A document handling system includes an imaging area; a light source located in proximity to the imaging area; a raster imaging scanning system located in proximity to the imaging area; and a looped document path, located in proximity to the imaging area, having an entrance and an exit. The exit of the looped document path is positioned such that an exiting document is placed upon the imaging area a second time. Alternatively, the document handling system includes a semicircular document path, located in proximity to a first imaging area, having an entrance and an exit; and a second imaging area located in proximity to the exit of the semicircular document path. A bi-directional fiber optic element is located between the first and second imaging areas to transmit light from the light source to the second imaging area and light reflected from the second imaging area to the first imaging area.

Conventional automatic duplex documents sheet handling and imaging systems have increased the effective imaging, scanning, or copying rate for both sides of sets of duplex documents. Such conventional automatic document handlers automatically sequentially feed and image a set or job of plural duplex (two-sided) document sheets, while at the same, these conventional document handlers are capable of feeding and copying simplex documents (one-side). For example, a conventional automatic document feeder, which is particularly suited for imaging the documents electronically (digitally) while the document is moved past such an imaging station with a constant velocity transport, allows for a more compact and faster imaging document handler as compared to document handlers which place the document on a full size platen and hold the document stationary while it is scanned by a moving scanner.
A particular difficulty in duplex document handling for electronic imaging is the desirability of having only a single electronic imaging station. However, that requires inverting or turning over each duplex document after imaging one side thereof in order to image the other side of the duplex document, and/or reorienting the documents for collated restacking. In conventional duplex document handling systems, the inversion requirement required several time delays in which no document side (page) imaging is being accomplished, thus effectively reducing the effective imaging or duplex document copying rate of the overall system. Thus, it is desirable to provide a duplex document handling system with improved productivity or throughput rate for electronic document scanners.
Another problem with conventional automatic duplex documents sheet handling systems is the additional requirement of inverting the document twice in the overall document path in order to return the document sheet to the exit tray in the original order and be properly collated. As is well known, if documents are fed in forward serial order (1 to N page order) and are sequentially stacked on top of one another as the documents exit the system, regardless of whether the output tray is a separate tray or the original input tray, the document sheets must be stacked "face down" in order to remain collated and in proper order when fed in such forward or 1 to N page order. Otherwise, the sheets must be undesirably manually reordered after imaging.
Furthermore, conventional automatic duplex documents sheet handling systems have been constructed such that the input tray and the output tray of a document handler are in a vertical relationship to provide a more compact overall configuration and allow the document inversion path to be compactly interposed between the overlying upper and lower trays. In the conventional automatic duplex documents sheet handling systems having a vertical relationship, simplex documents are restacked face down and collated if the simplex documents are fed from the top of a face up stack in the input tray. However, this handling of a duplex document present a problem in that the duplex documents must be inverted a second time between the imaging of one side and the imaging of the other side of the duplex document. Moreover, a third inversion of the duplex document is required in order to allow the duplex document to be restacked properly collated in the output tray. This third inversion causes a productivity loss, especially where the inversion is done utilizing the path through the imaging station, preventing the imaging of any document in that time period.
Another example of a conventional duplex scanning system exposes both sides of a document while the document is moved along a continuous velocity path. Conventionally, two scan illumination stations are used, one for each side of the document, with the scanned images of the first side and the second side following two optical paths but imaged via the same imaging plane. Such two scan illumination stations require a moving mirror or a moving lens to bring projected images onto a common imaging plane. Optical components in motion can create optical misalignments and vibrations. Such motion is also time consuming and requires precision mechanisms which may be costly to manufacture.
A further example of a conventional duplex scanning system uses two raster image scanners in separate imaging planes to image both sides of the document to eliminate the need for a moving mirror or a moving lens. This conventional approach increases the manufacturing cost of the imaging system.
A still further example of a conventional duplex scanning system provide a system with two exposure stations, one for each side of the paper, but only one raster image scanner. At each imaging station, the document to be imaged passes over the top of a platen at each imaging station and light reflected from the side facing the platen is captured by a lens. The lens for the first imaging station captures the image of the first side reflected through the platen of the first imaging station. The lens array for the second imaging station captures the image of the second side reflected through the platen of the second imaging station and then transmits that the image to the raster image scanner through the platen of the first imaging station.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a duplex document scanning system with improved productivity or throughput rate for electronic document scanners. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a duplex document scanning system with a document path having a minimum number of inversions. Also, it is desirable to provide a duplex document scanning system with a document path that restacks the documents in a proper order. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a duplex document scanning system that utilizes only one raster image scanner, one illumination source, and one pass through the document path.
An automatic document handling system includes a first imaging area; a light source located in proximity to the first imaging area; a raster imaging scanning system located in proximity to the first imaging area; a semicircular document path, located in proximity to the first imaging area, having an entrance and an exit; a second imaging area located in proximity to the exit of the semicircular document path; and a bi-directional fiber optic element located between the first and second imaging areas. The bi-directional fiber optic element transmits light from the light source to the second imaging area and transmits light reflected from the second imaging area to the first imaging area.
An automatic document handling system includes a first imaging area; a light source located in proximity to the first imaging area; a raster imaging scanning system located in proximity to the first imaging area; a semicircular document path, located in proximity to the first imaging area, having an entrance and an exit; a second imaging area located in proximity to the exit of the semicircular document path; a first fiber optic element located between the first and second imaging areas; and a second fiber optic element located between the first and second imaging areas. The first fiber optic element transmits light from the light source to the second imaging area and transmits light reflected from the second imaging area to the first imaging area.
An automatic document handling system includes an imaging area; a light source located in proximity to the imaging area; a raster imaging scanning system located in proximity to the imaging area; and a looped document path, located in proximity to the imaging area, having an entrance and an exit. The exit of the looped document path is positioned such that an exiting document is placed upon the imaging area a second time.

Single pass duplex document path for a digital scanner


A straight line generator for line drawing in a discrete coordinate system utilizing the Bresenham algorithm. A first counter holds an X coordinate value and is capable of incrementing and decrementing the X coordinate value and a second counter holds a Y coordinate value and is capable of incrementing and decrementing the Y coordinate value. A region code which depends on the slope of the line within the range of 360 degrees is stored. An error term obtained from the Bresenham algirithm is also stored. Responsive to the region code and the error term, increments of the first and second counters are controlled. Positive and negative added parameters which vary the error are stored in registers. Either of the date in the register is selected in accordance with the sign of the error term so as to be added to the error term.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of generating a straight line in a discrete coordinate system, and more specifically to generation of a straight line of pixels by utilizing, for example, the Bresenham algorithm.
2. Prior Art
As a method of generating a straight line of pixels, such a method as DDA (Digital Differential Analysis) system has been known. Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 94378/85 discloses an example wherein the DDA system has been realized. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of a straight line generator which employs the conventional DDA system. The reference numeral 51 designates an X-counter which increases or decreases an X coordinate; 52 a Y-counter which increases or decreases a Y coordinate; 53 a slope register adapted to hold the gradient of a slope; 54 an adder adapted to accumulate the content of the slope register; 55 a register adapted to hold the content of the adder 54; and 56, 57 selectors adapted to select carry signal from the adder 54 and a clock signal. The slope register 53, the adder 54 and the register 55 constitute a decimal-fraction calculating circuit adapted to compute a decimal fraction.
The operation of the DDA system will now be explained by referring to FIG. 1. Using the coordinate (XS, YS) of the start point and the coordinate (XE, YE) of the end point of a straight line the absolute value .vertline.X.vertline.=.vertline.XE-XS.vertline. of a difference value X of the X coordinate components and the absolute value .vertline.Y.vertline.=.vertline.YE-YS.vertline. of a difference value Y of the Y coordinate components between those two points are calculated by a circuit provided outside the straight line generator. (It is to be understood that the coordinate axis which corresponds to a large one of the absolute values .vertline.X.vertline. and .vertline.Y.vertline. will be referred to as the main axis.) It is assumed here that the X axis is the main axis. The slope of the line can be obtained by calculating the ratio between such two absolute values. In this case, it is also assumed that a larger absolute value of the respective coordinate components is used as a denominator and a smaller absolute value of the respective coordinate components is used as a numerator so as to calculate the ratio. Since the denominator is larger than the numerator, the ratio obtained is a decimal fraction less than unity. In this way, the ratio is equal to .vertline.Y.vertline./.vertline.X.vertline.. First, after the register 55 has been reset, the ratio is loaded in the slope register 53, the X coordinate of the start point in the X-counter 51 and the Y coordinate of the start point in the Y-counter 52, respectively. The selectors 56, 57 operate to supply the clock signal to the counter for the main coordinate axis and the carry signal generated by the adder 54 at the time of adding the ratio output from the slope register 53 for every clock, to the counter for the rest of the coordinate axes. This causes the counter corresponding to the main coordinate axis to be operated for each clock and the counter for the rest of the coordinate axes to be operated by the carry signal output from the adder 54, whereby the X-counter 51 and the Y-counter 52 calculate interpolated coordinate values from the start point to the end point of the line and output such values. By repeating this operation, pixels making a straight line may be generated.
Besides the method explained above, many other methods of line drawing have been employed. Among them, a method of which the algorithm is simple and which is suitable for implementation in hardware is the Bresenham method which is very widely utilized today. A hardware version of a line drawing process using the Bresenham algorithm is found in Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 165280/87 filed by IBM Corp. with the title of "Set-up Apparatus for Graphic Vector Generator".
In the Bresenham algorithm, although it is not described in detail here, either one of the coordinate values is varied by .+-.1. The other of the coordinates may be varied or not depending on the value of an error term. The error term means a recorded distance between a correct path on a line measured to the direction perpendicular to the maximum variation axis (the main axis) and a point actually generated. In the case of .vertline.X.vertline..gtoreq..vertline.Y.vertline., since the X axis is the maximum variation axis (or the main axis), the error term e is accordingly measured in the Y axis direction. It is to be noted here that the error term e is utilized to make a decision of being positive or negative and may be added by an integer for use.
Since a straight line generator according to the prior art is constituted as shown in FIG. 1, division has to be performed to compute the slope of the line and generation of parameters for such division takes time, resulting in a reduction in processing performance. In addition, the rate of time generation is also reduced due to the fact that data used for calculation are decimal fractions and therefore long.
Furthermore, since the "Set-up Apparatus for Graphic Vector Generator" disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Public Disclosure Official Gazette is an apparatus in which the symmetry of graphics is taken into consideration, parameters relating to X coordinate values have, in some conditions, to be exchanged with parameters relating to Y coordinate values. This necessitates a "swapping circuit", resulting in a large hardware scale and a long parameter setting-up time.

