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5-(4-Fluorophenyl)-1-[2-((2R,4R)-4-hydroxy-6-oxo-tetrahydro-pyran-2-yl)-ethyl]-2-isopropyl-4-phenyl-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid phenylamide is a valuable intermediate in the synthesis of Lipitor® (atorvastatin calcium) known by the chemical name [R-(R*,R*)]-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-β,δ-dihydroxy-5-(1-methylethyl)-3-phenyl-4-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-1H-pyrrole-1-heptanoic acid calcium salt (2:1) trihydrate. The aforementioned compound is useful as an inhibitor of the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase) and is thus useful as a hypolipidemic and/or hypocholesterolemic agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,893, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses certain trans-6-[2-(3- or 4-carboxamido-substituted-pyrrol-1-yl)alkyl]-4-hydroxy-pyran-2-ones including trans(±)-5-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(1-methylethyl)-N,4-diphenyl-1-](2-tetrahydro-4-hydroxy-6-oxo-2H-pyran-2-yl)ethyl]-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxamide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,995, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses the enantiomer having the (R,R) form of the ring-opened acid of trans-5-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(1-methylethyl)-N,4-diphenyl-1-[(2-tetrahydro-4-hydroxy-6-oxo-2H-pyran-2-yl)ethyl]-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxamide, i.e., [R-(R*,R*)]-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-β,δ-dihydroxy-5-(1-methylethyl)-3-phenyl-4-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-1H-pyrrole-1-heptanoic acid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,003,080; 5,097,045; 5,103,024; 5,124,482; 5,149,837; 5,155,251; 5,216,174; 5,245,047; 5,248,793; 5,280,126; 5,397,792; 5,342,952; 5,298,627; 5,446,054; 5,470,981; 5,489,690; 5,489,691; 5,510,488; 5,998,633; and 6,087,511, which are herein incorporated by reference, disclose various processes and key intermediates for preparing atorvastatin.
Crystalline forms of atorvastatin calcium are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,156 and 6,121,461 which are herein incorporated by reference.
A synthetic procedure for the preparation of 5-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-[2-((2R,4R)-4-hydroxy-6-oxo-tetrahydro-pyran-2-yl)-ethyl]-2-isopropyl-4-phenyl-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid phenylamide is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,995.
The asymmetric reduction of β-ketoesters, as well as β-diketones, is a well-established transformation in organic synthesis. However, the complexity of these reactions increases in the case of 1,3,5-tricarbonyl systems and poor yields and poor stereoselectivities often result. In fact, investigations by Saburi (Tetrahedron, 1997, 1993;49) and Carpentier (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 1999;3421) have independently demonstrated low to moderate diastereo- and/or enantio-selectivities for diketoester asymmetric hydrogenations. Furthermore, the fact that the processes in the prior art require high pressure hydrogenation and extended reaction times makes these procedures impractical and not amenable to large-scale manufacturing processes.
However, we have surprisingly and unexpectedly found that the diol esters of the present invention, (R)-7-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)-5-isopropyl-3-phenyl-4-phenylcarbamoyl-pyrrol-1-yl]-3,5-dihydroxy-heptanoic acid esters, can be obtained directly from the corresponding 1,3,5-tricarbonyl precursors in a highly stereoselective manner via a mild and efficient ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation reaction utilizing chiral non-racemic diphosphine ligands in the presence of secondary activating agents such as protic acids.
The object of the present invention is a short and efficient process for the preparation of 5-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-[2-((2R,4R)-4-hydroxy-6-oxo-tetrahydro-pyran-2-yl)-ethyl]-2-isopropyl-4-phenyl-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid phenylamide. The present process avoids the use of a costly chiral raw material ((R)-4-cyano-3-hydroxy-butyric acid ethyl ester), and a low temperature diastereoselective borane reduction. Furthermore, a key Paal-Knorr condensation step, common to the present and prior art processes, has been improved through a significant decrease in reaction time.
Thus, the present process has significant advantages over the prior art processes and is amenable to large-scale synthesis. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Mobile communication systems have been required to ensure service qualities in accordance with the contents of communication requests randomly made by mobile stations (users). Thus, when installing a base station, a mobile telecommunications carrier generally estimates the size of a service area and traffic generated in the service area, and use means such as simulation to design the installation location and configuration of the base station as well as radio parameters such as a transmission level of a downlink common control channel transmitted from the base station.
The designing of a base station involves determining an in-out threshold that is a threshold for determining whether a mobile station is to camp on a cell formed by the base station. For example, in a W-CDMA system, based on Qqualmin broadcasted from a cell whose Ec/N0 measured is the highest, the mobile station determines to camp on the cell when the measured Ec/N0 exceeds Qqualmin. When Ec/N0 periodically measured after completion of the procedure to camp on the cell becomes equal to or lower than Qqualmin, the mobile station attempts to camp on another cell.
In recent years, in addition to base stations for public communications installed by the mobile telecommunications carriers as described above, there has been an increase in small base stations (Home Nodes) installed at home and the like by users of mobile stations. As compared with the base stations for public communications, such a small base station is used by only limited users and can form a small sized cell. Accordingly, the throughput can be expected to increase (see. Non-Patent Document 1). | {
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Ulcerative colitis (UC), also known as idiopathic ulcerative colitis or chronic nonspecific ulcerative colitis, is a disease of large intestine with infiltration of the mucosa and idiopathic chronic non-specific inflammation. The main clinical symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea, mucus and bloody stools, and associated with optic neuritis, neuritis, and osteoporosis. It has been characterized as a hardy disease by the World Health Organization (WHO) because treatment of the disease is difficult and time-consuming and the disease relapses easily. Although currently there are a variety of drugs for curing IBD, such as amino salicylic acid, glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents, but they have many shortcomings, such as poor efficacy (especially to severe UC), slow onset, long course, and large side effects. Therefore, the drug with an effective, rapid onset, short course, high safety, little side effects, convenient for IBD (especially chronic nonspecific ulcer colitis) is urgently needed.
It has been shown that CBLB502, one of the flagellin derivatives from Salmonella, has a protective effect on the hematopoietic system, and can extend the survival time of mice to the high-dose radiation injury and improve the survival rates of low-dose irradiated mice (Lyudmila G. Burdelya, et al, An Agonist of Toll-Like Receptor 5 Has Radioprotective Activity in Mouse and Primate Models. Science 2008; 320 (5873): 226-230). The study found that the flagellin protein derivatives from Salmonella and other derivants containing the N- and C-terminal conserved domain have the radial protection, they can effectively improve the number of hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of mice and effective preventing the death of mice caused by lethally irradiation. Its mechanism may be the anti-apoptotic role through NF-κB signal pathway. It means that this protein can be applied to development of anti-radiation drugs. There is no report on Salmonella flagellin derivatives except for the anti-radiation drug. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is unfortunately a relatively common experience among many operators of motor vehicles that a well maintained, or even new internal combustion engine can not be started when the battery that supplies the power to the starter is discharged below a minimum power level needed to crank the engine. While in many cases an external power source is employed, internal supplementary power sources find increasing utility to provide auxiliary power to start the engine.
Internal supplementary power sources that operate in addition to a main battery may be broadly grouped into one of two classes. One class of internal power sources comprises capacitor-based systems and employ mostly commonly high capacitance double-layer capacitors. Double-layer capacitors typically combine small size with the ability to be charged in a relatively short time, and are therefore especially advantageous in internal supplementary power sources. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,194 to Clerici, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,095 to Tsuchiya et al., a double-layer capacitor is employed to provide (boost) current to start an internal combustion engine, wherein a main battery charges the capacitor. However, when the capacitor and main battery are discharged to a level not sufficient to start the engine (e.g. due to prolonged non-operation of the vehicle), the capacitor may disadvantageously turn into an additional drain of the main battery. Moreover, electrical degradation or structural damage of the main battery, which may eventually result in insufficient power to start the engine, may concomitantly prevent the capacitor from being charged, thereby rendering the capacitor useless as a second power source.
To circumvent at least some of the problems associated with a battery charged capacitor, Nagao describes in U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,115 a configuration in which an engine starter has a built-in generator that charges the capacitor. Nagao's main battery is independently charged via an alternator, and supplies electricity to loads other than the starter. Although this arrangement affords independence of the capacitor from the battery as well as from the alternator, a specialized engine starter with a generator is needed, which often requires re-engineering of the existing engine starter. Moreover, the engine cannot normally be started in case of a capacitor failure, since the main battery is not electrically connected to the starter.
A second class of internal supplementary power sources comprises battery-based systems, typically employing customary lead-acid batteries. One of the most common configurations utilizing battery-based internal power sources is found in recreational vehicles (RVs) or boats, wherein the electric circuitry for lighting and utilities are separated from the engine starter, and wherein both circuitries are operated by independent batteries. The use of dedicated circuitries generally prevents even an inexperienced person from accidentally discharging the engine battery, but does not usually allow a second battery to boost or substitute for power of the main battery. Other configurations (see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,864 to Miyakawa et al.) include dual battery arrangements wherein a source control device temporarily connects two batteries when an engine is started, but otherwise electrically separates the two batteries into an engine-dedicated battery and a utility-dedicated battery. Although the available battery capacity is temporarily doubled during starting in this configuration, the use of an additional similar size battery generally adds significant weight to the vehicle, and requires considerable space. Furthermore, since both batteries are connected to the same electric circuitry, they may share the same fate in an undesired discharge or short circuit event. In still another configuration, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,454 to Araki et al.) a main battery charges a smaller subsidiary battery, which is then used to drive a starter motor. The use of a smaller subsidiary battery generally reduces the space requirements of a second battery, however, an accidentally discharged main battery cannot charge the subsidiary battery, especially after a longer period of non-activity, and the subsidiary battery may therefore be discharged to the same extent as the main battery, and cannot be easily recharged without starting the engine or using suitable high current external power sources.
Despite various internal battery backup and support systems, all, or almost all of them suffer from one or more disadvantages. Therefore, there is still a need to provide methods and apparatus for a reliable auxiliary vehicle power and starter system, particularly one that can also be quickly removed for use in starting other engines or vehicles. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A wireless device (e.g., a cellular phone or a smartphone) in a wireless communication system may transmit and receive data for two-way communication. The wireless device may include a transmitter for data transmission and a receiver for data reception. For data transmission, the transmitter may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier signal with data to generate a modulated RF signal, amplify the modulated RF signal to generate a transmit RF signal having the proper output power level, and transmit the transmit RF signal via an antenna to another device such as, for example, a base station. For data reception, the receiver may obtain a received RF signal via the antenna and may amplify and process the received RF signal to recover data sent by the other device.
The wireless device may operate within multiple frequency bands. For example, the wireless device may transmit and/or receive an RF signal within a first frequency band and/or within a second frequency band. To support multiple frequency bands and/or diversity operation, the wireless device may include a plurality of transceivers. Each transceiver may include an independent transmitter and receiver that may be tuned to operate within different frequency bands through independent local oscillators.
Calibration of the receivers may require one or more calibration signals with characteristics (e.g., frequencies) similar to local oscillator frequencies of one or more nearby receivers. Implementing signal generators to generate the calibration signals may increase a die size (and therefore the cost) of an associated integrated circuit and introduce complex calibration signal circuit routing to the receiver design.
Thus, there is a need for a low cost, die efficient approach to provide calibration signals to calibrate the receivers of a wireless device. | {
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The present invention relates to a printing unit of a printing press having at least one press unit with a forme cylinder, a transfer cylinder, and an inking unit, at least one printing plate arrangeable on the forme cylinder, a drive for rotating the forme cylinder into a position or angular position which is suitable for effecting a printing-plate change, and a regulating or control device for supplying the drive with an actuating signal for rotating the forme cylinder into the position or angular position which is suitable for the printing-plate change. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for carrying out the printing-plate change on the forme cylinder of the printing unit.
Printing units of web-fed rotary presses, in particular of newspaper presses, have a plurality of press units, every press unit comprising a transfer cylinder, a forme cylinder and an inking unit, as well as, optionally, a damping unit. Oil-less press units without a damping unit are also known. Furthermore, printing units of this type can have impression cylinders, it being possible for an impression cylinder to interact with one or more transfer cylinders of different press units. In addition to printing units which have impression cylinders of this type, printing units which do not have impression cylinders are also known, the transfer cylinders of two press units rolling on one another in printing units of this type without impression cylinders. As a rule, rubber blankets are clamped on the transfer cylinders and printing plates are clamped on the forme cylinders, for which reason the transfer cylinders are also designated blanket cylinders and the forme cylinders are also designated plate cylinders.
In order to carry out a printing-plate change on a forme cylinder of a printing unit, the respective forme cylinder can be rotated by way of a drive of the printing unit into a position or angular position which is suitable for carrying out the printing-plate change and in which the printing plate which is to be changed or exchanged can be grasped at its trailing edge or leading edge. The exact or precise movement to this position or angular position which is suitable for carrying out the printing-plate change or for grasping or gripping the printing plate which is to be changed is of decisive significance for carrying out the printing-plate change, as the trailing edge or leading edge of the printing plate can be grasped only in a narrowly defined angular range or positional range of the forme cylinder.
Furthermore, what are known as register values or register offset values have an influence on the position of the respective forme cylinder and thus on the moving to a position of the latter which is suitable for carrying out a printing-plate change, the positional accuracy of the colour separations on the printing material in relation to the outer edges of the printing material being ensured via register values or register offset values of this type. What is known as the circumferential register value or circumferential register offset plays a decisive role for moving to the position or angular position of the forme cylinder which is suitable for the printing-plate change.
In order to compensate for the circumferential register offset of a forme cylinder during the printing-plate change on the latter, the circumferential register value is set to zero before the actual printing-plate change, according to the prior art, and the printing unit is driven or displaced until the circumferential register offset for the forme cylinder assumes the value zero. Only subsequently is the forme cylinder rotated into the position or angular position which is suitable for the printing-plate change by way of the drive of the printing unit. After the printing-plate change has been carried out, the original circumferential register offset or circumferential register value is set again according to the prior art and the printing unit is displaced until the circumferential register offset for the forme cylinder has been moved to again. This zero setting and resetting of the circumferential register value or circumferential register offset before and after the actual printing-plate change are time-consuming. The circumferential register zero setting and circumferential register resetting can thus take up to two minutes. This is disadvantageous for reasons of productivity. | {
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Streaming content is a method of continuously sending audio and/or video files from a content provider to a user through a communications network such as the Internet. Upon receiving or downloading a stream or sequence of audio/video files, a portion of the files are used for displaying images and another portion of the files are buffered for subsequent display.
A drawback associated with streaming content through a television or monitor is that after the television is turned off and then turned back on, the television typically does not know how to resume a streaming session. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In nuclear medicine, a radionuclide is administered to a patient and a scintillation camera such as the Anger gamma camera, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,057, is used to produce a visual image of the distribution of the administered radionuclide within the target organ of the patient. Devices used to detect the emitted radiation utilize a collimator to selectively filter the passage of emitted radiation from the patient to a scintillation system which includes a scintillation crystal positioned behind the collimator. The crystal changes radiation to visible light during each scintillation.
The gamma rays that do not pass through the collimator do not contribute to the image. Spatial resolution is approximately proportional to the depth of the object, that is, the distance between the object and the face of the collimator. For planar imaging, this distance is minimized by placing the collimator as close as possible to the portion of the patient being imaged. To perform three dimensional imaging, such as emission computed tomography (ECT), it is necessary to have the detector portion of the radiation imaging device orbit the patient. Scintillation cameras capable of emission computed tomographic studies, such as Technicare's Omega 500, are arranged to have the scintillation detector orbit the patient in a circular path. Since people tend to have an elongated circumference at thorax level, a circular orbit will necessarily result in undesirable separation between the face of the collimator and the patient's chest (anterior position) and patient's back (posterior position). During these portions of the circular orbit, the patient-detector distance will be undesirably excessive. Hence, the resolution of the reconstructed tomographic image will be degraded relative to a tomogram acquired from an orbital path closely tracking the patient's perimeter. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crosslinkable polymer composition containing a crosslinkable polymer with hydrolysable silane groups and at least one silanol condensation catalyst.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to crosslink different polymers by means of additives. Crosslinking improves such properties of the polymer as its mechanical strength and heat resistance. Polymers normally considered to be thermoplastics, and not crosslinkable, can also be crosslinked by introducing crosslinkable groups in the polymer. An example thereof is the crosslinking of polyolefins, such as polyethylene. A silane compound can be introduced as a crosslinkable group, e.g. by grafting the silane compound onto the prepared polyolefin, or by copolymerisation of the olefin and the silane compound. This technique is previously known, and further details may be obtained from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,413,066; 4,297,310; 4,351,876; 4,397,981; 4,446,283; and 4,456,704, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The crosslinking of polymers with hydrolysable silane groups is carried out by so-called moisture curing. In a first step, the silane groups are hydrolysed under the influence of water, resulting in the splitting-off of alcohol and the formation of silanol groups. In a second step, the silanol groups are crosslinked by a condensation reaction splitting off water. In both steps, a so-called silanol condensation catalyst is used as catalyst.
Prior-art silanol condensation catalysts include carboxylates of metals, such as tin, zinc, iron, lead and cobalt; organic bases; inorganic acids; and organic acids.
Mention should here especially be made of dibutyl tin dilaurate (DBTDL), dibutyl tin diacetate, dioctyl tin dilaurate, stannous acetate, stannous caprylate, lead naphthenate, zinc caprylate, cobalt naphthenate, ethyl amines, dibutyl amine, hexylamines, pyridine, inorganic acids, such as sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid, as well as organic acids, such as toluene sulphonic acid, acetic acid, stearic acid and maleic acid. Especially the tin carboxylates are much used as catalysts.
EP 0 475 064 further teaches the crosslinking of silane-containing polymer compositions with hydrolysable groups by means of a zeolite that has been modified by being reacted with at least one carboxylic acid and/or sulphonic acid at a temperature of at least 150.degree. C. Examples of sulphonic acids are toluene sulphonic acid and alpha- and beta-naphthalene sulphonic acid. The crosslink is said to be of essentially non-hydrolytic type.
WO 91/09075 further discloses the use of a blocked acid, such as an acid anhydride, e.g. stearic acid anhydride or benzoic acid anhydride, as silanol condensation catalyst. Such catalysts counteract undesirable premature crosslinking, commonly referred to as scorching or precuring, of the polymer composition.
GB 2,028,831 and EP 0,193,317 may be mentioned as examples of the prior art relating to the crosslinking of polymers containing hydrolysable silane groups by means of the above-mentioned silanol condensation catalysts. EP 0,207,627 also discloses the use of a special silanol condensation catalyst in the form of a tin-containing polymer.
Although the above silanol condensation catalysts, and in particular the tin carboxylates, are frequently used in the crosslinking of polymer compositions containing silanol groups, they are disadvantageous in some respects. Thus, efforts are being made to find silanol condensation catalysts reducing or obviating these disadvantages.
For instance, prior-art silanol condensation catalysts function satisfactorily only at elevated temperatures in the order of 80-100.degree. C. and give a poor performance at normal ambient temperatures and relative humidities, such as room temperature (about 20-25.degree. C.) and 50% RH. In many contexts, such as the production of cable insulations or water pipes, it is desirable that the silane-containing polymer composition can be crosslinked at room temperature without the use of water baths or steam cabinets. The degree of crosslinking of the polymer composition is measured as the gel content after crosslinking at a certain temperature for a certain period of time. It is desirable that crosslinking at room temperature for four days should result in a gel content of at least about 65% and a catalyst loading of about 1 mmole/kg composition. This is not achieved by existing silanol condensation catalysts, and it would therefore be a considerable step forward to provide a silanol condensation catalyst meeting this requirement. | {
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One of the most effective and efficient methods of deploying high-speed digital services to business and residential customers is to use one of the many forms of DSL (Digital Subscriber Loop) technologies over copper telephone wires. This approach has become very popular in the last 20 years due to the fact that copper wires are already deployed almost everywhere and are quite easy to access, both at the Central Office (CO) and at the remote cabinet or the customer premises.
However, one of the main limitations of DSL technology is that the data capacity of copper wires decreases significantly as the length of the copper loop increases. Therefore, customers located more than a few kilometers from the Central Office can not be provided with high data speeds over copper wires.
One way to mitigate this issue is to use multiple copper pairs to the same customer location, thereby increasing the total data rate of the resulting multi-pair copper link. This method is typically referred to as “bonding” of copper pairs.
Another method for extending the reach of DSL services is to utilize repeaters. These are devices that are installed in intermediate locations on the copper loop, and contain one or more transceivers that receive and re-transmit the signal from neighboring devices. The resulting repeatered copper link is composed of multiple shorter segments that are connected to each other with repeaters. As a result, the capacity of the original long copper loop is increased to the capacity of the longest of these multiple shorter segments.
Repeaters can also be combined with bonding to further increase the rate and reach of DSL services by using multiple copper pairs, each of which is partitioned into multiple repeatered segments.
The deployment of repeaters faces many operational challenges including, but not limited to, installation procedures, proper electrical grounding and shielding, providing power over the copper wires, and remote troubleshooting and management to avoid the need to dispatch a technician to the field every time there is a problem with one of the multiple repeaters.
However, the main reason why repeaters are not widely used today is their potential for generating significant spectral interference to residential DSL services, which have become ubiquitous in the last decade. Spectral interference between different high-bitrate services in a copper binder is caused by the fact that each copper pair acts as an antenna. The signal transmitted on each copper pair, which is intended for the receiver located at the other end of that copper pair, is also inadvertently picked up by all of the neighboring copper pairs, because those pairs are not individually shielded from each other. This creates the well-known phenomenon of “cross-talk”, aptly named for the effect it caused in the early days of the telephone, when the telephone discussion taking place on one line could sometimes be overheard by the people conversing on a different line.
Due to the physical characteristics of copper pairs, and in particular due to the average length of the twist between the two copper wires making up each pair, the cross-talk coupling between different pairs increases exponentially with the frequency of the transmitted signal. But this cross-talk coupling is only one of the three factors that determine the strength of cross-talk; the other two are the strength of the disturbing transmitter and the sensitivity of the disturbed receiver at any given frequency. For example, if the transmit frequency band of a transmitter is different than the receive frequency band of a neighboring receiver, then there will be almost no cross-talk from that particular transmitter to that particular receiver.
This strong dependence of cross-talk interference on the overlap of transmit and receive frequency bands is one of the main reasons for the proliferation of DMT (Discrete Multi-Tone) technology in devices used for deployment of residential DSL services, such as ADSL, ADSL2, ADSL2+, VDSL, and VDSL2 services. Almost all DMT devices utilize Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), which means that they use different frequency bands for upstream and downstream transmission. Therefore, their upstream transmitters generate very low Near-End Cross-Talk (NEXT) interference to the downstream receivers of neighboring lines, and their downstream transmitters generate very low NEXT interference to the upstream receivers of neighboring lines.
In fact, in the case of FDM DMT services, the only potentially significant cross-talk is Far-End Cross-Talk (FEXT), generated from their upstream or downstream transmitters to the upstream or downstream receivers of neighboring lines. Since FEXT is generated by transmitters that are located at the other end (i.e., the “far end”) of the link, it attenuates as it propagates through the copper wires until it reaches the victim receivers. Therefore, FEXT becomes weaker as the distance between the disturbing transmitter and the victim receiver increases, and thus has a noticeable effect only when that distance is relatively short, typically less than 4-5 Kft (1.2-1.5 km). As a result, in typical deployment scenarios where most loops are longer than 4-5 Kft, FEXT is not a significant source of interference.
Nevertheless, there are two important deployment scenarios where FEXT is the dominant source of interference. The first one is the deployment of very high speed services using VDSL or VDSL2, where the loops are typically shorter than 5 Kft (1.5 km). The second one is the deployment of any FDM DMT service from a remotely-located cabinet, specifically when the cables that go from the cabinet to the customer locations also carry FDM DMT services deployed from the Central Office (CO). In this scenario, the cabinet is located much closer to those customer locations than the CO. Therefore, the downstream transmitters of the cabinet-deployed services are much closer to the downstream receivers of the CO-deployed services than their own transmitters, which are located at the CO much farther up the network. As a result, the downstream FEXT from the cabinet-deployed transmitters is quite strong, as it is attenuated only by a short distance, while the main downstream signal coming from the CO-deployed transmitters is relatively weak, as it attenuated by a much longer distance.
The problem of the strong FEXT generated by cabinet-deployed services to CO-deployed services is often referred to as the “near-far” interference problem, due to the fact that the disturbing cabinet-deployed transmitters are located “near” the victim receivers, while the victim receivers' own transmitters are located “far”, namely at the CO.
The first repeaters used Alternate Mark Inversion (AMI) or High Density Bipolar order 3 (HDB3) line codes to deliver T1 (1.544 Mbps) or E1 (2.048 Mbps) services over longer copper loops. These technologies made very inefficient use of frequency bands, utilizing almost 2 MHz of frequency spectrum to deliver a mere 1.544 or 2.048 Mbps over 2 copper pairs at distances no longer than 1-1.5 km. Later on, symmetric DSL standards such as HDSL (High-speed DSL), HDSL2, HDSL4 and SHDSL (Single-pair High-speed DSL) allowed deployment of the same T1/E1 services over repeatered copper links while making more efficient use of the frequency spectrum and reducing the number of repeater locations and repeatered segments compared with the original AMI/HDB3 methods.
Despite these advancements in repeater technology, the proliferation of residential DSL services resulted in a significant reduction in the deployment of repeaters. The main reason is that repeaters typically generate much stronger cross-talk into residential DSL receivers than non-repeatered services deployed from the Central Office. This is because repeaters are placed much closer to remotely located residential DSL receivers, and therefore they result in the aforementioned near-far interference problem.
Repeaters that utilize single-carrier technologies like HDSL, HDSL2, HDSL4, and SHDSL typically utilize the same frequency band for upstream and downstream transmission, and therefore they create strong FEXT and even stronger NEXT interference to adjacent DSL receivers. As a result, most countries have imposed significant restrictions on the use of repeaters in the outside loop plant. For example, the American National Standards Institute has issued recommendation T1.417, which specifies that repeaters using should only be deployed in North America with bitrate of approximately 768 Kbps per copper pair when used with HDSL4 technology, or approximately 634 Kbps per pair when used with SHDSL technology. This restriction is designed to reduce the frequency band of the disturbing signal to approximately 150 kHz, in order to minimize its overlap with the downstream frequency band of residential DSL services, which typically starts at 140 kHz. Other countries have imposed similar restrictions; for example, several European countries limit the bitrate of repeaters to 1 Mbps per copper pair.
As for FDM DMT repeaters, they have the potential for creating even stronger near-far interference than single-carrier repeaters. This is because most DMT repeaters operate their downstream transmitters in exactly the same higher frequency band used by the downstream receivers of residential DSL services. Since the strength of the cross-talk coupling between different copper pairs increases exponentially with the frequency of the transmitted signal, this means that the FEXT generated by FDM DMT repeaters can cause significant deterioration of the achievable bitrate rates of adjacent CO-deployed FDM DMT receivers. This potential for very strong near-far interference is the main reason why FDM DMT repeaters have not been deployed in any significant numbers thus far.
