Connector devices that provide multiple degrees of freedom of motion between a first connector head and additional connector heads and/or electronic devices are described. The multiple degrees of freedom of motion permit motion in one or both of two planes and, perhaps, rotation about an axis in a controlled and fixed manner. Such connector devices allow peripheral devices to be folded or rotated in close proximity to a hosting device. Connector devices that incorporate circuitry for implementing distribution/hub functionality are also described.

The invention relates generally to connectors and adapters and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to connectors and adapters that provide multiple degrees of freedom of motion for coupling electronic components.
A large variety of electronic (including electro-optical) devices are currently available on the market. Many of these devices need to be interconnected to other devices to be more useful or desirable. For example, a user may want to connect their notebook computer to an external memory device, a digital camera, MP3 player or a modem. To interconnect these various devices users have traditionally needed a variety of different connectors and/or adaptors. When in use, these connectors and adaptors extend from the hosting device making it difficult or impossible to place the hosting device and/or the connected peripheral device in a desired position. In addition, connectors that extend from a housing (host or peripheral) are prone to breakage, bad connections or damage to the connected device or the hosting device itself. In a desktop environment, these problems may be tolerable in so far as the host device and the connector/adapter may be placed in a location out of harms way. In a mobile environment however (e.g., a notebook or handheld computer, a cellular telephone and a digital camcorder), the use of connectors and/or adaptors that extend from the base unit's body are particularly troublesome.
These problems are particularly problematic for the newest types of small devices designed to be directly interfaced to host devices. Illustrative small devices include, but are not limited to, card readers, BlueTooth, networking and biometric devices. Many of these small devices have connector heads attached directly to the bodies of the devices. In some cases the small device cannot be successfully interfaced to a host device due to the physical conflicts between the housing of the host device and the small device. For example, the orientation of a connector head on a notebook computer may not match the orientation of the connector head on a memory card device. Another common problem is that the host device connector head/socket is oriented in such a manner that the peripheral device (e.g., a card reader) cannot be plugged into the host without creating physically conflicts with other devices or infrastructure (e.g., a wall or seat).
Some prior art devices provide connectors that allow one degree of freedom of motion—motion that may partially reduce the aforementioned problems. Some prior art devices, for example, are able to bend, i.e. rotate along an axis that is perpendicular to the direction that one connector head is inserted into another connector head to make a connection. These connectors allow a hosting device and a peripheral device to be joined in places or situations where fixed connectors would not. Other prior art connectors may allow peripheral device connector head to rotate or spin such that a host and a peripheral device may be connected even if the connector head on the peripheral device has a different horizontal or vertical orientation from that of the host device. All these devices, however, continue to extend the coupled device in a predetermined orientation away from the hosting device.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism that would allow one or more devices to be coupled through an arbitrary and fixable orientation and which allow devices to be coupled in a low-profile manner. Such a mechanism would overcome physical connection constraints present in current connectors and adaptors.

Multiple degrees of freedom connectors and adapters


Methods of treating painful neuropathies are provided comprising administering compounds comprising the (S)-isomer of chiral compounds having the formula: ##STR1## wherein R1 is C1-C5 hydrocarbyl, R2 and R3 are independently C1-C5 hydrocarbyl or H, R4 is C1-C5 hydrocarbyl, R3 and R4 may optionally be joined together to form a 5, 6 or 7 membered ring system, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, substantially free of the (R)-isomer.

Racemic mexiletine has been administered orally to relieve the symptoms of a number of painful neuropathies including painful diabetic neuropathy; Dejard, et al., Mexiletine for treatment of chronic painful diabetic neuropathy, The Lancet, 2:9, 9-11 (1988); pain due to acute or chronic nerve injury; Tanelian, et al., Neuropathic pain can be relieved by drugs that are use-dependent sodium channel bockers, lidocaine, carmazepine and mexiletine, Anesthesiology, 74: 949-951 (1991); alcoholic polyneuropathy; Sakuta, et al., Mexiletine for painful alcholic neuropathy, Internal Medicine, 34: 577-579 (1995); chronic pain associated with radiation therapy; Colclough, et al., Mexiletine for chronic pain, The Lancet, 342: 1484-1485 (1993); thalamic pain syndrome, Awerbuch, G. I., et al., Mexiletine for thalamic pain syndrome, Intern. J., Neuroscience, 55:129-133 (1990); and diabeic truncal pain; Kubota, K., et la., Relief of severe diabetic truncal pain with mexiletine, J. Med., 22: 307-310 (1991).
The overall metabolic disposition of mexiletine enantiomers in healthy human subjects is non-stereoselective; McErlane et al., Xenobiotica, 25(10):1127-1145 (1995). However, another study of stereoselective glucuronidation of enantiomers of mexiletine suggests a stereoselective glucuronidation of the (R)-enantiomer. Grech Belanger, et al., Stereoselective disposition of mexiletine in man, Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol., 21:481-487 (1986). The cardiac electrophysiological effect of mexiletine in rats and dogs is also stereospecific. Hill demonstrated the binding affinity of (R)-mexiletine is twice that of (S)mexiletine for cardiac sodium channels. Hill, R. J. et al., Determinants of stereospecific binding of type I antiarrhythmic drugs to cardiac sodium channels, Molec. Pharmacol., 34:659-663 (1988).
Racemic mexiletine is also an antiarrhythmic agent and studies have shown that the (R)-enantiomer exhibits greater antiarrhythmic properties than the (S)-enantiomer in dogs. Turgeon, J. et al., Resolution and Electrophysiological effects of mexiletine enantiomers, J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 43:630-635 (1991).
While racemic mexiletine has shown efficacy for a variety of painful neuropathies, its proarrhythmic properties are a cause for concern as are a number of serious non-cardiac adverse side effects all of which limit its use. Such effects include tremors, diplopia, nausea and vomiting, and occur in up to 70 percent of patients. These adverse side effects are closely related to the plasma concentration of racemic mexiletine, and such adverse effects are usually lessened with reductions in dosage. However, reduced dosage often results in reduced therapeutic efficacy. Campbell, R. W. F., Mexiletine, N. Eng. J. Med., 316:29-34 (1987).
Thus, an improved method of treating neuropathic pain with a sodium channel blocker that has reduced or eliminated adverse side effects is greatly desired.

Methods for treating central and peripheral nerve pain


The disclosed invention is an improved closing wheel attachment mechanism which has longer wear life than that of the typical attachment mechanism. The closing wheel arm on an agricultural planter has installed thereon an improved grease bushing assembly which has increased wear surface and the capability to utilize a grease on the surface. The combination of increased wear surface and greasing will greatly increase the operational life of the planter. Also included in the invention is the process and fixturing to incorporate the improved configuration on to an existing planter closing wheel structure. Included in this attachment mechanism is a welding jig which assures proper alignment of the improved bushing assembly.

The present invention relates to an improvement in farm machinery which greatly increases its life. More specifically, the present invention provides an improved mechanism for attaching a closing wheel assembly to the remainder of a planter.
In modern day farm operations, spring planting is accomplished through use of a planter which deposits seeds in the ground in an orderly fashion so as to allow for controlled growing and harvesting of crops. One type of planter utilizes a mechanism known as a closing wheel assembly. The purpose of this closing wheel assembly is to compact the soil around the seed after it has been deposited in the ground so as to promote germination of the seed. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the operation of this closing wheel assembly can drastically affect the manner in which crops grow each year. Improper operation has the potential to defeat the purpose of the closing wheel assembly altogether. In turn, this can directly affect crop production and yield.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the side view of a typical closing wheel assembly 10. Closing wheel assembly 10 consists of a pair of closing wheels 12 attached to a closing wheel arm 20. Closing wheels 12 are attached on either side of closing wheel arm 20 and are typically aligned at an angle which causes the two wheels to meet at a bottom edge 14. Closing wheel arm 20 is then attached to the planter by a planter arm 16. Typically connection between closing wheel arm 20 and planter arm 16 is accomplished by a pair of attachment bolts 18 on either side of closing wheel arm 20.
The configuration of closing wheel assembly 10 allows the entire assembly to rotate about the axis of attachment bolts 18. This rotation allows bottom edge 14 of closing wheels 12 to travel up and down as the planter traverses the ground. As can be expected, this up and down motion (and likely some further jarring forces) causes wear at the connection joint between planter arm 16 and closing wheel arm 20.
Referring to FIG. 2 there is shown a perspective view of closing wheel arm 20 shown alone. Closing wheel arm 20 includes a pair of apertures 22 existing in a pair of parallel mounting or attachment structures 24. Also shown in FIG. 2 is an attachment structure 26 to which a closing wheel 12 is attached. The alignment of apertures 22 and an aperture in planter arm 16 (not shown) along with attachment bolts 18 is very critical to the proper alignment of the closing wheel assembly 10. The alignment of each of these apertures and their relationships to one another will affect the tracking characteristics of bottom edge 14 of closing wheels 12. As misalignment can be detrimental to the growth of seeds, such misalignment must be avoided.
As previously mentioned, the motion or movement of closing wheel assembly 10 in relation to the planter causes wear on and structural degradation in closing wheel arm 20. Specifically, wear is caused in attachment apertures 22 causing them to be enlarged. Typically the inner surface of apertures 22 is relatively small (approximately 1/8 to 1/16 inch). Thus, wear is inevitable. Once this occurs, a good deal of "play" is created in the closing wheel assembly causing it to track incorrectly.
At this point, the operator has a number of alternatives in order to correct this problem. A first alternative is to replace closing wheel arm 20 entirely. While this solution will suffice to make the planter operational once again, it is not an optimum solution as closing wheel arm 20 will simply wear out in some period of time. Furthermore, the replacement of closing wheel arm 20 with a new part creates a cumbersome and involved repair process which must be undertaken by the owner. This process is undesirable as it requires removal of all parts (including closing wheels 12) and reattachment to a new closing wheel arm 20.
Another alternative is to fill in the wear created in closing wheel arm 20. Again, this is a very involved and somewhat futile process as closing wheel arm 20 is likely to wear out once again within a short period of time. Other ineffective alternatives include the use of a washer or filler part which is adjusted to pick up slack in attachment aperture 22. This solution is also ineffective due to the need for constant readjustment as the planter is used.
Consequently, a need exists for a solution which will avoid the wear which takes place in attachment apertures 22 altogether.


