In a flame-retarded foamable styrene-based resin composition comprising a bromine-containing flame retardant, the flame retardant is a mixture of (a) an organic bromine-containing compound having a 2,3-dibromopropyl group or an organic bromine-containing compound having a bromine content of greater than 60 wt% in which all bromine atoms are attached to a benzene ring, and (b) an organic bromine compound having a 2,3-dibromo-2-alkylpropyl group. The composition comprises this mixture in amount from 0.5 to 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the styrene-based resin. The composition exhibits high flame retardant and heat stabilizing effects yet allowing recycling.

Lightweight foamed polystyrene articles have been used in a variety of applications as heat insulation materials for buildings, houses and household electrical appliances and as materials for earth-piling in civil engineering technology.
Polystyrene is consisted of solely carbon and hydrocarbon atoms and very inflammable. Once ignited, polystyrene foams burn rapidly with evolution of black smoke. Consequently, it is imperative in some application fields to impart polystyrene foams with flame retardancy by the addition of flame retardants. Bromine-containing organic compounds are widely used for this purpose. In order to accomplish high flame retardancy with minimum amount of addition, a flame retardant in which all brome atoms are attached to aliphatic carbon atoms such as hexabromocyclo-dodecane (HBCD) is especially effective. However, such a flame retardant exhibits poor heat stability and causes problems such as deterioration and darkening of styrene-based resins, corrosion of processing machines due to generation of hydrogen bromide gas.
Certain flame retardants having high heat stability are known including tetrabromobisphenol A-bis(2,3-dibromopropyl ether). These flame retardants are lower in the flame retardant effect than HBCD and like aliphatic flame retardants and require a larger amount of addition than HBCD and like aliphatic flame retardants to accomplish the same level of flame retardancy. Therefore, the use of large amounts of flame retardants having relatively high heat stability causes problems of decreasing the physical properties of styrene-based resins and increasing the production cost of foamed articles made therefrom.
Polystyrene foams are produced by melting the starting polystyrene together with any desired additives, mixing a blowing agent into the melt and extruding the melt to the atmosphere at a low temperature from an extruding machine. When thermally unstable flame retardants such as HBCD are used to produce flame-retarded polystyrene foam by the above process, deterioration of the polymer such as depolymerization and darkening occurs necessarily. In order to alleviate this problem, it has been proposed in JP 2006316251A to use a heat stabilizing agent together with the flame retardant.
Recently, a demand for recycling of polystyrene foam arises as environmental concern enhances. In the recycled use, polystyrene foams to be recycled are subjected to heating repeatedly and hence require further improved heat stability than required heretofore.
JP 2005139356A proposes to employ tetra-bromobisphenol A-bis(2-methyallyl ether) or tetra-bromobisphenol A-bis(2,3-dibromo-2-methylpropyl ether) when producing polystyrene foams suitable for recycling. However, the polystyrene foams are not satisfactory in the heat stability for recycling.

Flame-retarded foamable styrene-based resin compositions


There are provided a method of and an apparatus for designing a circuit block layout in an integrated circuit wherein minimization of a total wiring length among the circuit blocks and compaction of the circuit blocks are automatically achieved upon automatically laying out the circuit blocks and determining wiring among those circuit blocks, by initially laying out the circuit blocks using a spring model of a mass point system where circuit blocks with no size are coupled through springs, configuring at least partial circuit blocks as circles to re-lay out the circuit blocks such that there is eliminated any overlapping among the circuit blocks, compacting the external shape of an assembly of the circuit blocks by matching the external shape with the frame of a die and altering the shape of each circuit block from the circle to an actual shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for designing a circuit block layout in an integrated circuit, and more specifically to a method and an apparatus that are preferable for designing a floor plan in an SOG (Sea of Gate) and a macro cell layout as well as for designing a circuit block layout in a PLD (Programmable Logic Device) by use of a CAD (Computer Aided Design) apparatus, and further that are capable of designing in a short time the layout of circuit blocks such that they have a minimum total wiring length.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is known an SOG as a large scale integrated circuit (LSI) being capable of laying out and wiring macro cells in an arbitrary region in a chip and having high flexibility on a design. For determination of such laying-out and wiring of each macro cell, it is necessary to lay out macro cells of given sizes and shapes in frames of a die having predetermined size of about four kinds (die size or chip size) for example such that the wiring distance between adjacent macro cells is minimized. In order to reduce the delay time of signal transmission and a wiring area, it is desirable to minimize the wiring distance between adjacent macro cells, and for SOGs having the same function it is desirable to also reduce the die size or chip size to the utmost.
For this purpose, there is known a hierarchical design method in which an integrated circuit is divided into functional areas in the unit of a large macro cell and wired without arranging small transistors in the circuit from the first, and then those small transistors are placed in each functional group and wired.
Also in the hierarchical design method, however, it is necessary to lay out macro cells each having a predetermined size and shape in a chip of a given size so as to minimize the wiring length between adjacent macro cells. This is a kind of problem of cutting small plates out of a large plate and there are infinite number of combinations of layouts. Prior practice to adjust the layout and shape of each macro cell therefore uses a dialogue graphic screen of a development tool for a CAD apparatus to perform the adjustment manually in trial and error, requiring time-consuming work.
For such a development tool, there is known for example an LSI layout designing device according to the hierarchy layout system disclosed for example in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-181348, the device comprising a layout specification memory section, rough layout determining means, a rough layout information memory section, block layout determining means, a block layout information memory section, chip layout determining means, chip layout information memory section, and mask pattern synthesizing means.
Additionally, for designing the layout of a very large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) according to the hierarchy designing system, there is proposed a technique disclosed in for example "Data in the Meeting for the Research of the Design Automation in the society of Information Transaction, 18-3, September 1983", in which a chip floor plan is semiautomatically performed of the layout of a circuit block level, a first stage of the layout. In this technique, an initial layout of a circuit block is performed by an attractive and repulsive force method (AR method) with use of a spring model of a mass point system where the circuit blocks of an infinitesimal size are coupled through springs. In succession block packing processing is applied to the initial layout in which circuit blocks are provided with rectangles to correspond to an actual shape and the circuit blocks are moved manually in trial and error to eliminate any overlapping between adjacent circuit blocks, and the circuit blocks separated from each other are brought into close contact. In the latter half of the processing, aspect ratios of variable-shape circuit blocks are also altered manually to eliminate any overlapping among the circuit blocks. Additionally, there are calculated regions required for wirings among the circuit blocks on the basis of wiring information among the circuit blocks and of positional information of those circuit blocks.
Alternatively, there is proposed a circuit block layout technique in the Journal of the Society of Electronic Information Communication 89/I, Vol. J 72-A, No. 1, in which there is adopted a force directed method in which there are exerted on the circuit blocks attractive force corresponding to the number of wirings and repulsive force corresponding to the area of overlapping. In the circuit block layout technique, the circuit blocks 1 through 17 are rendered to the initial layout in a frame of a die 20 only with the aid of the attractive force by the wirings so as to minimize the square-sum of wiring lengths, as illustrated in FIG. 37. In succession, for the initial layout the repulsive force is gradually increased with an initial value 1/100 times the attractive force and the overlapping is gradually removed by repeated calculation such that the ratio of an overlapping area to the total area of the circuit blocks is 8.2% or less. Hereby, a relative positional relation among the circuit blocks 1 to 17 is substantially defined, as illustrated in FIG. 38. Further, orientations of the circuit blocks are examined in succession from those located distantly from the center of the layout region 20, as illustrated in FIG. 39. Finally, balanced positions of the circuit blocks are defined and the orientations of the circuit blocks are rechecked to determine the layout of the blocks, as illustrated in FIG. 40.
Herein, in the foregoing technique, slight overlapping is left behind corresponding to a fraction to balance the attractive force by the wirings. There is therefore proposed a modified technique to establish a layout without overlapping, as illustrated in FIG. 41, by expanding the circuit blocks by a slight length prior to the layout, gradually eliminating any overlapping existent among the circuit blocks until a maximum overlapping length among the circuit blocks is less than the amount of the expansion, and further returning those circuit blocks to original sizes.
In the aforementioned techniques, however, all circuit blocks are processed as rectangles and hence are not easy in movement thereof. Additionally, in the latter technique, each circuit block is not adjusted in its aspect ratio (vertical to lateral length ratio). Accordingly, there are occasions where a compact layout is not necessarily achieved as a whole provided particularly use is made of variable-shape circuit blocks such as soft macros that are variable in their aspect ratios. Further, in the aforementioned techniques circuit block positions are moved in the die frame 20 to eliminate any overlapping among the circuit blocks which was produced in the initial layout. Accordingly, the circuit block positions may sometimes be moved in excess during a process of determination of the layout, resulting in difficulties that there might be lost the conditions of the total wiring length and any dead space being both minimum.
Further, there is known a programmable logic device (PLD) for example as an integrated circuit (IC) for which a user is free to program internal wirings thereof for realization of a desired logic operation thereof.
Such a PLD is a writable and rewritable high integrated circuit including a plurality of various logic elements, say, having such a structure, as illustrated in FIG. 42, that there are previously disposed regularly in the form of a lattice programmable logic elements (PLEs) 22 as circuit blocks each with input/output pins 21 and switching stations (SSs) including switching elements (MOSFETs, for example).
In order for a user to realize a desired logic using such a PLD, a specific switching element in a specific SS is switched on to determine proper wiring direction in the SS, and wiring paths are formed among input/output pins of PLEs that are necessary for realization of the desired logic.
For this purpose, a circuit block layout design is necessary on how those PLEs are laid out in the PLD and on how the wiring paths are formed among those PLEs through the SSs.
Now, the total wiring length in the PLD should be made minimum in order to reduce the delay time of signal transmission in the PLD. It is therefore necessary to previously design the layout of the PLEs such that the total wiring length is minimum.
Prior practices to realize such a requirement are known which is capable of automatically designing the layout of the PLEs.
One example is disclosed as a simulated annealing method in Nikkei Electronics, Jul. 28, 1986 (No. 400), P 289 and thereafter.
In the simulated annealing method, a circuit block layout design is achieved such that it is judged by the following equation whether or not pair exchange among circuit blocks should be done, and the pair exchange is continued according to the result of the judgement so as to shorten the total wiring length: EQU exp [-(E.sub.2 -E.sub.1)/T].gtoreq.R (1)
where E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 are estimating functions respectively before and after the exchange, T is a parameter from 0 to .infin., and R is a uniformly generated random number from 0 to 1. If the equation (1) holds, the circuit blocks undergo the pair exchange, and if not so, it does not undergo such exchange.
In the simulated annealing method, however, it is judged for each circuit block on the basis of the foregoing equation whether or not the circuit blocks should undergo the pair exchange, so that there is required long time for a design until a final layout of the circuit blocks is determined. For example, a PLD with 36 circuit blocks, 4.6 hours are required for determining the layout.
Additionally, for the layout design of the PLD which has strongly coupled PLEs, it is preferable in view of the reduction of the wiring length and of the prevention of any time delay to construct macro circuit blocks of various different sizes by directly connecting the PLEs through exclusive lines without mediating the SSs. However, in the aforementioned simulated annealing method, the block layout is optimized through the pair exchange of circuit blocks each with the same or substantially the same size, e.g., rectangular ones each having different lengths only longitudinally or laterally. It is therefore difficult to automatically optimize the layout of circuit blocks of different sizes, e.g., rectangular circuit blocks of different longitudinal and lateral lengths. Furthermore, if the layout of macro circuit blocks of various sizes is performed manually in trial and error observing a dialogic graphics screen of a CAD device to reduce the wiring length, it requires much time for the design, and if the design is performed manually in trial and error, the requirement to minimize the wiring length might be lost.

