A method for producing dimethyl carbonate from methanol and carbon dioxide using a heterogeneous catalyst is described. The heterogeneous catalyst provides both acidic sites and basic sites. The reaction can be carried out at atmospheric pressure and relatively low temperatures.

Catalysts play a key role in increasing the efficiency of chemical synthesis and processing by lowering the reaction temperature and pressure, increasing product yield, and reducing by-product formation. Development of environmentally benign synthesis processes that eliminate toxic feed stocks, combine process steps, and result in a net reduction of pollutants and energy use rests on, to a great extent, the ability for innovation in the design of synthesis pathways and their catalyst.
CO2 utilization is an important process from the viewpoint of green chemistry. The objective of CO2 utilization is to design an efficient chemical process for conversion of captured CO2 to useful products. CO2 can participate in many chemical reactions that lead to useful products. Among these reaction processes is the dimethyl carbonate (DMC) synthesis.
DMC is an important raw material with versatile applications as a nontoxic substitute for toxic and corrosive agents such as dimethyl sulfate, dimethyl halides, and phosgene in methylation and carbonylation processes. In addition, phasing out methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has led to consideration of DMC as an environmentally friendly, oxygenated fuel additive, i.e. octane enhancer, due to its high octane number, low toxicity, and quick biodegradabillity. DMC has an oxygen content three times that of MTBE (53 wt % vs. 18 wt %) so that on a weight basis only one third as much DMC is required to achieve the same oxygen level as MTBE.
DMC is a very good blending component, which has very high oxygen content (53 wt %) for environmental gasoline. Recently, automotive emission testing with DMC indicated that DMC is a more effective oxygenate than MTBE. DMC reduced total hydrocarbon and CO emission more than MTBE at the same weight percent of oxygen in the fuel. Therefore approximately 4.5 times less volume of DMC is required as compared to MTBE at the same weight percent oxygen in the fuel. Formaldehyde emission was also lower with DMC than with MTBE. DMC also exhibits good blending with octane.
DMC is classified as slightly toxic and is a more effective oxygenate than MTBE at the same weight percent oxygen in the fuel. In addition, DMC has a low emission of CO and NOx in automobile exhaust. The solubility of DMC in water is slight, whereas the solubility of MTBE is 4.3 wt %, which leads to MTBE accumulating in ground water.
Developing an environmentally friendly process and an effective catalyst is key for creating an economical and efficient technology for converting CO2 to DMC.
The DMC amount needed by a typical major refiner company to increase the oxygen content of its gasoline by 1 wt % is approximately 10,000 bbl/day. However, the total worldwide production capacity of DMC is estimated at about 1000 bbl/day.
Currently, DMC is primarily produced by oxidative carbonylation of methanol over CuCl. The main problems with this process are the low per-pass conversion, corrosion by chloride, and the presence of chloride in the DMC product. Another route for DMC production is oxidative carbonylation using nitric oxide. The major concern with this process is the use of nitric oxide. DMC can also be synthesized by (i) the reaction of methanol with phosgene, (ii) oxidative carbonylation of methanol by CO and O2 with the use of Cu and/or Pd catalysts, and (iii) co-production of DMC and ethylene glycol through the transesterification of ethylene carbonate with methanol. These routes use poisonous, flammable, and corrosive material such as phosgene, hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide. Also, they carry potential explosion hazards.
An oxidative carbonylation process for producing DMC from CO2 and methanol has been developed. In this reaction route, a copper chloride catalyst system is used. The reaction is basically a redox system in which copper catalyst, as cuprous chloride, is oxidized by elemental oxygen, in the presence of methanol, to cupric methoxychloride, which is then reduced with carbon monoxide to form dimethyl carbonate and to restore the cuprous chloride. Both reactions take place simultaneously. The reactions of the process can be summarized as follows:
                                          2                        CuCl                    +                      2                                      CH              3                                    OH                    +                                    1              2                                                  O              2                                      ->                              2                                      Cu                                            (                                  OCH                  3                                )                                                  Cl                    +                                    H              2                                    O                                              (        I        )                                                      2                                      Cu                                            (                                  OCH                  3                                )                                                  Cl                    +          CO                ->                                            CH              3                                                  OCOOCH              3                                +                      2                        CuCl                                              (        II        )
The overall reaction is:
                                          2                                      CH              3                                    OH                    +          CO          +                                    1              2                                                  O              2                                      ->                                            CH              3                                                  OCOOCH              3                                +                                    H              2                                    O                                              (        III        )            The process is believed to take place in a series of liquid-filled continuous stirred tank reactors, operating at approximately 393 K (120° C.) and a pressure of 27 atmospheres (2735 KN/m2). Since the oxygen is the limiting reagent, it must be fed at a carefully controlled rate. The maximum content of oxygen must not exceed 4 mol % at any point in the system to avoid the potential for explosion.
The main problems with this process are the low per-pass conversion, corrosion by chloride, and the presence of chloride in the DMC product.
A similar oxidative carbonylation route to the previous strategy has been developed. In this technology, nitric oxide (NO) is used as a redox coupling agent for the formation of dimethyl oxalate (DMO) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC). This technology has been developed and commercialized mainly to produce DMO. The DMO catalyst system was modified later to give high selectivity to DMC. A 4500 metric ton/year plant for DMC synthesis has been built. The reaction conditions of the process are in the range of 1-20 atmospheres and 323-423 K (50 to 150° C.), where the catalysts used were equimolar amounts of palladium chloride and a second metal chloride (Fe or Cu). These catalysts were co-impregnated on an active carbon support. The reactions of the process are thought to proceed as follows:
In a first step, methanol is reacted with oxygen and NO to form methyl nitrite (MN) and water:
                                          2                                      CH              3                                    OH                    +                      2                        NO                    +                                    1              2                                                  O              2                                      ->                              2                                      CH              3                                    ONO                    +                                    H              2                                    O                                              (        IV        )
In a second step, gaseous methyl nitrite reacts with a mole of carbon monoxide over the bimetallic catalyst to form DMC and restore the original NO:2CH3ONO+CO→CH3OCOOCH3+2NO  (V)
The overall reaction is:
                                          2                                      CH              3                                    OH                    +          CO          +                                    1              2                                                  O                              2                                                                                ->                                            CH              3                                                  OCOOCH              3                                +                                    H              2                                    O                                              (        VI        )
This latter technology has particular advantages over the first noted strategy. A major advantage of the latter system lies in a dual reactor scheme, where the feed methanol and the water by-product never pass over the metal chloride catalyst. On the other hand, in the former system, water deactivation of the catalyst limits conversion to 15-20%. By separating the water from feed gas, the per pass conversion of the methyl nitrite can approach 100% without significant catalyst deactivation. Also, the latter process takes particular advantage of the fact that the redox reagent is a gas in both of its states as NO and CH3ONO. The similar species in the former process are solids, i.e. CuCl and Cu(OCH3)Cl. The simplicity of vapor/liquid separation compared to solid/liquid separation benefits the latter process. However, extreme care must be considered when mixing the three reactants (methanol, nitric oxide and oxygen) to stay outside the explosion limits of the reaction. Methyl nitrite is also highly reactive and must be handled with care. The use of the latter route also results in additional toxicity concerns due to the use of nitric oxide.
It is also known to form dimethyl carbonate (DMC) by a transesterification reaction between ethylene carbonate and methanol, with ethylene glycol as a co-product:C2H4CO3+2CH3OH→CH3OCOOCH3+C2H4(OH)2  (VII)
It also is possible to produce DMC by the methanolysis of urea. The tin-catalyzed reaction of methanol with urea to give DMC is a well known synthesis. The reactions of the process can be illustrated as follows:(NH2)2CO+CH3OH→H2NCOOCH3+NH3  (VIII)H2NCOOCH3+CH3OH→CH3OCOOCH3+NH3  (IX)
The overall reaction can be presented as follows:(NH2)2CO+2CH3OH→CH3OCOOCH3+2NH3  (X)However, this reaction is not thermodynamically favorable as the ideal gas free energy change (ΔG) for this reaction is +3.2 kcal/mol at 373K (100° C.). The first methanolysis step (reaction VIII) to methyl carbamate is favored, but dimethyl carbonate (reaction IX) is not favored. Moreover, the chemistry is thermodynamically unfavorable and an additional driving force will be required in order to achieve reasonable conversion levels.
Two other technologies also have attractive possibilities for DMC production. These are: (i) the use of supported copper on carbon catalyst, which occurs in the gas phase and avoids the need for solid-liquid separation, but the catalyst deactivation is a major problem; and (ii) the alkylene carbonate routes which are attractive because they start with two relatively low cost materials, i.e. ethylene and carbon dioxide.
The direct synthesis of DMC starting from alcohols and carbon dioxide was studied since the 1980s. This route for DMC synthesis from inexpensive feedstocks such as CO2 and methanol (as shown below) is challenging:2CH3OH+CO2→(CH3O)2CO+H2O  (XI)
It has been reported that DMC can be produced from CO2 and methanol in the presence of various catalysts, such as dialkylin dialkoxides, tin(IV), tetra-alkoxides, titanium(IV) tetra-alkoxides, bases, a mixture of palladium(II) chloride and copper(II) acetate, and thallium(I) hydroxide and alkali metal iodides. However, these reaction systems are homogeneous, which present three major problems: (a) difficulty in catalyst recovery, (b) reaction conditions of high pressure, and (c) rapid deactivation of the catalyst by process excursions.
Recently, catalytic DMC synthesis starting from carbon dioxide and methanol has been studied over zirconia (ZrO2) catalysts. The effectiveness of this catalyst was attributed to the presence of both acidic and basic sites. It was proposed that basic sites are required to activate methanol and CO2, and that acidic sites are required to supply methyl groups from methanol in the last step of the reaction mechanism. However, the selectivity and yield of this reaction was far from satisfactory.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved process for producing dimethyl carbonate. Specifically, it would be desirable to provide an economical process for producing dimethyl carbonate from carbon dioxide and methanol, without the numerous problems associated with currently known strategies.

Synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from carbon dioxide and methanol

KING ABDULAZIZ CITY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KACST)


A conveyor platform is formed from a series of pivotally interconnected segments. Each segment has a stop block, and each stop block has two strike faces. Each strike face abuts against an opposing strike face on adjacent stop blocks when the platform is in a planar position. The stop blocks cannot be compressed, so, when the platform is carrying a load, the stop blocks prevent the platform from sagging. The platform turns as it travels around drive chain sprockets on the return portion of the cyclical drive chain pattern. When it turns, a gap is created between opposing strike faces on adjacent stop blocks. When adjacent segments of the platform emerge from the turn, the opposing strike faces come rapidly together. A bore extends inwardly from one of the strike faces on each stop block and a resilient urethane plug is mounted in the bore. The plug projects slightly beyond the strike face when the opposing strike face on the adjacent stop block is spaced from the plug-bearing strike face. The plug compresses into an enlarged portion of the bore when the opposing strike faces come together. In so doing, the plug cushions the impact between the strike faces, thereby reducing noise and wear.

The present invention relates generally to endless or cyclical conveyors and more particularly to those equipped with self-supporting, load-transporting platforms.
Vertical conveyors and other endless conveyors which move goods in a multi-directional pattern are typically equipped with several relatively spaced apart, load-transporting platforms and with sets of endless drive chains and sprockets which define the cyclical drive chain pattern that the platforms follow. The platform is somewhat like a suspension bridge because it is supported at its opposite ends, but not in the middle, and must not sag appreciably when it is carrying a load. In some ways, the subject platform is more complex than a suspension bridge because the platform carries the load up and/or down and must be able to bend when it follows the chain drives around the sprockets back to a starting position.
In order to be both rigid when carrying a load and flexible when returning to the start, the conventional platform is made up of a series of parallel, laterally extending, interconnected segments. Each segment consists of a long shaft or tube, a pair of stop blocks and a pair of link members. Each of the opposing outer ends of the long shaft is sandwiched between one of the stop blocks and one of the link members. Adjacent segments are pivotally connected together by their link members, and the link members define the turning points which enable the platform to bend as it follows the drive chains around the sprockets. The stop blocks are sized, shaped and positioned so that they engage one another when the platform is in a flat, load-receiving configuration. The stop blocks are substantially incompressible, so, when they come together, they act collectively like a unitary, rigid beam on each side of the platform to stop the platform from sagging under the weight of a load.
The stop blocks separate from one another when the unloaded platform follows the curves defined by the drive chain sprockets. This separation is somewhat like the movement of the outer plates on a metal watchband when the band is being flexed. However, the separation is only momentary, because the platform is moving relatively rapidly through the curve and back into a flat or planar configuration. The angular gap between adjacent segments of the platform closes rapidly, whereupon the incompressible blocks on the adjacent segments strike one another. The rapid re-engagement of the stop blocks creates noise and wear. Since there are many stop blocks on each side of the platform, several curves through which the platform passes on each cycle and several platforms on the vertical conveyor, the noise and wear caused by any two of the stop blocks striking each other are multiplied many times while the conveyor is running.
In the past, the problems of stop block noise and wear were addressed in several ways. One approach was to limit the speed of the conveyor. In this manner, the velocity at which adjacent stop blocks struck one another was low enough to limit noise and wear to acceptable levels. However, this approach was inherently unsatisfactory because the demand for faster vertical conveyors was not being met, even though the conveyor was otherwise capable of operating at higher speeds. Another effort to solve the problem required the alternation of steel and nylotron stop blocks, based upon the expectation that the nylotron would have noise dampening and wear reducing effects. The interposition of nylotron blocks between the steel stop blocks worked well enough when first installed, but the steel blocks wore down the nylotron too quickly. Yet another proposed solution was to inject urethane foam into the hollow transverse tubes of the platform, on the theory that the sound waves generated by the stop blocks clapping together were resonating in the hollow tubes. However, this experiment did not reduce wear, nor did it significantly reduce the noise level.
Thus, the present inventor(s) was/were confronted with the problems of reducing the noise and wear caused by the stop block collisions without limiting the speed, safety and reliability of the conveyor or driving the production and assembly costs excessively high.

Noise and wear reducing apparatus for endless conveyors


A novel method and apparatus for decoding a compressed audio/video signal to produce decoded audio and decoded video signals. The decoding tasks are partitioned into "pre-processing tasks" and "post-processing tasks." Pre-processing tasks involve one or more non-signal processing oriented operations which do not require extensive computing resources. Pre-processing tasks are assigned to be executed by the host processor, which can perform these tasks without straining it computational resources. Pre-processing tasks include demultiplexing the compressed audio/video stream into compressed audio and compressed video streams, performing audio pre-processing on the compressed audio stream and performing video pre-processing on the compressed video stream. Post-processing tasks involve one or more signal processing oriented operations which require extensive computing resources. Pre-processing tasks are assigned to be executed by a dedicated subprocessor. Post-processing tasks include audio post-processing and video post-processing. In an embodiment, video frame tasks are also performed as part of video post-processing. Post-processing performed by the dedicated subprocessor outputs a decoded audio signal and a decoded video signal.