All these restrictions have severely limited the utility of repeaters for delivery of high-speed data services. For example, consider the problem of wireless backhaul, which involves providing a high-speed communications link between the Central Office and wireless base stations, so that these base stations can effectively provide high-speed data services to wireless subscribers. In the particular case where the required bitrate for the backhaul link is 20 Mbps, and the wireless base station is 10 km away from the Central Office, so that repeaters are required, it would take 26 copper pairs to deliver this service under a restriction of 768 Kbps per pair, and 32 pairs under a restriction of 634 Kbps per pair. Clearly, utilizing that many copper pairs for one 20 Mbps link is impractical and expensive.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to install and operate repeaters in a way that provides significantly higher bitrates per copper pair and yet does not generate significant levels of spectral interference to residential DSL services. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cyanoalkylpiperazines, methods for their preparation, and methods for their use in preparing 1-(cyanoalkyl)-4-(2-pyrimidyl)piperazines (which are in turn useful materials for producing compounds having pharmacological utility as tranquilizing and anti-emetic agents).
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
It is known that 8-[.omega.-[4-(2-pyrimidyl)-1-piperazinyl]alkyl]-8-azaspiro[4.5]decane-7,9 -diones represented by the structural formula ##STR1## wherein A represents an alkylene group having from 2 to 6 carbon atoms, have pharmacological utility as tranquilizing and anti-emetic agents.
Methods are also known for preparing the compounds of Formula I by using, as starting materials, 1-(cyanoalkyl)-4-(2-pyrimidyl)piperazines represented by the structural formula ##STR2## wherein R represents an alkylene group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms. Such methods are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,976,776; 3,907,801; 3,717,634; and 3,398,151, and the disclosures of these patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The aforesaid patents, taken with Howard et al, J. Org. Chem., Vol. 18, pp. 1484-1488 (1953) (which is referred to therein) also describe a method for preparing the compounds of Formula II. For example, for preparing 1-(3-cyanopropyl)-4-(2-pyrimidyl)piperazine, that method includes reacting piperazine with 2-chloropyrimidine to obtain 1-(2-pyrimidyl)piperazine, which is then reacted with 3-chlorobutyronitrile to obtain the desired compound.
However, such a method has a number of drawbacks. Namely, the yields are relatively poor, and the starting material, 2-chloropyrimidine, is relatively expensive. The known method, as described in the references noted above, for producing the Formula II compounds entails a considerable waste of the expensive 2-chloropyrimidine. Part of the reason for the waste is that in reacting piperazine with 2-chloropyrimidine to obtain 1-(2-pyrimidyl)piperazine, a very significant amount of by-product comprising 1,4-bis(2-pyrimidyl)piperazine also results and must be separated out, thus wasting large amounts of 2-chloropyrimidine.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative syntheses of the Formula II compounds which are more economical than the syntheses described in the prior art. The present invention provides such an alternative.
It should be noted that we also have invented other alternative syntheses of Formula II compounds and have invented other novel compounds which are useful in these syntheses. These other inventions are described in our co-pending U.S. patent applications, Ser. No. 407,215, filed Aug. 11, 1982, entitled "Acid Salts of 1-(Cyanoalkyl)-4-guanylpiperazines and Methods for Their Preparation and Use" and Ser. No. 407,223, filed Aug. 11, 1982, entitled "2-Pyrimidyl Alkanesulfonates and Methods for Their Preparation and Use," the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. | {
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In the fabrication of integrated circuit (IC) devices (also referred to as semiconductor devices), many processes, steps, and techniques may be applied to form components and materials into the desired products. For example, in the fabrication of extremely thin silicon-on-insulator (ETSOI) devices, back-gate biases may be desired to tune device characteristics, manage power consumption, etc. Fabrication of these devices typically includes application of back-gate biases across a buried oxide (BOX) layer. However, in order to make the application of this back-gate bias across thick BOX layers effective, a large back bias voltage is required. Typically, the large back bias voltage is not practical with modern low operating voltage chips. As a result, this application limitation may require the use of ultra-thin body BOX (UTBB) technologies during fabrication. The requiring of the UTBB technologies during fabrication may increase cost, as well as increase design and process complexity. | {
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The present disclosure relates to delivering web pages in general, and to a method and computer program for generating a web page which does not contain snippets of information from other sites, in particular.
Search engines and other applications, such as price comparison web sites generate web pages that may contain snippets of information taken from other sites in response to user queries. Such applications or web sites typically return web page or another structure which comprises addresses, such as Universal Resource Locators (URLs) together with a snippet of information taken from the address. The snippet of information may comprise text, partial text, images, miniaturized images, or any other information.
Such web pages impose a number of problems. First, the snippet of information may include copyrighted material, which may not be used by others without permission of the right holder. Thus, presenting the information by the application may infringe on the right holder's rights and expose the application manufacturer to legal actions. A similar problem is related to web sites that provide content only to subscribers or other paying entities. The search engine may pay such web site once, and receive information which is then provided to multiple users, who may not access the information without paying.
Another problem relates to content control, such as parental or employer control. Even the information snippet presented may contain materials which should not be accessible to the specific user. For example, a parent or an employer may preclude his or her child or employee from accessing certain web sites or web site types. However, since the browser executed by the specific computer does not access these sites or site types directly, but rather a search engine accesses them, such control may be bypassed by presenting the information snippet to the child or employee.
Refer for example to FIG. 1, showing a web page 100 comprising search results for the term “New York Yankees”. The web comprises multiple entries, some of which may comprise a picture 104 or content 108, any or both of which may be protected by copyright, subject to payment or otherwise restricted.
There is thus a need for a method and apparatus that will enable a search engine or another application or web site, to provide information to a user without infringing copyrights or other rights of a content provider, and while adhering with control mechanisms when displaying information from web sites. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laminar thermoplastic film structures which are formed by coextrusion of the molten laminar layers through a single die orifice and particularly such laminar structures that are solidified after extrusion and passed onto an orientation or stretching operation to produce a biaxially oriented laminate film. The film is characterized by having good heat seal strengths, broad heat temperature ranges and excellent impact resistance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Oriented polypropylene films have become useful and widely employed packaging films primarily because of their good moisture barrier properties, stiffness, improved machineability, high strength characteristics and excellent optical properties such as high gloss and minimal haze. Such biaxially oriented polypropylene films are quite difficult to seal because of the tendency of such films to deorient, pucker or tear at the requisite sealing temperatures. Consequently, in order to achieve satisfactory heat sealability, coatings of various types have been applied to the polypropylene film surface to lower the requisite heat seal temperatures. Generally, such coatings are applied in a separate operation after the film has been formed and oriented. Many times the coatings must be applied from solution in an organic solvent media. This separate operation for application of relatively expensive coatings which dictate employment of solvent recovery systems is quite costly. Examples of such coatings which have been employed in the past to impart heat sealability and other desirable characteristics to the polypropylene film include saran and acrylic multipolymer coatings.
An alternate method for imparting improved heat sealability to oriented polypropylene film, and one that is less costly than post orientation coating, comprises the coextrusion of surface layers of a lower melting resin onto the surface of the higher melting polypropylene core prior to orientation. Following orientation a product is obtained which has a relatively thick polypropylene core sandwiched between two relatively thin layers or skins of the low melting resin. However, as practiced in the piror art, this procedure has associated with it certain deficiencies. For example, in an instance where it is desirable to form a laminar structure comprising a thermoplastic core sandwiched between layers of a lower melting point material such as an ethylene propylene copolymer to provide heat sealability, the resulting laminar structure exhibits desirable high heat seal strengths but because of the relatively high melting point of such a copolymer layer, the heat sealing range, defined by the temperature at which usable seal strengths are formed and that temperature where undesirable film shrinkage occurs, is narrow.
In other instances in the prior art when a coextruded film comprising a low melting skin material is employed as the coating or skin layer, e.g., a medium density polyethylene resin produced by the high pressure, free radical catalyst process, a product is produced which exhibits a much wider sealing range than that of the hereinabove described coextruded film, however, its seal strengths are undesirably low. Additionally, since very low machine direction stretch ratios must be employed, such films are oriented only to a slight degree in the machine direction and as a result the film's toughness or impact strength is not as high as would be desired. Improvement of the toughness characteristics of the film, by imparting a greater machine direction stretch to the film while maintaining the heat seal advantages of the polyethylene skin could not be achieved because the higher temperatures which would be required to permit greater machine direction stretching would also cause undesirable sticking of the polyethylene skin to the stretching rolls. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ferroelectric field effect transistors, and more particularly to ferroelectric field effect transistors containing a thin film of crystallographically oriented ferroelectric material.
2. Statement of the Problem
It has been known since at least the 1950""s that if a practical ferroelectric memory could be made, it would provide a fast, dense, non-volatile memory that could be operated at relatively low voltages. See Orlando Auciello et al., xe2x80x9cThe Physics of Ferroelectric Memoriesxe2x80x9d, Physics Today, July 1998, pp. 22-27. The principal type of ferroelectric memory being explored today is the non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory or NVFRAM. Ibid. A disadvantage of the NVFRAM is that, in the process of reading it, the information it holds is destroyed and, therefore, the read function must be followed by a rewrite function.
It has been postulated for at least 40 years, however, that it may be possible to design a nonvolatile, nondestructive read-out (xe2x80x9cNDROxe2x80x9d) memory in which the memory element is a single ferroelectric field effect transistor (xe2x80x9cFETxe2x80x9d), thereby reducing some of the complexity of conventional ferroelectric memory architecture and function. See U.S. Pat. No. 2,791,758 issued to D. H. Looney on May 7, 1957; Shu-Yau Wu, xe2x80x9cA New Ferroelectric Memory Device, Metal-Ferroelectric-Semiconductor Transistorxe2x80x9d, in IEEE Transactions On Electron Devices, pp. 499-504, August 1974; S. Y. Wu, xe2x80x9cMemory Retention and Switching Behavior Of Metal-Ferroelectric-Semiconductor Transistorsxe2x80x9d, in Ferroelectrics, Vol. 11, pp. 379-383, 1976; and J. F. Scott, C. A. Paz de Araujo, and L. D. McMillan, xe2x80x9cIntegrated Ferroelectricsxe2x80x9d, in Condensed Matter News, Vol.1, No.3, pp. 15-20,1992. Because the ferroelectric memory effect measured in the devices of Wu was only a temporary, single state effect rather than a long lived two state effect, it has been generally believed that this effect was a carrier injection effect rather than an effect due to ferroelectric switching. See U.S. Pat. No. 5146,299 issued to Donald R. Lampe, Samaar Sinharoy, Shu Y. Wu, et al. on Sep. 8, 1992, col. 1, line 63-col. 2, line 5. Thus, up to the time of the present invention, the ferroelectric FET memory has been only a theoretical concept, and no actual memory devices were built.
The primary problem in making ferroelectric FETs is one of insufficient voltage for switching the polarization in the ferroelectric material. This problem can be understood by considering an exemplary ferroelectric FET structure of a so-called metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor FET (xe2x80x9cMFS-FETxe2x80x9d), in which a ferroelectric oxide is formed on the semiconductor substrate, and the metal gate electrode is located on the ferroelectric oxide. When such a structure is formed, oxide from the ferroelectric interacts with the semiconductor substrate, typically silicon, and forms a thin semiconductor oxide layer between the ferroelectric material and the semiconductor, typically, silicon dioxide. The ferroelectric thin film and the semiconductor oxide layer may be viewed as two capacitors in series. The dielectric constant of the ferroelectric thin film (usually 400-1000) is much higher than the dielectric constant of typical semiconductor oxides, which is usually about 3-5. As a result, most of the voltage drop occurs across the low dielectric constant semiconductor oxide, and a high operational voltage is required to switch the polarization of the ferroelectric thin film, typically, about 15 volts. This can lead to electrical breakdown of the ferroelectric material, semiconductor oxide, and other materials in the circuit. Further, a high operational voltage in excess of 3-5 volts renders the device incompatible with conventional integrated circuit art.
Another problem encountered is that a high leakage current in the ferroelectric thin films of the prior art makes the materials poorly suited for use in a nonvolatile memory since the information-storing polarization charge slowly dissipates.
One attempt to solve the above problem has been the growth of single ferroelectric crystals directly on a semiconductor substrate, such as sapphire. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,299 issued to Donald R. Lampe et al. referenced above. However, single crystal films have coercive fields that are too high to make a useful low-voltage memory. See Auciello et al., supra, p. 26, FIG. 4.
Thus, the high dielectric constant and high leakage current of ferroelectrics present significant obstacles to the use of ferroelectric FETs as integrated circuit memories.
The invention solves the problems described above by providing a novel ferroelectric FET device containing a thin film of polycrystalline, crystallographically oriented ferroelectric material, as well as a method of making such devices.
A device in accordance with the invention preferably is a ferroelectric FET containing a polycrystalline thin film of ferroelectric layered superlattice material having c-axis orientation; for example, c-axis oriented strontium bismuth tantalate having a stoichiometric formula SrBi2Ta2O8. Nevertheless, the oriented ferroelectric material can be formed of other metal oxides; for example, oriented polycrystalline ABO3-type perovskites. Oriented ABO3-type metal oxide perovskites include, but are not limited to titanates (e.g., BaTiO3, SrTiO3, PbTiO3, PbZrTiO3) and niobates (e.g., KNbO3). The oriented polycrystalline ferroelectric material may also be a non-oxide metal compound, such as a metal fluoride, or a crystallographically oriented nonmetallic organic compound.
The polycrystalline crystallographically oriented ferroelectric materials have a significantly lower dielectric constant and lower leakage current while retaining high polarizability and low coercive voltage. Thus, the ferroelectric FETs made with the polycrystalline crystallographically oriented material have a relatively low switching voltage while retaining the advantageous non-destructive read out properties of ferroelectric FETs.
In accordance with the invention, the thin film of polycrystalline crystallographically oriented ferroelectric material may be applied using any number of techniques for applying thin films in integrated circuits. Preferably, metal organic precursors suitable for metal organic decomposition (xe2x80x9cMODxe2x80x9d) techniques of thin film deposition are used. MOD methods enable convenient and accurate control of precursor concentrations. Preferably, a liquid source chemical deposition method is used such as misted deposition or chemical vapor deposition (xe2x80x9cCVDxe2x80x9d), or a spin-on or dipping method may be used instead.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, the write bias is applied between the substrate and the FET gate. Preferably, the ferroelectric FET memory cell is read by sensing the source/drain current when a voltage difference is placed across the source and drain.
An effective method for fabricating a ferroelectric FET memory in accordance with the invention is the use of UV radiation during treatment of the ferroelectric thin film to enhance c-axis orientation. | {
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More restrictive exhaust emissions laws for diesel engines have driven changes in engine design including the need for high-pressure electronic fuel injection systems. Engines built according to the new designs use higher combustion pressures, higher operating temperatures and less lubrication than previous designs. Components of the new designs, including valve seat inserts (VSI), have experienced significantly higher wear rates. Exhaust and intake valve seat inserts and valves, for example, must be able to withstand a high number of valve impact events and combustion events with minimal wear (e.g., abrasive, adhesive and corrosive wear). This has motivated a shift in materials selection toward materials that offer improved wear resistance relative to the valve seat insert materials that have traditionally been used by the diesel industry.
Another emerging trend in diesel engine development is the use of EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). With EGR, exhaust gas is partially routed back into the intake air stream to reduce nitric oxide (NOx) content in exhaust emissions. The use of EGR in diesel engines can change engine combustion characteristics and consequently the valve/VSI working environment. Accordingly, there is a need for lower cost exhaust valve seat inserts having suitable metallurgical and mechanical properties for use in diesel engines using EGR.
Also, because exhaust gas contains compounds of nitrogen, sulfur, chlorine, and other elements that potentially can form acids, the need for improved corrosion resistance for alloys used in intake and exhaust valve seat insert applications is increased for diesel engines using EGR. Acid can attack valve seat inserts and valves leading to premature engine failure.
There is a need for improved iron-based alloys for valve seat inserts that exhibit adequate hardness, as well as corrosion and wear resistance suitable for use in, for example, intake and exhaust valve seat insert applications. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure method used in the semiconductor process, more particularly to an exposure method which can correct the variation of the after-etch-inspection critical dimension (AEICD).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lithography process is an important step in the transfer of the circuit pattern onto the substrate. After the photoresist is exposed to a patterned light beam and developed and after the substrate is etched, the substrate not covered by the photoresist is removed. In this way, the pattern can be transferred onto the substrate.
However, during the etching process, including wet etching and dry etching, due to the loading effect, the etching rate of the die region near the periphery of the wafer is different from the etching rate of the die region near the center of the wafer. Therefore, the after-etch-inspection critical dimension (AEICD) will vary in the die region located in different positions of the wafer. Accordingly, in the semi-conductor field, one of the challenges is to improve the AEICD uniformity. | {
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In the field of parallel processing, the ability of fast and parallel communication amongst processors working on the same task is an important consideration. It is also important to be able to transmit data of various types, such as digital, analog, and optical efficiently amongst processors.
This application is directed to parallel processing, parallel switching networks, and particularly to an improved adaption of serial fiber or analog wire transmission media to parallel switching networks for the purpose of interconnecting large numbers of processors with a minimal interface. The processors can be interconnected to form a shared processing resource--a "farm" of processors--to provide either massive joint computional power for a single task or individual processors assignable to individual tasks. Corporations are beginning to view this type of "farm" approach as being very valuable. Individual workstations can be purchased and given to individual employees to support their work effort during the day. However, in the evenings or on weekends, the workstations are networked together to form a massive processing base for performing batch jobs or parallel processing. Industry is becoming aware that massive processing power can be obtained at a lower cost by investing in less expensive workstations, rather than in the traditional single large mainframe processor.
The state-of-the-art switches do not effectively meet the requirements of the versatile "farm" systems. First, they are inflexible and dictate that a single homogeneous serial transmission media and protocol be employed throughout the entire system. Secondly, they are generally switching systems designed to switch high bandwidth serial transfers or analog transmissions without regard for latency. They attack only half the problem in that they provide parallel data communication, but they do not provide for parallel path set-up through the switch. Therefore, they do not provide a full parallel network capability. Instead, all network paths share a central matrix controller function that operates in serial. If a processing node wishes to use a path through the switch, it must first arbitrate for the facilities of the central matrix controller. The matrix controller services one request at a time, causing parallel requests to wait their turn. The central matrix controller acknowledges one switch set-up request at a time. It receives a short message indicating the switch connection desired. The central matrix controller checks a matrix map stored in the central matrix controller's memory and determines whether the requested connection can be established or not. If it can, the central matrix controller sends a command to the switching element (usually referred to as the switch fabric) to make the requested connection. Then the central matrix controller responds to the requesting node telling it whether the desired connection has been made or is not available. The processing node then uses the established connection and transmits data to or from the desired destination through the switch fabric, while the central matrix controller works on establishing the next serial connection. The processing node must go through a similar procedure to break the switch fabric connection using the central matrix controller, when it is finished using a given switch path. Thus, the latency of the central matrix controller approach in regards to establishing and breaking switch paths is very poor. In existing products, this type of approach has been adequate connect DASD's and other I/O devices to computer complexes, or to send batch information between processors. These types of applications transfer long disc records or large batch data at a high bandwidth. The poor latency is amertised over the large transfer and has a small effect on the overall performance. However, this is not the case for the modern "farm" approach, where messages can be short and latency becomes as important, if not more so, as bandwith. Harold S. Stone in his book "High-Performance Computer Architecture" (Addison-Wesley 1990, pg.309) states that the performance benefits of parallel processing depends strongly on the ratio R/C, where R is the run-time of the processing (the computational work to be done) and C is the communication overhead required amongst n parallel processors jointly working on the job. The value C includes latency as well as bandwidth, and to keep C small and make parallel processing efficient, the switch latency must also be kept small.
Thirdly, another drawback of the central matrix controller switching approach is the limited number of processors that a single central controller can manage. Systems have been built to interconnect 8, 16, 32, and possibly as many as 64 processors, but that appears to be approaching the the limit of the concept. The central matrix controller approach also has a reliability problem in that a failure in the central controller can fail the entire communication system and render the whole parallel system useless.
We have solved some of the problems encountered in the prior art which we referred to above. A distributed switch controller approach, rather than a centralized approach, appears to be a better solution for parallel processing because of its inherent low latency, its ability to withstand failures, and its ability to expand to interconnecting massively parallel systems. The distributed and fully parallel switch utilized herein to solve the "farm" interconnect problem efficiently is the ALLNODE Switch (Asynchronous, Low Latency, inter-NODE switch), which is disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 07/677,543 and adapted by the present invention to perform the switching of serial data lines at low latency and high bandwidths. The ALLNODE switch provides a circuit switching capability at high bandwidths similar to the switch fabric in the central matrix controlled switches; however, the ALLNODE switch includes distributed switch path connection set-up and tear-down controls individually within each switch--thus providing parallel set-up, low latency, and elimination of central point failures. We will further describe in the detailed description a way whereby the ALLNODE switch and the present invention can be used to solve the "farm" problem effectively.
This application builds on the basic ALLNODE Switch invention as disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 07/677,543, which is adapted by the present invention to perform the low latency switching of analog and optical data lines, as well as standard digital data lines. | {
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This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 89115392, filed Aug. 1, 2000.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-level capping layer applicable to a semiconductor process. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-film capping layer applicable to a self-aligned silicide (salicide) process.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a self-aligned silicide (salicide) process is usually performed to form a metal silicide layer, such as titanium silicide layer, on a source/drain region and gate polysilicon layer of a gate transistor, so as to reduce the resistance of the gate transistor. The metal silicide layer formed as such results an increased electrical conduction in the gate transistor, and thus an operation speed of a semiconductor device is improved.
However, as the size of the semiconductor device has gradually reduced according to the design rule, a sheet resistance of the metal silicide increases. This is known as a narrow line width effect. It was known that the sub-micron process of below 0.15 micron is possibly an ultimate limitation for using the titanium silicide layer. To follow a trend for an increased integration of the semiconductor device, another metal layer, such as cobalt (Co) layer which produce a lower sheet resistance regardless of size reduction of the device, is selected for forming the metal silicide layer.
FIG. 1A is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram illustrating a metal layer formed on a gate transistor without a capping layer. A semiconductor substrate 100 is provided having shallow trench isolations 102 (STI) formed therein. The STI 102 define an active region (not shown) for forming a gate transistor 104, which gate transistor 104 comprising a source/drain region 106, a gate oxide layer 108, a polysilicon layer 110, and a gate spacer 112, as shown in FIG. 1A. A metal layer, such as the Co layer 114 is formed to cover a profile including the gate transistor 104 and the surface of the substrate 100. This allows performing a self-aligned silicide (salicide) process including a rapid thermal process (RTP) which forms a cobalt silicide layer on the conductive regions of the gate transistor 104.
A chemical reaction between Co and Si occurs during the salicide process, and the reaction can simply be shown by the chemical equation below:
Co+Sixe2x86x92Co2Sixe2x86x92CoSixxe2x86x92CoSi2
Since the CoSix intermediate species is chemically very reactive in an ambient environment, a top portion of the Co layer 114 is consumed by the surrounding, while the rest of the Co layer 114 reacts with the silicon layer during the salicide process. This causes an increase in the sheet resistance (Rsh) of the cobalt silicide layer, and thus an increase in the overall resistance of the device. As a result, the device suffers a reduced operation speed.
One common solution to the problem stated above involves forming a titanium (Ti) layer 116 on the Co layer 114. FIG. 1B is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram illustrating a conventional capping layer formed on a gate transistor for a salicide process. The Ti layer 116 is formed directly on the Co layer 114 by sputtering so as to protect the Co layer 114 from being consumed by oxygen in the surroundings. Thus, this yields a more uniform Co layer 114 than the case without formation of the Ti layer 116. But, the Ti layer 116 itself produces other problems in terms of consumption of the Co layer 114. For example, a Coxe2x80x94Ti reaction occurs when the RTP is performed to consume the Co layer 114. This causes a thinning of the CoSi2 layer that results an increase in the Rsh.
FIG. 1C is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram illustrating another conventional capping layer formed on a gate transistor for a salicide process, which capping layer is made of a titanium nitride (TiN). The TiN layer 118 does not consume cobalt and thus resolves the problem of Co thinning. However, a cobalt oxide is formed when a rapid thermal process is performed, since oxygen or moisture coming from a fabrication environment will diffuse into annular nanopipes surrounding columnar TiN grains and trapped therein. The cobalt oxide formed as such is hard to be removed in a cleaning step after the salicide is formed. If the cobalt oxide is not completely removed, a portion of the cobalt oxide can remain on the gate spacer. This produces a bridge issue or filament issue at which a trace of cobalt oxide undesirably connects up the gate polysilicon layer and the source/drain region, thus leading to a short circuiting.
The invention provides a multi-film capping layer which is applicable to a self-aligned silicide (salicide) process. The multi-film capping layer is a combination of different layers, each having a unique characteristics which works together to achieve a low resistance environment in a resultant device.
As embodied and broadly described herein, the invention provides a multi-film capping layer comprising of a cobalt (Co) layer, a barrier layer, and a stuffing layer. The multi-film capping layer is formed to cover a profile including a gate transistor which is constructed on a substrate. The Co layer is formed on substrate and covers the gate transistor so as to form a salicide layer on conductive regions of the gate transistor. The barrier layer is formed on the Co layer, while the stuffing layer is formed on the barrier layer, so that the barrier layer isolates the Co layer from the stuffing layer.
Accordingly, the multi-film capping layer has several advantages over the conventional capping layer for the salicide process. First of all, the sheet resistance (Rsh) of the salicide layer is significantly reduced, since the barrier layer formed above the Co layer solves the problem of Co thinning. The addition of the stuffing layer further prevents entry of oxygen or moisture to the salicide layer, thus no Co-oxide is formed when RTP is performed. Without formation of the Co-oxide, the invention is free from the bridging issue and the filament issue.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to catalysts and a process for preparing polyisocyanates containing isocyanurate groups, to polyisocyanates thus prepared, and to their use.
2. Description of the Background
For high-grade one- and two-component polyurethane coating materials featuring high light stability and weathering stability, the isocyanate component used comprises, in particular, polyisocyanate mixtures containing isocyanurate and uretdione groups. The oligomerization or polymerization of isocyanates to give such polyisocyanates has been known for a long time. A range of preparation processes have been developed, differing from one another in catalyst selection, in the organic isocyanates used, or in technical parameters of the process (cf. e.g. GB Patent 1391066, EP 82 987, DE 39 02 078, EP 339 396, EP 224 165; see also H. J. Laas et al. in J. Prakt. Chem. 336 (1994), 185 ff.).
Isocyanates suitable for trimerization, examples being aromatic, cycloaliphatic, and aliphatic diisocyanates and higher polyisocyanates, can be prepared by a variety of methods (Annalen der Chemie 562 (1949), 75 ff.). Processes established in the industry include in particular preparation by phosgenating organic polyamines to the corresponding polycarbamoyl chlorides and the thermal cleavage of these chlorides into organic polyisocyanates and hydrogen chloride. Alternatively, organic polyisocyanates can be prepared without the use of phosgene, i.e., by phosgene-free processes. According to EP 126 299, EP 126 300 and EP 355 443, for example, (cyclo)aliphatic diisocyanates—such as 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and/or isomeric aliphatic diisocyanates having 6 carbon atoms in the alkylene radical, and 1-isocyanato-3-iso-cyanatomethyl-3,5,5-trimethylcyclohexane (isophorone diisocyanate or IPDI)—can be prepared by reaction of the parent (cyclo)aliphatic diamines with urea and alcohols to give (cyclo)aliphatic biscarbamic esters and the thermal cleavage thereof into the corresponding diisocyanates and alcohols.