Apparatus for and method of generating a straight line of pixels in a discrete coordinate system


The press-fitting method for press-fitting a plurality of clinching fasteners into a workpiece. The method includes: a drilling step S1 of drilling press-fit holes at press-fitting positions of the workpiece to press-fit first clinching fasteners that are press-fitted from a punch side of a turret punch press by NC control using the turret punch press; a workpiece mounting step S2 of mounting the workpiece so that the workpiece is superposed on a fastening jig that guides the first clinching fasteners; a fastener insertion step S3 of inserting a predetermined number of the first clinching fasteners taken out from a screw feeder into the press-fit holes of the workpiece; a fastener press-fitting step S4 of press-fitting the first clinching fasteners into the press-fit holes of the workpiece by NC control using the turret punch press; and a workpiece removal step S5 of removing the workpiece from the fastening jig.

Conventionally, a method through stud welding has been adopted as a method of attaching bolts, nuts, spacers, and the like for mounting electronic components on a metal plate such as a control plate. Stud welding provides high joint strength, but is likely to cause welding defects and positioning defects. Therefore, in recent years, a method of press-fitting a clinching fastener has been adopted to compensate for this drawback. To press-fit a clinching fastener, first, a clinching fastener 90 is inserted into a press-fit hole 100 drilled in a workpiece W, as shown in FIGS. 31 (1) and 31 (2). The clinching fastener 90 consists of a cylindrical body portion 91, a groove portion 92 having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the body portion 91, and a knurl portion 93 having a diameter larger than the diameter of the body portion 91 and also having a knurled outer peripheral surface. The diameter of the press-fit hole 100 is slightly larger than the diameter of the body portion 91. As shown in FIG. 31 (3), when the clinching fastener 90 is press-fitted into the press-fit hole 100 by a punch 95 from an upper part of the knurl portion 93, a part of the workpiece W pushed out under compressive stress by the knurl portion 93 enters the groove portion 92. Thus, the clinching fastener 90 is prevented from coming off, and the knurl portion 93 prevents the clinching fastener 90 from rotating, and thus the clinching fastener 90 is securely fixed to the workpiece W.
As the method of press-fitting the clinching fastener 90 into the workpiece W, a method of using an insertion machine can be adopted. As such an insertion machine, for example, an insertion machine presented in Patent Literature 1 is known.

Clinching fastener press-fitting method and fastening jig for use in the press-fitting method


A speed changing mechanism includes a pump (1) including a liquid suction channel (6), a liquid drainage channel (8) and working components (3, 4) moving relatively to each other forming working volumes. A relative movement of the working component leads to a periodic increase and decrease of the working volume, so that the fluid is sucked through the liquid suction channel and discharged through the liquid drainage channel, and the pressure energy discharging the fluid is increased by the excursion of the working components. A part of working components is connected to an input component, another part of working components are connected to an output component. The movement of the part of working components relative to another part of working components is changed by changing the flow rate of the pump. Therefore, the speed changing mechanism can realize the switch-on/off of power transmission and change the transmitted power.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a speed changing mechanism and a speed changing control method thereof, and more particularly to a stepped automatic speed changing mechanism.
2. Description of Related Arts
Automatic transmission is an important component of the development and application of automobiles, which not only provides convenience for the driver, but also provides excellent comfort for the passenger. Furthermore, it can protect the power components of the vehicle, thereby prolonging the service life. The application of the automatic transmission can greatly simplify the driving operation, so the automatic transmission is the key component for the automobile commonly used.
After a hundred years of development, people invent the AT (hydraulic automatic transmission), and CVT (transmission ratio continuously variable transmission) and AMT (automatic mechanical transmission) in the automobile industry. In recent years, due to the influence of the energy problem, the hydraulic torque converter used by the AT has the low transmission efficiency, which seriously affects the development of AT. Therefore, CVT and AMT are developed instead of AT.
Due to the friction drive, the transfer torque and the durability of CVT are the biggest application barrier. Currently, CVT are mainly applied to the small displacement volume passenger vehicles. In spite that CVT are applied to the few high-grade large displacement volume vehicles, the market feeds back that CVT has a lot of problems, thereby some famous automobile manufacturers no longer continue to use CVT.
AMT has simple structure, low cost and high transmission efficiency, but it takes a long time to interrupt power transfer during the shifting process, thereby resulting in poor comfort. In order to solve the power interrupt problem, DCT (double clutch transmission), using two clutches to support the odd shifting and the even shifting, respectively, is invented. The shifting process is a process in which two clutches are switched, and has fast speed, thereby solving the inherent defects of AMT, and achieving the high-efficient transmission. However, DCT has complex structure and high cost. Simultaneously, it is difficult for DCT to control the friction clutch.
All transmissions mentioned above have the short-time power interruption during the shifting process except CVT for avoiding the transmission interference and protecting the shift conversion components. Therefore, it is desired for people to invent an automatic transmission with the high transmission efficiency, simple structure, low cost and capability of shifting without power interruption.

Speed changing control method and speed changing mechanism thereof

Nanjing Afu Automobile Control System Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to monoclonal antibodies, humanized monoclonal antibodies and functional derivatives thereof specific for the platelet-derived growth factor receptor .beta.. Methods of use of the antibody, particularly in ameliorating restenosis, are also provided.

Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) is a mitogen and chemoattractant for cells of mesenchymal origin, such as fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and glial cells. This cytokine was first described as a platelet-derived mitogenic activity in serum, although subsequent studies have revealed that a variety of cells, including macrophages, endothelial cells and several tumor cell types also secrete the cytokine. PDGF is encoded by two genes, the products of which are designated A and B. The active PDGF molecule is a disulfide-linked dimer of these polypeptides, and thus can exist in three forms: the homodimers AA or BB, or the heterodimer AB. Platelets synthesize 70% AB, 20% BB and 10% AA. The A and B polypeptides exhibit a 60% homology at the amino acid sequence level, with complete conservation of eight cysteine residues.
Studies examining the interaction of PDGF with responsive cells have revealed the existence of two specific receptors, designated .alpha. and .beta.. Each receptor type is composed of five extracellular antibody-like domains attached to an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain via a transmembrane segment. The molecular weights of the mature forms of the PDGF receptors are 170,000 and 180,000 Daltons for the .alpha. and .beta. forms, respectively. The receptors are heavily glycosylated; carbohydrates on the extracellular portion of the receptors account for approximately 30% of the total molecular mass.
The active form of the PDGF receptor (PDGF-R) is a dimer, with two receptor molecules being bridged by a single PDGF dimer. The different forms of PDGF exhibit different affinities for the two forms of the PDGF receptor. PDGF-R .alpha. can interact with all three forms of PDGF; PDGF-R .beta. can only interact with PDGF BB and AB. This pattern of reactivity dictates that PDGF AA can signal the cell only through homodimers of PDGF-R .alpha.; PDGF BB can signal the cell through homodimers of PDGF-R .alpha. or PDGF-R .beta., or the heterodimer of PDGF-R .alpha. and PDGF-R .beta.; and PDGF AB can stimulate cells through either homodimers of PDGF-R .alpha., or the heterodimers. Claesson-Welsh, J. Biol. Chem. 269:32023 (1994).
Antibodies specific for PDGF-R have been isolated. Early antibodies had little utility. Kawahara et al. (1987) Biochim. Biophys. Res. Commun. 147:839-845. Additional monoclonal antibodies have been raised against the extracellular PDGF-binding domain of PDGF-R from porcine uterus but these antibodies did not inhibit binding of .sup.125 I-labeled PDGF to human fibroblasts. Ronnstrand and Terracio (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263:10429-10435. Numerous antibodies specific for a PDGF-R have been isolated but did not inhibit PDGF activity. Kanakaraj et al. (1991) Biochem. 30:1761-1767; Claesson-Welsh et al. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264:1742-1747; Seifert et al. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264:8771-8778; Kumjian et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:8232-8236; Bishayee et al. (1988) Mol. Cell Biol. 8:3696-3702; Hart et al. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262:10780-10785; Escobedo et al. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263:1482-1487; Daniel et al. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262:9778-9784; Keating and Williams (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262:7932-7937; and Kazlauskas and Copper (1990) EMBO J. 9:3279-3286. More recently, antibodies that inhibit the effects of PDGF have been described. WO 93/10805; and WO 94/19016. The antibodies described in WO 93/10805 bind to the fifth Ig-like domain of PDGF-R .beta.. WO 94/19016 describes the use of antibodies specific for PDGF-R .alpha. and .beta. to reduce intimal hyperplasia.
As a potent mitogenic and chemotactic agent, PDGF has been implicated as a contributing factor in a number of pathologic conditions that involve the migration and proliferation of PDGF responsive cells. Such conditions include arteriosclerosis, restenosis following coronary bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty, nephritis, scleroderma, and some types of cancer including lung cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma.
Restenosis is a common complication of balloon angioplasty or coronary bypass surgery, occurring after up to 40% of such procedures. Holmes et al. (1988) J. Amer. Coll. Cardiol. 12:1149. Histologically, the restenosis is due almost entirely to the accumulation and proliferation of neointimal smooth muscle cells, i.e., to intimal hyperplasia. PDGF is both chemotactic and mitogenic for smooth muscle cells, suggesting that this cytokine is involved in causing restenosis. Experimental support for a connection of PDGF to restenosis exists. Treatment of rats with a goat polyclonal antiserum raised against human PDGF (all isoforms) resulted in a 40% decrease in subsequent neointima formation following vascular de-endothelialization via a balloon catheter. Ferns et al. (1991). Thus, neutralizing the PDGF-mediated mitogenesis of smooth muscle cells appears to be a viable therapeutic tactic for this complication.
All references cited herein, both supra and infra, are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Monoclonal antibodies specific for the platelet derived growth factor .beta. receptor and methods of use thereof


A process for fabricating a source and drain region which includes a more lightly doped source and drain tip region immediately adjacent to the gate and a more heavily doped main portion of the source and drain region spaced apart from the gate. A first layer of glass (2% BSG) is used to provide the source of doping for the tip region and a second layer of glass (6% BSG) is used to provide the dopant for the more heavily doped major portion of source and drain regions. Spacers are formed between the glass layers to define the tip region from the main portion of the source and drain regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of forming self-aligned source and drain regions for field-effect transistors.
2. Prior Art
Typically during the formation of a field-effect transistor, ion implantation is used to align a source and drain region with a gate (and/or with gate spacers in some processes). The ion implantation damages the crystalline structure of the silicon substrate necessitating thermal annealing. During the annealing the implanted dopant diffuses thereby deepening the source and drain regions. These deeper regions make it difficult to control the adverse effects of short channels. Ideally, to control the short channel effects where effective channel lengths are in the order of 0.1 um or less, the source and drain regions should be extremely shallow and heavily doped (e.g., 0.05 to 0.1 um versus 0.2 to 0.4 um for ion implanted regions).
Scaling implanted p+ junctions is particularly difficult since the light boron (B.sup.11) ions channel during implantation and secondly, since the ions damage the silicon bonds causing point defects. These point defects significantly increase the diffusion of the boron atoms (up to 1000 times) during subsequent thermal annealing. Thus, even for light ions, such as B11, and low energy implants, the implant damage results in enhanced diffusion.
One solution to this problem is to make amorphous the silicon substrate before the B11 implant since this reduces channeling. However, the net result is not a significantly shallow profile since the damage to the silicon lattice leads to enhance diffusion of the implanted B11.
Another technique for solving this problem is to diffuse the portion of the source and drain regions adjacent to the gate (tip or tip region) from doped spacers and to form the more heavily doped main portions of the source and drain regions by ion implantation. This provides some advantage over the ion implantation of both the tip region and main portion of the source and drain regions but implant damage from the source/drain implant still affects the depth of the diffused tip region resulting in degraded short channel effects. Short channel effects are discussed in numerous publications such as Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Vol. 2, by S. Wolf, published by Lattice press, see Section 5.5, beginning at page 338.
As will be seen, the present invention permits the simultaneous doping of an ultra shallow lightly doped source and drain tip regions, main portions of the source and drain regions and doping of the polysilicon gate without ion implantation.

Low damage doping technique for self-aligned source and drain regions


A substrate processing apparatus includes: a substrate processing part including a load port configured to place thereon a substrate accommodating vessel in which at least one substrate is accommodated, and configured to take out the at least one substrate from the substrate accommodating vessel and to perform a series of processes on the at least one substrate; and a controller configured to control an opening and closing of a lid of the substrate accommodating vessel, wherein the controller performs control to open the lid after the substrate accommodating vessel is placed on the load port, and the controller performs control to close the lid when an abnormality occurs in the substrate processing part and when none of the at least one substrate removed from the substrate accommodating vessel can be recovered to the substrate accommodating vessel after a predetermined period of time from the occurrence of the abnormality.

Patent Document 1 discloses a method of purging a substrate accommodating vessel, in which a lid of the substrate accommodating vessel is opened while a dry gas is continuously supplied into the substrate accommodating vessel, and after processing of the substrate in the substrate accommodating vessel is completed, the lid is closed and the supply of the dry gas is stopped. According to the substrate accommodating vessel purging method disclosed in Patent Document 1, the interior of the substrate accommodating vessel is kept in a low-humidity state to prevent SiO2 and hydrofluoric acid from being generated inside the substrate accommodating vessel. As a result, the substrate inside the substrate accommodating vessel can be held in a good state.

Substrate processing apparatus and method of opening/closing lid of substrate accommodating vessel


Systems, methods, and media for managing electronic asset tags for asset devices are disclosed. Embodiments include a system having one or more asset devices in communication with a network where each asset device has an electronic asset tag, where the electronic asset tag has contents including an asset number associated with the asset device having the electronic asset tag. The system may also include an asset tag manager in communication with the network to access the contents of the electronic asset tags of the one or more asset devices. In a further embodiment, the asset tag manager may be adapted to modify the contents of the electronic asset tags of the one or more asset devices. In another further embodiment, the asset tag manager may be adapted to reload to an asset device the contents of the electronic asset tag of the asset device.

Outsourcing is a major trend in the Information Technology (IT) industry. In some outsourced engagements, the outsourcer deploys outsourcer-owned devices at different geographical locations of the customer. A customer may outsource its printing services, for example, by engaging an outsourcer to deploy its printers at the customer's facilities. The outsourcer in this arrangement will typically own the printers and be responsible for their maintenance. The outsourcer will then typically charge the customer a flat rate and/or a cost per printed page. Such an outsourcing arrangement benefits customers by providing use of the equipment without having to purchase expensive capital assets or having to maintain such assets, while the outsourcer benefits by having a relatively stable source of income from its outsourcing services. Outsourcing arrangements are likely to increase as more and more companies or other organizations desire to reduce their investment in capital equipment or other assets.
Organizations track assets in order to provide records for depreciation or other financial record needs. In order to track their assets, outsourcing organizations typically assign asset numbers to particular pieces of equipment to facilitate tracking and audits by the outsourcer's business control organization. The asset number is often independent from the serial number for the equipment and is instead used for internal controls. One common solution to implement asset numbers for a large group of assets is to use physical asset tags. In this implementation, the asset number is printed on a sticker or label and attached directly to the asset. This allows outsourcer personnel to walk up to the asset and quickly read the asset number from the asset tag.
Physical asset tags, however, are plagued by a number of problems. First, physical asset tags must be physically applied to the assets, requiring significant costs in labor and time. Outsourcers often, for example, physically apply the asset tag at a consolidation center prior to delivery to a customer or at the customer facility itself. Applying the asset tag at a consolidation center results in additional incurred costs and delays for transportation to the consolidation center as well as the costs of unpacking and repacking the asset in order to attach the asset tag. Physical asset tags also require auditors from the outsourcing organization's business controls group to physically view the assets at the customer facility, requiring the costs and delays of transportation to the customer facilities (which may be worldwide) as well as a possible distraction or inconvenience for the customer. Another potential problem with physical asset tags is that errors which result in a mismatch of the physical asset tag and the device manufacturer's serial number require manual labor to reconcile. Such errors occur when the serial number changes as hardware is replaced for repair, resulting in the mismatch of the physical asset tag and serial number. Yet another problem is the possibility of a transcription error when an auditor or other person records the value of an asset number.
Another solution for outsourcers is to utilize Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) asset tags. RFID asset tags contain a small transponder that remains in a sleep state until activated by a signal from an activator, after which the RFID asset tag emits a radio signal containing the asset number of the device with the RFID asset tag. The activator receives the radio signal and asset number and then forwards the information to another computer system. An employee of the outsourcer may thus walk around a customer facility to gather RFID asset tag information, eliminating the need to transcribe a physical asset tag and saving time. RFID asset tags, while powerful, retain the disadvantages of the physical asset tags, as they require physical attachment to the asset device and require an auditor to be in physical proximity to the asset device in order to receive the RFID asset tag transmission.
There is, therefore, a need for an effective and efficient system to manage asset devices. There is an even greater need for such a system when the asset devices are geographically distributed over a large area.