A computer implemented method and system of change evaluation of an electronic design for verification confirmation. The method has the steps of receiving the electronic design comprised a subcomponent, employing a banked signature of data representative of the subcomponent, receiving a review request of the subcomponent, generating a current signature of the data representative of the subcomponent and determining a difference of the current signature and the banked signature.

The method and system are generally related to the verification of analog and mixed signal integrated circuits.
Electronic design automation (EDA) is software for designing electronic blocks. There are several broad types of electronic signals, components and blocks, digital, analog and a mixture of digital and analog termed mixed signal. The electronic design generally comprises at least one of the following levels of circuit information, a system level, an architectural level, a dataflow level, an electrical level, a device level and a technology level and the like.
Digital signals have discrete input and output values "0" and "1", occurring at discrete time values, typically tied to a clock signal. Digital components which input and output the digital signals typically have static pin outs and interaction protocols. Digital blocks comprised of the digital components have well established and well documented physical layouts and electrical interactions. The simulators for digital blocks are discrete time event driven simulators.
Analog signals generally have continuous input and output values that may vary over time. Analog components typically have customizable layouts, in order to modify inputs, outputs, triggers, biases, etc. Therefore, due to customization, analog blocks comprised of the analog components, may not have well established or well documented physical layouts or electrical interactions. The simulators for analog blocks generally necessitate continuous time domain simulators.
Mixed signal blocks are a combination of digital signal blocks and analog signal blocks within a component being simulated. The most common options available for simulation are to simulate the component as a grouping of analog blocks, or, to separately analyze the analog components/blocks and the digital components/blocks and translate the inputs and outputs at the boundaries of the digital and analog domains for inter-domain communication.
Within EDA there are two broad categories of circuit review that are related, simulation and verification. Simulation is a numerical solution set that predicts the behavior of a circuit. Verification is the systematic pursuit of describing the behavior of a circuit under relevant conditions (functional verification) and over manufacturing process variation (parametric verification). Therefore, verification generally necessitates a much more extensive review of the circuit, its operating conditions and manufacturing operation variations than a simulation. It is possible to run a large number of simulations without verifying to any significant degree the functionality of a circuit. Verification is the mathematical modeling of circuit behavior and evaluation of circuit performance over a range of conditions. Ultimately, the measure of success of verification is to report how well the circuit design complies with the circuit specification. Analog and mixed signal verification methodology is struggling to keep pace with the complexity, cost, and computational demands of ever-growing analog and mixed signal circuits.
The number and complexity of verification test cases grows with the complexity of analog and mixed signal designs. Additionally, simulation speed decreases and memory utilization increases as the size of the circuit grows. Thus, the computational processing-power to verify a circuit may dramatically increase with circuit complexity. To make this issue more painful, verification occurs at the end of the design cycle where schedule delays are perceived to be most severe. Thus, verification is an activity that generally necessitates a significant amount of simulation processing-power for a small part of the overall design cycle, and the efficient use of verification resources is generally necessitated to meet time to market demands.
Today's complex verification solutions specifically focus engineering on the verification activity to ensure that the operation of the circuit is fully and efficiently verified under pertinent conditions. This focused analog and mixed signal verification is much more manual and experience driven than digital verification. This sporadic interactive analog verification leaves companies at risk. There is a long felt need for a more automated procedure to determine whether changes have occurred, their importance and the effect on the remainder of the circuit.
Robust verification of analog and mixed signal circuits generally necessitates a significant investment in test benches, performance analysis routines, and macro-models that may be used to accelerate the simulations. The complexity of this collateral grows with the complexity of the analog and mixed signal integrated circuits. As a design team adds design resources it also needs to add verification resources, adding to the cost of the design. The efficient use of those resources becomes paramount due to the inevitable time constraints that are imposed at the end of the design cycle, when companies are trying to get a product to market.
The current technology trajectory within the electronics manufacturing industry is to move more and more toward single chip designs, called Systems on a Chip (SoC). Most systems on a chip generally necessitate some level of mixed signal verification. As mixed signal designs continue to increase in size and complexity, this places additional burdens on verification to insure first pass design success and reducing time-to-market. Although the complexity of analog and mixed signal ASIC design has aggressively followed Moore's law, innovations in design verification generally have not.
Valuable design time and compute resources as well as expensive simulator resources may be specifically focused by the disclosed method for achieving targeted coverage on non-equivalent changes rather than the current ad-hoc approach. The method identifies areas that need to be re-verified and provide nearly immediate feedback to the design team and design management. Improving test coverage efficiency (i.e., not wasting simulation time) allows more efficient use of resources.
This disclosure is related to evaluating changes to an electronic design for confirming verification for analog and mixed signal (A/MS) application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Analog and mixed signal integrated circuits exist in many modern electronic devices, and these circuits needs to be verified through simulation prior to fabrication. Aspects of verification confirmation include determining whether a change occurred, if a change did occur, did it result in an equivalent circuit, and if the change occurred and the circuit is not equivalent, what are the subsequent effects on the overall circuit.
Therefore the disclosure implements improved verification efficiency through determining whether a change has occurred, determining whether the modified circuit is equivalent and to determine the subsequent effects of the circuit modification. These and other potential advantageous, features, and benefits of the present disclosure may be understood by one skilled in the arts upon careful consideration of the detailed description of representative examples of the disclosure in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Method and system of change evaluation of an electronic design for verification confirmation


In an illustrative embodiment, a memory cell comprises a first and a second MOSFET, wherein the first MOSFET undergoes a process to modify the threshold voltage such that a modified threshold voltage represents a first stored logic value. By determining which one of the first and the second MOSFETs has an altered threshold voltage, the stored logic value is determinable. The threshold voltage of the first MOSFET is altered by supplying current through a MOSFET gate, causing a gate heating effect that results in a threshold voltage shift.

