The invention provides a positive resist composition for the pattern formation by the use of actinic rays or radiation, ensuring that the sensitivity, resolution and pattern profile are good, the line edge roughness is small and the surface roughness is satisfied, and a pattern forming method using the composition, wherein the positive resist composition is a positive resist composition comprising (A) a compound capable of generating an acid upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation, and (B) a resin of which solubility in an alkali developer increases under the action of an acid, the resin comprising a specific repeating unit; and a pattern forming method using the composition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a positive resist composition suitably used in the ultramicrolithography process for producing, for example, VLSI or high-capacity microchip or in other photofabrication processes, and a pattern forming method using the composition. More specifically, the present invention relates to a positive resist composition capable of forming a highly refined pattern with use of KrF excimer laser light, electron beam, EUV light or the like, and a pattern forming method using the composition, that is, the present invention relates to a positive resist composition suitably usable for fine processing of a semiconductor device, where KrF excimer laser light, electron beam or EUV light is used, and a pattern forming method using the composition.
2. Background Art
In the process of producing a semiconductor device such as IC and LSI, fine processing by lithography using a photoresist composition has been conventionally performed. Recently, the integration degree of an integrated circuit is becoming higher and formation of an ultrafine pattern in the sub-micron or quarter-micron region is required. To cope with this requirement, the exposure wavelength also tends to become shorter, for example, from g line to i line or further to KrF excimer laser light. At present, other than the excimer laser light, development of lithography using electron beam, X ray or EUV light is proceeding.
The lithography using electron beam or EUV light is positioned as a next-generation or next-next-generation pattern formation technique and a positive resist with high sensitivity and high resolution is being demanded. In particular, the elevation of sensitivity for shortening the wafer processing time is very important but in the positive resist for use with electron beam or EUV, when higher elevation is sought for, not only reduction of resolution but also worsening of line edge roughness are brought about and development of a resist satisfying these properties at the same time is strongly demanded. The line edge roughness as used herein means that the resist edge at the interface between the pattern and the substrate irregularly fluctuates in the direction perpendicular to the line direction due to the resist property and when the pattern is viewed from right above, the edge gives an uneven appearance. This unevenness is transferred by the etching step using the resist as a mask and causes deterioration of electric property, giving rise to decrease in the yield. Particularly, in the ultrafine region of 0.25 μm or less, the improvement of line edge roughness is an essential problem to be solved. The high sensitivity is in a trade-off relationship with high resolution, good pattern profile and good line edge roughness and it is very important how to satisfy these matters at the same time.
Furthermore, also in the lithography using X-ray or EUV light, it is similarly very important to satisfy high sensitivity, surface roughness and the like at the same time, and this problem needs to be solved.
As for the resist suitable for the lithography process using electron beam, X-ray or EUV light, a chemical amplification-type resist utilizing an acid catalytic reaction is mainly used from the standpoint of elevating the sensitivity and in the case of a positive resist, a chemical amplification-type resist composition mainly comprising an acid generator and a phenolic polymer which is insoluble or sparingly soluble in an alkali developer but becomes soluble in an alkali developer under the action of an acid (hereinafter simply referred to as a "phenolic acid-decomposable resin"), is being effectively used.
With respect to the positive resist for use with electron beam, X-ray or EUV, some resist compositions containing a phenolic acid-decomposable resin have been heretofore known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2: JP-A-2003-345023 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and JP-A-2002-55457, respectively).
However, it is impossible at present by any of these combinations to satisfy high resolution and good line edge roughness in the ultrafine region at the same time.
Furthermore, unlike a conventional light source, in the case of irradiating a high-energy ray such as EUV light, an outgassing problem becomes prominent, where a compound in the resist film is destroyed by fragmentation and volatizes as a low molecular component during exposure to contaminate the environment in the exposure apparatus. Various studies are being made for the reduction of outgassing and various techniques are attempted, such as a technique of providing a topcoat layer to suppress the volatilization of a low molecular compound (see, for example, Patent Document 3: European Patent 1,480,078) or a technique of adding a radical trapping agent for suppressing the decomposition of a polymer (see, for example, Patent Document 4: U.S. Pat. No. 6,680,157). Thus, an effort for reducing the outgassing is demanded also in terms of the acid generator.

Positive resist composition and pattern forming method using the same


A system for the operation of a virtual assistant network, comprising a plurality of virtual assistants stored and operating on network-connected devices, and a plurality of virtual assistant brokers stored and operating on network-connected devices, wherein the virtual assistants receive user requests and send the requests to the virtual assistant brokers, and wherein the virtual assistant brokers delegate the requests to other virtual assistants for fulfillment.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of artificial intelligence, and more particularly to the field of natural language interaction-based applications, such as virtual assistants.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
Virtual assistants are an example of a class of software applications, referred to herein as natural language interaction applications that use natural language to interact with a human user. With respect to virtual assistants in particular, these applications perform functions similar to those provided by human assistants, in that they can engage in conversations with their users in order to for example provide information, carry out routine tasks, or perform other operations as required. Many virtual assistants have been used in association with web sites, with these virtual assistants often featuring the use of graphical images or avatars to simulate the experience of interacting with a human being.
While some natural language interaction applications known in the art may possess rudimentary natural language understanding capabilities, in reality most such applications, and particularly most virtual assistants known in the art, are tightly scripted applications that carry out a limited range of activities. While scripted agents have proven useful in many online scenarios, their acceptance has generally been limited because, when users are restricted in their ways of expressing themselves in natural language, the communication language is not natural. Any notion of the virtual assistant's behaving like a real assistant disappears because too much effort is demanded of the user when the user is expected to know precisely what to say or what to do in order to achieve her goals. Thus there is a distinct need in the art for interpreting fluid and freely expressed natural language in various applications, for example by virtual assistants. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that, even when equipped with rudimentary natural language interpretation, natural language interaction applications such as virtual assistants that seem to only "know" a small number of facts and who only "talk about" a very limited range of subjects (such as appointment management) do not seem very realistic to humans, who are used to being able to say things in a fluid way, shifting subjects easily and intermixing casual banter with task-oriented speech.
The use of natural language interaction applications generally, and virtual assistants more particularly, has also been hampered by the high degree of complexity and cost associated with developing and deploying virtual assistants, particularly those that have any significant degree of natural language interpretation and interaction capability. As such many of the services used by virtual assistants are housed in the cloud and are connected to using a network such as the internet, a corporate intranet, Bluetooth and other networks. Maintaining a connection to these services is necessary to completing many tasks of virtual assistants. However, given that in the current environment, there are many areas where connectivity is not available or expensive due to, for example, roaming charges or networks requiring a subscription, connectivity to other services may not always be available. Moreover, since typical users have a plurality of devices, maintaining consistency across devices is essential.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system and various methods that enable virtual assistants to operate in a networked fashion with one another, facilitating interaction between virtual assistants as well as the management of a virtual assistant network for efficient task handling.

System and methods for virtual assistant networks


A synchronization method and apparatus for synchronizing a receiver, such as a radiotelephone operable in a cellular communication system with a transmitter. Synchronization sequences are transmitted as parts of a control signal to the receiver. The synchronization sequences are formed of either a dotting sequence or a set of m-sequences. Such synchronization sequences are of high margins and also permit synchronization of the user terminal responsive to a reduced number of calculations.