For oligomerization, the (cyclo)aliphatic diisocyanates are reacted in the presence of the catalyst, with or without the use of solvents and/or auxiliaries, until the desired degree of conversion has been achieved. One of the terms used in this context is partial trimerization, since the target conversion is generally well below 100%. Afterward, the reaction is terminated by deactivating the catalyst and the excess monomeric diisocyanate is usually separated off, generally by flash or thin-film distillation. Deactivation is carried out thermally or by adding a catalyst inhibitor. Suitable examples include acids such as p-toluenesulfonic acid or bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate, alkylating agents or else acylating reagents.
As catalysts for the trimerization of isocyanates to the target polyisocyanates containing isocyanurate and possibly uretdione groups it is possible, for example, to use tertiary amines, phosphines, alkali metal phenoxides, amino silanes, quaternary ammonium hydroxides or quaternary ammonium carbonates. Highly suitable oligomerization catalysts also include hydroxides, halides or carboxylates of hydroxyalkylammonium ions (cf., e.g., EP 351 873, EP 798 299, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,902), alkali metal salts, and tin salts, zinc salts, and lead salts of alkylcarboxylic acids. Depending on the catalysts, the use of various cocatalysts such as OH-functionalized compounds or Mannich bases composed of secondary amines and aldehydes or ketones, for example, is also possible.
Depending on the type of catalyst used and the reaction temperature, polyisocyanates are obtained with different proportions of isocyanurate and/or uretdione groups. The products are usually clear but may also have a greater or lesser yellow coloration depending on catalyst type, diisocyanate quality, reaction temperature and reaction regime. For the preparation of high-grade polyurethane coating materials, however, products whose color number is as low as possible are desired.
An appropriate catalyst may be selected according to different criteria. Of particular advantage with a view to the trimerization of isocyanates on an industrial scale, for example, is the use of quaternary hydroxylalkylammonium carboxylates as oligomerization catalysts. These choline-type catalysts are thermally labile. It is unnecessary to stop the trimerization on reaching the desired conversion by adding potentially quality-lowering catalyst inhibitors. Instead, targeted thermal deactivation allows optimum process control. The thermal lability also affords advantages from the standpoint of process safety. There is no possibility of uncontrolled reaction “runaway” provided the amount of catalyst added does not exceed the customary level by a multiple.
Aminosilyl compounds have proven advantageous for preparing high color quality polyisocyanates containing isocyanurate groups (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,412,073, 4,537,961, 4,675,401, 4,697,014). In addition, they permit safe reaction control and can easily be deactivated using water or alcohols.
The class of the aminosilyl catalysts is hampered, however, by the disadvantage of low catalytic activity, so that economic space-time yields can be realized only when relatively large quantities of catalyst are used. This, however, is associated with further disadvantages. On the one hand, it constitutes a serious cost factor, since deactivation irreversibly destroys the catalyst which thus cannot be positively recycled into the process. On the other hand, relatively large amounts of the deactivated catalysts inevitably get into the product, with possibly adverse consequences for its profile of properties.
There is therefore a need for Si-based catalysts for preparing isocyanurate-containing polyisocyanates that do not have the disadvantages of the aminosilyl compounds known in the art. | {
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Heat-resistant resins, such as polyether sulfone (hereinafter abbreviated as PES), polyether imide (hereinafter abbreviated as PEI), polysulfone (hereinafter abbreviated as PSF), polyamide imide (hereinafter abbreviated as PAI), polyimide (hereinafter abbreviated as PI), polyphenylene sulfide (hereinafter abbreviated as PPS), polyether ether ketone (hereinafter abbreviated as PEEK), aromatic polyester (hereinafter abbreviated as PER) and polyether ketone (hereinafter abbreviated as PEK), are much superior in heat resistance and mechanical strength to engineering plastics of the general purpose grade, and hence are named super engineering plastics. They find a variety of applications in the field of electric and electonic equipment, machines, automobiles, etc.
Recent progress of technology has however been urging these heat-resistant resins to improve further their properties, particularly mechanical strength.
Thus, it has been practiced to improve the mechanical strength and heat resistance of the heat-resistant resins by blending them with a fibrous reinforcing material, particularly a carbon fiber.
Carbon fibers are being used in large amounts in carbon fiber-reinforced plastics whose matrices are epoxy resins. Hence, epoxy resins are used as binders of carbon fibers. However, although the epoxy resin binders are effective when thermosetting resins such as epoxy resins are used as matrices, their adherence is so poor to the aforesaid heat resistant resins that they hardly produce resin compositions excellent in mechanical strength. For this reason, it has been attempted in the case of thermoplastic resins to use polyamide resins as a binder of carbon fibers, as seen in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 106752/1978. Further, a disclosure is made in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 120730/1981 to use carbon fibers bound with aromatic polysulfone resins.
As conventional internal combustion engine parts, for example, impellers made of fiber-reinforced resins, there are those described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48684/1977 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 119105/1982. The resin materials composing the impellers are characterized by incorporating carbon fibers as reinforcing materials of the resins. Particularly, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 119105/1982, it is disclosed that impellers can be prepared from a carbon fiber-reinforced resin in which a heat-resistant thermoplastic or thermosetting resin is used as the matrix resin.
When the above-described carbon fiber bound with an epoxy or polyamide resin is applied to the aforementioned heat-resistant resin, the binder dissociates thermally during molding to form voids or to decrease the strength of the weld part, because the molding temperature of the heat-resistant resin is required to be as high as at least 300.degree. C.
To overcome this problem, carbon fibers bound with aromatic polysulfone resins are used so as to eliminate the formation of voids and the decrease of the strength of the weld part, as seen in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 120730/1981. However, the resulting resin compositions show only a small improvement in mechanical strength, and therefore a further improvement in the mechanical strength is desired.
The service conditions of existing internal combustion engine parts, e.g., impellers of centrifugal compressors are in the range of from -50.degree. C. to 200.degree. C. (the highest temperature in usual service: 150.degree. C.) and 13.times.10.sup.4 rpm as the maximum number of revolution. Moreover, the maximum stress generated at the maximum number of revolution amounts to about 20 kg/mm.sup.2 for existing impellers (made of aluminum alloys; with an outer diameter of about 60 mm) and about 10 kg/mm.sup.2 at their blade roots.
It is hence preferable to use a fiber-reinforced resin that has a small specific gravity, because it allows the maximum stress during revolution to decrease to about one half. However, when an impeller material is selected in view of its heat resistance, strength, modulus of elasticity, durability, tension and compression creep characteristics, etc. under such existing service conditions, the thermoplastic or thermosetting resins disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 119105/1982 may not be used as the material unless modified.
As fiber-reinforced resin compositions meeting these conditions, it may be thought of to compound heat-resistant resins including PES, PEI, PEEK, PAI, etc. with carbon fibers, glass fibers, wiskers, etc. However, the aforesaid resins have high glass transition temperatures or melting temperatures so that it is necessary to mold them by melting at temperatures as high as 360.degree. C.-420.degree. C.
As for the carbon fiber in particular, existing commercially available carbon fibers for resin reinforcement employ primarily a thermoplastic polyamide resin (dissociation temperature: 280.degree. C.) and a thermosetting epoxy resin (dissociation temperature: 300.degree. C.) as the surface treating agent (binder). Therefore, at the aforesaid resin melting temperatures (360.degree. C.-420.degree. C.) upon molding, these resins are liable to dissociate, resulting in the reduction of the boundary strength between the carbon fiber and the matrix resin due to insufficient wetting. Further, the resulting molded products are apt to have dispersed strengths. Therefore, when these fiber-reinforced resins are used as an impeller material for centrifugal compressors, the resulting impellers may not effectively be reinforced and cured by the carbon fiber and hence their strength will be low. | {
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The subject invention is directed toward the art of producing pastry products and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for treating a single layer sheet of pastry dough to give it the appearance of having been woven from a plurality of individual strips.
The invention is particularly intended for use in forming the top crust of pies and will be described with reference thereto; however, the invention is capable of broader application and could be used whenever it is desired to produce a pastry product having the noted appearance.
The use of a lattice-work top crust on certain types of pies, especially fruit pies, is somewhat traditional and produces a particularly attractive pie. Typically, such crusts have been produced by forming flat pastry strips which are then manually woven into an open basket-weave pattern. The process is, of course, comparatively time consuming. Thus, it is relatively uneconomic to use such crusts on high volume bakery produced pies.
In an effort to mechanize the production of the crusts, a variety of cutters and punching devices have been proposed. The pie crusts resulting from the use of these prior devices do not, however, have a true woven appearance. Rather, they look like what they are, namely, flat sheets of pastry dough with a pattern of holes punched therethrough. Consequently, there as been an ongoing need to provide apparatus and method for efficiently and effectively producing crusts having the desired appearance. | {
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Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus have experienced exponential growth in recently years as web-based communication platforms. Hundreds of millions of people are using various forms of social media networks every day to communicate and stay connected with each other. Consequently, the resulting activities from the users on the social media networks, such as tweets posted on Twitter, becomes phenomenal and can be collected for various kinds of measurements and analysis. Specifically, these user activity data can be retrieved from the social data sources of the social networks through their respective publicly available Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), indexed, processed, and stored locally for further analysis.
These stream data from the social networks collected in real time along with those collected and stored overtime provide the basis for a variety of measurements and analysis. Some of the metrics for measurements and analysis include but are not limited to: Number of mentions—Total number of mentions for a keyword, term or link; Number of mentions by influencers—Total number of mentions for a keyword, term or link by an influential user; Number of mentions by significant posts—Total number of mentions for a keyword, term or link by tweets that have been retweeted or contain a link; Velocity—The extent to which a keyword, term or link is “taking off” in the preceding time windows (e.g., seven days).
In addition to the above measurements and analysis performed on the content of the data, it is also important to analyze the aggregated sentiments of the users expressed through their activities (e.g., Tweets and posts) on the social networks as well. For a non-limiting example, such aggregated sentiments can be measured by the percentage of tweets expressed by a group of users on the certain topic over a certain period of time that are positive, neutral and negative. Although such measurement of the sentiments of the users expressed over the social networks provide real-time gauges of their views/opinions, such measurement may be biased due to various factors, including but not limited to, the type of users most active and thus most likely to express their feelings on the social networks, timing and preferred way of expression by each individual user, etc. Consequently, as measured, the sentiments of users expressed on the social networks on certain matters or events may not be a true and accurate reflection of the sentiments of the public at large.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings. | {
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The present invention pertains generally to machines for conveying articles in a circular upright path while said articles are being treated.
In restaurants and bars a large volume of drinking glasses must be washed, dried and preferably chilled prior to each use. The last step of chilling glasses before use normally entails the loading and unloading of glass filled trays from the shelves of a refrigerated cooler. The task of loading and unloading glasses from cooler shelves is both time consuming and arduous. Common practice entails loading a cooler at one door and retrieving the trays of cooled glasses at a remote door. The trays must be advanced along each shelf before a new tray may be added. The continual opening of two cooler doors results in wasteful operation of the cooler's refrigeration apparatus. | {
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There are established procedures for removing thrombi from a patient's vasculature by percutaneous insertion of appropriate treatment apparatus into the vasculature of the patient. A procedure which is well documented involves the use of an assembly which includes a balloon catheter provided with two inflatable balloons which are spaced from one another at the distal end of the catheter. The balloon catheter is inserted endoluminally into the patient's vasculature until the balloons are located either side of a thrombus to be removed. The balloons are then inflated so as to close off that part of the patient's vessel. The assembly includes provision for feeding into the space between the two inflated balloons a thrombolytic or other lytic agent, typically through a lumen of the balloon catheter. The thrombolytic agent will dissolve the thrombus located between the two inflated balloons, whereupon the dissolved thrombus material can be removed, typically by aspiration. Particularly when a thrombus is established, that is when the thrombus is dense and well set, it can take a significant time to dissolve the thrombus and thus remove this from the patient.
Examples of thrombus treatment apparatus can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,546, U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,178 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,016. | {
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This invention relates to a method for forming a positive color image by use of an inner latent image type light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material for formation of direct positive color image, more particularly to novel processing method which is little in dependence on the concentration change in bromide ion caused by the change in amount replenished and the influence by evaporation and also in dependence on processing time and yet is not impaired in rapidity, and also small in developing fog, especially a processing method with small amount to be replenished and high processing stability.
Methods for obtaining direct positive images known in the prior art can be classified mainly into the two types. One type employs a silver halide emulsion having previously fogged nucleus and positive image is obtained after development by destroying the fogged nucleus or the latent image at the exposed portion by utilizing solarization or Hershel effect, etc. The other type employs an inner latent image type silver halide emulsion not previously subjected to fogging, fogging treatment (treatment for forming developing nucleus) is applied after image exposure and then surface development is performed or alternatively surface treatment is performed while applying fogging treatment (treatment for forming developing nucleus) after image exposure, whereby a positive image can be obtained.
The above fogging treatment (treatment for forming developing nucleus) may be conducted by way of giving the whole surface exposure, chemically by use of a fogging agent, or by use of a strong developing solution, or further by heat treatment, etc.
Of the above two methods for formation of positive images, the methods of the latter type are generally higher in sensitivity than the methods of the former type and therefore suitable for uses in which high sensitivity is required.
In this field of the art, various techniques have been hitherto known. For example, there have been known the methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,592,250, 2,466,957, 2,497,875, 2,588,982, 3,761,266, 3,761,276 and 3,796,577 and U.K. Pat. No. 1,151,363.
In the case of processing of an inner latent image type light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter referred to as inner latent image type light-sensitive material), the process comprises basically the two steps of color development and desilverization which are performed after application of the fogging treatment and/or while applying fogging treatment, desilverization comprising bleaching and fixing steps or bleach-fixing step. Otherwise, as additive processing steps, rinsing processing, stabilizing processing, etc., are added.
In the color development performed after application of fogging treatment and/or while applying fogging treatment, the silver halide at the unexposed portion is reduced to silver, and at the same time the oxidized aromatic primary amine developing agent reacts with a coupler to form a dye. In this process, the halide ions formed by reduction of silver halide are dissolved out into the developing solution to be accumulated therein. Separately, the components such as inhibitors contained in the inner latent image type light-sensitive material are dissolved in the color developing solution to be accumulated therein. In the desilverization step, the silver formed by development is bleached with an oxidizing agent and then all the silver salts are removed from within the inner latent image light-sensitive material as soluble silver salts with a fixing agent. It is also known to perform one bath bleach-fixing processing method, in which the bleaching step and the fixing step are carried out at the same time.
In the color developing solution, developing inhibiting substances are accumulated by developing processing of the inner latent image type light-sensitive material as described above. On the other hand, the color developing agent or benzyl alcohol are consumed or brought out as accumulated within the inner latent image type light-sensitive materials, and the concentrations of those components become lowered. Accordingly, in the developing processing method in which a large amount of inner latent image type light-sensitive materials are continuously processed by means of an automatic developing machine, etc., it is necessary to have a means for maintaining the components of the color developing solution within the constant levels in order to avoid changes in characteristic after finishing of development due to the changes in component concentration. As such a means, it has been generally employed to replenish the components in shortage and replenishing a replenisher for diluting unnecessary increased components. Due to replenishing of such a replenisher, a large amount of overflow of the solution is necessarily formed and discarded, and therefore this method involves great problems in economy and environmental pollution. For this reason, in recent years, in order to reduce the above overflow solution there has been proposed and practically employed the so-called low flow replenishment system in which these replenishers are concentrated and replenished in a small amount.
However, if the amount replenished is extremely reduced, the organic inhibitors or halide ion concentration dissolved out into the developing solution will suffer from great concentration changes even by slight errors in the amount replenished and will be susceptible to the influence by concentration through evaporation whereby the above spent accumulated products are generally increased in concentration. For example, by increase of halide ion concentration, the developing reaction is inhibited, particularly more inhibited at the higher density portion of the characteristic curve, whereby there ensues the problem such that no satisfactory density can be obtained even by elongation of the processing time. For avoiding this, for example, one may consider to remove the halide ions by ion exchange resin or electrodialisis from the overflow solution and use it as the replenisher again by regeneration with addition of a regenarating agent for replenishing the defficient components which became in shortage during development or lost during regeneration treatment, as proposed in processing of the surface latent image type light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter referred to as surface latent image type light-sensitive material) for formation of negative image.
According to these regeneration by ion exchange resin or electrodialisis and the thickened reduced replenish system, processing is affected by evaporation or regeneration operation, and also susceptible to the change in bromide ion concentration, and also affected by the difference in the amount processed as well as the difference in the amount of replenishers, whereby there is involved the drawback that the processing solutions differ in composition to a great extent.
For such reasons, in the low flow replenishment processing or the regeneration method, it is necessary to make efforts to quantitate the components for every cycle of regeneration to maintain the composition at a constant level, and therefore these regeneration processing and low flow replenishment processing can be practiced with difficulty in a developing station or mini-laboratory, etc., having no special skill.
Such problems are caused primarily by the change in bromide ion which is the developing inhibitor. For example, the problem may be estimated to be solved by improving the developing characteristic by making smaller the mean grain size of the silver halide in the inner latent image type light-sensitive material. However, in a color developing solution using 3-methyl-4-amino-N-ethyl-N-.beta.-methanesulfoneamidoethylaniline which is the developing agent of the prior art, if the developing characteristic is improved, processing will become rather more susceptible to the change in bromide ion concentration in the developing solution to result impairment of processing stability as contrary to the expected result.
However, it is an important task to enhance processing stability simultaneously with shortening of the processing time. That is, the strong demand of the era is the above-mentioned low flow replenishment in the economical sense, but short time processing is also strongly demanded in aspect of shortening the time limit of delivery.
Whereas, as mentioned above, rapid processing and stabilization of processing or low flow replenishment are issues which are antagonistic to each other, which may be criticized as a relationship of trade-off.
That is, if low flow replenishment is aimed at, the concentration of the bromide ion which is the inhibiting substance or the concentration of a sulfur compound or a mercapto compound which is the emulsion stabilizer will be increased to impair rapidity, and processing stability is impaired.
Nevertheless, various countermeasures have been taken to expedite color development in the prior art. Particularly, since the above developing agent which have been used in the prior art as the most suitable developing agent for the silver chlorobromide emulsion of the inner latent image type is low in hydrophilic property, it can be slowly penetrated into the light-sensitive material, and therefore various penetrating agents for acceleration of penetration have been investigated. For example, there have been widely employed the method in which color development is accelerated by addition of benzyl alcohol into the color developing solution. However, according to this method no satisfactory color development can be effected unless processing is performed at 33.degree. C. for 3 minutes or longer. Besides, there is also involved the drawback of being susceptible to the subtle influence by the bromide ion concentration. There is also known the method of increasing the pH of the color developing solution, but when the pH becomes 10.5 or higher, the color developing agent will be oxidized at a remarkably higher rate, changes in pH have great effect on processing due to absence of an appropriate buffer to give no stable photographic characteristic, and also dependency on the processing time becomes greater.
It is also known to increase the activity of the color developing solution by increasing the amount of the color developing agent contained therein. However, since the color developing agent is very expensive, the cost of the processing solution becomes higher and at the same time there is the problem of instability that the above agent is difficultly soluble in water and will be readily precipitated. Thus, this method is not useful in practical application.
On the other hand, for accomplishing a rapid color development of the surface latent image type light-sensitive material, it has been known to have the color developing agent previously built in the light-sensitive material. For example, there has been known the method in which the color developing agent is built in as a metal complex (U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,492). However, according to this method, the light-sensitive material is poor in raw storability, and drawbacks such as fogging before use and further tendency to be fogged during development are known to be involved.
Further, for inactivation of the amine portion of the color develping agent, there has been known the method, for example, in which the color developing agent is built in as Schiff salt (U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,559, Research Disclosure, No. 15159, 1976). However, according to these methods, color development cannot be initiated after alkali hydrolysis of the color developing agent (thus involving rather the drawback that color development is delayed).
Further, in the case of having a color developing agent directly built in, in addition to the drawback of fogging of the emulsion during storage due to instability of the color developing agent, various kinds of troubles are known to be generated in processing because the emulsion film quality becomes weaker.
It has been found that the same drawbacks are involved also in the case when the techniques known in the surface latent image type light-sensitive material as described above are applied for the inner latent image type light-sensitive material.
Also, as the accelerators known in the surface latent image type light-sensitive materials in the prior art, investigations have been made about the compounds disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,950,970, 2,515,147, 2,496,903, 4,038,075 and 4,119,462; U.K. Pat. Nos. 1,430,998 and 1,455,413; Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 15831/1978, 62450/1980, 62451/1980, 62452/1980 and 62453/1980; Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 12322/1976 and 49728/1980; etc. As the result, most of the compounds have insufficient acceleration effect on the inner latent image type light-sensitive materials, and the compounds having high acceleration effect not only have the drawback of forming developing fog but also unsuitable for improvement of processing stability.
It is also known to accelerate development by providing a silver halide emulsion layer which is substantially non-light-sensitive in a surface latent image type light-sensitive material as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 23225/1975, 14236/1981; U.K. Pat. No. 1,378,577, German Laid-open Patent Publication No. (OLS) 26 22 922; etc., but its function is to absorb unnecessary halogens released during development and developing inhibiting substances such as unnecessary eliminated groups of DIR couplers or DAR couplers, and it is not to accelerate positively development. Particularly, even when applied for an inner latent image type light-sensitive material, its development accelerating effect is not only small, but no processing stabilizing effect can be obtained with respect to fluctuation in bromide ion concentration, although it may have an effect with respect to fluctuation in iodide ion concentration.
On the other hand, in the case of the surface latent image type light-sensitive material, the speed of color development is said to differ depending on the kind of the para-phenylenediamine derivative employed and depend on the redox potential. Of these color developing agents, N-alkyl substituted color developing agents having low water solubility such as N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine sulfate or 3-methyl-4-amino-N,N-diethylaniline hydrochloride, while having high developing activity and enabling rapid processing, are known to be low in dark fading characteristic of the color formed dye after processing. When applied for the inner latent image type light-sensitive material, substantially similar results were obtained and no stability could be obtained with respect to the bromide ion concentration. On the other hand, when 3-methyl-4-amino-N-ethyl-N-.beta.-methoxyethylaniline-di-toluenesulfonate which is said to be preferable with high developing activity in the surface latent image type light-sensitive material (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,656,950 and 3,658,525) is applied for the inner latent image type light-sensitive material, rapid processing can be surely effected but no stability with respect to the bromide ion concentration can be obtained and yellow stain was also found to be generated markedly in the unexposed portion of the inner latent image type light-sensitive material after processing. Particularly, when processed within a short time, the color developing solution remains to cause disadvantageously generation of coarse stains. Thus, this compound was found to be unuseful in rapid processing.
On the other hand, 3-methyl-4-amino-N-ethyl-.beta.-methanesulfoneamidoethylanilinesesquisulfa te monohydrade or 3-methyl-4-amino-N-.beta.-hydroxyethylaniline sulfate in which alkyl sulfoneamide group or hydroxyalkyl group which is a water-soluble group is introduced into the N-alkyl group has been said to exhibit little difference in half-wave potential exhibiting the redox potential and both to be weak in developing activity, as can be seen from Photographic Science and Engineering Vol. 8, No. 3, May to June, 1964, pp. 125-137. Thus, it has been generally admitted that there is substantially no color developing agent which is high in developing activity for the inner latent image type silver chlorobromide emulsion and also excellent in processing stability, and 3-methyl-4-amino-N-ethyl-N-.beta.-methanesulfoneamidoethylaniline sulfate has been generally used together with benzyl alcohol. However, in this case, as described above, the processing is susceptible to the influence by the change in the bromide ion concentration.
On the other hand, in the thickened reduced replenish processing in which the replenisher is reduced, there is another problem of increased entrainment of processing solution components. This is because the ratio of the tank solution renewed with the replenisher is lowered due to reduction in the amount replenished, and also because the term for use of the solution is prolonged. Entrainment of other processing solution is caused by the so-called back contamination in which the processing solution components immediately after development are brought into the color developing solution by splash or delivering leader or hangers for hanging belts or films in the adjacent processing solutions in the processing machine. Of these entrained components accumulated, thiosulfate ions which is the fixing agent dissolve silver halides and promote physical development, whereby the exposed portion having internally a latent image is developed to generate marked developing fogging. Thus, this problem occurs strongly particularly when direct bleach-fixing processing is applied after color development. Also, increased entrainment of a metal salt which is the bleaching agent, particularly, a ferric salt will promote decomposition of hydroxylamine which is a preservative to generate ammonia ions. This decomposition reaction is greatly acceletated at 30.degree. C. or higher. Generation of the ammonia ions will accelerate physical development similarly as thiosulfate ions whereby involving the problem of generation of development fogging.
Accordingly, under the state of the art, even an amount to be replenished may be lowered for economical improvement and lowering in environmental polution, it would be strongly desirable to have a color developing solution which can be processed rapidly, and can maintain photographic performance constantly, and can be processed stably without decomposition of the effective components or change in photographic processing performance even when the processing solution may be used for a long term. | {
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Coiling machines which are known to the state of the art are substantially divided into two categories, according to whether the axis of rotation of the mandrel or reel is vertical or horizontal.
Coiling machines with a vertical axis of rotation are based mainly on coiling inside containing cylinders, where the spirals are formed with the help of spiral-forming tools equipped with relative motion with respect to the containing cylinder.
This type of coiling machine generally does not ensure that a compact coil is formed, since the reciprocal movement of the spiral-forming tool and the containing cylinder is quite uncontrolled and since the stock which is being coiled is not subjected to a controlled tension.
Coiling machines with a horizontal axis of rotation normally allow to obtain much more compact coils, since the product to be coiled is wound on the central mandrel, which is made to rotate by a motor organ. In such coiling machines, the coil is made by means of successive, superimposed rings or layers, which are coaxial to the reel, and thus compact coils are obtained.
The state of the art includes a coiling machine wherein a curved element is arranged inside a containing cylinder, in which the spirals are formed and accumulate, and is kept substantially parallel to the inner surface of the containing cylinder.
In this coiling machine, while the containing cylinder is made to rotate, the curved element is made to gradually advance, parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinder, and is removed from inside the coil when the latter has been completed.
Although this coiling machine is equipped with a device which facilitates the formation of the spirals of the coil, it does not ensure that a compact coil is formed, since the reciprocal movement of the spiral-forming tool and the containing cylinder is quite uncontrolled and since the stock which is being coiled is not subjected to a controlled tension.
The state of the art also includes a coiling machine located at the end of a rolling plant for the continuous production of iron bars, wire or round pieces, wherein a single plane product, obtained during a first rolling step, is sub-divided into a plurality of profiles which are given the desired shape in subsequent rolling operations. In this plant the rolled products thus obtained are conveyed, parallel to each other, towards the stationary coiling machine with a horizontal axis of rotation, which provides to coil them simultaneously, or in parallel, so as to form a plurality of coils on the same mandrel.
This coiling machine has the disadvantage that several profiles, which may even be different from each other, are wound onto the same mandrel, rotating at a set angular velocity, and therefore the coil formed is neither compact nor in the least controlled while it is being formed.