The CCITT/ISO committee has standardized a set of compression algorithms for still and full motion digital video compression and decompression. These compression schemes are popularly known as JPEG, MPEG and H.261(P.times.64). Application of these standards is commonly used in video conferencing, CD-ROM based interactive videos for education and entertainment, digital video transmission for entertainment, still image catalogs, etc. All of the standards mentioned above, as well as emerging HDTV standards, utilize transform code compressed domain formats (referred to herein as "transform domain" formats), which include the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) format, the interframe predictive code format, such as the Motion Compensation (MC) algorithm which may be used in conjunction with the DCT format, and hybrid compressed formats. The DCT format is used in the compression standard for still images JPEG (Standard Draft, JPEG-9-R7, February 1991). The combination of Motion Compensation and Discrete Cosine Transform compression algorithm (MC/DCT) is used in a number of standards including: the compression standard for motion pictures (Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information, ISO/IEC 13818, ISO/IEC 11172), the standard for video conferencing (ITU-T Recommendation H.261, CODEC for Audiovisual Services at p.times.64 kbits/s), and some High Definition Television proposals.
FIG. 1 depicts the steps involved in decoding or decompressing a compressed audio/video signal. As shown, the steps involved in decoding of compressed audio/video signal 102 include demultiplexing 104 the compressed audio/video signal into compressed audio 108 and compressed video 106 data streams, performing video decoding on the compressed video data stream and performing audio decoding on the compressed audio data stream.
As stated above, the first step 104 involves demultiplexing the compressed audio/video signal into compressed audio 108 and compressed video 106 streams. Audio decoding is then performed on the compressed audio data stream 108. During audio decoding compressed audio stream 108 is unpacked and its symbols decoded using a table-lookup (also called Variable Length Decoding (VLD)). The decoded quantized audio samples then undergo dequantization and denormalization 118. The denormalized audio samples are then subjected to inverse transformation 120 which includes filtering, windowing and reconstruction. Decoded audio stream 122 is then fed to audio renderer 127 before being forwarded to audio output device 128.
Compressed video data stream 106 is subjected to video decoding. This includes variable length decoding (VLD) during which the compressed video data stream is parsed into symbols 110, dequantization 110, inverse discrete cosine transformation 112 and motion compensation 114. Decoded video data stream 116 is then fed to video renderer 124 before being forwarded to a graphics output device 126 such as a monitor. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/525,357, assigned to the assignee of the present application, describes in more detail some of the prior art and other novel techniques for decoding digitally compressed audio/video signals.
There are several prior art techniques used to perform the decompression steps depicted in FIG. 1. One such prior art technique uses advanced microprocessors, for example the 586 microprocessors, to perform real-time video decoding using software. Although this technique achieves real time audio/video decoding, a major drawback of this technique is that considerable CPU resources are consumed during the decoding process. This results in the video delivery being jerky and the audio output lacking full fidelity. As a result, the quality of the output video and audio signals are below their expected quality levels. The inefficient use of limited CPU resources also causes performance degradation of other concurrently executing applications due to lack of CPU resources.
In an effort to solve the inefficient CPU usage problem, prior art techniques perform audio/video decoding using dedicated hardware decoders which off-load the audio/video decoding tasks from the host CPU. These dedicated hardware decoders serve as slave processors to the host CPU, with the slave decoder performing the task of audio/video decoding. An example of such a dedicated hardware decoder is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,253,078, and 5,270,832 assigned to C-Cube Microsystems, Milpitas, Calif. An example of a dedicated audio/video decoder is the CL480 device available from C-Cube Corporation.
One such dedicated hardware audio/video decoder system 130 is depicted in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a dedicated hardware decoder 132 communicates with host CPU 134 over a host (PCI or ISA) bus interface 138. Dedicated hardware decoder 132 is also coupled to dynamic random access memory (DRAM) 133, video mixer 142 and audio digital to analog converter (DAC) 146. Video mixer 142 is also coupled to graphics subsystem 144 and DAC 146 is coupled to audio subsystem 148 such as a SoundBlasterm.TM. sound card.
Dedicated hardware decoder 132 accepts a multiplexed compressed audio/video signal as input. The dedicated hardware decoder then demultiplexes the compressed audio/video signal into compressed audio and compressed video data streams (corresponding to step 104 in FIG. 1). Dedicated hardware decoder 132 then performs variable length decoding, dequantization, inverse discrete cosine transformation and motion compensation on the compressed video data stream. The resultant decoded video data stream is then fed to mixer 142 which also receives a graphics input from graphics subsystem 144. The video output from mixer 142 is then forwarded to a video output device such as a monitor for display.
The compressed audio data stream is subjected to variable length decoding, denormalization, dequantization and inverse transformation including filtering and windowing functions, before being passed through DAC 148 and then forwarded to audio subsystem 148. The audio output from audio subsystem 148 can then be fed to any prior art audio output device.
As described above, the entire task of audio/video decoding is performed by dedicated hardware decoder 132. Host CPU 134 is utilized only for monitoring the audio/video processing tasks to be performed by dedicated hardware decoder 132. While this technique frees up CPU resources which would otherwise be dedicated to the audio/video processing tasks, it also has many disadvantages.
One major disadvantage is that dedicated hardware decoders are very expensive. This is because of the increased logic complexity needed to perform the entire audio/video decoding. Increased complexity also increases the size of the decoder making it more expensive. There is thus a need for a decoder which is cheaper and more compact than existing hardware decoders.
Another disadvantage of dedicated hardware decoders is that the audio/video processing performed by the decoders does not make efficient use of existing system resources. In the system shown in FIG. 2, redundant hardware such as audio/video DAC/mixer is needed for audio/video decoding even though CPU 134 is capable of handling these tasks efficiently. Thus, there is a need for a system which can make efficient use of available system resources.
Prior art systems like the one depicted in FIG. 2 also do not provide the ability to store decoded audio/video data streams in system memory. This makes prior art decoders incompatible with applications which use audio/video data streams stored in system memory as their input. As a result, these applications, which generally perform post-processing on the decoded audio/video data streams such as 3D effects and video resampling (scaling), cannot take advantage of the decoded audio/video outputs. Thus, there is a need for an audio/video decoding system which is compatible with other system applications.
Another disadvantage of prior art dedicated hardware decoders is that they can process only a single compressed audio/video signal at a time. This is due to the fact that the dedicated hardware decoder acts as a "black box," taking in a compressed audio/video signal as input and outputting decoded audio and video streams. It is not possible to perform concurrent processing of audio/video streams. Thus, there is a need for a decoding system which can perform concurrent processing of audio/video streams.

Audio/video subprocessor method and structure


Techniques related to managing the use of motion estimation in video processing are discussed. Such techniques may include determining dividing two video frames each into corresponding regions, generating phase plane correlations for the corresponding regions, determining whether the video frames are motion estimation correlated based on the phase plane correlations, and providing a video frame prediction mode indicator based on the determination.

Motion estimation of video sequences is an important component in video processing techniques such as frame rate up-conversion (FRC) and video compression. For example, frame rate up-conversion may provide for additional frames in a video sequence (e.g., frames added between existing frames) to improve video quality. For example, frame rate up-conversion may be used for improved smoothness and judder (e.g., telecine judder) removal in video sequences. Video compression may be used to reduce the size of video data for storage in memory or transmission to another device or the like. For example, a video sequence may be compressed, in part by predicting frames using motion estimation and motion compensation techniques, to use less memory in a device, particularly handheld devices, or to use less bandwidth over a communications medium.
However, FRC and video compression may cause unpleasant artifacts in frames generated or compressed using motion estimation and motion compensation techniques. Such artifacts can degrade user experience during video playback. Artifacts may include, for example, blocking artifacts, edge or boundary artifacts, or noise or the like. Such artifacts may be more prevalent in certain video contexts such as during scene changes, when no or very little motion is present, during fast motion scenes, or in visually complicated scenes.
As such, existing techniques do not provide for high quality, artifact free video sequences when motion estimation and/or motion compensation are applied. Such problems may become critical as video processing and playback becomes more prevalent in a wide array of devices.


The present invention relates to an invisible passenger airbag door, and more particularly, to an invisible passenger airbag door that is constructed by defining an incision portion through processing of micro holes on an instrument panel. In the invisible passenger airbag door, an incision portion is constructed at a portion of an instrument panel where a passenger airbag is installed, by processing micro holes at a corresponding portion of an inner surface of the instrument panel to conform to an outer contour of the passenger airbag. The micro holes constructing the incision portion are filled with a filling material that comprises fine particles with no viscosity.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an invisible passenger airbag door, and more particularly, to an invisible passenger airbag door capable of preventing the deterioration of an external appearance due to a line constructed of micro holes defining an airbag door that is formed by processing the micro holes on an instrument panel to define an incision portion, and preventing a phenomenon of tear of the instrument panel off the line upon deployment of the airbag in a case where the depths of or intervals between the micro holes are not proper.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, passenger restraint systems that are employed in automobiles etc. to ensure the safety of passengers include seat belts, airbag systems, and the like.
The airbag system is to prevent the head of a driver or passenger from colliding against a front structure in an interior passenger room of an automobile due to inertia upon occurrence of an automobile accident. As shown in FIG. 1, a driver airbag 1 for protecting a driver, and a passenger airbag 2 for protecting an occupant in a front passenger seat are commonly used. A side airbag 3 is also used for coping with a side impact in an automobile, if necessary.
In such an airbag system, the driver airbag 1 is mainly installed in the center of a steering wheel, while the passenger airbag 2 is installed by placing an airbag module behind the instrument panel. Thus, an additional door is constructed by forming an incision line in the instrument panel so that the door can be easily opened upon operation of the passenger airbag 2.
Recently, there is a tendency for such a door for the passenger airbag 2 to be constructed in an invisible type so that an indication of the installation of the passenger airbag 2 cannot be seen from the outside to prevent aesthetic deterioration. In this case, micro holes 5a are formed using a laser or mechanically in a portion of a surface of the instrument panel 4 corresponding to the airbag door, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Although the micro holes cannot be normally identified from the outside, an incision portion 5 constructed of the processed micro holes 5a is incised and the airbag is then inflated when the airbag is operated due to the occurrence of an impact. In FIG. 3, an upper surface corresponds to an outer surface of the instrument panel 4 viewed by an occupant.
In a case where the depths of the micro holes become large or the intervals between the micro holes become small upon processing the micro holes in such a conventional passenger airbag door, however, there is a problem in that an incision line constructed of the micro holes for defining the incision portion may be seen from the outside.
Further, if the depths of and intervals between the micro holes are not proper, it is likely that the instrument panel may be torn at portions thereof off the incision line defining the incision portion when the airbag is deployed. There is a high probability of the occurrence of such a phenomenon, particularly at low temperature.


Oversubscription of Fibre Channel links over a transport network is provided. A transport interface according to the present invention may maintain a small ingress buffer in addition to the normal egress buffer. The ingress buffer is primarily used for oversubscription and the egress buffer is primarily used for flow control. Ready indications to multiple local Fibre Channel ports may be locally generated when flow control conditions permit and may be distributed among the local Fibre Channel ports in response to preconfigured bandwidth sharing weights. Transport network efficiency is achieved by statistical multiplexing without significant increase in buffer memory requirements or introduction of latency into the flow control mechanism.