A communication system is formed, at a minimum, by transmitter and a receiver interconnected by a communication channel. Communication signals transmitted by the transmitter are transmitted upon the communication channel to be received by the receiver.
A radio communication system is a communication system in which the communication channel is formed of one or more frequency bands of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum. Because a fixed or hard-wired connection is not required to be formed between the transmitter and the receiver, a radio communication system is advantageously utilized when the use of such fixed or hard-wired connections would be inconvenient or impractical.
A cellular communication system is a type of radio communication system. When the infrastructure, hereinafter referred to as the network, of the cellular communication system is installed throughout a geographical area, a subscriber to the cellular system is generally able to communicate telephonically in the system when positioned at any location in the geographical area encompassed by the system.
While conventional, terrestrial-cellular communication networks have been installed throughout significant portions of the world, some areas are without such networks. In areas of low population density, for instance, a terrestrial-cellular communication network might not be commercially viable. Also, existing, terrestrial-cellular networks have also been constructed pursuant to various different standards.
A radiotelephone, sometimes hereinafter referred to also as a "user terminal", operable in one of the communication systems is sometimes not operable in others of the cellular communication systems. Even in an area in which a cellular communication network has been installed, a user might not be able to communicate pursuant thereto if the user attempts to utilize a user terminal constructed to be operable only with another one of the cellular communication networks.
Satellite-cellular communication systems have been proposed which, when implemented, shall permit a user to communicate telephonically by way of the satellite-cellular communication system when positioned at almost any location. By transmitting down-link signals between a satellite-based transceiver and the user terminal and up-link signals between the user terminal and the satellite-based transceiver, telephonic communication shall be possible between the user terminal and the satellite-based transceiver. By effectuating additional communication links between the satellite-based transceiver and a ground station, the user of the user terminal shall be able to communicate telephonically with another party by way of the ground station and the satellite-based transceiver.
Because of the inherent efficiencies of digital communication techniques, many already-installed cellular communication networks have been converted, and many newly-proposed cellular communication systems are being designed, to utilize digital communication techniques. Other communication systems similarly utilize, or are planned to be converted to or to utilize, digital communication techniques.
To function properly, particularly when the communication system utilizes digital communication techniques, the user terminal must be synchronized with a network station of the cellular communication network. Conventionally, synchronization sequences are transmitted by the network station to the user terminal to synchronize the user terminal with the network station. Other communication systems similarly utilize conventional, synchronization sequences for similar purposes.
Synchronization of the user terminal with a transmitter which transmits the synchronizing sequences thereto typically requires a significant number of processing steps to be performed. A correlation is typically performed between signals received by the receiver and a stored synchronization word. When a sequence of symbol bits of the received signal exhibits a high correlation with the stored synchronization word, a determination is made that such received symbol bits form the synchronization sequence transmitted to the receiver. Synchronization of the receiver with the network station is thereby effectuated when the format of the signal transmitted to the receiver is known. That is to say, when the synchronization sequence is transmitted to the receiver according to a known format, locations of other signal components of signals transmitted to the receiver can be determined once the location of the synchronization sequences are determined.
Conventionally, groups of received symbol bits are each correlated with the stored synchronization word. Conventionally, to determine the correlation of the received symbol bits with the stored synchronization word requires a first-order number, N, of calculations to be performed upon each group of symbol bits. The number of processing steps required to perform correlations upon each group of symbol bits received by the receiver quickly becomes a very significant number, requiring a significant amount of processing to determine the reception of the synchronization sequences.
When the signals transmitted to the receiver are subjected to high levels of attenuation or multi-path distortion, detection of the synchronization sequences is more difficult as the synchronization sequences might be distorted or attenuated during their transmission to the receiver.
Any manner by which to provide a high margin synchronization sequence to a receiver to permit the receiver to become synchronized with a transmitter while requiring a lesser number of processing steps to be performed would be advantageous.
It is in light of this background information related to synchronization of a receiver with a transmitter, such as a user terminal of a cellular communication system, that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.

Synchronization method, and associated circuitry, for synchronizing a receiver with a transmitter


A high speed, low power 3-2 adder (300, 500) with latchable outputs comprises a most significant bit (MSB) adder circuit (100) and a least significant bit (LSB) adder circuit (200). MSB adder circuit (100) includes three differential data inputs (A1, B1, and C1), a latch enable input (LE1), three separate bias points, and an MSB output. In addition the LSB adder circuit includes three differential data inputs (A2, B2, and C2), a latch enable input (LE2), three separate bias points and a LSB output. Internal latch circuits (172, 272) and latch enable circuits (174, 274) are provided in each adder stage. Internal latch enable inputs are connected in parallel in one configuration. Separate latch enable inputs are provide in a second configuration. Separate bias points are also provided in each adder stage.

One problem faced in the design of digital integrated circuits for communication equipment is unnecessary transistors and the power and current associated with them. Many digital integrated circuits use adder circuits along with latching circuits.
What is needed is an approach for reducing the transistor count and the power required and increasing the speed of adder circuits.

Apparatus and method for a low power latchable adder


Self calibrating micro-fabricated load cells are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a self calibrating load cell comprises a resonant double ended tuning fork force sensor and a phase locked loop circuit for detection of frequency changes upon external load application to the resonant double ended tuning fork force sensor.

The motivation for the development of novel micro-mechanical test frames is grounded in the recent development of micro-architected cellular materials. Novel advances in their manufacturing and optimal design urgently require the development of versatile and accurate experimental techniques for mechanical characterization at the unit cell level. Wide force and displacement ranges are generally necessary, while nN and nm resolutions are needed to capture small-scale phenomena. The ideal micromechanical test frame should be capable of measuring forces with resolutions in the 1-100 nN range with potentially large displacements (˜1 mm), allow optical (or SEM) access to the test coupon with potential for strain mapping (via Digital Image Correlation), be readily reconfigurable and adaptable to microstructures of a variety of shapes and sizes.
On-chip MEMS test frames have already been demonstrated. Although excellent for alignment purposes and resolutions, they lack the displacement range and versatility discussed above. A hybrid micro-test frame (comprising an off-chip actuator and a MEMS sensor) with the desired displacement range and resolution was recently introduced, but the compliant sensor limited the achievable force range. A limited number of fully integrated nanoindenter/SEM combinations exist today; but such devices are unique, highly customized, extremely expensive, and often limited in the maximum achievable displacement and/or force range.
The dependence of the resonant frequencies of structures on internal stresses had found applications in vibrating cylinder pressure transducers as early as the mid-1960s. A decade later, separation of the sensor element and the pressure chamber was shown to improve the resolution, resulting in one of the first demonstrations of axially loaded resonant load cells. This approach was subsequently applied to micro accelerometers and precision scales. The use of resonant force sensors for material characterization was first implemented at the macro scale. More recent developments in silicon micromachining techniques and brilliant yet simple design solutions for actuation and detection mechanisms led to micro-machined resonant force sensors, at first designed for accelerometer applications. The DETF structure is later proven to be a feasible design for a number of other micro sensor applications.
The governing mechanics of DETF sensors is well documented, as is their most recent application to accelerometers and gyroscopes.

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA


A stacked gate nonvolatile memory floating gate device has a control gate. Programming of the cell in the array is accomplished by hot channel electron injection from the drain to the floating gate. Erasure occurs by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling of electrons from the floating gate to the control gate. Finally, to increase the density, each cell can be made in a trench.

Nonvolatile memory cells using floating gate as the storage device are well known in the art. Nonvolatile memory cells using a floating gate for storage can be stacked gate type or split gate type. In a stacked gate cell, the cell has a first region and a second region spaced apart from one another in a semiconductor substrate with a channel region therebetween. A floating gate is spaced apart and insulated from the entire channel region, and controls the conduction of current in the channel region. A control gate is capacitively coupled and is spaced apart and insulated from the floating gate. The control gate is "stacked" on top of the floating gate—hence the term "stacked gate nonvolatile memory cell."
In a stacked gate nonvolatile memory cell, programming occurs by either electrons being Fowler-Nordheim tunneled from the first region or the second region onto the floating gate or injected onto the floating gate through the mechanism of hot channel electron injection. The erase mechanism is for the electrons from the floating gate tunnel through an insulating layer either to the substrate, or to the first or second region.
In a split gate type nonvolatile memory cell, the floating gate is spaced apart and insulated from only a portion of the channel region. The control gate is over another portion of the channel region. Collectively, the operation of both the floating gate and the control gate is required to control the flow of current in the channel region. U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130 discloses a split gate nonvolatile memory cell in which erasing occurs through the action of electrons from the floating gate being tunneled to an insulating layer to the control gate. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130 is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
It is one of the objects of the present invention to improve upon the stacked gate nonvolatile memory cell of the prior art.

Stacked gate memory cell with erase to gate, array, and method of manufacturing


A central hub includes a plate and a sleeve attached to the plate and adapted to receive a sprinkler head. The sleeve may be a telescoping sleeve. By providing a central hub with the plate and sleeve, the central hub provides increased stability and versatility to the sprinkler head. The plate provides additional stability and support to the sleeve, and thus the sprinkler head, rendering the combination better able to operate effectively when high fluid pressures are utilized. The central hub is generally attached to a support structure by some mechanism, such as a leg. The addition of the plate adds versatility by increasing the number and variety of legs that can be used to attach the central hub to the support structure.