Memory devices for storing digital data are abundant in today's computers, automobiles, cell telephones and media information cards. Certain of these memory devices or storage elements, referred to as nonvolatile memory, retain the stored digital data after device power has been removed. For example non-volatile memory instructions instruct a computer during the boot-up process and store instructions and data for sending and receiving calls in a cellular telephone. Electronic products of all types, from microwave ovens to heavy industrial machinery, store their operating instructions in non-volatile storage elements. Certain non-volatile memory devices offer multiple programming capabilities with previously stored information overwritten by new data. Other non-volatile devices provide only one-time programmability.
Volatile memory devices lose the stored information when power is removed. Dynamic random access memories (DRAM) and static random access memories (SRAM) are two types of volatile memory devices.
A read-only memory (ROM) is a non-volatile memory that provides permanent data storage. Once stored in the ROM device, the data cannot be overwritten or otherwise altered. The ROM is "programmed" during manufacture according to the design of each memory cell such that each cell stores a zero bit or a one bit. Since the ROM is programmed during the design stage, the stored information is modifiable only by redesigning the ROM.
A programmable read-only memory (PROM) is a non-volatile memory device that permits one-time programmability after fabrication. Each PROM memory cell comprises a fusible link further comprising metal or polysilicon material. A plurality of such memory cells and corresponding fuses are formed on a semiconductor die. After fabrication, selected ones of the plurality of fuses are opened with a laser beam, forming a binary pattern of opened and closed fuses that represent stored information. Passing a current through the assembly of fuses reads the stored bits according to the opened and the closed fuses. A sense amplifier receives the output current to detect the logic state of each fuse (a zero bit for an unblown or closed fuse and a one bit for a blown or open fuse or vice versa).
Disadvantageously, fabrication of laser-opened fuses requires the creation of a process mask and execution of additional process steps to form and program the fuses in the die. These fuses consume chip area that could otherwise be devoted to active devices. Also, laser blown fuses require a special laser probe system to identify the location of fuses to be blown.
The fuses can also be electrically opened by passing a sufficiently large current through the fuse to melt the fuse material and create an open circuit. See the commonly owned patent application entitled, Apparatus and Method for Programming a One-time Programmable Memory Device, filed on Sep. 20, 2003, and assigned application Ser. No. 10/675,571. For electrically-opened fuses, a relatively large (i.e., large current carrying capacity) transistor is required to provide sufficient current to open the fuse. These transistors consume a substantial area of the integrated circuit device and thus impose an area penalty, which can be a significant disadvantage for small chips.
An erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) is a non-volatile memory device that can be programmed, erased and reprogrammed as desired. The EPROM is programmed electronically and erased by ultraviolet light passing through an ultraviolet-permeable quartz window formed in a package of the memory device.
An EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read-only memory) and flash EEPROM are read-only memory devices that can be programmed, electronically erased and electronically reprogrammed. A flash memory comprises a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) having a conventional control gate and a floating gate separated from the control gate by a first insulating layer, where the control gate is separated from a channel region by a second insulating layer. Thus the floating gate is electrically isolated from the control gate and the channel region. The flash memory operates by removing (erasing) electrons from the floating gate or raising (programming) electrons to the floating gate. A charge on the floating gate affects the threshold voltage of the MOSFET and thus the control gate voltage required for MOSFET conduction.
When electrons are present on the floating gate, the control gate cannot form a conductive region in the channel in response to a typical gate turn-on voltage. Thus no current flows through the transistor, indicating, for example, a stored logic zero. When the transistor is conducting (with electrons removed from the floating gate and a typical gate turn-on voltage applied to the gate) the stored value represents a logic 1. A voltage applied between the control gate and a MOSFET source/drain terminal forces electrons to or remove electrons from the floating gate. The phenomenon by which electrons are disposed on the floating gate is known as Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.
To form a flash memory array, a plurality of MOSFET control gates are connected to a memory word line. A bit line connects to a first source/drain terminal of each of the same plurality of MOSFETs; a second source/drain terminal is connected to ground. A desired memory address is applied to the word line and the voltage appearing on the bit line represents the read data.
According to another embodiment of a floating gate or flash memory MOSFET element, in lieu of causing electrons to tunnel into the first insulating region separating the control gate from the floating gate, hot carriers can be injected into the first insulating layer for affecting the MOSFET threshold voltage.
Standard integrated circuit fabrication processes do not conventionally include a process step for forming the second or floating gate insulating layer with an optimal thickness. Also, the standard process flow may not be amenable to fabrication of high voltage transistors required for inducing electron tunneling or hot carrier injection. The standard fabrication processes must therefore be modified to fabricate flash memory devices.
As described above, certain non-volatile memory devices are limited to a single programming operation and are thus referred to as "one-time programmable (OTP)," memories. Although the flash memory can be read and written hundreds of times, it can also function as an OTP memory. OTP memory devices are subdivided into those with a relatively large number of storage elements (cells), such as an EEPROM flash memory, and those with a relatively small number of cells. OTP devices with a few cells are useful for trimming analog circuit values within the integrated circuit, for providing security features for the device with which they operate and for identifying the chip in which they are disposed.
In trimming applications, the programmed memory cells are operative to insert or delete resistors and capacitors into a circuit block within the integrated circuit. Stored bits control MOSFET switches for connecting or disconnecting resistors and capacitors in either series or parallel configurations. The analog trimming operation compensates for expected fabrication variations in high precision integrated circuits.
The OTP device can also store a relatively small number of non-modifiable data bits for identifying an integrated circuit chip. For example, during wafer probing a chip's location can be recorded or stored on the chip to uniquely identify the chip and its location on the wafer, i.e., the stored data serves as a die site identifier. After chip packaging, the identification information can be read with an off-chip reader, permitting the manufacturer to track chip failures and wafer yield. It may also be desired to track individual wafer dice by associating each die with a source wafer, a manufacturing lot and a wafer history.
For security applications, the stored OTP data provides a tamper-proof memory device to uniquely identify a hardware device in which the OTP memory is incorporated, such as a cell phone or satellite radio receiver. This identification technique is tamper-resistant since the user cannot reprogram the OTP memory.

Method and apparatus for storing data in a write-once non-volatile memory


A mobile communication method according to the present invention includes steps of: generating, at a HO-source radio base station, an intermediate key (KeNB*), by inputting, into a first function KDF (*), a base station key (KeNB), identification information (PCI) of a HO-target cell, and identification information (ARFCN) of a frequency for the HO-target cell; and transmitting, from the HO-source radio base station to a HO-target radio base station, the intermediate key (KeNB*), in the HO process; and generating, at the HO-target radio base station, a base station key (KeNB) on the basis of the intermediate key (KeNB*) in the HO process.

In the LTE (Long Term Evolution) system, security measures are taken for the "AS (Access Stratum)" which is for communication between a mobile station UE and a radio base station eNB.
Specifically, in the LTE system, the "C-plane Ciphering", "C-plane Integrity Protection", and "U-plane Ciphering" are employed as such security measures.
In this respect, a key KRRC,ciph is used when the C-plane Ciphering is performed, a key KRRC,IP is used when the C-plane Integrity Protection is performed, and a key KUP,ciph is used when the U-plane Ciphering is performed. All of these keys are generated from a base station key KeNB.
FIG. 5(a) shows a typical layer structure of keys used in the LTE system. Here, a key KASME is a key known only to an upper station MME and a mobile station UE, and is used for generating a base station key KeNB.
Note that, a layer structure of keys used in the LTE system may have a form as shown in FIG. 5 (b), since generating a base station key KeNB requires a parameter called "NH (Next Hop)", which is generated from a key KASME.
Meanwhile, on a network side, a base station key KeNB is configured to be managed per mobile station UE by each radio base station eNB, and to be updated when the corresponding mobile station UE performs a handover.
The base station key KeNB is also managed by the mobile station UE so that the mobile station UE performs communication with the radio base station eNB. Using the same base station key KeNB, the radio base station eNB and the mobile station UE can perform communication with security.
Next, a brief description is given of a procedure for updating a base station key KeNB with reference to FIG. 6.
In Step (1), when setting up connection for a mobile station UE, an upper station MME generates a temporary initial key (KeNB) on the basis of a key KASME and a "NAS SN (a sequence number in NAS=Non Access Stratum)".
In Step (2), the upper station MME notifies a radio base station eNB#1 of the temporary initial key (KeNB) as an intermediate key KeNB*. In Step (3), the radio base station eNB#1 stores the received intermediate key KeNB* without changing it as a base station key KeNB.
In Step (11), the upper station MME also generates a parameter NH* on the basis of the key KASME and the temporary initial key (KeNB), and notifies the radio base station eNB#1 of the parameter NH*.
In Step (12), the radio base station eNB#1 stores the received parameter NH* without changing it as a parameter NH.
Consider a case where the mobile station UE thereafter performs a handover from a cell #1 under the control of the radio base station eNB#1 to a cell #2 under the control of a radio base station eNB#2. In this case, the radio base station eNB#1 generates an intermediate key KeNB* in Step (4) by inputting the current base station key KeNB and the PCI (Physical Cell ID) of the cell #2 into a first function, more concretely, on the basis of the first function (key derivation function)=KDF (KeNB, PCI), and notifies the radio base station eNB#2 of the intermediate key KeNB*.
Alternatively, the radio base station eNB#1 generates an intermediate key KeNB* in Step (13) by inputting the current parameter NH and the PCI of the cell #2 into a first function, more concretely, on the basis of the first function (key derivation function)=KDF (NH, PCI), and notifies the radio base station eNB#2 of the intermediate key KeNB*, when the mobile station UE performs a handover from the cell #1 under the control of the radio base station eNB#1 to the cell #2 under the control of the radio base station eNB#2.
In such calculation processing for the intermediate key KeNB*, the key is updated on the basis of the PCI. The operation for updating the key on the basis of the PCI as described above is called a "PCI binding".
Here, the radio base station eNB#1 also notifies the radio base station eNB#2 of an "index increase identifier (Index increase indicator)" indicating which of KDF (KeNB, PCI) and KDF (NH, PCI) is used as a basis for generating the intermediate key KeNB*.
The radio base station eNB#2 having received the intermediate key KeNB* judges whether or not to perform a "C-RNTI binding" for the intermediate key KeNB*, on the basis of the "index increase identifier".
Specifically, if the radio base station eNB#2 recognizes from the "index increase identifier" that the intermediate key KeNB* is generated on the basis of KDF (KeNB, PCI), the radio base station eNB#2 generates a base station key KeNB in Step (5) by inputting the intermediate key KeNB* and a mobile station identifier C-RNTI into a second function, more concretely, on the basis of KDF (KeNB*, C-RNTI). Here, the mobile station identifier C-RNTI is allocated temporarily to the mobile station UE in the cell #2.
On the other hand, if the radio base station eNB#2 recognizes from the "index increase identifier" that the intermediate key KeNB* is generated on the basis of a current parameter NH, the radio base station eNB#2 sets the received intermediate key KeNB* as a base station key KenB in Step (14).
Note that, the radio base station eNB#2 acquires a parameter NH newly from the upper station MME, when the upper station MME performs a "Path Switch" , in preparation for a next handover for the mobile station UE.
Moreover, the radio base station eNB#1 notifies the mobile station UE of a parameter NCC (NH Chaining Count) through a handover command signal (Handover Command). Here, the parameter NCC indicates a number for the current parameter NH.
The mobile station UE updates a current base station key KeNB[m] with the following formulae to acquire a base station key KeNB[m+1] if the received parameter NCC is the same as the NCC held in itself.KeNB*=KDF(KeNB[m], PCI)KeNB[m+1]=KDF(KeNB*, C-RNTI)
On the other hand, if the received parameter NCC is larger than the NCC held in the mobile station UE, the mobile station UE repeats calculation with the following formulae and updates the parameter NH until the NCC held in itself becomes equal to the received parameter NCC. The mobile station UE increments by one the NCC held in itself in every calculation with the following formulae:NH*=KDF(KASME, NH[m])NH[m+1]=NH*
With the aforementioned procedure, the base station key KeNB is updated in both of the mobile station UE and the radio base station eNB.
Meanwhile, when a handover fails for some reasons or when a problem with a radio link (Radio Link Failure) occurs during communication, the communication can be restored by the execution of reconnection control.
In order for the LTE system to succeed in the reconnection control, a radio base station eNB, to which the reconnection is to be performed, needs to hold beforehand the context of the mobile station UE (UE context). The LTE system thus can perform a "handover preparation process (HO Preparation)" on multiple neighbor cells.
The reason why the handover-source radio base station performs a "PCI binding" here is to ensure as much as possible the uniqueness of an intermediate key KeNB* in multiple cells in the execution of a "handover preparation process (HO Preparation)" on the cells and thereby to improve the security in the mobile communication system.
The use of the same intermediate key KeNB* for multiple cells in a handover preparation process accidentally allows radio base stations eNB having the intermediate key KeNB* to derive a base station key KeNB to be used by a handover-target radio base station eNB for communication with the mobile station UE. This makes the network vulnerable in terms of security.

