-acryloxypropyl group, 3-methacryloxypropyl group, amino-propyl group, 3-[2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethylamino]propyl group, N-methylaminopropyl group, N-phenylaminopropyl group, N,N-dimethyl-3-aminopropyl group, mercapto-propyl group, cyano-propyl group, and isocyanato-propyl group.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventional silane coupling agent as expressed formula 2 is used as coupling agents which adhered inorganics like metal, glass or ceramic to organic adhesives like epoxy resin, polyimide resin, polyimide-siloxane resin, and siloxane resin used in the field of semiconductor package of Board-On-Chip (BOC), and Chip Scale Package (CSP) installed on electronic devices, cellular phone, computer, semiconductor material like BOC, and CSP

wherein, R is methyl or ethyl group. R1 is selected from one of glycidyloxypropyl group, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyl group, 3-acryloxypropyl group, 3-methacryloxypropyl group, amino-propyl group, 3-[2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethylamino]propyl group, N-methylaminopropyl group, N-phenylaminopropyl group, N,N-dimethyl-3-aminopropyl group, mercapto-propyl group, cyano-propyl group, and isocyanato-propyl group, which has a reactivity or a compatibility with polymeric materials.
More details, for the purpose that the silane coupling agent as expressed formula 2 couples inorganic material to organic materials, the RO— group of the conventional silane coupling agent as expressed formula 2 must be transformed into silanol group, —SiOH, as expressed formula 3 by hydrolysis process as shown in reaction 1.
Silanol group of formula 3 formed by hydrolysis chemically reacted to inorganic materials, and R1 group can be chemically coupled to other organic materials. From the reaction, the bond between organic adhesives and inorganics will be strengthened.(RO)3SiR1+H2O→(HO)3SiR1+3R—OH  [Reaction 1]

wherein R and R1 are the same as those of formula 2, and R—OH is organic by-product with low molecule. Because R—OH is a volatile organic compound, it is desirable to minimize the by-product for safety and environmental cause.
In general, there are three methods of Solution, Dry-blend, and Integral blend to adapt the conventional silane compounds and then to bond between organic adhesive and inorganics. The details are shown below:
1) Solution Method:
It is used to make compounds of formula 3 with silanol group through hydrolysis of RO— group as shown in reaction 1 by adding silane coupling agent to alcohol/water co-solvent. This process takes an hour and it is very important to properly control pH of the solution.
2) Dry Blend Method:
It is a method that silane compounds without hydrolysis are directly added or silane compounds blended with solvent are added into mineral fillers, before impregnating the fillers to resin.
However, it has the disadvantage that the silane compound is not uniformly wetted over the filler.
3) Integral Blend Method:
This method is to directly add the silane coupling agent without treatment by hydrolysis to a polymeric phase etc. and then to diffuse the silane coupling agent on the surface of fillers uniformly dispersed in polymer resin. This method is used in the case that the above two methods are difficult to adopt. Its result is, however, less effective than the above two methods 1) and 2) which are directly wetted on surface of fillers.
In the case where the silane coupling agent is applied to the organic die attach adhesive so that chips as inorganic material are connected with substrates as electrical path in Board-On-Chip (BOC) or Chip-Scale-Package (CSP) of semiconductor, the solution method and the dry blend method can not be used because the surfaces of the chip and the substrate cannot be directly treated with silane coupling agent. For that purpose, the integral blend method directly adding the silane coupling agent to the adhesive should be used.
However, if the integral blend method is used in order that the general silane coupling agent is added into the adhesive applied to BOC or CSP, R—OH group generated by hydrolysis forms void on the interface between the die attach adhesive and metal or chip. The void trapped on the interface may give rise to incomplete wetting, which inevitably leads to a decrease of the adhesive strength when external thermal or mechanical stress is applied thereto. Therefore, the adhesive with the conventional silane coupling agent is very difficult to use for adhesion of package like BOC and CSP for semiconductors.

Reacting functionalized trialkoxysilane with polyepoxide or diamine to yield silane adduct


In an ionization device of a mass spectrometer, an abnormality diagnosis device or control section switches a change-over switch without lighting up a filament, and reads a trap current and a total current supplied to the filament, by current/voltage converting sections. Then, by determining whether the trap current and the total current are zero or more, a trouble due to a contact between the filament or a trap electrode and an ionization chamber is found. When it is determined that a condition is normal, the filament is turned on and the feedback control is operated. Also, the trap current and the total current are respectively read, and in accordance with the values thereof, there is found a deficiency due to a shift of the attachment position of the filament or the trap electrode, or a burnout of the filament.