The invention relates to a fire protection sprinkler head support system.
A typical automatic fire sprinkler system includes a network of pipes that carry a fire suppression fluid, e.g., water, to each room in the building. Conduit sections carry the fluid from the pipes to sprinkler heads strategically located in different rooms. The position and orientation of each sprinkler head is typically maintained in place by a support mechanism. When the room reaches an elevated temperature due to a fire the sprinkler head is activated allowing a stream of fire suppression fluid to be directed over the intended area of coverage. During operation the fluid pressure at the sprinkler head can reach as high as 175 psi, generating significant back pressure on the sprinkler head""s support system. The support mechanism must be capable of holding the sprinkler head securely in place during operation.
The invention features a fire sprinkler head support for positioning a sprinkler head relative to a support structure in a ceiling, floor or wall.
According to one aspect of the invention, the invention features a central hub including a plate and a sleeve attached to the plate and adapted to receive a sprinkler head.
In another aspect, the invention features a support system including a central hub that includes a plate and a telescoping sleeve, attached to the plate, and adapted to receive a sprinkler head.
By providing a central hub with the plate and sleeve, the central hub provides increased stability and versatility to the sprinkler head. The plate provides additional stability and support to the sleeve, and thus the sprinkler head, rendering the combination better able to operate effectively when high fluid pressures are utilized. The central hub is generally attached to a support structure by some mechanism, such as a leg. The addition of the plate adds versatility by increasing the number and variety of legs that can be used to attach the central hub to the support structure.
Embodiments of these aspects of the invention may include one or more of the following features.
The central hub includes a flexible sprinkler assemblage having a flexible conduit, a fitting attached to the flexible conduit, and the sprinkler head attached to the fitting. The sleeve includes a fastener (e.g., screw or bolt) adapted to removably secure the sleeve to the plate. The sleeve may be formed integral to the sprinkler head.
The sleeve includes a locking device (e.g., a set screw) adapted to adjust the position of the sprinkler head in a direction transverse to a plane defined by a broad dimension of the plate.
The plate defines a channel sized to slidably receive the sleeve. In certain embodiments, tile plate includes first and second plate sections, the sleeve includes a first sleeve section attached to the first plate section and a second sleeve section attached to the second plate section. The first and second plate sections are joined by a connection (e.g., hinge) adapted to allow the first and second plate sections to separate to receive the sprinkler head. The central hub further includes a first and a second leg, each attached to the plate, the second leg being substantially parallel to the first leg.
The central hub further includes a rod having a first end attached to the central hub and a second end attached to a building component.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a presently preferred embodiment, and from the claims.


A method and apparatus for adjusting usage of digital signal processing (DSP) in a handheld terminal receives reception level data and reception quality data from a network, compares the received reception level data value and reception quality data value with pre-stored basis values, and then adjusts present usage of DSP based on the comparison result. Through this method and apparatus, usage of digital signal processing elements in the terminal is automatically optimized, thereby providing stable communication service to users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handheld terminal and in particular to a method and an apparatus for optimizing usage of DSP (digital signal processing) relating to resources of a handheld terminal.
2. Background of the Related Art
In a handheld terminal, a basis value for using a resource is set. As a result, the performance of the terminal is limited by the range of the set basis value. Also, handheld terminals communicate with a network to determine the network's capabilities. When a basis value of the handheld terminal is different from a capability supported by the network, the terminal adjusts the basis value through a negotiation process with the network.
The handheld terminal can, for example, adjust a data transmission speed flexibly according to a protocol by checking whether the network environment is stable or unstable through the negotiation process. However, because the data transmission speed adjusting operation is performed based on the network capability, a method for using resources of the handheld terminal efficiently is not considered.
In general, the network checks a radio channel with reference to a measurement report and allocates the channel a full rate or half rate to manage limited resources efficiently on the basis of the checking result. For example, when a transmission state of the network is unstable, the network allocates the half rate in order to receive more users. More specifically, in the conventional art although data speed is adjusted according to performance of the network, a process for using resources of the handheld terminal efficiently is not considered.
Accordingly, in the conventional art although the handheld terminal supports only the full rate and the network is in the unstable state, in a processing performance of the handheld terminal, only resources fixed to the existing algorithm are used.
However, in the handheld terminal in accordance with the conventional art, in a condition exceeding a processing capability of DSP, throughput of DSP is reduced. And, in the network unstable state, communication quality is lowered, a communication disable state occurs, or in the worst case the handheld terminal may be powered-off. In order to reduce throughput of the DSP, a user has to disable a DSP usage increasing factor or resource manually. However, because it is difficult for the general user to disable the factor or resource, the user may not use an interface appropriately.
In addition, in an application region interlocking with a DTE (data terminal equipment) such as a PC (personal computer) and a PDA (personal digital assistant), although the user knows well detailed contents of specification (V.25 ter, etc.) and sets a specification value using "at command", an application is impossible because a terminal initialization order (for example; factory reset) by a program therein is received. It is therefore impossible to actually reduce usage of DSP. More specifically, when the network environment is unstable, it is impossible to use resources efficiently because the handheld terminal sets a communication state with the network using fixed basis values for determining a memory, a FIFO (first-in first-out) size, a data frame size, and application of resources (factors) which influence DSP (data compression, DTX (discontinuous transmission usage), etc.,), to name a few.
In addition, in application interlocking with the DTE (PC, PDA, additional terminal, etc.), the user can use an interface such as an ITU (international telecommunication union) V.25 ter, a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) 07.07, and a GSM 07.05 as occasion demands. In that case, the user has to have a thorough understanding of the mechanical specification thereof and accurately apply the specification manually. Because it is impossible to apply the specification accurately, system performance is degraded.
In addition, in interlocking with an application program of the DTE, a terminal basis value resetting phenomenon occurs irregularly due to characteristics of the application program. In that case, although the user knows well about contents of the specification, it is impossible for the user to apply the specification smoothly because the specification is automatically varied by the application program.
As described above, in the conventional terminal because it is impossible for the user to use resources efficiently, usage of DSP cannot be reduced. In addition, in a condition exceeding the DSP processing capability, throughput of the DSP is lowered in a network unstable state, communication quality is lowered, a communication impossible state occurs, and in the worst case the handheld terminal is powered-off.

Method and apparatus for adjusting usage of DSP of handheld terminal


A probe card for testing of semiconductor dice is provided. The probe card includes a mounting plate and a plurality of substrate segments supported by the mounting plate.

The present invention relates to equipment for testing of integrated circuits. More particularly, the present invention relates to a probe card for wafer testing of semiconductor integrated circuits.
In semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing, it is conventional to test the integrated circuits ("IC's") during manufacturing and prior to shipment to ensure proper operation. Wafer testing is a well-known testing technique commonly used in production testing of wafer-mounted semiconductor IC's (or "dice"), wherein a temporary electrical current is established between automatic test equipment (ATE) and each IC (or "die") on the wafer to demonstrate proper performance of the IC's. Exemplary components used in wafer testing include an ATE test board (e.g., a multilayer printed circuit board that is connected to the ATE) that transfers the test signals back and forth between the ATE and a probe card.
An exemplary probe card includes a printed circuit board that generally contains several hundred probe needles positioned to establish electrical contact with a series of connection terminals (or die contacts) on the IC wafer. Known probe cards may also include a substrate or so-called space transformer which electrically connects the probes to the printed circuit board. The space transformer may include a multi-layer ceramic substrate, a multi-layer organic substrate, etc. It is known to mount each of the plurality of flexible probes to a mounting surface of the space transformer. Typically, the probes are mounted to electrically conductive, preferably metallic bonding pads formed on the substrate though conventional plating or etching techniques well known to those of ordinary skill in the art of semiconductor fabrication.
One difficulty in the fabrication of probe cards is that the mounting surface of the space transformer substrate is desirably maintained within a tight flatness tolerance, such that undesirable variation in the positions of the probe tips, which connect with the IC connection terminals, is minimized. Tight positional tolerances of all the probe tips within the probe assembly are crucial for establishing and maintaining identical contacting conditions between the individual probe tips and the terminals of the tested chips. Positional tolerances affect both the position of the probe tips relative to the corresponding terminals and the force required to establish a satisfactory electrical connection between the probes and the IC connection terminals. In order to tightly control positional tolerances of the probe tips, it is desirable that the mounting surface of the plurality of probes be as nearly planar as practicable.
A large probe card is desirable in that a larger probe card can accommodate concurrent testing of a larger number of semiconductor dice or testing of a larger single semiconductor die, and thus increase the efficiency of the testing process. However, as the size of the probe card and the substrate increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to efficiently produce substrates having satisfactory flatness characteristics. For example, as the substrate material is lapped to a desired configuration, residual stresses can be created or relieved. Changes in the stress state of the substrate material can in turn cause warpage of the substrate, which tends to result in larger magnitude flatness deviations as the size of the substrate increases. Furthermore, a non-repairable defect in a relatively large substrate work piece results in more waste, and thus less efficiency, than would occur in a production process having the same defect rate and producing relatively small substrate work pieces. Still further, as the size of the probe card and substrate increases, variation in position of the probe tips from a desired nominal position also increases as the substrate is exposed to temperature variations and undergoes expansion and contraction in accordance with the substrate material's coefficient of thermal expansion properties.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a probe card and substrate combining relatively large size with satisfactory flatness characteristics, good manufacturing characteristics, and capable of maintaining satisfactory positional tolerances over the expected operating temperature range of the probe card.