Moreover, coiling machines which are known to the state of the art do not guarantee a uniform temperature over the whole stock which has been rolled and coiled, with differences at the leading and trailing end and the centre; this gives a lack of uniformity of the metallurgical aspect over the whole coil of rolled stock.
The present applicant has designed, tested and embodied this invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain further advantages. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Imaging an object may be considered as a collection of points from the plane of the object that are being focused by an optical system onto a collection of points on the plane of an image sensor. When there is a need to obtain spectral information as well as spatial information of the object, there is a fundamental problem, since this task is essentially the need to simultaneously capture a two-dimensional image of the object plane together with the color of each point of the object plane, this being essentially a “third dimension” of the object plane, and to record these three dimensions of information on the two-dimensional plane of the image sensor. A number of proposed solutions have been suggested in the prior art to solve this problem.
One of the possible optical systems may be one that includes an array of pinholes that may be positioned at the focal plane of the light reflected off the object, while the image sensor is located beyond the focal point such that the image acquired is defocused (and would be later focused by appropriate software). The pinhole array is used to differentiate between points from the plane of the object, such that there won't be any overlap of points in the plane of the image sensor. Without the pinholes there is overlap between points on the imager's plane, which would make it practically impossible to correlate between points on the imager's plane to points on the object's plane and thus practically impossible to restore the spatial information of the object.
A filter array comprising sub-filters may be added to the system and may be positioned at the aperture stop, such that spectral information may be acquired by the optical system as well as spatial information. That is, every pixel at the imager's plane has two “coordinates”; one for the angle at which light was reflected off the object, and a second for the sub-filter which the light reflected off the object passed through. However, the main disadvantages of using a pinhole array is losing spatial information, and losing light when collecting the light reflected off the object, since the pinhole array blocks some of the light reflected off the object from being projected onto the imager. One of the groups implementing such an optical system is, for example, the MITRE Corporation, Mclean, Va. (Horstmeyer R., Athale R. and Euliss G. (2009) “Modified light field architecture for reconfigurable multimode imaging”. Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 7468, 746804).
Another possible optical system that may be used to create an image of an object while providing spatial and spectral information is one where instead of a filter array located at the aperture stop, a mask is located at the aperture stop. The mask, according to Wagadarikar et al. a group from Duke University, Durham, N.C., USA, is called a ‘coded aperture’ (A. A. Wagadarikar, N. P. Pitsianis, X. B. Sun and D. J. Brady (2009). “Video rate spectral imaging using a coded aperture snapshot spectral imager.” Optics Express 17(8): 6368-6388). The optical system described in this article does not comprise a pinhole array so there is an overlap between pixels of the image sensor. The mask is random with the requirement of being 50% open for passage of light that is reflected off the imaged object. With this optical system there is minimal loss of spatial resolution, since the scenes that are being imaged do not consist of dramatic spectral changes, and the objects are relatively large so it is not difficult to distinguish between areas of the same spectra.
The mask, according to the above optical system, provides combinations of spatial and spectral “coordinates” that may describe the object. (The “coordinates” are acquired by the imager followed by software reconstruction, in order to focus the acquired images). In areas of the object where the spectrum is substantially similar, only the spatial data is missing. The mask is then used to separate between close points with similar spectrum on the imager's plane, so it would be easier to correlate those points to points on the object's plane. However, when close points on the object have different spectrum (e.g., along the edges of the object) it is more difficult to distinguish between the points projected onto the imager.
Images that provide spatial as well as spectral information may be important within small scale in-vivo imaging devices, e.g., endoscopes and capsule endoscopes. Spatial information is needed in order to determine the in-vivo location of the device, and spectral information of in-vivo tissue is important for determining various diseases at early stages that may be expressed in changes in spectra of various in-vivo particles, e.g., hemoglobin. There is therefore a need for a new optical system that may be implemented into devices that are to be inserted in-vivo, in order to acquire images that contain both spatial and spectral information. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a process for forming a pattern of conductive material on a substrate, and more particularly, to an improved lift-off process for forming a pattern of metallization under high temperature conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lift-off techniques are commonly employed in forming a pattern of metallization on a processed semiconductor substrate. One approach involves coating a photoresist layer on a substrate, and then patterning the layer through a photomask. A metal layer is then formed on the patterned photoresist, which is subsequently lifted-off, taking with it the undesired portions of the metal layer. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,057, issued to Moreau, et al., on Jan. 20, 1976. One drawback to this type of process, however, is that the metal layer must be deposited at a relatively low temperature, due to the relatively poor heat resistance of the photoresist materials typically employed. This is undesirable as it degrades the electrical characteristics of the devices and lowers the yield of the metallization pattern.
To overcome this problem, processes have been developed, in which polyimide films are employed as the lift-off layer. See, in general, Frary, J. M., et al., "Lift-Off Techniques For Fine Line Metal Patterning", Semiconductor International (Dec. 1981), pp. 72-85. See also, Homma, Y., et al., "Polyimide Lift-Off Technology For High-Density LSI Metallization", IEEE Transactions On Electron Devices, Vol. Ed.-28, No. 5 (May 1981), pp. 552-556, which uses a heat-resistant polyimide (available from Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd., under the trademark "PIQ") in a high temperature metal deposition process.
At high temperatures, however, the polyimide materials become generally insoluble, and thus not completely and readily removable with commonly used solvents. As a result, rather cumbersome and complex removal processes have been devised. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,796, issued to Milgram on Jan. 31, 1984, which discloses a process for removing a polyimide from a semiconductor substrate by heating it to a temperature of 450.degree.-490.degree. C. and immersing the substrate in a solution of methylene chloride or ethylene diamine/hydrazine, followed by ultrasoneration.
Further, a barrier layer is generally required in order to protect the polyimide during the photolithographic process. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,971, issued to Milgram on Jun. 5, 1984, for example, a select polyimide layer is applied to a semiconductor substrate. A barrier layer is deposited on the polyimide, and these layers are patterned using a photoresist mask. A metal layer is deposited, and the polyimide is then stripped, lifting off the undesired portions of metal.
A process which seeks to eliminate the need for a barrier layer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,998, issued to Clodgo, et al. on Aug. 19, 1986. In that patent, a first polyimide layer is applied to a substrate, followed by application of a high temperature polyimide layer. After the two polyimide layers are etched through a photoresist mask, a metal layer is applied; and then, the high temperature polyimide layer is lifted off, the first polyimide layer remaining as a passivation layer. While satisfactory in some respects, this process still requires the use of a photoresist and involves a number of photolithographic steps, which, for cost reduction, would be desirable to reduce.
Thus, for a variety of reasons, none of the techniques described above has proven to be entirely satisfactory. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
As an occasion for making full-color leaflets or posters, there is a demand for full-color printing for a low number of prints unlike that printed by a commercial printing house, but is only in the range of several tens or hundreds, and yet beautiful color reproduction is still required.
In the area where the full-color printing competes with ordinary printing, the resolution higher than that for conventional electrophotographic system, a broader color reproduction area, high speed printing and lower printing cost are required.
As one of methods for forming full-color images, there is known an image forming apparatus wherein respective color toner images are formed on electrophotographic photoreceptors (hereinafter referred to simply as a photoreceptor) for respective colors, which is called a tandem system, and these color images are superposed on an intermediate transfer body or on a recording sheet (in the invention, the intermediate transfer medium and the recording sheet are classified as recording material) (Patent Document 1). This tandem system is fitted to high speed printing, because both monochromatic printing and color printing can be carried out at the same speed. Specifically, based on color-separated image information, namely, on image information corresponding to each color of yellow, magenta, cyan and black, an electrostatic latent image is formed on each photoreceptor separately, and color toner images for respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black corresponding to respective colors are formed on respective electrostatic latent images, thus, these toner images are superposed on the intermediate transfer body or a recording sheet to form a color image. Namely, in the color image forming apparatus of a tandem system, toner images each having a different hue formed by plural image forming units are superposed on the intermediate transfer body or the recording sheet to form a color image, thereby, it is possible to develop an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system capable of forming color images at high speed.
On the other hand, digital full-color image forming apparatuses include a top-level machine for reproducing delicate color cast on a high fidelity basis, and in these digital full-color image forming apparatuses, it is necessary that a latent image of digital color pixels (separate color dot pixels) formed on the electrophotographic photoreceptor is reproduced on a high fidelity basis as a toner image, and for that purpose, it is important to select an electrophotographic photoreceptor capable of making each color pixel to be a latent image on a high fidelity basis and to select toner capable of making each dot latent image to be a visual image on a high fidelity basis. Namely, it is necessary to develop an electrophotographic photoreceptor and toner both capable of reproducing delicate color cast on a high fidelity basis. It is further necessary to develop writing of a latent image, namely, to develop an exposure system.
In the case of the electrophotographic photoreceptor used for the aforesaid tandem system, a separate electrophotographic photoreceptor is used for a toner image of each color. Therefore, a mottle of color and color slippage or doubling tend to be caused if a performance of each electrophotographic photoreceptor is not stable. For example, there is disclosed that an amorphous-silicon-based photoreceptor having high surface hardness and high durability makes it possible to obtain a high-definition image that is excellent in halftone reproducibility (Patent Document 2).
On the other hand, there is proposed (Patent Document 3) an image forming apparatus of a tandem system employing polymeric toner wherein particle sizes can be controlled to be uniform, as a method to improve color reproduction of digital full-color.
It is therefore expected that an image forming apparatus of a top-level type that makes it possible to obtain beautiful full-color images may be realized if the aforesaid amorphous-silicon-based photoreceptor and polymeric toner which will be described later are used together in the image forming apparatus of a tandem system stated above. Further, a competitive power against offset printing is increased, because the photoreceptor of an amorphous silicon type is highly durable and it reduces print cost per one sheet.
(Patent Document 1) TOKKAIHEI No. 10-20598
(Patent Document 2) TOKKAI No. 2002-123020
(Patent Document 3) TOKKAI No. 2001-318482
However, it was confirmed that excellent halftone reproduction and color reproduction on a high fidelity basis are not realized even if a full-color image is formed by using the image forming apparatus of a tandem system employing the aforesaid amorphous-silicon-based photoreceptor and polymeric toner, and it is difficult to realize a technology to form full-color images which are required to reproduce halftone color cast required for the top-level machine on a high fidelity basis, even if known technologies are combined simply.
However, when a diameter of a beam for exposure and a diameter of toner are made to be small simply, color slippage is caused and color reproducibility is deteriorated, because dot slippage in exposure is reproduced by toner on a high fidelity basis. Further, indentation of a thin line was also detected, which was a problem.
Namely, an object of the invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming a full-color image that is required to reproduce, on a high fidelity basis, the high resolution and halftone color cast which are required for a top-level machine. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing the capability for peer processes in an application server cluster to detect failure of and recover transactions from any application server in the cluster.
2. Description of the Related Art
An application server is a process on a server computer on a computer network dedicated to running certain software applications (as opposed to, for example, a file server or print server). Generally, an application server is a software process that delivers applications to client computers. Moreover, an application server should handle most, if not all, of the business logic and data access of the application. Typically, multiple application servers are grouped into clusters of server computers. A computer cluster is a group of loosely coupled computers that work together closely so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they are a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed to improve speed and/or reliability over that provided by a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or reliability.
Given that there are multiple computers in a server cluster, a need arises for high availability of Global/XA transactions. This entails the collaboration of a number of application server processes within the cluster to provide information on and timely recovery of such transactions. Problems that result from lack of such a capability include potential transactional inconsistencies due to lack of correct information as well as the prolonged holding of resource locks (such as databases) which present serious performance repercussions. One specific aspect of this high-availability is the need for enterprise information systems to be able to call any application server in the cluster and request information about or execute actions upon any transaction in the cluster.
Thus, a need arises for a technique that provides improved availability of Global/XA transactions in an application server cluster. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Wind energy installations are also erected at sites at risk of icing. In the USA, for example, approximately 65% of the wind energy installations are situated at sites at which icing is possible. Different meteorological phenomena may result in ice building up on the rotor blades of wind energy installations. This sometimes causes an increase in mass of up to several hundred kilograms.
Such a large increase in mass on the rotor blades may result in great stresses on and even the destruction of wind energy installations. In addition, so-called shedding of ice may result, that is to say ice is hurled away from the rotor blades. The consequence may be damage to persons, animals and materials.
A possible way of detecting ice on wind installations is sometimes legally prescribed and is used to protect the installation. After ice has been detected, corresponding countermeasures, for example de-icing or stopping of the installation, can be taken.
DE 100 65 314 B4, for example, discloses a method which can be used to detect state changes of a rotor blade, for example ice build-up, of a wind energy installation. Such detection is possible even when the rotor is at a standstill. However, this requires a special, high-resolution sensor which is fitted to the rotor blade and is connected to an evaluation unit. Such a method is very cost-intensive on account of the sensor or a plurality of sensors on a plurality of rotor blades.
It is therefore desirable to specify a possible way of detecting a state change, in particular ice build-up or damage to rotor blades of a wind energy installation, in a cost-effective manner. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Nuttall oak tree (Quercus nuttallii), which I have named ‘QNMTF.’ | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The application relates to an image processing method, and in particular, to a method and an electronic apparatus for processing reflection in an image.
2. Description of Related Art
As digital cameras and consumer electronics equipped with an image capturing system has become more and more popular in the current market, the quality of images captured thereby and the applications for modifying the images have become one of the most important factors that the consumer considers in purchasing related products. Accordingly, various image processing algorithms are developed to improve the image quality, and one of which is related to noise reduction. The noise existed in the captured images can be classified into three categories, including: (i) noise generated by the image capturing system itself; (ii) noise generated by variations or changes in the medium interposed between the object being captured and the image sensor of the image capturing system; and (iii) noise generated by reflection or interference of nearby objects. The noise may cause the images to be blurred, dimed, or even deformed, which seriously affect the image quality.
Therefore, how to effectively reduce the noise in the images has become one of the important issues in the image processing field. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to pipeline repair or hot tapping couplings, and more particularly to a coupling which may be applied to an underwater pipeline and which may be pressure-tested while the pipeline is shut off.
Split couplings have been used for many years to repair above-ground and subsurface pipelines. It was not until the past 10 years that split couplings having gasket seals have been applied to underwater pipelines to repair or hot-tap those pipeines. There are many problems involved in applying couplings to underwater pipelines due to the massiveness of the coupling, the conditions under which the divers must work, and the fact that such pipelines are normally encased in concrete which is cured under almost ideal conditions. Because of the depths, divers can spend only 60 to 80 minutes on the bottom. For 60 minutes at 130 feet, a diver has to decompress for nine minutes at 30 feet and 23 minutes at 20 feet. An additional 75 minutes must be spent in a decompression chamber. After decompressing for almost 2 hours, the diver should wait 12 hours before making another device. For 80 minutes on the bottom, the decompression time is 2 hours and 44 minutes. Furthermore, turbulent weather conditions may stir up the bottom to reduce the visibility to substantially zero. The massiveness of the coupling also contributes to the difficult working conditions.
Because of the foregoing problems, and since good underwater welding is considered only 75 to 85 percent as effective as ordinary welding, bolted-on, self-sealing split couplings have been successfully employed for underwater pipeline repair work. Those couplings include a pair of members each having semicylindrical inner surfaces and a pair of flanges adapted to oppose the flanges of the other member. A gasket continuously extends circumferentially on each semicylindrical surface and along the flanges so that when the coupling is applied to the pipe and the flanges are bolted together, the gasket surrounds the area of the pipe to be repaired or hot-tapped to effectively seal that area. While the seal is adequate and eliminates the necessity for seam welding (although such welding is sometimes done as a precautionary measure), it is generally impossible to test the effectiveness of the seal without pressurizing the line. If the coupling is not properly mated, leaks may occur when the line is pressurized, necessitating inspection and repositioning of the coupling. Furthermore, the coupling cannot be pressure-tested by line pressure which exceeds 80 percent or the like of the average yield strength of the pipe as determined by tensile tests, since such internal pressures would not comply with minimum federal safety standards for liquid pipelines. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In a liquid crystal display (LCD), a polarizing plate or a phase-contrast plate is used to control optical rotation and birefringence of beam that passes through liquid crystals. Also, in an organic electroluminescent device (OLED), a circularly polarizing plate is used to avoid reflection of external light.
Conventionally, in such a polarizing plate, a polarizer obtained by dissolving or adsorbing iodine or a dichromatic organic dye in a polymeric film, such as a polyvinyl alcohol or the like and stretching the obtained film in one direction (stretching method) to orient dye molecules or the like has been widely used.
However, there has been a problem that polarizers produced by the stretching method are poor in heat resistance and light resistance depending on the dye or the polymeric material used. Further, a bad yield of overlapping films when producing a display panel has been raised a problem. Moreover, a film with a wide width is needed to be stretched as the display panel becomes bigger, so that a large film forming apparatus is needed, which has caused a problem.
In contrast, a method for orienting a dichromatic dye in a thin film (coating method) by coating a solution containing a dichromatic dye on a substrate, such as a glass plate or a transparent film and the like to form a thin film utilizing intermolecular interaction is well known. The coating method is getting attention because the method can produce thin polarizing plates excellent in heat resistance compared with the stretching method. It is known that a polarizing plate having preferable optical anisotropy can be obtained when using a substance for forming dye aggregates caused by intermolecular interaction, such as a lyotropic liquid crystal phase in a coating fluid as a dichromatic dye.
However, in many cases, the solution containing a dichromatic dye exhibiting a lyotropic liquid crystal phase exhibits acidity, so that a coater made of stainless steel that is ordinarily used easily becomes corrosive. Accordingly, an acid solution containing a lyotropic liquid crystal compound is neutralized with an alkaline agent, such as sodium hydroxide or the like before coating (JP 2006-328157 A (Example 1)).
The concentration range exhibiting liquid crystallinity becomes narrower when neutralizing the acid solution containing a lyotropic liquid crystal compound with sodium hydroxide, resulting in irregularity in orientation of the lyotropic liquid crystal compound in a coating film. This leads to a problem with a decrease in dichroic ratio of the coating film. Thus, processes for production of a coating fluid and an optically anisotropic film without a reduction of the dichroic ratio have been demanded. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a textile sheet material having improved mechanical stability, more particularly having stab and/or ballistic resistance, and offering protective performance against chemical and/or biological poisons, and also to protective materials, such as protective suits, protective gloves, protective shoes and protective coverings, produced using the textile sheet material of the invention and/or including the textile sheet material of the invention. The present invention further relates to using the textile sheet material of the invention for production of protective materials of any kind, more particularly as hereinabove recited.
Persons active in the field of threat prevention, such as security personnel, police officers, border guards and also soldiers in military units, when deployed in the event of demonstrations, civil, unrest or military confrontations for example, axe often confronted with direct physical violence due to the use of firearms and/or stabbing weapons for example. Against the background that the use of firearms and/or stabbing weapons will often result in serious injuries to persons affected by the violence, there is an immense need in the prior art to protect such persons from dangers associated with the use of firearms and/or stabbing weapons. A high shrapnel-protective effect of the corresponding protective apparel is also very important, more particularly for soldiers on the battlefield and/or in battlefield action.
In general, protective apparel pieces having ballistic- and/or stab-resistant properties are designed so as to prevent any penetration of a body of a wearer of the protective apparel as a consequence of an attack with a weapon and/or with a sharp/pointed object. In effect, it is necessary for the protective apparel piece in question to be equipped with appropriate devices and/or technical measures that lead no appropriate protective performance, while the prior art often utilizes additional laminate materials to prevent penetration of the apparel piece and hence of the body of a wearer of the protective apparel by being fired at or by the action of a knife thrust.
In this connection, it is often disadvantageous in the prior art that the known protective apparel pieces, which can take the form of a vest or the like for example, occasionally utilize protective materials of very high basis weight and very low flexibility, and this significantly reduces the wearing comfort of the protective apparel piece and constitutes an additional inconvenience for the wearer. However, this is immensely disadvantageous in the context of a deployment, for example a military deployment, since the wearer can thereby be limited in his or her performance and mobility.
More particularly, the prior art has hitherto failed to adequately provide apparel pieces that combine in one material the properties of high protective performance against ballistics and high protective performance against stabbing. This is because the prior art protective apparel pieces are optimized in respect of their bulletproof performance, which is primarily designed to prevent the penetration of ballistic projectiles emanating from firearms. Protective apparel pieces of this type, however, do not always also ensure high protective performance against the penetration or pointed objects, for example knives, blades, chisels or the like. In addition, the prior art protective apparel with stab-resistant properties often is incapable of withstanding large force impacts due to ballistic projectiles, and thus particularly is not capable of offering any protective function with regard so ballistic impacts.
It is further disadvantageous in the prior art that the known protective apparel pieces having elevated stab and/or ballistic resistance have no protective function whatsoever with regard to chemical and/or biological poison and/or warfare agent materials, so that deployments where there is a risk, of exposure to toxic substances, for example the vesicatory Hd (interchangeably known as Yellow Cross or mustard gas) and the nerve agent sarin, either have to proceed without any protective function with regard to these poison materials, or alternatively require an additional protective apparel with optimization in this regard to be worn, which is similarly disadvantageous. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In the construction of a reinforcing bar concrete structure, in general, a deformed bar is mainly used as a reinforcing bar, wherein joints protrude in the horizontal direction and two line ribs are formed symmetrical over the whole length so as to enhance a coupling stress intensity with a concrete. Since the reinforcing bar is manufactured with a limited length for the sake of easier transportations or work conveniences, the reinforcing bars are coupled and used. There are a variety of deformed bar coupled ways.
The most widely used connection method is an overlapped joint method wherein the ends of two reinforcing bars are overlapped and tied using a tying wire. In this method, since the joint parts are supported by only an attaching force of the reinforcing bar, the safety may be degraded. In the gas pressure welding method wherein the ends of two steels are heated using an oxygen-acetylene gas flame and are coupled by pressing using a pressure welding machine, a thermal deformation may occur at the joint parts, thus causing a secondary stress, for which the joint parts may become weaker than a steel basic material. In a screw coupling method wherein both ends of each of two reinforcing bars are upset or a rib and a joint are processed into a circular shape through a casting, and a male screw is processed in a cutting and form-rolling method and is coupled using a female screw type coupler, an external force may be applied to the reinforcing bars, so a predetermined deformation may occur, which is different at the steel basic material. For this reason, it may become weaker than the basic material.
According to the regulation on the manufacturing of the reinforcing bars, the reinforcing bars are regulated to be manufactured while maintaining a material property which is similar with a concrete in terms of a thermal expansion ratio so as to prevent the steel concrete structure from being easily broken when heat is applied thereto. According the Korean regulation on the coupling of the reinforcing bars, the aforementioned overlapping coupling method is not allowed for the coupling of the reinforcing bars wherein the names of the steels are over D29 (the diameter is 29 mm), the reinforcing bars are being coupled by the gas pressure welding method or the mechanical method. This method, however, may need a secondary processing to supply heat or an external force to the reinforcing bar, so the natural material properties of the reinforcing bars could be lost. The reason why this method is inevitably allowed is that a variety of the reinforcing bar couplers are being developed, which are able to couple without changing the natural reinforcing bar properties.
In addition, recently according to the needs of the full couple method, as shown in FIG. 1, screw joint reinforcing bars 1 and 1a are developed, wherein a screw ridge type screw joint 11 is formed on the outer surface of a reinforcing bar. The screw joint reinforcing bars are coupled through a sleeve 4z having a female screw part 41 to which the screw joints 11 of the reinforcing bars 1 and 1a are engaged.
However, the pitches of the screw joints 11 of the reinforcing bars 1 and 1a are long, and the screws are formed inaccurate, for which the screw valley of the female screw 41 of the sleeve 4z is formed larger than the screw joint 11 of the reinforcing bars 1 and 1a for the sake of smooth engagements. In this state, if the two reinforcing bars 1 and 1a are coupled using the sleeve 4z, the space between the sleeve 4z and the reinforcing bars 1 and 1a may increase, which may cause an easier disengagement together with a slipping, thus causing a problem.
In order to resolve this problem, a lock nut 5z may be engaged to both ends of the sleeve 4z, and a grout material is filled in the inside of the sleeve 4z so as to remove any space. In this case, a work for preparing and charging a grout material may be complicated, and since the strength of the grout material is less than 10% of the reinforcing bar, a safe coupling may not be secured. Since the pitches of the reinforcing bars 1 and 1a are long, the slope angle of the screw ridge may be large, which may result in a lot of necessary force for the engagement of the lock nut 5z, and the lock nut 5z may be easily loosened by external vibrations, thus causing a safety problem.
Since two lock nuts 5z are provided in the form of separate components, not integrated with the sleeve 4z, the management of the components is hard, and since the lock nut 5z is relatively small-sized, a risk for the accident due to the falling of the lock nut may increase during a coupling work, for which a demand for a reinforcing bar coupler increases, which can be used for a temporal coupling due to a construction site which needs more cost saving through an enhanced safety and construction capability and a faster work speed.
In order to resolve the aforementioned problems, the Korean utility model registration number 0409526 describes a technology wherein as illustrated in FIG. 2, a semicircular sleeve 2 is provided, which is able to be loaded while covering screw joints 11, and both inclined sides of the semicircular sleeve 2 can be pressed in such a way to tighten a lock nut 5 at the left and right sides of the semicircular sleeve 2, thus coupling the spiral reinforcing bar 1a .
Since the aforementioned conventional technology requires a number of components, the construction performance may be degraded, thus causing a problem. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Geofencing is a technique for monitoring and providing an alert in response to the movement of a mobile device outside of a prescribed area around which a geofence is defined. A geofence is thus determined with reference to a geographical area. Location data from the mobile device are compared with the coordinate ranges of the geofence to determine whether the device is inside or outside the geofence. As the popularity of geofencing increases, so does the burden on the mobile device's resources, particularly its processing and memory capacity and also to a lesser extent its wireless bandwidth. A technique is therefore needed to more efficiently handle larger numbers of geofences.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to a memory circuit for use in a video signal processing circuit and, more particularly, to an MOS-IC (metal oxide semiconductor-integrated circuit) memory circuit capable of frame-by-frame storage of a video signal, i.e., the so-called frame memory circuit.
The frame memory used for the frame-by-frame storage of the video signal is composed of several hundred chips of MOS-IC's each having 4,000-bit memory capacity. A substrate voltage (V.sub.SUB) as well as a main voltage (V.sub.DD) should be supplied to the MOS-IC. In this case, the main voltage should be impressed to the MOS-IC, after the substrate voltage is supplied thereto. In case the main voltage is impressed before the substrate voltage is supplied, the MOS-IC will be damaged and can no longer be used again. For this reason, a time sequentially operating switch has been required for a power source for a conventional system. When the power source is turned on, the time sequentially operating switch supplies the main voltage after the substrate voltage is supplied. When the power source is turned off, the switch cuts off the main voltage before the substrate voltage is cut off. However, even if the switch operates normally, the memory is damaged if the substrate voltage is lowered during the operation or is no longer supplied to the memory due to defective contact of a connector and the like. In addition, a conventional time sequentially operating switch having a combination of switches with relays is large in size. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) refers to formatting rules developed by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) for web page content. The word “cascading” refers to the way CSS determines how a particular element is ultimately displayed in the web page. The style (color, font and spacing) in which the element is displayed is affected by the style sheet created by the author of the page, by the user's customized style selections (if any), by the default styles of the browser that displays the page, by CSS specificity (a methodology that gives different weight to particular kinds of CSS rules), and by the order of CSS rules, creating a complex “cascade” of potentially conflicting rules in which determinations that have higher priority override those with lower priorities.