The present invention relates to a mass spectrometer, and more particularly, to a mass spectrometer with an ionization device utilizing an ionization method which uses thermoelectrons, such as electron ionization (EI) or chemical ionization (CI).
In the mass spectrometer, there is used an ionization device using various kinds of ionization methods, such as electron ionization (EI) and chemical ionization (CI). For example, in the EI, a heating current is supplied to a filament to emit thermoelectrons from the filament, and at the same time, an adequate potential difference is produced between the filament and a trap electrode (also called as an electron collector or a target) to provide a kinetic energy to the thermoelectrons. Accordingly, the thermoelectrons emitted from the filament fly toward the trap electrode, and when the thermoelectrons contact sample molecules in an ionization chamber located on the way to the trap electrode, electrons are discharged or beaten out from the sample molecule, so that the sample molecules become positive ions. Normally, the number of the electrons captured at the trap electrode depends on the number of the electrons emitted from the filament. Thus, in order to provide a predetermined value to a trap current which flows owing to the thermoelectrons reaching the trap electrode, the heating current flowing through the filament is subjected to a feedback control, so that an amount of the thermoelectrons generated in the filament becomes approximately constant, resulting in achieving the stable ionization.
In the ionization which utilizes the flow of thermoelectrons, in case the filament and the trap electrode are not adequately attached to predetermined positions with respect to the ionization chamber for operating the ionization, even if a maximum heating current is supplied to the filament, the trap current does not reach the desirable value, so that the control of the heating current as described above can not be made. Therefore, in the conventional mass spectrometer, a value of the trap current is monitored, and in case the trap current does not reach the predetermined value in the condition that the filament is lighted up to operate the feedback control of the heating current, it is determined to be an abnormal condition, s that, for example, an error is displayed.
As the causes of the aforementioned abnormality of the control of the heating current, there can be considered various causes, such as a displacement or shift of the attachment position of the filament or the trap electrode, a contact between the filament or the trap electrode and the ionization chamber, or a burnout or cutout of the filament. However, n the aforementioned conventional mass spectrometer, it can be only detected that the trap current is not normal, and the cause of abnormality can not be specified. Thus, in order to check the kind of abnormality, there is required an operation of returning an inside of a vacuum chamber of the mass spectrometer, which is kept in a vacuum condition, to an atmospheric pressure, and checking the inside thereof by a visual observation. Therefore, the operation for checking the cause of the abnormality and readjustments operation are very cumbersome.
Also, in the aforementioned structure, if the heating current does not flow through the filament, it is impossible to check whether it is abnormal or not. However, in the abnormal condition, if it is tried to supply the heating current to the filament to operate the feedback control, an excessive current flows through the filament or a part of the circuit, possibly resulting in a further breakdown.
The present invention has been made to solve the aforementioned problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a mass spectrometer having an ionization device, which can diagnose a part of abnormalities of a filament or a trap electrode before an electric current is supplied to the filament, and can perform a further detailed diagnoses of an abnormal portion in the condition that the electric current flows through the filament.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a mass spectrometer provided with an ionization device. The ionization device comprises: an ionization chamber disposed in a vacuum chamber; a filament for emitting thermoelectrons for ionizing gas molecules in the ionization chamber; a trap electrode, which accelerates the thermoelectrons by a potential difference between a potential of the filament and that of the trap electrode and captures the thermoelectrons passing through the ionization chamber; first current measuring means for measuring a trap current caused to flow by the thermoelectrons reaching the trap electrode; second current measuring means for measuring a total current as an entire current flowing by the thermoelectrons emitted by the filament; current control means for controlling a heating current flowing through the filament so that either the trap current or the total current has a predetermined value; first abnormality diagnosis means, which allows first and second current measuring means to measure respective current values in a condition that the filament is not energized, and which determines an abnormality based on the measured current values; and second abnormality diagnosis means, which allows the first and second current measuring means to measure respective current values in a condition that a predetermined control is carried out by the current control means, and which determines an abnormality based on the measured current values.
In the ionization device of the mass spectrometer according to the invention, the total current at least includes, in addition to the trap current, a current flowing through the ionization chamber by the contact of the thermoelectrons emitted from the filament with the ionization chamber, instead of the trap electrode. Accordingly, for example, the second cur-rent measuring means measures a current flowing through a bias voltage source which biases the filament to a negative potential with respect to the trap electrode and the ionization chamber, so that the total current can be obtained.
The first abnormality diagnosis means measures the trap current and the total current in the condition that the filament is not energized. In this case, since the thermoelectrons are not generated in the filament, both the trap current and the total current are supposed to be zero. However, since the predetermined potentials different from a potential (normally, a ground potential) of the ionization chamber itself are applied to the filament and the trap electrode, if the filament or the trap electrode contacts the ionization chamber, the trap current or the total current flows. Thus, in case the measured trap current and the total current are not zero, the first abnormality diagnosis means determines that there is an abnormality due to the contact between the trap electrode or the filament and the ionization chamber.
The second abnormality diagnosis means measures the trap current and the total current in the condition that the filament is energized and the heating current is controlled by the current control means. Although there is an upper limit to a heating current which can be supplied to the filament, in the normal condition, the current control means can stabilize the trap current at the substantially predetermined current in the condition that the heating current having the value smaller than the upper limit value is supplied. However, if the attachment position of the filament or the trap electrode is shifted or displaced largely, a proportion that the thermoelectrons emitted from the filament reach the trap electrode is extremely reduced (in other words, many of the thermoelectrons reach the ionization chamber), so that the trap current does not increase even if the heating current is increased. Therefore, even if the heating current of the upper limit value flows through the filament, the trap current does not reach the predetermined value. Thus, in case the measured trap current is smaller than, for example, the predetermined value, the second abnormality diagnosis means determines that there is an abnormality due to the shift of the attachment position of the trap electrode or the filament. Also, in case the filament is burned out or cut out, the heating current does not flow, so that the thermoelectrons are not generated, resulting in that both the trap current and the total current become zero. Thus, in case the trap current and the total current are zero, the second abnormality diagnosis means determines that the filament is burned out or cut out.
If there is a structure such that an existence of abnormality and abnormal portion are warned to a user by a display or sound based on the diagnosis results of the first and second abnormality diagnosis means, the user can recognize the abnormal portion and promptly take the necessary procedure. Also, if there is a structure such that the abnormality diagnosis is carried out by the second abnormality diagnosis means only in case the first abnormality diagnosis means determines that the condition is normal, in case the filament or the trap electrode contacts the ionization chamber, the filament can be prevented from being energized.
According to the mass spectrometer o the invention, the abnormal portion of the ionization device and the cause thereof can be detected in detail, and the results thereof can be informed to the user. Thus, the user can promptly inspect the abnormal portion and an appropriate operation, such as readjustment or replacement, can be started in accordance with necessity. Since these operations can be carried out promptly, an analysis operation becomes efficient. Also, according to the mass spectrometer of the invention, before the filament is lighted up, the abnormality due to the contact between the filament or the trap electrode and the ionization chamber can be detected and informed to the user. In this abnormal condition, if the filament is lighted up, the excessive current might flow through the circuit. However, in the present invention, this abnormality can be found without lighting up the filament, so that the undesirable damage to the circuit due to the excessive current can be avoided.

Mass spectrometer with ionization device


A fuel cell device including a fuel cell stack with a flexible enclosure.