A system for retrieving and displaying programming information in response to selection of a category of programming information. Programming information is presented via a schedule display having a category display, a subcategory category display, and a program display. The category display displays an array of category tiles representing categories of programming information. The subcategory display displays an array of subcategory tiles representing subcategories that are associated with the categories of the category display. The program display displays an array of program tiles that are associated with the subcategories of the subcategory display. A viewing panel extends along each of the displays for displaying one each of the category, subcategory, and program tiles. Classes of programming information are selected by scrolling the tiles of the associated displays until the desired class items are presented within the viewing panel.

A national information infrastructure constructed from both wireless and wired communications networks supports the communication of information in homes and businesses throughout the country. Telephones, televisions, radios, computers, and facsimile machines are used each day to receive, store, process, perform, display, and transmit data, text, voice, sound, and graphic images. These devices are typically connected via fiber optic cables, coaxial cables, electronic switches and routers, microwave networks, satellites, and other communications technologies. This national information infrastructure, which may one day be expanded to a global infrastructure, supports the electronic transfer of a wide variety of programming to entertain, instruct, or inform receiving parties. In view of both the variety and the substantial amount of available programming, a user typically uses a programming schedule or guide to select a desired program for reception (or transmission) on a certain date and time.
For example, a subscriber to cable network programming services, such as premium cable television or audio services, typically uses a printed schedule to select a program for viewing or listening to at a certain time period. In addition, certain cable television services supply the viewer with an on-screen programming schedule from the headend processor via the cable distribution network. For both printed and on-screen programming schedules, the programming information is typically presented as a function of the date and time for the scheduled programs. Thus, if the subscriber is interested in viewing a sports-related program, it is necessary for the subscriber to review the time periods for that date to determine if a sports-related program is scheduled during the viewing period. This time-based presentation of programming schedule information is satisfactory only when the amount of available programming is relatively limited. Furthermore, unlike the printed programming schedule, the user typically cannot control the order of the programming information supplied by an on-screen programming schedule because this information is supplied from a remote location via a conventional one-way cable distribution network.
In view of the advances in computing and broadband communications systems, it is expected that the present information infrastructure will evolve into an integrated communications network supported by advanced high-speed, interactive, broadband, digital communications equipment. Telephones, televisions, radios, computers, and facsimile machines will be linked by this interactive broadband information infrastructure and will be able to communicate and interact with other communication devices in a digital signal format. This interactive broadband information infrastructure, commonly referred to as the "information superhighway," has great potential to increase access to information and entertainment resources that can be delivered quickly and economically anywhere in the country. For example, it is feasible that hundreds of channels of "television" programming, thousands of audio recordings, and literally millions of "magazines" and "books" can be made available to homes and businesses via this information superhighway. In view of this tremendous expansion of available programming, the use of a programming schedule or guide will be critical for a user to select a desired program. However, as choices of programming increase, the prior time-based format of programming schedules becomes a less manageable technique for choosing a desired program because of the numerous programs available for any one time period. Thus, there is a need for a category-based programming schedule to clarify and to simplify for an audience the process of selecting programs of interest to each audience member.
The present invention supplies a system of retrieving and displaying a schedule for programming based primarily upon the classes of programs, rather than the time period for each program. The programming information displayed by this system is restricted to those programs matching characteristics selected by the viewer. This permits the viewer to narrow the scope of programming information supplied by the system to a more manageable number of choices and enables the viewer to have personal control over the displayed programming information. The present invention also provides a highly intuitive user interface to support the easy and convenient selection of desired programming information.

System for displaying programming information


An electro-optic Mach-Zehnder modulator arrangement includes first and second optical waveguides forming, respectively, first and second arms of the Mach-Zehnder modulator. An electrode arrangement includes a first waveguide electrode output port coupled to the first waveguide electrodes a second waveguide electrode arranged on top of a capacitive segment of the first and the second optical waveguides, respectively, such that a voltage can be applied across the capacitive segments of the first and second optical waveguide. At least one driver unit supplies a voltage to the electrode arrangement. The driver unit includes first and second output ports coupled, respectively, to the first and second waveguide electrodes. The driver unit supplies first and second varying signals to the first and second waveguide electrodes via the first and second output ports, respectively. A non-grounded conductive region connects the capacitive segments of the first and second optical waveguides to each other.

The invention relates to an electro-optic Mach-Zehnder modulator arrangement and to a method for operating a Mach-Zehnder modulator arrangement.
It is known in the art to use Mach-Zehnder interferometers as electro-optic modulators in optical high-speed transmission systems, wherein, for example, separate (electrically uncoupled) continuous electrodes disposed on the optical waveguides of the modulator are employed for applying a voltage across the optical waveguides. Such a modulator is disclosed, for example, in the publication "Advances in InP Mach-Zehnder modulators for large capacity photonic network systems", H. Yasaka et al., Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, IPRM 2008, p. 1. A high frequency (e.g. >20 GHz) voltage is supplied to the electrodes by two 50 Ohm drivers amplifying a high frequency input signal. The optical waveguides comprise capacitive segments in the form of integrated diodes, wherein a DC bias is applied to the electrodes in order to bias the diodes in reverse direction. In order to prevent the DC voltage from entering the drivers, a DC blocking capacitance or a bias-T has to be arranged between the output ports of the drivers and the electrodes of the modulator. The DC blocking capacitance or the bias-T, however, may deteriorate the high frequency properties of the modulator and incurs additional costs.
Further, the publication "10 Gb/s-80-km operation of full C-band InP MZ modulator with linear-accelerator-type tiny in-line centipede electrode structure directly driven by logic IC of 90-nm CMOS process", T. Kato et al., Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition, 2011, p. 1, discloses a Mach-Zehnder modulator comprising a plurality of waveguide electrodes arranged on the optical waveguides of the modulator, wherein multiple drivers are used to individually drive the waveguide electrodes.

Mach-Zehnder modulator arrangement and method for operating a Mach-Zehnder modulator arrangement

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.


A non-contact power supply control device controls power supply to transmit power in a non-contact manner from a ground-side power supply section provided outside a vehicle traveling using stored power to a vehicle-side power receiving section provided to the vehicle. A detection unit detects a living body at the periphery of the ground-side power supply section. A control unit restricts the power supply in a case where the detection unit detects the living body at the periphery of the ground-side power supply section during the power supply operation to the vehicle-side power receiving section.