CSS separates content (e.g., HTML code) from the CSS rules that define how the content looks (referred to as “the presentation” of the content). HTML code resides in an HTML file and the CSS rules that define how the content looks reside in an external style sheet file with a .css extension or in a particular part of an HTML document. In addition to controlling the appearance of text on the web site, CSS can be used to control the format and positioning of block-level elements. Block-level elements are produced by using tags such as the h1, p and div tags to delimit blocks of content that are treated as a single element.
A CSS formatting rule is composed of a selector and the declaration or block of declarations. The selector can be a tag such as h1, p, a class name or an identifier that identifies the formatted element. The declaration block defines the style properties to be applied to the indicated content. For example, in the following rule:
p {
font-size: 12 pt;
font-family: Arial;
font-weight: bold;
}
selector p indicates that the content of a paragraph will be displayed in a 12 point bold Arial font. The font-size, font-family and font-weight tags denote properties of the paragraph content and 12 points, Arial and bold are values of the respective properties. Because one rule can apply to many tags (e.g., in the example rule above, the rule can apply to the content of many different paragraphs), changing the appearance of all the block elements using the same rule can be effected by changing a single rule.
CSS statements can specify a value for each separate property explicitly in a longhand declaration for that particular property. CSS also allows for the creation of shorthand declarations, an abbreviated way to specify the values of several properties using a single declaration, by using shorthand property names. The use of shorthand property names has the effect of combining several associated properties into a single declaration by replacing all the individual property names with the shorthand property name. The values for the properties can be specified in a comma separated list. For example, the border property is a conceptual perimeter line around an element, between the inner padding and outer margin space. The border keyword is a shorthand property name composed of a border-style property, border-width property and border-color property. Each of these properties can be set individually. Each of these properties can be set for the top, right, bottom and left side of the element. A shorthand definition of the border property can omit values for some of the properties that make up the shorthand property. Shorthand CSS rules assign default values to omitted property values. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There are typically three tuning technologies used in an external cavity tunable laser: 1), tuning is achieved by using a precision stepping motor to drive a grating to rotate. This technology has the following shortcomings: first, there are quite high requirements on the stepping moving precision and the repeatability of the stepping motor in achieving precision optical frequency tuning, thus the cost is relatively high; second, the miniaturization is hardly achieved due to the stepping motor used; and third, the operational stability is poor under a harsh working environment, in particular, low resistances to various mechanical vibrations. Because of these problems, the tunable laser using this technology is often used under a laboratory working environment. 2) tuning is achieved by a tunable acousto-optic filter. This technology has the advantages of high tuning speed, no mechanical moving component and small size. The major shortcoming is the low tuning precision and relatively wide filtering bandwidth, therefore, the tunable laser using this technology is only suitable for applications in which both the tuning precision and the output bandwidth are not high. 3) tuning is based upon the temperature-sensitive characteristics of the transmission optical frequency of a grating or other optical filtering devices in the laser resonant cavity, such as an optical Etalon. This tuning technology has high tuning precision and relatively narrow output spectrum bandwidth, but low tuning speed. Therefore, it is not suitable when the wide spectral range tuning is needed, for example: if the temperature coefficient of an optical filtering device is 0.02 nanometers per degree Celsius, the desired spectral range and temperature adjustment range are 20 nanometers and 100 degrees respectively, which is impracticable for some applications. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Access control is required for secure communication in most prior art wireless radio communication systems. As an example, one simple access control scheme might comprise: (i) verifying the identity of a communicating party, and (ii) granting a level of access commensurate with the verified identity. Within the context of an exemplary cellular system (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)), access control is governed by an access control client, referred to as a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) executing on a physical Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). The USIM access control client authenticates the subscriber to the UMTS cellular network. After successful authentication, the subscriber is allowed access to the cellular network. As used hereinafter, the term “access control client” refers generally to a logical entity, either embodied within hardware or software, suited for controlling access of a first device to a network. Common examples of access control clients include the aforementioned USIM, CDMA Subscriber Identification Modules (CSIM), IP Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM), Removable User Identity Modules (RUIM), etc.
Traditionally, the USIM (or more generally “SIM”) performs the well-known Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) procedure, which verifies and decrypts the applicable data and programs to ensure secure initialization. Specifically, the USIM must both (i) successfully answer a remote challenge to prove its identity to the network operator, and (ii) issue a challenge to verify the identity of the network.
However, existing SIM solutions have multiple weaknesses or disadvantages. Firstly, the SIM software is hard-coded to the physical UICC card media; the subscriber needs a new UICC to change SIM operation. This can be detrimental to both MNOs and subscribers; for example, if the authentication procedures are “broken” (e.g., via malicious “hacking” activities), the subscriber must be issued a new UICC, and this process is both time consuming and expensive. Moreover, for reasons described in greater detail subsequently herein, the physical SIM only recognizes a single trusted entity; specifically, the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) that it is configured to communicate with. Thus, there is no current method for incorporating post-deployment programming, except via the existing trusted relationship between the device and the MNO. For example, third-party SIM developers who wish to provide new or upgraded SIM software are stymied both by the inflexibility of physical SIM card media, as well as their inability to establish a trusted relationship between themselves and the subscriber's SIM. This control “bottleneck” greatly limits the number and capabilities afforded to SIM vendors.
Accordingly, new solutions are needed for enabling post-deployment SIM distribution, and modification. Ideally, such solutions should enable the mobile device to receive and implement changes to SIM operation while the device is in the “field” (post-deployment). Moreover, the improved methods and apparatus should support other desirable features such as, inter alia, support for multiple SIM profiles, flexible operation, updates, etc.
More generally however, improved methods and apparatus are needed for secure modification, storage, and execution of access control clients. Techniques for modifying access control client operation are needed to support features such as multiple subscriber access profiles, secure device updating, alternative methods for subscriber service provisioning, etc. Furthermore, due to the sensitive nature of access control and the possibility for surreptitious use and service theft, secure methods for performing such modifications are a chief concern. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to improvements in electrostatic spray guns, especially for spraying pulverized or pulverulent coating materials. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in electrostatic spray guns of the type wherein the barrel comprises inner and outer tubes defining an annular clearance for the flow of a liquid, gaseous or flowable solid material toward a deflector at the front end of the inner tube and wherein an electrode is connected with a high-voltage conductor which is installed in the inner tube of the barrel.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 34 12 694 of Kirchner et al. discloses an electrostatic spray gun wherein the annular clearance between the inner and outer tubes of the barrel serves for admission of a mixture of air and pulverulent material. The front end of the inner tube of the barrel extends forwardly beyond the front end of the outer tube and is provided with a circumferential groove for a stream of swirling control air. Ionization is effected by means of a third air stream which is admitted through an axial channel in the inner tube and is diverted radially outwardly through a conical gap at the front end of the inner tube to enter the mixture of air and pulverulent material issuing from the front end of the annular clearance between the inner and outer tubes. A disc-shaped electrode constitutes a portion of the boundary for the conical gap. The ionization of flowable materials in such types of spray guns is not entirely satisfactory.
Applicants are further aware of the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,363 to McDonough which deals with a muzzle for electrostatic spray guns and with the manner of connecting a conductive rod in a tube of the muzzle with a power terminal. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming system which forms an image corresponding to an image data on a printing sheet, and specifically to an image forming system which can change a color tone arbitrarily by manipulating color adjustment parameters.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, an image forming device such as a color printer is configured to express various colors by using a plurality of kinds of ink or toner of various colors which are different from each other (hereinafter, referred to as “color component”) and change a rate of blending these color components.
However, since printed colors are affected by various factors, even if a rate of blending color components is constant, the printed colors are not necessarily constant. In addition, a favorite of color varies depending on individuals. Therefore, the image forming device is generally provided with a color adjustment function.
The color adjustment function is a function to increase or reduce the blend rate of specific color components more than or less than a preliminarily setup rate so as to print in a color tone a user desires. Generally, such a change is made by adjusting color adjustment parameters representing amount of color components.
There is known an image forming device which can print typical test patterns including a numerical representation which shows setup color adjustment parameters (such as concentration) in numerical values and images corresponding to setup color adjustment parameters (such as a gray scale) in order to allow a user to recognize the change of a color tone of printed image according to changed color adjustment parameters. An example of such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 7-87318.
However, a color adjustment is a matter of sense, and it is difficult to imagine how the actual color tone would be from printed results of typical test patterns. Therefore, it is necessary to print actual image data instead of or in addition to test patterns (hereinafter, referred to as “test printing”).
That is, while varying setup of color adjustment parameters, test printings are executed with changing the parameters, and results are compared. Then, the color adjustment parameters are finally adopted as those at the time when the desirable color tones is obtained.
When such a test printing is performed, whenever setup of color adjustment parameters is changed, it is necessary to write down or print the test patterns for later reference. Namely, every time when the setup is changed, the test patterns and actual image data are repeatedly printed as test printing (or write down contents of color adjustment parameters). Therefore, there has been a problem where troublesome work is required. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Solid state light sources, such as but not limited to light emitting diodes (LEDs) and other semiconductor-based light sources, require a constant direct current (DC) voltage or current to operate optimally. During operation, the light source must be protected from line-voltage fluctuations. Changes in voltage can produce a disproportional change in current, which in turn can cause light output to vary, as solid state light source light output is proportional to current and is rated for a current range. If current exceeds the manufacturer recommendations, the output of the solid state light sources can become brighter, but that output can degrade at a faster rate due to higher temperatures within the device, which leads to a shorter useful life.
Solid state light sources, therefore, require a driver (also referred to as a driver circuit and/or a power supply) that converts incoming alternating current (AC) power to the proper DC voltage, and regulates the current flowing through the light sources during operation. The driver converts 120V (or other voltages) 60 Hz AC power to DC power required by the light sources, and protects the light sources from line-voltage fluctuations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A method and system are provided for detecting messages using enhanced distributed signaling for a wireless communication network. The method describes a framework in which a set of participating wireless stations work cooperatively to improve the efficiency and reliability of the wireless communication network. It is understood that the wireless stations may include both mobile terminals and fixed terminals such as base stations.
In a wireless communication network, the radio signal received by a wireless station is a noisy copy of the original signal sent by the transmitting wireless station. The natural environmental parameters, such as weather and vegetation, and man-made environmental parameters, such as buildings, impair the integrity of the radio signals. In other words, the received signal is an impaired copy of the original signal. The impairment of the radio signal reduces the data rate of the wireless network or renders the signal unrecognizable by the wireless receiver.
Low data rate at the edges of a cell in a wireless network and the existence of blind spots are widespread problems in almost all deployments of fixed or mobile wireless networks, regardless of the communication standards. Specifically, these problems are mostly due to the propagation impairment of the radio such as path loss, geographical obstacles, and deleterious effects of a radio environment.
Multiple-antenna transmission and the reception method is one of the methods that improve the reliability of the wireless communication network in hostile wireless environments through the adoption of spatial diversity. Spatial diversity primarily enhances the throughput at cell edges. Unfortunately, in some wireless applications, such as ad hoc and sensor networks, it is not feasible to deploy multiple antennas due to the size, cost, and power limitations.
The statistically independent channel condition that the wireless stations experience is a valuable source of spatial diversity. By incorporating spatial diversity, a wireless communication network that adopts the enhanced distributed signaling method creates a virtual multiple-antenna wireless transmission system with multiple single antenna wireless stations.
For a single-antenna wireless station with limited computational resources, the wireless communication network with enhanced distributed signaling offers transmission diversity that improves the throughput of the participating wireless stations. For a set of wireless stations, each of which has various levels of resource constraints, the enhanced distributed signaling method improves the performance of the wireless network with or without synchronization among all the single-antenna wireless stations.
In the wireless network with the enhanced distributed signaling method, each of the participating single antenna wireless stations act as a proxy for its peers. When a source wireless station sends a message to a destination wireless station, the radio signal that carries the message is sent to all participating wireless stations. Each participating wireless station in turn sends a supplementary signal on behalf of the source wireless station to the destination wireless station. The destination wireless station then processes the multiple noisy copies of the original signal to retrieve the original message.
The enhanced distributed signal method disclosed herein a framework for the wireless communication network with a distributed signaling method. The disclosed framework builds on the conventional distributed signal method that improves the overall system performance.
One example of a conventional distributed signal wireless communication network is a two-phase detect-and-forward system. In the conventional two-phase detect-and-forward system, a wireless station receives Ũi, a noisy copy of the original signal Ui from its participating peer i in the first phase. In the second phase, the participating wireless station sends its own signal, together with the noisy signal Ũi detected in the first phase, to the destination wireless station. In other words, the proxy wireless station re-transmits the noisy signal received from its peer to the destination wireless station without further processing.
One exemplary scenario of a three-node system with the detect-and-forward method, where wireless stations 1 and 2 participating in the distributed signaling method sends messages to wireless station 3, is described below.
In the first phase, wireless station 1 transmits signal U1 and wireless station 2 transmits signal U2. Wireless station 1 receives signal Ũ2, wireless station 2 receives signal Ũ1, and wireless station 3 receives (1, 2).
In the second phase, wireless station 1 re-transmits Ũ2, wireless station 2 re-transmits Ũ1, and wireless station 3 receives
( U ~ … 1 , U ~ … 2 ) . After receiving (1, 2) and
( U ~ … 1 , U ~ … 2 ) ,wireless station 3 processes
( U ~ … 1 , U ~ … 1 ) and ( U ~ … 2 , U ~ … 2 ) jointly and retrieves the original messages sent by wireless station 1 and 2. If Ũ2 is sent, then it is amplify-and-forward.
The disclosed invention discloses a framework that is applicable to all types of wireless communication networks. One example is a centralized wireless communication network where some users might be out of reach of the base station, particularly in uplink transmission. If any wireless station experiences low throughput due to geographical obstacles or random fluctuations of the wireless channel, the disclosed signaling method brings higher throughput to all the participating wireless stations.
Another example is a wireless communication network where the wireless stations have limited transmit power, such as wireless handset or handheld devices. In this case, the wireless handset or handheld device, under the supervision of the base station can participate in the enhanced distributed signaling method described above and improves the throughput and reliability of all the participating wireless handheld devices.
The conventional distributed signaling method is based on a single-user coding method. The enhanced distributed signaling method disclosed herein introduces the concept of joint coding and signaling design for a set of network nodes in a wireless communication network. Under the framework of cooperative transmission of signals, each of the wireless stations participating in the enhanced distributed signaling method works as a single wireless transmission station and the destination wireless station decodes the received signals jointly.
The disclosed enhanced distributed signaling method not only incorporates the conventional coding methods but also supports for example, concatenated coding and cross layer schemes in physical and medium access layers. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a displacement sensing apparatus for a movable member, and more particularly, to a displacement sensing apparatus for use in an optical encoder and a mouse.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional displacement sensing apparatus for a movable member for use in an encoder and a mouse. FIG. 1 is a perspective view. FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing the displacement sensing apparatus including its circuit portion. This structure is disclosed by Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Application H2-89314.
The displacement sensing apparatus includes a light emitting portion 61 having a light emitting diode (LED) 60, a rotating disc 63 in which a plurality of slits 62 are formed along its circumference, a light receiving portion 66 having two photodiodes 64 and 65, and comparators 67 and 68 for comparing outputs of the two photodiodes 64 and 65 of the light receiving portion 66 with a reference voltage Vref.
Light emitted from the light emitting portion 61 passes through the slits 62 of the rotating disc 63 which is rotating, and reaches the light receiving portion 66. Outputs of the photodiodes 64 and 65, which are current values, are converted into voltage values by current-to-voltage converters 69 and 70, and compared with the reference voltage Vref by the comparators 67 and 68, respectively.
FIG. 3 shows outputs (voltage values) 64a and 65a of the photodiodes 64 and 65. FIG. 4 shows outputs 67a and 68a of the comparators 67 and 68. In FIG. 3, the reference voltage Vref is represented by an alternate long and short dash line. When it is required that a phase difference between the outputs 64a and 65a of the two photodiodes 64 and 65 of the light receiving device is 90.degree., the positions of the photodiodes 64 and 65 are adjusted in advance so that the phase difference is 90.degree. as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
However, there is sometimes nonuniformity in the light quantity of the LED 60 of the light emitting portion 61. This nonuniformity is generated at the time of manufacturing or when the light quantity gradually decreases according to the time of use. For example, when the light quantity of the LED 60 decreases, the output waveforms 64a and 65b of the photodiodes 64 and 65 decrease as shown in FIG. 5, so that if the reference voltage Vref is constant, the phase difference deviates from the desired 90.degree. as shown in FIG. 6.
The deviation of the phase difference due to the non-uniformity of the light quantity of the LED 60 can be corrected by varying the reference voltage Vref in accordance with the light quantity. However, it requires much labor since it is necessary to individually make an adjustment with respect to all of the light receiving device, and it is impossible to completely cope with the decrease of the light quantity while the device is being used. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Fish oils comprise a complex mixture of fatty acid moieties, mostly straight chain with an even number of carbon atoms. The fatty acids, usually present as their glycerides, are either saturated or mono- or polyunsaturated. Unlike vegetable oils and fats from terrestrial animals, which contain mainly fatty acids having a maximum of eighteen carbons and two or three double bonds, fish and marine mammal oils contain substantial amounts of fatty acids having twenty or twenty-two carbons and four, five or six double bonds, Stansby, "Fish Oils", Avi Publishing Company, Inc. (1967). Among the fatty acid moieties unique to fish oils are the following n-3 compounds: 18:4, 20:4, 20:5, 22:4, 22:5, and 22:6. The n-3 designation means that the first double bond begins at the third carbon counting from the methyl end of the chain. In the number: number designation, the first number indicates chain length and the second number indicates how many double bonds are present. For example, 18:4 indicates a straight chain fatty acid having eighteen carbon atoms and four methylene-interrupted double bonds.
In addition to fatty acid glycerides, fish oils contain numerous other substances such as cholesterol, cholesterol esters, wax esters, hydrocarbons like squalene, pigments like chlorophyll and astaxanthin, amines, and phospholipids, as well as products of autoxidation and the heating of proteinaceous materials. Many of these substances contribute to the unpleasant oder and flavor of fish oils. For instance, cod liver oil, as sold in drugstores, has a notoriously strong smell and taste. The offending substances cannot be removed readily by traditional processing techniques without damaging or destroying the polyunsaturated components of the oil.
Up until World War II, the nutritionally important components of cod liver oil were Vitamin A and Vitamin D, but now these substances are produced synthetically. More recently, it has been observed that Greenland Eskimos, whose food intake comprises mainly fish and marine animals, exhibit unusually low incidences of cardiovascular diseases, and a number of chronic degenerative diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and ulcerative colitis. Fish and marine oils are now recognized to be of value because they contain substantial quantities of polyunsaturated fatty acids, important dietary factors beneficial in reducing the development of atherosclerotic lesions, Dyerberg et al, "Nutritional Evaluation of Long-chain Fatty Acids in Fish Oil", pages 245-261, Academic Press, London (1982). Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA or 20:5 n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA or 22:6 n-3) in particular, and other polyunsaturated fatty acids having their double bonds in the cis-configuration appear most beneficial.
Commercially available fish oils, such as cod liver oil, are not suitable for prolonged use as a nutritional supplement or as a medicament for the prevention or treatment of disease. The high concentrations of Vitamins A and D and also the toxic products of autoxidation, post-death metabolism and processing render them highly unpalatable and, more importantly, unwholesome. Extended use of fish oils in the diet would require removal of toxic as well as unpalatable components. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Air filters employing various filtering mechanisms have been used in connection with food cooking apparatus. In the case of portable cooking apparatus such as pressure fryers and the like, such filters have been mounted in fixed position upon the cooking apparatus. Fixed hoods have been provided over various cooking apparatus as an alternative to venting and have included a variety of filters including electrostatic filters such as contemplated for use in the hood of the present invention.
In many locations including convenience stores it is desirable to provide a movable filter for use with movable cooking apparatus as an alternative to venting. The prior art is further exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,747,301, 4,143,646, 4,189,647, 4,505,194, 4,520,717 and 4,539,898 which illustrate the use of a variety of filters as an integral part of cooking apparatus.
Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a support for carrying a hood above a cooking apparatus as well as a base for providing stability to the hood and filter carried thereby.
Another important object of the invention is the provision of a free standing air filter for use above a variety of cooking apparatus for avoiding the necessity of venting same within a store location.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a separate movable hood for use with a portable cooking apparatus such as a deep fat fryer.
Another object of the invention is to provide a hood for use with cooking apparatus for carrying fire extinguishing apparatus independently of the cooker.
Still another object of the invention is the provision of a movable hood having a fan for creating air flow through a filter carried in the hood and returning filtered air to a building. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Single detector non-imaging probes have been in use for some time to detect and locate the sentinel lymph node(s) during breast cancer surgery. These probes have proven to be useful to the surgeon in this regard. However, they are limited in use as they do not provide an image, just a crude count rate from a 1 cm2 area detector. Therefore, locating the sentinel node is not very accurate and it does not provide accurate information on the extent of the tumor. Therefore, an imaging probe with an adjustable spatial resolution by removing or exchanging the collimator will achieve significant improvement in sentinel node detecting and locating. It will also enable the imaging probe to be used for other applications such as detecting and locating primary and secondary tumors in the breast tissue and lymph nodes through scintimammography.
Recently breast imaging studies with 99mTc SestaMIBI and 201Tl have demonstrated uptake by sentinel lymph nodes and malignant breast tumors but not by benign masses (except some highly cellular adenomas). Most of the results give sensitivities and specificities of about 90%, and recently equally encouraging results have been reported for 99mTc Methylene Diphosphonate (MDP) with a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 95%, even though these studies were carried out with conventional full size gamma-ray cameras which have some inherent limitations for breast imaging especially during surgery:
1. The large size of the gamma camera makes it difficult to position optimally relative to the breast.
2. Not usable during surgery due to the large size, low sensitivity and low spatial resolution.
The reported small, compact, handheld solid-state imaging probe is expected to achieve much better performance in all of these categories. It will be especially useful before, during and after surgery to locate the sentinel lymph node(s) using the drainage of the radiopharmaceutical from the tumor site to the sentinel node(s). It may also be used in the scintimammography mode to locate a lesion and its metastatic components, completely remove the cancerous tissue and verify that no cancer is left behind. Also the cancers that are not detectable by conventional mammography such as fibrocystic change and dense breasts especially in young women (≈40% between 40 and 50 year old), lack of calcifications (about 50% of all preinvasive cancers) and mammographically occult breast cancers. These, in many cases, will be identifiable by the reported system, because the method of detection relies on isotope uptake in the tumor, not on subtle differences in its radiodensity.
The instruments described here are called SenProbe (FIG. 1) and MicroImager (FIG. 7). While the SenPROBE and MicroImager systems are not directly a therapeutic tool, They have the potential to become excellent tools in monitoring the progress of surgery. Before the surgery it can be used for detecting and locating the sentinel lymph node(s), searching for malignancy in the sentinel and axillary lymph nodes, the location, size and the distribution of the tumor. During surgery the accuracy of the position and the extent of the tumor can be determined, removal of the cancerous tissue can be monitored and for the metastatic tumors the lymph nodes and the surrounding tissue can be screened, decreasing the likelihood that the physician will leave cancerous tissue behind. After the surgery the surgeon can use the SenPROBE or the MicroImager to check that the tumor is completely removed, and no residual malignant tissue remains. SenPROBE or the MicroImager may also be used in some cases before, during and/or after chemotherapy. Monitoring the tumor size will confirm that the chemotherapy treatment is effective. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A brake system for a vehicle, such as a bus, truck or the like, typically includes an actuator and an application unit which presses friction material into contact with a brake disc or a brake drum assembly. Conventional brake actuators have both a service brake actuator for actuating the brakes under normal driving conditions and an emergency or parking brake actuator which causes actuation of the brakes when power is removed. The parking brake actuator may include a strong compression spring which forces application of the brake when air is released. This is often referred to as the spring brake. The emergency or parking brake may be a diaphragm or piston type brake.
Application of either the service or spring brakes is accomplished via a brake application unit which is activated by the service or spring actuator to apply friction material to a hub or disc.
Typically, the spring brake actuator is paired with the service brake actuator. When full pressure is applied to the spring brake actuator, air pressure acting against a diaphragm compresses the compression spring. A spring brake actuator rod is held in a retracted position by a relatively small return spring, thus not affecting the operation of the brake. When the brake is to be applied during normal driving operation, compressed air is provided to the service brake actuator which, acting against a diaphragm, causes a service brake push rod to be extended and causes the brakes to be applied with an application force which is proportional to the air pressure applied to the service brake actuator. In the event of a loss of air pressure or an intentional exhaustion of air from the spring brake actuator, the brake will be mechanically activated by the force of the compression spring acting on the spring brake actuator rod which in turn acts upon the service brake push rod to apply the brakes. Thus, the spring brake portion may serve both as a parking brake and as an emergency brake.
Such common piggy back or combination designs lead to additional axial length of the brake actuator and the brake system. Further, air brake systems are typically designed with extra long strokes. Long stroke brakes provide heavy vehicle brakes with a greater margin of effectiveness for thick layers of friction material and to better combat brake fade. Stroke length relates to the performance of the service chamber.
Several trends in vehicle design are leading to changes in air brake actuator design. Increasingly, vehicle manufacturers are requiring additional features and capabilities in brake systems, while at the same time demanding that the brake system be provided in a smaller package while generating the same clamp force. Ideally, these demands will not necessitate a redesign of the application unit to accommodate the application of an input force at a substantial angle to the axis of operation of the application unit.
At the same time, the dimensions of the brake arrangements in the vehicle chassis are often critical. Modern brake systems for heavy vehicles often require space consuming electronic components such as onboard diagnostic sensors, electric motors and antilock brake modulators. These components, often necessary by regulation or by customer demand, occupy much of the limited space within the wheel well. In addition, suspension systems are also growing in complexity and size and in the number of components, further reducing the available space.
As wheel sizes remain constant, it is thus desirable to reduce the dimensions of the brake system. A particular requirement of vehicle manufacturers is reduction of actuator axial length. In the prior art, this has been accomplished with smaller caliper designs and reduction of excessive clearance between the pad and the disk.
As the stroke length of the actuator cylinder is reduced, the overall axial length of the brake system may also be reduced. Brakes with reduced axial dimensions are more easily adapted to different vehicles.
One approach to meet the needs of vehicle manufacturers has been to mount the actuator radially, at an angle approaching perpendicular to the application unit's axis of operation. Such radially mounted actuators may reduce the length of the brake system. A problem with this solution, however, is that it requires a redesign of the application unit in order for the application unit to generate sufficient clamp force from a radially applied input force.
While standard actuators operate along a substantially parallel axis with respect to the application unit, a radially mounted actuator operates at a greater angle with respect to the operation axis of standard application units. Further, radially mounted actuators are low volume parts compared to prior art axially mounted actuators, and are thus higher in cost. In addition to requiring a redesign of the application unit, radially mounted actuators also require alternative calipers and mounting apparatus.
The invention provides a compact brake system having a reduced axial dimension while maintaining substantially parallel axes of operation for the application unit and the actuator by shortening the stroke length of the actuator. The shortened stroke length may be as short as approximately 40 millimeters for a service brake. Similarly, the stroke length of the parking or emergency brake may be shortened to approximately 30 millimeters or less for additional reduction of axial length of the brake system.