An electrochemical fuel cell system typically includes a stack of individual fuel cells that convert fuel and oxidant reactants into useful electricity and a byproduct of water. The fuel cell stack usually includes a device to compress the fuel cells together to maintain good contact between the cells despite internal reactant pressure that tends to force the cells apart. The fuel cell stack is generally sealingly enclosed between upper and lower end plates and by a steel sleeve surrounding the stack. The sleeve is coupled to the end plates with multiple fasteners, and multiple seals and gaskets disposed between the sleeve and the end plates.
But some stack enclosures may not provide desired insulation against electromagnetic interference (EMI) and/or sealing against environmental conditions. Also, some stack enclosures may require costly and/or heavy components, many fasteners, and several environmental seals and EMI gaskets. Further, some stack enclosures may not compensate for stack expansion and contraction or stack-to-stack build tolerances.


An example control system includes a memory and at least one processor to obtain image data from a given region and perform image analysis on the image data to detect a set of objects in the given region. For each object of the set, the example control system may classify each object as being one of multiple predefined classifications of object permanency, including (i) a fixed classification, (ii) a static and fixed classification, and/or (iii) a dynamic classification. The control system may generate at least a first layer of a occupancy map for the given region that depicts each detected object that is of the static and fixed classification and excluding each detected object that is either of the static and unfixed classification or of the dynamic classification.

Mobile robots often utilize occupancy maps for a given region of their respective operation. Many robots construct their own occupancy map while operating, using sensors such as cameras. In the course of traversing a given region, mobile robots often detect objects that adversely affect the accuracy of the constructed map.

Mobile robots to generate occupancy maps

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.


A package for a frequency selection component includes a base, a thermoplastic die attachment, and either a soldered or low- melting-temperature glass lid attachment. These techniques can be employed in either a leadless chip carrier or a single layer ceramic base configuration. A package for a surface acoustic wave device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention is suitable for enclosing the device in a hermetically sealed environment such that the resulting structure takes up a minimum volume of space. The package facilitates automated circuit assembly techniques, allowing compact, low cost products to incorporate frequency selection components when these are made in accordance with the present invention.

This invention relates to packages for microelectronic frequency selection components such as surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices and more specifically to housings suitable for mass assembly of packaged hermetically sealed devices.
At the present time, much effort and expense is devoted to research and development relating to microelectronic frequency selection devices. Examples of devices which fall into this category are film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBARs) (see, for example, "SBAR filter monolithically integrated with HBT amplifier," by D. Cushman et al., presented at the 1990 IEEE Ultrason. Symp., Honolulu, Hi., December 1990) and surface acoustic wave devices. Inasmuch as many such devices derive their electrical properties from mechanical motion of some portion of the device, events which affect that motion can in turn affect the frequency selection characteristics of such devices. Circuits including this type of device tend to provide fairly compact frequency selection components while taking up minimal space. However, the volume reduction achieved by improved packaging techniques can be as much as 100:1 as compared to other device packaging methods. These devices are not usable for practical applications unless they can be enclosed in and protected by proper hermetic packages or housings.
Prior art packages for such device chips tend to be expensive and tend to be much larger than the device enclosed within. While some prior art packages allow mounting of die within the package in a small area, the packages themselves require excessive amounts of space. This is because some such packages utilize leads that extend beyond the boundaries of the package. These leads often must be tied down to conductors on a substrate surface and then brought from the conductors on the substrate to an adjacent package. This requires that sufficient space be maintained between the prior art packages to facilitate the required electrical and mechanical connections.
Prior art die bonding by use of thermosetting polymers can result in trapping of contaminants in the polymer or in substantial outgassing of reaction products from the polymer on heating. These contaminants result in greatly impaired device performance when they condense on the frequency selection component surface, by promoting attenuation of the mechanical vibrations and thereby greatly diminishing the magnitude of the desired output signals.
For example, epoxies outgas large proportions of their mass during cure. Three leading brand adhesives tested by John Hopkins University scientists (Proc. IEEE Elec. Comp. Conf., IEEE Catalogue No. 89CH2775-5, pp. 301-308), outgassed 9 to 36% of their mass during cure. Such significant outgassing can result in void formation, diminishing the strength of the die bond, and can also result in re-deposition of heavier organic chemicals on the frequency selection component surface.
An additional problem occurs when automated machine placement and assembly of such components is attempted. This is due to bending of the leads during insertion into appropriately treated holes in the substrate, causing unreliable connections of the part to the surrounding circuitry.
Moreover, frequency selection components require hermetically sealed environments in order to work reliably. This has led to use of metallic packages, such as TO-5 and TO-8 containers, and various types of dual-in-line packages, which are individually resistance or seam welded. Due to the piezoelectric nature of the materials required for many types of frequency selection devices, such as surface wave filters, surface skimming bulk wave filters, shallow bulk acoustic wave filters, and the like, these devices must not be exposed to temperatures above the substrate Curie temperature. Such welding techniques produce adequately sealed hermetic packages without exposing the die to excessive heat. However, these manufacturing techniques are not well suited to batch processing, resulting in high costs which are prohibitive for high volume consumer product manufacturing.
Further, SAW die require mounting techniques and materials which do not result in stresses in the mounted die. Such stresses cause random phase distortion and frequency response distortion in the finished part.

Method for packaging microelectronic frequency selection components


The disclosure discloses a network access method, apparatus and system. The method includes: a network side determines that a first User Equipment (UE) requests to use the account of a second UE for access; the network side determines that the account of the second UE is successfully authenticated; the network determines that the user to which the second UE belongs allows the first UE to access the network side by the account of the second UE; and the first UE accesses the network side. The disclosure can ensure the security of the master user.

The Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is characterized by mobility and high broadband, and can meet the high-speed access requirement of a user with limited mobility. Under the full-service operation of China telecom, the breadth and depth of the coverage of the WLAN hotspot is a strategic resource against competitors, and can not only diversify means for the user to access network but also enforce the differential service capability provided by China telecom to the user based on network access.
Now, China telecom is vigorously advancing the deployment of the WLAN hotspots, meanwhile, it combines the WLAN with the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network to provide the user with broadband wireless access service. With the continuous expansion of the WLAN and its service scale and the continuous abundance of WLAN User Equipments (UEs), the network and information security authentication must be taken into consideration and solved.
The conventional WLAN authentication method includes: a WLAN file is created in a smart card to store a WLAN account, and when a client terminal initiates a WLAN connection, an Attention (AT) command is sent to a data card to indicate it to read the WLAN account stored in the smart card; a multi-user WLAN access user equipment is provided with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card interface; and an authentication module is configured to judge whether an access user name is stored in a storage module, if not, an authorization request is sent to a WLAN Authentication Server (AS) by the security data connection established.
In the related arts, the WLAN authentication of a UE is mostly performed by an account in a SIM card or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) KEY; and when other users access a network by the account of the master user, the master user will not be notified, therefore insecurity is possibly caused.

Network access method, apparatus and system


An electronic communication evaluating device determines a suspicion level for an initial electronic communication. The initial electronic communication is addressed to an addressed entity that is associated with an electronic communication receiver. In response to the suspicion level exceeding a predetermined level, a communication switching device reroutes the initial electronic communication from the addressed entity to a cognitive honeypot. The cognitive honeypot transmits, to the electronic communication transmitting system, emulation electronic communications that emulate the addressed entity until a predefined state of the communication session occurs.

The present disclosure relates to the field of electronic communications, and specifically to the field of fraudulent electronic communications. Still more specifically, the present disclosure relates to the field of detecting and responding to fraudulent electronic communications.
Electronic communications are communications between two entities, and include, but are not limited to, e-mail, text messages, voice phone calls, etc. While the majority of electronic communications are legitimate, a large portion of electronic communications are for nefarious purposes, such as stealing financial information, fraudulently obtaining money, accessing confidential information, etc.

International Business Machines Corporation


The mapping of playing objects from one game to another. In one embodiment, generic attributes of an object may be mapped to game-specific attributes. The mapping may either change or maintain the look and feel of an object. For example, a fast but lightly-armed starship in one game may be mapped to a quick but weak warrior in another game.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to computer game systems and, more particularly, to a computer game system for use on a network, with software playing objects which persist between instantiations of a game and/or from one game to another.
2. Description of Related Art
A. Playing Objects
1. Specific to Game, Multiple Sessions
Many different kinds of games today are played using playing objects of one kind or another. In many cases, these playing objects are specific to the game being played. For example, the game of Monopoly.RTM. (Milton Bradley) is played using playing objects such as player tokens, "Chance" and "opportunity" cards, property cards, houses and hotels. These playing objects are usable only in the game of Monopoly (including various versions thereof). Other games are available which take off from the theme of the original Monopoly game, but such games typically provide their own playing objects which may or may not look and operate in the same way as the original Monopoly game playing objects. The playing objects used in a particular session or instantiation of the game of monopoly are typically reused in the next session or instantiation of the game, and are therefore considered herein to "persist" from one instantiation or session to the next.
2. Multiple-Game Objects
Many games do exist which use a certain set of playing objects which persist from instantiation to instantiation of the game, and also are usable in different games. Card games, using an ordinary 52-card deck, are the most common examples of these kinds of games. The same playing objects, namely the cards, are reused in different sessions of a given game, as well as in different games. Another example involves the set of games Go, Gomoku and Othello, all of which can be played using a single set of tiles.
3. Expansion Objects Separate From Game
Some games, whose playing objects are game-specific, can be played using playing objects that were not provided with the original game product. For example, the game "Cosmic Encounter" by Mayfair Games is sold with a set of cards for use in the game. The publisher also sells several expansion sets of cards, which can also be used in the same game. A number of other card games and board games exist which include a set of playing objects sold with the product, but then have additional card sets created for them.
4. Look And Feel
In some cases, when a particular playing object is usable in more than one game, the same playing object is used within all games. For example, a physical tile used in Go is the same as a tile used in a game of Othello. Thus, if a physical tile is considered to have any look or feel, it remains unchanged.
In other cases, the rules of a game give a different look and feel or value to an identical playing object. For example, an ace might be "high" in one card game and "low" in another card game.
5. Object With Value Outside Game
The game of "Magic: The Gathering", (published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., Renton, Wash.), is a game in which players battle each other using decks of cards which they can own and bring to a match. These playing cards can have a value outside of the game, for a number of reasons, including the following reasons. First, they have art work and fantasy text which render them collectible. Second, each user makes up his or her own deck for use in a particular session of the game, and can select cards which give the player a perceived advantage. Third, the publisher may publish fewer numbers of certain cards. As a result of the intrinsic value of Magic playing cards outside of the game, these cards are often wagered in games and/or sold or traded to other players outside of the game playing setting.
6. Modification Of Character During Game
A fantasy role-playing game is "Dungeons & Dragons", by TSR. At the beginning of a game session, each player creates a character to role play having various attributes such as strength, speed, weapons, and so on. The characters are affected by events that take place during the game session; for example, they can gain wealth by picking up a treasure.
B. Computer Games
Many card games and board games are also available as computer games. For example, game software can be found for the games of chess, checkers, poker, Monopoly, and so on. Other computer games do use game-specific playing objects which persist from session to session of the game. For example, in the game "John Madden Football", published by Electronic Arts, San Mateo, Calif., the data about individual football players is provided on a disk. This data persists through different sessions of the game, and can even change over time due to game play. For example, if a football player is injured in one session of the game, that injury affects the conduct of the player in subsequent sessions. The data sold with one version of the game can usually be used in earlier versions of the same game (i.e., data is backward compatible).
C. Network Games
With the advent of networking and the Internet, games played via a computer network have become available.
One class of such games is "Multi-User Dungeon", also known as MUDs. MUDs are typically text-based fantasy role-playing games, similar to Dungeons & Dragons. Players for the most part interact with each other, but can also interact with a virtual environment. A character and its attributes persist from session to session of the game, during one instantiation of the game. For example, a player may play a MUD for an hour, gaining certain experience or weapons for the player's character. The player may then log out for a while and resume the next day in the same instantiation of the same MUD game. In some cases, the character may still have its experience and weapons gained during the player's prior session. Objects can be transferred from one player to another during game play. For example, one player can have his or her character drop a weapon that the character acquired previously in the same instantiation of the game, and another character can later find it and pick it up.
Interactive games over a network may have software for much of the graphics stored on a user's local memory, while communications over the network are used for interaction with a central server or other user for the remaining graphics, such as an opposing player. A number of different modes of communication can be used. For instance, currently Internet games use E-mail, Telnet (text based) and Internet Relay Chat.