Mobile communication method, radio base station, and mobile station


A cellular phone includes a RSSI measurement circuit for measuring power levels of received baseband signal at divided band portions of the whole band, a band sorting circuit sorting the divided band portions based on the descending order of the power levels, and a cell search circuit searching the carriers of each divided band portion in the order of the results of the sorting, to thereby determine a tentative waiting cell.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-speed all-band-cell search cellular phone and a method for searching the band cell based on the specification of IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) prescribed in the specification of 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standard.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a cellular phone (or mobile station) uses a band-cell search technique for detecting the band cell of the own station for telecommunication. FIG. 8 shows the band-cell detection block of a cellular phone for detecting the band cell. The band-cell detection block 20 includes a RSSI (received signal strength indicator) measurement circuit 22 for measuring the received power levels of a 5-MHz-wide band of the RF signal, a cell search circuit 23 for performing an ordinary cell search for a desired a frequency, and a waiting cell determination circuit 24 for determining the waiting cell based on the information of a tentative waiting cell delivered from the RSSI measurement circuit 22 and the cell search circuit 23. Both the RSSI measurement circuit 22 and the cell search circuit 23 receive the radio frequency (RF) signal through a receiver 21, which receives the RF signal through an antenna (ANT) 24, and deliver signals of the tentative waiting cell to the waiting cell determination circuit 24.
In the cellular phone, a so-called all-band-cell search technique is generally used for detecting the base station to which the location of the cellular phone is to be registered, either after the initial power-on of a cellular phone after it is first introduced into the cellular phone system or after a long-time absence of the cellular phone in the service area. The long-time absence may occur, for example, if the cellular phone travels a long distance while it is turned off and thus there exits no clue for the location identification of the own station. The waiting cell determination circuit 24 receives signals of the tentative waiting cell from the RSSI measurement circuit 22 and cell search circuit 23, and sets the waiting cell after communication with the base station by using the tentative waiting cell.
In the specifications of IMT-2000 prescribed in 3GPP standard, assuming that the RF signal in a cellular phone system uses a total bandwidth of 60 MHz between 2110 MHz and 2170 MHz and that the space between the central frequencies of adjacent two channels is 200 KHz, the number of frequency channels or carriers amounts to 300. All these carriers may be referred to as FID1 to FID300 based on the central frequencies thereof.
The all-band-cell search process includes the steps of slot synchronization to slot identification by the cell search circuit 23 and the step of measuring the received signal code power by the RSSI measurement circuit 22 for each of 5-MHz-wide bands of whole the 60-MHz-wide band to select a 5-MHz-wide band. Thus, the all-band-cell search consumes a large amount of processing time in the cellular phone. For example, if a band-cell search consumes 100 milliseconds for each channel and the band cell of the own station exists only in the FID300 carrier, the all-band-cell search consumes 30 seconds in total after the power-on or long-time absence, assuming that the search is conducted in the ascending order of FIDs in the cellular phone.

High-speed all-band-cell search cellular phone


The present invention is directed to a process for purifying alpha-1-PI. The process comprises providing an impure protein fraction which comprises alpha-1-PI. The impure protein fraction is suspended in an aqueous solution at pH 6. Insoluble proteins are recovered and resuspended in aqueous solution at pH 8.5. PEG is added to precipitate .alpha.-2 proteins. To the PEG supernatant precipitation, which comprises alpha-1-PI, is added ZnCl.sub.2 to precipitate crude alpha-1-PI. The crude alpha-1-PI is resolubilized and applied to an anion-exchange medium. A fraction comprising alpha-1-PI is recovered from the anion-exchange medium. Alpha-1-PI purified by the process has a specific activity about 1.0 units/OD.sub.280.

Alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor (".alpha.-1-PI" or "alpha-1-PI" herein), also known as .alpha.-antitrypsin, is a serum glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 52,000. Alpha-1-PI is synthesized in the liver and is present in the serum at levels between 150 and 350 mg/dl (equivalent to 30-80 .mu.M) when assayed with plasma standards.
Alpha-1-PI functions in the lungs to inhibit neutrophil elastase, a serine protease, which in large quantities can lead to the destruction of the alveolar walls. In the normal lung, alpha-1-PI provides more than 90% of the anti-neutrophil elastase protection in the lower respiratory tract.
Alpha-1-PI deficiency is an autosomal, recessive hereditary disorder displayed by a large number of allelic variants and has been characterized into an allelic arrangement designated as the protease inhibitor (Pi) system. These alleles have been grouped on the basis of the alpha-1-PI levels that occur in the serum of different individuals. Normal individuals have normal serum levels of alpha-1-PI (normal individuals have been designated as having a PiMM phenotype). Deficient individuals have serum alpha-1-PI levels of less than 35% of the average normal level (these individuals have been designated as having a PiZZ phenotype). Null individuals have undetectable alpha-1-PI protein in their serum (these individuals have been designated as having a Pi(null)(null) phenotype).
Alpha-1-PI deficiency is characterized by low serum (less than 35% of average normal levels) and lung levels of alpha-1-PI. These deficient individuals have a high risk of developing panacinar emphysema. This emphysema predominates in individuals who exhibit PiZZ, PiZ(null) and Pi(null)(null) phenotypes. Symptoms of the condition usually manifests in afflicted individuals in the third to fourth decades of life.
The emphysema associated with alpha-1-PI deficiency develops as a result of insufficient alpha-1-PI concentrations in the lower respiratory tract to inhibit neutrophil elastase, leading to destruction of the connective tissue framework of the lung parenchyma. Individuals with alpha-1-PI deficiency have little protection against the neutrophil elastase released by the neutrophils in their lower respiratory tract. This imbalance of protease:protease inhibitor in alpha-1-PI deficient individuals results in chronic damage to, and ultimately destruction of the lung parenchyma and alveolar walls.
Individuals with severe alpha-1-PI deficiency typically exhibit endogenous serum alpha-1-PI levels of less than 50 mg/dl, as determined by commercial standards. Individuals with these low serum alpha-1-PI levels have greater than an 80% risk of developing emphysema over a lifetime. It is estimated that at least 40,000 patients in the United States, or 2% of all those with emphysema, have this disease resulting from a defect in the gene coding for alpha-1-PI. A deficiency in alpha-1-PI represents one of the most common lethal hereditary disorders of Caucasians in the United States and Europe.
Therapy for patients with alpha-1-PI deficiency is directed towards replacement or augmentation of alpha-1-PI levels in the serum. If serum levels of alpha-1-PI are increased, this is expected to lead to higher concentrations in the lungs and thus correct the neutrophil elastase: alpha-1-PI imbalance in the lungs and prevent or slow destruction of lung tissue. Studies of normal and alpha-1-PI deficient populations have suggested that the minimum protective serum alpha-1-PI levels are 80 mg/dl or 11 .mu.M (about 57 mg/dl; using pure standards). Consequently, most augmentation therapy in alpha-1-PI deficient patients is aimed toward providing the minimum protective serum level of alpha-1-PI, since serum alpha-1-PI is the source of alveolar alpha-1-PI.
Alpha-1-PI preparations have been available for therapeutic use since the mid 1980's. The major use has been augmentation (replacement) therapy for congenital alpha-1-PI deficiency. The half-life of human alpha-1-PI in vivo is 4.38 days with a standard deviation of 1.27 days. The currently recommended dosage of 60 mg alpha-1-PI/kg body weight weekly will restore low serum levels of alpha-1-PI to levels above the protective threshold level of 11 .mu.M or 80 mg/dl.
Previously alpha-1-PI has been purified by various techniques. One such process combined chromatography on an anion-exchange chromatography medium followed by PEG precipitation. Other purification procedures have used PEG precipitation followed by anion-exchange chromatography, or multiple PEG precipitation steps followed by anion-exchange chromatography. Others have used combinations of PEG precipitation, one or more anion-exchange chromatography steps and metal chelate chromatography steps. Still other methods have used phase separation techniques to purify alpha-1-PI. Specific activities of 1.26 units/mg have been reported for purified alpha-1-PI.