The present invention relates to data networking, telecommunication networking, and, in one embodiment, to systems and methods for efficiently aggregating multiple Fibre Channel links.
The Fibre Channel standard defines a bi-directional link protocol, used to connect computers to disk drives and other peripherals. A typical Fibre Channel link may have a bandwidth of 1063 Mbps and a span of up to 10 kilometers.
One typical application of Fibre Channel is interconnecting computer CPUs with arrays of disk drive in large scale computing centers, as would be used in, e.g., financial transaction processing. For reasons of fault tolerance, it is desirable to locate redundant storage resources at remote locations. The advent of high data rate metropolitan optical networks including such networks based on the use of dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) and/or SONET/SDH transport systems makes it possible to extend so-called storage area networks (SANs) that carry multiple Fibre Channel links over distances much longer than 10 kilometers.
It is useful to apply the widely prevalent Fibre Channel standard to communicate across DWDM networks and therefore minimize the need to redesign computing center equipment. Such DWDM networks can themselves employ protocol such as Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, SONET, etc. A single wavelength may thus carry e.g., a 1 Gbps data stream, 10 Gbps data stream, etc. Fibre Channel frames may be encapsulated within Gigabit Ethernet frames and/or SONET frames.
However, severe data transport inefficiencies may arise if Fibre Channel links are assigned to, e.g., Gigabit Ethernet links, 10 Gigabit Ethernet links, or STS-48 SONET envelopes based on maximum Fibre Channel throughput. Typically, the momentary aggregate bandwidth of the Fibre Channel links will fall far short of the total of the maximum bandwidths. Therefore, a straightforward mapping of transport network capacities to maximum Fibre Channel demands will result in unused capacity. It would be desirable to use capacity more efficiently and therefore reduce costs by allowing oversubscription to available transport capacity.
One approach to providing Fibre Channel oversubscription is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/366,867. The approach described therein typically employs an ingress buffer between a set of local Fibre Channel ports and a transport network. The ingress buffer should be as large as the sum of the flow control credit numbers negotiated between the local and remote ports. For certain Fibre Channel port implementations, this credit number may be very large and thus a very large ingress memory is needed. Since this memory should also be high speed, size will come at relatively high cost.
Flow control in this approach is handled by throttling the Fibre Channel ready indications received from the remote ports before forwarding them to the local ports. Since the remote Fibre Channel ports may be quite distant, there may be relatively large latency in communicating the ready indications. The latency involved in operating the flow control mechanism may lead to reduction of throughput.
What is needed are systems and methods for Fibre Channel oversubscription that allow for large flow control credit grants without requiring large ingress memories and that do not introduce excessive latency into flow control operations.

Apparatus and method for improved Fibre Channel oversubscription over transport


A method of power consumption reduction in integrated circuits comprising extensive use of differential signaling within said circuits. Differential signaling comprises a pair of coupled, symmetrically opposite and operatively dependent electronic signals each driven by voltages of the same magnitude, but of opposite polarity with respect to a common ground. The drive voltages of each signal are of relatively low potential as compared to the core operating voltage of present day devices. The low-voltage pair of signals tends to create offsetting fields of electromagnetic interference from the flow of current within their respective conductors which tends to minimize inductive effects (and therefore corruption of signals) in adjacent signal lines. Differential signaling replaces all or as many single-end signals as possible throughout the device resulting in relatively lower power usage as compared to present devices.

As integrated circuit geometries decrease and gate-counts increase, the power dissipated by integrated circuits is becoming so large that it is difficult to manage. Dissipating the heat is a problem. Supplying such large amounts of power to single chips is a problem. End users would find it very attractive if any particular chip could perform the same function at reduced power requirements.
Power is dissipated in CMOS devices as signals are charged and discharged between the two power rails. Power is a function of the frequency of these charge cycles and the current required for each charge cycle. The frequency cannot be reduced, as it is directly proportional to the processing power of the device. The required current is a function of the capacitance of the elements and the voltage difference between the power rails.
Presently, reductions in power consumption are achieved by reducing the core voltage of the device. Unfortunately, operating voltages cannot continue to be reduced at the same rate in which circuit densities are increasing. This is because the "noise" created by signal switching on data transmission lines lying in close proximity to each other tends to affect the reliability of the transmissions.
This noise originates from the inductive effects of a current moving in a transmission line. A moving current sets up a magnetic field around the conductor. The field consists of a series of concentric circles of influence which are measured in terms of their flux density. As the current in the conductor changes (e.g., as the binary signal being carried by the conductor changes state), the magnetic field associated with that changing current changes also.
Any charged particle existing within a changing magnetic field experiences a force of electromotance proportional to the rate of change of the flux density. This electromotance acting on the charged particle creates an electromotive potential on the particle. This is known as inductance. In the case of a charged particle existing within a conductor adjacent to the conductor setting up the changing magnetic field, all particles in the second conductor feel the electromotive potential. This potential is referred to as electromotive force, or EMF.
The size and nature of the EMF potential acting on the second conductor's signal is a function of the change in the first conductor's signal voltage and it's current. This EMF potential either adds to or subtracts from the ongoing device signal voltage (potential) which has been applied to the second conductor. Addition or subtraction of the two potentials depends on the relative directions of current flow and physical layout of the two conductors.
Thus, the current change caused by a change in binary status (0 to 1, or vice versa) in one line tends to create inductive voltage noise which propagates to adjacent lines. The noise is of a relatively small order of magnitude compared to the affected signal strength (around 1.0V) and the variation does not affect the integrity of the data transmitted. However, if much lower signal voltages were to be used, say on the order of 0.1V, the noise associated with binary status changes in one or more transmission lines could potentially affect the integrity of adjacent signals. This would tend to impact the relatively weaker voltage signals corrupting the data transmitted therein.
Presently, data transmission is accomplished via independent, single-ended signals which swing between the two power rails. Noise created as a result of these signals tends to propagate to adjacent data lines. If two identical signals on two adjacent lines are being transmitted simultaneously, their inductive noise effects tend to be additive. Conversely, if the same two signals are identical except for their polarity (i.e., one signal is driven by a positive voltage and the other a negative voltage) the inductive effects tend to be counteractive.
Problems occur when too many same-polarity signals are transmitted simultaneously, causing a spike in the induced voltages in adjacent lines. FIG. 1 indicates a theoretical prior art arrangement of data transmission lines 1 running between a pair of DSPs being in close proximity to clock signal lines 2. In this arrangement, the clock pulses are simultaneous on each line 2. The cumulative effect of such transmissions may create significant induction in the adjacent data transmission lines, potentially disrupting their signals. A balance in the polarity across most of the clock signals would tend to minimize the inductive effects. At the same time, if such reduced inductive effects could be achieved throughout a device, chip core voltages could be reduced without a corresponding increase in data corruption caused by uncontrolled induction. This lowered core voltage would, in turn reduce the power needed by such device.
Transmission voltages in today's electronic devices are maintained at higher levels than needed to transmit individual signals in an integrated circuit. This is because a high signal drive voltage is needed to differentiate an individual signal from the potentially detrimental noise associated with the great number of densely packed transmission lines in today's devices.

Method to reduce integrated circuit power consumption by using differential signaling within the device


A safety restraint system for a vehicle includes a safety net stored in a wall mounted cartridge wherein a guiding bar, securable in a locking mechanism, steers the safety net away from the wall and provides a secured space around a bunk. The safety net is secured adjacent to the bunk using a locking bar. The safety net may be provided with one or several safety belts at least partly attached to the safety net.