Networked computer game system with persistent playing objects


There are provided a touch sensing apparatus and a touch sensing method. The touch sensing apparatus includes: a panel unit provided with a plurality of electrodes; a sensing circuit unit detecting variations in capacitance in the plurality of electrodes; and a calculating unit determining a touch from the variations in capacitance, wherein the calculating unit applies different parameters for determining the touch to the plurality of individual electrodes. The parameters such as an integration time, a digital signal conversion time, and a driving signal application time are set differently according to positions in which the variations in capacitance are detected, driving efficiency may be improved and power consumption may be significantly reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch sensing apparatus and a method thereof that can accurately determine a touch by setting different parameters for measuring variations in capacitance and determining the touch depending on a sensing electrode or a sensing channel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Touch sensing apparatuses such as a touch screen, a touch pad, and the like, as user interface apparatuses attached to a display apparatus to provide an intuitive input method to a user, have been widely applied to a variety of electronic apparatuses such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a navigation device and the like, in recent years. In particular, recently, with the increase in demand for smart phones, the rate at which a touch screen has been adopted as a touch sensing apparatus capable of providing various input methods in a limited form factor has increased on a daily basis.
Touch screens adopted in portable electronic apparatuses may be largely classified into resistive type and capacitive type touch screens, according to a touch sensing method. Since the capacitive type touch screen is advantageous in that a life-span thereof may be relatively extended, and various input methods and gestures can be easily implemented therein, the adoption rate of the capacitive type touch screen has steadily increased. In particular, it is easier to implement a multi-touch interface in the capacitive type touch screen than in the resistive type touch screen, and as a result, the capacitive type touch screen is widely applied to an electronic apparatus such as a smart phone, or the like.
The capacitive type touch screen includes a plurality of electrodes connected to a plurality of sensing channels and senses a touch from a variation in capacitance, generated by the touch, in each electrode. Accordingly, the distance between the position of an electrode, in which the variation in capacitance is to be detected, and the position of the sensing channel, influences a response speed in detecting the variation in capacitance. When the variation in capacitance is detected in an area relatively distant from the sensing channel, overall performance may be deteriorated due to a low response speed.

Touch sensing apparatus and method thereof


A hydrodynamic clutch includes a housing which can be brought into working connection with a drive; a hydrodynamic circuit formed by a pump wheel and a turbine wheel; a torsional vibration damper having a drive side transmission element, a takeoff side transmission element, and at least one energy storage group between the transmission elements; and a bridging clutch including first friction elements connected to the housing and second friction elements connected to the drive side transmission element. A first flow route extends from a first flow passage to the friction elements, and a second flow route extends from the hydrodynamic circuit to a second flow passage. A sealing arrangement cooperates with the drive side transmission element to separate the first flow route from the second flow route.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a hydrodynamic clutch device including a housing which can be brought into working connection with a drive; a hydrodynamic circuit formed by a pump wheel and a turbine wheel; a torsional vibration damper having a drive side transmission element, a takeoff side transmission element, and at least one energy storage group between the transmission elements; and a bridging clutch connecting the housing to the drive side transmission element of the torsional vibration damper.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hydrodynamic clutch device of this type is known from, for example, DE 10 2004 029 157 A1. The hydrodynamic clutch arrangement has a hydrodynamic circuit, formed by a pump wheel, a turbine wheel, and a stator, and is realized as a torque converter, which is designed with a bridging clutch, the piston of which is able to move a plurality of friction elements into and out of engagement with each other. First friction elements are mounted nonrotatably on a housing of the hydrodynamic clutch device, so that this housing, which is connected for rotation in common with a drive, such as the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine, acts as a drive-side friction element carrier. Second friction elements are mounted nonrotatably on a drive-side transmission element of a torsional vibration damper, which thus acts as a takeoff-side friction element carrier. The bridging clutch has friction surfaces located between adjacent friction element carriers. The drive-side transmission element of the torsional vibration damper cooperates with an energy-storage group and a takeoff-side transmission element of the torsional vibration damper to form a damping device, which is connected nonrotatably to a takeoff such as a gearbox input shaft. The energy-storage group is supported in openings in cover plates, which are connected nonrotatably to the takeoff-side friction element carrier, and is also supported in openings provided in the takeoff-side transmission element.
In the known hydrodynamic clutch device, the openings for the energy-storage group in the cover plates and in the takeoff-side transmission element are permeable to the fluid medium present in the housing. Because of these openings, there is the problem that a not inconsiderable portion of the fluid medium moving from a flow inlet to a flow outlet flows through the openings, thus bypassing the friction surfaces of the bridging clutch. Especially during phases in which the friction elements are heated because of slippage, it is possible that this phenomenon can cause a deficiency of cooling fluid medium in the area of the friction surfaces, so that the heat developed at the friction surfaces cannot be carried away. As a result, the load capacity of these friction elements becomes lower than that of better-cooled friction elements.
This basic problem of the openings for the energy-storage group is especially relevant when the known hydrodynamic clutch device is designed as a three-line system. In a three-line system, a pressure space located axially between the drive-side cover of the clutch device and a piston of the bridging clutch is not only sealed off against the hydrodynamic circuit, but also connected to an additional pressure line of a hydraulic system, which means that the hydrodynamic circuit has both a flow inlet and a flow outlet.
A two-line system such as that known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,646 is therefore superior with respect to the dissipation of heat from the area of the friction surfaces. In a two-line system, the pressure space located between the drive-side cover of the clutch device and the piston of the bridging clutch is connected to a control line of a hydraulic system, which acts either as a flow inlet or as a flow outlet for fluid medium in correspondence with the operating state of the clutch device at the moment in question, i.e., depending on whether the bridging clutch is open or closed. Because otherwise there is only one other flow inlet or outlet for the hydrodynamic circuit, the fluid medium is forced, as it enters the hydrodynamic circuit or leaves it, to flow across the friction surfaces of the bridging clutch, because the bridging clutch in a two-line system acts as a separation point between the hydrodynamic circuit and the pressure space. For this reason, the use of a torsional vibration damper in a two-line system such as that according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,646 does not present a problem, even though this damper has two radially offset damping devices, in which openings which allow the flow of the fluid medium are provided in the cover plates and hub disks to accommodate the drive-side energy-storage group of the drive-side damping device and the takeoff-side energy-storage group of the takeoff-side side damping device. The two energy-storage groups are connected to each other by an intermediate transmission element.
To return to the hydrodynamic clutch devices with the more problematic three-line system: FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,401 shows a design in which a clutch device operating according to this system cooperates with a torsional vibration damper with two damping devices, each with openings which promote the flow of the medium. Because this design is especially critical with respect to the overheating of the friction elements of the bridging clutch as explained above, FIG. 2 of the '401 patent shows a torsional vibration damper in which a closed cover plate is assigned to the radially outer damping device. A cover plate of this type, however, takes up more space in the axial direction than a cover plate with openings for the energy-storage group, and this extra space is located precisely in the area of the torsional vibration damper where it has already been made larger in the axial direction because of the presence of an energy-storage group. Presumably for this reason, the torsional vibration damper according to the '401 patent does not have a closed cover plate for the radially inner damping device.


