An electron microscope includes an illuminating lens system that illuminates an electron beam that is emitted from an electron source onto a specimen as a planar illuminating electron beam having a two-dimensional spread, an imaging lens system that projects and magnifies the reflecting electron beam emitted from the specimen to project and form a specimen image, a beam separator that separates the illuminating electron beam from the reflecting electron beam, and a controller. The controller controls the reflecting electron beam so as to go straight through the beam separator, and the illuminating electron beam so as to keep a deflection angle of the illuminating electron beam which is made by the beam separator substantially constant.

As a method of detecting defects of a circuit pattern formed on a wafer due to an image comparison inspection in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, electron beams are illuminated onto the specimen with the results that there remains fine etching residuals which is equal to or smaller than the resolution of an optical microscope, thereby making it possible to detect a configuration defect such as a fine pattern defect or detect an electric defect such as a non-aperture defect of a fine through-hole.
In this example, in a system using a scanning electron microscope that scans the specimen with point electron beams, there is a limit to obtain a practical inspection speed. Therefore, there has been proposed a device that conducts inspection at a high-speed through a so-called projection system such that a rectangular electron beam is illuminated onto a semiconductor wafer, and secondary electrons, backscattered electrons or electrons that are reflected without being illuminated onto the wafer due to the production of a reverse electric field are imaged by a lens (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-249393, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-197462, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-202217).
However, the projection system using the secondary electrons or the mirror electrons suffers from the following problems.
The device that magnifies and projects the image of the secondary electrons or backscattered electrons as the detected electrons is called "low energy electron microscope". In this system, it is expected that images are formed rapidly compared with that in an SEM (scanning electron microscope) because a beam current is larger than that of the SEM, and the images can be acquired at once. However, the emission angle distribution of the secondary electrons are spread at a wide angle, and the energy is also wide spread from about 1 to 10 eV. It can be readily understood that the image with sufficient resolution cannot be obtained unless most of secondary electrons are cut (reference document: FIG. 6 disclosed in "LSI testing symposium/1999 conference minutes, P142"). The resolution is substantially 0.2 μm when a voltage supplied to a specimen is −5 kV according to a relationship between the imaging resolution of the secondary electrons and a negative voltage supplied to the specimen for accelerating the secondary electrons that have been emitted from the specimen.
Then, all of the secondary electrons cannot be used for image formation. For example, in the calculation of the above document, a beam having an opening angle of 1.1 mrad or less is used in an image plane that has passed through an objective lens. The secondary electrons within a range of the opening angle are about 10% of the entire secondary electrons at the highest. In addition, calculation is made assuming that the energy width of the secondary electrons used for imaging is 1 eV, but the energy width of the secondary electrons actually has several eV or more for emission, and a base at the higher energy side exists up to 50 eV. In the case where only the secondary electrons having the energy width of 1 eV at the highest are extracted among the secondary electrons having the above wide energy distribution, the secondary electrons is further reduced to several tens percentages.
As described above, even if the images are going to be formed at once by using the secondary electrons that are obtained by illuminating a large current to the specimen with the electron beams as an area beam, it is difficult to ensure the S/N ratio of the image because the ratio of electrons that can actually contribute to the image formation is low, as a result of which it is impossible to reduce the inspection time as much as can be expected. Even if the backscattered electrons are used for the image formation, only the amount of the backscattered electrons which is smaller than the illuminating beam current by two digits is obtained, and it is difficult to perform both of the high resolution and the high throughput as in the case of the secondary electrons.
The device that magnifies and projects the image of mirror electrons reflected immediately before the specimen without abutting against the specimen instead of the secondary electrons or the backscattered electrons is called "mirror electron microscope". The defect can be detected by detecting the disturbance of a potential or a configuration which is caused by the defect by means of the mirror electrons. In the case where the pattern is convexed or negatively charged, an equipotential surface formed immediately above the specimen acts as a convex lens with respect to the incident electrons. In the case where the pattern is concaved or relatively positively charged, the equipotential surface formed immediately above the specimen acts as a concave lens with respect to the incident electrons. As described above, the mirror electrons slightly change the trajectory due to the lens formed immediately above the specimen, but when the focal point conditions of the imaging lens are adjusted, most of those mirror electrons can be used for image formation. That is, the use of the mirror electrons makes it possible to obtain an image that is high in the S/N ratio and expect the reduction of the inspection time.
However, the image that is obtained from the mirror electrons reflects the equipotential surface immediately above the specimen and is greatly different from a general electron microscope. As a result, it is difficult to obtain information in correspondence with an accurate configuration and position of the specimen. Accordingly, it is essential to provide means for acquiring the accurate configuration and the positional information of the specimen in addition to a function of acquiring the image of the mirror electrons.
The device structure of the mirror electron microscope that magnifies and projects the mirror electrons for imaging is made up of an illuminating lens system that illuminates the electron beams onto the specimen, an imaging lens system that images the electrons reflected from the specimen, and a separator that separates the illuminating electron beams from the reflected electron beams. The same device structure is disclosed in the above-mentioned conventional examples of the low energy electron microscope that images the secondary electrons or the backscattered electrons (the above three Japanese Patent publications) is composed of the illuminating lens system, the imaging lens system, and the separator of an E×B deflector that forms the orthogonal electric field to the magnetic field.
However, the above-mentioned conventional examples have no device that can perform both of the mirror electron microscope and the low energy electron microscope, and the mirror electron and the secondary electron image cannot be observed in the same visual field. In the mirror electron microscope, an accelerating voltage V0 that is applied to an electron source is set to be substantially the same potential as a specimen supply voltage Vs with the results that the illuminating electron beam is reversed immediately above the specimen into a reflecting electron beam, and the reflecting electron beam is exitted from an objective lens with the same energy eV0 as an energy eV0 that is entered to the objective lens. On the other hand, in the low energy electron microscope, the voltage V0 that is applied to the electron source is set to a negative voltage with respect to the specimen supply voltage Vs with the results that the electron beam is illuminated to the specimen with an energy of e(Vs−V0). When it is assumed that the energy of the secondary electrons or the backscattered electrons which are exitted from the specimen is eV2, the secondary electrons or the backscattered electrons enter a separator after having exitted from the objective lens with the energy of (Vs+V2). Accordingly, even if the specimen supply voltage Vs is adjusted to meet the low energy electron microscope conditions from a mode for acquiring the specimen image by means of the mirror electron microscope, the energy of the reflecting electron beam that passes through the separator is changed. As a result, a deflection action occurs in the reflecting electron beam, and the magnified image is moved, thereby making it difficult to observe the secondary electron image.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide an electron microscope that can perform both of a mirror electron microscope observation and a low energy electron microscope observation in the same visual field. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electron beam inspection system that can detect a defective portion of a pattern formed on a specimen with a high resolution and at a high speed by means of the electron microscope.

Electron microscope and electron beam inspection system


A method is provided for efficiently providing occupancy information on the surroundings of a vehicle, which vehicle has sensors for ascertaining the occupancy of the surroundings. The method includes the following steps: receiving sensor measurements of the surroundings of the vehicle; determining the occupancy of the surroundings by obstacles using the sensor measurements; providing a division of the surroundings into regions; for each region of the surroundings, determining the most certainly identified occupancy in the respective region if multiple occupancies of the surroundings have been detected in the respective region; and determining the next occupancy, namely the respective region occupancy for which the shortest distance has been determined according to a distance determination specified for the respective region; and providing the most certainly identified occupancy and the next occupancy.