The present invention relates to a safety restraint system for use in a vehicle, and in particular to a safety net for use in relation to a sleeping/resting compartment of a vehicle.
In vehicles containing sleeping and/or resting bunks a safety net is provided for the safety of the person resting during travel. This safety net provides a soft barrier in a direction of travel as seen from the bunk. In case of a crash or rapid deceleration a person present or equipment stored in the same compartment will continue to travel due to the momentum of the object or person and hit the windscreen of the vehicle and/or any other object or person in between with possible injuries for persons in the vehicle compartment both in the resting compartment and in the driving compartment. Also damages are likely to occur for the vehicle.
For this purpose several different solutions for providing a safety net have been suggested in the literature; in many cases the safety net is provided for fixed bunks using for instance a manually mounted net secured using some locking arrangement. The net may be provided in net basket for storage when not in use. In SE516063 a safety net is provided in a storage location underneath the bunk and in SE514565 the net is stored in a cartridge located along the long side of the bunk.
However, many suggested solutions are provided for fixed bunks, i.e. the bunk is always in the same position. These safety net solutions are not suitable for bunks that may be folded against a wall when not in use since the safety net itself and any storage solutions add to the weight of the bunk when provided connected to the bunk. This may in turn increase the complexity of handling of the bunk.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a safety net is stored in a cartridge located in a back wall of the sleeping compartment and the net may be drawn out from this cartridge and positioned and secured to the bunk when in use. A guiding bar is provided to steer the net out from the wall during operation and provide a suitable space behind the net where a person may be secured during rapid deceleration or accidents. With such a solution the safety net system is independent on whether the bunk is foldable or fixed.
In a first aspect of the present invention, a safety restraint system, securing a resting compartment of a vehicle is provided, comprising:                a storage cartridge;        a guiding mechanism;        a safety net secured in one end to the storage cartridge;        a first locking mechanism for locking the guiding mechanism;        a second locking mechanism for securing the safety net to or close to a side of the bunk;wherein the safety net during operation rests on the guiding mechanism and the guiding mechanism is during operation mounted in the first locking mechanism for locking the guiding mechanism in a position spaced apart from the cartridge and between the cartridge and a side of the bunk; the safety net is during operation further mounted in the second locking mechanism securing the resting compartment.
The safety restraint system may further comprise at least one belt and each belt is steered through a belt guide loop arranged on the guiding mechanism.
The guiding mechanism may be locked in a position substantially above a side of a bunk, the bunk is located adjacent to a wall in the compartment, and wherein the side of the bunk is located on an opposing side of the bunk from the wall;
The safety net, the wall, and the bunk may together define a box like shaped compartment under operation wherein a person is secured with respect to a direction of travel of the vehicle.
The safety net may comprise a mesh structure and may be manufactured in at least one of nylon, polyester, polypropylene, or other polymeric substances or compositions thereof, or natural fibers such as from cotton or compositions of different natural fibers or polymeric substances.
The safety net may be at least partly secured to the at least one belt.
The safety net may be attached to a locking bar securable close to the bunk in the second locking mechanism.
The storage cartridge may be located in a back wall of the resting compartment or the storage cartridge may be located on a back wall of the resting compartment.
The guiding mechanism may comprise a guiding bar with end pieces with increased radius. The first locking mechanism may comprise an insertion structure in a base structure and a slot structure steering the guiding bar to an operational position, a stop structure is provided for stopping the guiding bar from being self-released during a rapid deceleration.
The safety net may be connected to a tightening mechanism for tightening the safety net in an event of rapid deceleration of the vehicle.
The safety net may be stored inside the storage cartridge during storage and the belt may be stored inside the storage cartridge during storage.
The guiding mechanism may be mounted on at least one steering arm telescopically extendable from the cartridge or a wall.
The guiding mechanism may be mounted on at least one foldable arm extendable from the cartridge or the wall.
In another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle with a safety restraint system is provided, wherein the safety restraint system secures a resting compartment of the vehicle, the safety restraint system comprising: a storage cartridge; a guiding mechanism; a safety net secured in one end to the storage cartridge; a first locking mechanism for locking the guiding mechanism; a second locking mechanism for securing the safety net to or close to a side of the bunk; wherein the safety net during operation rests on the guiding mechanism and the guiding mechanism is during operation mounted in the first locking mechanism for locking the guiding mechanism in a position spaced apart from the cartridge and between the cartridge and a side of the bunk; the safety net is during operation further mounted in the second locking mechanism securing the resting compartment.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.


A damper component for absorbing and dissipating vibration and/or noise resonating from a device is provided. The damper component includes a viscoelastic damper layer, and a continuous constraining layer intimately contacting and encasing the damper layer. The constraining layer has a greater stiffness and higher modulus of dynamic shearing elasticity than the damper layer. The constraining layer is a molded sheet molding compound that is substantially immiscible with the viscoelastomer to provide a discrete interface between the constraining layer and the damper layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to damper components of the type for reducing or eliminating the resonation of vibration and/or noise, and to methods for making and using damper components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unsaturated polyester sheet molding compounds, also known in the art and referred to herein as "SMCs," have physical properties and ease of processability that have made the materials popular in the production of a wide array of goods. For example, SMCs are found in parts of household appliances, motor vehicles, computer disk drives, and other apparatuses and devices having moving parts that generate vibration and noise. SMC are also found in generally static articles, such as in walls, siding, and doors of residential and commercial buildings and construction.
SMCs possess some capacity to absorb and dissipate vibration and noise resonating from a proximal source. However, SMCs are sometimes deemed to lack sufficient vibration-damping and noise-damping properties for certain situations requiring a high degree of vibration and noise insulation.
Viscoelastic materials are known for their ability to absorb and dissipate vibrational energy and to damp associated noise and vibration. In use, a viscoelastic material is typically applied directly to devices that emanate/resonate noise and vibration. The viscoelastic materials are bonded to or otherwise operatively associated with a device as a "free layer," that is, as a one-layer structure. Viscoelastic materials need not be used in isolation. For example, a substrate may be placed on one surface of a viscoelastic layer to form a composite, which may then be bonded to or otherwise operatively associated with a device so that the viscoelastic layer is bonded to or faces the structure. It is known to incorporate viscoelastic materials in structural laminates comprising a pair of metallic sheets (or metallic skins) sandwiching the viscoelastic material, as disclosed as an embodiment in U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,462 to Hansen et al., assigned to the same assignee of this application. The laminate metallic skins between which the viscoelastic material is placed are known as constraining layers.
Each of the aforementioned viscoelastic materials and composites has drawbacks. In many of the above-described embodiments, the viscoelastic material is placed in direct contact with the device to be damped. As a consequence, the viscoelastic layer and optionally an attached substrate must be molded or otherwise shaped to match the surface contours of the device. However, viscoelastic layers and metallic skins generally lack sufficient moldability or malleability to allow them to be fabricated for and placed in continuous intimate contact with vibration/noise-resonating devices having complex shapes.
The aforementioned free viscoelastic layer and composite have additional drawbacks associated with their methods of use. Typically, a free viscoelastic layer or a composite is either attached to the outer surface of the device to be damped or is installed in a housing of the device. In both instances, the damper constitutes an additional structure that otherwise would not be present, thereby imposing weight and space penalties. For example, depending upon the location of the damper, added space must be afforded inside or outside of the device's housing to receive the damper. Manufacturing time and costs are also increased by the addition of a damper structure to a vibrating or noise resonating device or structure.
Additionally, placement of damper layers on a device or structure may create design tradeoffs. For example, complex shapes are often not amenable to add-on treatments. Accordingly, parts or portions of a vibrating/noise-resonating device or structure that are not or cannot be associated with a damper layer, for example, due to the complex shape of the device or structure, can adversely affect dampening effectiveness.
Accordingly, it would be a significant improvement in the art to provide a damper component that replaces an existing component of the damped device to thereby eliminate or at least alleviate the imposed weight and space penalties, preferably while avoiding the need for compromising design tradeoffs.
3. Objects of the Invention
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a damper component that is readily formable into a desired shape, including a complex shape, for permitting placement of the damper component in intimate contact with a vibration/noise-emanating device or structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a damper component that may replace an existing component of a device or structure to be damped and thereby achieve a significant improvement in the art over known dampers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide methods for making a damper component, including methods for making damper components that achieve one or more of the above-discussed objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device comprising a damper component, in which the damper component replaces an existing structure as a functional or structural component of the device.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method for retrofitting an existing structure or device to replace an existing component with a damper component having a substantially identical shape and/or appearance to the existing component.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Sheet molding compound damper component, and methods for making and using the same


Monostatic optical transceivers, systems, and methods of operating the same include a single aperture, a transmitter that provides a modulated and polarized optical transmit beam, a receiver that receives a modulated and polarized optical receive beam at an optical resonator included therein and processes the received optical receive beam to determine information from the received optical receive beam, a polarizing beam splitter that reflects the optical transmit beam, a polarization rotator that rotates the polarization of the reflected optical transmit beam by a fixed number of degrees in a transmit direction in a coordinate system of the monostatic transceiver, and a waveplate that modifies the polarization of the rotated optical transmit beam.

Light waves may be made to carry information by modulating a light source, often a laser source, to change various properties of the light, such as its amplitude, phase, frequency, wavelength, etc. The light waves may be in the visible spectral band, the infrared spectral band, or another region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Free-space optical communication (FSO) is a line-of-sight optical communication technology that uses lasers to propagate light in free space to wirelessly transmit optical signals carrying data for telecommunications. FSO transceivers require transmit and receive apertures to send and receive information respectively. In general, conventional approaches separate the two apertures (i.e., a bistatic transceiver), thus increasing size and complexity of the overall optical transceiver.

Method for fully-networkable single aperture free-space optical transceiver


A security device includes a case having an outside surface defining an interior volume for retaining merchandise and an access opening for receiving the merchandise into the interior volume; at least one notch opening on the outside surface of the case; and a locking mechanism adapted to removably couple to the case and at least partially block the access opening to maintain the received merchandise in the case when the locking mechanism is coupled to the case. The locking mechanism includes a housing, at least one flange extending from the housing for overlying at least a portion of the outside surface of the case, an actuator adapted to slidably extend longitudinally into the housing, engage the notch and couple the locking mechanism to the case when the actuator is in a first position, and a locking device disposed in the housing for fixing the actuator in place when the actuator is in the first position. The security device also includes a separate decoupling element adapted to operatively engage the locking mechanism and release the actuator from the first position.