In recent years, an electrically driven vehicle such as an electric vehicle and a hybrid car has attracted attention as an environmentally friendly vehicle. The electrically driven vehicle is equipped with a battery that is capable of charging driving power from an external power supply. As a method of supplying power for charging, a plug-in type power supply method in which a power-supply-side power source outlet and a charging inlet of a vehicle are connected to each other with a cable, and a non-contact type power supply method not using the cable has been disclosed.
As a technology related to the non-contact type power supply method in the related art, for example, a non-contact power supply system disclosed in JPA-2010-93957 may be exemplified. In this technology in the related art, a power transmission is performed with an electromagnetic field interposed between a primary coil and a secondary coil. In the non-contact power supply system disclosed in JP-A-2010-93957, power from an external facility equipped with an AC power supply is converted into high-frequency power by, a high-frequency power driver and then is supplied to the primary coil. In the secondary coil provided at the bottom of a vehicle, a current flows due to an electromagnetic coupling, and thereby power is supplied to the secondary coil from the opposite primary coil.
In the related art, as described above, since power is transmitted with an electromagnetic field interposed between the primary coil disposed in the vicinity of the ground and the secondary coil disposed at the bottom of the vehicle, during a power supply operation, there is a concern in that when a person is in the vicinity of the primary coil or the secondary coil, the human body may be affected by the electromagnetic field.
Specifically, in the related art, when doors of a vehicle are locked, a charging starting request signal is transmitted to an external apparatus of the vehicle, and then a charging operation is started. When the charging operation is started at this timing, there is a possibility that a person may be in the vicinity of the vehicle, and the human body may be affected by the electromagnetic field.
In recent years, an electrically driven vehicle such as an electric vehicle and a hybrid car has attracted attention as an environmentally friendly vehicle. The electrically driven vehicle is equipped with a battery that is capable of charging driving power from an external power supply. As a method of supplying power for charging, a plug-in type power supply method in which a power-supply-side power source outlet and a charging inlet of a vehicle are connected to each other with a charging cable, and a non-contact type power supply method not using a power supply cable has been disclosed.
As a technology related to the non-contact type power supply method in the related art, for example, a non-contact power charge system disclosed in JPA-2008-87733 may be exemplified. This technology in the related art performs a power transmission via a magnetic field. In the non-contact power charge system disclosed in JP-A-2008-87733, power from an external facility equipped with an AC power supply is converted into high-frequency power by a high-frequency power driver and is supplied to the primary coil, and the primary coil transmits high-frequency power to a vehicle in which the secondary coil is mounted by electromagnetic induction.
In the technology in the related art, as described above, since power is transmitted with an electromagnetic field interposed between the primary coil disposed in the vicinity of the ground and the secondary coil disposed at the bottom of the vehicle, during a charging operation, when a person is in the vicinity of the primary coil or the secondary coil, or a small animal is on a box covering a primary self-resonance coil, the human body or animal may be affected by the electromagnetic field.
The electrically driven vehicle such as the electric vehicle and the hybrid car is equipped with a battery that is capable of charging driving power from an external power supply. As a method of supplying power for charging, a plug-in type power supply device in which a power-supply-side power source outlet and a charging inlet of a vehicle are connected to each other with a cable, and a non-contact type power supply device not using the cable has been disclosed.
As the non-contact type power supply device, a type using electromagnetic induction may be exemplified. In the type using electromagnetic induction, in order to provide a countermeasure against a metallic foreign body generating heat due to a high-frequency magnetic field and reaching a high temperature, and thereby stability of a product possibly not being secured, a device that automatically stops the power supply in a case where the power supply device reaches a high temperature is provided. In addition, a transmission efficiency is detected during the power supply, and whether or not a foreign body such as an object or a person approaches is detected during the power supply based on the transmission efficiency (for example, JP-A-2010-119246).
In addition, when the non-contact power supply is used for charging a vehicle during parking, a positional deviation between a power transmitting section and a power receiving section is different each time because a deviation in a parking position is present. Therefore, in JP-A-2006-345588, transmission efficiency between power transmission and power reception is used, and a relative position is adjusted to improve the transmission efficiency.
In JP-A-2010-119246, it is difficult to discriminate between an efficiency deterioration due to a foreign body and an efficiency deterioration due to a positional deviation. Therefore, the efficiency deterioration due to the positional deviation may be erroneously determined as the efficiency deterioration due to the foreign body, and the power supply may be stopped.
In consideration of this, a technology in which the power transmission is performed while changing a frequency in minuscule power, an efficient frequency characteristic is detected, the efficiency deterioration due to the foreign body and the efficiency deterioration due to the positional deviation of the coils are discriminated based on the detection result, and the coil position is adjusted using a coil position adjusting section may be considered. In addition, JP-A-2006-345588 discloses means for making the primary coil move in order for the efficiency of the power supply coil to be a maximum, and for making the efficiency deterioration due to the positional deviation a minimum. However, this means needing a circuit that changes a frequency of supplying power or a mechanism that allows a coil to physically move. Therefore, a manufacturing cost increases, but also it is difficult to detect whether or not the foreign body is present in a case where the foreign body intrudes between the coils during power supply.

Non-contact power supply control device, non-contact power supply system, and non-contact power charge system


The present invention provides compounds which are useful as safe substitutes for the organotin reagent used in coupling reaction for the oxymethylation of aromatic rings, such as alkoxymethylation or hydroxymethylation, with a palladium catalyst and which can dispense with chromatographic purification with silica gel in the production and are suitable for mass production; and compounds applicable even to the oxymethylation of aromatic ring substrates which do not permit coupling reaction by conventional technique or have low reactivity.

In a coupling reaction of introducing an oxymethyl group such as an alkoxymethyl group or a hydroxymethyl group into an aromatic ring using a palladium catalyst, it is reported to use an organotin reagent such as an alkoxymethyltin reagent and the like. As the organotin reagent used in the reaction, a methoxymethyl tributyltin reagent disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1, a hydroxymethyl tributyltin reagent disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2 or the like has been reported.    Non-Patent Document 1: Chem. Lett. 1984, 1225.    Non-Patent Document 2: Chem. Lett. 1985, 997.


Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with feature generalization leveraging topological model functionality are described. In one embodiment, a method includes loading primitives associated with a first feature and a second feature into a topological model. The topological model may be an existing topological model or a topological model that is created by the feature generalization methods and systems described herein. The topological model stores primitives that are shared by the first feature and the second feature as a single unique shared primitive. The method includes generalizing respective primitives including at least one shared primitive to produce corresponding respective generalized primitives, and associating a generalized primitive corresponding to the shared primitive with the first feature and the second feature, while maintaining alignment across shared edges of adjacent features and hierarchical relationships between features.

Spatial databases store geographical and topological data to support map rendering and navigational applications. A major consideration when rendering spatial data is to decide which layers to display at a particular zoom level on a map. For example, a layer may include very detailed polygonal features with about 3000 features in each polygon. When the zoom level is very far away (e.g., "zoomed out"), the preferred practice is not display these very detailed polygons because the detail of the polygons is lost due to the limited resolution of the display. Many of the polygon vertices are rendered onto just a few display pixels. In addition, transferring the large number of vertices associated with detailed polygonal features at a high zoom level can introduce a network bottleneck.
A more realistic scenario is to use zoom control to only "turn on" the detailed polygons when reasonably zoomed in, and to display a generalized, less detailed representation of the polygons when zoomed further out. This can be accomplished by generating a generalized version of the detailed polygon layer. The generalized layer is displayed when the display is zoomed out. Correct usage of zoom control and generalized layers can produce better map generation performance.

Feature generalization using topological model


A toothed wheel system for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle is provided. The least one tooth system has a plurality of teeth that follow one another in the circumferential direction of the gear wheel, and at least one elastomer track adjoining the tooth system in the axial direction. The elastomer track is formed as a regular polygon on the outer circumferential side. The number of sides of the polygon correspond to the number of teeth.