In accordance with the present invention, there are provided highly sensitive, water-developable photoreactive resin compositions useful for the preparation of printing plates. Due to the high sensitivity of invention resin compositions, they are particularly useful for preparation of digitally imaged printing plates. Printing plates prepared employing invention compositions are characterized as having excellent exposure sensitivity, the capability of rapidly curing upon exposure, excellent retention of fine details, and excellent colorless performance. Moreover, printing plates prepared employing invention compositions have good clarity and flexibility, excellent washout properties, and retain such properties over extended periods of storage. Once photopolymerized, printing plates of the invention have excellent physical properties, enabling their use in many very demanding flexographic applications.

Photosensitive resins used for the manufacture of relief printing plates are preferably developable with water rather than organic solvent for various reasons such as ease of handling, health of workers who come in contact therewith, safety, and avoidance of environmental pollution. Printing plates employed for flexographic printing must be capable of printing on a variety of substrates, which vary widely in their composition and surface uniformity. Substrates employed for flexographic printing include metal foils, plastic films, kraft paper, corrugated board, laminated papers and boards, newsprint, and the like. In order to successfully print on this wide variety of substrates, one must use a variety of ink types and printing press conditions.
The ideal printing plate for use in flexographic printing applications would be one which is capable of withstanding the potentially deleterious effects of the agents which are likely to come in contact therewith, i.e., common ink solvents, developing media (e.g., water), and radiation-cured materials. The ideal printing plate will further show no tendency to crack when flexed, and will be soft enough to conform to irregular surfaces, yet durable enough to withstand the forces of the printing process. It is also desirable that the resin material employed for the preparation of printing plates resist cracking or degradation when exposed to ozone in ambient air.
Another desirable feature of resin materials employed for the production of printing plates is a sufficient level of sensitivity and reactivity so as to allow digital imaging thereof. Digital imaging is expanding rapidly in all areas of the graphic arts. Ongoing advances in cameras, computers, networks and software are making it increasingly easy to capture, transmit, manipulate and render images composed entirely of electronic bits. The use of completely digital pre-press processes is becoming more and more commonplace in many areas of printing. A key step in digital pre-press processes is computer pagination, where all of the components of a page image are "pasted-up" electronically while displayed on a computer monitor.
Once paginated, the logical next step is to produce printing plates directly from the digital page data. Devices that enable this direct production of printing plates are commonly called platesetters, which are an essential component of computer-to-plate (CTP) technology. No film is required and there are no intermediate renditions of the image between the original art (text, photos, ads, and the like) and the printing plate. The pre-press page flow is, therefore, reduced by one or more steps.
Flexographic printers realize a number of advantages upon adoption of digital technology, in general, and digital platemaking, in particular. Firstly, print quality is improved. This includes better vignetting, tighter registration, sharper line work, and more open shadows/midtones. On-press registration is also better, which adds to the quality improvement for process color as well as reduces startup paper waste--a significant advantage with higher cost papers.
The elimination of film is another important goal for flexographic printers, since film costs can be $0.40-$0.75 or more per square foot (including chemicals). Other film related costs include the purchase and maintenance of capital equipment (page cameras, imagesetters, processors and punch units), manpower and waste treatment. The manpower requirements of CTP plate production are reduced because there is no longer a need to handle, inspect and opaque film. The treatment of heavy metal (silver) waste is also eliminated. Indeed, computer-to-plate technology totally obviates this environmental concern and its associated costs.
Platesetters for offset plates have been commercially available for a number of years. Because of the thinness of offset coating (1-2 microns), the technology to image offset plates is less demanding than that needed for flexo's thick relief (>355 microns). The offset technology is now field proven and offered by more than 20 vendors in a myriad of configurations. For example, one can choose from blue, green or infra-red lasers in either external drum, internal drum or flatbed formats.
In flexography, there are currently two commercially available technologies, i.e., laser ablation and mask ablation. In laser ablation, a high power carbon dioxide laser, controlled by a computer, blasts away the non-image area of a solid rubber plate. The imaging speed is only about 1 m.sup.2 per hour, however, which is too slow for many applications. The laser ablation approach also lacks the ability to resolve the detail of fine halftone screens.
In mask ablation, a photopolymer is manufactured with a thin, opaque layer on top. The opaque layer is then ablated away in the image area by an IR laser to create a mask directly on the surface. The underlying photopolymer is then exposed through the mask with conventional UV lamps, and solvent processed. Imaging employing this technique is slow, however (.about.1 m.sup.2 /h), and the mask technology adds significantly to the cost of the printing plate.
What is needed in the field of flexographic printing is high sensitivity photopolymer capable of direct exposure by a rapidly moving laser beam to produce plates of high quality. Currently, there are no commercially available flexographic resins which are capable of rapid, direct exposure by lasers.
Several types of photosensitive resin formulations have been developed for use in flexographic printing. Photosensitive resin plates prepared employing modified thermoplastic elastomeric rubber or rubber-like printing media have excellent mechanical properties, but can be processed only in organic media. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,323,637, 4,369,246 and 4,622,088. None of the photosensitive resin formulations described in the art are sufficiently photoreactive, however, to allow digital imaging thereof.
More recently, solid flexographic printing plates which are developable in water have been described. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,844 (which describes photosensitive printing media having a composite structure comprising discrete domains of water-dispersible latex copolymer and a photopolymerizable interstitial phase) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,477 (which describes photosensitive resins comprising a latex copolymer component, a liquid or solid copolymer component, a basic nitrogen atom-containing compound, an ethylenically unsaturated compound and a photoinitiator). The solid photosensitive resin formulations described in '844 and '477 are not sufficiently photoreactive, however, to allow digital imaging thereof.
In summary, each of the above-described systems suffer from certain drawbacks which limit the usefulness thereof, e.g., the resulting resins undergo excessive swell in aqueous inks (which results in poor image reproduction), the resulting resins lack sufficient structural integrity to withstand the physical rigors of flexographic printing operations, the resulting resins produce materials which are excessively hard or soft (and hence do not meet the performance requirements of flexo users), the resulting resins still require the use of washout aids (e.g., acid, alkali, surfactant, etc.), in the aqueous media employed for developing the resulting printing plate, the resulting resins lack sufficient storage stability to allow long-term storage of printing plates prior to photopolymerization thereof (i.e., washout of unexposed material becomes more difficult upon extended storage) and/or the resulting resins are not sufficiently reactive to allow digital imaging thereof. Accordingly, what is still needed in the art are resins useful for the production of flexographic printing plates which have improved photosensitivity and physical properties.