Method of and apparatus for designing circuit block layout in integrated circuit


A meadow fescue variety known as breeder's code AM 107 and seed used to produce the grass are provided. Methods of using the grass plant and the seed are also provided. This grass is suitable for use in turf (lawns, golf courses, sod, and other areas where excellent turf quality is desired) and for overseeing Bermudagrass. This grass has superior cold tolerance and has a rapid transition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cultivated varieties of true breeding, stable, meadow fescue, for use as a short lived, improved turfgrass on golf courses, athletic fields and other areas using seeded turfgrasses.
2. Background of the Art
Meadow fescue is not widely used as a turfgrass. It has been used in limited amounts in colder regions since it has good cold tolerance. It has been used mostly as a forage grass but has not been considered a desirable turfgrass. A few turfgrass species have been developed for permanent turf use but no cultivators have been developed for overseeing of dormant warm-season grasses.
A stable turfgrass variety of meadow fescue would be desirable for several applications. It would provide a permanent turf in areas where tall fescue and perennial rye grass lack the cold tolerance to persist. It would also be a desirable grass for use in overseeing of dormant warm season grasses since its lack of heat tolerance allows for a smooth transition for the warm-season grass. The meadow fescue will provide a green cover during the winter months but will die out when the temperatures increase which allow the warm-season grass to grow.
For many southern golf courses planted with Bermuda grass, a standard practice is to oversexed every fall with perennial rye grass. Perennial rye grass provides an outstanding turf cover during the cool winter months. However, perennial rye grass is very persistent and does not easily die out and give way for the re-emerging Bermuda grass in the spring when warm weather returns.
What turf managers could utilize is a cultivator that establishes quickly, has an attractive color which blends well with Bermuda grass, has superior cold tolerance over perennial rye grass and has a rapid transition. Currently there are two major grasses used in overseeing, annual and perennial rye grass. These species lack sufficient cold tolerance and often suffer winter injury.


A method of using a chemical composition as a cleanser, sanitizer, disinfectant, sporicide, fungicide and sterilizer by applying an effective amount of the composition to objects and surfaces requiring the application of a cleanser, sanitizer, disinfectant, sporicide, fungicide or sterilizer, the composition including from about 10% to about 90% by weight of an alkaline water-soluble salt having hydrogen peroxide of crystallization and from about a fraction of a percent to about 30% by weight of a positively charged phase-transfer agent selected from the group consisting of a phosphonium salt, a sulfonium salt, and a quaternary ammonium salt, said composition forming both a water and lipid soluble phase-transfer ion-pair.

Most conventional sterilizers are ineffective, dangerous to handle and/or difficult to use.
At present, the available chemical sterilizers include ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and peracids.
Ethylene oxide sterilizer is a toxic gas and requires that protective equipment and devices be used. Formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde are toxic liquids and require extreme care, prolonged exposure, (3 hours or longer) and before use, surfaces must be meticulously cleaned. Additionally, the liquid sterilizers suffer from one or more deficiencies, such as skin irritation, offensive or irritating odor and inhalation toxicity; deleterious effect on fabrics and painted surfaces and waste disposal systems (or environmental toxicity); lack of stability; and low level of efficacy. Peracids are highly toxic, corrosive and unstable.
The methods of the present invention are highly effective and include using a composition that is capable of inactivating (killing) micro-organisms including bacterial and fungal spores at room temperature such that the initial count is reduced to zero in EPA-specified tests (AOAC Manual for Sporicidal Testing, Chapter 14) involving Bacillus subtilis and Clostridium sporogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphyloccus aureus.
In use, the composition of the present invention is employed as a cleaner, sanitizer, disinfectant, and chemical sterilizer. The numerous advantages of this invention with respect to its methods of use and applications are summarized below.

Methods of using a cleaner, sanitizer, disinfectant, fungicide, sporicide, chemical sterilizer


An electrical component includes a body made from a stack of ceramic layers. The body has a cavity that is accessible external to the body. The cavity is defined by a wall. A contact surface is on the wall. A contact device is electrically connected to the contact surface. At least part of the contact device is external to the body. The contact device includes a connection part and a spring. The spring is between the body and the connection part. The spring is for exerting a spring force on the contact surface.

A piezoelectric actuator includes a base body that contains a stack of piezoelectric layers and electrode layers among the piezoelectric layers. The piezoelectric layers contain ceramic material and are sintered with the electrode layers. Such a piezoelectric actuator is described in WO03/094252A2. Perpendicular to the electrode layers is a hole running through the base body, into which a rod is inserted.
An electrical component is known from JP03151677A, which describes internal electrodes of a piezoelectric actuator contacted by an elastic element. The elastic element can follow the movement of the piezoelectric actuator during operation.

Electrical component and method for the production thereof


In an arrangement of an insert holder and a cutting insert, the insert (3) is received in a recess (2) in the insert holder and secured therein by clamping action between portions of the insert holder which define the recess. The recess for the insert (3) is defined in one direction by a substantially unyieldable portion formed with a straight guiding portion (4,5) coacting with a straight edge of the insert, and in the other direction by a nose-shaped resilient portion (8) formed with a shallow projection extending towards the straight guiding portion and having a defined top (12) of small extent in the direction of the recess. The cutting insert (3) comprises a shank (14) whose one side is formed with a guide ridge (15) adapted to seat on the guiding portion (4,5) of the recess (2) and whose opposite side comprises an inclined or bevelled portion (16) adjacent the free end of the shank (14). The bevelled portion (16) passing into a substantially straight surface portion (17) which serves as a sliding and abutment surface for the top (12) of the projection and which, in the direction away from the inclined or bevelled portion (16), converges slightly towards the insert side having the guide ridge (15). The free end (10) of the nose-shaped portion (8) is adapted to serve as an end stop for the cutting insert and to engage with a substantially transverse surface (19) on the head of the cutting insert.