The invention relates to a method for efficiently providing occupancy information for the surroundings of a vehicle and to a computation apparatus that is set up accordingly. The invention resides in the field of surroundings identification.
Future motor vehicles will have a wealth of driver assistance systems that warn the driver of collisions and, if need be, also take action to attempt to avoid collisions. Examples of such driver assistance systems include: an emergency brake assist system, a lane departure warning system, a blind spot assist system, a parking assist system, and what is known as an adaptive cruise control (ACC) assist system, particularly for freeway travel. In order to provide these functions, knowledge of the surroundings of the vehicle is critical for such driver assistance systems. To this end, the surroundings are scanned or recorded using one or more sensors, such as radar, lidar, camera, ultrasonic sensors or similar sensors known from the prior art. Signal processing methods that are likewise known in the prior art can then be used to identify the occupancy of the surroundings by an obstacle. The occupancy indicates that the surroundings in this region cannot be traveled through by the vehicle.
To date, it has been known practice for the surroundings to be split into regular, preferably rectangular, regions, and for those regions of the surroundings that are occupied to be determined. This produces an occupancy grid. The document WO 2013/060323 describes such an occupancy grid. Such a system frequently has provision for the size of the regions to correspond to the highest respective demand on the driver assistance systems. This splitting of the surroundings provides very large volumes of data. At the same time, a decrease in the size of the regions for the purpose of data reduction can provide insufficient accuracy.
The object on which the invention is based is to efficiently provide occupancy information for the surroundings of a vehicle.
This and other objects are achieved by the method, the computer program and the computation apparatus according to embodiments of the invention.
In one aspect, a method for the efficient provision of occupancy information for the surroundings of a vehicle, wherein the vehicle includes sensors for determining the occupancy of the surroundings, includes the acts of: receiving sensor measurements of the surroundings of the vehicle; determining the occupancies of the surroundings by obstacles on the basis of the sensor measurements; providing a division of the surroundings into regions; for each region of the surroundings, if multiple occupancies of the surroundings have been identified in the respective region: determining the most certainly identified occupancy in the respective region; and determining the closest occupancy, namely that occupancy in the respective region for which the shortest distance has been determined as per a distance determination stipulated for the respective region; providing the most certainly identified occupancy and the closest occupancy. If only one occupancy has been determined in the respective region, this occupancy can be output as the most certainly identified occupancy and the closest occupancy. If no occupancy is identified in a region, the maximum range in which the sensors of the vehicle can identify occupancies can be output as the closest and most certain occupancy in the respective region. The most certainly identified occupancy and the closest occupancy can be provided in a Cartesian or polar coordinate system or in a mixture, depending on whether the identified occupancy is in front of or behind the vehicle in the direction of travel.
The method thus provides the most certainly identified occupancy and the closest occupancy per region. In this way, the surroundings of a vehicle can be described using less information. It is no longer necessary for all occupancies of the surroundings to be provided, and a reduction of the data is achieved. In this case, the reduction is chosen such that the information that is important to driver assistance systems is communicated. For many assistance systems, the closest occupancy and the most certainly identified occupancy are the most important basis for decision. By way of example, in a driver assistance system that automatically initiates evasive action, just the dubious presence of a closest occupancy can prevent action in the direction thereof. At the same time, action is initiated in the first place only on the basis of certainly identified occupancies. In other words, identification of the closest occupancy is optimized for prevention of initiation of an action (occupancies or obstacles must not be overlooked), whereas certain identification of occupancies is optimized for initiation of an action (occupancies or obstacles must be identified with a high level of probability). The provision of surroundings information thus demands less memory space and transmission time, and at the same time provides the necessary information. These properties are particularly advantageous for real-time systems, as are required in vehicles for controlling travel.
The size of the regions can be chosen according to the performance of the hardware. Each region can be regarded as a segment. When determining the occupancy, a probability of the respective presence can be established (occupancy probability). A certainly identified occupancy is one whose established probability exceeds a threshold value or whose probability is high in comparison with probabilities of other occupancies. An obstacle and an occupancy are a boundary for the free space for the vehicle. It is also possible for the individual regions to be split again and for the distance, the occupancy probability, the type, etc., to be indicated only for a subregion. If a region covers an angular range of 4°, for example, a subregion can be chosen in a step of 1°. In order to increase the accuracy of the angle indication, it is thus subsequently possible for the subregion (1-4) (2 bits) to be indicated too. A more accurate indication of this kind based on subregions can be provided at the request of a driver assistance system. In addition, it is also possible for attributes to be determined for identified occupancies, such as mobile, immobile, speed and a type classifier (vehicle, a pedestrian, etc.), if the vehicle additionally has obstacle identification.
In one development, regions in the direction of travel in front of the vehicle each cover an angular range (for example 5° to 10° or 15° to 18° in a polar coordinate system centered on the vehicle) from the vehicle, particularly an angular range in a polar coordinate system that has its origin in the vehicle (in a point on the vehicle). Hence, the occupancy information is reduced for angular ranges in front of the vehicle. This is advantageous because the occupancy indication for angular ranges corresponds to the decision options when driving, namely the choice of direction of travel. Furthermore, for an angle indication in a polar coordinate system, the representation close to the vehicle is more accurate. Hence, the indication of the occupancy information is reduced in a manner that takes account of the end function of driver assistance systems, i.e. controlling (direction of) travel. For the regions in the direction of travel in front of the vehicle, the distance is determined on the basis of the range of the occupancy from the vehicle. This distance, in a polar coordinate system, is the distance in the polar coordinate system representation.
In a further development, the angular range that is covered by each of the regions in a first group is smaller than the angular range that is covered by each of the regions in a second group. Different regions therefore have different sizes. This can be used to further reduce the volumes of data by defining larger regions in regions in which occupancy information in a particularly fine resolution is not required.
In particular, the regions in the first group can adjoin one another and overlie the longitudinal axis of the vehicle in the direction of travel in front of the vehicle. Hence, the section of the vehicle that is centrally in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel is depicted more finely than the regions at the sides in front of the vehicle. This allows the use of resources for those sections of the vehicle surroundings that are particularly important for driver assistance systems that control (direction of) travel. A driver assistance function that plans a future trajectory of travel for highly automated freeway driving, for example, requires more accurate information about occupancies in the central front section of the surroundings than about occupancies that are at the sides slightly in front of the vehicle.
In a preferred implementation, regions in the direction of travel behind the vehicle each cover a range of values on the axis of abscissae (x axis) in a Cartesian coordinate system, the axis of abscissae being oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The choice of regions that are chosen according to a Cartesian coordinate system, that is to say can resemble a rectangle, makes sense particularly for the rear region of a vehicle. When reversing during parking maneuvers or when observing the traffic behind on roads, identification of obstacles in a Cartesian grid is advantageous. The regions can each indicate 0.5 m, 2 m or 10 m bands, so that the first region covers occupancies with values from 0 m to 1 m on the abscissa, the next region covers values from 1 m to 2 m, etc., for example.
The distance for an occupancy can be determined by the value of the occupancy on the axis of ordinates (y axis) in the Cartesian coordinate system. If the position of the occupancy is given by a pair of values (x/y) in the Cartesian coordinate system, the y value can simply be taken as the distance directly. This is a variant that is particularly effective in terms of computation.
In a development, the respective regions in the direction of travel behind the vehicle are each situated either to the left or right of the axis of abscissae. In this development, regions having a positive distance and having a negative distance are thus distinguished. The division becomes finer.
In a variant, regions in the direction of travel behind the vehicle each cover a range of the values on the axis of abscissae in a curvilinear Cartesian coordinate system, namely a coordinate system in which the axis of abscissae is formed by the path that the vehicle has taken, and all points on the axis of ordinates, namely a straight line perpendicular to the axis of abscissae, are assigned the same value on the axis of abscissae.
Hence, instead of a Cartesian coordinate system, a curved variant, as it were, of the Cartesian coordinate system is used, with the axis of abscissae in the Cartesian coordinate system being situated on the path that the vehicle has taken. The x value of an occupancy is then computed by (pointwise) perpendicular projection of the occupancy onto the x axis. Such a coordinate system is called curvilinear. In the rear region, the curvilinear representation (based on the ego trajectory) has the best suitability, since the past road is known and thus the right and left sides of the road can be kept clearly apart. Furthermore, this condition is particularly suitable for functions based thereon such as a lane change assist system, etc. For small regions of perception behind the vehicle, a linear representation can be used instead of the curvilinear representation. The cited advantages also apply to the Cartesian representation for straight sections of travel and, in attenuated form, also to cornering. The distance for an occupancy for the regions can be determined by the value of said occupancy on the axis of ordinates in the coordinate system, that is to say by the (pointwise) perpendicular projection of the occupancy onto the x axis.
The method can be extended by the following: combining the most certainly identified occupancies of multiple regions to form one continuous occupancy and/or combining closest occupancies of multiple regions to form a further continuous occupancy. In this way, frequently occurring boundaries, such as guardrails, or walls of buildings, can be described in practice. This information can provide assistance systems with supplementary information for longer-term journey planning and can possibly allow interpolations.
In a further aspect, a computer program is set up to prompt a computer, when executed, to carry out a method according to the invention.
In another aspect, a computation apparatus is set up to carry out one of the above methods. The computation apparatus may be a computer having a stored computer program, or an application-specific circuit.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Identical reference symbols relate to corresponding elements throughout the figures.