Digital information storage has become very popular, for example, using compact disks (CDs) in the audio industry, C-ROMs in the computer industry and digital video disks (DVDs) in the video game industry.
There are various types of prior art containers that are commonly used today for packaging and storing CDs. The most widely used type of CD container, commonly known as a "jewel box," consists of two generally rectangular mating trays joined along a rear edge by a pair of hinges to form a claim shell-like receptacle. Jewel box containers are typically opened by holding the lower tray in one hand and prying the upper tray open with the other. The CD is retained in a molded insert placed in the lower tray. Printed promotion and identifying material are usually fitted inside the container together with the CD.
A CD contained in a jewel box was commonly sold at retail in a package formatted called a "long box." The long box was approximately twice as long as the width of the jewel box which prevented easy shoplifting. The long box format also provided more area to display information and/or advertising material about the recordings on the CD to attract and inform the customer, and permitted utilization of existing merchandising racks, allowing the consumer to browse rows of the long boxes. Thus, the long box encouraged impulse buying.
However, the consumer discarded the long box after purchase, thereby generating millions of pounds of waste paper annually. This resulted in the long box format being criticized by environmentalists as an example of wasteful packaging. As a result, CDs are today primarily packaged in the traditional jewel box without the long box, or a similar box such as a "Digipac" or an "Ivy Hill F.L.P."
While jewel box containers are widely used, they suffer from several shortcomings. They are relatively expensive to manufacture since they are constructed from three separate pieces (i.e., an upper and lower tray and a molded insert) using conventional injection-molding technology. As a result of the hinged construction, the jewel box containers are prone to bending or fracturing over time since they are frequently opened and closed. The jewel box containers have small display areas which limit the amount of available graphic design and the plastic layer of the cover is not completely transparent, preventing a clear display of the underlying graphics. This discourages impulse buying.
The jewel box containers are also easy to steal because of their small size. Thus, oversized locks are necessary to deter theft. The "Digipac" and Ivy Hill F.L.P." suffer many of the same problems as the jewel box. They also include awkward locking mechanisms preventing them from being user friendly, i.e., they are hard to open and close and it is difficult to insert and remove the CD.
Presently, DVDs are an emerging technology for digital information storage in the video and computer industries. Unlike CDs, however, there is no standard for packaging the storing the DVDs.
The prior art CD containers are considered unsuitable for packaging and storing DVDs because of the problems associated therewith. Thus, there is a need for proper packaging and storage of such media, e.g., CDs and DVDs, which avoids the problems of the prior art CD containers, such as theft. Unfortunately, until now, suitable packaging and small-sized locks have not been available which are capable of retaining a jewel box, a DVD case or the like to deter theft.

Security devices for information storage media with locking mechanisms


In general, it is difficult to mold properly sized automotive boots without flash to be removed from the top end thereof. In accordance with the present invention, such molding is achieved placing a tubular parison between a pair of mold halves, moving a blow pin assembly downwardly partly into the top end of the parison, closing the mold by moving the mold halves together, using fingers to stretch the open bottom end of the parison, moving a sizing mandrel into the bottom end of the parison, closing inserts on the bottom of the mold around the bottom end of the parison to size the latter, blowing the parison using air under pressure discharged from the blow pin, moving the blow pin assembly farther down into the parison to size and cut the top end of the parison, opening the inserts and removing the lower sizing mandrel, opening the mold, closing the stretching fingers, and removing the blow pin assembly from the boot, which is stripped from the mold.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for blow molding a hollow body, and in particular to a method and apparatus for blow molding an automotive boot.
2. DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART
Automotive boots for covering grease coated joints generally include a bellows-shaped body and cylindrical sleeves or collars at each end of the body for mounting the boot on automotive components. A problem inherent to the production of such boots is the formation of a generally cylindrical sprue or flash which must be removed from the boot in labour intensive finishing operations.

Extrusion blow molding an automotive boot


A refrigeration compartment door for refrigerators, provided with a door duct capable of introducing cool air to the interior of a refrigeration compartment, is disclosed. The door includes a main body having an insulating layer therein and a door duct provided in the insulating layer. Also, the door duct has at least two more branch ducts, so cool air, introduced from a cabinet of a refrigerator to the door duct, is separately introduced into the branch ducts. An insulating member is mounted to the door duct and has a plurality of first discharging holes in order to allow the cool air to be discharged into the interior of the refrigeration compartment passing through the door duct. Thus, a wide temperature difference between the interior of the refrigeration compartment and the door duct is reduced by the insulating member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a refrigerator and, more particularly, to a refrigeration compartment door for refrigerators provided with a door duct capable of introducing cool air to the interior of a refrigeration compartment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a refrigerator is used for preserving food and drink at cool temperatures for a lengthy period of time. Thus, cool air is distributed to all sides of the refrigerator, thereby uniforming the inner temperature of the refrigerator. However, it is difficult to achieve an accurate supply of cool air according to a temperature deviation in the refrigeration compartment.
Particularly, a cool air duct, designed for guiding the cool air, is mounted at the rear portion of a refrigeration compartment. Also, when the door of the refrigerator is repeatedly opened and closed, hot air is unexpectedly introduced from the refrigerator's surroundings into the refrigeration compartment. As a result, the temperature of the rear portion is lower then that of the front portion of the refrigeration compartment.
Therefore, a device, provided with a configuration capable of uniforming the inner temperature of the refrigeration compartment, has been proposed. An example of a typical device is proposed by the inventors of this invention. That is, the above device is provided with a configuration capable of introducing cool air from a refrigeration compartment door to the rear portion of a refrigeration compartment.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are views illustrating the construction of a typical refrigeration compartment door for refrigerators.
As shown in the drawings, a main body 1 of the refrigeration compartment door comprises a steel plate (not shown), insulating layer 2 and door liner 3. That is, the steel plate is mounted on the front portion of the door, while the door liner 3 is provided in the interior of the door. Also, a door duct 4 is provided in the interior of the insulating layer 2.
Thus, cool air is introduced to an inlet 5 of the door duct 4 passing through a guide duct provided in the cabinet of the refrigerator. Thereafter, the cool air is discharged into the interior of the refrigeration compartment through a plurality of discharging holes 6 which are formed at the front portion of the door duct 4.
However, the problems of the typical refrigerator are described below.
First, since the front surface of the door duct 4, provided with the discharging holes 6, is directly exposed to the interior of the refrigeration compartment, there is a wide temperature difference between cool air, discharged from the door duct 4, and cool air which is formed around the front portion of the refrigeration compartment. As a result, dewdrops are easily formed at the discharging holes 6 of the door duct 4.
Second, the amount and discharging range of the cool air, passing through the discharging holes 6, are limited because one door duct 4 is provided in the door.
Third, it is difficult to mount the door liner 3 to the door when the door duct 4 is mounted, thus causing any leakage to be easily generated at the door liner 3.

Refrigeration compartment door for refrigerators


The disclosure includes embodiments for asynchronous observation matching for object localization in connected vehicles. A method includes receiving a wireless message from the remote connected vehicle. The wireless message includes first observation data recorded by the remote connected vehicle and describing sensor measurements of the remote connected vehicle at a first time but not a second time. The method includes analyzing a set of vectors describing how a known object moves within a two-dimensional space to determine a two-dimensional flow of the known object in the two-dimensional space during a timespan. The method includes analyzing the two-dimensional flow of the object to infer a three-dimensional flow of the object in a three-dimensional space during the timespan. The method includes estimating second observation data recoded by the remote connected vehicle at the second time so that the impact of the latency is modified.

The specification relates to asynchronous observation matching for object localization in connected vehicles.
Modern vehicles include Adaptive Driver Assistance Systems (herein "ADAS systems") or automated driving systems. An automated driving system is a collection of ADAS systems which provides sufficient driver assistance that a vehicle is autonomous. ADAS systems and automated driving systems are referred to as "vehicle control systems." An example of a vehicle control system according to some embodiments includes the vehicle control system 151 depicted in FIG. 2. For example, the vehicle control system 151 includes an ADAS system or an autonomous driving system (e.g., a collection of ADAS systems).
A particular vehicle that includes these vehicle control systems is referred to herein as an "ego vehicle" and other vehicles in the vicinity of the ego vehicle are referred to as "remote vehicles."
Modern vehicles collect a lot of data describing their environment, in particular image data. An ego vehicle uses this image data to understand their environment and operate their vehicle control systems (e.g., ADAS systems or automated driving systems).
Connected vehicles form clusters of interconnected vehicles (e.g., via vehicle-to-everything, i.e., "V2X") that are located at a similar geographic location. Such clusters are known as "vehicular micro clouds."

Asynchronous observation matching for object localization in connected vehicles


An integrated circuit for a vehicle, vehicle which is formed in the shape of a case and which includes a pair of circuit boards, and a connector electrically connected to another connector. Each circuit board includes a metal circuit board main body, defining an outer portion of the case, an insulating layer formed on the entire inner surface of the circuit board main body, a conductive layer formed on the insulating layer in a predetermined circuit pattern, and a plurality of circuit elements electrically connected to a predetermined portion of the conductive layer. The connector includes a connector housing fixed to the circuit boards and having a recess for receiving the other connector, a plurality of through holes being formed in the connector housing, and a plurality of connector pins, one-end portions of which are connected to connecting terminals formed at an edge portion of the conductive layer, middle portions of which extend through the through holes formed in the connector housing, and the other-end portions of which project into the recess and are contactable with the other connector.