The present invention relates generally to an insert holder 1 and more particularly to an insert holder for a cutting insert in a turning tool.
In most prior art insert holders, use is made of mechanical clamping means, such as screws or bodies attachable by screws, which hold the cutting insert in engagement with a seat in the insert holder. For insert holders primarily intended for applications where the available working space is small, e.g. for severing and plunge cutting operations, insert holders have previously been suggested, where the cutting insert is clamped by spring action in a seat facing the workpiece. Such an insert holder is formed with a thicker portion below the seat and a somewhat thinner yieldable portion above the seat. To stabilize the cutting insert in lateral direction, its edges, engaging with the sides of the seat, are formed with V-shaped grooves matching V-shaped elevations along the sides of the seat.
In using prior art insert holders, one must rely on the fact that the resilient engaging pressure remains, i.e. that the portion engaging the upper side of the cutting insert is permanently tensioned out of its non-activated position. In this situation there is a considerable risk of fatigue which results in decreasing clamping force and the cutting insert not being unresiliently kept in its seat. Especially when subjected to shock, the cutting insert is liable to be displaced in its seat. Heavy stress can also result in the cutting insert splitting or cracking along its center plane by cooperation between the V-shaped recess on the lower side of the cutting insert and the reversed V shape of the edge of the seat.


A screw comprises an enlarged head; a large diameter screw rod having one end extending from the enlarged head; a small diameter screw rod having one end extending from another end of the large diameter screw rod; another end of the small diameter screw rod being formed as a tip end; a first thread extending from the large diameter screw rod and the small diameter screw rod; and the first thread extending to the tip end of the small diameter screw rod. A diameter of the first thread on the large diameter screw rod is large than that of the first thread on the small diameter screw rod. A pitch of the first thread on the large diameter screw rod is smaller than or equal to that of the first thread on the small diameter screw rod.

Generally, screws are made of different material, such as woods, plastics, metals, compound materials, etc. so as to have the effects of drilling speeds, dregs removing, and retaining.
Many design ways are used in designs of screws, such as single section, double sections, single thread, double threads, single diameter, double diameters, single pitch angle, double pitch angles, etc. All these designs presents different effects in use of screws.


A sensor device for detecting at least one flow property of a fluid medium, including at least one sensor housing, in which at least one electronic module having at least one flow sensor for detecting the flow property is accommodated. At least one pressure sensor and at least one humidity sensor are accommodated inside the sensor housing, at least the pressure sensor and optionally also the humidity sensor is situated inside the sensor housing independently of the electronic module.

Numerous methods and devices for determining flow properties of fluid media, i.e., liquids and/or gases, are understood from the related art. The flow properties may in principle be arbitrary physically and/or chemically measurable properties, which qualify or quantify a flow of the fluid medium. In particular, this may relate to a flow velocity and/or a mass flow rate and/or a volume flow rate.
So-called hot-film air mass meters are discussed, for example, in Robert Bosch GmbH: Sensoren im Kraftfahrzeug (Sensors in Motor Vehicles), 2007 edition, pages 140-142. Such hot-film air mass meters are generally based on a sensor chip, in particular a silicon sensor chip, having a measuring surface over which the flowing fluid medium may flow. The sensor chip typically includes at least one heating element and at least two temperature sensors, which are situated on the measuring surface of the sensor chip, for example. A mass flow rate and/or volume flow rate of the fluid medium may be inferred from an asymmetry of the temperature profile detected by the temperature sensors, which is influenced by the flow of the fluid medium. Hot-film air mass meters are may be plug-in sensors, which are introducible permanently or replaceably into a flow tube. For example, this flow tube may be an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine.
To be able to precisely infer specific flow properties of the fluid medium from the sensor signals of the hot-film air mass meter, it is desirable in many cases to be able to provide further information about the fluid medium. Thus, for example, a sensor for an internal combustion engine is proposed in EP 1 017 931 B1, which has an air mass flow meter having a sensor element for detecting the air mass flow taken in. Adjacent to the air mass flow meter and its sensor element, a humidity sensor and a pressure sensor and an analysis circuit for processing the data output by the air mass meter or its sensor element, the humidity sensor, and the pressure sensor are provided and situated in a single housing.
In spite of the technical improvements which are achievable by the device described in EP 1 017 931 B1, in particular the improved signal accuracy and the possibility of determining further properties of the flowing fluid medium, such combined sensors are subject to various technical challenges. These challenges are of a configuration and production nature in particular. Thus, hot-film air mass meters have already been commercially available for many years and are in use in numerous motor vehicles. The integration of pressure and humidity sensors into hot-film air mass meters/plug-in sensors, as proposed in EP 1 017 931 B1, requires an adaptation of the geometry and the configuration of the plug-in sensor in many cases. Plug-in sensors already in use are therefore not replaceable or are only replaceable with difficulty by new plug-in sensors having pressure and humidity sensors, since in principle the entire module must be replaced. Furthermore, production facilities must be completely converted and reorganized in many cases, as soon as plug-in sensors having additional pressure and humidity measuring capabilities are to be produced.
In particular the combined electronic module with a pressure and humidity sensor, as proposed in EP 1 017 931 B1, requires a substantial adaptation of the production and assembly procedure. In this way, keeping available externally compatible plug-in sensors of different functionalities, i.e., plug-in sensors having pressure and humidity measuring capabilities and plug-in sensors without such pressure and humidity measuring capabilities, is virtually not implementable because of cost concerns. Therefore, a sensor device for detecting a flow property of a fluid medium, which is configured to also generate pressure and temperature signals, and which is producible in a simple and cost-effective way, with the least possible modification of known production methods for plug-in sensors without such pressure and humidity measuring capabilities, would be desirable.

Sensor device for detecting a flow property of a fluid medium


A method for managing short messages in a mobile communications terminal transmits either a previously stored message or a newly received message to an e-mail address when a memory of the terminal is saturated. The method includes allocating the terminal memory to have a basic capacity portion and a reserve capacity portion, determining whether a newly received message can be stored in the basic capacity portion, and storing the newly received message in the reserve capacity portion when the basic capacity portion is saturated. If at least one message stored in the basic capacity portion has an “unread message” status, then that unread message is transmitted to the e-mail address to make room for storage of the newly received message. This method therefore ensures that no previously stored “unread” or “stored” message is overwritten with a new message when the terminal memory is filled to capacity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for receiving a short message in a mobile communication terminal, and in particular to a short message reception method for a mobile communication terminal which is capable of receiving SMS (short message service) data greater than a capacity of a memory of a mobile communication terminal.
2. Background of the Related Art
Recently, SMS (short message service) subscribers have increased in proportion to a rapid spread of mobile communication terminals. Unlike an e-mail service, in the SMS, information can be transmitted to a mobile communication terminal of the other party almost at the same time as a dispatch time. This fast communication rate has consolidated the position of SMS as one of the main communication services.
The SMS can exchange a short message of about 40 letters through mobile communication terminals of subscribers. If a mobile communication terminal is turned off or a pertinent mobile communication terminal is in a no-service area, a received short message is stored for a certain time until the pertinent mobile communication terminal returns to a service area. Accordingly, when a message is short or a voice communication is impossible, it is efficient to use the SMS (short message service). Also, because the short message service charge is cheaper than a voice communication charge, usage of the short message service has gradually increased. Particularly, a credit card company has introduced a service reporting transaction approval information to a customer by using a short message service in order to prevent card misuse. In addition, the SMS (short message service) has been applied to an electronic approval and an electronic commerce.
At least one drawback exists in conventional SMS systems. Specifically, there is a limitation in the capacity of a memory allocated to a terminal for a SMS. As a result, when a message over the memory capacity is received, formerly received messages are orderly deleted or a new message can not be received. More specifically, in the conventional mobile communication terminal, a storing capacity for SMS data is preset and SMS messages can be received only within the set storing capacity.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the conventional SMS reception method of a mobile communication terminal. The method begins by allocating storage space for storing short messages in the memory of the conventional mobile communication terminal, as shown at step S11. Next, it is sensed whether a short message has been transmitted from a base station, as shown at step S12. When a short message is sensed, a pertinent mobile communication terminal judges whether there is a reserve space for storing the short message in the allocated memory as shown at step S13. When there is reserve space for storing the short message, the mobile communication terminal allocates the reserve space for storing the short message, as shown at step S14, and the short message is stored in the reserve space, as shown at step S15.
When there is no reserve space for storing the short message, the mobile communication terminal can not receive the short message as shown at step S16. A system of the base station periodically transmits the short message to the mobile communication terminal, but when a certain time set in the system has passed, as shown at step S17, the system finishes the short message transmission as shown at step S18.
The short message reception method of the conventional mobile communication system will be described in detail. First, a mobile communication terminal has a certain capacity of memory space for storing short messages. More specifically, if a maximum memory capacity for storing one short message is 50 bytes, the mobile communication terminal has a memory capacity of 5 kbytes for receiving 100 short messages. If a 101st short message is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal, the 5-kbyte memory capacity is exceeded, and accordingly the 101st short message can not be received.
The base station system periodically transmits the reception-rejected short message to the mobile communication terminal. However, the 101st short message cannot be received unless a user deletes a short message pre-received in the mobile communication terminal. At that state, when a certain time has passed, the base station system stops transmitting the 101st short message.
This conventional method therefore has significant drawbacks. As described above, in order to receive a short message in the conventional mobile communication terminal, there always has to be a reserve memory space of a mobile communication terminal. In more detail, when a memory of a mobile communication terminal for storing short messages is fully filled with received short messages, the terminal can not receive more short messages. Accordingly, a user has to check and manually delete received short message at a certain time interval in order to secure a reserve space of the memory.