Method and apparatus for efficiently providing occupancy information on the surroundings of a vehicle

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Pyrrolinone dyes, and photographic materials containing them, which dyes have the formula: ##STR1## wherein; E.sup.1 represents an electron withdrawing group;. R.sup.1 represents an aryl group of 6 to 14 carbon atoms or an alkyl group of from 1 to 12 carbon atoms; PA0 R.sup.2 represents an alkyl or alkylthio group of 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkenyl group of 2 to 20 carbon atoms, or an aryl, aralkyl, heterocyclic or cycloalkyl group any of which have 5 to 14 carbon atoms, or R2 represents a hydroxy, cyano, chloro, nitro or hydrogen; PA0 M.sup.+ is a cation; PA0 each L represents a methine group; PA0 m is 0, 1, 2, or 3; and D is a moiety in conjugation with the oxygen of the pyrollinone ring.. The dyes are particularly useful as solid particle filter dye dispersions in photographic elements.

A wide variety of dyes is employed in photographic materials. In addition to diverse dyes used to form images in color photographic elements, spectral sensitizing dyes are used to extend the sensitivity of silver halides, which are inherently sensitive only to blue light, to other wavelengths of radiation. Among the dyes commonly employed for this purpose are the cyanines and merocyanines, which are discussed in T. H. James, editor, The Theory of the Photographic Process. 4th Edition, Macmillan, New York, 1977, Chapter 8, and in F. M. Hamer, Cyanine Dyes and Related Compounds, Wiley, New York, 1964.
Dyes are also used in color photographic materials as filters, typically located in overcoats, interlayers or undercoats, to absorb incident radiation and improve image sharpness. Intergrain absorber dyes may also be added directly to a spectrally sensitized silver halide emulsion to absorb light and thereby modify the sensitivity of the emulsion. In addition to the previously mentioned cyanine and merocyanines, various oxonol and arylidene dyes are frequently utilized for these purposes. A discussion of arylidene dyes can be found in K. Venkataraman, The Chemistry of Synthetic Dyes, Academic Press, New York, 1970, Volume III.
The pyrrolin-2-one nucleus can exist in the isomeric forms shown below. ##STR2##
Structures of the type 1 above which contain an electron withdrawing group in the R.sup.1 position are only lightly described in the literature. For example T. N. Ghosh and S. Dutta in J. of Indian Chemical Society, Vol. 32, page 791, 1955 describe the synthesis of 3-pyrrolin-2-one compounds in which R.sup.1 is cyano, R.sup.2 is phenyl and R.sup.3 is acetyl or hydrogen as side products in their search for antispasmotic materials, and K. Gewald and U. Hain in Synthesis, page 62, 1984 describe the preparation of the 3-pyrrolin-2-one compound in which R.sup.1 is cyano, R.sup.2 is methyl and R.sup.3 is phenyl by hydrolytic cleavage of a dihydropyridazin-3-one. No reference is made to dyes in either of these articles. H. Stachel, et. al., in J. Heterocyclic Chem., Vol. 17, page 1195, 1980 describe the synthesis of arylmethylene derivatives of 3-pyrrolin-2-one compounds in which R.sup.1 is cyano, R.sup.2 is hydroxy and R.sup.3 is benzoyl or hydrogen, and K. Hartke and H. Roeber in Chem. Ber., Vol. 108, page 3262, 1975 describe the preparation of an arylmethylene derivative of 3-pyrrolin-2-one compounds in which R.sup.1 is cyano, R.sup.2 is benzyl and R.sup.3 is hydrogen.
Recently, C. Anselmi in ChemTech, page 99, 1992 reports the investigation of arylmethylene derivatives of 3-pyrrolin-2-one compounds in which R.sup.1 is aryl, R.sup.2 is methyl, and R.sup.3 is alkyl or hydrogen as ultraviolet filtration agents in skin sunscreen formulations. Oxonol dyes for photographic materials prepared from the 4-pyrrolin-2-one compounds, type 2 above, have recently been described in Japanese Patent 103523. Japanese Patent application 013921 relate to maleimide textile dyes, and patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,011,811 and 4,923,788 relate to cyanofuranone dyes.
It would be desirable then to have a new class of dyes which are particularly useful for photographic applications, in particular as filter dyes in photographic elements.


A method, system and computer program product for identifying lines of code that caused an error as identified in a stack trace in a source code version that generated the stack trace. The line(s) of code in the source code version that generated the stack trace that are identified in the stack trace as causing the error are identified. If there are differences in the line(s) of code that are associated with the cause of the error between the source code version that generated the stack trace and the source code version being utilized by the user, such as a developer, then an annotated version of the source code version that generated the stack trace of the line(s) of code that caused the error is displayed to the user with highlighted differences with respect to the source code version being utilized by the user.

In lower-level programming languages there is a functionality known as a "stack trace," which is a debugging functionality that is used by programmers to track down bugs that appear in the code. The stack trace allows a programmer to pull up the list of functions that were called which lead to some crash or exception in the code. Typically, the user may see the stack trace displayed as part of an error message. Furthermore, the stack trace shows where the error occurs, such as a particular line number (s) of the source code.
In the scenario where a developer receives a stack trace displayed as part of an error message which was forwarded to the developer from the client, the developer attempts to identify the source of the error in the source code as identified in the stack trace. However, the stack trace may be associated with a difference version of the code (the version of the source code utilized by the client), including a different software build, than the version of the code on the developer's computing system. Hence, the developer would have to identify the compiled version of the code that generated the stack trace, obtain that source code version from a repository and then load that source code version in the developer's local environment to locate the line(s) of code that caused the error. Such a process is laborsome and inefficient.

Identifying the lines of code that caused the error as identified in the stack trace in a source code version that generated the stack trace that does not reside on the user's computing device

International Business Machines Corporation


To provide a system for providing information that allows operators who orally answer questions about certain products from users to deal with the users quickly and effectively. The level of information disclosure is specified for each electronic information to be used for customer support in an information server. In response to the reception of a request for information from an operator terminal, knowledge levels of the user and the operator are determined. The associated electronic information is edited according to rules of providing information that are determined according to the specified knowledge level. The edited version of the electronic information is supplied to the operator terminal. The extent to which information will be disclosed varies according to the level of the knowledge of the user or the operator for a certain product.

The present invention relates to a mechanism for efficiently providing requested electronic information to an inquiring person or to an operator who orally answers questions and gives directions to inquiring persons.
Manufacturing and sales companies usually have a department, division, or unit that functions as a contact point for potential users and existing users. It receives questions, inquiries, opinions, and requests for information about products they manufacture or sell, through communications. Thus, many companies train personnel to have the skills and knowledge necessary to provide adequate information to inquiring persons. Those who satisfy certain criteria are appointed as "operators" to assist the inquiring persons.
The inquiries received by the operators through communications are miscellaneous, ranging from how to use a product to the price of a product, a shipping deadline, and complaint. Besides, recent product developments provide many diverse products designed for the same purpose. Even the products that are similar on the surface may use various different technologies and techniques. This often increases the number of product items.
For example, as to printing devices or printers, various products are manufactured and sold that use different ink delivery systems and/or head driving mechanisms for different ink colors. Consequently, company operators are required to have an extensive and in-depth knowledge of their products to assist the users in a satisfactory manner. The acquisition of such knowledge requires a reasonable training system and time. This imposes a heavy burden on people who want to be an operator and on companies with future operators.
Recently manufactured and distributed products have become more multifaceted and the life cycle of these products has become shorter. These circumstances further increase the companies' liabilities to assist their users in a satisfactory manner. In order to reduce the burden associated with operator services, sample answers may be displayed on a computer screen in front of each operator. Operators may use the sample answers while they give directions to users. However, the sample answers make the operators dependent on them. The operators may respond in a similar manner whenever they handle inquiries, regardless of whether they are received from knowledgeable users or from users with very little knowledge.
On the other hand, the improved information infrastructure of, for example, computer networks keeps users up to date. Some users have a wealth of knowledge about certain products. In such a case, automatic responses based on the sample answers may sometimes result in unnecessary waste of time for both operators and users. This tendency is particularly apparent when the operator is less knowledgeable than the inquiring user. Thus, it is desired for operators to respond differently on a case-by-case basis according to the knowledge of themselves or of users.
To provide the operators with the chance to gain a lot of practical experience, it is desirable in some cases that the operators are given user support information to be used to assist users along with other information associated with the user support information.
Furthermore, users may access a website of a company that provides information about a product they have purchased, without any help of operators. For example, a company may operate a website carrying an electronic file with information about how to avoid problems for a given product to allow users to download the file directly. In such a case, knowledgeable users can download unnecessary information if the electronic file is prepared without consideration of users' knowledge. This reduces motivation of users to access a website and download an electronic file.
The present invention is made against this background and a primary object thereof is to provide a mechanism for efficiently providing requested electronic information.

Method and system for providing electronic information and computer program therefor


A stocking rod for assisting in the stocking of peggable packages onto support pegs for display and sale supports a number of packages, and has a tip portion that can be stabilized against the support peg. When the tip portion of the rod is stabilized, the packages can be slid from the rod onto the peg for display. The rod can be straight or provided with an angled tip portion so that it can easily be aligned with a variety of peg configurations.