Methods for managing electronic asset tags for asset devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A chip scale package structure and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The method includes forming metal pads on a predetermined part of a carrier; mounting chips on the carrier, each of the chips having a plurality of conductive bumps soldered to the metal pads; forming an encapsulant on the carrier to encapsulate the chips and the conductive bumps; removing the carrier to expose the metal pads and even the metal pads with a surface of the encapsulant; forming on the encapsulant a plurality of first conductive traces electrically connected to the metal pads; applying a solder mask on the first conductive traces, and forming a plurality of openings on the solder mask to expose a predetermined part of the first conductive traces; forming a plurality of conductive elements on the predetermined part; and cutting the encapsulant to form a plurality of chip scale package structures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor package structures, and more specifically, to a chip scale package structure and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the advancement of the semiconductor technology, semiconductor products have been developed in a variety of different package types. In the pursuing of a lighter, thinner and smaller semiconductor package structure, a chip scale package (CSP) structure has been developed. The feature of this chip scale package structure is that its size is equal to or a little bit bigger than the chip size.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,892,179, 6,103,552, 6,287,893, 6,350,668, and 6,433,427 disclose a conventional CSP structure, which applies build-up layers directly on the top of the chip without using a chip carrier such as a substrate or a lead frame, and by means of the redistribution layer (RDL) technology to redistribute the bond pads of the chip to the intended positions. As shown in FIG. 1, this CSP structure has a build-up layer formed on an active surface 100 of a chip 10. The build-up layer comprises a dielectric layer 11 applied on the active surface 100 of the chip 10 and provided with a plurality of through holes 110 for exposing a plurality of bond pads 101 disposed on the chip 10, and a circuit layer 12 formed on the dielectric layer 11 and electrically connected to the exposed bond pads 101. A solder mask 13 is further applied on the circuit layer 12. The solder mask 13 is provided with a plurality of openings 130 for exposing a predetermined part of the circuit layer 12, allowing the predetermined part to be electrically connected to a plurality of solder balls 14, which are used as the input/output ends for electrical connections to external electronic devices.
However, the disadvantage of the aforementioned CSP structure is that the application of the redistribution technology or the distribution of the conductive traces on the chip is always restricted by the size of the chip or its active surface area, especially in the situation that the chip integration level is getting higher and the chip size is getting smaller, the chip can not even provide enough or more surface for installing higher number of solder balls for effectively electrically connecting to external devices.
In view of the aforementioned drawback, U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,469 discloses another package structure that forms a build-up layer on the chip, which provides more surface area to carry more input/output ends or solder balls. As shown in FIG. 2, a package structure uses an encapsulant 25 to encapsulate an inactive surface 202 and a lateral 203 of a chip 20, but leaves an active surface 200 of the chip 20 be exposed. The active surface 200 is at the same level as a surface 250 of the encapsulant 25. A first dielectric layer 26 is applied on the active layer 200 of the chip 20 and the surface 250 of the encapsulant 25. The first dielectric layer 26 is provided with a plurality of through holes 260 made by a laser drilling technique. A first circuit layer 22 is applied on the first dielectric layer 26 and electrically connected to exposed bond pads 201. A second dielectric layer 27 is applied on first circuit layer 22 and is provided with a plurality of through holes 270 for exposing a predetermined part of the first circuit layer 22. A second circuit layer 28 is formed on the second dielectric layer 27 and electrically connected to the exposed predetermined part of the first circuit layer 22. A solder mask 23 is applied on the second circuit layer 28 and is provided with a plurality of predetermined part of the second circuit layer 28, allowing the predetermined part of the second circuit layer 28 to be electrically connected to a plurality of solder balls 24. Therefore, the surface 250 of the encapsulant 25 that encapsulates the chip 20 provides a surface area larger than that the active surface 200 of the chip 20 can provide for installing more solder balls 24 to effectively electrically connect to external devices.
However, the package structure of the aforementioned disclosure has its drawback, when open the plurality of via holes that go through the first dielectric layer to expose the bond pads of the chip by means of laser drilling technology, the plurality of bond pads of the chip are covered by the first dielectric layer, generally it is difficult to aim the laser beam accurately at the solder pad position, consequently the via holes opened can not be aligned accurately to the corresponding bond pad position; since the bond pads of the chip can not completely exposed, it is difficult to ensure the electricity connection quality between the circuit layer and the bond pads, thereby hurting the yield and reliability of the finished products. Meanwhile, the applying of the first dielectric layer on the tops of the chip and the encapsulant as well as the application of the laser drilling technology increase the production cost and fabrication complexity, and the first dielectric layer has different coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) from the chip and the encapsulant, in a high temperature environment or a heat circulation situation, the first dielectric layer will produce different thermal stress from the chip and the encapsulant and consequently the interface between them will delaminate, thereby leveling down the quality and reliability of the finished products.
Please further refer to FIGS. 3A through 3D. To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, a CSP structure and its fabrication method is disclosed according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,002,245, wherein, as shown in FIG. 3A, first preparing a wafer that has a plurality of chips, an active surface of each chip 30 having a plurality of bond pads 301. Then forming a conductive bump 31 on each of the bond pads 301, cutting the wafer into a plurality of chips, each of which has a plurality of conductive bump 31. As shown in FIG. 3B, attaching each chip 30 on an adhesion tape 36 via its conductive bumps, and then forming an encapsulant 35 that encapsulates the chips 30 and the conductive bumps 31. As shown in FIG. 3C, removing the adhesion tape 36 to have the end of each conductive bump 31 be uncovered from the encapsulant 35 and be on the same level as one surface of the encapsulant 35, and then forming a plurality of conductive traces 32 on the surface of the encapsulant 35 and electrically connected the conductive traces 32 to the uncovered ends of the conductive bumps 31. As shown in FIG. 3D, applying a solder mask on the conductive traces 32, and then uncovering a plurality of predetermined parts of the conductive traces 32 from the solder mask 33 for mounting a plurality of solder balls 34. Lastly, cutting the encapsulant 35 to form a plurality of semiconductor packages of single isolated chip.
However, the aforementioned fabrication method of CSP structure is using a batch-type method to attach a plurality of chips, which have conductive bumps, on an adhesion tape in an array layout, thus it is difficult to accurately control the relative attach position for each chip due to the machine inaccuracy or other factors, namely, it can not accurately control the positions of the ends of the conductive bumps of the chip uncovered from the encapsulant, meanwhile, the attach positions of the plurality of chips on an adhesion tape is different from the corresponding attach positions of the plurality of chips on another adhesion tape, therefore, it can not accurately align the relative positions between one another, thus in the subsequent process of removing the adhesion tape and patterning process that forms the conductive traces on the top of encapsulant for electrically connecting to the uncovered ends of the conductive bumps, it must go through each individual step of exposing and developing for each batch of the plurality of chips, therefore, it increases the production cost, and practically it can not effectively process mass production.
Hence, it is a highly urgent issue in the industry for how to provide a chip scale package structure and its fabrication method which is capable of ensuring the electricity connection quality between the circuit layer and the bond pads, enhancing the yield and the reliability of the finished products, and meanwhile decreasing the production cost and simplifying the fabrication process.

Method for fabricating chip scale package structure with metal pads exposed from an encapsulant

Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd.