The invention relates to a toothed wheel, in particular for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, having a plurality of teeth which follow one another in the circumferential direction of the toothed wheel and including at least one elastomer track which adjoins the tooth system in the axial direction, the at least one elastomer track being formed as a regular polygon on the outer circumferential side with a number of sides corresponding to the number of teeth.
Such a toothed wheel, in particular for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, is already known from DE 10 2011 102 463 A1, for example. The toothed wheel has at least one tooth system which has a plurality of teeth which follow one another in the circumferential direction of the toothed wheel. Here, respective tooth gaps are arranged between the teeth, with the result that the teeth can engage, for example, in corresponding clearances of a chain. The toothed wheel can thereby interact with the chain in a form-fitting manner via the tooth system such that, for example, the chain can be driven by the toothed wheel or else the toothed wheel can be driven by the chain.
Furthermore, the toothed wheel has at least one elastomer track which adjoins the tooth system in the axial direction. The elastomer track is a track or a pathway made of an elastomer, with the elastomer track being arranged next to the tooth system in the axial direction and extending so as to completely run around for example in the circumferential direction of the toothed wheel, that is to say without interruption. The toothed wheel has, for example, a chain track along which the chain runs if the toothed wheel taking the form of a chain wheel rotates and interacts with the chain. Here, at least the tooth system is arranged in the chain track, with the elastomer track being arranged laterally or in the axial direction next to the chain track. The elastomer track makes it possible for excess striking of the chain on the toothed wheel to be damped if the chain runs into the chain track. The generation of noise can be reduced as a result.
In DE 10 2011 102 463 A1, the elastomer track is designed to be corrugated on the outer circumferential side and thus has a plurality of successive corrugation peaks and a plurality of successive corrugation troughs, with the corrugation peaks alternating with the corrugation troughs in the circumferential direction of the elastomer track. This means that a corrugation trough of the elastomer track is arranged between every two corrugation peaks which directly follow one another in the circumferential direction of the toothed wheel.
It is an object of the present invention to further develop a toothed wheel of the type stated at the outset in such a way that a particularly high degree of robustness and a particularly advantageous noise behavior of the toothed wheel can be achieved.
In order to further develop a toothed wheel of the type specified in such a way that a particularly high degree of robustness and a particularly advantageous noise behavior of the toothed wheel can be achieved, there is provision according to the invention that the elastomer track is formed as a regular polygon at least on the outer circumferential side, the number of sides of said polygon corresponding to the number of teeth. In other words, the elastomer track is formed as a regular polygonal profile at least on the outer circumferential side, the number of sides of said profile corresponding to the number of teeth.
The invention is based in particular on the following finding: in the case of conventional elastomer tracks configured for example with a corrugated shape, a customary chain link plate of a conventional roller chain or sleeve chain penetrates the elastomer track or the elastomer thereof nonuniformly, since the chain link plate has a straight side via which the chain link plate is supported on the elastomer track. By contrast to the straight side of the chain link plate, the conventional elastomer tracks are not straight, but curved or corrugated. This leads in the long run to damage to the elastomer track in the region of the deepest penetration, or the acoustic effectiveness of the elastomer track in terms of damping the chain and thus in terms of avoiding noise is not completely utilized if an excessively small overlap is selected.
Against this background, the polygon, in particular its straight sides, constitutes an ideal counter-partner for the chain link plate, in particular its shape or its straight side, resulting in uniform overlapping and thus penetration over as long a region of the chain link plate as possible. The configuration of the chain link plate with a straight side is advantageous for the chain overall, which means that a different design of the chain link plate can be disadvantageous. The elastomer track is therefore adapted in terms of its shape to the shape of the chain link plate.
These disadvantages can now be avoided since the elastomer track is formed as a regular polygon on the outer circumferential side, the number of sides of said polygon corresponding to the number of teeth. This makes it possible to achieve a particularly uniform overlapping of the chain with the elastomer track, with the result that the generation of noise during the operation of the toothed wheel can be avoided or be at least kept low. Moreover, excessive wear of the elastomer track can also be avoided over a long service life of the toothed wheel. Furthermore, upon its run-in into a chain track of the toothed wheel that comprises the tooth system, the chain can be effectively damped by the elastomer track, with the result that an excessively hard knocking or striking of the chain against the toothed wheel can be avoided.
For example in combination with standard chains with a straight link plate shape it is possible, through the configuration of the elastomer track as a polygon or polygonal profile, for there to be achieved an at least substantially uniform overlapping with the elastomer track over the entire link plate length. The acoustic effectiveness of the elastomer track is thereby optimized or occurring damage can be minimized. This results in a particularly long service life of the elastomer track, and therefore the chain and thus noise can also be effectively damped by the elastomer track over a long service life of the toothed wheel.
It has been shown to be particularly advantageous if in each case one of the sides of the polygon is arranged centrally with respect to in each case one of the teeth. In other words, the polygon is preferably oriented such that in each case one of the sides of the polygon is situated centrally below in each case one of the teeth of the tooth system. What is to be understood by this is that the elastomer track is not for instance covered outwardly in the radial direction by the teeth, but that the elastomer track is arranged next to the teeth in the axial direction and thus is oriented relative to the teeth in the circumferential direction in such a way that respective centers of the teeth and of the sides of the polygon coincide. In other words, there is provision in this embodiment that a respective center plane of the respective side that extends in the axial direction of the toothed wheel coincides with a respective center plane of the respective tooth that extends in the axial direction of the toothed wheel. Excessive loading on the elastomer track that emanates from the chain can thereby be avoided, with the result that excessive wear of the elastomer track can be avoided. Furthermore, the chain can be damped particularly well as a result.
In a further advantageous refinement of the invention, the respective sides of the polygon adjoin one another without interruption in the circumferential direction of the toothed wheel. What is to be understood by this is that no clearances which are set back inwardly in the radial direction with respect to the sides are arranged between the respective sides in the circumferential direction, but the sides directly adjoin one another without respective depressions or clearances being arranged between the sides. As a result, excessive local loading of the elastomer track can be avoided.
In order to be able to damp the chain and thus noise in a particularly advantageous manner, there is provision in a further embodiment of the invention that the elastomer track is formed from a hydrated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR).
In order to achieve a particularly high degree of robustness of the elastomer track and thus of the toothed wheel overall, there is provision in a further embodiment of the invention that the polygon is a regular convex polygon. This is to be understood as a geometric figure in the form of a polygon, with this figure having no indentation at any point.
Finally, it has been shown to be advantageous if the toothed wheel takes the form of a chain wheel for a chain drive. In its completely produced state, the chain drive comprises the toothed wheel in the form of a chain wheel and at least one chain which at least partially wraps around the toothed wheel in its circumferential direction. Here, the toothed wheel engages for example in respective clearances of the chain by way of its teeth, with the result that the toothed wheel interacts with the chain in a form-fitting manner. As a result, the toothed wheel can be driven by the chain or the chain can be driven by the toothed wheel. The clearances are formed for example by chain links and/or chain link plates.
The invention also includes an internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle which can be driven by the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine includes a chain drive which has at least one toothed wheel according to the invention and at least one chain which at least partially wraps around the toothed wheel. Advantages and advantageous refinements of the toothed wheel according to the invention can be considered as advantages and advantageous refinements of the internal combustion engine according to the invention, and vice versa.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Identical or functionally identical elements are provided in the figures with the same reference signs.

Toothed wheel for an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Thin films of single crystal-like materials are made by using flow-through ion beam deposition during specific substrate rotation around an axis in a clocking action. The substrate is quickly rotated to a selected deposition position, paused in the deposition position for ionized material to be deposited, then quickly rotated to the next selected deposition position. The clocking motion can be achieved by use of a lobed cam on the spindle with which the substrate is rotated or by stopping and starting a stepper motor at long and short intervals. Other symmetries can be programmed into the process, allowing virtually any oriented inorganic crystal to be grown on the substrate surface.

This invention relates to deposition of inorganic oriented crystal layers using ion beam deposition technology.
Crystallites having the same orientation with respect to the plane of the substrate but twisted relative to each other have been produced. While this property is useful for catalysis, hardness or corrosion properties, materials having this property are not useful as seed layers for electronic materials. Electronic materials must be as defect free as possible, and they need to be single crystals or single crystal-like to achieve optimum electrical performance. These materials have been produced using molecular beam epitaxy, which requires the use of a single crystal surface on which to grow the electronic material and multiple sources. Therefore, there is a need for simpler, faster methods of production that can build oriented crystal layers on substrates other than single-crystal substrates, particularly for uses such as high temperature material applications.
It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for deposition of oriented crystal layers on substrate materials.
It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for producing a single crystal like substrate on inexpensive amorphous materials such as glass.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for deposition of oriented crystal layers on substrate materials in high vacuum rather than ultrahigh vacuum environments.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for producing single crystal like substrates that will allow the growth of high quality oriented crystal materials.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. The claims are intended to cover all changes and modifications within the spirit and scope thereof.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects, and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, thin films of oriented crystals have been made by using flow through ion beam deposition during specific substrate rotation about an axis in a clocking action. The substrate is quickly rotated to a selected deposition position, paused in the deposition position for ionized material to be deposited, then quickly rotated to the next selected deposition position.
The clocking motion can be achieved by use of a lobed cam on the spindle with which the substrate is rotated or by stopping and starting a stepper motor at long and short intervals. The deposition positions are selected in accordance with the orientation and structure of the crystals to be deposited on the substrate. For example, the substrate is rotated from 12 to 3 to 6 to 9 and back to 12 during deposition for four-fold symmetry type crystals. Other symmetries can be programmed into the process, allowing virtually any oriented inorganic crystal to be grown on the substrate surface.