The present invention relates to a tool to assist in the placement of peggable packaged items or products onto pegs or hooks for sales presentation and display.
At the present time, a large number of products are individually packed on backing sheets with a hole that will receive a peg or hook at one end. Display racks in various stores utilize pegs of different configurations to support these products, with several of the products supported on a single hook.
When cartoned for shipment by a manufacturer, the packages are generally in a carton with the packages nested so that the ends having the peg openings on the backing cards will be alternated in opposite directions, for example, up and down, in the carton, or the packages will be laid on their sides. The stocking is now done by individually taking the packages and loading them essentially one by one, on a peg or hook for display. This involves a constant up and down motion of the clerks as they remove the products from cartons. Also, there is time wasted in trying to hold several packages at once and consequently dropping some.
While many types of display hooks and pegs are known in the prior art, all of them are based upon a person stocking one item at a time without any use of tools. In order to efficiently stock display pegs with packaged products, the present invention is advanced for supporting several of the packages at one time after threading the tool through the support openings, and then resting the tool onto the peg so that the entire supply on the tool can be slid onto the peg without difficulty.

Hand held transfer tool for stocking display pegs or hooks


An optical short-circuit plug for short-circuiting two optical units, especially a sender and receiver unit of a sender/receiver module, includes a short-circuit optical waveguide having ends. Two separate plug pins each accommodate a respective one of the ends of the short-circuit optical waveguide for coupling to an optical unit. Jackets of elastic material each at least partially surround a respective one of the plug pins, for displaceably supporting the plug pins upon elastic deformation of the jackets, in order to generate a defined contact pressure and equalize tolerances.

Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of optical short-circuit plugs which are especially used for the diagnosis and/or self-testing of optical devices (i.e. sender/receiver modules (Transceivers) or optical cables) before or after their installation. A short-circuit plug can cause an intended, optical damping or attenuation which may be adjustable, if necessary. A further function of short-circuit plugs lies in the protection of optical devices against external influences, especially during transport and installation.
The invention relates to an optical short-circuit plug for short-circuiting two optical units, especially the sender and receiver unit of a sender/receiver module, having a short-circuit optical waveguide, and two plug pins which are separate elements and which accommodate respective ends of the short-circuit optical waveguide for coupling to the optical unit.
A short-circuit plug which is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,688 includes a short-circuit optical waveguide and a solid plastic housing which is formed by complete remolding of the short-circuit optical waveguide in a single molding process. The plug pins which accommodate the short-circuit optical waveguides are thereby formed as integral components of the plastic housing. The short-circuit optical waveguide must be surrounded by a multi-layer metal protective coating in order to protect the injection casting material. The short-circuit plug is a reproduction of a connection plug which is couplable to the transceiver in normal operation.
The short-circuit plug is comparatively costly and requires a relatively high amount of injection casting material because of the solid housing. Furthermore, the spacing of the plug pins is fixed and inflexible. The coupling relationships can only be comparatively inaccurately reproduced due to the lack of defined coupling forces of the plug pins.
The last-mentioned problematic, improved short-circuit plugs of the above-mentioned type, in which the ends of a short-circuit optical waveguide for coupling to the optical units are accommodated by a plug pin that is constructed as a separate element, are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,952,798 and 4,982,083. The plug pins respectively include a middle region with an axially adjustable flange, which supports a helical spring. Another end of each helical spring bears against a disc which is respectively fixed to the back end of the plug pin. In that construction, the individual plug pins are displaceably disposed counter to the respective pressure of the helical spring. The plug pins can carry out a tilting movement around their central region, in order to equalize the tolerances with regard to their radial spacing.
With regard to their spring characteristic, the known short-circuit plugs require relatively precisely manufactured helical springs which are relatively costly to handle as loose material. Due to the tilting movement, the equalization of radial spacing tolerances leads to an inhomogeneous load and oblique position of the plug pins.


A wireless communication device (20) provides a matching state between a radio circuit (28) and an antenna assembly (26) in both its retracted and extended positions, and does so with an elegant design that increases reliability and manufacturability by reducing the number and complexity of components and moving mechanical parts. A matching circuit (30), which is reconfigured according to a switch (32) that is responsive to the antenna's position, provides the matching states. Furthermore, the switch (32) can be integrally formed as part of a feed terminal (36), the feed terminal (36) and a ground terminal (38) can hold the antenna in position, and the ground terminal (38) can hold a guiding tube (52). Alternatively, the switch (32) can include a diode (102) and a sensor. The sensor is a rod (46) of the antenna assembly that makes and breaks an electrical path between the feed terminal and the ground terminal to change the state of the diode.

Radiotelephones having a retractable compound antenna are known in the art. Published Canadian Patent Application No. 2,036,677 describes a radiotelephone having an extendible antenna that is capable of receiving signals in both the extended position and retracted position. This application, however, does not address the impedance imbalance of the antenna in its respective extended and retracted positions, or a solution for providing a matching state between the radio transceiver and antenna.
This patent application, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,492, also describe rod antenna mounting mechanisms attached to the casing of the radiotelephone, which grip the rod antenna to hold it in an extended or retracted position. The compound antennas used in the mechanisms are relatively rigid where a helix joins the rod, because the juncture of rod and helix is also the point that is electrically coupled to the radio feed terminal when the antenna is in the retracted position. Consequently, they have the problem of being easily damaged at the juncture when the radiotelephone is dropped.
Because retractable, compound antennas typically have a long flexible linear antenna element, this element needs to be guided into the radiotelephone. It is known to use a well formed out of the casing to guide the linear antenna element, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,492. This technique has the disadvantage of increasing the bulk and weight of the radiotelephone. Another known technique is to attach a straw-like tube to the casing. This technique has the disadvantage of requiring an assembly step specific to the casing, which otherwise would not be required. Another known technique is to attach the straw-like tube to the circuit board that already has many assembly steps associated with it. This technique has the disadvantage of requiring additional fastening components to be added and assembled to the circuit board, specific for the purpose of holding the straw, to an already crowded circuit board.
There are also known radiotelephones, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,937, having an extendible antenna that uses a single matching circuit and a first feed terminal to couple an inner circuit to the antenna in the extended position, and then bypass the matching circuit in the retracted position by coupling the inner circuit to the antenna in the retracted position by way of a second feed terminal disposed a distance from the first feed terminal. This technique has the disadvantage of requiring two feed terminals. It further has the disadvantage that the antenna portion between the two feed terminals radiates inside the housing, possibly interfering with sensitive electrical components disposed inside the housing.
Radiotelephones having a retractable compound antenna and a variable impedance matching circuit and single feed terminal are known in the art. One example of such known radiotelephones described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,368 and another is embodied in Model No. TZ-820B provided by NEC. This latter radiotelephone has a variable impedance matching circuit coupled with antenna, wherein the matching circuit consists of two parallel circuit paths, each path having a unique reactance. These circuit arrangements are shown in FIG. 1. The parallel circuit paths of a matching circuit 10, having reactive components L.sub.1, L.sub.2, and C, are selected in response to the position of an antenna 12 in order to match the impedance of antenna 12 to the impedance of a coaxial connector 14. The selection is made by a double-pole, double-throw switch 16 arranged so that the switch is thrown by lower end of antenna 12 forcing mechanical contacts, S, from a normally open position to a closed position as antenna 12 is moved from the extended position, shown in solid lines, to the retracted position, shown in dotted lines. The antenna 12 is held in its respective positions by a holding member 22 attached to a housing 24 of the radiotelephone, and guided by a conductive tube 20. Holding member 22 further functions to electrically couple the switch to the antenna. In addition to requiring a switch and a multipath matching circuit, a termination impedance 18 coupled between ground and one end of antenna 12, and the ground-coupled conductive tube 20, are necessary to provide the matching in the retracted position.
This matching technique is not suitable for all handheld radiotelephones. For example, it requires additional components in the matching circuit to provide the two connection states for matching; and it requires a relatively bulky switch to make the connection states. These additional components increase the size of the radiotelephone, which can be a handicap as radiotelephones become smaller. Furthermore, the switch increases the probability of a faulty connection in the sensitive transmission and reception signal path. It further has the disadvantage of requiring an additional termination impedance and conductive tube.
A need therefore exists for a handheld radiotelephone that provides a matching state between the transceiver and retractable compound antenna in both its positions, and does so with an elegant design that increases reliability and manufacturability by reducing the number and complexity of components and moving mechanical parts. A need also exists for a handheld radiotelephone that is not easily damaged when dropped at the point where the rod joins the helix.
Furthermore, a need exists for a radiotelephone having a switch that can be activated by the position of the radiotelephone's retractable antenna, and minimizes the addition of mechanical switching parts in the signal path from the antenna to the transceiver.