Process for increasing the yield of a protein which has been subjected to viral inactivation


A cargo net including a body having a network of structural members, a first end and a second end, each end defining a sleeve and/or including an elongated strap engagement base. First and second straps, separately formed from the body, ends, sleeves and/or bases, are disposed through the respective sleeves, and/or over the respective bases at the ends. Where the ends include strap slots on opposite ends of the bases, the straps can be weaved through the slots and over the bases. The straps can be ratchet straps and can be generally slidably mounted through the sleeves and/or over the bases or through the strap slots. The ratchet straps can be tightened, thereby further securing cargo under the cargo net. The body, first end, second end, sleeves and/or bases can be monolithically formed as a single piece structure. A method of using the cargo net also is provided.

The present invention relates to load securing devices, and more particularly to a cargo net suitable for holding or retaining in position miscellaneous cargo during transit.
There are many conveyances that can be used to transport cargo. For example, trucks, trailers, semis, flatbeds and pickup trucks all include some sort of bed upon which cargo can be placed and transported. Typically, local or regional ordinances mandate that the cargo be secured to the conveyance in a safe and consistent manner to prevent the cargo from falling off the conveyance and creating a road hazard or damaging another vehicle on the road.
There also are many cargo securing devices. One popular device is the cargo net. Cargo nets typically are constructed from a network of crisscrossed, wide nylon or fabric webs that are stitched together at intersections. The cargo net can include a perimeter extending around the network of crisscrossed webs.
When the cargo net is applied or draped over an underlying load of items on a transport bed or pallet, the cargo net is typically secured to the same with rope, string and/or cords (for example, bungee cords). Usually the rope or string can be wrapped around portions of the perimeter, and further attached to the bed. In many cases, the rope or string is cinched tightly to pull the cargo net downward along the perimeter where the same is attached. Alternatively, bungee cords can be hooked onto the perimeter web, and further hooked under tension to the bed for securement of the net over the underlying cargo.
While conventional cargo nets secure most loads, they still have some shortcomings. For example, the webs can be constructed from a low friction material, such as nylon. Accordingly, the web slides or moves relative to underlying loaded items. In turn, the items can move around in transport, which might damage them. Further, many cargo nets only have a load holding strength that is as good as the rope, string or cords that secure the net to the bed. If the securement is not firm enough, the items or load under the net can move or shift, which can potentially cause damage. Additionally, conventional cargo nets typically are secured only around their outer perimeter. If the perimeter web fails at a point of attachment to a rope, string or cord, that portion of the net can become loose and the underlying cargo can be subject to dislodgement and/or damage. Moreover, with only the perimeter being pulled or tightened relative to the bed, sometimes the holding strength or tightness of the net inward from the perimeter is reduced.


Emulating devices across selected communication pathways by way of a terminal session. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are methods including establishing a terminal session between a first computer system and a second computer system (the second computer system distinct from the first computer system, and the second computer system having a management processor with a plurality of communication pathways to a main processor of the second computer system), configuring the management processor to send data regarding emulation of a first mass storage device across a first selected pathway of the plurality of communication pathways to the main processor (the configuring by way of the terminal session), and emulating (by the management processor) the first mass storage device across the first selected pathway.

Server computer systems in rack mounted configurations (e.g., blade servers) in many cases do not implement a directly coupled keyboard, mouse or mass storage device (e.g., an optical drive (CD, DVD)). In order to perform administration duties with the respect to a server computer system, the information technologist establishes a remote terminal session. Many remote administration duties work well by way of a remote terminal session; however, other remote administration duties, such as loading large programs or operating systems, suffer based on limited bandwidth between the device of the server computer system that implements the terminal session and the main processor and/or other components of the server computer system.

Method and system of emulating devices across selected communication pathways through a terminal session

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A transmission having a variator drive capable of being placed in a continuously variable operating mode or an infinitely variable operating mode, capable of having a wide ratio range, and capable of transmitting large amounts of power. Variable transmissions comprising three clutches, three grounding clutches or brakes, and a variator comprising a plurality of tilting variators balls disposed between a first drive ring and a second drive ring allow a single variator to function as an infinitely variable transmission when power is inputted to the carrier assembly and as a continuously variable transmission when power is inputted through a first ring assembly. Certain embodiments include a differential that allows a parallel power path around the variator to improve the variator torque capacity and a direct drive mode to improve the efficiency of the variator.

A vehicle having a driveline including a continuously variable transmission allows an operator of the vehicle or a control system of the vehicle to vary a drive ratio in a stepless manner, permitting a power source of the vehicle to operate at its most efficient rotational speed. Further, the continuously variable transmission may be configured to be an infinitely variable transmission, wherein the vehicle can be steplessly shifted from a forward mode to a neutral mode or even to a reverse mode. Continuously variable transmissions known in the art tend to have limited ratio ranges and are typically limited to transmitting smaller amounts of power.

Transmission having a continuously or infinitely variable variator drive


A machine for crushing oil filters and collecting the oil therefrom. The machine has a piston and cylinder assembly for moving a crushing member into a crushing chamber to crush an oil filter. A control valve controls the supply of hydraulic fluid to the piston and cylinder assembly. Air under pressure is also supplied to the piston and cylinder assembly to move the crushing member back to its initial position. A lock is mounted on the actuator of the control valve for holding a door providing access to the crushing chamber in the closed position. When the actuator is moved to a position to allow fluid to flow to the cylinder the door is locked in the closed position. A second lock structure maintains the door in the closed position during the time that the crushing member is performing the crushing operation. The crushing member must be moved to its initial position to release the second lock structure before the door can be opened.

Internal combustion engines for automobiles and trucks have replaceable oil filters comprising a metal casing enclosing filter material. Periodically the oil filters are exchanged for new oil filters. The used oil filters are disposed of in land fills and incinerators. The oil filters when removed from the internal combustion engines retain a quantity of oil. This oil is disposed of along with the filters. In land fill disposal of oil filters the oil can contaminate the soil and ground water.
An oil can crusher which flatten oil cans and discharge the flattened oil cans into a barrel is disclosed by J. C. Jennings in U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,995. This crusher uses an air cylinder to move a piston toward a fixed wall to crush an oil can. The crushed oil can along with any oil therein is deposited in an oil drum. S. E. Keagel in U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,607 discloses an automatic article crusher for breaking a bottle or can with a hydraulic cylinder operable to move a platen to crush the article. A spool control valve controls the flow of hydraulic fluid to the cylinder. The control valve is equiped with a hydraulic fluid pressure responsive release valve that automatically returns the control valve to its initial position after a predetermined hydraulic fluid pressure is reached. The entire crushing apparatus is located within a housing which precludes access to the crushing apparatus. This article crushing apparatus is not suitable for crushing oil filters and does not have any provision to collect oil from the oil filters.


A hydraulic oil control valve is coaxially disposed with a rotational axis of a valve timing adjustment device. The hydraulic oil control valve includes a sleeve and a spool that is slidably moved in an axial direction within the sleeve in a radial direction. The sleeve includes an inner sleeve disposed radially outside of the spool and an outer sleeve defining an axial hole extending in the axial direction. The inner sleeve is inserted into the axial hole. The outer sleeve is fixed to an end portion of one shaft when an axial force is applied to the outer sleeve in the axial direction. An inner sleeve end portion of the inner sleeve in the axial direction away from the actuator protrudes from the outer sleeve away from the actuator in the axial direction.

A hydraulic valve timing adjustment device that is capable of adjusting a valve timing of an intake valve or an exhaust valve of an internal combustion engine has been known. In the hydraulic valve timing adjustment device, a supply of a hydraulic oil into hydraulic chambers defined by a vane rotor in a housing and a discharge of the hydraulic oil from the hydraulic chambers may be achieved by a hydraulic oil control valve disposed in a center portion of the vane rotor. The hydraulic oil control valve has a double-structure tubular sleeve including an outer sleeve and an inner sleeve. The outer sleeve is fastened to an end portion of a camshaft and a spool is moved inside the inner sleeve, so that an oil channel is switched.

Hydraulic oil control valve and valve timing adjustment device


A new and distinct Sutera plant named ‘Blisch’ characterized by its large white-colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage and a spreading and trailing growth habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Sutera plant botanically known as Sutera cordata and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Blisch'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program during the summer of 2000 at Billerbeck, Germany. The progeny of this breeding were evaluated in the summer of 2001 and one plant among that progeny was selected and eventually named 'Blisch'. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Sutera cultivars with a trailing habit and large flowers.
The identity of the female (seed) parent of the new cultivar used in the above-described breeding program by the inventor is not known. The identity of the male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar used in the above-described breeding program by the inventor is not known.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings taken since 2001 in West Chicago, Ill., has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


The present disclosure uses data analytics for consumer focused autonomous data delivery in a 5G (fifth generation cellular network technology) telecommunications network. Data usage information is received at a control system, and the data usage information includes information about data downloaded by users at a venue. The data usage information includes content information about the data downloaded, the data being downloaded using a 5G telecommunications network. The data usage information is analyzed to determine content delivery using a service orchestration layer of a 5G telecommunications network in concert with smart channel monitoring tools of compatible platforms. A predictive analysis is generated using the analysis of the data usage information. A data action is initiated pertaining to the content for downloading the content, based on the predictive analysis, before demand for the downloading of the content, to provide faster service to end users at the venue.