Short message reception method for mobile communication terminal


Systems, methods, and devices for controlling parallel uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) are provided. One example of a parallel UPS system may include several UPS modules to supply power to a load and at least one controller. At least some of the UPS modules may include a bypass feed path that can be switched on or off via a static switch module (SSM). The controller may adaptively control which of the bypass feed paths are switched on and off based on the load and respective capacity ratings of the UPS modules. The controller may also determine when an SSM of one of the bypass feed paths is likely to have failed.

The presently disclosed subject matter relates to control of uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs).
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is an electrical device that can supply power to a load despite variations in quality and/or availability of utility-based power. One common type of UPS is a double-conversion UPS. A double-conversion UPS receives power from a power source (typically a utility power grid), converts the power from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) in a rectifier, and stores at least some of this power in an energy storage device. An inverter changes the DC power from the rectifier and/or the energy storage device into an AC power waveform. The AC power waveform may be supplied to the load.
Because multiple-conversion operation can be relatively inefficient, many UPS devices can operate in an alternative mode to improve efficiency. In one power-saving mode, power to the load may be supplied primarily through a bypass feed path from the utility or other power source to the load. A static switch module (SSM) typically switches the bypass feed path on or off. When several UPSs are connected to the load in parallel, the load sharing during bypass operation may not be actively controlled and thus may be heavily dependent on differences in impedance due to external cable lengths. Under such conditions, the SSMs or other devices of the bypass feed paths may fail open or fail short with no visible effect on the output voltage.

Systems, methods, and devices for control of parallel uninterruptible power supplies


A hair care accessory to form curls in a user's hair is disclosed. The accessory has a roller body having a first end and a second end, and a ribbon wherein a first end of the ribbon is attached to the roller body substantially at the first end thereof, and wherein the first end of the roller body defines a helical slit depending from the surface thereof. A hair retention device is associated with the accessory to temporarily locate the terminal portions of the hair and a segment of the ribbon after having wrapped the same about the roller body. A preferred embodiment uses a cylindrical solid of resilient material for the roller body wherein the helical slit generally depends to the axis of the roller body, and the hair retention device is characterized as a bisecting slit.

A virtual plethora of hair roller products are presently available on the commercial market. Each type of roller has its own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, hard rollers have a generally cylindrical profile and a foramous surface which permit rapid moisture exchange from the internal portion of the cylinder to the exterior environment, thus enhancing drying properties. Unfortunately, such products make it difficult to sleep with the rollers in one's hair, given their rigidity. Soft foam type rollers, while suitable for use while sleeping, suffer from poor moisture exchange and especially unintentional hair unraveling.
There is a long felt need in this area of technology to provide a comfortable hair roller that also provides superior hair holding abilities in addition to curl tightness versatility. The present invention is intended to meet these and other needs.
Importantly, none of the prior art teaches or suggests a resilient roller body and a non-elastic ribbon-type fastener, between which is secured rolled hair. Also, none of the prior art discloses a hair roller having a helical first slit on a first end and a second slit on a second end such that the first and second slits secure both the wrapping ribbon and the rolled hair.

Hair roller and method for using the same


Conditional branch bytecodes are processed by a Virtual Machine Interpreter (VMI) hardware accelerator that utilizes a branch prediction scheme to determine whether to speculatively process bytecodes while waiting for the CPU to return a condition control variable. The VMI assumes the branch condition will be fulfilled if a conditional branch bytecode calls for a backward jump and that the branch condition will not be fulfilled if a conditional branch bytecode calls for a forward jump. Alternatively, the VMI makes an assumption only if a conditional branch bytecode calls for a backward jump or the VMI assumes that the branch condition will be fulfilled whenever it processes a conditional branch bytecode. The VMI only speculatively processes bytecodes that are easily reversible, and suspends speculative processing of bytecodes upon encountering a bytecode that is not easily reversible. If a VMI assumption is invalidated, any speculatively processed bytecodes are reversed.

Computer programming languages are used to create applications consisting of human-readable source code that represents instructions for a computer to perform. Before a computer can follow the instructions however, the source code must be translated into computer-readable binary machine code.
A programming language such as C, C++, or COBOL typically uses a compiler to generate assembly language from the source code, and then to translate the assembly language into machine language which is converted to machine code. Thus, the final translation of the source code occurs before runtime. Different computers require different machine languages, so a program written in C++ for example, can only run on the specific hardware platform for which the program was written.
Interpreted programming languages are designed to create applications with source code that will run on multiple hardware platforms. Java™ is an interpreted programming language that accomplishes platform independence by generating source code that is converted before runtime to an intermediate language known as "bytecode" or "virtual machine language." At runtime, the bytecode is translated into platform-appropriate machine code via interpreter software, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,865. To interpret each bytecode, interpreter software performs a "fetch, decode, and dispatch" (FDD) series of operations. For each bytecode instruction the interpreter software contains a corresponding execution program expressed in native central processing unit (CPU) instructions. The interpreter software causes the CPU to fetch or read a virtual machine instruction from memory, to decode the CPU address of the execution program for the bytecode instruction, and to dispatch by transferring control of the CPU to that execution program. The interpretation process can be time-consuming.
As disclosed in PCT Patent Application No. WO9918484 adding a preprocessor (a virtual machine interpreter (VMI)) between a memory and a CPU improves the processing of virtual machine instructions. In essence, the virtual machine is not a physical structure, but rather is a self-contained operating environment that interprets bytecode for the hardware platform by selecting the corresponding native machine language instructions that are stored within the VM or in the CPU. The native instructions are then supplied to and consecutively executed in the CPU of the hardware platform. A typical virtual machine requires 20–60 cycles of processing time per bytecode (depending on the quality and complexity of the bytecode) to perform an FDD series of operations. First, a VMI reads (fetches) a bytecode from memory. Next, the VMI looks up a number of properties of (decodes) the fetched bytecode. The properties accessed by the VMI determine how the bytecode will be processed into native instructions for execution in the CPU. While the CPU is executing an instruction, the VMI fetches and processes the next bytecode into CPU instructions. The VMI can process simple bytecodes in 1–4 cycles.
While interpreting a sequence of bytecodes, a virtual machine may encounter a bytecode that represents a conditional branch instruction, hereinafter referred to as a CBI. When a CBI is encountered, the VMI generates a sequence of native instructions that causes the CPU to determine whether the condition is fulfilled. The decision to execute the branch therefore depends on earlier computations, which in the VMI concept were executed in the CPU with the results remaining in CPU registers. For example, the Java™ bytecode "ifeq n" offsets the bytecode counter by "n", but only if the top of the stack is zero (i.e., the previous computation left the value 0 on the stack). The value of the branch condition (here, the top of the stack) must be retrieved and written to the control register of the VMI (which is reserved specifically for branch conditions). If the condition has been fulfilled, the CBI causes an update to the VMI bytecode counter (a jump) which alters the sequence of bytecodes to be executed. Typically, when one instruction is being processed in the VMI the next instructions to be processed are already in the VMI pipeline, so if an instruction results in a branch the bytecodes already in the VMI pipeline must be flushed. Additionally, the "pipelined" structure of processor hardware creates an inherent delay for transporting instructions and data between the instant that the instructions and/or data are dispatched to the processor and the instant when the processor effectively executes the instruction and/or processes the data. Specifically, because the typical CPU has a multistage (typically, 3 to 8 stages) pipeline the write operation will not be executed immediately after the instruction is issued. In the case of a CBI, additional delay occurs while the CPU determines whether the condition is fulfilled and transfers the result of this determination to the VMI. If the value of the branch condition (the control value) indicates that the branch condition is fulfilled, several (depending on the size of the CPU pipeline) instructions will already have entered the CPU pipeline. To keep the CPU and instruction cache busy, a series of "no operation" (NOP) commands can be generated while waiting for the control value that indicates whether the condition is fulfilled. The control value is received while the CPU executes the next to the last NOP and the VMI generates the last NOP. After making the determination, the VMI's pipeline requires several cycles for the VMI to retrieve the bytecode representing the next instruction from the VMI's cache.
Other approaches speculatively execute potential branch instructions by predicting whether an instruction will result in a branch to another location. An example of this approach is directed to RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) microprocessors, and provides a branch instruction bit to determine which conditional branches are "easy" to predict, and for those branches, uses software branch prediction to determine whether to execute the jump. Software branch prediction predicts branches using a software-controlled prediction bit. If the branch is determined to be "hard" to predict, the branch is predicted using hardware branch prediction (such as a branch prediction array). This approach discloses using a branch prediction scheme which predicts that a branch will be taken if the offset is less than zero (a backward branch) and that a branch will not be taken if the offset is greater than zero (a forward branch). A disadvantage of this approach is the consumption of processor resources for the making and updating the ease-of-prediction determination, which is based upon whether historical operation of the branch taken is important in determining whether the branch will be taken.
In another branch prediction approach, bits from the address of the potential branch instruction are compared to bits concatenated from a local branch history table and a global history register. The result of the comparison is used to read a branch prediction table. A disadvantage of this approach is the consumption of resources required to perform the concatenation and comparison operations and to store and access the branch prediction table. Furthermore, the approach does not disclose a means of correcting mispredictions. A similar methodology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,696, wherein a branch prediction is made by the branch cache based on the address of a potential branch instruction. According to that disclosure, where the prediction is wrong the corresponding instruction is invalidated but is executed anyway, so that the branch cache can be updated with the correct prediction in case the same instruction is encountered again. The CPU pipeline is flushed during the same cycle as the branch cache update by invalidating all of the instructions in the first seven stages of the pipeline and loading the contents of a program counter register.
Because conditional branches occur frequently (approximately 10% of all virtual machine instructions) and are process-intensive when processed according to existing approaches which achieve high accuracies but consume processor resources, there is a need for a system of interpreting programming languages that accurately and efficiently executes instructions intended by conditional branch instruction bytecodes while increasing the processing speed.