The present invention is a method and system designed to be used in a manufacturing environment to ensure the integrity of a manufacturing tool that downloads customer ordered software to personal computers. The present invention creates a computer environment in a lab setting that mimics the computer environment created in the manufacturing arena. The system and method then simulates the steps employed to download the software to a personal computer in a controlled environment to predetermine errors that may be encountered when the process is implemented in the manufacturing arena. This invention dynamically generates a file that contains instructions that when executed download and install customer ordered software to a target computer on the manufacturing floor. This invention then interprets the generated file in accordance with a set of evaluation rules such that the outcome of the execution of the file is determined. An analysis and report is then provided, so that the behavior of the download process can be evaluated for errors that may occur during the download process.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a software simulation of a computer factory's automated system that downloads and installs purchased software packages to a computer being manufactured. This simulation allows the factory's automated software delivery system to be tested prior to implementation in a manufacturing environment. The invention simulates the manufacturing environment so that problems that would be encountered during the manufacturing process can be quickly corrected prior to being implemented on the manufacturing floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One stage in the manufacturing of a computer involves installing the appropriate software packages on the hard drive of the system. In this stage, operating system software, software required to drive the various hardware components, and application software are installed. Specifically, a personal computer is loaded with software applications according to a customer order. The nature of a personal computer (P.C.) requires that the software and components installed on the P.C. be configurable to a customer's needs. In other words, a customer may order a specific type of modem, hard drive, random access memory (RAM), monitor, and other hardware devices. Further, a customer may require a specific operating system such as Windows 2000, or another specific operating system. Depending upon the use of which the customer is going to make of the P.C., various software applications are required. The configurable nature of the P.C. dictates that the manufacturing process of customer configurable P.C.'s to be able to handle lot sizes of one.
In order for a manufacturing entity to be able to tailor a P.C. to a customer order, there exists a need for the installed software on each P.C. in a customer order to be configured on the manufacturing floor without human intervention. The most effective way to configure a P.C. is to use an automated process that downloads and installs software packages to each individual P.C. and further does various quality checks on the P.C. itself in order to determine that each hardware option is installed correctly. This installation should correspond to the customer order of the P.C. Traditionally, this process has been automated. The problem, however, is that inserting new models and options into the automated process requires extensive engineering man-hours to properly test these changes before they can be released to the manufacturing floor.
This invention relates to a software download installation simulation. The process that is undergone on the manufacturing floor, is simulated by this invention. The simulation is performed in a testing environment or lab environment in order to determine whether the installation will be successful on the manufacturing floor. Not only does this invention create a more efficient manufacturing process, but this process also creates a more effective maintenance arena with respect to software reuse. This type of testing environment also creates a more cost-effective mode of testing the software download process prior to implementing the process in the manufacturing environment because it requires fewer engineering man-hours than the conventional manual method of testing a download system.
A target computer is the computer being manufactured onto which software must be loaded to conform to customer specifications. At a given time on the manufacturing floor there exists a plurality of target computers onto which a plurality of target-specific customer specified software packages must be loaded.
The plurality of target computers are communicatively linked to a file server via a network, a direct connection or any other type of communications link known in the art. The file server can be a computer server of any type of platform, including but not limited to DOS, UNIX, or Windows™.
A master token file resides on the file server. This master token file contains a list of all models and corresponding options that are available for download to a target system. Each model entry in the master token file is associated with a list of directives which, when executed will install specific software onto the associated model. The master token file is copied from the server to the plurality of target computers via the communication link between the server and the plurality of target computers. Each target computer receives a master token file copied from the server. This file can be sent to the target computers via FTP, a command line copy, or any other transferring mechanism available.
An informative file, an electronic traveler, resides on each target computer. The electronic traveler is responsible for recording the customer's order. Specifically, a reserved word is followed by a model type in the electronic traveler. The electronic traveler can contain other information about the specific requirements of the customer order. However, for the automated software download process to work, a model type must be indicated. Optionally, if one or more factory installed options have been ordered, then they are listed in the electronic traveler as well.
After the master token file is copied to the target computer, an independent process creates a master batch file that is responsible for actually downloading, installing and checking the software deliverables. This master batch file is created by converging the model type information contained in the electronic traveler with the information contained in the master token file. This master batch file contains command lines that copy and execute the installation batch files for the ordered software packages. The master batch file begins the process of downloading the software. The master batch file originates a recursive process that installs each customer-requested software package onto the target computer. Each installation batch file is called in turn. These installation batch files branch out and execute programs that retrieve and install application software.
The problem with this process is that it must be fully executed to be tested. It must be executed in the lab for debugging. It must then be executed again on the manufacturing floor prior to its release acceptance. If an error were encountered in the sequential process of installing the various software modules on the target computer, the process would have to be stopped, and the error would then have to be fixed. Once the problem was fixed, the sequential process that installs the software on the target computer would then have to start over. After starting over, the process may get somewhat further in the installation procedure, however, it may run into another error. Again, the process would have to be stopped, and the problem would have to be fixed. The process would then have to be started over. This form of download testing must complete successfully before releasing it to the manufacturing department. The manufacturing department must successfully repeat the test on at least one target computer before releasing the process to general production. Manufacturing's test is designed to ensure that all of the software components of the download system are available to the target computers from manufacturing's array of download servers. When orders for a new product are released to manufacturing to be built, any flaw in the automated process will stop the factory. The down-time on the manufacturing line associated with not performing this type of test sequence has a detrimental impact on the cost associated with building these target computers for customer delivery. The only way to avoid this down-time is through exhaustive testing which often leads to missing contractually obligated deadlines. A new process is needed to reduce the hours and days involved in the iterative debugging process.
This invention creates, in a lab environment, a simulation of the software installation on the target computers for any specific combination of model and factory installed options. The testing environment is used to predetermine errors or problems that may occur in the download process. This predetermination, because it is confined to a lab environment or testing environment, does not create manufacturing floor down-time. Since the predetermination typically takes place in less than five minutes, hours of repetitive test downloading can be saved. Consequently, employing the simulation to predetermine the reliability of the installation process creates considerable manufacturing cost savings.
The simulation is a process that determines the reliability and viability of the master batch file and all batch files that are recursively called from it. Prior to implementing a new software installation batch file in the manufacturing environment, the master batch file is tested by the simulation before beginning a download test.

Interpretive simulation of software download process


A light projection apparatus that can produce an elongate light projection pattern is provided. The light projection apparatus includes a fluorescent member which is excited with exciting light and a light projecting member which reflects or transmits the light emanating from the fluorescent member to project it outside. The fluorescent member includes an irradiated region which is irradiated with the exciting light, and the length of the irradiated region in a first direction is greater than its length in a second direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light projection apparatus, a light condensing unit, and a light emitting apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
There are conventionally known light projection apparatus that are provided with a fluorescent member that is irradiated with laser light (see, for example, JP-A-2003-295319).
JP-A-2003-295319 mentioned above discloses a light source apparatus (light projection apparatus) provided with an ultraviolet LD element which functions as a laser light source, a phosphor (fluorescent or phosphorescent substance; fluorescent member) which converts the laser light emanating from the ultraviolet LD element into visible light, and a visible-light reflecting mirror which reflects the visible light emanating from the phosphor. In this light source apparatus, the visible-light reflecting mirror which reflects the visible light emanating from the phosphor is provided to illuminate a predetermined region ahead of the light source apparatus.
When the light source apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-295319 mentioned above is used, for example, as a headlamp of an automobile, the projection pattern of the light emitted from the light source apparatus needs to be controlled. Specifically, the light source apparatus needs to be designed to produce a laterally elongate light projection pattern. Although JP-A-2003-295319 mentioned above does not discuss any light projection pattern, the light projection pattern obtained is supposed to be circular. Inconveniently, this makes it difficult to use the light source apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-295319 mentioned above as, for example, a headlamp of an automobile, where a laterally elongate light projection pattern is required.
On the other hand, there are conventionally known light condensing members that guide laser light while condensing it (see, for example, JP-A-2007-41623). JP-A-2007-41623 discloses (paragraphs [0066]-[0069], and [0079]; FIGS. 8 to 10, and 16) an optical waveguide (light condensing member) that includes an entrance face through which laser light enters and an exit face which has a smaller area than the entrance face. In this optical waveguide, the laser light that has entered through the entrance face is guided to the exit face while being reflected on the side faces that connect between the entrance face and the exit face; the light eventually exits through the exit face in a condensed state.
Although JP-A-2007-41623 mentioned above does not discuss it, using an optical waveguide requires the use of a member that holds the optical waveguide. That is, the holding member inevitably makes contact with the surface of the optical waveguide. For example, in a case where the holding member makes contact with a side face of the optical waveguide, part of the laser light traveling inside the optical waveguide exits into, and is absorbed by, the holding member at where the optical waveguide and the holding member make contact with each other, because there the total reflection condition is not fulfilled. Inconveniently, this lowers the efficiency of use of light (laser light).
As an improvement, JP-A-2007-41623 mentioned above also discloses a structure in which an Ag layer for reflecting laser light is provided on the side faces of the optical waveguide. Since the reflectance of Ag is about 95%, however, the laser light is absorbed by the Ag layer each time it is reflected on it. This lowers the efficiency of use of light (laser light).

Light projection apparatus, light condensing unit, and light emitting apparatus


A display device includes first pixels emitting light in a first field and second pixels emitting light in a second field. The first field includes a first compensation period during which threshold voltages of driving transistors of the first pixels are concurrently compensated, a first scan period during which scan signals corresponding to the first pixels are sequentially transmitted and corresponding data signals are programmed, and first light emission periods during which the first pixels concurrently emit light according to the data signals. The second field includes a second compensation period during which threshold voltages of driving transistors of the second pixels are concurrently compensated, a second scan period during which scan signals corresponding to the second pixels are sequentially transmitted and corresponding data signals are programmed, and second light emission periods during which the second pixels concurrently emit light according to the data signals.