Such a compact brake system can fit modern system architecture, and is particularly adaptive to the more restrictive space on front axle installations. Such a compact spring brake also may be suitable for sliding and fixed caliper applications and may be adapted for integrated antilock brake modulators.
Shortening the stroke length may reduce the mechanical advantage in the application unit. The mechanical ratio may be reduced to approximately 10:1 from a standard ratio of 15:1 for a conventional 24/24 spring brake chamber, an approximately 33% reduction in stroke length.
To overcome the decrease in mechanical advantage, the diameter of the actuator may be increased. A larger diameter actuator may house a larger diaphragm. A larger diaphragm is capable of generating increased actuator forces. Modifications may also be made to the application unit to compensate for the shorter stroke length and decreased mechanical advantage. The modifications could include altering the active length of the application unit lever and/or changing the eccentric ratios to alter the force multiplier ratio of the application unit.
In the past it has been normal to have a certain over-capacity regarding the stroke length of the actuator. The over-capacity provides the actuator sufficient stroke length to guarantee that the brake is actuated even as the friction material is consumed, if, for example, the adjustment mechanism fails. The over-capacity of the stroke length has meant that the actuator must also have an over-capacity with regard to the actuator dimensions. Thus, the axial length of the brake system is larger than it would have been without the over-capacity.
A sensing system to monitor the stroke of the actuator and provide a warning if the stroke differs from a reference value could reduce or eliminate the need for over-capacity. Because a possible malfunction may be detected early, the overcapacity of the stroke actuator may be reduced substantially, thus allowing the axial length of the actuator to be safely decreased.
According to the invention, the concept of having a rather large over-capacity of the stoke length of a brake actuator may be replaced by the technique of constantly monitoring the exact position of the brake actuator. Thus, the need for over-capacity of the brake actuator is avoided. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to a device for transferring print products, conveyed along a conveying path while suspended transverse to the conveying direction from spaced-apart clamps on a circulating conveying element, to a conveyor that is driven synchronously below the conveying element, in the same direction, and is provided at regular intervals with grippers. The invention furthermore relates to a guide arrangement for accompanying the print products along a transfer segment, as well as to activation devices for opening the clamps and closing the grippers.
Reference EP 0 380 921 A2 discloses a device for taking over printed sheets that are conveyed in a first direction while suspended from a first conveying system, and for transferring these printed sheets to a second conveying system, which individually takes over the sheets and conveys these in a second direction. To ensure an uninterrupted takeover and transfer of the printed sheets, a wheel is provided between the conveying systems. The wheel is embodied with compartments that can be opened and closed for accommodating the printed sheets, wherein the printed sheets are transferred to the second conveying system only after being turned.
The company Druck-und Verlag, Neu-Isenburg, Germany, has been producing print products such as newspapers, magazines and the like since 1989, using an inserting machine, model number EM 40, sold by the Müller Martini Group. In the EM 40 machine, a delivery conveyor is used to remove the print products from the operation. For stabilizing and positioning the flat print products, which are held suspended inside the delivery conveyor, guide elements, that move along in conveying direction, are introduced into the conveying flow, during a specified segment of the conveying path, so that the print products are guided along this segment by the aforementioned guide elements in such a way that they occupy a defined, stable position at one location. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the detection of debris on a surface such as ice on an outer portion of an aircraft and, more particularly, relates to the detection of such debris according to the radiant characteristics of the surface and/or the debris.
2. Description of Related Art
The formation of ice and other debris on roadways, bridges, building structures, vehicles, and the like can negatively affect the characteristics of those devices. For example, the formation of ice on the outer surfaces of an aircraft can compromise the performance of the aircraft. For this reason, many aircraft have an ice detector that is used to determine whether ice may have formed on critical portions of the aircraft. One typical ice detector includes a probe that extends from the exterior of the aircraft. The probe is actuated to vibrate at a predetermined frequency. As ice or other debris forms or otherwise collects on the probe, the additional mass of the debris changes the frequency of vibration. The probe senses this change in frequency and, hence, recognizes that an icing condition exists at the probe. The icing condition on critical portions of the aircraft, such as the wings and control surfaces, can be inferred to exist when an icing condition exists at the probe, and a de-icing system can be activated. For example, the de-icing system can direct a flow of hot air from the aircraft engines through passages that extend through the wings, engine enclosures, or other portions of the aircraft to melt the ice. Alternatively, the de-icing system can include resistive heating elements disposed in the wings, engine enclosures, or other critical portions and configured to heat the critical portions to melt the ice.
Unfortunately, some uncertainty exists in the relationship between the icing condition as measured by the probe and the actual formation of ice on the critical portions of the aircraft. In order to provide a margin of safety to cover this uncertainty, the critical portions of the aircraft are at times heated when ice has not formed on those portions and to an extent beyond that which is necessary to de-ice them. This excessive heating requires bleed air from the aircraft engines or power from the aircraft electrical system and, therefore, unnecessary fuel consumption and/or decreased aircraft performance, thereby increasing the flight costs of the aircraft.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved system and method for detecting ice and/or other debris that can build up on critical portions of an aircraft or other devices. Preferably, the system should accurately detect the presence of debris on the critical portions of the device so that unnecessary heating or otherwise clearing of those portions can be minimized. | {
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A log splitter is a relatively large piece of equipment used to split logs or pre-cut sections (also referred to as “rounds”) of wood into smaller pieces for various uses, such as for firewood and/or to enable easier transport of the logs or wood. Most log splitters occupy a relatively significant footprint, and can be cumbersome to navigate and/or move around due to the location of certain features and/or components of the splitter, such as the wheels, engine, fuel tanks, a base of the log splitter, and other like components. | {
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Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to radar imaging systems and, more particularly, to wafer scale, right hand circularly polarized (RHCP) and left hand circularly polarized (LHCP) antenna arrays integrated with ultra wideband radar systems.
An important security issue for protection of individuals in public places—such as airports, schools, and government facilities, for example—is detection of hidden objects, e.g., objects such as weapons or improvised explosive devices (IED) that may be carried by a person and concealed, for example, underneath or within clothing or in luggage or other hand-carried items. X-ray technology has been used, for example, for airport screening but presents a number of issues, such as cumulative over exposure to radiation for airport and airline personnel and concerns over personal privacy, that have led to a search for other technologies and methods for addressing these security issues.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, in which the showings therein are for purposes of illustrating the embodiments and not for purposes of limiting them. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a string tuning adjuster, in particular to an adjuster which enables to fit onto a string peg of a cello, a viola or a violin to do fine tune adjustment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Strings on a cello, a viola or a violin tend to be loose after a period of time. It is needful to do tune adjustment. The adjustment can be done by turning a string peg to tighten or loose the string.
However, the string peg is small in size, which is hard to hold and to turn by hand, it may even hurt fingers in some cases. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method to prepare un-hardened ceramic micro-electrolysis fillers by industrial solid wastes, which belongs to wastewater treatment field especially high-concentration refractory wastewater pretreatment field.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since 1960s, with the rapid development of chemical industry, a large number of synthetic organic materials were produced industrially, such as rubber, plastic, nylon, macromolecular, synthetic fiber and so on. During the production process of these organic materials, a large amount of high concentration organic wastewater was produced. According to Global Environment Statistics Bulletin, in China, 44.3% of total wastewater emission was industrial organic wastewater up to 2008 years. The components of the industrial organic wastewater is complicated which main contained aromatic compounds, heterocyclic compounds, sulfide, cyanide and heavy metal and so on. Even, some of the organics had strong carcinogenicity, mutagenicity toxicity and were difficult to be biodegraded which were extremely harmful to human health and environment. Traditional methods of treatment and pretreatment had high costs or lacked mature faultiness technological ways. Therefore, they could not be used widely.
In nature, the reserves of lignin was next to cellulose and 5 million tons lignin was regenerated annually. In pulping and papermaking industry, 140 million tons cellulose was separated from plants, and 50 million tons lignin was produced as by-product. But over 95% lignin was burned after condensation or discharged into rivers as black liquor. The reuse of lignin became the problem of people's attention. Scrap iron, a kind of common solid waste, was mainly generated from mechanical manufacturing industry and had a high production which not only occupied the valuable land resources but also polluted the environment. How to reuse the iron scrap were widely studied. Red mud was produced by aluminium industry which was harmful to environment. When 1 ton aluminium oxide was produced, 1-2 ton red mud was generated as by-product. As the fourth largest alumina production in the world, millions tons of red mud were discharged in China. Because pH of red mud lixivium was high which could reach 12-13, red mud belonged to hazardous waste. In China, red mud usually piled up in the past which not only occupied the land resources but also lead the soil, water and air pollution. Thus, treatment and recycling of red mud became the global environmental issues.
The micro-electrolysis technology, which is also called internal-electrolysis, is effective way to treat high concentration, high chroma, high salinity and refractory organic wastewater. When the micro-electrolysis fillers were soaked into wastewater, numerous macroscopic galvanic cells formed because of the potential difference between iron and carbon. In the galvanic cells, iron was anode and carbon was cathode. Contaminant was degraded in acid solution through electrochemical reaction. Micro-electrolysis technology was introduced into China in 1980s. And in recent years, it has been widely used in the wastewater treatment, such as printing and dyeing wastewater, pharmaceutical wastewater, pesticide wastewater and so on. In addition, micro-electrolysis technology had some advantages such as low cost, easy operation and maintenance. During the running of traditional micro-electrolysis process, the contact area between the sewage and the padding could be reduced due to the fillers hardening, which decreased the removal efficiency of wastewater and increased frequency of backwash and fillers replacement. This is the limit for micro-electrolysis technology to widely used. However, ceramic micro-electrolysis fillers had better performance on un-hardening than traditional fillers.
During productive process of traditional micro-electrolysis fillers, activated carbon or charcoal was added as cathode material. Activated carbon and charcoal were stable and did not generate gas, so the density of fillers was high. In addition, activated carbon and charcoal were produced by sintering. So it lead to energy waste to use activated carbon and charcoal sinter micro-electrolysis fillers. | {
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The present invention relates to signal converter, optical transmitter and optical fiber transmission system for transmitting a multichannel analog signal, a digital video signal or the like through an optical fiber.
In a suggested method for transmitting and distributing a multichannel video signal to users' homes, the output light of a semiconductor laser is directly modulated with the multichannel video signal, and an optical signal resulting therefrom is transmitted through an optical fiber and directly detected by an optical receiver. An amplitude-modulated (AM) video signal transmission technique is currently in high demand, because this technique has excellent compatibility with existing CATV's. However, in accordance with this technique, excellent carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) and distortion characteristics are required. Accordingly, in employing this technique, the transmission distance and the number of branches of an optical fiber are adversely limited and the resistance of an optical fiber connector to reflection is disadvantageously low.
In order to solve these problems, a method for distributing a multichannel video signal using an AM/FM simultaneous converter of an optical heterodyne detection type is proposed. Such a method is described by K. Kikushima et al., “Super-wide-band Optical FM Modulation Scheme and its Application to Multichannel AM Video Transmission Systems, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, pp. 839-841, 1996, for example.
Hereinafter, a conventional optical fiber transmission system of an AM/FM simultaneous conversion type will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A through 1C.
As shown in FIG. 1A, an optical transmitter 1 of this optical fiber transmission system includes an AM/FM converter 2 and a semiconductor laser 3 for transmission. The optical transmitter 1 generates an optical signal. The intensity of the optical signal has been modulated with a microwave signal, the frequency of which has been modulated with an AM multichannel video signal. The optical signal output from the optical transmitter 1 is amplified by an optical fiber amplifier 4. The amplified signal is branched by an optical fiber coupler 5 into respective paths of an optical fiber 6, through which the optical signal is transmitted. The optical signal, which has been transmitted through the optical fiber 6, is received by an optical receiver 7. Specifically, an avalanche photodiode (APD) 8 of the optical receiver 7 receives the optical signal. The APD 8 converts the optical signal into a microwave signal, the frequency of which has been modulated with the AM multichannel video signal. And the microwave signal is demodulated by an FM demodulator 9 into the AM multichannel video signal.
FIG. 1B illustrates the internal configuration of the AM/FM converter 2. In the AM/FM converter 2, first, a semiconductor laser 10 is subjected to frequency modulation. Next, the output light of a local oscillator laser 11 is coupled with the output light of the semiconductor laser 10 at an optical coupler 12. Part of the coupled light is irradiated to a photodiode 14, which performs a heterodyne detection on the light so as to output a microwave signal having had the frequency modulated with the AM multichannel video signal. The carrier frequency of the microwave signal is equal to a beat frequency (υ2−υ1), which is the difference between the frequency υ1 of the semiconductor laser 10 and the frequency υ2 of the local oscillator laser 11.
The other part of the coupled light is irradiated to the other photodiode 13, which also performs a heterodyne detection on the light so as to output a microwave signal. The microwave signal is fed back to the semiconductor laser 10 through an auto frequency control (AFC) loop 15. This feedback loop can control the driving current of the semiconductor laser 10 and stabilize the carrier frequency. The AFC loop 15 includes an FM modulator 16 and an FM laser current controller 17.
Next, the semiconductor laser 3 for transmission (i.e., a distributed feedback (DFB) laser) is subjected to intensity modulation with the output signal of the AM/FM converter 2. As a result, the optical signal is output from the optical transmitter 1.
FIG. 1C illustrates the configuration of the FM demodulator 9 in the optical receiver 7. The FM demodulator 9 includes AND gates 18, 19, a delay line 20 and an amplifier 21 and demodulates the microwave signal output by the APD 8 into a multichannel video signal.
In accordance with such a transmission system, the minimum light-receiving level can be increased by about 10 dB and the reflective resistance of the optical fiber connector can be considerably improved as compared with a conventional AM transmission technique.
This conventional converter uses the AFC loop 15. However, if the temperature of the environment surrounding the semiconductor laser 10 changes, then the respective frequencies υ1 and υ2 of the semiconductor laser 10 and the local oscillator laser 11 also change. Accordingly, the intermediate frequency fIF (=υ2−υ1) is greatly variable with the changing environmental temperature. FIG. 2A illustrates the spectra of the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser 10 and the laser light emitted from the local oscillator laser 11. As for the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser 10, both the spectrum of the laser light at the frequency υ1 (having a relatively narrow distribution) and the spectrum of the AM multichannel video signal carried by the laser light (having a relatively broad distribution) are illustrated. FIG. 2B illustrates the spectrum of the carrier of the microwave signal at the intermediate frequency fIF (=υ2−υ1) and the spectrum of the AM multichannel video signal carried by the carrier. As described above, as the intermediate frequency fIF (=υ2−υ1) greatly changes with the changing environmental temperature, the spectrum of the intermediate frequency fIF shown in FIG. 2B has a broader width. FIG. 2C illustrates the intensity ratio of carrier to noise. As the width of the spectrum of the intermediate frequency fIF becomes broader, the intensity of the noise component increases relative to the intensity of the carrier. As a result, the CNR (carrier-to-noise ratio) decreases and the signal quality deteriorates.
In addition, in the conventional optical receiver 7, the optical signal needs to be received by the APD 8 operating in a broad band (e.g., 6 GHz) and the FM demodulator 9 needs to convert the optical signal into an electrical signal by using high-speed AND gates 18 and 19 that can operate at 6 GHz. In connecting high-speed devices such as these on multiple stages, since the frequency characteristics of the respective devices deviate from each other in terms of amplitude and group delay, such deviations are added to each other, thereby deteriorating noise and distortion characteristics. The broader band operation is advantageous in improving the noise characteristics. However, so long as electric devices such as AND gates are used, there is a limit on the high-speed operation. Since a band limitation is imposed, the deterioration of noise and distortion characteristics is inevitable. | {
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This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-066734, filed Mar. 10, 2000; No. 2000-087403, filed Mar. 27, 2000; and No. 2000-087417, filed Mar. 27, 2000, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a ferroelectric capacitor and a method for manufacturing the ferroelectric capacitor.
Ferroelectric substances have a hysteresis characteristic between applied electric fields and the amount of electric polarization; thus, polarization remains even if a voltage applied between opposite ends of the ferroelectric substance is returned to zero. That is, the ferroelectric substance is characterized in that electric polarization generated when electric fields are applied remains even after the application of electric fields has been stopped and in that the direction of the polarization is reversed when electric fields of a certain intensity or more are applied in a direction opposite to that of the above electric fields.
Memory which consists of series connected memory cells each having a transistor having a source terminal and a drain terminal and a ferroelectric capacitor inbetween the two terminals, hereafter named xe2x80x9cSeries connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMxe2x80x9d is gathering the industry""s attention. In these Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs, the cell area per memory cell is reduced based on the non-volatile characteristic of ferroelectric substances, by connecting opposite ends of a ferroelectric capacitor (C) between a source and a drain of a cell transistor (T) to constitute a unit cell and connecting a plurality of such unit cells in series.
These Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs are known, for example, from xe2x80x9cHigh-Density Chain Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (CFRAM)xe2x80x9d, VLSI Circuit Symposium, 1997, p.83-84, xe2x80x9cA Sub-40 ns Random-Access Chain FRAM Architecture with 7 ns Cell-Plate-Line Drivexe2x80x9d, ISSCC Tech. Digest Papers, pp.102-103, Feb 1999, and xe2x80x9cFerro Electric RAMxe2x80x9d, D. Takashima et al., JSSCC, pp.787-792, May 1998xe2x80x9d.
FIG. 1 shows an equivalent circuit of the Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs described in these documents. In this figure, eight transistors T0 to T7 are connected in series, and ferroelectric capacitors are each connected between a source and a drain of a corresponding one of the transistors to constitute a cell array block. The cell array block has one end connected to a bit line BL via a selection gate transistor ST1 and the other end connected to a plate line PL via a selection gate transistor ST2 (or directly).
The transistors T0 to T7 have their gates connected to word lines WL0 to WL7, respectively, and the selection gate transistors ST1 and ST2 have their gates connected to selection gate lines BS1 and BS2, respectively. Specifically, the word lines WL0 to WL7 and the selection gate lines BS1 and BS2 are configured by continuously forming corresponding gate electrodes between a plurality of other cell array blocks (not shown).
The Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs are advantageous in that the unit cell area can be reduced by sharing a diffusion layer of the adjacent transistor within the cell array block; theoretically, these memories can achieve 4F2 (F denotes a minimum size). Further, the area occupied by peripheral circuits can be reduced compared to ordinary ferroelectric memories, thereby reducing the chip size and costs.
The Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs also have an excellent characteristic that the plate line PL connected to the other end can be formed of the diffusion layer formed outside the cell array and thus has low resistance, whereby drivers are not required to have high performance. The Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs can thus operate faster than ordinary ferroelectric memories.
As described above, the Series connected TC unit type ferroelectric RAMs have various characteristics, but also have problems.
That is, for memory cells of a capacitor on plug (COP) structure in which, for example, a tungsten plug (W plug) is formed on a source and a drain diffusion layer of a transistor as a contact plug with a ferroelectric capacitor formed on the W plug, a barrier metal must be interposed between the W plug and the ferroelectric capacitor to prevent oxidation of the W plug, but no metal has been found suitable to be such a barrier metal.
Thus, an upper and a lower electrode of the ferroelectric capacitor are connected to the source and drain diffusion layers of the transistor by separately forming metal wiring.
FIGS. 2A to 2E show a conventional method for manufacturing a ferroelectric capacitor for a series connected TC unit type ferroelecric RAM, in the order of steps.
First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a lower electrode 12, a ferroelectric film 13, and an upper electrode 14 are sequentially deposited on an interlayer insulating film 11 provided on a semiconductor substrate.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, an etching mask 15 having a predetermined pattern shape is formed and used to etch the upper electrode 14.
Then, the mask 15 is removed and a new etching mask 16 having a predetermined pattern shape is subsequently formed as shown in FIG. 2C. In this case, the mask 16 is shaped so as to continuously cover the two upper electrodes 14. The mask 16 us used to etch the remaining part of the ferroelectric film 13 and lower electrode 12.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2D, an interlayer insulating film 17 is deposited on the entire top surface, wiring grooves 18 and contact holes 19 for the two upper electrodes 14 are formed in the interlayer insulating film 17, and a wiring groove 20 and a contact hole 21 for the lower electrode 12 are further formed.
Subsequently, contact plugs/wires 22 are formed so as to fill the wiring grooves 18 and 20 and the contact holes 19 and 21. The contact plugs/wires 22 are connected to a source and a drain diffusion layers of a transistor (not shown).
In this conventional method, when the contact hole 21 for the lower electrode 12 is formed, the interlayer insulated layer 17 and the ferroelectric film 13 must be etched. An etching rate for the ferroelectric film is low, about one tenths (for example, 50 nm/sec.) of that for the interlayer insulating film, thus requiring a large amount of time to form the deep contact hole 21 for the lower electrode 12. Consequently, when the contact holes 19 for the upper electrodes 14 are formed, relatively large parts of the upper electrodes 14 are removed as shown in FIG. 2D, thereby disadvantageously degrading capacitor characteristics or inducing capacitor leakage.
Furthermore, it has been found that since the contact hole 21 for the lower electrode 12 penetrates the ferroelectric film 13, an etching gas may damage the ferroelectric film to degrade polarization.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing. An object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor device, a semiconductor storage device and a method of manufacturing the same, in which the degradation of capacitor characteristics or the capacitor leakage is prevented when a part of the upper electrode is etched in the process of making contact holes and in which the damage to the ferroelectric film is reduced to prevent the deterioration of the ferroelectric capacitor, which would otherwise occur due to polarization.
According to the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, a lower electrode formed on the first interlayer insulating film, a pair of ferroelectric films formed on the lower electrode separately from each other, and a pair of upper electrode formed on the pair of ferroelectric films, wherein the lower electrode, the pair of ferroelectric films, and the pair of upper electrodes constitute a pair of ferroelectric capacitors and portions of the lower electrode which are located under the pair of ferroelectric films are thicker than the other portions of the lower electrode.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising sequentially forming a lower electrode, a ferroelectric film, and an upper electrode on a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, forming a first mask on the upper electrode, using the first mask to sequentially etch the upper electrode and the ferroelectric film to leave on the lower electrode a pair of laminated structure comprising the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode, forming a second mask having such a pattern shape that continuously covers at least the pair of laminated structure, using the second mask to etch the lower electrode to thereby leave portions of the lower electrode in which the pair of laminated structures comprising the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode are formed.
According to the present invention, there is provide a semiconductor device comprising an interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, a lower electrode formed on the interlayer insulating film, a pair of ferroelectric films formed on the lower electrode separately from each other and each having a recess portion, and a pair of upper electrodes formed so as to fill recess portions of the pair of ferroelectric films, wherein the lower electrode, the pair of ferroelectric films, and the pair of upper electrode constitute a pair of ferroelectric capacitors.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming a lower electrode on a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, leaving the lower electrode only at selected portions of the first interlayer insulating film, while removing the other portions, forming a second interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface including a surface of the lower electrode and then executing a flattening process to expose the lower electrode, forming a third interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface and then forming two openings in the third interlayer insulating film so as to lead to the surface of the lower electrode, sequentially forming a ferroelectric film and an upper electrode on the entire top surface including interiors of the two openings, and executing a flattening process to leave laminated structures in the two openings, the laminated structures comprising the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming a lower electrode on a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, leaving the lower electrode only at selected portions of the first interlayer insulating film, while removing the other portions, forming a second interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface including a surface of the lower electrode and then executing a flattening process, forming two openings in the second interlayer insulating film so as to lead to the surface of the lower electrode, sequentially forming a ferroelectric film and an upper electrode on the entire top surface including interiors of the two openings, and leaving laminated structures only in the two openings, the laminated structures comprising the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming a first interlayer insulating film on a second interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, forming a first opening in the first interlayer insulating film, depositing a lower electrode on the entire top surface, executing a flattening process to expose the first interlayer insulating film, while leaving the lower electrode in the first opening, forming a third interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, forming a pair of second openings in the third interlayer insulating film so as to lead to a surface of the lower electrode, sequentially forming a ferroelectric film and an upper electrode on the entire top surface including interiors of the pair of second openings, and flattening the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode to leave the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode in the pair of second openings.
According to the present invention, there is provide a semiconductor device comprising a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, a first lower electrode formed on the first interlayer insulating film, a pair of second lower electrodes formed on the first lower electrode separately from each other and each having a recess portion, a pair of ferroelectric films formed so as to fill recess portions of the pair of second lower electrodes and each having a recess portion, and a pair of upper electrodes formed so as to fill recess portions of the pair of ferroelectric films, wherein the first lower electrode, the pair of second lower electrodes, the pair of ferroelectric films, and the pair of upper electrode constitute a pair of ferroelectric capacitors.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming a first interlayer insulating film on a second interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, forming a first opening in the first interlayer insulating film, forming a first lower electrode on the entire top surface, executing a flattening process to expose the first interlayer insulating film, while leaving the first lower electrode in the first opening, forming a third interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, forming a pair of second openings in the third interlayer insulating film so as to lead to a surface of the lower electrode, sequentially forming a second lower electrode, a ferroelectric film, and an upper electrode on the entire top surface including interiors of the pair of second openings, and flattening the second lower electrode, the ferroelectric film, and the upper electrode to leave the second lower electrode, the ferroelectric film, and the upper electrode in the pair of second openings.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming a first lower electrode on a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, leaving the first lower electrode only at selected portions of the first interlayer insulating film, while removing the other portions, forming a second interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface including a surface of the first lower electrode and then executing a flattening process to expose the first lower electrode, forming a third interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface and then forming two openings in the third interlayer insulating film so as to lead to the surface of the lower electrode, sequentially forming a second lower electrode, a ferroelectric film, and an upper electrode on the entire top surface including interiors of the two openings, executing a flattening process to leave laminated structures in the two openings, the laminated structures comprising the second lower electrode, the ferroelectric film, and the upper electrode.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming a first lower electrode on a first interlayer insulating film formed on a semiconductor substrate, leaving the first lower electrode only at selected portions of the first interlayer insulating film, while removing the other portions, forming a second interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface including a surface of the first lower electrode and then executing a flattening process, forming two openings in the second interlayer insulating film so as to lead to the surface of the first lower electrode, sequentially forming a second lower electrode, a ferroelectric film, and an upper electrode on the entire top surface including interiors of the two openings, and executing one of an etchback process and flattening etching process to leaving laminated structures only in the two openings, the laminated structures composing the second lower substrate, the ferroelectric film, and the upper electrode.
According to the present invention, there is provide a semiconductor storage device comprising a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of transistors formed on the semiconductor substrate, a first interlayer insulating film formed so as to cover the plurality of transistors, and a plurality of ferroelectric capacitors each comprising a laminated structure of a lower electrode, a ferroelectric film, and an upper electrode sequentially formed on the first interlayer insulating film, wherein the plurality of ferroelectric capacitors constitute sets each comprising two of these ferroelectric capacitors, the lower electrode is shared by the one set of ferroelectric capacitors, the upper electrode is individually separated between the one set of ferroelectric capacitors, and a space between the upper electrodes of the one set of ferroelectric capacitors is smaller than a space between the upper electrodes of the one set of ferroelectric capacitors and the upper electrodes of an adjacent set of ferroelectric capacitors.