Wireless communication device with antenna-activated switch


Described are biofidelic skin simulants closely mimicking the biomechanical properties of natural human skin, including vaginal skin tissue. The simulant contains a crosslinked siloxane network.

The skin is the outer protective covering of the human body with an average total area close to 20 square feet, and composed of three layers namely the epidermis (outermost soft layer), the dermis (middle layer), and hypodermis (inner most layer made of strong connective tissues), with an average thickness of 1-4 mm. The skin is the first point of contact for any external load with the human body, and also the first barrier against any physical injury.
Skin simulants have been developed for burnt skin replacements and for medical training, such as for phlebotomical and surgical practice. Skin simulants are also useful in a variety of design and testing applications. For instance, skin simulants are employed during the development of ballistic munitions, especially in the context of non-lethal projectiles.
A successful skin simulant should accurately mimic the biomechanical properties of natural skin. Skin is a viscoelastic material and exhibits non-linear strain behavior. Furthermore, skin is not homogenous across either a single individual or a group of individuals. A single human will have skin tissues of differing stiffness, thickness and, depending on the specific location the skin occurs on the human body. As skin ages, collagen and other cellular components degrade, leading the skin to become less stiff.
Historically, intact skin obtained from human cadavers has been employed as a simulant, as well as skin samples from animals such as pigs, goats, and sheep. However, these materials present both ethical and practical challenges stemming from the harvesting and storage of biological tissues. As such, the use of synthetic skin simulants has been explored. U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,525 discloses skin/tissue simulant prepared from a gelatin block overlaid with an ether-cast polyurethane sheet. WO 2013/171444 describes a skin simulant prepared from a synthetic chamois, which can be prepared from various polymeric materials such as cotton, viscose, polyvinyl acetate, polyesters, and nylon-polyamide. These simulants, however, do not truly mimic the non-linear hyperelastic properties of true human skin.
Despite extensive research, a skin simulant having the realistic non-linear hyperelastic properties of the human skin has not yet been achieved. Realistic skin simulants would be of great use in a variety of biomechanical testing applications. For instance, a realistic simulant could be used to estimate the load response of cosmetic implants, or to further study the mechanics of skin injuries.
It is also known that skin tissue is not uniform over an entire human body. A realistic skin simulant would be an invaluable aid for developing surgical techniques, especially for vaginal and other unique tissue types. In vaginal prolapse (POP), tissue stiffens progressively, making it difficult for surgeons to correctly suture and implants corrective devices. Faulty vaginal mesh surgeries have caused substantial pain and suffering in many women, and have resulted in malpractice lawsuits cumulatively totaling over 100 million dollars annually. To date, training for urogynoecological surgeries is limited due to the limited availability of vaginal tissue. In addition to ethical and safety concerns associated with sampling human vaginal tissue, it is known that vaginal tissue obtained from a cadaver is not the same as living tissue. As such, efforts to develop improved urogynocological techniques have been hampered.
The development of non-lethal and less-lethal munitions is an active area of research in the ballistics industry. A simulant with realistic mechanical properties of the human skin is essential in order to accurately predict the lethality of such munitions prior to their deployment in the field. The compositions and methods disclosed herein address these and other needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama


An erase state machine controls the process of erasing all the memory cells in a selected sector of a flash memory array. The erase state machine includes a sequence of states for controlling generation of high positive and negative voltages, and application of the high positive voltage to all word lines in the selected sector and application of the high negative voltage to the source nodes of all memory cells in the selected sector. A sequence of two discharge states are used to discharge the high voltages from the word lines and source nodes. If an erase operation is aborted while high voltages are being generated, the erase state machine asynchronously transitions to the first of the two discharge states, and then transitions to the second discharge state and then back to a final inactive state during successive state machine clock cycles. Further, the erase state machine simultaneously checks all the cells in the selected sector to see if they are fully erased, without having to use a repeating loop of states for that purpose. The program state machine controls the programming of one page of flash memory cells. It enables the use of N/2.sup.k programming bit latches in the memory array, instead of a full set of N programming bit latches, where N is the number of columns in the memory array and k is a positive integer, thereby alleviating the space constraints normally imposed on programming bit latches in flash memory devices.

The present invention provides synchronous state machines for efficiently handling the erasing and programming of flash memory cells in a flash memory device.
On-chip state machines are used to control the memory erase process in many flash memory devices. However, in many of these devices, when the erase state machine aborts, the discharge of high voltages from internal nodes is not a well controlled process. Race conditions can occur, such as failure of the discharge process to complete prior to the performance of a next operation by the memory device.
It is a goal of the present invention to make the erasing and programming of flash memory cells quick and easy for end users, and to provide mechanisms for appropriately and reliably handling (A) user abort requests to abort an erase or programming operation in mid-process, and (B) device failures in which one or more memory cells fails to erase or program after a reasonable number of erase or program cycles.

Erase and program control state machines for flash memory


In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to methods of growing chalcogen-linked metallic films on a surface in a chamber. In some embodiments, the method comprises placing a metal source and a chalcogen source in the chamber, and gradually heating the chamber, where the heating leads to the chemical vapor deposition of the chalcogen source and the metal source onto the surface, and facilitates the growth of the chalcogen-linked metallic film from the chalcogen source and the metal source on the surface. In some embodiments, the chalcogen source comprises sulfur, and the metal source comprises molybdenum trioxide. In some embodiments, the growth of the chalcogen-linked metallic film occurs by formation of nucleation sites on the surface, where the nucleation sites merge to form the chalcogen-linked metallic film. In some embodiments, the formed chalcogen-linked metallic film includes MoS2.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to methods of growing a chalcogen-linked metallic film on a surface in a chamber. In some embodiments, the method comprises: (1) placing a metal source and a chalcogen source in the chamber; and (2) gradually heating the chamber. In some embodiments, the heating leads to the deposition of the chalcogen source and the metal source onto the surface in the chamber. In some embodiments, the heating also facilitates growth of the chalcogen-linked metallic film from the chalcogen source and the metal source on the surface.
In some embodiments, the surface comprises a pattern. In some embodiments, the growth of the chalcogen-linked metallic film follows the pattern. In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure further comprise a step of patterning the surface, such as by photolithography.
In some embodiments, the chalcogen source is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the metal source is selected from the group consisting of metals, metal oxides, transition metals, transition metal oxides, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the metal source is selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, tungsten, titanium, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the metal source is molybdenum trioxide.
In some embodiments, the chalcogen source and the metal source are deposited onto the surface by chemical vapor deposition. In some embodiments, the growth of the chalcogen-linked metallic film occurs by formation of nucleation sites on the surface, where the nucleation sites merge to form the chalcogen-linked metallic film.
In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure further comprise a step of gradually cooling the chamber after gradually heating the chamber. In some embodiments, the chamber is a furnace. In some embodiments, the chamber is under a flow of an inert gas, such as nitrogen.
In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure also include a step of controlling a morphology of the chalcogen-linked metallic film by adjusting a growth parameter. In some embodiments, the growth parameter is selected from the group consisting of chalcogen source concentration, chamber pressure, metal source concentration, chamber temperature, type of surface, and combinations thereof.
In some embodiments, the formed chalcogen-linked metallic film comprises a single layer. In some embodiments, the chalcogen-linked metallic film comprises multiple layers. In some embodiments, the chalcogen-linked metallic film is a single-crystalline film. In some embodiments, the chalcogen-linked metallic films include transition metal dichalcogenides. In some embodiments, the chalcogen-linked metallic film is a sulfated metallic film.
In some embodiments, the chalcogen-linked metallic film is selected from the group consisting of MoS2, MoSe2, MoS1Se1, WS2, WSe2, TiS2, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the chalcogen-linked metallic film comprises MoS2(1-x)Se2x, where x is at least one of 0.1, 0.3, 0.50 and 0.75. In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure also include a step of transferring the formed chalcogen-linked metallic film to a new surface.