Speculative execution for java hardware accelerator


The present invention provides a semiconductor photodetector formed over a substrate and being positioned adjacent to an optical fiber guiding groove also formed in said substrate bounding structure, said semiconductor photodetector having an optical waveguide layer including an optical absorption layer, wherein an edge portion of said optical waveguide layer is bounded to a side portion of said optical fiber guiding groove through an insulation layer having an refractive index higher than any parts of said optical waveguide layer.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor photodetector, and more particularly to a silicon-based semiconductor photodetector with an improved optical fiber guide groove.
FIG. 1A is a fragmentary cross sectional elevation view illustrative of the first conventional silicon-based semiconductor photodetector provided adjacent to an optical fiber guiding trench groove formed in a semiconductor substrate taken along an IA--IA line in FIG. 1B. FIG. 1B is a plan view illustrative of the first conventional silicon-based semiconductor photodetector provided adjacent to an optical fiber guiding trench groove formed in a semiconductor substrate. This first conventional silicon-based semiconductor photodetector has an optical absorption layer with an edge portion directly shown to the optical fiber guiding trench groove. Recombination energy levels appear on the edge portion of the optical absorption layer. This causes a leakage current flowing through a p-n diode in the photodetector or a dark current of the photodetector. As a result, the signal-to-noise ratio is deteriorated.
FIG. 2A is a fragmentary cross sectional elevation view illustrative of the second conventional silicon-based semiconductor photodetector provided adjacent to an optical fiber guiding trench groove formed in a semiconductor substrate taken along an IIA--IIA line in FIG. 2B. FIG. 2B is a plan view illustrative of the second conventional silicon-based semiconductor photodetector provided adjacent to an optical fiber guiding trench groove formed in a semiconductor substrate. The light having been propagated through the optical fiber is transmitted through many interfaces of the different materials having different refractive indexes. This means that the light is partially reflected many times at the interfaces of the different materials having different refractive indexes. This results in increased optical coupling loss.
FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view illustrative of the third conventional silicon-based semiconductor photodetector provided adjacent to an optical fiber guiding trench groove formed in a semiconductor substrate. The edge portion of the optical absorption layer is positioned adjacent to the end portion of the optical fiber. This means that the end portion of the optical fiber may hit to the edge portion of the optical waveguide or the optical absorption layer. The end portion of the optical fiber 13 and the optical absorption layer 6 or the silicon oxide isolation layer 4 may receive damage due to the direct contact to the end portion of the optical fiber.
In the above circumstances, it had been required to develop a novel semiconductor photodetector formed over a substrate and being positioned adjacent to an optical fiber guiding groove also formed in said substrate bounding structure, said semiconductor photodetector having an optical waveguide layer including an optical absorption layer free from the above problems and disadvantages.

Silicon-based semiconductor photodetector with an improved optical fiber guide groove


A wear-resistant wrought Al alloy having a desirable high fatigue strength, toughness and flexure strength when subjected to a quenching and an age hardening heat treatment. The Al alloy contains 8.0 to 13.0% by weight of Si, 0.1 to 0.5% by weight of Fe, 1.5 to 5.0% by weight of Cu, 0.4 to 1.5% by weight of Mg, 0.05 to 0.5% by weight of Cr, 0.05 to 0.5% by weight of Ni, an element selected from the group consisting of 0.005 to 0.05% by weight of Sr and 0.05 to 0.3% by weight of Sb, and the remainder being Al and unavoidable impurities, wherein there is no more than 0.04% by weight of Mn as an unavoidable impurity. The Al alloy having Si particles being finely dispersed therein, wherein an average diameter of an equivalent circle of Si particles is not more than 5.00 .mu.m and an average roundness of Si particles is not less than 0.50. The amounts of Fe, Cr and Ni contained in the alloy and the amount of Mn as an impurity are such to prevent Si particles and other intermetallic compounds from enlarging. At the same time, with the above amounts of Sr or Sb, it is possible to reduce the size of the Si particles and to control the shape. Thus the occurrence or propagation of cracking, which is caused by Si particles can be delayed. The Al alloy exhibits the characteristics necessary for a scroll compressor.

The present invention relates to a wear-resistant wrought Al alloy and it's production, and a scroll of the wear-resistant wrought Al alloy formed by forging and it's production.
More particularly, it relates to a wear-resistant wrought Al alloy which is used for a compressor for air-conditioner and automotive parts (e.g. piston, valve lifter or rocker arm for an engine) and it's production, that is, an Al alloy which has excellent fatigue strength at high temperature, high toughness and high flexure strength, in addition to high strength and high wear resistance required for materials, and it's production.
Extruded Al--Si (4032) alloy (Al-12 wt % Si-1.0 wt % Mg-1.0 wt % Ni alloy), ASTM 336.0 casting alloy (Al-12 wt % Si-1.0 wt % Mg-1.0 wt % Cu-1.0 wt % Cu alloy), ASTM 383.0 die-cast alloy (Al-11 wt % Si-2.5 wt % Cu alloy), etc. have hitherto been used for automotive parts, electric appliances, mechanical parts, etc., for which high strength and high wear resistance are required.
There has recently been increasing a case of using those obtained by (hot or cold) forging extruded materials or casting bar materials of aluminum alloys for these parts so as to make dimensional accuracy and strength high and to perform weight-saving.
On the other hand, with the increase of a demand for aluminum alloys, a required quality has been changing and becoming higher. For example, an improvement of high strength and high wear resistance as well as toughness and fatigue strength at high temperature is required for parts (e.g. scroll, wabble plate, etc.) used for a compressor for an air-conditioner.
Similarly, high strength and high wear resistance under a high-temperature environment (100 to 200.degree. C.) are required for automotive parts of the engine part (e.g. piston, valve lifter, rocker arm, etc.) and materials whose fatigue strength and toughness at high temperature are high are required.
However, in a conventional extruded aluminum alloy or aluminum casting alloy bar having the above composition, there has never been obtained a material having high fatigue strength and high toughness at high temperature in addition to high strength and high wear resistance.
An Al alloy extruded material obtained by adding a small amount of Fe, Mn, Cr, Sr and Ti to an Al-6-15 wt % Si--Cu--Mg--Ni alloy has been suggested for this application (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-197164/1995), however, it has not various characteristics and has a problem that high-temperature fatigue strength and toughness are inferior.
Furthermore, the form of the part as these sliding members has been complicated and a flexure strength represented by a compressor scroll has been required in addition to the above characteristics. Heretofore, a material which is superior in high-temperature fatigue strength, toughness and flexure strength has never been present.