Process and apparatus for making oriented crystal layers

The Regents of the University of California


A three-dimensional display device comprises a flat display panel and an image-converting sheet disposed on or above the display panel. The display panel comprises a matrix of unit display cells arranged as rows and columns and where the cells are spaced apart to have respective row and column direction pitches. The image-converting sheet comprises a plurality of inclined lenticular lenses where the inclination is set according to the row and column direction pitches so as to reduce perception of Moiré patterns when stereo-scopic images are projected through the image-converting sheet to an observer viewing the display panel as an upright panel having respectively different left and right stereo-scopic image projections.

1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure of invention relates to a three-dimensional display device. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a three-dimensional (3D) display device of a lenticular type.
2. Description of Related Technology
As demand increases for providing three-dimensional stereo-scopic images in the animated display industry such as in the computer game industry, the movie industry and so, attempts to provide a practical 3D display device capable of displaying three-dimensional animated images is ongoing. In one approach to 3D imaging, two different 2-dimensional (2D) images are provided to the left and right eyes of an observer so that a corresponding three-dimensional image may be perceived. For example, the observer watches a pair of 2D images through respective eyes, and the 2D images are mixed in the observer's brain so that a three-dimensional effect may be recognized.
Three-dimensional image display devices include controlled stereo-scopic types and auto stereo-scopic types according to whether a requirement of specific glasses is respectively made or not. In general, the auto stereo-scopic image display devices (no special glasses needed) such as barrier type display devices, lenticular type display devices and so on are used in flat panel display devices where the user does not have ready access to vision controlling goggles. The lenticular type display device refracts in different directions (left and right) the light passing through respective left and right pixels by using a light-directing lens so that the three-dimensional images may be perceived. In the lenticular type display device, most of the light passes through the lens rather than being blocked so that decrease of luminance may be minimized as compared to the barrier type display device where light is blocked.
Generally, a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix form on a display panel. An elongated lenticular lens having a corresponding elongation axis may be used where the elongation axis is aligned to a particular arrangement direction of the pixels. In a certain viewing position, the observer may recognize repeated block patterns of the pixels and as a result may not perceive the desired 3D images. For example, in a certain viewing position, the observer may see Moiré patterns or other artifacts on the display panel.
Meanwhile, resolution of multi-view three-dimensional image which changes the three-dimensional effect according to a viewing angle depends on the resolution of the underlying two-dimensional display panel. For example, if the resolution of the two-dimensional display panel is high, the resolution of the three-dimensional image may also be high although not quite as high because resolution is divided amongst left and right visual channels. It may be desirable to increase a size of the display panel to thereby increase the resolution of the two-dimensional display panel, however there is a limit to the size increase of the display panel. In addition, the resolution should be decreased to manufacture multi-view display device using a limited size of the display panel.


A green bead composite for the manufacture of magnetic carrier particles for electrophotography is disclosed. The composite comprises a synthetic polyester or polyurethane as the binder for metal oxide and other metal salt particles. The dried, nonmagnetic green beads are prepared by a spray-drying process. The green beads so prepared are suitable for the production of magnetic carrier particles for electrophotographic development.

In electrophotographic imaging, a latent electrostatic image is formed on a photoconductive element. The image is then rendered visible by a development step in which the latent electrostatic image is contacted with a suitable developer mix.
One method for applying the developer mix is the magnetic brush process, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,618 to Kasper et al. In this method, developer material containing toner particles and magnetic carrier particles is carried by a magnet. The magnet's field causes the magnetic carrier particles to align in a brush-like configuration. When the "magnetic brush" is engaged with the electrostatic latent-image-bearing surface, the toner particles are drawn from the brush to the latent image by electrostatic attraction.
The role of the carrier particles is two-fold: (a) to transport the toner from the toner sump to the magnetic brush, and (b) to charge the toner by tribo-electrification. In an ideal electrophotographic system, the movement of the carrier particles is passive, i.e., under no circumstances should the carrier particles migrate from the magnetic brush onto the photoconductor. In a non-ideal or real life system, however, some carrier particles also leave the magnetic brush along with the toner particles and are deposited on the photoconductor. This phenomenon is known as "carrier pickup" or "developer pickup."
Several problems result from carrier pickup. First, because the toner laydown on the photoconductor governs the ultimate image quality, the presence of carrier particles among the toner particles in the developed image leads to image artifacts and generally poor image quality. Carrier pickup is particularly detrimental in color applications, because the carrier particles will appear as black specks in otherwise homogeneous color images. In addition, the hard carrier particles become partially entrapped on the relatively soft photoconductor surface, causing permanent local damage to the photoconductor. A damaged photoconductor further enhances the generation of image artifacts.
Generally, the carrier particles which migrate from the magnetic brush onto the photoconductor are much smaller than the mean particle size of the carrier particles. Because of their small size, these particles can be charged to the same sign and extent as toner particles, leading to carrier pickup. Such small particles are produced during the conventional manufacturing process. Therefore, it is very important to eliminate, or significantly reduce, the generation of these small particles, known as "carrier fines", during the carrier manufacturing process.
In the conventional carrier manufacturing process, the constituent metal oxide and other metal salt particles are mixed in a predetermined ratio. This base material is then mixed with a solution of guar gum in water. Guar gum is a natural product which has been widely used in industry because it is inexpensive, non-toxic, soluble, and generally available. It also undergoes nearly complete combustion in the subsequent firing stage, leaving little residue in the magnetic ferrite carrier particles.
The mixture of the constituent metal salts and the guar gum solution is ball milled into a liquid slurry, which is spray dried to form the unreacted nonmagnetic, dried green beads. Spray drying is the most commonly used technique to manufacture green beads. The technique is described in K. Masters, Spray Drying Handbook, George Godwin Limited, London, 1979, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The green beads are subsequently cured or fired at high temperatures, generally between 900.degree. C. to 1500.degree. C. During the firing process, the individual metal salt particles within the individual green beads react to produce the proper crystallographic phase. The magnetic properties of the carrier particles are dictated by the properties of the desired crystallographic phase.
In addition to the problem of carrier pickup, the magnetic properties of the carrier particles can be adversely affected by the generation of fines during the spray drying process. During the firing process, the individual unreacted constituent metal salts bound in the nonmagnetic green bead react to form a magnetic carrier particle. The magnetic character of the carrier particle is controlled by the chemical stoichiometry of the constituting oxides. For optimum carrier performance, it is important that the chemical composition of the green beads be maintained throughout the spray drying process. The disintegration of green beads can result in chemically heterogeneous green particles, which will lead to less than optimum chemical reactions during the firing process, and inferior magnetic performance of the final product.
In the process of manufacturing magnetic carrier particles, it is possible to control firing temperatures and times to avoid over-sintering particles and producing firing-process-induced fines. The generation of fines during atomization for spray-drying can also be eliminated by proper selection of operating conditions, such as the rotational velocity of the disk, fluid pressure and viscosity, and inlet/outlet temperatures. Despite these precautionary efforts, however, extensive fine generation occurs during the manufacturing process.

Ferrite green beads and method of producing carrier particles


Methods, media, and systems for, in one embodiment, protecting one or more keys in an encryption and/or decryption process can use precomputed values in the process such that at least a portion of the one or more keys is not used or exposed in the process. In one example of a method, internal states of an AES encryption process are saved for use in a counter mode stream cipher operation in which the key used in the AES encryption process is not exposed or used.