Growth methods for controlled large-area fabrication of high-quality graphene analogs


AC-coupled equivalent series resistance (ESR) is introduced into a control circuit to provide additional stability in the feedback control loop. A sub-circuit emulates the effect of a higher value ESR in the output capacitor. The additional ESR in the feedback control loop inserts a zero into the transfer function that describes the circuit response at a desired frequency. The added zero compensates for the effects of unwanted or unavoidable poles in the transfer function, allowing for a greater range of input signal frequencies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to modern control systems and, more particularly, to negative feedback loops in such systems.
2. Description of the Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a known control system utilizing a negative feedback loop in a low drop-out (LDO) amplifier application 100. This particular application 100 is configured as an LDO regulator circuit. An LDO regulator is a circuit that provides a well-specified and stable DC voltage. The lowest value of differential (input/output) voltage at which the control loop stops regulating is called the dropout voltage. Modern applications such as communication electronics and other battery-powered portable devices require a low dropout voltage and low quiescent currents for increased power efficiency. LDO regulators meet both of these design needs.
At the input stage, a reference input signal VREF is fed into the inverting input of a dual stage amplifier 104. The output from the amplifier controls a field effect transistor (FET) Q1 that acts as a switch for supplying current from the power source VDD to the load (modeled as a resistor RL in the figure). Some of the current flowing between the source and the drain of Q1 is then fed back through a simple RC filter network into the non-inverting input of the amplifier 104. This feedback signal is called VFB. The RC filter network comprises capacitor C1 and resistors R1 and R2. C1 AC-couples the output back into amplifier 104. Resistors R1 and R2 are configured in a voltage divider with R2 connected to ground. The ratio between the values of R1 and R2 may be adjusted to set the output voltage, VOUT, to a desired value.
VOUT is fed back through the RC filtering network yielding signal VFB at the non-inverting input of the amplifier. Typically, differential amplifiers are used in modern electronic circuits. Differential amplifiers amplify the voltage difference between two input signals. When the output of a differential amplifier is connected to its inverting input and a reference voltage signal is applied to the non-inverting input, the output voltage of the op-amp closely follows that reference voltage. As the amplifier output increases, that output voltage is fed back to the inverting input, thereby acting to decrease the voltage differential between the inputs. When the input differential is reduced, the amplifier output and the system gain are also reduced. In FIG. 1, because amplifier 104 is a dual-stage amplifier, the reference signal is shown connected to the inverting input rather than the non-inverting input. Nevertheless, because the output is fed back in a manner that reduces the system gain, the result is negative feedback, sometimes called degenerative feedback.
Negative feedback is often employed to stabilize a control system when the system exhibits a gain from the input to the output. The output stage 120 in this LDO application is modeled by load resistor RL and an output capacitor C0 which is needed to deliver an instantaneous current to a dynamic load. C0 has a characteristic equivalent series resistance (ESR) modeled by a series resistor RESR. ESR is an effective resistance that is used to describe the resistive part of the impedance of certain electrical components such as capacitors.
An important characteristic of this type of control circuit is the ratio between the output and input signal amplitudes, known as the transfer function. The transfer function for any given system is used to model the gain of the system as a function of the input signal frequency. Such control systems are often designed to meet the specifications of a transfer function. The frequency response of the control system is completely described by its transfer function. As such, the stability of a system over a range of input signal frequencies may be predicted based upon properties of its transfer function known as poles and zeros. A pole is a root of the polynomial denominator of a transfer function; a zero is a root of the polynomial numerator.
In designing stable systems, one important consideration is the shift in phase that a signal undergoes as it passes through the system. Poles and zeros are associated with these shifts in phase. If the signal accumulates a shift in phase of 180 degrees, the shift causes the negative feedback to become positive feedback. This is problematic when the system is operating at greater than unity gain as positive feedback will drive the system to an unstable oscillatory state. In order to maintain the stability of the control system, designers often build in a phase shift buffer, called a phase margin. For example, a 50 degree phase margin ensures that the signal never undergoes a phase shift of more than about 130 degrees (i.e. it never comes within approximately 50 degrees of a 180 degree phase shift). 50 degrees is a typical value of a phase margin in an LDO design; however, a 50 degree phase margin is not a requirement for stability and smaller phase margins of 45 degrees or lower may suffice. Furthermore, although a design goal may be to maintain a particular phase margin, the actual performance of a system may be less than the nominal phase margin value. The nominal value of the phase margin is chosen to meet the specifications of a particular design and may vary significantly.
Both poles and zeros can be introduced into the transfer function describing the control loop by inserting various electronic components into the loop. For example, a dual-stage amplifier will create two poles in the transfer function. The addition of poles and zeros into the frequency response of a system must be taken into account in order to design a system with a bounded (finite) output. Unwanted or unavoidable poles and zeros can create significant challenges when trying to stabilize a control system over a range of operating frequencies.
Previously, efforts have been made to stabilize a control system by designing the system so that troublesome poles only affect the system negligibly over the operating frequency range. This approach limits the designer to specific component values and configurations. For example, an output stage may include a capacitor having an ESR which adds a zero to the transfer function at a certain frequency. In order to realize a stable system, the capacitor must be limited to values such that the added zero does not interfere with the system response over the input frequency range. For this reason, small variations in the value of the ESR in an output capacitor can have a significant destabilizing effect on the entire system. A major goal of electronic system design is to avoid limiting circuit components to a precise value or range of values, allowing for easy replacement and substitution of components.
Another previous effort to stabilize control systems involves raising the quiescent current. The quiescent current, sometimes called the leakage current, is the portion of the input current that does not contribute to the load current. In other words, it is the current that the system consumes when no load current is being supplied. By raising the quiescent current, non-dominant poles in the system can be pushed to much higher frequency levels outside the system's normal operating range. A drawback of this stabilization method is that a higher quiescent current drains the batteries that power the system. For this reason many modern applications demand a low quiescent current for increased battery lifetime.