Highly sensitive water-developable photoreactive resin compositions and printing plates prepared therefrom


An array antenna device, including: a waveguide (1) having a plurality of radiation units (2) arranged on one tube wall thereof, in which the waveguide (1) has a plurality of grooves (3) arranged on an inner side of a tube wall facing the tube wall, movable short-circuit surfaces (4) each electrically short-circuited to an inner wall of one of the grooves (3), and movable short-circuit surface controlling mechanisms (5) for changing positions of the movable short-circuit surfaces (4).

In recent years, what is desired in radar and wireless communication includes high gain that allows transmission and reception of even a weak radio wave and wide coverage characteristics that enable detection or communication in a wide angle range, and thus array antenna devices having variable directivity is attracting attention.
In order to implement variable directivity in a waveguide slot array antenna which is one of typical array antenna devices, a mechanism is necessary for changing the excitation phase of a plurality of radiation elements (slots) arranged in a waveguide.
Methods to change the excitation phase of slots include changing the geometry of the waveguide and changing the position where the slots are arranged.
For example, Patent Literature 1 describes an antenna device in which the excitation phase is allowed to be changed by providing a movable structure inside a waveguide in a protruding manner on a surface facing a tube wall on which slots are arranged.
Patent Literature 2 also discloses an antenna device in which a diode is loaded to every slot of the array antenna and the position of the slots are changed by switching the state of the diodes.


Disclosed is a method, system, and computer program product for implementing model-based layout, placement, and routing. Models are used to guide the placement and routing of polygons on the IC layout. In effect, the parameters that are used for placement and routing are guided by the model data so that the layout can be formed with a high degree of manufacturability from the outset.