(a) Field
The present invention relates to a display device and a driving method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to an active matrix type display device and a driving method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An OLED display uses high integration and high precision to realize a 3-dimensional stereoscopic image in a large-sized display panel, and accordingly a design of a display panel that can be applied to various driving methods with simple alignment is desired.
The entire pixels are divided into at least two groups during one frame, one frame period is divided into at least two fields, and pixels of a group corresponding to each field emit light.
In general, one frame of a display device includes a scan period for programming image data and a light emission period for light emission according to the programmed image data. In addition, an NTSC type display device displays 60 images per second, and a PAL type display device displays 50 images per second.
Thus, when the frame is divided into at least two fields, each field should include a scan period (data programming period) and a light emission period so that the data programming and light emission should be performed within at least 1/120 of a second. Accordingly, high-speed driving with high driving frequency is used. Such a high-speed driving may cause insufficient data programming and light emission, thereby causing deterioration of image quality.
In addition, although light emissions are alternately driven for each field unit to improve (i.e., to reduce) the image quality deterioration, resolution deterioration may occur in a moving image due to a luminance difference between light emitting pixels in each field.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a driving method that can prevent or reduce motion artifact due to a luminance difference in fields caused by speed of a moving object in the image.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Display device having improved image realization and driving method thereof


A method of fabricating the gate spacers of semiconductor devices is disclosed. An example method forms a gate on a semiconductor substrate, deposits a buffer oxide layer and a nitride layer sequentially on the whole semiconductor substrate including the gate, and forms spacers by etching the nitride layer.

Known gate spacer fabrication methods are described below. First, an STI (shallow trench isolation) structure and a well are formed in a semiconductor substrate. Then, a gate oxide layer and a gate polysilicon layer are deposited and patterned to form a gate. Dopants of low concentration are then implanted by using the gate as a mask to form an LDD (lightly doped drain) region. A TEOS (tetra-ethoxysilane) layer and a nitride layer are deposited and etched through a dry etch process by using CH3F/CH4 gases to form gate spacers. Finally, source and drain regions are formed by implanting the ions of high concentration.
However, if CxFy gases are used for the dry etch, an etch selectivity of more than 3 between the oxide layer and the nitride layer is difficult to achieve. Thus, while the nitride layer for spacers is selectively etched, the oxide layer on a silicon substrate is unintentionally damaged, which results in exposure of the surface of a device active region to plasma. If the surface of the silicon substrate is exposed to plasma, the dopants of a well region are decreased and a photoresist is coated directly on the silicon substrate, which causes its contamination by organic materials. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the ion implantation to form the source and drain regions can be reduced due to the contamination by organic materials.

Methods of fabricating gate spacers for semiconductor devices


Methods and systems are provided for generating training data for training a classifier to assign nodes of a taxonomy graph to items based on item descriptions. Each node has a label. For each item, the system identifies for that item one or more candidate paths within the taxonomy graph that are relevant to that item. The system identifies the candidate paths based on content of the item description of that item matching labels of nodes. A candidate path is a sequence of nodes starting a root node of the taxonomy graph. For each identified candidate path, the system labels the item description with the candidate path equivalently with leaf node or label of the leaf node. The labeled item descriptions compose the training data for training the classifier.

E-commerce search systems generally use keyword matching in an attempt to generate items relevant to a query. When a user (or software system) submits a query to a search system, the search system identifies items (e.g., shoes) in a database which have a degree of correlation to the words in the user's query according to some metric. The search system then returns the most relevant items based on that metric as search results. For example, a company may sell apparel items through its e-commerce web site. The web site may describe one item as "red dress" and another item as "red shoes." If a user of the web site submits a query "red dress shoes," the search system may determine that each description will match on 2 out of 3 words of the query. Using a metric based on number of word matches, the search system may generate a relevance score of ⅔ for each item. However, based on the user's likely intent to find red shoes that are dress shoes, the "red dress" item is likely to be less relevant than the "red shoes" item. Even the "red shoes" item may not be particularly relevant if the "red shoes" item is a casual shoe rather than a dress shoe.
To improve the relevance of search results, more sophisticated search systems employ concept mapping. A concept map is a hierarchical organization of concepts such as category relations. For example, one category relation may be "clothing/dresses" and another may be "footwear/shoes/dress shoes." A "red dress" item may be associated with the "clothing/dresses" category relation, and a "red shoes" item may be associated with both the "footwear/shoes/dress shoes" and the "footwear/shoes/casual shoes" category relations. When the initial search results are "red dress" item and "red shoes" item, the search system uses category relations to determine that the "red shoes" item is likely more relevant because "red dress shoes" is more similar to the category relation of "footwear/shoes/dress shoes" than the category relation of "clothing/dresses." Although the search system may include both items in the search results, the "red shoes" item would have a higher ranking.
The hierarchical organization of concepts allows for more general queries and supports suggestions. For example, when a query is "footwear," the search system may generate search results that include all footwear items including the "red shoes" item. In contrast, when a query is "red shoes" and the category relations include "shoes/dress shoes" and "shoes/casual shoes," the search system may first identify both categories of "shoes" as relevant. Because "dress shoes" and "casual shoes" are both sub-categories of "shoes," the search system may ask the user: "Are you interested in red dress shoes or red casual shoes?" When the user answers "dress," the search system would rank items mapped to "shoes/dress shoes" higher in the search results than items mapped to "shoes/casual shoes."
Thus, concept mapping allows for associating items, based on their descriptions, to one or more concepts. The concepts for an item may be explicit or implicit in the item's description although preferable to be both explicit and hierarchical.
A search system may generate concept maps automatically using techniques such as topic models and latent semantic indexing. Different concept maps may be generated depending on the items and their descriptions used to generate the concept maps. Unfortunately, such automatically generated concept maps may bear little relation to the organization of categories that a person would generate.
Rather than generating a concept map, a search system may generate a semantic similarity model. A semantic similarity model is generated by a process of learning implicit relationships between documents and queries based on a large history of queries and documents selected by users. Semantic similarity models do not generate a hierarchy of categories and rely on historical data being available. Semantic similarity models allow for a high degree of automation and can improve search results in many cases, but at the risk of a high error rate when concepts are inaccurately mapped to queries.
A search system may also employ a predefined taxonomical hierarchy or taxonomy graph of categories based on expert knowledge. Defining such a taxonomy graph may require defining thousands of nodes, which can be a very complex and time-consuming task. However, the taxonomy graph need only be created once as it reflects the actual organization of categories as defined by a person to represent a real-world organization of categories. Experts may also define synonyms for concepts to allow matching on terms which are in general use, rather than just the terms used in one specific e-commerce environment. Expert knowledge may be supplemented by automated collection of terms and synonyms, such as by visiting (e.g., automated web crawling) a large number of related e-commerce environments and collecting commonly used terms related to a particular node in the taxonomy graph.
Once a taxonomy graph is defined, nodes may be assigned to items using a classifier that is generated using machine learning based on training data generated manually by an expert. The training data assigns nodes to items. The generating of such training data is both onerous and time-consuming because an expert needs to then search through thousands of nodes to find the most relevant node and multiple nodes may have similar relevance. The classifier generated using training data for one e-commerce environment may not be an effective classifier for another e-commerce environment because item descriptions and terminology will differ from environment to environment. For example, the taxonomy graph for a web site for selling sport apparel may not be useful for a web site selling children apparel. As a result, a taxonomy graph may need to be generated for each web site, which can be expensive and time-consuming.


A faceplate assembly for a wall-mounted electrical device may include a faceplate, an adapter plate, and/or an insert element. The faceplate assembly may be configured to accept a wall-mounted electrical device. The adapter plate may be configured to be attached to a wall-mounted electrical device. The adapter plate may include an opening that permits a front surface of a portion of the wall-mounted electrical device to protrude through the adapter plate. The faceplate may be configured to be removably attached to the adapter plate. The faceplate may include an opening that permits the front surface of the portion of the wall-mounted electrical device to protrude through the faceplate. The insert element may be configured to be removably attached to the adapter plate. The insert element may be configured to occupy a peripheral gap between an inner edge of the adapter plate and the outer surface of the wall-mounted electrical device.