The present disclosure relates to consumer focused autonomous media delivery, using data analytics, for telecommunications networks, and more particularly, the present disclosure relates to delivering the media in 5G (fifth generation cellular network technology) telecommunications networks.
5G (fifth generation cellular network technology) refers to a system using "5G NR" (5G New Radio) software as "5G". 5G can be defined as telecommunications networks that meet the requirements of the ITU IMT-2020 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (IMT-2020 Standard)). The requirements are issued by the (International Telecommunication Union) ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 5G networks, devices and services.
Typical delivery systems do not consider a downloadable media type, demand situations and times, when delivering downloadable data. This can result in poor download speeds and connectivity issues. For example, media may not stream effectively or be interrupted resulting from poor connectivity and resulting in a poor viewing experience.

Using data analytics for consumer-focused autonomous data delivery in telecommunications networks

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for accessing a telephone number in a mobile communication terminal, which assigns a series of numbers to detailed items of a storing address corresponding to a hot key inputted by a user of a mobile terminal provides accesses to a telephone number in a detailed item using the hot key. A call to the telephone number in the detailed item can be made using the hot key by inputting a key representing the detailed item with an identification key and a call can be made to the corresponding number, or the detailed item can be displayed on a display unit, whereby the user can make a call conveniently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for accessing a telephone number in a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a method for accessing a telephone number in a mobile terminal using a hot key inputted by a user of the mobile terminal.
2. Background of the Related Art
A user of a mobile communication terminal generally assigns a telephone number storing area (memory location) in a memory of a mobile terminal. The user can store respective telephone numbers and related information in the various memory locations. When the user wants to call the telephone number stored in the memory locations, the user can attempt to connect the call using a hot key corresponding to the memory locations in which the telephone number is stored. If the user does not remember the hot key for the memory locations of the corresponding telephone number, the user can search a telephone number searching menu for the telephone number corresponding to the data stored in the telephone number storing area. The search can be done using any of the storing address, the telephone number, and the associated name that were inputted when the telephone number was stored. The user can then try to call connect to the searched telephone number.
In the above described related art telephone number accessing method, the user optionally stores a home number, an office number, and a cellular phone number related to a particular person in respective memory locations. It can therefore be inconvenient to manage telephone numbers for the same person. In addition, it may be difficult to remember all corresponding storing addresses. The function of accessing the telephone number using the storing address is thus lowered.
In order to solve the above problem, when a certain storing address is set, each of the telephone numbers for the particular person are stored in detailed items under a single memory locations. One of the detailed items is set as a representative or default telephone number. For example, in order to connect the storing address comprising detailed items such as house, office, and cell phone to the hot key, one of the telephone numbers stored in the detailed items is set as a representative number associated with the hot key.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a related art method for accessing a telephone number in the mobile terminal. As shown therein, the mobile terminal determines whether or not the user inputs a key and recognizes key data generated when the user selects or depresses a key in an idle mode (S11). Next, if a key has been depressed, it is determined whether or not the inputted key is a hot key (S12). If no key input has been detected, however, the process returns to step S11 to determine whether or not the user inputs the key. The mobile terminal discerns that the depressed key is the hot key when the depressed key generates a signal after being pushed for a prescribed period of time. Alternatively, the mobile terminal determines the key pushing to be a general telephone number when the key is not pushed more than a reference time.
When the key inputted by the user is the hot key, the mobile terminal determines whether there is a memory location corresponding to the inputted key (S13). If there is no corresponding memory locations the mobile terminal displays an error message on a display unit (S14) and returns to step S11. However, if there is the storing address corresponding to the inputted key, a call connection to the telephone number which is set as the representative number among the detailed items in the storing address is attempted (S15). When the call is connected (S16), the mobile terminal returns to the process of recognizing the key input of the user after the call is completed.
If the inputted key is not the hot key, the mobile terminal defines the inputted key as a general telephone number and attempts to call that telephone number (S17). If the inputted key comprises an appropriate telephone number structure, the call is made.
As shown in FIG. 2, the user who stores the telephone number as group unit inputs the storing number 032 corresponding to Kil-dong, Hong through a key input unit of the mobile terminal in order to make a call to a cell phone of Kil-dong, Hong.
When the inputted key 032 is determined to be the hot key, the mobile terminal searches the memory locations corresponding to 032. Additionally, the mobile phone displays the cell phone number 019-789-1234, which is the representative number of Kil-dong, Hong, on the display unit of the mobile terminal and attempts to call the cell phone number.
The related art method of accessing a telephone number in the mobile phone using the hot key has various problems. For example, the call is only connected to the representative number of the corresponding memory locations. Therefore, if the user wants to make a call to a telephone number other that the representative number, the user is not able to use the hot key. Instead, the user is required to search for the telephone number using the searching function in the user menu or must manually input the telephone number to call that telephone number.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.

Method for accessing telephone number in mobile communication terminal


The invention relates to acid addition salts of piperazine derivatives, as well as solid forms, such as polymorphic forms, thereof, which are useful as pharmaceutical ingredients and, in particular, as glycosidase inhibitors.

Piperazine derivatives of formula I

wherein X, n and Q are as defined further below, are as pharmaceutical ingredients and show high activity as glycosidase inhibitors. For example, PCT/EP2015/069598 describes e.g. N-(5-{4-[(1 S)-1-(2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-6-yl)ethyl]piperazin-1-yl}-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)acetamide and N-(2-{4-[(1S)-1-(2H-1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)ethyl]piperazin-1-yl}pyrimidin-5-yl)acetamide as active glycosidase inhibitors having high inhibitory activities.
Although the compounds of formula I have very useful pharmaceutical activities as free piperazine bases, they are not ideal for pharmaceutical manufacturing and as such may not be suitable for certain dosage forms, especially oral dosage forms, due to their unfavorable dissolution behaviour and stability or reactivity and other properties in the solid state.
Thus, there is a need to provide improved solid forms comprising the compounds of formula I, which exhibit improved properties, can be easily manufactured into solid dosage forms or other pharmaceutical dosage forms, and show an improved dissolution behaviour and stability and/or are less reactive in the solid state.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Acid addition salts of piperazine derivatives


A system for evaluating barcoded mail which includes an imaging device to provide an image signal corresponding to an image of a barcode or an address of a mail piece. The system also includes an output device for providing evaluation results and a processor receiving the image signal from the imaging device. The processor generates an address information signal corresponding to the barcode and an address block image signal corresponding to the address. The processor provides an output signal to the output device in accordance with the address information signal and the address block image signal. The output device responds to the output signal to provide an address information image corresponding to the address information signal and an address block image corresponding to the address block image signal for visual comparison. The system also evaluates an image of a mail piece barcode to detect and categorize barcode defects for reporting with a visual facsimile of the barcode.

The present invention relates to evaluating barcodes, and more particularly relates to the detection and reporting of a defective barcode on a mail piece.
Throughout the history of the mail delivery, there has been a gradual evolution whereby the post office encourages mailers to prepare their mail in such a way as to reduce the effort required on the part of the post office for processing such mail. As an inducement to the mailer to prepare the mail in such a way so as to bring about faster mail delivery, the post office offers a postage discount to mailers for such items as presorted mail and printing of ZIP codes.
Recently, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has adopted new ZIP codes which contain more detailed destination information than the original five-digit ZIP code. One new form of ZIP code ("ZIP+4") contains an additional four digit extension which generally identifies an address within a side of residential block. A further enhanced ZIP code system utilizes 11-digit ZIP codes to specify a point of delivery.
Discounts are also given when the mail is marked with a barcode corresponding to the ZIP code. Barcoding enables mail sorting machines to more rapidly sort and route mail from a mailer to a receiver. The Postal Numeric Encoding Technique (POSTNET) was developed by the USPS to provide an optimized barcode system for encoding ZIP code information on mail.
One problem that arises in determining whether a mailer is deserving of a discount is the objective evaluation of barcode quality. One focus of this evaluation should be readability of the mail piece barcode. When a barcode cannot be effectively read or scanned by automation equipment, laborious manual handling of the mail piece typically results. Another troublesome barcoding defect is a barcode that does not correspond to the designated address. Such inaccurately barcoded mail pieces may be misdelivered and frequently result in additional manual handling. In addition to a more objective identification of barcode defects, a concise method of visually reporting and summarizing defects is needed to determine an effective corrective action. Also, such reporting is needed to support the refusal to award a discount to a mailer because of poor barcode quality.
Thus, there is a need for an evaluation system to efficiently detect mail piece barcode defects, including barcode readability and accuracy determinations, with a minimum of laborious operator activity. Preferably, this system should be capable of classifying and reporting a summary of classified defects to facilitate corrective action. Also, it would be preferred for this system to reduce the need for subjective identification and categorization of barcode defects by an operator.