A light guide member for guiding a beam of light from a light emitting element, fixedly mounted on a printed circuit board, towards a display window defined in a casing that encloses the light emitting element and the printed circuit board therein. The light guide member includes a transparent rod having at least first and second reflecting surfaces defined therein at different locations along the length of the transparent rod. The transparent rod is designed to allow the beam of light to travel in three dimensions along the entire length of the transparent rod from a light receiving face, defined at one end of the transparent rod, to a light emitting face defined at the opposite end of the transparent rod.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical light guide member and, more particularly, to the light guide member for guiding a beam of light from a light emitting element, fixedly mounted on a printed circuit board, towards a display window defined in a casing that encloses the light emitting element and the printed circuit board therein. The present invention also relates to an optical light guide assembly comprising a plurality of the optical light guide members connected together in a juxtaposed fashion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been well known that a transparent rod made of a transparent plastic material such as an acrylic resin can be used as an optical light guide for guiding a beam of light therethrough. Although incapable of being used in a long-distance light transmission such as accomplished by an optical glass fiber, the transparent rod is often used to guide a beam of light, emitted by a light emitting element such as, for example, a light emitting diode to any desired location.
By way of example, an electronic appliance such as a controller makes use of at least one light emitting diode as a status indicator to provide a visual indication of, for example, whether or not the electronic appliance is properly operated. Depending on the type of the electronic appliance and/or the type of the light emitting diode, the light emitting diode is often fixedly positioned on a printed circuit board and an indicator window is defined in a casing that encloses the printed circuit board therein. Where there is a substantial distance between the light emitting diode on the printed circuit board and the indicator window in the casing, the transparent light guide rod is generally employed for guiding a beam of light from the light emitting element to the indicator window so that a user or attendant worker can ascertain whether or not the light emitting diode is electrically energized, by looking at the indicator window.
The Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 4-81101, published Jul. 15, 1992, discloses the use of a generally rectangular LED plate lens formed integrally with a plurality of generally cylindrical independent light guide bosses protruding outwardly from one surface of the LED plate lens. The LED plate lens is fixed to an inner surface of a lower front panel portion of a television receiver cabinet, where indicator windows are formed, so that respective free ends of the light guide bosses can be aligned with light emitting diodes that are fixedly mounted on a printed circuit board within the television receiver cabinet. This publication describes that each light guide boss may have a tubular shape and may be inclined so as to optically connect the respective light emitting diode with the associated indicator window where the indicator windows and the light emitting diodes are displaced in level relative to each other.
The Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 7-230024, published Aug. 29, 1995, discloses, in one embodiment, a generally triangular light guide member made of a transparent plastic material and having first and second surfaces lying perpendicular to each other and a third surface lying at an angles relative to any one of the first and second surfaces. While the first and second surfaces of the light guide block are used as light receiving and emitting faces, respectively, the third surface is used as a reflecting surface for reflecting a beam of light, which has entered the light guide block through the light receiving face, towards the light emitting face.
This publication also discloses, in another embodiment, a monolithic light guide member made of a transparent plastic material and having first, second and third reflecting surfaces defined therein along the length thereof. The light guide member according to the alternative embodiment disclosed in this publication is so designed that a beam of light emitted from the light emitting diode and entering the light guide member through the light receiving face is, after having travelled along a first path, first reflected by the first reflecting surface so as to travel along a second path, then reflected by the second reflecting surface so as to travel towards the third reflecting surface along a third path in a direction substantially counter to the direction of travel of the beam towards the first reflecting surface, and finally reflected by the third reflecting surface so as to travel along a fourth path towards the indicator window in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of travel of the beam along the second path. The first to third paths defined in the light guide means lie in a single common plane substantially perpendicular to the printed circuit board.
The Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 8-184713, published Jul. 16, 1996, discloses a monolithic light guide member of a generally L-shaped plate-like configuration made of a transparent plastic material and including long and short bodies angled relative to each other. The light guide member disclosed in this publication is used in a notebook-sized personal computer as a status indicator and is so designed and so configured that a beam of light emitted from a light emitting diode can be viewed from two directions generally perpendicular to each other regardless of whether a lid is closed or whether the lid is opened. For this purpose, the light guide member has, in addition to a single light receiving face aligned with the light emitting diode, first and second light emitting faces and is so designed that, regardless of the position of the lid, a beam of light from the light emitting element can travel directly towards the first light emitting face, but towards the second light emitting face after having been reflected by a series of four reflecting faces or can, alternatively, travel simultaneously towards the first and second light emitting faces after having been scattered by a roughened reflecting face.
According to any one of the foregoing publications, regardless of the number of reflections taking place in the light guide block or member, the beam of light travelling from the light receiving face towards the light emitting face or faces propagates in a single plane lying at an angle or right angles relative to the printed circuit board.
A certain encased electric appliance such as, for example, a sequence controller requires the use of a plurality of light emitting diodes to provide a visual indication of not only different operating statuses of the electric appliance, but also different line statuses of lines leading to and from the circuitry. Where the circuit design is given according to standards, for example, VDEO 160: 1988 (prEN50178: 1995) or EN61131-2: 1995, downscaling of the sequence controller is difficult to achieve because of a substantial distance found between the position of the light emitting diodes, mounted on the printed circuit board, and that of the indicator windows defined in a wall of the casing.
More specifically, the sequence controller includes relatively bulky electric component parts and relatively small electric component parts, both mounted on a printed circuit. The relatively bulky electric component parts include at least one modular pin connector having a row of a plurality of connector pins, a plurality of relay switches, and a transformer, all mounted on a primary circuit region (a high-voltage active region) of the printed circuit board whereas the relatively small electric component parts including the light emitting diodes are mounted on a secondary circuit region (a low-voltage active region) of the printed circuit board. The primary and secondary circuit regions are required to have a space of insulation of, for example, about 3 mm.
On the other hand, some or all of the indicator windows in the casing of the sequence controller discussed above must be coordinated with respective positions of the connector pins in the modular pin connector so that statuses of the lines associated with those connector pins can be visually displayed. This means that the primary circuit region in the printed circuit board must be positioned adjacent to the wall where the indicator windows are defined and the modular connector is installed and that the light emitting diodes included in the secondary circuit region have to be positioned in at least one row at a location distant from the indicator windows.
One possible solution to accomplishing the downscaling of the sequence controller would be the use of elongated light guide members one for each light emitting diode to convey a beam of light from the respective light emitting diode towards the associated indicator window. Each of these elongated light guide members may be of a design substantially similar to or identical with the light guide member disclosed in any one of the previous discussed publications.
However, as discussed hereinbefore, in the prior art light guide member or block referred to hereinbefore, the beam of light entering the light guide member or block travels only in one common plane at right angles to the printed circuit board. Accordingly, when the prior art light guide members are used in the sequence controller of the type discussed above, the light emitting diodes have to be positioned spaced a substantial distance from each other, thus limiting the extent to which the sequence controller can be downscaled.
The use of an optical glass fiber may be contemplated in place of the plastic light guide member. However, it has been found that where the space available between the printed circuit board and a panel of the casing is extremely limited, the optical glass fiber cannot be conveniently employed since it cannot be bent at right angles. Bending the optical glass fiber at right angles or an acute angle without allowing it to break upon bending requires a substantial radius of curvature and, hence, a relatively large space is required to accommodate the optical glass fiber, which in turn hampers the downscaling of the electronic appliance.


An apparatus and method are provided for sensing infrared radiation. The apparatus includes a sensor element that is positioned in a magnetic field during operation to ensure a λ shaped relationship between specific heat and temperature adjacent the Curie temperature of the ferroelectric material comprising the sensor element. The apparatus is operated by inducing a magnetic field on the ferroelectric material to reduce surface charge on the element during its operation.

Ferroelectric materials possess a net permanent dipole moment μ. If the dipoles point in the same direction a spontaneous polarization, P, appears and the solid is called ferroelectric. The temperature T derivative of the polarization P, dP/dT is the pyroelectric coefficient. It is the pyroelectric coefficient, inherent to all ferroelectrics, that leads to an electrical charge or current at the surface of a solid that is a limitation of ferroelectric solids in sensor configurations. Today, sensors for detecting electromagnetic radiation are part of the mental furniture of researchers. They are typically tuned or constructed for sensing electromagnetic radiation within a specific wavelength, λ, of the electromagnetic spectrum. For example, they may be tuned for x-ray, (10−6 to 10−8 cm), gamma ray, (10−8 to 10−1 cm), infrared, (10−2 to 10−4 cm). Devices using such technologies can be as simple as a household motion detector or memory devices to sophisticated astrophysics instruments and sophisticated instruments used in physics experiments. Infrared sensors are of particular interest and are used in high speed FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), night vision instruments, particular those used by soldiers, astronomical telescopes and the like. Several types of sensors for detecting infrared radiation are known in the art. Some of these are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,081. Of particular interest in this invention is the control of the pyroelectric current. In order to use the pyroelectric effect of the various ferroelectric materials, one needs to remove the surface charge on the sensor element. One way of doing this has been to enclose the sensor in a hermetically sealed area containing argon or neon gas (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,081). A window for transmitting the infrared radiation from the environment to the sensor is required and can be made from a material such as KBr or Teflon.
Surface charge, originating from dP/dT may also be reduced by the application of a layer of conductive material, e.g., polymer or metal, to the ferroelectric material. However, such requirements are expensive to implement and often adversely affect the performance.
Thus, there is a need for an improved sensor and method for assessing ferroelectric materials for functionality and critical parameters.

Ferroelectric infrared detector and method


A system and method for classifying and defining relationships between product information data is provided. The method classifies the product information data to two different data types. Each data type includes a plurality of items. The items of each of the two types are arranged in a product information tree. The items of all the product information trees are associated to construct a new tree for showing the relationships of the product information data.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to product information management systems and methods, and more particularly to a system and method for classifying and defining relationships between product information data.
2. Description of Related Art
Various product information systems are employed in manufacturing plants to maintain product quality. Product information may be held or stored in different information systems located in various departments, such as production departments, sales departments, and warehouses of a factory. Because product information is kept in different locations, it is difficult for managers to analyze and manage the product information.
Further, product information is usually stored in a linear structure, without a clear means to know the relationships among various items of the product information in the product information system, so it is inconvenient for users.
Therefore, an effective system and method for configuring product information is desired to overcome the above-described shortcomings.

System and method for classifying and defining relationships between product information data

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


Methods and systems for forming a scribe line in a thin film stack on an inner surface of a thin film photovoltaic superstrate are provided via the use of a cleaning laser beam and a scribing laser beam. The cleaning laser beam is focused directly onto the exposed surface of the superstrate such that the cleaning laser beam removes debris from the exposed surface of the superstrate, and the scribing laser beam is focused through the exposed surface of the superstrate and onto the thin film stack such that the scribing laser beam passes through the superstrate to form a scribe within the thin film stack on the inner surface of the superstrate. The method and system can further utilize a conveyor to transport the superstrate in a machine direction to move the superstrate past the cleaning laser source and the scribing laser source.

Photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells are material junction devices which convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electrical power. When exposed to sunlight, the electric field of solar cell p-n junctions separates pairs of free electrons and holes, thus generating a photo-voltage. A circuit from n-side to p-side allows the flow of electrons when the solar cell is connected to an electrical load, while the area and other parameters of the PV cell junction device determine the available current. Electrical power is the product of the voltage times the current generated as the electrons and holes recombine.
Thin-film solar devices typically include multiple thin layers of material deposited on sheet glass, and are typically subdivided into a large number (between 100 and 200) of individual solar cells by scribing processes that also define the electrical interconnects for adjacent cells, which are electrically connected in series to produce power with a current. Laser scribing enables high-volume production of next-generation thin-film devices, and laser scribing out performs mechanical scribing methods in quality, speed, and reliability.
The laser-material interaction involves complex processes of heating, melting, vaporization, ejection of atoms, ions and molecules, shock waves, plasma initiation and plasma expansion. The resulting crater and laser-induced plasma are dependent on the laser beam parameters (e.g., duration, energy, and wavelength), the solid target properties, the surrounding environment's conditions, and, if passing through the superstrate, the condition and composition of the substrate (e.g., glass). For example, debris on the exposed surface of the superstrate (i.e., opposite from the thin film stack) can greatly affect the quality of the scribe line formed in the thin film stack, which can lead to shunting and other issues. Such issues can, in turn, lead to variations in performance of the resulting PV module.
As such, a need exists for more precisely laser scribing multiple thin films on a glass superstrate, especially cadmium telluride based thin film photovoltaic devices.