The present invention relates to an integrated circuit for a vehicle, in which a conductive layer is formed on a conductive substrate through an insulating layer so as to fix circuit elements.
As a conventional integrated circuit (IC) in which a conductive foil is adhered to a conductive substrate through an insulating layer to fix circuit elements, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 46-13234 is known. A method of manufacturing an IC disclosed in this prior art comprises the steps of: anodic-oxidizing at least one major surface of an aluminum substrate to form an aluminum oxide thin layer on the surface of the substrate; selectively depositing a resistive material layer and a conductive material layer on the aluminum oxide thin layer to form a plurality of circuit elements; fixing a transistor pellet onto a lead portion formed by selectively depositing the conductive material layer; and sealing at least all the circuit elements with an insulating resin.
In an IC formed in this manner, heat generated by a resistor, a transistor, or the like can be quickly and effectively dissipated, so that an output circuit, or the like can be formed as an IC.
The IC formed in this manner may be adopted for use in a vehicle in view of a compact structure and low cost. However, when such an IC is actually used in a vehicle, it must be reliably connected to other control portions of a vehicle while effectively utilizing its compact and low-cost advantages. If an existing connecting device is used, it is relatively large and is expensive. Thus, even if the IC itself is made compact and reduced in cost, its merit cannot be satisfactorily utilized.
Even if a connecting device is rendered compact, if it has a poor assembly property, it is often impossible to assemble the connecting device in practice. Therefore, the assembly property must be sufficiently taken into consideration.


A method for forming an isolation region in an integrated circuit is disclosed. The method includes forming a pad layer (12) on a semiconductor substrate (10), and forming an oxidation masking layer (14) on the pad layer, wherein the pad layer relives stress from the oxidation masking layer. Next, the oxidation masking layer and the pad layer are patterned and etched to expose a portion of the substrate. After laterally removing the pad layer to form at least one undercut under the oxidation masking layer, a doped layer (16) is conformably formed on the oxidation masking layer, the pad layer, and the substrate, thereby refilling the undercut with the doped layer. Finally, the doped layer is anisotropically etched to form spacers (16A) on sidewalls of the oxidation masking layer and the pad layer, and the substrate is then thermally oxidized to form the isolation region (18) in the substrate, wherein doping atoms in the doped layer will diffuse into the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming isolation regions, and more particularly, to an improved local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The art of isolating semiconductor devices becomes one important aspect of modem metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) and bipolar integrated circuit technology. With increasing densities of up to hundreds of thousands of devices on a single chip, improper isolation among devices will cause current leakages. These current leakages can consume significant amounts of power. In addition, improper isolation between devices can exacerbate latchup, which can damage the circuit temporarily or permanently. Still further, improper isolation can result in noise margin degradation, voltage shift or crosstalk.
In MOS technology, isolation is usually practiced by forming isolation regions between neighboring active regions. Typically, an isolation region is formed by ion-implanting a channel stop layer of polarity opposite to the source electrode and the drain electrode of the integrated circuit device, and growing a thick oxide, often referred to as field oxide (FOX). The channel stop and the FOX cause the threshold voltage in the isolation region to be much higher than those of the neighboring active devices, making surface inversion not likely to occur under the field oxide region.
The local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) method is widely used to isolate active regions in silicon. In LOCOS technology, a silicon nitride layer is used as an efficient oxidation mask which prevents the oxidants from reaching the silicon surface covered by silicon nitride. In addition, the silicon nitride layer oxidizes very slowly compared to silicon. However, direct deposition of silicon nitride on silicon can cause stress induced defects when the structure is subjected to oxidation at elevated temperature. These defects can be considerably reduced by forming a thin (100-500 angstroms) pad oxide layer between the silicon and the silicon nitride. The pad oxide reduces the force transmitted to the silicon by relieving the stress. It thus acts as a buffer which cushions the transmission of stress between the silicon and the silicon nitride.
Unfortunately, the pad oxide layer provides a lateral path for oxidation of silicon. This lateral extension of oxidation through pad oxide is frequently referred to as a "bird's beak" because of its form. The extent of the bird's beak can be reduced by decreasing the thickness of the pad oxide, which, however will cause more stress induced defects from the above silicon nitride layer. Therefore, the thickness of the pad oxide and the silicon nitride layer must be optimized to minimize the extent of the bird's beak without generating defects.
Beside bird's beak effect, another important limitation is tide sharp decrease in the field oxide thickness as the isolation spacing is reduced below 1 micrometer. The narrower the opening is, the thinner the field oxide will be. This effect is frequently called field oxide thinning effect, and is more serious for deep sub-micron semiconductor devices. The aforementioned bird's beak effect, the local field oxide thinning effect, and the stress-induced silicon defect are discussed in some references, such as that disclosed by Andres Bryant et al., "Characteristics of CMOS Device Isolation for the ULSI Age," IEDN Tech. Dig., 1994, pages 671-674 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Several methods in the prior art have been designed for improving the LOCOS isolation process to minimize the bird's beak. For example, a nitride-clad LOCOS (NCL) isolation is disclosed, for example, by J. R. Pfiester et al., "Nitride-Clad LOCOS Isolation for 0.25 .mu.m CMOS," VLSI Tech. Symp. Dig., 1993, pages 139-140 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Unfortunately, the NCL process usually causes some defects at the edge of the isolation region. Another isolation method, called polysilicon buffer LOCOS (PBL) isolation, is also used to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional LOCOS method. See reference disclosed by J. Nagel et al., "Stress-induced Void Formation in Interlevel Polysilicon Films during Polybuffered Local Oxidation of Silicon," J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 140, 1993, pages 2356-2359 which is hereby incorporated by reference. One of the disadvantages induced from the PBL method is the formation of voids or pits.
Other isolation methods are also available. For example, the sealed-interface local oxidation (SILO) process uses an additional thin silicon nitride over the silicon substrate followed by forming a pad oxide layer and then a thick silicon nitride layer. The SILO process can reduce the bird's beak, but at the expense of generating more stress, more crystal defects, and higher leakage currents.
Another improved LOCOS method, called buried oxide (BOX) process, has been devised which uses an aluminum mask to etch a silicon groove and then subsequently remove a plasma deposited silicon dioxide layer. The BOX process can effectively reduce the bird's beak, but at the expense of manufacture complexity.

Method for forming an isolation region in an integrated circuit


Novel tools for development and operation of ETL (Extract Transform Load) systems for populating databases. An embodiment uses metadata tables to describe relationships between jobs to run for processing data. These relationships can include parent-child job relation, and priority. These tools create a DataStage Service Architecture (DSA) that helps automate and control the ETL process. Other tools allow developers to easily view and update the ETL process.

ETL is a general tem used to describe a process in data warehousing (or populating databases) that involves extracting data from sources, transforming it to fit the business needs, and ultimately loading it into the database.
The first part of an ETL process is to extract the data from the source systems. Many database populating projects consolidate data from many different sources. Each separate source may also use a different data organization structure and/or format. Such data sources may include relational databases and flat files, but may also include non-relational database structures. The extraction step extracts and parses the data into a format for the transform process.
The transform process typically applies rules and/or functions to the extracted data, to prepare the data to be loaded. The requirements for the transformation process are a function of the extracted data and the ultimate form of the data for the database. Such transformation rules and functions include selecting certain fields, translating coded symbols, encoding new symbols, calculating values, merging sources, etc.
The load process loads the transformed data into the database. Depending on the requirements of the organization, this process ranges widely. Some databases merely overwrite old information with new data. More complex systems can maintain a history and audit trail of all changes to the database.
An ETL process can be very complex, with significant operational problems. One such problem is scalability. By its nature, the ETL process may be performed periodically, with increasing amounts of data and data sources to process. Further, the transformation rules and functions may be continuously modified to handle data differently based on the changing needs of the business.
Another problem with running an ETL process is that it can require a significant amount of processing time, and can easily involve errors and other unforeseen conditions that can halt the process. Typically, a process stage can not be restarted, but must be run again from the beginning. This can significantly lengthen the time to perform the complete ETL process.
Still another problem with the ETL process is that it requires a large amount of effort to design and build the ETL system for a particular domain. A mid-range data warehouse project can have 200-300 separate jobs. There are few automation tools or techniques to assist the developers, who must design, build, run, and maintain such a complex system.

System and method for automating ETL application


A touch operation processing method and a terminal device. The method includes: detecting a touch operation of a user, which starts from a border of a screen display area to the screen display area, and using the first point touched by the touch operation in the screen display area as a starting point; and performing, according to the touch operation, reduction processing on an operation interface displayed in the screen display area, where one edge of an operation interface after the reduction processing includes the starting point. Therefore, the demand is met that the user triggers, by one hand, reduction processing on the operation interface and perform a selection operation on an arbitrary position in the entire screen display area of the terminal device when the user holds the terminal device with a large screen with one hand on it.