System for evaluating bar code quality on mail pieces


A high intensity discharge (HID) lamp includes a resistive fuse for overcurrent protection of its associated ballast, which fuse is connected electrically in series with the discharge vessel of the lamp and continuously dissipates power during lamp operation. The resistive fuse is heated by passage of the operating current through the discharge vessel during lamp operation to a temperature substantially controlled by the operating current. In response to an increase in the operating current to a predetermined overcurrent, the resistive fuse reaches a temperature such that it breaks and disconnects the discharge vessel from its source of electric potential within a predetermined time period. The fuse passes short-term high starting currents and does not disconnect the discharge vessel during each lamp start-up at least until the operating current reaches the predetermined over-current during lamp life.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to high pressure gas discharge lamps, and more specifically, to a fuse for such lamps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
High intensity discharge (HID) lamps include a discharge vessel typically arranged within an outer envelope. The discharge vessel includes a discharge sustaining filling, a pair of discharge electrodes between which a gas discharge takes place during lamp operation, and conductive lead-throughs extending from each electrode through a wall of the discharge vessel to the exterior in a gas-tight manner. For high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps the discharge vessel is typically of a ceramic material such as a polycrystalline alumina whereas for mercury vapor and metal halide lamps the discharge vessel is typically of fused silica (quartz glass).
All HID lamps are operated on a current limiting ballast because of the negative resistance characteristics of the gas discharge in the discharge vessel. In certain combinations of HID lamps and ballasts, a condition may occur in which the operating voltage of the discharge vessel, as measured across its lead-throughs, is reduced and the current through the ballast and lamp is increased. Such a condition may occur, for example, in unsaturated HPS lamps due to sodium loss or in any HPS lamp which develops an arc tube leak.
A well known problem in HPS lamps is the progressive loss of sodium over rated lamp life (approximately 24,000 hours) due to reaction and/or absorption of sodium with the ceramic discharge vessel, the sealing frit sealing the end of discharge vessel, and the emitter material on the electrode.
As compared to saturated HPS lamps, unsaturated lamps have a very small quantity of sodium and mercury selected such that the sodium and mercury are completely vaporized during lamp operation. Any loss of sodium reduces the lamp voltage. Despite great emphasis to eliminate this so-called "sodium clean-up", unsaturated HPS lamps are still subject to the progressive loss of sodium, which causes a gradual decrease in the operating voltage ("voltage slump") of the discharge vessel over rated lamp life.
For a typical unsaturated HPS lamp having an initial operating voltage of about 130 volts, the voltage slump over life is on the order of 25-30 volts. When used with most ballasts, the electric current through the discharge vessel increases as its operating voltage decreases. When the operating voltage slumps enough, there is danger of damage to the ballast, for example over a period of several hundreds of hours, because of the increased current ("over-current") through the lamp and ballast.
It would be desirable to provide a fuse within the lamp outer envelope to disconnect the discharge vessel from the ballast at some predetermined over-current. However, no commercially available HID lamps are provided with such protection. Ballast damage can occur when the over-current has increased to only between about 15 and 30 percent above the nominal lamp current. Typical fuses, such as those which employ a metallic foil that melts apart under excess current, cannot function to reliably disconnect the arc tube with such an over-current. Additionally, HID lamps typically have a current at lamp ignition which is 2 to 3 times the rated lamp current. The current decreases to the normal operating value only after a warm-up period of several minutes. This condition exists because of the time taken for the arc tube voltage to build up. Any fuse in series with the arc tube would need to discriminate between the high current condition during ignition and warm-up (hereinafter referred to as "start-up") and the prolonged high current during lamp operation due to the lamp voltage slump.
The high ambient temperature of about 250.degree. C. due to heat from the discharge vessel and the possibility of a vacuum environment within the outer bulb are other factors to consider for a fuse that is to be placed within the lamp. Commercially available fuses are generally rated for ambient temperature, their fusing capabilities being substantially reduced for higher temperatures. Commercially available fuses for operation at 250.degree. C. do not appear to be available. Furthermore, the typical design requirement for a fuse that it has near zero resistance during normal operation makes it very difficult to design a fuse for this lamp application.
Mounting of the fuse element is also an important consideration, both from the manufacturing and cost point of view, and also because of the effect other lamp components may have on the operation of the fuse. In addition to the discharge vessel and a support frame which supports the discharge vessel, many HID lamps already contain multiple elements within the outer envelope such as, for example, the components of a starting circuit.
In metal halide lamps and mercury vapor lamps, the starting circuit typically includes an auxiliary electrode in the discharge vessel adjacent one of the discharge electrodes, which auxiliary electrode is connected with the opposite discharge electrode through a current limiting resistor. Often a bimetal switch is in series with the current limiting resistor to remove the resistor and the auxiliary electrode after starting and stabilization of the discharge arc. A common starting circuit for HPS lamps includes a glow starter switch in series with a current limiting resistor and a bimetal, all of which are in parallel circuit with the arc tube. Resistors used in this type of HPS starting circuit typically have a resistance of over a hundred ohms and dissipate high power, on the order of several hundred watts. They are electrically disconnected from the arc tube circuit by the glow switch shortly after ignition of the discharge arc, typically within approximately 20 seconds after initial application of an electric potential to the lamp. Thus, heat from the starting resistors in addition to that from the discharge vessel must also be considered when selecting and mounting a fuse in these lamps.
Thick film resistors are suitable for starting circuits because they reliably dissipate the required several hundred watts for the period just prior to lamp starting (.congruent.20 sec) while having a long life. These are known, for example, from U.S. application Ser. No. 07/378,879 filed Jul. 12, 1989 shows a thick film resistor in a starting circuit for high pressure sodium discharge lamps. J.P. Kokai 56-73856 discloses a thick film resistor as a starting resistor for metal halide lamps and high pressure sodium discharge lamps.
Additional resistors may be electrically connected to the discharge vessel during lamp operation to improve lamp performance. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,288 (Michael et al) discloses a metal halide lamp for connection to a constant wattage (CWA) ballast of the type having a transformer with a secondary winding in series with a capacitor. The lamp has an internal voltage-doubler starting circuit with two resistors in series with a bimetal switch. The bimetal switch disconnects the starting circuit and auxiliary electrode after starting of the lamp. The lamp also has a third power resistor in series with the discharge vessel which reduces the phase shift between the lamp voltage and the ballast open circuit voltage during lamp warm-up. The resistor increases the maximum sustaining voltage to the lamp when the lamp current is zero, thereby preventing flicker and extinguishment of the arc.
Japanese Kokai 1-211896 shows an unsaturated HPS lamp suitable for operation on a CWA ballast. The lamp has a resistor in series with the discharge vessel to reduce the reignition voltage of the discharge voltage to prevent flicker of the arc, which otherwise occurs under certain operating conditions of the ballast and lamp. Because the resistor is in series with the discharge vessel, it operates continuously during lamp operation after ignition of the discharge arc and dissipates considerable power, approximately 15 watts for a 150 watt lamp.

High pressure discharge lamp having overcurrent fuse protection


An embodiment of a system for providing Internet access free of charge to a user utilizes an Internet service provider for connecting a user to the Internet, a zone creation means, and a zone organizer. Free zones of servers are created, wherein the free zones are groups of at least one server to which at least one user can connect. The zone organizer can be in communication with the ISP. The zone organizer can be a traffic monitor, a traffic controller, an authentication protocol, a bookkeeping protocol, a fee collection and dispersal module, and/or an indexing and listing function.

Hotspot Wi-Fi Internet service has been touted for years, but so far revenue remains modest, partially because users and their employers hesitate to pay for just occasional needs at a limited number of hotspots. However, most users agree they need Internet service while they are on the road for a variety of reasons. The embodiments herein solve this problem by enabling some special servers to pay for the Wi-Fi access, so the access is free to users. Examples of such servers include real-time information servers such as Web servers offering airline schedules, travel-related Web servers such as those for travel reservation, direction, and local information, and business servers such as VoIP gateways, VPN gateways, and email servers. The embodiments can also be applied to other types of public Internet services.


A method for making a NMOS self-aligned contact in CMOS circuits without an extra mask is described. The maskless contact technique makes use of the fact that the blanket N-type implant, self-aligned to exposed field-oxide edge, will not change the P+ diffusion to N-type. The net P+ concentration in the contact region is reduced slightly but does not degrade the PMOS device performance.

This invention relates to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to self-aligned contacts in complementary-field-effect-type (CMOS) circuits such as memory circuits and to a method for making those self-aligned contacts.
Integrated memory circuits comprise at least two parts, the memory cell array and the peripheral circuitry. In integrated CMOS memory circuits, the array of memory cells is generally constructed using NMOS field-effect transistors because of the speed advantage over PMOS field-effect transistors, which are included in the peripheral circuitry. The diffusion contact for each memory cell accounts for a significant percentage of the cell area both because of the required contact size and because of the required diffusion-overlap for the contact. One method to reduce the cell area is to use a diffusion contact that is self-aligned to the field-oxide edge.
Because of the presence of PMOS contacts in the peripheral circuitry, an extra contact mask has heretofore been needed to form a diffusion contact that is self-aligned to the field-oxide edge. Adding the extra mask has two disadvantages. One of those disadvantages is an increase in wafer process cost. The other disadvantage is that the extra mask exposes already-formed contacts to the resist process, making it more difficult to produce clean contacts than when using a standard single-mask contact process.