More specifically, the one set of ferroelectric capacitors have their peripheries formed into inclined surfaces extending continuously from a top surface of the upper electrode to a bottom surface of the lower electrode and having no step, and the individual upper electrodes of the one set of ferroelectric capacitors are separated by a generally V-shaped groove.
Thus, the upper electrodes of the ferroelectric capacitors are not spaced at equal intervals, and the space between the upper electrodes of one set of ferroelectric capacitors on the shared lower electrode is smaller than the space between the upper electrodes of one set of ferroelectric capacitors and the upper electrodes of the adjacent set of ferroelectric capacitors, thereby reducing the unit cell area.
According to the present invention, the semiconductor substrate preferably partitioned into a plurality of element forming areas each having the plurality of transistor formed therein, adjacent ones of the plurality of transistors share a diffusion area and are arranged in a row, and the ferroelectric capacitors are connected in parallel with the transistors to constitute a cell array block.
In this case, gate electrodes of the transistors extended in a direction crossing a transistor arranging direction of the cell array block constitute a word line, and the space between the upper electrodes of the one set of ferroelectric capacitors is smaller than the width of the word line.
When the upper electrodes are separated by the space smaller than the width of the word line, the upper electrodes have larger areas to provide excellent characteristics even if the ferroelectric capacitors are arranged at a very small pitch. Specifically, the word line width is equal to a minimum dimension according to design rules.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provide a semiconductor storage device comprising a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of transistors formed on the semiconductor substrate, a first interlayer insulating film formed so as to cover the plurality of transistors, and a plurality of ferroelectric capacitors each comprising a laminated structure of a lower electrode, a ferroelectric film, and an upper electrode sequentially formed on the first interlayer insulating film, wherein the plurality of ferroelectric capacitors constitute sets each comprising two of these ferroelectric capacitors, the lower electrode is shared by the one set of ferroelectric capacitors, the upper electrode is individually separated between the one set of ferroelectric capacitors and has a space, the one set of ferroelectric capacitors have peripheries thereof formed into inclined surfaces extending continuously from a top surface of the upper electrode to a bottom surface of the lower electrode and having no step, and the individual upper electrodes of the one set of ferroelectric capacitors are separated by a generally V-shaped groove.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing semiconductor storage device comprising forming a plurality of transistors in and on a semiconductor substrate, forming an interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, forming a lower-electrode material film, a ferroelectric film, and an upper-electrode material film on the interlayer insulating film to constitute a plurality of ferroelectric capacitors, forming an etching mask on each upper-electrode forming area of the upper-electrode material film, using the etching mask to separate the upper electrodes of the plurality of ferroelectric capacitors, while separating, in order to allow the lower electrode to be shared by one set of plurality of ferroelectric capacitors, the lower electrode between the adjacent ferroelectric capacitors of the set.
According to the present invention, there is provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor storage device comprising forming an isolation film in a semiconductor substrate and partitioning the semiconductor substrate into a plurality of element forming areas, forming a plurality of transistors in each of the plurality of element forming areas, the transistors each having a first and a second diffusion regions in such a manner that the transistor is adjacent, at one side, to the first diffusion region, which is shared by the adjacent transistor on this side, while the transistor is adjacent, at the other side, to the second diffusion region, which is shared by the adjacent transistor on this side, forming a first interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, burying a contact plug in the first interlayer insulating film, the contact plug being connected to each of the first diffusion areas of the plurality of transistors, sequentially forming a lower-electrode material film, a ferroelectric film, and an upper-electrode material film on the first interlayer insulating film to constitute a plurality of ferroelectric capacitors, forming an etching mask on each upper-electrode forming area of the upper-electrode material film, using the etching mask and etching to separate upper electrodes of each of the ferroelectric capacitor while separating the adjacent pairs of ferroelectric capacitors in such a manner that the pair of ferroelectric capacitors share the lower electrode connected to the contact plug, forming a second interlayer insulating film so as to cover all of the top surface, and a step of forming a wiring layer on the second interlayer insulating film, for connecting the upper electrode of the ferroelectric capacitor to the second diffusion region of the corresponding transistor.
According to the present invention, there is provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor storage device comprising forming a plurality of transistors in a semiconductor substrate, the transistors each having a first and a second diffusion regions in such a manner that the transistor is adjacent, at one side, to the first diffusion region, which is shared by the adjacent transistor on this side, while the transistor is adjacent, at the other side, to the second diffusion region, which is shared by the adjacent transistor on this side, forming a first interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, forming an opening leading to a surface of the first diffusion region of each of the plurality of transistors and forming a plug electrode in the opening, sequentially forming a lower-electrode material film, a ferroelectric film, and an upper-electrode material film on the first interlayer insulating film so as to contact with the plug electrode, forming a mask pattern for etching the upper-electrode material film so that a pair of upper electrodes are located on the plug electrode, using the mask pattern to etch the upper-electrode material film, the ferroelectric film, and the lower-electrode material film to thereby form a pair of upper electrodes, a ferroelectric film, and a lower electrode on the plug electrode, forming a second interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, and forming a wiring layer for connecting the second diffusion regions of the plurality of transistors and the upper electrodes together.
According to the present invention, there is provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor storage device comprising forming a plurality of transistors in a semiconductor substrate, the transistors each having a first and a second diffusion regions in such a manner that the transistor is adjacent, at one side, to the first diffusion region, which is shared by the adjacent transistor on this side, while the transistor is adjacent, at the other side, to the second diffusion region, which is shared by the adjacent transistor on this side, forming a first interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, forming a first opening leading to a surface of the first diffusion region of each of the plurality of transistors and forming a plug electrode in the opening, sequentially forming a lower-electrode material film, a ferroelectric film, and an upper-electrode material film on the first interlayer insulating film so as to contact with the plug electrode, forming a mask pattern for etching the upper-electrode material film, using the mask pattern to etch the upper-electrode material film to form a pair of upper electrodes, forming a side wall insulating film on side walls of the pair of upper electrodes and arranging, on the plug electrode, a portion of the side wall insulating film located between the pair of upper electrodes, using the mask pattern and the side wall insulating film to sequentially etch the ferroelectric film and the lower-electrode material film to form a pair of ferroelectric films and a lower electrode on the plug electrode, forming a second interlayer insulating film on the entire top surface, and forming a wiring layer for connecting the second diffusion regions of the plurality of transistors and the upper electrodes together.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to package wrappers and more specifically it relates to a reusable gift wrap. The reusable gift wrap is an expandable sleeve which snugly receives a gift box, the ends are folded and retained by fasteners, while a ribbon attached to the sleeve can be tied thereabout into a bow.
The sleeve is preferably formed of a decorative fabric, mylar or the like. A narrow strip of elastic material extends the length of the sleeve, joining the opposed lateral edges of the wrap material to form the closed sleeve. The elastic material allows the width of the sleeve to conform, within reasonable limits, to the size of a gift box inserted into the sleeve, allowing the sleeve to contract around the gift box to form a tight wrap. The ends of the sleeve are provided with a ribbon, which is wrapped around the gift box when the ends of the sleeve are folded about the inserted gift box, to provide a finished appearance and to hold the folded ends of the sleeve. As a further feature, the fasteners are located at the ends of the sleeve, allow them to be retained in the folded-over configuration as the ribbon is being tied. In a preferred embodiment, the adhesive is a tab formed from one element of a hook and loop fastener. The other element is the elastic strip material. Use of such a combination has the added benefit of allowing adhesion of the sleeve ends to occur at any location along the entire length of the elastic strip, thus facilitating folding the ends of the wrap about the gift box irrespective of the length of the gift box.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous package wrappers have been provided in prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,276,671 to Fleitman; 3,311,289 to French; 5,392,983 to Clarke-Bolling et al.; 5,456,062 to Wechsler and 5,529,395 to French all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and particularly, to image data processing that generates transmission data of image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, an image pickup apparatus using an image pickup element having a pixel array with a color filter of the Bayer structure was generally known. The image pickup element receives image light via the color filter from an object by a photoelectric conversion element configuring a pixel and outputs an image signal correspondingly to the intensity of the image light. A processing unit at a subsequent stage performs predetermined processing with respect to the image signal to display an image on a viewfinder or an external display apparatus. In general, R, G, and B pixels, which can output R, G, and B signals, respectively, are disposed in the image pickup element in a predetermined pattern.
Further, an apparatus is also discussed, which converts moving image data obtained by the image pickup element of the Bayer structure into a luminance signal and a color difference signal and transmits the signals according to the HD-SDI standard (SMPTE 274M) discussed in Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-199414).
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-199414, the moving image data is converted into luminance and color difference data to be transmitted, and as a result, the moving image data of the Bayer structure could not be transmitted. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of event stream processing for business process management (BPM) and more particularly to event monitoring tools configured for visualizing complex event processing (CEP).
2. Description of the Related Art
Event Stream Processing (ESP) relates to a set of technologies designed to assist the construction of event-driven information systems. ESP technologies include event visualization, event databases, event-driven middleware, and event processing languages, or CEP. ESP long has enabled Internet-age applications including algorithmic trading in financial services, radio frequency identification (RFID) event processing in retail, inventory management and logistics, fraud detection for merchant and financial services, process monitoring, and location-based services in telecommunications.
Complex Event Processing (CEP) is an emerging form of ESP intended for use in building and managing information systems including (1) Business Activity Monitoring; (2) Business Process Management; (3) Enterprise Application Integration; (4) Event-Driven Architectures; (5) Network and business level Security; and (6) Real time conformance to regulations and policies. CEP embodies principles for building applications that enable enterprises to keep pace with the information flowing through respective information technology (IT) systems. CEP is primarily an event-processing concept addressing the task of processing multiple events in order to identify meaningful events within an event cloud. To that end, CEP employs techniques such as detection of complex patterns of many events, event correlation and abstraction, event hierarchies, and relationships between events such as causality, membership, and timing, and event-driven processes.
The goal of CEP is to enable the information contained in the events flowing through all layers of the enterprise IT infrastructure to be discovered, understood in terms of its impact on high level management goals and business processes, and acted upon in real time. The events handled by CEP include not only software driven events, but also events originating in hard sensors, such as those prevalent in technologies such as RFID. At present, CEP principally complements and contributes to technologies such as service oriented architecture (SOA), event driven architecture (EDA) and business process management (BPM).
Generally, the conventional event monitoring tool parses event logs in order to apply CEP to event information contained in the logs. Specifically, within the event monitoring tool, end users define business event logic including interaction sets, composed of interaction blocks, that orchestrate business processes between monitored systems or applications, known as touch points. The interaction blocks each include one or more event filters and corresponding actions associated with a received event. An event filter provides a condition that when evaluated with respect to the associated event can trigger a corresponding action. An interaction set, in turn, is a collection of interaction blocks all associated with the same event. Finally, an action identifies an activity that will occur in a touch point when one or more rules in an interaction set evaluate true.
In operation, a run-time portion of the event monitoring tool obtains events from a message queue placed on the queue by event connectors, evaluates those events against the business event logic defined in interaction sets, and places actions on the message queue to be utilized by action connectors and passed to the associated touch points so that the appropriate actions can be performed. Of note, a dashboard view can be provided within the tool. The dashboard view provides a visual rendering of activities occurring in one or more touch points. The dashboard view, however, only provides an indication of activity counts in a touch point. The dashboard view lacks the display richness requisite to show activities across independent interactions and the flexibility to analyze specific streams, or common data fields in different events. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a purified insulin receptor-like protein. This receptor has some characteristics similar to mammalian insulin receptors and is therefor described herein as an "insulin receptor-like protein".
2. Description of the Related Art
Insulin, a central regulator of metabolism and mitogenesis, arose early in evolution. An insulin receptor-like protein and its gene in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster and an insulin gene in the sponge Geodia cydonium, place the signaling pathway at or before the divergence between diploblastic and triploblastic animals during radiation of coelomates more than 560 to 540 million years ago (Ma). Insulin-regulated metabolic pathways such as glycolysis and glycogen synthesis are common to the five kingdoms, but an insulin-like signal transduction system in lower eukaryotes and prokaryotes remains controversial. Although conventional wisdom precludes the existence of hormone-like substances in species lacking a pancreas or other glands, the capacity for cell-cell communication via diffusible factors may have been integral to the genesis of more complex organisms consisting of various specialized tissues. Thus, an insulin receptor-like protein may be coupled to these molecules in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to trigger appropriate responses to extracellular nutrients and growth modulating stimuli.
Insulin and insulin-like molecules regulate diverse cellular processes of carbohydrate and intermediary metabolism, macromolecular synthesis, and mitogenesis. Phylogenetic distribution and regulation of ubiquitous biochemical pathways imply an evolutionarily ancient role for insulin-like hormones and their cognate receptors. S. cerevisiae, regarded as a slowly evolving species, possesses second messengers and mediators proposed to transduce the insulin signal in vertebrates, e.g. cyclic AMP, phosphodiesterases, serine/threonine and tyrosine-specific protein kinases, GTP-binding proteins and GTPase activating proteins, inositol phosphates, phosphatidylinositol kinases and phospholipases, and calcium-binding regulatory proteins (1,2,3). However, insulin signaling elements have never been confirmed in lower organisms. A protein endogenous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae which resembles the mammalian insulin receptor (IR) has been purified. Yeast IR-like protein (IRP) possesses a high molecular weight insulin binding domain and intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity.
The insulin family of hormones is widely distributed across the phyla. In addition to their occurrence in vertebrates, insulin-related receptors, binding proteins and ligands have been identified in organisms as diverse as the invertebrates Drosophila melanogaster, Bombyx morii, Annelida oligocheta, Lymnaea stagnalis and Geodia cydonium, higher plants such as spinach and Lemna gibba and the alga Acetabularia mediterranea, in the fungi Neurospora crassa and Aspergillus fumigatus protist Tetrahymena pyriformis, and in many bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Halobacterium solinarium, Bordetella pertussiss and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. The insulin family of hormones has been documented extensively to control fundamental aspects of intermediary metabolic regulation, growth, differentiation and reproduction, which may explain the strong conservation of insulin-dependent signaling throughout the evolution of eukaryotes.
The vertebrate insulin receptor (IR) is a multifunctional heterotetrameric glycoprotein comprised of two 135 kD .alpha.-subunits that constitute the insulin binding domain and two 95 kD .beta.-subunits with intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity (4). The structural and kinetic properties of the IR are similar in all vertebrate species and tissues studied, for instance, the neuronal IR has an .alpha.-subunit of 115-125 kDa and a .beta.-subunit of 83 kDa. The stingray receptor has a homotetramer structure with a .beta.-subunit of a 110 kD; the increase in molecular weight, compared to the vertebrate polypeptide, perhaps being due to glycosylation. These findings suggest that the insulin receptor protein is more highly conserved in evolution than its ligand. Furthermore, the IR is encoded by a modular gene, apparently assembled during evolution by successive joining of DNA sequences to encode specific functions in a multifunctional, multidomain protein synthesized, nevertheless, as a single-chain polypeptide.
An IR-like protein was identified in D. melanogaster with a subunit composition, tyrosine kinase activity, and functions in stimulation of carbohydrate metabolism, growth and differentiation throughout the life cycle of the fly identical to the mammalian counterpart. Furthermore, a protein that binds insulin with specificity, high affinity and some of the kinetic properties ascribed to the vertebrate receptor has been purified and partially characterized from a cell wall-less mutant of another ascomycete, N. crassa. However, the molecular weight of this N. crassa protein is not comparable to the vertebrate IR nor does it possess tyrosine kinase activity (5). | {
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When people use their cell phones for making calls, there is inherently a significant amount of idle time during the calls that is wasted and nevertheless incurs expense or uses up a subscriber's free minutes. Idle time occurs while a caller is waiting for a person to answer, or while a caller is put on hold or on call waiting.
Specifically, after the caller has placed a call to a person, referred to herein as a “callee”, idle time occurs while the caller is waiting for the callee or the callee's answering machine to answer. During such time the caller typically listens to ringing tones. In some instances the callee may, for a fee, engage a system that plays to the caller a soundtrack pre-designated by the callee, instead of ringing tones, while the caller is waiting for the callee or the callee's answering machine to answer. Such systems are referred to as “ringback tones” systems. A new company, Jajah Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., offers a service whereby ringing tones are replaced by recorded advertisements.
After a call is in progress, idle time occurs when the caller is put on hold. For example, the caller may be transferred to another person. Such call holding is typical when a caller calls a customer service representative and an automatic answering service transfers the call.
Idle time also occurs when a second caller calls the callee, and the callee puts the first caller on call waiting while the callee speaks with the second caller.
During such call waiting/call hold idle time, the caller is required to stay tuned to the call, in order to be available for the conversation when it resumes. In some instances the caller listens to ring tones, background sounds, background music, or background radio, initiated by the callee's calling system during call waiting/call hold.
Idle time also occurs during passive silent moments, when the callee leaves the call and has the caller wait for the callee, without putting the caller on hold.
In all of these circumstances the caller's time is wasted. The caller either waits idly for the callee, or receives content of little or no use to him.
It would thus be desirable to be able to leverage caller idle time to the caller's benefit. | {
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The invention relates to a method of obtaining porous ceramics, and to the porous ceramics obtained.
Porous ceramics are known products characterized by a low density (5% to 50% of theoretical density). They may be constituted from the vast majority of ceramic powders, in particular alumina, silicon carbide etc. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compound objective lens composed of an objective lens and a hologram lens which has two focal points, an imaging optical system for converging light on two converging spots placed at different depths of an information medium with the compound objective lens, an optical head apparatus for recording, reproducing or erasing information on or from an information medium such as an optical medium or a magneto-optical medium like an optical disk or an optical card with the imaging optical system, an optical disk in which a series of high density recording pits and a series of comparatively low density recording pits are provided, an optical disk apparatus for recording or reproducing information on or from the optical disk with the compound objective lens, a binary focus microscope having two focal points in which two types of images drawn at different depths are simultaneously observed, and an alignment apparatus for aligning two types of images drawn at different depths with the binary focus microscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical memory technique has been put to practical use to manufacture an optical disk in which a pit pattern formed of a series of pits is drawn to record information. The optical disk is utilized as a high density and large capacity of information medium. For example, the optical disk is utilized for a digital audio disk, a video disk, a document file disk, and a data file disk. To record information on the optical disk and to reproduce the information from the optical disk, a light beam radiated from a light source is minutely converged in an imaging optical system, and the light beam minutely converged is radiated to the optical disk through the imaging optical system. Therefore, the light beam is required to be reliably controlled in the imaging optical system with high accuracy.
The imaging optical system is utilized for an optical head apparatus in which a detecting system is additionally provided to detect the intensity of the light beam reflected from the optical disk. Fundamental functions of the optical head apparatus are classified into a converging performance for minutely converging a light beam to form a diffraction-limited micro-spot of the light beam radiated on the optical disk, a focus control in a focus servo system, a tracking control in a tracking serve system, and the detection of pit signals (or information signals) obtained by radiating the light beam on a pit pattern of the optical disk. The fundamental function of the optical head apparatus is determined by the combination of optical sub-systems and a photoelectric transfer detecting process according to a purpose and a use. Specifically, an optical head apparatus in which a holographic optical element (or hologram) is utilized to minimize and thin the optical head apparatus has been recently proposed. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to design verification, and more specifically, to semiconductor device design verification.
2. Related Art
In a semiconductor device design, a design structure (i.e., a structure in the design) and the same structure in actuality (i.e., after being fabricated according to the design) are always not identical. More specifically, the design structure and the same structure in actuality may have different shapes, sizes, and/or positions on the wafer. For example, in the design, a metal line can be on top of and in direct physical contact with a via, while, in actuality, the metal line can be misaligned with the via such that the metal line is not in direct physical contact with the via. When this happens (i.e., in actuality, the metal line is not in direct physical contact with the via), the entire chip that contains the metal line and the via can be defective and may have to be discarded.
As a result, there is a need for a method for identifying potential defects in a design (called a design verification process) due to structures in actuality and the same structure in design not having the same shapes, sizes, or positions on the wafer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to operational amplifiers, and, more particularly, to means for improving the common mode (CMR) and power supply (PSR) rejection characteristics of such amplifiers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Operational amplifiers typically include an input stage built around a differential transistor pair biased with a tail current. The tail current, as well as other input stage bias currents, are typically provided with respective transistors, each of which is controlled with a drive voltage provided by a bias generator circuit.
However, the output impedances of the bias current transistors may not be particularly high. As such, variations in the amplifier's supply voltage and in the input common-mode voltage can cause the bias currents to vary, which serves to degrade the amplifier's CMR and PSR characteristics.
One method by which CMR and PSR can be improved is by connecting a cascode transistor or an output impedance boost amplifier in series with the bias current transistors; cascode transistors can also be added within the bias generator and/or the input stage. However, these added components require additional headroom, thereby increasing the amplifier's minimum supply voltage.
Many other biasing methods are known; several are described, for example, in “Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits”; Gray and Meyer, 3rd ed., pp. 310-311, 322-333, 422. However, most of these methods also exhibit less than ideal CMR/PSR characteristics, or require a considerable amount of headroom. | {
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When turbine-powered aircraft land, the wheel brakes and the imposed aerodynamic drag loads (e.g., flaps, spoilers, etc.) of the aircraft may not be sufficient to achieve the desired stopping distance, therefore, most turbine-powered aircraft include thrust reversers. Turbine-powered aircraft typically include aircraft powered by turbofan engines, turbojet engines, or the like. Thrust reversers enhance the stopping power of these aircraft by redirecting the turbine engine exhaust airflow in order to generate reverse thrust. When stowed, the thrust reverser typically forms a portion the engine nacelle and forward thrust nozzle. When deployed, the thrust reverser typically redirects at least a portion of the airflow (from the fan and/or engine exhaust) forward and radially outward, to help decelerate the aircraft.
Various thrust reverser designs are commonly known, and the particular design utilized depends, at least in part, on the engine manufacturer, the engine configuration, and the propulsion technology being used. Thrust reverser designs used most prominently with turbofan engines fall into two general categories: (1) fan flow thrust reversers, and (2) mixed flow thrust reversers. Fan flow thrust reversers are typically positioned circumferentially around the engine core and affect only the bypass airflow discharged from the engine fan. Whereas, mixed flow thrust reversers typically reside aft of the engine core and affect both the fan bypass airflow and the airflow discharged from the engine core (core airflow).
Typically, deployment of the thrust reverser means translating aft one or more sleeves or cowls (“transcowls”) thereby creating a circumferential aperture and exposing a plurality of rows and columns of cascade vanes disposed therein. Some thrust reversers use a blocking mechanism, such as two or more pivoting doors that simultaneously rotate, blocking the forward thrust flow path as the transcowl translates aft. The blocking mechanism redirects engine airflow, generally forcing it to discharge through the aforementioned plurality of cascade vanes disposed within the aperture. Redirecting the engine airflow in this manner causes the engine and thrust reverser to produce a net force in a direction substantially parallel with the thrust reverser centerline, and substantially opposite the direction of aircraft velocity, in order to decelerate the aircraft. Thrust produced in this manner is generally referred to as “reverse thrust”.
While the above described thrust reversers produce a reverse thrust that is desirable for decelerating the aircraft, these thrust reversers can also cause an undesirable nose-up pitch moment to be generated. This pitch moment occurs due to the vertical separation between the thrust reverser centerline and the aircraft center of gravity. This pitch moment can be particularly severe on aircraft with engines mounted relatively high on the fuselage or empennage. This pitch moment is undesirable because it reduces the effectiveness of the nose wheel steering, and can thereby reduce the ability of the pilot to control the aircraft. In some instances, the nose-up pitch moment may even lift the nose gear off the ground. To avoid these hazards, the reverse thrust may have to be limited, but this reduces the benefit of using thrust reversers.
Hence, there is a need for a thrust reverser system that is capable of reducing or eliminating this nose-up pitch moment. The desirable thrust reverser system employs asymmetric vane geometry that, in addition to producing reverse thrust, also produces a vertical thrust component that induces a nose-down pitch moment on the aircraft. The desirable thrust reverser also minimizes weight and material cost by employing a single row asymmetric vane geometry. | {
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The present invention relates to a lens that is capable of correcting chromatic aberration by itself. Also, the present invention relates to a device for correcting the chromatic aberration inherent in optical system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a chromatic aberration correcting device that is intended for use in combination with a single aspheric lens that is corrected for aberrations other than chromatic ones.
The use of a single objective lens having an aspheric surface on both sides has expanded these days in the art of optical disks and one of the principal reasons for this use is its contribution to weight reduction. However, the single lens in conventional use has been incapable of effective correction of chromatic aberration. A laser diode which is used as a light source for optical disks has the disadvantage that its emission wavelength is shifted on account of the change either in the output power of the laser or in the temperature. Hence, if the objective lens is not corrected for chromatic aberration, the focusing position of light rays will change in response to the shift in wavelength and this can cause errors when reading or writing information.
To solve this problem, the present inventors previously proposed chromatic aberration correcting devices that had two or three glass lens elements cemented together (see Japanese Patent Public Disclosure Nos. Hei 3-155514 and 3-155515). By combining either one of these chromatic correcting devices with a single aspheric lens, one could offer a lens system that was immune to the effect of wavelength variations, requiring less lens elements than the conventional system that is effectively corrected for chromatic aberration.
However, the techniques proposed in the two patents cited above suffer from the disadvantage that in order to correct chromatic aberration, it is necessary to provide a device that is not directly concerned with the focusing action inherent in the objective lens. Therefore, optical system that is properly corrected for chromatic aberration weighs more and requires more parts than optical system that is not corrected.
The conventional chromatic aberration correcting device has had the problem that its manufacturing cost is so high as to cancel the advantage of lower cost that results from the use of a single aspheric lens, whereby the net benefit is reduced to nil.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has as an object providing a lens that utilizes diffraction effect so as to correct chromatic aberration effectively without unduly increasing the number of lens elements.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has as an object providing a chromatic aberration correcting device that can be manufactured at a lower cost than devices that consist of two or three glass plates cemented together. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device which is designed considering testability. The present invention also relates to a test method for testing such a semiconductor integrated circuit device.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the structure of a conventional semiconductor integrated circuit device which is designed while taking testability into account. As shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor integrated circuit 2 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1. The semiconductor integrated circuit 2 comprises in its peripheral edge portion electrode pads 4 anti test electrode pads 5, the electrode pads 4 being external terminals for regular use and the test electrode pads 5 being external terminals only for test use. Surrounded by the electrode pads 4 and 5 is an electrical circuit part 3. The electrical circuit part 3 includes, in addition to regular circuit parts, a test circuit part for executing a testability-considered test such as the adhock method and the scan path method. The test electrode pads 5 are electrically connected to input/output parts of the test circuit part.
Operation of the electrical circuit part 3 of the semiconductor integrated circuit 2 is tested in the following manner. First, the electrode pads 4 and the test electrodes pads 5 are supplied with a predetermined test signal. Next, it is judged whether output signals from the electrode pads 4 and the test electrodes pads 5 each have an expected value.
Since the semiconductor integrated circuit 2 comprises the test electrode pads 5 and the test circuit part which is incorporated in the electrical circuit part 3, the test is superior regarding rationality and reduction in required time for a test of a semiconductor integrated circuit device which does not employ the test electrode pads 5 and the test circuit.
Thus, in general, the conventional testability-considered device as above includes the test circuit part which is designed for testability and the test electrode pads which are electrically connected to the test circuit part.