Dual lasers for removing glass-side debris during the manufacture of thin film photovoltaic devices


An array substrate for use in an X-ray sensing device and in an LCD device is fabricated using plasma gas treatment. Especially, an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) transparent conductive metallic layer is plasma-treated by N2 plasma, He plasma or Ar plasma, before forming the insulation layer on the ITO transparent conductive metallic layer. Thus, the plasma removes the impurities on a surface of the transparent conductive metallic layer and changes the lattice structure of the surface of the transparent conductive metallic layer, and thus the adhesion between the transparent conductive metallic layer and the insulation layer is improved. The defects caused by a gap or a space between the transparent conductive metallic layer and the insulation layer do not occur.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to X-ray sensing devices and to liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. More particularly, it relates to a method of fabricating thin film transistor (TFT) array substrates for use in X-ray sensing devices and in LCD devices.
2. Description of Related Art
X-ray sensing devices (referred to as X-ray detectors hereinafter) and liquid crystal display (LCD) devices include thin film transistors (TFTs) as switching elements. The X-ray detectors act as sensing devices and the LCD devices act as displaying devices.
Since the X-ray detectors employ TFTs, the X-ray detectors have the advantage of providing real time diagnosis. Operating principles and configurations of the X-ray detectors are explained hereinafter.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one pixel of an array substrate of a related art X-ray detector. That X-ray detector includes a thin film transistor (TFT) "T" on a substrate 1, a photoconductive film 2, and various conductive elements that are described subsequently. Also included, but not shown in FIG. 1, are a scanning integrated circuit and a data integrated circuit.
Still referring to FIG. 1, the photoconductive film 2 produces electron-hole pairs 6 in proportion to the strength of incident radiation, such as X-rays. Thus, the photoconductive film 2 acts as a photoelectric transducer that converts incident X-rays into electron-hole pairs 6. An external voltage Ev is applied across a conductive electrode 7 to a pixel electrode 8. That voltage causes the electron-hole pairs 6 in the photoconductive film 2 to separate such that X-ray induced electrical charges accumulate on the pixel electrode 8. Those electrical charges are applied to a second capacitor electrode 13, and are consequently stored in a storage capacitor "S" formed by the second capacitor electrode 13 and a first capacitor electrode 11 that is formed over a ground line 9. The pixel electrode 8, the first capacitor electrode 11 and the second capacitor electrode 13 are beneficially comprised of a transparent conductive material such as Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO). Furthermore, an insulating dielectric layer 15 is interposed between the first capacitor electrode 11 and the second electrode 13. That dielectric layer is beneficially comprised of Silicon Nitride (SiNx).
When forming the first capacitor electrode 11, the transparent conductive material such as ITO is deposited and patterned at a temperature of 210 degrees Celsius. However, when forming the insulating dielectric layer 15, the deposition and patterning processes are performed, at a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius. Therefore, during the process of forming the insulating dielectric layer 15 after forming the first capacitor electrode 11, the higher temperature (250 degrees Celsius) affects a surface of the first capacitor electrode 11, and thus contact defects between the first capacitor electrode 11 and the insulating dielectric layer 15 occur. Namely, a gap or a space is formed in the interface where the first capacitor electrode 11 and the insulating dielectric layer 15 contact each other.
The problem described above also occurs in an array substrate for use in an LCD device. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one pixel of a related art LCD device. As shown, the LCD device 21 has lower and upper substrates 25 and 29 and an interposed liquid crystal layer 31. The lower substrate 25 has the TFT "T" as a switching element to change an orientation of the liquid crystal molecules and includes a pixel electrode 23 to apply a voltage to the liquid crystal layer 31 according to signals of the TFT "T". And, a protective insulation layer 33 is formed on the pixel electrode 23 and on the TFT "T" to protect the pixel electrode 23 and the TFT "T". The upper substrate 29 has a common electrode 27 thereon. The common electrode 27 serves as an electrode for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer 31.
Still referring to FIG. 2, the pixel electrode 23 contacts the drain electrode of the TFT "T" and applies a signal received therefrom to the liquid crystal layer 31. Thus, the signal re-arranges the liquid crystal molecules into a determined pattern due to a spontaneous polarization in accordance with the applied signal. The LCD device displays images, due to the fact that the transmittance of light generated from a backlight device (not shown) is controlled by the re-arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules. Meanwhile, the pixel electrode 23 is formed of ITO as in the case of the X-ray detector described above, and the protective insulation layer 33 is formed of silicon nitride (SiNx).
In the above-mentioned LCD device, during the process of forming the protective insulation layer after forming the pixel electrode, the higher temperature (250 degrees Celsius) affects the surface of the pixel electrode, and thus contact defects between the pixel electrode and the protective insulation layer occur. Namely, a gap or a space, as described in the case of the X-ray detector, is formed in the interface where the pixel electrode and the protection layer touch each other. These gaps or spaces decrease the manufacturing yield and throughput.

Method of fabricating an array substrate


Disclosed is a knee brace that incorporates hinges that allow the brace to pivot simultaneously about a flexion-extension axis and a longitudinal rotation axis as the brace flexes and/or extends. The hinges include a medial hinge and a lateral hinge. The medial hinge defines a medial pivot axis and the lateral hinge defines a lateral pivot axis. The medial pivot axis does not coincide with the lateral pivot axis, and neither axis coincides with the flexion-extension axis. Calf portions of each hinge are pivotable with respect to their respective uprights about an axis that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal rotation axis. The pivotability of the calf portions with respect to the calf frame eliminates stresses that would otherwise develop in the hinges as the brace flexes and/or extends.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to orthopedic bracing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two functions that knee brace hinges perform are guiding the wearer's knee along a natural path of motion, and restraining the wearer's knee against unnatural and harmful motions. In order to accomplish these functions, many knee brace hinge designs attempt to mimic the natural motion of the knee. Some of these designs include monocentric hinges, polycentric hinges, four-bar-linkage hinges, and cam hinges.
The human knee, however, follows a rather complex path as it flexes and extends. In general, when viewed in the sagittal plane, the knee moves in a slide-and-glide fashion in which the femur partially rolls back posteriorly on the tibia as the knee flexes. Most of the motion of the knee occurs in the sagittal plane. However, a not insignificant amount of knee motion also occurs out of this two-dimensional perspective, as explained in detail below.
Many researchers have attempted to measure and model the three-dimensional motion of the knee. Based on this research, many designers have constructed knee brace hinges that approximate this three-dimensional motion. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,107,824, 5,611,774 and 5,792,086 describe three such hinges. These designs are all of the cam-slot type and include curved plates. The cam-slot arrangement allows for the hinge to undergo complex motion patterns and the curved plates allow for rotations to occur outside of the sagittal plane. However, these designs have a number of drawbacks.
First, cam-slot hinges require long cavities to be cut within the hinge plates. These cavities often result in large, bulky hinges, and leave little room for other features such as extension and flexion control stops. Second, curved hinge plates are costly to manufacture as compared to flat plates, which can often be made by inexpensive processes such as sheet metal stamping. Third, the curvature of the hinge plates in these designs is based upon the spacing between the medial and lateral hinges. This spacing changes with the size of the patient wearing the brace. Thus, to meet the needs of differently sized patients, a variety of sizes and shapes of curved parts must be manufactured. If the hinges are not properly sized and shaped, the hinges may not operate smoothly through their range of motion.
Recent research has revealed that the three-dimensional motion of the human knee can be described as a simultaneous rotation about two axes, each of which is fixed relative to the leg bones. (Churchill, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, No. 356, pp. 111-118, 1998.). The first axis is the familiar flexion-extension axis. This axis is fixed relative to the femur, extends in the medial-lateral direction, and runs through the lateral and medial epicondyles of the femur bone. The second axis is the tibial rotation axis (also referred to as the longitudinal rotation axis). This axis is fixed relative to the tibia, runs parallel to the length of the tibia, and is located slightly medial to the center of the tibial plateau. In general, as the knee flexes the tibia simultaneously rotates internally about the tibial rotation axis.

Knee brace hinges having dual axes of rotation