Wall-mounted electrical devices may be installed together in a multi-gang electrical wallbox with a single multi-gang faceplate (e.g., wall plate) installed over the wall-mounted electrical devices. Such wall-mounted electrical devices may include front surfaces that are adapted to be received through standard-sized openings of a multi-gang faceplate (e.g., traditional-style or designer-style openings). When the electrical devices have front surfaces that are adapted to be received through the same standard-sized opening, an "off-the-shelf" multi-gang faceplate may be purchased for the installation. When the electrical devices have front surfaces that are not all adapted to be received through the same standard-sized opening, a custom (e.g., a special order) multi-gang faceplate may be required.
Some prior art faceplate assemblies have comprised two pieces: a front "screw-less" faceplate and an adapter plate to which the screw-less faceplate is mounted. For example, the adapter plate may be mounted to one or more electrical devices (e.g., using faceplate screws) and the screw-less faceplate may be snapped to the adapter plate. The screw-less faceplate provides a clean aesthetic appearance since there are no screw holes in the front surface of the faceplate. An example of a two-piece faceplate assembly is described in greater detail in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,343, issued May 30, 1989, entitled TWO PIECE FACE PLATE FOR WALL BOX MOUNTED DEVICE, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Multi-gang faceplate assembly for load control devices


It is possible to obtain preferable recording characteristic and reproduction characteristic by considering irregularities of unique characteristics of an LD or the like mounted on an information recording and reproduction apparatus as well as characteristics of an optical disc used. In the information recording and reproduction apparatus, a light source such as a laser diode is driven by a laser drive signal so that a laser beam for recording or reproduction is emitted from the light source. Moreover, the laser drive signal is superimposed by a high-frequency signal of a predetermined frequency so as to eliminate effect of the return light from the optical disc. The information recording and reproduction apparatus superimposes the high-frequency signal by using a high-frequency signal level during recording which is different from a high-frequency signal level during reproduction.

Onto a recordable or rewritable optical disc such as a DVD-R (DVD-Recordable) or a DVD-RW (DVD-Re-Recordable), information is recorded thereon and the recorded information is reproduced by irradiating a laser beam on its recording surface. A power of the laser light irradiated onto the optical disc is controlled based on a recording pulse waveform corresponding to data to be recorded at the time of recording the information, and is maintained to a predetermined reproduction power at the time of reproduction. Specifically, by supplying a current corresponding to a power of a recording pulse waveform and a reproduction power to a light source such as a laser diode (LD), a recording laser light or a reproduction laser light is generated. There is known a method of superimposing a high frequency signal on the current supplied to the laser diode in order to reduce an effect of a return light of the irradiated laser light from the optical disc at this time. The level of the superimposed high frequency signal is same at the time of the recording and the reproduction of the information.
However, in the method of superimposing the high frequency signal having the same level at the time of the recording and the reproduction, by difference of characteristics of the LD and the like loaded on the information recording and reproduction apparatus and difference of characteristics of used optical discs, preferred recording characteristic and reproduction characteristic may be incompatible.

Information recording/reproducing device, information recording/reproducing method, and information recording/reproducing program


A device for the controlled delivery of an injectable liquid from a liquid container, wherein a flexible force transferring means transfers the drive force of a drive wheel onto a piston which can be slid axially in the device, a preferably permanently acting restoring force of a spiral spring is applied to the drive wheel in order to advance the piston and expel the liquid, and a locking means locks the drive wheel against rotation and releases the drive wheel to expel the liquid. In one embodiment, the amount of liquid expelled can be indicated by audible clicks and, in one embodiment, the drive wheel moves only incrementally when the locking mechanism releases the drive wheel.

The present invention relates to a device for the controlled delivery of an injectable liquid, in one embodiment, from a preferably substantially cylindrical liquid container. More particularly, the present invention relates to an injection device for administering a liquid containing a therapeutic or medical active agent, for example insulin for the treatment of diabetes, from a syringe body.
Injection devices of the aforementioned type are known for example from WO 95/09021. A syringe body for storing the liquid to be administered is sealed off at a rear end by a piston which can be slid axially in the syringe body, the liquid being delivered from an outlet at the front end of the syringe body when the piston is advanced towards the outlet. While in conventional injection devices comprising syringe bodies, the overall length must correspond to at least twice the maximum stroke of the piston which can be slid in the syringe body, the overall length can be reduced in injection devices of the aforementioned type by axially deviating a piston rod behind the syringe body, which drives the piston, away from its longitudinal axis. This is in particular advantageous in portable injection devices for autotherapy.
WO 95/09021 discloses a substantially incompressible, flexible piston rod which is tightly guided in a guide in order to prevent the piston rod from bending laterally away from its longitudinal axis. The piston is advanced by controlled rotation of a threaded rod, the rotational movement being converted into an advancing movement by means of a rotationally fixed but longitudinally slidable nut which engages with the outer thread of the threaded rod and is connected to the rear end of the flexible piston rod. This mechanism is hardly suitable for hand-operated injection devices without an energy supply of their own. In addition, the drive mechanism is comparatively elaborate.
An injection device operating according to the aforementioned basic principle is disclosed in WO 98/57688. When an operating button is depressed, a downward movement of a first gear rack is converted into an upward movement of a second gear rack which is coupled to a flexible piston rod. By rotating a dosage setting wheel, a stopper is adjusted within an adjustment range defined by maximum end positions, in order to set the dosage to be administered. The second gear rack can be maximally slid only by the distance pre-set by the stopper. Furthermore, a first spring is provided to reset the operating button, and a second spring which is provided in a dosage setting mechanism. The two springs are not coupled to the drive mechanism, in order to reset the latter and advance the piston for delivering liquid from the syringe body. Although the mechanism disclosed in WO 98/57688 can be operated by hand, it has a comparatively elaborate design.

Device for controlled delivery of an injectable liquid


A computer-based apparatus and method for automated data screening and selection in model identification and model adaptation in multivariable process control is disclosed. Data sample status information, PID control loop associations and internally built MISO (Multi-input, Single-output) predictive models are employed to automatically screen individual time-series of data, and based on various criteria bad data is automatically identified and marked for removal. The resulting plant step test/operational data is also repaired by interpolated replacement values substituted for certain removed bad data that satisfy some conditions. Computer implemented data point interconnection and adjustment techniques are provided to guarantee smooth/continuous replacement values.

Multivariable Predictive Control (MPC) is the most widely used advanced process control technology in process industries, with more than 5,000 worldwide applications currently in service. MPC, which is sometimes also referred to as multivariate control (MVC), employs a model predictive controller that relies on dynamic models of an underlying process, e.g., linear models obtained by system identification.
A common and challenging problem is that MPC control performance degrades with time due to inevitable changes in the underlying subject process, such as equipment modifications, changes in operating strategy, feed rate and quality changes, de-bottlenecking, instrumentation degradation, etc. Such degradation of control performance results in loss of benefits. Among all possible causes of control performance degradation, the process model's predictive quality is the primary factor in most cases. To sustain good control performance, the model's predictive quality needs to be monitored, and the model needs be periodically audited and updated.
To address the technically challenging problem of model quality auditing and online model identification and adaptation, the Assignee developed an innovative approach for model quality estimation and model adaptation (see U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2011/0130850 A1, the parent related application), and a new method for non-invasive closed loop step testing (see U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/596,459, filed on Feb. 8, 2012) that expanded the automated closed loop step testing techniques in Assignee's U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,209,793 and 6,819,964. Each of the above techniques help in monitoring model quality and generating informative plant test data in a more efficient way. Once the process data becomes available through either open/closed-loop plant tests or historical plant operation records, a necessary and also important step is data screening and selection for model quality estimation and model identification. There are two important reasons for performing data screening and selection. First, the process data received from open/closed-loop plant tests are costly due to not only the engineer's work during the designed plant testing, but also the intervention (interruption) to plant production. Therefore the usage of those plant test data should be maximized. Second, collected process time series data may contain segments of samples over periods such as unit/equipment shut-downs, measurement equipment errors, variable values at High/Low limits, control output saturated or frozen, etc. If these data are included in the calculation of model quality estimation or model identification, the results can be contaminated and become unreliable.
In industrial practice of the prior art, a control engineer spends hours to days viewing all the process variables in time series plots and visually finding those data samples unsuitable for model identification purpose. To exclude the found "bad" data samples, the control engineer manually marks such data segments in software as "bad data slices" through a pertinent user interface. For confirmation and double-check on whether there are any "bad data" missed manual slicing, the engineer tries a number of model identification runs until the identification algorithm goes through all the data without failures and the resulting models look normal and make sense from the engineer's view. A typical APC project may contain 50-200 process time series variables and the data collection window may cover a period of weeks to months. Conducting the data screening and selection task by hand may take an experienced engineer days to weeks of intensive work.
In addition, there are two other shortcomings by using the conventional approach to data screening and selection for model quality estimation and identification. One is that any of the marked "bad data slices" in a time series will cause a data loss of a large piece of good data (e.g., one time to steady state (TTSS) for a FIR model and 40-60 samples for a subspace model) following the "bad data slice", as a side effect due to the required re-initialization. The other drawback is that a conventional approach is not suitable for frequent runs in an online application (such as that described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2011/0130850 A1) where a pre-scheduled automated data screening and selection operation is needed to serve plant testing monitoring. Once a process variable hits its High/Low limit, becomes saturated, or loses measurements, the automated data screening and selection module should alert the operator and report the situation timely, so that the engineer may take actions to make corrections/adjustments and avoid a time and data loss on the plant testing.
There have been some general data preprocessing methods reported in process model identification text books (e.g., Lennart Ljung, "System Identification—Theory for The Users" Second Edition, Prentice Hall, 1999), but there is no systematical method for automated data screening and selection. A recently reported method of data selection from historic data for model identification (Daniel Peretzki, Alf J. Isaksson, Andre Carvalho Bittencourt, Krister Forsman, "Data Mining of Historic Data for Process Identification", AIChE Annual Meeting, 2011) is focused on finding useful intervals by use of a Laguerre approximation model and limited to only single-input and single-output (SISO) PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller) loops. In industrial APC practice, based on Applicants' knowledge, automated data screening and selection has been APC (Process Control) engineers' "dream", where neither systematic solution nor commercial tools are available yet.