The present invention relates to the field of cryptography.
In the field of cryptography, there is a large use of symmetric algorithms, such as the algorithm known as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard—see Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 197 issued by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips197/fips-197.pdf). A symmetric encryption/decryption uses a key to encrypt a message (sometimes referred to as "plaintext") and uses the same key to decrypt the encrypted message (sometimes referred to as "ciphertext"). A symmetric encryption/decryption algorithm, such as AES, takes a set of two inputs of given and fixed sizes: key and message. However, in practice it is necessary to be able to encrypt larger elements than the fixed size for the message, and various modes of encryption have been designed to allow for encryption/decryption of large messages such as a stream of content (e.g., a movie or song, etc.). There are several known modes of encryption/decryption, including the ECB mode and the CBC mode and counter (CTR) mode. The present description primarily relates to the counter mode of operation.
FIGS. 1A and 1B respectively show how encryption and decryption are performed in the counter mode of operation. A block cipher, such as the AES algorithm, is used to encrypt a seed (such as a nonce) with a given key, and the result of the encryption is XORed (exclusive OR operation) with the original message (referred to as "plaintext" in FIG. 1A) to produce the encrypted value for this block of plaintext. The seed is then updated (by a counter value) before each next encryption in which the updated seed (also referred to as an updated nonce encrypted with the key and the result is XORed with the next block of plaintext. The method repeats for each block of plaintext in the stream of plaintext. In an implementation using AES in the counter mode of operation, a 16 byte (B) buffer (the current nonce) is encrypted using the AES algorithm (which is a block cipher algorithm) and a key, and the encrypted buffer is then XORed to a 16B block of plaintext to produce a 16B block of ciphertext. This process is repeated for all of the 16B plaintext blocks to get all of the 16B ciphertext blocks. The counter mode for decryption is shown in FIG. 1B and involves the same operations done in encryption in that a nonce is encrypted with the key and the result is XORed, but in the case of decryption the result is XORed with a block of ciphertext, and the decryption process is repeated for each block of ciphertext. The decryption process requires the use of the key and the starting nonce, which can be updated by a counter value for each block. Thus, the decryption process potentially exposes the key and the nonce to an attacker who can attempt to steal the key for unauthorized uses of the content. Thus, there is a need to protect the key.

Precomputing internal AES states in counter mode to protect keys used in AES computations


A detect switch (100) includes an insulative housing (1), a first and second fixed terminals (51, 52) retained in the insulative housing, a moveable contact (3), an operator assembly (2) and a cover (4) mounted on the insulative housing. The operator assembly (2) comprises a rotator (22) lying over the moveable contact, and an actuator (21) cooperating with the rotator (22) to drive the moveable contact. The moveable contact is formed with a pair of contacting portions (311, 321), a width of which is smaller than that of the fixed terminals. The contacting portions come to contact with and thereby electrically connect the fixed terminals when the operator assembly is manipulated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch, and particularly to a detect switch used in various electronic applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional detect switch described in U.S. patent application Publication No. 2001/0025780 A1 comprises a case 11, a stationary contact 13, a common contact 14, a movable contact 15 retained in the case 11, and a lever 12 located above the moveable contact 15. The contacts 13, 14 are embedded in the case 11 by insert molding, with the common contact 14 being disposed in a side surface of the case 11, and the stationary contact 13 being disposed in a bottom surface of the case 11. A stationary portion 15F, a contact portion 15H, and a curved portion 15A formed therebetween are provided on the movable contact 15 which is made up of elastic metal material. The stationary portion 15F and the contact portion 15H have the same width as the contacts 13, 14. The stationary portion 15F maintains contacting with the common contact 14 in a normal state. The movable contact 15 is disposed in a state of bending so that the contact portion 15H may come in contact with or apart from the stationary contact 13. The lever 12 is formed with an operating portion 12C rotatablely received in the case 1, and a driving portion 12B abutted against by the curved portion 15A. When the operating portion 12C is rotated forward and downwardly by an exerted force exerted thereon, the driving portion 12B pushes the curved portion 15A downwardly, thus to make the contact portion 15H slide forward to come in contact with the stationary contact 13.
When the switch is manufactured, during the process of making the contacts 13, 14 embedded in the case 11 by insert molding, it is easy to produce something hairlike which would prevent the contact portion 15H coming in contact with the stationary contact 13 smoothly and availably. As a result, it is hard to establish a reliable electrical connection between the contacts 13, 14.
Hence, an improved switch having an improved moveable contact to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art will be described in detail in the following embodiments.

Detect switch with an improved moveable contact


Systems and methods for automated generation and presentation of thematic content objects to consumers in a retail environment are provided. A portable device may include a transmitter or transceiver that emits, produces or otherwise transmits a signal that includes information and/or data representative of an identifier that uniquely identifies the portable device. Upon entering an establishment thematic content delivery circuitry detects the presence of the portable device and obtains the identifier included in the signal emitted by the portable device. Using the identifier, the thematic content delivery circuitry determines a theme logically associated with the identifier. The thematic content delivery circuitry generates thematic content output that is logically associated with the theme and communicates the thematic content output to an output device. The thematic content output may include display output, audio output, tactile output, hardcopy output, or combinations thereof.

Targeted advertising is a type of advertising strategy in which advertisements adapt to a diverse customer base to provide a customized shopping experience. Providing such customized consumer experiences improves traffic and sales in a traditional brick-and-mortar retail environment. Interactive advertising uses online or offline interactive media to communicate with consumers and to promote products, brands, services, and public service announcements, corporations, and/or political groups. Interactive advertising has the potential to decrease lost sales attributable to poorly coordinated advertising, to reduce the difficulties commonly encountered in clearly communicating an advertising message and to increase acceptance of new products. In comparison to targeted advertising, interactive advertising is a type of targeted advertising that permits users to actively interact with media. On contrast, targeted advertising passively predicts a consumer's preference or intentions using one or more sensors.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Thematic content delivery systems and methods


A method and apparatus for synchronizing recorded broadcast content on a peer to peer system, in which portions of the content are synchronized between the peers by referring to program clock reference values.

The invention to which this application relates is the synchronization of recorded broadcast content on a peer to peer system.
Peer to peer (P2P) systems are commonly used in computer networks to transfer files between clients by using the cumulative bandwidth of the participating clients. When a file is requested from the network by a client, it is received in small portions or chunks. Typically, as the bandwidth for uploading may only be 100 kb/s compared to a downloading bandwidth of say 4-5 Mb/s, the P2P system allows the uploading bandwidth to be aggregated to increase the download speed to a peer. A further advantage of P2P systems is that the transfer is more robust compared to the conventional method of transferring the file in one large download wherein the transfer may be aborted if the connection is lost during such transfer, thereby losing the portion downloaded so far. As the file is subdivided into small chunks in the P2P system, if the connection is aborted the portions of the file downloaded to date are not lost.
A number of P2P protocols are available, and BitTorrent is a commonly used one. In this protocol, a peer first creates a small file called a torrent which contains metadata about the files to be shared and about the tracker, the computer that coordinates the file distribution and tracks which peer has which portions. Peers that want to download the file first obtain a torrent file for it, and connect to the specified tracker, which tells them which other peers currently have the whole file or are downloading the same, so that pieces of the file can be obtained from the same.
Peers with the whole file are known as seeds, whereas the group of peers with portions of the file are known as a swarm. Peers can obtain file pieces from seeds or from other peers in the swarm, which improves the download speed as more chunks become shared in the swarm.
While BitTorrent works effectively with identical files, there is a significant problem in using P2P technology to share broadcast recordings, of the type that may be created by a broadcast data receiver (BDR).
This is because P2P protocols expect to work on perfect copies of the same file, as they chunk up the files at arbitrary points based on the number of bytes, such that the same chunks are created to allow receipt of the same chunk from multiple peers.
However, broadcast recordings generally do not produce identical copies because, for example, recordings on different BDRs may start and/or finish at different times due to variations in real time clocks on the BDRs.
In addition, packets can be lost mid-recording, for example due to uncorrected broadcast errors, poor reception, or from problems within the BDR delaying writing of content to the hard disk which can cause data loss. Even the loss of a single packet can cause problems for the P2P protocols as the chunk boundaries will be affected, thereby losing identity with the other chunks in the swarm.

Peer to peer broadcast content synchronization