Wear resistant wrought aluminum alloy and scroll of wear-resistant wrought aluminum alloy


A guider for conveying a sheet-shaped object comprises two side plates (13, 14); two wheel components (7, 11) arranged in parallel between the two side plates (13, 14), a top channel plate (9) being disposed on the wheel components; and two side channel components (10, 8) disposed between the two wheel components (7, 11) and the top channel plate (9), the two side channel components (10, 8) forming a horizontal channel with the top channel plate (9), and each forming a lateral channel with the wheel component at the same side, two ends of the side channel component being respectively hinged on the two side plates (13, 14). The guider further comprises two swing plates (6, 17) respectively fixedly disposed on the two side channel components (10, 8); a first driving device for driving the two swing plates (6, 17) to swing; a reversing member (19) hinged between the two lateral channels and used for switch between the two lateral channels; and a second driving device for driving the reversing member (19) to swing. The guider for conveying a sheet-shaped object of the present invention simplifies the structure of the guider, and meanwhile reduces the manufacturing cost of the guider.

In our life, devices for processing sheet materials are available, such as an automatic teller machine, a moneychanger, a ticket vending machine. Objects processed by these processing devices are sheet materials such as banknotes or bills. When the processing devices deal with sheet materials, the sheet materials need to be conveyed in different directions in accordance with requirements of processing.
Chinese patent application No. 200880101729.0 discloses a three-way guider for reversing sheet medium which can achieve the conveying and guiding of sheet materials in three directions. The guider has three driving devices, i.e., one step motor and two lifting magnets. The operation processes of the guider when performing the redirection of two lateral passages are as follows. The step motor drives a driving rod to rotate via two driving wheels. Pinions are provided on two ends of the driving rod, and racks are integrally provided on two guide plates of the guider. During the rotation of the driving rod, the pinions engage with the racks, thereby driving the guide plates to move upwardly or downwardly. Since blades of the guider are provided on the guide plates, the upward or downward movements of the guide plates result in the upward or downward movements of the blades of the guider, thereby realizing the redirection of the two lateral passages. As can be seen from the above operation processes, the redirection between the two lateral passages involves many transmission components. In order to ensure the normal upward or downward movements of the blades of the guider, each of the two ends of the guider body needs a pinion and rack transmission. The more transmission components needed for the redirection between the two lateral passages of the guider causes a complicated structure of the whole guider.
In addition, the above three-way guider needs the step motor and two lifting magnets to achieve the conveying of the sheet materials in three directions. The whole guider involves many power devices, thereby increasing production cost of the whole guider.

Guider for conveying sheet-shaped object


A liquid crystal display device includes a pair of substrates and a display medium interposed therebetween, the display medium including a liquid crystal region and a polymer wall surrounding the liquid crystal region. The display medium is formed by injecting between the substrates a mixed material containing a liquid crystal material and a resin material which includes at least photopolymerizable monomer, and irradiating said mixed material with light. A content y (%) of the resin material in the mixed material has a relationship, EQU 0.3*(100-x).ltoreq.y.ltoreq.(100-x). for a pixel aperture ratio x (%).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and a method for fabricating the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having excellent display quality, impact resistance and pressure resistance, as well as a liquid crystal display device which can be obtained at a lower cost with excellent productivity, and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display devices having various display modes have been known in the art, including a liquid crystal display device having a non-scattering mode such as a twisted nematic (TN) mode, a super twisted nematic (STN) mode, an electrically controlled birefringency (ECB) mode, a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) mode; and a liquid crystal display device having a scattering mode such as a polymer dispersed-type liquid crystal (PDLC) mode.
A conventional liquid crystal display device includes a pair of substrates and a display medium containing at least liquid crystal interposed therebetween. When such a liquid crystal display device is utilized for a portable information terminal having a pen-input function, there is a problem that the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules will be disturbed due to the reduction of the gap between the substrates caused by the pressure at the time of the pen input, which results in the disturbance of the display in the liquid crystal display device.
In order to solve such a problem, a liquid crystal display device having improved impact resistance and pressure resistance has been proposed by providing a polymer wall or polymer columns in the periphery of the liquid crystal region to reduce the variation of the gap.
For example, a liquid crystal display device comprising a polymer column selectively provided in a non-pixel portion using a resist and which is used as a spacer (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 56-99384), and a liquid crystal display device comprising a polymer column selectively provided in stripes in a non-pixel portion using a photosensitive resin (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 59-201021), have been known.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 6-301015, the applicant proposed a liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 3A as having improved impact resistance. The liquid crystal display device 300 includes a pair of substrates 101a and 101b, and a display medium interposed therebetween, the display medium having a liquid crystal region 106 provided in a pixel portion and a polymer wall 107 surrounding the liquid crystal region 106. In the fabrication of the liquid crystal display device 300, as shown in FIG. 3B, a mixed material 113 containing a liquid crystal material, a photopolymerizable monomer and a photopolymerization initiator is injected between a pair of substrates 101a and 101b, and a photomask 114 having a light-shading portion 110 and a light-transmitting portion 111 is disposed on one of the substrate 101a so that the pixel portion is covered with the shading portion 110, and then the mixture 113 is irradiated with ultraviolet light 108 through the photomask 114. The photopolymerizable monomer is polymerized and the resulting polymer gathers in the portion corresponding to the light-transmitting portion 111 (irradiated portion) of the photomask 114, while the liquid crystal material gathers in the portion corresponding to the light-shading portion 110 (non-irradiated portion), which results in a display medium having the liquid crystal region 106 in the pixel portion and the polymer wall 107 in the non-pixel portion. According to this liquid crystal display device, it is possible to improve the impact resistance by using the polymer wall 107 provided in the non-pixel portion, as shown in FIG. 3A. It is also possible to accomplish wide viewing angle characteristics in the liquid crystal display panel by axisymmetrically orienting the liquid crystal molecules in the pixel due to the interaction between the polymer and the liquid crystal material. Such a mode as axisymmetrically orienting the liquid crystal molecules in the pixel is hereinafter referred to as an axisymmetrically orienting mode.
Moreover, the applicant proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-287241 a liquid crystal display device which provides a liquid crystal region in the pixel portion without any photomask by using a transparent electrode which does not readily transmit light, and also enables the polymer wall to precisely conform to the outlines of the pixel and the liquid crystal region.
However, the liquid crystal display device having such a polymer wall or a polymer column as discussed above has the following problems.
The liquid crystal display device having a polymer wall or a polymer column formed from a resist or a photosensitive resin requires an additional photolithography step so as to precisely form the polymer wall or the polymer column in the non-pixel portion. Therefore, such a liquid crystal display device provides very poor production efficiency.
In such a liquid crystal display device as shown in FIG. 3A, it is necessary to dispose the photomask 114 so that the light shading portion 110 of the photomask 114 conforms to the pixel portion. Therefore, again, such a liquid crystal display device provides very poor production efficiency.
A liquid crystal display device using a transparent electrode which does not readily transmit a light having the prescribed wavelength provides improved productivity, since it is not necessary to adjust the location of the photomask, and the like. However, the polymer wall may be undesirably formed over the pixel portion, or polymer pieces may remain in the pixel portion in such a liquid crystal display device, which results in a reduction of the aperture ratio of the liquid crystal display device which causes a darkening of the display, and the poor orientation of the liquid crystal molecules causes increased roughness of the display. Moreover, sometimes the liquid crystal region is not sufficiently surrounded by the polymer wall in the liquid crystal display device, and in this case the display device has insufficient pressure resistance.
In such a liquid crystal display device, a method of precisely providing the liquid crystal region in the pixel portion and the polymer wall in the non-pixel portion by suitably phase-separating the liquid crystal material from the polymer has been employed. Thus, the polymer wall is prevented from being undesirably formed over the pixel portion and thus from affecting the display quality. Additionally, the liquid crystal region is surrounded by the polymer wall, thereby improving the impact resistance of the liquid crystal display device. However, in this method, since a special thin layer or a special process for improving the degree of separation of the liquid crystal material from the polymer is required, the production cost is increased.
As described above, a liquid crystal display device having excellent display quality, impact resistance and pressure resistance, which can be obtained at a lower cost with excellent productivity, has been demanded.