Apparatus and method for automated data selection in model identification and adaptation in multivariable process control


A power supplying device is electrically connected to an alternating current (AC) power supplier and an electronic system. The power supplying device includes a rectifier, a power converter, a controller, a power manager, and a switch component. The power converter is electrically connected to the rectifier and includes a first electric power outputting terminal and a standby electric power outputting terminal. The standby electric power outputting terminal is electrically connected to the electronic system. The controller is electrically connected to the power converter. The power manager is electrically connected to the controller and the electronic system. The switch component is electrically connected to the first electric power outputting terminal, the power manager, and the electronic system. The switch component conducts or cuts-off an electric power outputted form the first electric power outputting terminal and transmitting to the electronic system according to controls of the power manager.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supplying device, and in particular to a power supplying device with low standby power consumption.
2. Description of Related Art
Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a circuit block diagram of a conventional power supplying device. The power supplying device 1 is connected to an alternative current (AC) power supplier ACP and an electronic system PS. The power supplying device 1 receives an AC electric power provided by the AC power supplier ACP and then outputs a converted electric power with power conversion to the electronic system PS. The power supplying system 1 is provided to be operated in a normal mode or a standby mode. In the normal mode operation, the power supplying device 1 provides an electric power to operating electronic system PS, namely, the electronic system PS is operated in turn-on mode. On the contrary, in the standby mode, the electronic system PS is operated in turn-off mode.
The power supplying device 1 includes an electromagnetic interference filter 10, a rectifier 11, a main power converter 12, an auxiliary power converter 13, a first controller 14, a second controller 15, a power manager 16, a first optical isolator OC1, a second optical isolator OC2, a third optical isolator OC3, and a forth optical isolator OC4.
The electromagnetic interference filter 10 is electrically connected to the rectifier 11. The rectifier 11 is electrically connected to the main power converter 12 and the auxiliary power converter 12. The first controller 14 is electrically connected to the rectifier 11 and the main power converter 12. The second controller 15 is electrically connected to the auxiliary power converter 13. The power manager 16 is electrically connected to the main power converter 12 and the auxiliary power converter 13.
The first optical isolator OC1 is electrically connected to a first electric power outputting terminal VA of the main power converter 12 and the first controller 14. The second optical isolator OC2 is electrically connected to a standby electric power outputting terminal Vsb of the auxiliary power converter 13 and the second controller 15. The third optical isolator OC3 and the forth optical isolator OC4 are electrically connected to the power manager 16 and the first controller 14, respectively. The first optical isolator OC1, the second optical isolator OC2, the third optical isolator OC3, and the forth optical isolator OC4 are respectively an optical coupler.
The power supplying device 1 receives AC electric power outputted by the AC power supplier ACP. The electromagnetic interference filter 10 receives the AC power source outputted from the AC power supplier ACP and filters electromagnetic interference of the AC power source. The rectifier 11 is used for converting the AC electric power outputted form the electromagnetic interference filter 10 into a direct current (DC) electric power. The rectifier 11 includes a power factor correction circuit 110 for decrease inputting current.
The main power converter 12 receives the DC electric power outputted form the rectifier 11 and is controlled by the controller for modulating the levels of the electric powers outputted form the first electric power outputting terminal VA and the second electric power outputting terminal VB. The main power converter 12 is a DC to DC power converter such as an LLC resonant power converter, a dual forward power converter or a single forward power converter. The auxiliary power converter 13 receives the DC electric power outputted form the rectifier 11 and is controlled by the second controller 15 for modulating the level of outputting electric power. The auxiliary power converter 13 is, for example, a flyback power converter.
The main power converter 12 outputs electric powers with power conversion from the first electric power outputting terminal VA and the second electric power outputting terminal VB when in the normal operation, however in the standby operation, the main power converter 12 has no power conversion and does not output electric powers (namely the first electric power outputting terminal VA and the second electric power outputting terminal VB do not output electric powers). The auxiliary power converter 13 not only outputs electric power with power conversion from the standby electric power outputting terminal Vsb in the normal operation, but in the standby operation. In standby operation, the power supplying device 1 stops the main power converter 12 outputting electric power, which can effectively reduce power consumption in standby operation and achieve power reservation.
However, the volume of the power supplying device 1 simultaneously including the main power converter 12 and the auxiliary power converter 13 is large, and in normal operation, the main power converter 12 and the auxiliary converter 13 are respectively proceeded power conversion, and the power consumption of the power supplying device 1 in normal operation is then increased.

Power supplying device with low standby power consumption


A debris accumulation control system is provided for usage within a work vehicle including an operator station and a work vehicle compartment. In embodiments, the work vehicle debris accumulation control system includes a display device located in the operator station of the work vehicle, a three dimensional (3D) imaging device having a field of view (FOV) encompassing a debris-gathering region of the work vehicle compartment, and a controller operably coupled to the display device and to the 3D imaging device. The controller is configured to: (i) utilize 3D imaging data provided by the 3D imaging device to estimate a debris accumulation risk level within the work vehicle compartment; and (ii) generate a first visual alert on the display device when the debris accumulation risk level surpasses a first predetermined threshold.

Work vehicles commonly operate in environments containing relatively large quantities of debris. Such debris (referred to herein as "Foreign Object Debris" or "FOD") may become airborne and, ultimately, may be ingested into the engine compartment and other open air compartments of the work vehicle. FOD may accumulate in different regions of the work vehicle compartments and may pose a fire risk, the severity of which depends upon several factors including the combustibility of the FOD, the quantity of the FOD accumulation, and the likelihood of FOD exposure to a source of ignition. Certain systems have been proposed for reducing the likelihood of fires resulting from FOD accumulation (herein, "FOD-induced fires") by impinging airstreams against external regions of work vehicle components to minimize FOD build-up, while reducing peak skin temperatures of heated work vehicle (e.g., engine) components to decrease the likelihood of FOD ignition. Other proposed systems rely on the active circulation of Freon or another liquid coolant through engine components to reduce peak skin temperatures, again decreasing the likelihood of FOD ignition. Such existing FOD-mitigation systems, however, can be undesirably complex and costly. In many instances, such systems may be less effective at reducing the likelihood of FOD-induced fires than frequent operator cleaning of work vehicle compartments susceptible to FOD build-up. Additionally, existing FOD-mitigation systems focusing on reducing peak skin temperatures within work vehicle engine compartments do little to reduce the risk of FOD-induced fires in other work vehicle compartments, which may also be prone to FOD accumulation and potential fire risk in certain instances.

Work vehicle debris accumulation control systems


Apparatuses and methods for mounting a motor vehicle accessory on a motorcycle are described herein. In an embodiment, a mounting device for a motorized vehicle comprising a first member positionable against a first surface of a fixture of the vehicle, a second member positionable against a second surface of the vehicle fixture, the first member pivotally attachable along a first interface to the second member and configured to be fixed at a second interface with the second member so that the first and second members clamp to the vehicle fixture, and a mount positioned on one of the first or second members for receiving a motorized vehicle accessory.

Automobile accessories such as Global Positioning System ("GPS") devices have become increasingly popular for drivers of automobiles due to the convenient navigation directions that they provide to a driver. Such GPS devices are most easily used when positioned so that the driver can quickly glance at the GPS screen. It can be dangerous for the driver to look away from the road if the GPS device is not conveniently located.
Automobile GPS attachment devices are not suitable for motorcycles. GPS devices can be attached to automobile windshields using one or more suction cup. This placement allows a driver to quickly glance at the GPS screen while driving without looking away from the road. Suction cups, however, cannot be used with motorcycles because the vibration of the motorcycle overcomes the suction ability of the cups. Another automobile GPS attachment device is a weighted device, such as a sandbag, that weights the GPS device to a desired spot on the driver's dashboard. Weighted GPS devices will not work with motorcycles again due to their vibration, and to the turning and leaning of the motorcycles.
Due to the limitations of automobile GPS attachment devices, motorcycles have accordingly mounted GPS devices on the motorcycle's handlebars, which provide a solid base for attachment of the GPS device. This placement, however, requires the driver to look downward at the handlebars while driving to view the GPS device, which can be dangerous. This placement also causes the GPS device to move when the handlebars are turned, further impairing the viewing of the GPS device. A need therefore exists for an improved GPS attachment device for motorcycles.