With the rapid development of screen touch control technologies, a terminal device with a touch screen is widely applied. In addition, to improve user experience, a screen of a current terminal device, especially a mobile terminal, becomes increasingly large, so that a user can browse information through a large screen.
In the prior art, most users are accustomed to holding and operating this type of terminal device with a large screen with one hand. For example, the user may use one hand to hold the terminal device and use the thumb of this hand to tap a certain application client displayed in a screen display area, tap a video, or tap a web page link.
When a user holds and operates a terminal device with one hand, it is difficult for the user to perform an operation on an arbitrary position in the entire screen display area of the terminal device, and the user even cannot reach certain regions in the screen display area, thereby causing inconvenience to the operation of the user.

Touch operation processing method and terminal device


An end of life detection system for an anti-collision light may comprise a reflector and a plurality of LEDs located around an exterior of the reflector. A trend LED and reference LED may be located in an interior of the reflector. The trend LED may be powered on with plurality of LEDs. The reference LED may be powered on during an initial power-on self-check and turned off after completion of the initial power-on self-check.

Aircraft include anti-collision lights, for example, flashing red or white lights, located on an exterior of the aircraft to visually indicate the aircraft is in the vicinity. Each anti-collision light should meet regulatory requirements for light intensity. Current anti-collision lights tend to employ light emitting diodes, which can degrade in performance over time.

End of life detection system for aircraft anti-collision light


A test circuitry is configured to test for transition delay defects in a first inter-die interconnect connecting a first die and a second die. A test data value is initially received and temporarily stored in a data storage element. The test data is subsequently looped between the storage element and the second die through a feedback loop including the first inter-die interconnect and a second inter-die interconnect. A data conditioner conditions the test data value received from the second die so as to make it distinguishable from the test data value sent to the second die. A clock pulse generator generates a delayed clock pulse. A selection logic applies the generated delayed clock pulse and the conditioned fed back test data value to the data storage element. A readout unit for reading out a test data value stored in the data storage element.

Field of the Invention
The disclosed technology relates generally to interconnecting semiconductor chips, e.g. three-dimensional stacking of semiconductor chips and interconnecting two dimensional chips and, in particular, to testing for defects in the interconnects between the chips.
Description of the Related Technology
The semiconductor industry continues to try to integrate more functionality into a smaller form factor, increase performance, lower power and/or reduced cost. Traditionally, the industry's approaches to achieving these goals were often limited to two-dimensional approaches, including, for example, conventional scaling of CMOS, integrating multiple IP cores in a single die (System-on-Chip, SoC), integrating multiple dies in a single package (Multi-Chip Package, MCP) and integrating multiple ICs on a printed Circuit Board (PCB). More recently, the industry's approaches have included three-dimensional implementations, including, for example, integrating System-in-Package (SiP), in which multiple naked dies are vertically stacked in a single IC package and interconnected by wire-bonding to the substrate, and integrating Package-on-Package (PoP), in which multiple packaged chips are vertically stacked.
Three-dimensional (3D) stacking of chips is a hot research item, as it promises higher transistor densities and smaller footprints of electronic products. The latest evolution in this list of innovations is the so-called three-dimensional stacked IC (3D-SIC); a single package containing a vertical stack of naked dies which are interconnected by means of inter-die interconnections, optionally including through-substrate-vias (TSVs). 3D stacking based on inter-die interconnections offers the benefits of more functionality, higher bandwidth and performance at smaller sizes, alongside lower power consumption and cost; and this even in an era in which conventional feature-size scaling becomes increasingly difficult and expensive.
Currently, a lot of research and development work is done around three-dimensional stacking of integrated circuits. Two popular set-ups are illustrated in FIG. 1 (a) and FIG. 1(b). FIG. 1(a) illustrates an interposer-based 3D die stack in which multiple active dies are placed side-by-side on top of and interconnected through an interposer, such as a semiconductor, e.g. silicon, interposer. FIG. 1(b) illustrates a full 3D-SIC, in which multiple active dies are placed on top of one another.
The inter-die interconnections in such stacked ICs typically have high density, high performance, and low power dissipation. In face-to-face bonding, they are typically implemented by means of micro-bumps, e.g. Cu and CuSn micro-bumps. In face-to-back bonding, these interconnects also might contain through-substrate vias (TSVs).
Semiconductor manufacturing processes are defect-prone and hence all ICs need to be tested for manufacturing defects. Stacked ICs are no exception to this. Hence also these new inter-die connected 3D-SICs need to be tested for manufacturing defects, in order to guarantee sufficient outgoing product quality to a customer. Chip stacks should be delivered fault free as much as possible. In 3D chip stacking, the inter-die interconnections carry all interconnect signals between two dies, and hence are quite critical for functional operation of the chip. Both the inter-die interconnection manufacturing process, as well as the bonding process are delicate, and hence the inter-die interconnects are prone to defects, such as for example opens, shorts, and delay defects.
For stacked 3D-SICs, different test phases may be distinguished: (1) pre-bond test, (2) mid-post test (=testing of partial stacks), (3) post-bond test (=testing of complete stacks), and (4) final, packaged test. There are many reasons why a SIC test should be a modular test, in which the various interconnect layers, dies and perhaps embedded cores within the dies are tested as stand-alone units:
Heterogeneous stacks (combining logic, memory and analog circuitry) have different defect mechanisms, fault models, test patterns, and test pattern generation tools;
Different dies might come from different companies, who are not willing to share the implementation details of their die with others (IP protection);
The test flow involves different test phases, each with its own focus and test content. These flows are typically not fixed either, but evolve over the production life time, for example when die yields mature or yield excursions occur. Modular testing supports adaptive test flows, where tests can flexibly be included or excluded or re-ordered.
A 3D test access architecture that supports modular testing has been described in EP2372379. This architecture is based on the addition of a test wrapper around each die of the stack. The wrapper provides controllability and observability at all I/Os of the die. The wrapper supports a Serial and optionally a Parallel Test Access Mechanism (TAM) which can be flexibly configured to provide test access to one or multiple dies of the SIC simultaneously. Per die, testing the die's internal circuitry, testing the die's interconnects and a bypass mode are supported.
Common static fault models for interconnects are hard opens and shorts. They can be tested with a static (DC) test. The test access for static tests is provided by the wrappers in the 3D test access architecture described above. Dedicated test pattern generation tools are available for generating the appropriate test patterns.
However, inter-die interconnects can also exhibit delay defects, due to which the interconnect signal is transferred, but not within the specified delay margins. Testing for such delay defects can be problematic. The inter-die interconnect is very fast. Depending on the implementation (micro-bump to micro-bump, TSV to micro-bump to micro-bump, etc.) the fault-free propagation delay over the interconnect might vary from 50 ps to 500 ps (corresponding to signal transfer frequencies of 2 GHz to 20 GHz). Catching ultra-fast delay defects would involve complex timing synchronization between the two dies, whereas these dies might come from different, independent design teams (or even different companies) who do not necessarily know each other's timings. Thus, there is a need for circuitry and methods of testing for such delay defects which do not involve complex timing synchronization.

Transition delay detector for interconnect test

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A power generation planning system for controlling on/off sequence of generators according to operational parameters includes an interface to receive the operational parameters including a power demand, state-data of the generators and operational histories of the generators from a power control system, a memory to store an objective function, a mixed-integer programming solver, generator parameters of each the generators and planning modules including a state-space representation module, a variable assignment module, a network flow module and a tight constraint module, a processor to perform the planning modules based on the operational parameters received by the interface. The processor is configured to construct decision diagrams for each of the generators by using the state-space representation module, generate arc-variables representing state-transformations of the generators by assigning binary variables to arcs of the decision, generate network flow constraints to represent feasible operations of each of the generators, generate tight constraints of each of the generators by using the tight constraint module and formulate a mixed-integer problem, solve the mixed-integer problem, by using the mixed-integer programming solver, based on the states-data of the generators, the network flow constraints and the tight constraints, and transmit on/off sequence data of each of the generators obtained from the solved mixed-integer problem to a power control system via the interface.

The UCP involves determining schedules for generators so as to meet a target power demand. As used herein, a schedule specifies for each time instant in a horizon of T time steps—Boolean variables that indicate whether generators should be OFF or ON for a particular time step and continuous variables indicating the power to be produced and the maximum power that can be produced at that time. Generators typically include nuclear, thermal, and renewable power sources. Generators are subject to constraints such as stable operating level, rate of ramping up or down, and the amount of time the generator is ON or OFF, which makes the UCP a difficult combinatorial optimization task, which arises when the operation of N individual generators is scheduled over T time steps, such that the total cost of producing electrical energy that meets the target power demand is minimized, while simultaneously observing the operational constraints of individual generators.
Conventionally, the UCP is typically formulated as a deterministic optimization problem where the outputs of the generators are assumed to be fully dispatchable, e.g., fossil-burned, nuclear, and the future power demand is assumed to be completely known or predictable. Various combinatorial optimization methods are known for solving deterministic UCP, including methods based on dynamic programming, Lagrange relaxation, and mixed integer programming. Despite the plethora of solution approaches there still exists a need to develop effective solution approaches for the UCP.

System and method for scheduling electric generators using decision diagrams

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.