Liquid crystal display device and method for fabricating the same


A method of this invention involves capturing an image of an outer periphery of a semiconductor wafer, by use of a CCD camera, performing image analysis on data about the captured image, detecting defects such as chips and cracks on the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer, storing positions of the respective defects, calculating a clearance between the adjacent defects from information about the stored positions, comparing the calculated clearances with a preset width of a separation tape, and obtaining the clearance larger than the width of the separation tape, by arithmetic processing. If some of the clearances are larger than the width of the separation tape, this method also involves setting an appropriate one of the clearance as a position where the separation tape is joined, performing alignment on the semiconductor wafer, joining the separation tape to a protective tape joined to a surface of the semiconductor wafer, and separating the protective tape together with the separation tape from the surface of the semiconductor wafer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for joining, to a protective tape joined to a surface of a semiconductor wafer, a separation tape having a width narrower than a diameter of the semiconductor wafer to separate the protective tape together with the separation tape from the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a chip component has been manufactured from a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a "wafer") in accordance with the following procedure.
As disclosed in JP2002-124494A, for example, a circuit pattern is formed on a surface of a wafer, and then a protective tape is joined to the surface of the wafer. Thereafter, a back grinding process is performed on a rear face of the wafer in order to thin the wafer. The thinned wafer is held by a ring frame through a dicing tape. In this state, the protective tape is separated from the surface of the wafer. Thereafter, a dicing process is performed on the wafer.
In the case where the protective tape is separated from the thinned wafer, the wafer is frequently damaged from a stress to be applied thereto when the protective tape is joined thereto or separated therefrom, because of reduction in strength. In the back grinding process, particularly, such a stress causes further growth of a defect such as a chip or a crack on an outer periphery of the wafer, resulting in increase of the damage. If the wafer is further damaged by the growth of the defect and, consequently, the protective tape can not be separated from the wafer because of the damage, the wafer is discarded before being subjected to the dicing process.
For this reason, all the chip components including usable non-defectives are discarded, so that there arises a problem of reduction in yield.

Method and apparatus for separating protective tape from semiconductor wafer


In a charging system for portable electronic equipment, providing the charging current is automatically restarted even in the case where an amount of charging current taken into the portable electronic equipment exceeds charging current providing capacity of a USB battery charger and the USB battery charger stops providing the charging current. When a voltage at a VBUS terminal is lower than a first predetermined voltage, a CPU assumes that the USB battery charger has stopped providing the charging current and turns off a first switching device. And the CPU turns on a second switching device for a predetermined period of time. As a result, the voltage at the VBUS terminal falls to 0.7V or below during the predetermined period of time. In response to the change in the voltage at the VBUS terminal, the USB battery charger restarts providing the charging current to the VBUS terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a charging system for portable electronic equipment, specifically to a charging system that charges a rechargeable battery (secondary battery) incorporated in the portable electronic equipment through a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The USB is an industry standard of a universal serial bus to connect various kinds of peripheral devices to a host device. In recent years, a USB battery charger using the USB has come into use in order to charge a battery incorporated in portable electronic equipment such as a mobile phone. When the portable electronic equipment is connected to the USB battery charger through a USB cable, the battery incorporated in the portable electronic equipment is charged through a VBUS terminal (power supply terminal) in a USB connector.
In addition to a conventional USB hub, there have appeared dedicated battery chargers (indoor on-wall type battery charger, in-car battery charger, etc.), accessory charger adapters and USB battery chargers for tablets.
There are various types of USB battery chargers that differ from each other in charging current providing capacity (0.1 A, 0.5 A or 2.1 A, for example). Therefore, the portable electronic equipment identifies the type of the battery charger by monitoring voltages at data terminals D+ and D− in the USB connector and limits an amount of charging current to take-in by a current limiting circuit in accordance with the charging current providing capacity. If the portable electronic equipment takes in the charging current exceeding the charging current providing capacity of the USB battery charger, a voltage at the VBUS terminal is reduced because of a reduction in an input impedance of the portable electronic equipment. Thus, the USB battery charger stops providing the charging current as specified by the USB standard so as to prevent destruction of the device or the like.
The charging system using the USB battery charger is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-223669, for example.
In some cases, however, monitoring the voltages at the data terminals D+ and D− is performed incorrectly due to influence of chattering noise caused when the portable electronic equipment is connected to the USB battery charger. As a result, there is a possibility that the type of the USB battery charger would be misidentified and the amount of charging current taken into the portable electronic equipment would exceed the charging current providing capacity of the USB battery charger. Also, there is a possibility that the current limiting circuit would malfunction due to influence of other kind of noise and the amount of charging current taken into the portable electronic equipment would exceed the charging current providing capacity of the battery charger. The USB battery charger stops providing the charging current when the amount of charging current taken into the portable electronic equipment is not limited appropriately. That results in discontinued charging of the battery, which is very inconvenient for the user of the portable electronic equipment.
Considering the above, this invention is directed to automatically restarting providing the charging current in the case where providing the charging current from the USB battery charger is stopped.

Charging system for portable electronic equipment

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


To provide an interface between iSCSI storage devices and a device managing the storage devices for accommodating status changes in the iSCSI storage devices, a table for managing the storage devices is provided within storage. When a status change occurs, the table is updated, while a status change notice is issued from the storage devices to the storage management device to bring information into consistency.

There is a disk control unit that performs data reading and writing for plural disk drive units. A combination of the disk drive units and the disk control unit is referred to as a disk subsystem. Such a disk subsystem is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-228977.
Connection topology between a host computer and the disk subsystem are changing with technological backgrounds and users' needs. Generally, storage has been connected directly to a computer such as a host computer through an interface such as SCSI. Such storage is referred to as direct attached storage (DAS). In recent years, the amount of data processed by enterprises and general users has been continuing to increase explosively because of widespread use of electronic commerce and the use of applications using databases such as dataware house and multimedia data.
In the DAS connection mode, all requests arrive in storage via a host computer. Therefore, data backup and other operations heavily load the host computer and worsen response, and at the same time increase the load of a network such as LAN connecting the host computer, leading to the deterioration of the whole response. It becomes necessary to expand storage to provide for the explosive increase of data, which means that storage under control of a host computer must be individually expanded, requiring cumbersome operations.
From such a background, a storage area network (SAN) has emerged that connects a host computer and storage by a storage dedicated network different from a network such as LAN connecting host computer. Building the storage dedicated network provides merits such as lessening the load of a network connecting the host computer and speeding up a data backup operation. Also, since the storage can be managed in a centralized form, the system administrator is less loaded.
It is general to build SAN using fiber channels as an interface for building the system. Primarily, as the fiber channels, optical fiber cables connectable as far as tens of kilometers are used. Presently, the optical fiber cables provide a high-speed interface that provides a transfer speed of 2 Gbps and has higher performance than SCSI.
On the other hand, as disadvantages, initial installation costs are required to build a new network, a managerial load increases because of use of networks of two systems, and interoperability between fiber channel devices is not guaranteed.
Accordingly, attention is directed to SAN that can integrate networks of two systems and uses IP networks having many achievements in LAN and the like. In recent years, the explosive widespread use of the Internet and the emergence of gigabit Ethernet (Ethernet is a registered trademark) have rapidly promoted the prevalence, speedup, and band expansion of network infrastructure. Here, SAN using fiber channels and SAN using IP networks are differentiated as FC-SAN and IP-SAN, respectively.
iSCSI (Internet SCSI) is available as a protocol for accessing SCSI devices on the IP networks. iSCSI is a protocol for forwarding to IP networks TCP packets with unit packets called iSCSI PDU (iSCSP Protocol Data Unit) capsuled in a datagram portion thereof.
IP networking using iSCSI as a protocol for accessing SCSI devices are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0,029,281 A1, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0,083,120 A1 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0,095,547 A1.
In conventional IP networking, devices connected to a network are computers such as a host computer, and communication with them is enabled in the Internet world after making a query to DNS (Domain Name Server) managing device names and addresses.
Since no storage devices have existed on IP networks heretobefore, storage devices cannot be managed with conventional DNS. Accordingly, iSNS (internet Storage Name Service) is proposed as the framework of IP storage device management.
iSNS is a protocol for managing computers such as a host computer and servers, and storage devices that exist on a certain network. In other words, the iSNS protocol can accommodate status changes such as addition and deletion of storage devices to and from the network, and addition of servers thereto.
However, with the iSNS, it is difficult to accommodate internal changes of the storage devices existing on the network.
For example, several thousands of disks are used in a large-scale disk subsystem designed for enterprises. The following function is achieved using the high-capacity disks: a copy of a certain data volume is created as a standby system within the identical disk subsystem, and when a failure occurs in a volume under normal operation, processing is switched to the standby system to continue the job, or the copied volume is assigned to a different job to perform parallel operation. For the copied volume, device information must be set to make it available to devices on the network. The volume is one that has been newly created within the disk subsystem, not newly created on the network. It means that the presence of the volume is unknown to devices on the network outside the disk subsystem, so that the above described function cannot be used.
Thus, although conventional storage management can accommodate status changes on the network, it cannot accommodate status changes such as data copy and data movement within storage.

iSCSI storage management method and management system


A method and apparatus for distributing the processing of cursor-independent scrolling functions, between a host processor and a workstation via a workstation control interface, the workstation control interface being connected to a plurality of workstations, wherein the host processor formulates a data stream incorporating scrollable panel data, definitions of cursor-independent scrolling keys, definitions of scrolling increments, and definitions of scroll indicators; the data stream is transmitted to the workstation control interface, which may be embodied in a workstation controller (or PWS), and the workstation controller (or PWS) formulates a display screen image for transmission to a workstation to which it is connected. A cursor-independent scrolling request received from a workstation is received by the workstation controller (or PWS) and processed for scrolling without further communication with the host processor.