Self-aligned contact process for complementary field-effect integrated circuits


A method of forming a metal line in a semiconductor device includes: forming a lower insulation layer for insulation from the lower substrate; forming a first metal line at a certain region on the lower insulation layer; sequentially forming a first oxide layer, an FSG (Fluorine-doped Silicate Glass) layer, and a second oxide layer on the lower insulation layer and the first metal line; removing the first oxide layer, the FSG layer, and the second oxide layer so as to expose the first metal line; forming an upper insulation layer on the lower insulation layer and the first metal line; forming a contact hole by etching the upper insulation layer to a degree that the first metal line is exposed; and forming a second metal line by depositing a metal material in the contact hole.

(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device with a metal line and a method of forming the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of forming a metal line in a semiconductor device having the advantages of preventing the penetration of fluorine (F) in an FSG (fluorine-doped silicate glass) layer into a metal line.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As semiconductor devices have become more highly integrated, both a cell size and a pitch of a metal line have been reduced. Such a reduction of a pitch of a metal line may increase the wire resistance and capacitance created between adjacent metal lines. This may result in a lowering of the operation speed of a semiconductor device. Since metal lines having a multi-layer structure are required for solving the above-mentioned problems, a planarization process for an interlayer insulation layer insulating between a lower metal line pattern and an upper metal line pattern is necessarily performed in a multi-layer wiring process.
In addition, as semiconductor devices have become more highly integrated, a space between metal lines has become more narrow. Such a reduction of space between metal lines may induce a parasitic capacitance between adjacent metal lines, and such a parasitic capacitance causes a delay in a time constant (RC) and an increase of power consumption. Therefore, an interlayer insulation layer material having a low-k (low dielectric constant) is required for solving such problems caused by parasitic capacitance. Accordingly, an interlayer insulation layer material may be composed of FSG (fluorine-doped silicate glass) having a dielectric constant of 3 to 3.5 rather than BPSG (boro-phospho-silicate glass), PSG (Phospho silicate glass), and BSG (borosilicate glass), which have a dielectric constant of 4 or more. Generally, an FSG layer is deposited by a HDP CVD (High Density Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition) method which demonstrates an excellent ability for a gap-fill process, because both deposit and etching are simultaneously performed.
FIG. 1A to FIG. 1D are cross-sectional views showing sequential stages of a conventional method of forming a metal line in a semiconductor device.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a first metal line 120 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 110, and then a protection oxide layer 130 is thinly deposited on the first metal line 120.
In addition, an FSG layer 140 is deposited on the protection oxide layer 130 by using a HDP CVD method.
Subsequently, an upper insulation layer 150 is formed on the FSG layer 140, and a surface of the upper insulation layer 150 is planarized by a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 1B, photolithography and etching processes are performed by using a contact mask 160.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1C, a contact hole 151 is formed by etching the upper insulation layer 150 and the FSG layer 140.
As shown in FIG. 1D, a second metal line 170 is formed by depositing a metal material in the contact hole 151.
However, as shown in FIG. 1D, a lateral side of the contact hole 151 contacts the FSG layer 140 in region A. Therefore, fluorine (F) in the FSG layer 140 penetrates into the metal line 170. Consequently, since the metal within the metal line 170 may be contaminated by fluorine (F), the contact resistance may be increased, resulting in a deterioration of the an operation speed of a semiconductor device.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for illustrative purposes only, and does not constitute prior art.

Semiconductor device with a metal line and method of forming the same


A memory device for multiplexing an input/output operation prevents mis-operations by comparing the input addresses with the output data and improves operating speed by activating data corresponding to the input addresses by input address toggle. The memory device for multiplexing an input/output operation comprises an data output buffer, an address buffer, a comparison unit and a row activation control unit. The comparison unit compares an address outputted from the address buffer to the address bus with data inputted through the output data bus to the data output buffer, and outputs the comparison result. The row activation control unit generates a row active signal for activating a row path in response to the comparison result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a memory device for multiplexing an input/output operation, and more specifically, to a memory device for multiplexing an input/output operation which prevents mis-operations by comparing the input addresses with the output data and improves operating speed by toggling input address to activate data corresponding to the input address if a valid address input detection signal is inputted late.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a memory device becomes highly integrated and a chip size also becomes smaller.
For instance, since an input/output pad occupies a large area in the memory device, output data and input signals including input data and input addresses are multiplexed in order to reduce the number of input/output pads.
When the memory device multiplexes input/output operations, a valid address input detection signal is additionally used which becomes the basis of all timing.
As a result, when an address is toggled earlier than the address valid bar signal, an input address is recognized as invalid since a conventional art does not receive the input address before the address valid bar signal is activated.
When the address is toggled earlier than the address valid bar signal, the input address is recognized as valid and output data are also recognized as the input addresses, which results in large power consumption due to unnecessary operations and in mis-operations of the memory device.
In other words, when the memory device performs a asynchronous operation, all timing specification is set when an address is transitioned. As a result, when output data and an input address are not specified, output data are transmitted to an address buffer since the input address and the output data share an external data bus, and the memory device performs unnecessary operation due to the operation of the address buffer caused toggle of the output data, thereby causing unnecessary power consumption.

Memory device for multiplexing input and output operation


A method and apparatus for tuning a process recipe to target specific dopant concentrations in a doped layer. The present invention controls the process tuning based on predetermined and easily updatable trend curves for that process. The present invention simplifies the tuning process, shortens the time required to tune the process recipe, and is independent of any personal experience, thereby reducing reliance on the variable skills and experience level of any individual equipment support engineer. The present invention uses a computer program based on process characterization to replace the traditional manual tuning approach. Further, the present invention iteratively corrects for process drift and makes possible efficient tuning of dopant concentration levels in the deposited doped film. Other embodiments of the present method and apparatus provide for storage of the tuning history so as to allow incorporation of the history in order to account for the dopant flow drift. Accordingly, the process characterization may be eliminated for a different individual deposition system. The present invention minimizes the number of trials needed before attaining a doped film with the desired dopant concentrations. Additionally, training of equipment support engineers to perform process tuning is made simpler.

The present invention relates to the processing of substrates. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for tuning a process recipe to target dopant concentrations in a doped layer formed over a semiconductor substrate. According to a specific embodiment, the present invention may be used to tune a borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) recipe to target dopant concentrations in a deposited BPSG layer. Of course, the present invention may also be applied to the formation of other doped layers.
One of the primary steps in the fabrication of modern semiconductor devices is the formation of a doped layer on a semiconductor substrate. A doped dielectric layer can be deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Conventional thermal CVD processes supply reactive gases to the substrate surface where heat-induced chemical reactions take place to produce a desired film. Plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) processes promote excitation and/or disassociation of the reactant gases by the application of radio frequency (RF) energy to a reaction zone near the substrate surface, thereby creating a plasma to produce the desired film.
Semiconductor integrated circuits currently being manufactured follow ultra high density (e.g., about 0.5 to 0.35 micron) design rules, and circuits manufactured in the near future will follow even smaller design rules. As device sizes become smaller and integration density increases, issues which were not previously considered important by the industry are becoming of increasing concern. For example, consistently and reliably forming doped dielectric films, such as BPSG films, having specific target dopant concentrations is often important for applications requiring certain film properties that may be influenced by the dopant concentration levels.
In order to deposit doped films having specific target dopant concentrations in a consistent manner, the industry has traditionally resorted to the method of manually tuning the process recipe using a trial and error approach. First, initial process gas flow rates are set and a predetermined thickness of the desired doped film is deposited on a wafer. Then, the deposited doped film is tested to determine the dopant concentration levels resulting from deposition using the initial process gas flow rates. If the measured dopant concentration levels are not the desired target dopant concentrations, the equipment support engineer adjusts the process gas flow rates based on her/his personal experience with the performance of this specific system in the previous trial deposition. After the predetermined thickness of the doped film is deposited on a wafer using the adjusted flow rates, the dopant concentration levels are measured again. Depending on the empirical results from prior trial depositions for this specific system, the equipment support engineer may repeatedly engage in this iterative, trial and error approach. This manual tuning procedure is often very rough and may take several hours before resulting in a somewhat more refined tuning.
The manual tuning process is labor intensive, complicated, and often very time consuming, taking at least several hours and often up to an entire day, before resulting in the targeted dopant concentration levels. Also, the total time to tune the process using the trial-and-error approach often depends on the skills and experience of the individual equipment support engineer. Excessive time spent on manually tuning the process translates to an inefficient use of process time for the customer or user of the deposition system. Further, it is often time consuming, inefficient, and difficult to train an equipment support engineer (or other person) to tune a process sufficiently well. Another difficulty is that the results of identical tuning procedures of the same process recipe may vary in different deposition systems depending on the individual deposition chamber in use. Therefore, the manual tuning process must be individualized to the extent possible for the deposition chamber used. In addition, the speed at which the process tuning may be completed depends on how close the initial process flow rates used are to the actual process flow rates required to reach the targeted dopant concentration levels. The initial process flow rates used to try to reach target dopant concentration levels are based on trend curves, which may deviate from the actual system behavior.
From the above, it can be seen that it is desirable to have a method and apparatus for forming doped films with targeted dopant concentrations in a consistent, reliable, and efficient manner without regard to either the individual chamber differences or the individual tuner's skills and experience level.

Method and apparatus for tuning a process recipe to target dopant concentrations in a doped layer