The invention is directed to a more efficient approach for implementing layout, placement, and routing of integrated circuit designs.
A semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) has a large number of electronic components, such as transistors, logic gates, diodes, wires, etc., that are fabricated by forming layers of different materials and of different geometric shapes on various regions of a silicon wafer.
The various components of an integrated circuit are initially defined by their functional operations and relevant inputs and outputs. From the HDL or other high level description, the actual logic cell implementation is typically determined by logic synthesis, which converts the functional description of the circuit into a specific circuit implementation. The logic cells are then "placed" (i.e., given specific coordinate locations in the circuit layout) and "routed" (i.e., wired or connected together according to the designer's circuit definitions). The placement and routing software routines generally accept as their input a netlist that has been generated by the logic synthesis process. This netlist identifies the specific logic cell instances from a target standard cell library, and describes the specific cell-to-cell connectivity.
Conventionally, Physical Verification (PV) is one of the final steps that is performed before releasing an IC design to manufacturing. A key component of conventional PV includes the process of Design Rule Check (DRC) to ensure that the design abides by all of the detailed rules and parameters that the foundry specifies for its manufacturing process. Violating a single foundry rule can result in a silicon product that does not work for its intended purpose. Therefore, it is critical in conventional tools that thorough DRC processing is performed before finalizing an IC design.
FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of a conventional process for performing electronic design using DRC. The process begins with the completion of a layout using a place and route tool (102). Once the layout is complete, DRC processing is performed on the layout to identify any rule violations that may exist within the layout (104).
The DRC produces either a "violation" or "no violation" result for each rule that is checked against the layout. Essentially, each rule is associated with one or more parameter values that is checked for compliance with the rule. The DRC process will check those parameters to produce a simple "yes" or "no" answer as to whether the rule has been violated. For example, a very common rule is to check for minimum spacing between objects in a layout. DRC processing will determine whether all objects meet the minimum spacing requirements. If all objects meet the spacing requirements, then the layout meet the rules requirement for spacing. If any objects are spaced closer together than the minimum spacing requirement, then the rules violation will be identified.
If there are any rules violations (106), then the process will modify the layout to correct the rules violation (102). If no rules violations have been identified, then the IC design is passed to the next design stage for manufacturing (108).
DRC tools typically read and manipulate a design database which stores information about device geometries and connectivity. Because compliance with design rules generally constitutes the gating factor between one stage of the design and the next, DRC tools are typically executed multiple times during the evolution of the design and contribute significantly to the project's critical path. Therefore, reducing DRC tool execution time makes a major contribution to the reduction of overall design cycle times.
As the quantity of data in modern IC designs become larger and larger over time, the execution time required to process DRC tools upon these IC designs also becomes greater. The goal of reducing PV tool execution time is in sharp tension with many modern IC designs being produced by electronics companies that are constantly increasing in complexity and number of transistors. The more transistors and other structures on an IC design, the greater amounts of time that is normally needed to perform DRC processing. This problem is exacerbated by constantly improving IC manufacturing technologies that can create IC chips at ever-smaller feature sizes, which allows increasingly greater quantities of transistors to be placed within the same chip area, as well resulting in more complex physical and lithographic effects during manufacture.
In addition, DRC rules often contain design constraints that are much more limiting than are needed for any particular design or portion of a design. DRC rules are often set at the "lowest common denominator" level to ensure that most or all IC designs will properly operate. However, certain IC design may actually need parameters that are more or less cautious than other designs. Since DRC rules typically operate on an "all or nothing" basis, this means that many IC design may fail DRC processing even though they would function properly for intended purposes if manufactured.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved method and system for implementing IC designs that limits the amount of resources consumed by DRC processing.
The present invention is a method, system, and computer program product for model-based method for placement and routing. Models are used to guide the placement and routing of polygons on the IC layout. In effect, the parameters that are used for placement and routing are guided by the model data so that the layout can be formed with a high degree of manufacturability from the outset.

Method and system for model-based design and layout of an integrated circuit


In a case where there are developers belonging to Life Rank 1 representing a service life substantially as long as that of a fresh developer (Step S501), and the developers includes one which is ready to print (Step S502), it is determined that image formation can be performed without performing a preparatory operation (Step S506). In a case where there is no print-ready developer but a developer which requires an agitation operation of rotating a developing roller by a predetermined quantity (Step S503), the agitation operation is performed on the developer (Step S504) so as to make the developer in a print-ready state. In a case where the developer cannot be made print-ready by the agitation operation, a density control operation for adjusting operating conditions of an apparatus is performed (Step S505). Thus is obviated an unnecessary operation. The developer subjected to a predetermined print preparatory process is used in a printing operation so that an image of good quality may be formed. In a case where no Rank-1 developer is available but a Rank-2 developer, deteriorated to a degree, is available, the same procedure is taken.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which includes a developing unit adapted for removal mounting of plural developing devices each storing a toner of the same color, and which performs a printing operation using the toner in the developing device mounted in the developing unit, as well as to an image forming method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image forming apparatuses for forming images using a plurality of developer devices have been widely known in the art. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. 2003-215862 discloses a color image forming apparatus equipped with a rotary developing unit having four developer devices radially arranged about a rotary shaft thereof This apparatus operates as follows. The rotary shaft of the developing unit is driven into rotation for selectively positioning one of the four developer devices at an opposed position to a latent image carrier such as a photosensitive member, so as to develop a latent image on the latent image carrier. The resultant image is transferred onto an intermediate transfer medium. The same developing and transferring processes as the above are repeated in cycles while switching from one developer device to another, whereby toner images of plural colors are superimposed on each other to form a color image.
In the image forming apparatuses of this type, a proposal has been made to mount a plurality of developing devices each storing a toner of the same color so as to use the apparatus as an image forming apparatus exclusive to monochromatic image formation. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. 2002-351190, for example, discloses an image forming apparatus wherein plural developing devices each storing a toner of the same color are mounted in the developing unit. The apparatus forms monochromatic images using any one of the developing devices while switching from one developing device to another as needed.
In order to print an image with excellent quality using the toner in the developing device, a print preparatory process for bringing the developing device into a state usable for printing operation must be conducted prior to the printing operation. In the image forming apparatuses of this type, there is known a phenomenon, for example, that when an image forming operation is performed using a developing device left standstill for long, image density variations are encountered in an initial stage of the operation. Hence, it is necessary to carry out a process for eliminating this phenomenon whenever needed. For achieving a high image quality, the conditions of printing operation of the apparatus need be adjusted according to the characteristics of the developing device used.
In this connection, a variety of techniques for conducting favorable print preparatory processes have heretofore been proposed with respect to an image forming apparatus including one developing device and a color image forming apparatus including a plurality of developing devices individually storing toners of mutually different colors.

Image forming apparatus and method with plural developers each storing toner of the same color


A method for applying an always-on interface includes: displaying a first always-on interface, wherein the first always-on interface is an interface displayed when a terminal is in the always-on display state, and the first always-on interface includes a target control which is used to call out a target function item; receiving a first selection operation on the target control; and displaying an intermediate state interface according to the first selection operation, and the intermediate state interface is an interface displayed when the terminal is in the half always-on display state.

Always-on Display (AOD) is a common system function in many terminals. When a user locks and performs an always-on process on a screen of the terminal, the terminal enters the always-on state, when the display screen of the terminal is in a fully darkened state. In the AOD state, the display screen of the terminal can display information such as time, date, notification, and the user can obtain such basic information in real time without the need for a bright screen.

Always-on display applications and apparatus

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