The present invention relates generally to computer workstations which are connected for information interchange with host or mainframe computer systems; more particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling scrolling on certain computer workstations by function key operation at the workstation without participation of the host processor to which the workstation is connected. Further, the invention relates to a method and apparatus which significantly improves overall response time for the presentation and operation of scrolling in systems wherein a host processor executes applications programs and is connected to a plurality of remote terminals.
Historically, operator interface with a mainframe computer system evolved from a single operator control console which was attached to the mainframe structure. The operator control console amounted to little more than a keyboard for enabling the operator generation of simple input commands, and a display screen for enabling the mainframe computer to present simple status messages to the operator. The evolution and expansion of this concept led to the development of multiple, limited-intelligence terminals, to enable a number of users to communicate with a mainframe system, wherein the multiple terminals were perhaps remotely positioned from one another, and from the mainframe system, but commonly connected to a controller, and the controller was connected to the mainframe computer system. However, the multiple terminal concept was a relatively low cost solution to enable multiple users to communicate with a mainframe computer system, but with limited intelligence contained within each terminal, so that the user communication was restricted to relatively simple input/output transfers.
The development of the stand-alone personal computer (PC) provided a high level of internal intelligence to enable a great many user interface functions to be added to the PC, with the result that the PC became a very "user friendly" device. Among the interface enhancements which were made possible by the PC development were enhanced cursor controls, scrolling, and windows. These enhancements greatly improve the computer's communication with a user.
The user friendly PC soon became adapted for communication with host computer systems, initially by connecting the PC to a controller, and by writing software to enable the PC to emulate a terminal with limited intelligence, normally connectable to the controller. Eventually the PC/mainframe workstation control interface was developed to enable a PC to communicate more or less directly with a host processor, wherein the independent intelligence contained within a PC could be used both to enhance the user interface with the host system and to independently execute software apart from the host system. A class of terminals evolved utilizing these concepts, which became known as "intelligent" terminals, and the previously evolved, limited-intelligence terminals became known as "dumb" terminals. By virtue of the widely varying internal intelligence of these two types of terminals, the capabilities and rules for using the terminals also became widely varied. However, when either of the aforementioned types of terminals are connected to a host processor, the host processor typically dictates overall system operation through execution of various application programs. The application programming interfaces provide the capability to present scrollable panel data at each of the connected terminals, which enables an application program to define more data to the user than will fit on the screen at one time, and also provides the user with the ability to look at data before or after the data currently presented on the screen.
There are two techniques for scrolling data; cursor-sensitive and cursor-independent scrolling. Cursor-sensitive scrolling is invoked by the user when an arrow key is depressed on the keyboard when the cursor is on the top or bottom of the scrollable panel area. Cursor-independent scrolling is invoked by the user by depressing a scroll function key. The present invention relates to cursor-independent scrolling techniques, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for local control of cursor-independent scrolling without interaction with the host processor.
In the prior art, the host applications program or its display interface program manages the scrolling of display panel data. Whenever the user depresses a cursor-independent scroll key, an interrupt is generated to the host processor, to enable the host processor to reconfigure the panel display and to retransmit a new data stream incorporating the scrolled panel information. In typical prior art systems this interrupt creates a 1-2 second delay in user response time while the panel is being retransmitted and rewritten with new data in the scrollable area. If the user finds it necessary to activate the scroll key several times before finding the data that is being sought, each scroll key action creates a new interrupt and new transmission, thereby increasing the amount of response time delay. In a system utilizing a large number of remote terminals the problem becomes further complicated by virtue of the multiplication of response time delays which may potentially be caused by users at a plurality of terminals activating scrolling key commands at the same time. Windowing further complicates the problem by causing more scrolling requests, due to the decreased area in which to present scrollable data. Therefore, in larger systems, the response time delay becomes extremely bothersome to the user and results in significantly reduced efficiency in the user's ability to interact with the system.
In any typical prior art system utilizing a host processor and workstations, wherein the workstations are utilized for user interaction and access and the host processor is utilized for running applications programs, the host processor provides certain fundamental information. For example, the host processor may generate a data stream containing information to be displayed on a workstation screen, and information for controlling the presentation and position of the data on the screen. The data stream generally does not convey any logical intelligence, i.e. information to enable the workstation to independently control and manipulate subsequent screen display panels as a consequence of its interfacing with the user. The control and manipulation of each screen display panel is typically generated by the host processor, by transmitting a new data stream for each panel, wherein each data stream contains new presentation and position information. In the case of a programmable workstation (PWS), the host processor data stream is sent directly to the workstation and is processed internally in the workstation, which itself contains sufficient internal memory and program data to directly control the interaction with the display screen and keyboard. In the case of the DWS, the host processor data stream is sent to a workstation controller (WSC), and the WSC provides the internal memory and control for directly controlling the display screen of the DWS. In either case, the host processor-constructed data stream is received by a workstation control interface (hardware and/or software), and the workstation control interface processes the data stream. The workstation controller may poll the workstation to determine whether a keystroke should be recognized or whether any of a predetermined number of commands have been accepted.
Although a PWS terminal is of considerably more sophisticated design than a DWS terminal, when it is used in an environment where a host processor executes applications programs and merely utilizes the PWS terminal for operator/user interface, the PWS terminal suffers from most of the same limitations as a DWS terminal. For example, each time a display panel is changed on the screen of either type of terminal, the host processor creates the panel description, and presentation, and constructs a data stream for transmission to the terminal. A typical data stream transmission may include 2,000 bytes of information, more or less, and may require a transmission time of at least several seconds, in addition to the processing time required for creating and developing the data stream. In a system involving a considerable number of such terminals, the processing load and transmission time constraints are cumulative, leading to significant reduction in overall system performance. The present invention deals with a method for improving that performance with respect to both PWS terminals and DWS terminals. However, for convenience herein, reference will be made primarily to DWS terminals throughout, it being understood that the uses and advantages of the invention are equally applicable to both types of terminals. Where reference is made herein to workstation controllers (WSC), it should be understood that such controllers are associated with DWS terminals, and PWS terminals do not utilize workstation controllers. PWS terminals communicate directly with the host processor through suitable I/O communications controls, but PWS devices have internal logic which effectively performs the same workstation control interface functions as are performed by workstation controllers.

Method and apparatus for local function key control of scrolling on certain computer workstations

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for controlling the pitch angle of the blades including the following steps of: measuring an energy storage of the blades pitch actuation system at predefined values of a first blade pitch angle interval; comparing the measured values of the energy storage of the blades pitch actuation system with a predefined minimum value of the energy storage; if the measured values of the energy storage are all greater or equal than the predefined minimum value of the energy storage then enabling normal operation; if at least one of the measured values of the energy storage are lower than the predefined minimum value then: calculating a third pitch angle calculating a third blade pitch angle interval extending between a fourth pitch angle and the second pitch angle; and limiting the blades pitch actuation system to operate only in the third pitch angle interval.

Normally, any wind turbine is provided with a pitch actuation system (either electric or hydraulic) for regulating the pitch angle of each blade, i.e. the angular position of each blade about the respective blade longitudinal axis. The pitch angle defines the angle of attack of the blades in relationship to the direction of the wind to control the production of power of the wind turbine.
The pitch actuation system of a wind turbine is provided with energy stored for emergency shutdown of the turbine. On a regular basis, the capacity of this energy storage must be checked. The capacity may be defined in terms of power or torque needed to rotate the blade about the respective blade longitudinal axis.
The capacity of the pitch actuation system must be sufficient to pitch all blades (or the individual blade if each blade is equipped with a separate energy storage system) under all known wind load cases, from the most aggressive pitch angle to the least aggressive pitch angle, respectively referring to the pitch angle at which the production of power of the wind turbine reaches a maximum value and the pitch angle at which the production of power of the wind turbine reaches a minimum value or no power at all is produced from the wind turbine. According to that, the latter condition is commonly referred to as "idle" or "fully feathered".
If the capacity, compared with a required predefined potential for starting the emergency shut down, is insufficient according to the above, the wind turbine is shut down until capacity of the pitch actuation system can be re-established, e.g. via service inspection or replacement of defective components. For example, accumulators may have to be replaced or regenerated on site by service crews.
The approach is that the turbine is not safe to operate if, under any circumstances, the pitch actuation system cannot overcome all and any wind load starting from any pitch position. However, during the service time needed for the re-establishment of the capacity of the pitch actuation system, the wind turbines is not operative, costing significant number of production hours.
It is therefore still desirable to provide a new method for controlling the pitch angle of the blades of a wind turbine, limiting the shutdowns of the wind turbine without compromising the safety of operations.

Method for controlling the pitch angle of wind turbine blades