Among testability-considered test methods in light of which the test circuit part is designed are the adhock method and the scan path method. While proposed as a testability-considered test method, these methods require in order to ensure good testability a test circuit part that is complex in structure, and hence, difficult to design.
If improvement in testability is desired aiming at test time reduction, the test circuit part needs to be large, which in turn requires a greater number of the test electrode pads 5. This invites increase in the circuit area of the semiconductor integrated circuit 2, thereby increasing up the net manufacturing cost.
A semiconductor integrated circuit device enhanced in testability further requires a larger and more expensive test apparatus for testing the same. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A saddle tee is a device that is used to branch a conduit off of a main line. In other words, a saddle tee enables a secondary line to be connected to a main line. A conventional saddle tee includes a main unit that is placed around the main line and a piercing mechanism that is driven into the main line surrounded by the main unit.
Unfortunately, conventional saddle tees suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, driving the piercing mechanism into the main line can be time consuming and tiring. Further, securing the main unit around the main line can be time consuming and often requires a user to clear a significant amount of space around the main line in order to properly access the main line. Also, when fluid pressure enters the piercing mechanism, the piercing mechanism can become loose, potentially creating leaks or even dislodging the piercing mechanism from the main line.
Accordingly, an improved saddle tee that resolves one or more of the limitations discussed above is desirable. The saddle tee disclosed herein resolves one or more of these concerns. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to image processing technologies and, more particularly, to a system and method of processing or synthesizing images using neural networks that may be generated and selectively mutated under user control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image processing systems using computers are known in the art. Many sophisticated techniques may be employed to create image processing elements, or "brushes", that transform a source image according to specified parameters. In addition, image synthesis elements, also known as "brushes", may be employed to create interesting images without the need for a source image. In general, "brushes" may be defined as global or localized image processing or image synthesis elements.
Existing image processing systems may present a large variety of options to the user for generating and processing images. These options typically involve selection of a large number of brush parameters and algorithms for controlling the effect, behavior, creation, and destruction of brushes. The interaction among these various parameters and algorithms yields an astronomical number of combinations. It is often difficult for the user to explore the possibilities and generate the desired end product without a deep understanding of the brushes' operation and interaction. Thus, the very flexibility which makes such systems powerful can prevent effective use by ordinary users. What is needed is a system that allows a user to browse through the various possibilities, getting incrementally closer and closer to the desired effect or image, until the user is satisfied with the result.
Furthermore, existing systems generally do not retain or employ any knowledge of the underlying structure of the source image. If the source image depicts a tree in front of a house, an existing system does not employ any information regarding the identities of or the relationship between the tree and the house (e.g., that the tree is a certain distance in front of the house, that the tree is figure and the house is ground, or that the two objects are at different "depths" in the image). | {
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The present invention relates to a developing electrode for use in developing an electrostatic latent image.
The electrostatic latent image is usually formed by utilizing an electronic photographic method or by applying pulses of high voltage level to a stylus electrode provided adjacent to the surface of a dielectric layer.
Various kinds of methods for developing electrostatic latent images are well known in the art, such as for example, the cascade method, the magnetic brush method, the powder cloud method and the liquid developer method.
Recently, the developing electrode has become practical in the developing methods set forth above in order to obtain a clean copy.
The electrostatic latent image is formed on a photo-conductive insulator mounted on a conductive substrate or the image is formed on a surface of a dielectric layer. When the image has a large area, voltage contrast at the central area of the latent image becomes lower as compared to the peripheral area of the image, since the peripheral area has the boundary area between a charged area and an uncharged area but the central area of the image does not have such a boundary area. Therefore, an electric field is formed inward of the photo-conductive insulator or the dielectric layer but the electric lines of force are only slightly at the outside near the central area of the image. When the development operation is carried out under these conditions, a large amount of the developer is deposited onto the peripheral area but the developer is only scarcely deposited onto the central area of the image. This effect is referred to as the edge development effects, which is well known in the art.
The electric lines of force created from the central area of the latent image may be changed by installing a developing electrode made of conductive material such as metal in a manner so as to adjoin the latent image, thereby intensifying the electric field formed between the developing electrode and the latent image. The electric field is greatly intensified as the distance between the developing electrode and the latent image is made shorter.
The developing electrode must be provided close to the path of the photosensitive paper or the surface of the dram in the developing section, but the electrode must be installed in a manner not to disturb the replenishment of the developer including toner at a proper concentration onto the surface of the photosensitive paper or the dram. The developing electrode of the prior art tended to disturb the replenishment of the developer onto the surface of the photosensitive paper or the dram when the developing electrode is disposed close to the path of the photosensitive paper or the surface of the dram, since the developing electrode of the prior art is made of a metal plate of a flat configuration or a curved configuration. Therefore, the developing electrode of the prior art must be disposed in a manner so as to provide an appropriate distance between the developing electrode and the surface of the photosensitive paper or the dram. However, when the distance between the developing electrode and the surface of the photosensitve paper or the dram is increased, the electric field intensifying effect may be weaken. There has been some suggested solutions such as to make the developing electrode of a material in order to eliminate the above-mentioned defects. When a mesh electrode is used for the developing electrode, the replenishment of the developer may be smoothly accomplished, but the mesh electrode can not be positioned close to the path of the photosensitive paper or the surface of the dram at all times, since the mesh is so soft. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A storage system storing logical volume data in a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) 6 configuration stripes the volume data across corresponding physical regions on two or more data storage devices, and stores two parity values to corresponding physical regions on two parity storage devices. As a result of mathematical calculations (e.g., Reed Solomon encoding calculations), storage devices arranged in a RAID 6 configuration have an ability to recover from a failure of any two of the storage devices.
An additional feature of RAID 6 is an ability, while processing a write operation, to recalculate the two parity values without retrieving all the corresponding physical regions on the data storage devices. For example, while processing a request to write new data to a given one of the storage devices, the two parity values can be calculated using the new data, existing data currently stored on given one of the storage device that is to be replaced with the new data, and two existing current parity values currently stored on the parity storage devices. Therefore, to process a request to write data to a given data storage device in a RAID 6 8+2 configuration, the two parity values can be calculated with data obtained via three read operations.
Documents incorporated by reference in the present patent application are to be considered an integral part of the application except that to the extent any terms are defined in these incorporated documents in a manner that conflicts with the definitions made explicitly or implicitly in the present specification, only the definitions in the present specification should be considered.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a power supply circuit which intermittently produces a DC power source voltage by periodically switching a switching element and smoothing the thus produced voltage, thereby obtaining a DC voltage of a predetermined level.
There are two types of DC-DC converters, namely, the self oscillation type and the separate excitation type. The self oscillation type has a simple construction but an obtained voltage does not show satisfying stability. The separate excitation type shows a stable operation but a control circuit thereof is complicated.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel DC power supply circuit.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a DC power supply circuit which has the advantages of the self oscillation type and the separate excitation type.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
To achieve the above objects, pursuant to an embodiment of the present invention, a switching system is employed wherein the self oscillation type operation is conducted at the start of circuit operation, and, thereafter, the separate excitation type operation is conducted to stabilize the output voltage.
In a preferred form, a switching transistor is driven, at the start of the circuit operation, in the self oscillation mode. An output voltage level is compared with a preselected reference level so that an ON period of the switching transistor is shortened when the output voltage level is higher than the preselected reference level, and the ON period of the switching transistor is lengthened when the output voltage level is lower than the preselected reference level. Therefore, the output voltage level is stabilized and the ripple is minimized. Moreover, the circuit construction is simplified as compared with the conventional separate excitation type circuit. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to log transmission control of an image forming apparatus connected to a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system for transmitting various logs stored inside an image forming apparatus to a log collection server and promptly checking the logs by accessing the log collection server from a remote place has recently been developed.
Herein, the log is, for example, an image log dealt with by a system such as a security monitoring system, and a sequence log for detecting a problem of a device. These logs are managed on the log collection server.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-253025 discusses a system in which a certain elapsed-time log (e.g., 30-day-old log) is deleted since a hard disk on a server has a capacity limit.
Development of such a system is expected to advance further over the next years.
However, there are cases where a large amount of sequence logs are generated within a short time (within a few days), for example, due to abnormality of an image forming apparatus. In such a case, if logs are continuously transmitted to a log collection server, a hard disk capacity of the log collection server is compressed. (In other words, deletion of a certain elapsed-time log may not be enough for its recovery.)
Moreover, there are cases where data in the log collection server needs to be deleted when a volume of log data stored in the log collection server reaches a certain size. In such a case, there is a possibility that an important log may be deleted simultaneously. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In recent years, the physical capacity of storage has been increasing due to refinement and densification; however, error rates have been increasing with the increase in capacity, and the lifespan of storage is becoming shorter. In order to compensate for this, for example, it is necessary to take countermeasures such as error correction and redundancy, and it is becoming difficult to increase the capacity that can actually be used.
Furthermore, in conventional storage, when reading or writing, it is not possible to know what kinds of data are going to be read or written and to what extent these are going to be read or written, and it is therefore necessary to take the worst values for all cases into consideration in the design concerning performance and quality assurance and so forth.
Furthermore, a technology has also been proposed that uses both the two systems of the MLC system and the SLC system as systems for recording data, and also changes the recording system in accordance with the type of recording data, such as whether or not the recording data is file system data (for example, see Patent Document 1). An SLC (single-level cell) is a system for recording 1 bit of data in one cell, and an MLC (multi-level cell) is a system for recording a plurality of bits of data in one cell. In this case, the SLC system is employed in portions having a high update frequency such as the FAT. Thus, it is possible to realize an increase in recording capacity, and to prolong the memory lifespan.
In addition, mixing storage devices that have a low power consumption but also have a low write performance and a short device lifespan, suitably controlling those plurality of storage hierarchies, allocating the storage hierarchies corresponding to a policy designated with respect to the attributes and volume of data, and thereby realizing storage having low power consumption and little decline in performance has also been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 2). In this technology, parameters that affect lifespan, such as the number of times writing is performed to a device and the number of times erasing is performed, and the power consumption in devices are managed, and the transition between the storage hierarchies is suitably controlled. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally directed to the field of ophthalmic vision correction, and more specifically to a method, a readable medium, and a system related to determining the optical zone associated with higher-order aberration correction provided by a custom contact lens, a custom IOL, a corneal inlay, or refractive laser surgery.
2. Description of Related Art
Until about the beginning of the last decade, vision correction consisted of approximately determining the lower order aberrations of a person""s eyes, namely defocus, cylinder (astigmatism) and the cylinder axis, and prescribing spectacle or contact lenses to approximately correct these aberrations.
More recently, however, the application of wavefront sensor technology (aberrometers) to the field of ophthalmic vision correction has allowed practitioners to accurately measure the higher-order aberrations of optical systems such as the eye. These higher-order aberrations include secondary astigmatism, spherical aberration, coma, trefoil; and others known to those skilled in the art. Moreover, advances in lens design and manufacturing, and laser vision correction methods and apparatus, have made it possible to correct certain of the higher-order aberrations with customized contact lenses, custom IOLs, and photoablative refractive surgery. In many patients, the theoretical limit of visual acuity, 20/8, has been achieved.
When measuring the ocular aberrations of a patient""s eye with an aberrometer or like instrument, the diameter of the measured zone is limited by the smaller of either the instrument""s aperture or the patient s pupil. In either case, the diameter of the measured zone is very likely to be smaller than the diameter of the optic zone of a contact lens, typically 7-8 mm, or the diameter of a photorefractive ablation zone, typically 5-6 mm, excluding the blend zone. Since many of the higher-order aberrations depend upon the size of the aperture that the light passes through (i.e., a person""s pupil), referred to hereinafter as the xe2x80x9coptical zone,xe2x80x9d it is important to know the identity and magnitude of the aberrations over the full optical zone in order to properly correct them with lenses, surgery, or otherwise. The current method for increasing pupil size is to use mydriatic drugs, like 2.5% phenylephrine hydrochloride, which dilate the pupil beyond its natural maximum size. This is undesirable for measuring ocular aberrations because pupil dilation is linked to accommodative mechanisms. Thus, when the pupil is artificially dilated, the crystalline lens may have an unnatural shape and may be decentered and tilted in ways different than during natural viewing. In addition, the pupil itself may be decentered when artificially dilated. This may alter the aberration contribution of the crystalline lens, and the total wavefront aberration may have errors. Cycloplegic drugs, like 1% tropicamide, which paralyze the ocular cilliary muscles may also be used. These drugs are even less desirable because they directly affect the shape of the crystalline lens.
The wavefront aberration over the measured zone is commonly described by Zernike polynomials with a normalization radius set to the half-diameter of the measured zone. Extrapolation of Zernike polynomials beyond their normalization radius is undesirable because Zernike polynomials behave wildly outside their normalization radius. Another possibility is to refit the data with Zemike polynomials having a normalization radius of 4 mm (i.e. 8 mm diameter). Although the Zernike polynomials will be better behaved, there is no reason to believe that the data created between the edges of the measured and optical zone is appropriate. Similar problems are encountered when extrapolation of other types of polynomial expressions are used to describing higher-order aberrations outside of the measurement zone.
In view of these shortcomings, the inventor has recognized a need for the ability to accurately and simply describes the optical aberrations beyond the typically measured zone, and extending over the optical zone of a contact lens or the patient""s eye.
The invention broadly relates to methods and apparatus allowing a simple and accurate determination of higher-order aberrations of an optical clement over an optical zone that is larger than the limited measured zone over which the aberrations typically are measured.
An embodiment of the invention is directed to a machine readable medium that includes an executable instruction directing a suitable machine or device to produce an aberration correcting surface on an optical element. For a custom surface (i.e., non-rotationally symmetric), the instruction directs the making of a meridional shape profile on the optical surface which fits a monotonic function to the aberration data that either increases or decreases smoothly and consistently with increasing radius to a peripheral limit of an optical zone that is larger than a peripheral limit of a measured zone of an optical aberration of the optical element, and extrapolating the aberration data over the optical zone of the element. Most preferably, the function is a conic. In one preferred aspect, the device is a laser suitable for ablating the optical surface of what will typically be a customized contact lens or other ophthalmic lens surface like an IOL or corneal inlay, for example, or a corneal surface. In another preferred aspect, the machine is a numerically controlled lathe such as, e.g, an Optoform 50/Variform(copyright) lathe (Precitech, Keene, N.H., USA). In a preferred aspect, the instruction directs the production of a corrective surface by fitting between 24 and 384 separate and independent, uniformly spaced conic functions to determine the full optical surface.
In a related embodiment, a system for making a corrective surface on an optical element includes a device cooperatively engageable with an optical element having a surface intended to be altered to provide an optical aberration correction, preferably a higher-order correction. The device is suitable for altering the surface of the optical element upon an executable instruction and, as such, can receive a readable medium including an executable instruction. The system alternatively includes a control system operatively associated with the device and adapted to receive a readable medium including an executable instruction, and to provide the instruction to the device for execution, and the medium itself The instruction directs the device to produce a meridional shape profile on the optical surface that fits a monotonic function to the aberration data that either increases or decreases smoothly and consistently with increasing radius to a peripheral limit of an optical zone that is larger than a peripheral limit of a measured zone of an optical aberration of the optical element, and extrapolating the aberration data over the optical zone of the element.
In another embodiment, a method for determining (which term includes designing, designating, specifying, or otherwise describing) a corrective optical surface for an optical element over an optical zone having a radius that is greater than that of a measured zone over which an optical aberration of the element has been measured, includes making a higher-order aberration measurement, fitting the aberration data to a function that either increases or decreases smoothly and consistently, and extrapolating the aberration data over the optical zone of the optical surface. In a preferred aspect, the function is a conic. More preferably, between 24 and 384 separate and independent conic functions spaced every 15 degrees to four degrees, respectively, are fit to the measured aberration data to accurately describe the total corrected optical surface.
These and other advantages and objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description of certain embodiments to follow. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art based upon the description and drawings herein and the appended claims. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In recent years, automatic drip coffee makers have become very popular and common in the marketplace. Many of these machines have activation switches, so that the flow of coffee occurs only when a carafe is in place in the machine. These activation elements are usually positioned, so that some portion of the carafe, or more usually the lid of the carafe, comes into contact with the activation element, and, thus activates the machine to permit the flow of coffee.
One of the problems in the prior art is that there is no standardization of the coffee makers and of the activation elements. Accordingly, from machine to machine, the activation element may be in a different location. As a result, carafes generally require different sized lids and/or bodies for each machine. For example, a replacement carafe and lid for a Braun coffee maker may not work with a Mister Coffee maker, because the carafe and lid will not be in the right position to activate the activation switch of the Mister Coffee coffee maker.
In the current market, it is necessary to buy a separate carafe for each different coffee maker. This is due to the fact that each machine has the activation element at a different location. There is no universal carafe in the marketplace, which can be used in any coffee maker of any design. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A notebook personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as “note PC”) includes a main unit having a keyboard on its upper surface and heat-generating electronic components such as a CPU inside. The main unit is devised in various ways to radiate heat, including providing therein a fan to radiate heat from the heat-generating electronic components.
When a structure, which includes a fan on a second surface of a circuit board having a heat-generating electronic component mounted on a first surface, needs to be employed in consideration of component arrangements, a problem arises how heat from the heat-generating electronic component is efficiently radiated.
Herein, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-142574 discloses a structure in which a radiation plate is provided on a back surface of a keyboard and the radiation plate is brought into contact with a heat-generating electronic component. In the above-described publication, a fan is further provided to exhaust air in the inside to outside. However, the fan exhausts air which flows along a second surface of the circuit board to the outside. The second surface is a backside of a first surface on which a heat-generating electronic component is mounted. Therefore, there is a problem that radiation efficiency is poor even though the fan is provided.
Moreover, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-307969 discloses a structure in which heat-generating electronic components are mounted on a chassis for heat radiation in place of being mounted on a circuit board. However, when the heat-generating electronic components are provided separately from the circuit board, wiring is very troublesome and assembly becomes very complicated.
Further, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-28193 discloses a structure in which a hole is formed in a circuit board and air, which is heated by a heat-generating electronic component mounted on a first surface of the circuit board, is passed through the hole, and is guided to a second surface side to be exhausted by a fan. According to this structure, the air heated on the first surface side can be guided to the second surface side and efficiency of heat radiation by the fan can be improved to some degree. However, a problem arises how the air is made to smoothly flow in the hole.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-283159 discloses a structure in which a cable is wired by using a groove formed in a chassis, but this has no relation to heat radiation of heat-generating electronic components. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to a method of cleaning interior portions of firearms, such as chambers and barrels, and exterior portions, specifically the face of the cylinder. More particularly, it relates to a method for removing lead and carbon deposits from the barrels, chambers, and cylinder face of firearms.
When firearms, such as pistols, rifles and other small arms, are fired, there are frequently deposited within the chambers and barrels thereof minute amounts of lead and carbon. Over a period of time, such carbon and lead deposits build up to the extent that the efficiency and utility of the weapon is significantly decreased and it becomes necessary to remove said carbon and lead deposits. The proper cleaning of firearms is an important factor in keeping them accurate and dependable.
The standard current method is as follows: attach a clean cotton patch dipped in nitro solvent to a cleaning rod. The rod is run back and forth through the barrel (bore) and the cylinders, replacing the patch frequently so as not to transfer the residue from one part of the weapon to another. Next a brass brush of the same calibre as the weapon is attached to the cleaning rod and scrubbed vigorously through the barrel (bore) and the cylinders. This operation is meant to remove the lead and residue build-up from the spent cartridges. The brush recommended for this use is of the same diameter as the bore itself, thus requiring an oversized brush if all of the lead is to be removed. Then, additional clean cotton patches are run through the barrel (bore). This same procedure is to be used in each cylinder of a revolver. A protective oil is then applied. This multi-step method is time-consuming and there is a tendency among firearms users to perform this task somewhat less frequently than would be desirable.
The face of the cylinder on a revolver collects the lead splash-back along with powder burns, thus making this a very difficult area to clean. The amount of lead build-up here will determine what tools and method should be used. If the build-up is heavy, some scraping with a sharp instrument can be used to take off the bulk of the lead, prior to employing the above-described method. In so doing, care should be taken not to mar the finish of the weapon. As previously stated, this is a messy and time consuming operation. Typically, an hour spent on a weapon will not leave it completely lead free.
It is an object of this invention to provide a simpler means for cleaning the interior portions of firearms, a method which involves fewer steps and is less time-consuming. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Throughout this application, various publications are referenced by author and date. Full citations for these publications may be found listed alphabetically at the end of the specification immediately preceding Sequence Listing and the claims. The disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art as known to those skilled therein as of the date of the invention described and claimed herein. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Any electrical circuit that uses a transistor as an amplifier needs to bias the transistor at some operating point so that the device is in the active region. The current through the device or the voltage applied to the transistor device will determine this operating or bias point. Over temperature, the bias point also needs to be maintained by a stable bias voltage, so that the design characteristics will also remain within the specified design limits. For example, a stable oscillator bias circuit is necessary to provide a constant or regulated oscillator voltage output over temperature.
Conventional biasing circuits employing only bipolar transistors to generate a relatively temperature stable bias voltage for a bipolar amplifier are generally well known in the prior art. Nevertheless, because the voltage of V.sub.BE across the base-emitter junction of a bipolar transistor has a negative temperature coefficient, other voltages derived from this voltage inevitably will also have the same negative characteristic. Hence, the output voltage of the amplifier such as in an oscillator or voltage generator will still be varied over temperature. To combat the varying output voltages, more complicated methods such as bandgap voltage reference and zener circuits have been utilized. However, the method utilizing the zener breakdown voltage of a PN junction as a reference is limited in accuracy to its positive temperature coefficient.
A more accurate reference voltage may be achieved by using the bandgap voltage reference circuits to provide a regulated output in a bipolar implementation. However, due to higher density and lower power consumption, MOS is the technology of choice in today's integrated circuits (IC). However, MOS circuits have the inherent problem of being unable to provide a precise control of outputs. In addition, the threshold voltage V.sub.T of a P-MOS transistor, which is the equivalent of V.sub.BE in bipolar technology, has a positive temperature coefficient from which to derive voltages. (Likewise, an N-MOS transistor has a negative temperature coefficient.) Accordingly, the output voltage in MOS circuits can change drastically due to temperature or process variations.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a merged or composite bipolar/MOS circuit which combines the advantages of bipolar and MOS technologies together. Hence, bandgap voltage reference circuits have been accomplished using both bipolar and MOS circuits. The major defects of these prior art circuits are that complicated circuits are often required and which in turn require a larger area to implement the circuit in an integrated device.
Therefore, it is a desire to merge or arrange bipolar transistors and MOSFET transistors in a common semi-conductor substrate in order to form a simple integrated circuit which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost but yet provides a much improved constant output performance over temperature. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Machines such as wheel loaders, excavators, dozers, motor graders, and other types of heavy equipment use multiple actuators supplied with hydraulic fluid from one or more pumps on the machine to accomplish a variety of tasks. These actuators are typically velocity controlled based on, among other things, an actuation position of an operator interface device. For example, when the operator of a wheel loader pulls a joystick controller backward or pushes the joystick controller forward, one or more lift cylinders mounted on the wheel loader either extend to lift a work tool of the machine away from a ground surface or retract to lower the work tool back toward the ground surface at speeds related to the fore/aft displacement positions of the joystick controller. Similarly, when the operator pushes the same or another joystick controller to the left or right, tilt cylinders mounted on the wheel loader either extend to tilt the work tool downward toward the ground surface or retract to tilt the work tool backward away from the work surface at speeds related to the left/right displacement positions of the joystick controller.
In some machine configurations, when a work tool is lifted away from or lowered toward the ground surface, a tilt angle of the work tool relative to the ground surface naturally changes (e.g., the work tool may tilt backward toward a cab of the machine during lifting, and tilt downward toward the ground surface during lowering) due to mechanical linkage connected to the work tool, even though tilting had not been requested by the operator. In this situation, it may be possible for material within the work tool to spill over an edge of the work tool, in some cases onto the machine and/or operator of the machine. Historically, the operator of the machine was responsible for simultaneously adjusting movement of the tilt cylinder during lifting to ensure that the tilt angle of the work tool remained at a desired angle (i.e., to counteract the naturally occurring tilt of the work tool caused by lifting). This dual-control manual procedure, however, can be difficult to control and error prone.
One attempt to automatically reduce the likelihood of material spilling from a machine's work tool during lifting is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,530,185 that issued to Trifunovic on May 12, 2009 (the '185 patent). In particular, the '185 patent describes an electronic parallel lift system for a backhoe loader. The electronic parallel lift system includes a controller that causes an angle of the backhoe's tool to be automatically adjusted based on measurement of the tool's angle relative to the backhoe's frame, regardless of any particular mechanical relationship between supporting tool linkage, the backhoe's boom, and the tool. The controller uses at least one sensor to detect the angle of the tool relative to the vehicle frame, and then responsively commands a tool actuator to adjust the tool position as a function of the measured angle during boom movement.
Although the system of the '185 patent may help to reduce the likelihood of material spillage during boom lifting, it may be less than optimal. In particular, because the system of the '185 patent adjusts tool angle in a responsive manner based on only angular measurements, the tool angle must first become an angle other than desired before the controller will respond to correct the angle. This type of operation could result in sluggish and inaccurate work tool movements.
The disclosed hydraulic system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless (e.g., cellular) communication systems, and more particularly, systems for providing access to emergency service providers.
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks require users to have subscriptions for services in order to be provided access to use the networks' resources. Additionally, in some wireless communication networks, poor interference mitigation and/or poor cell coverage may lead to failures in establishing or maintaining network connections.
In some wireless communication networks, a user may not have access to a wireless network or wireless device. As a result, the user may not be able to request or communicate with an emergency service provider. Thus, there remains an unmet need for improvements in providing access to emergency service providers are desired. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Identification cards have been the subject of considerable counterfeiting and it is highly desirable to provide one that it is difficult to counterfeit. Moreover, even an identification card which cannot be counterfeited, can be misused. For example, a person holding a valid passport or a valid permanent resident card, can send it to someone outside of the country who may use it for entry purposes, if the customs agent does not recognize that the user of the passport (or permanent resident card) is a different person from the person whose picture and/or signature appears on the passport. Therefore, it is desirable to have an identification card which indicates whether its last use was for ingress or egress to or from the country, and which gives other information intended to prevent misuse. My prior copending applications, referred to above were primarily addressed to the problem of providing an identification card that could not be counterfeited. The present invention is primarily directed to preventing misuse of that card although this invention also reduces the possibility of counterfeiting. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Hereinafter, a machine to machine communication environment in the present invention will be briefly described.
Machine to Machine (M2M) communication refers to communication between electronic devices in the literal sense of the word. In a broad sense, M2M communication means wired or wireless communication between electronic devices or communication between a human-controlled device and a machine. Recently, M2M communication has come to refer to wireless communication between electronic devices performed without human intervention.
In the early 1990s when the concept of M2M communication was first introduced, M2M communication was recognized as remote control, telematics, or so and a market derived therefrom was very limited. However, as M2M communication has rapidly developed in the past few years, a market for the same has vastly expanded, attracting worldwide attention. In particular, M2M communication has exerted an important influence on the field of fleet management in a Point Of Sales (POS) system and a security related application market, remote monitoring of machines or facilities, and smart meter for measuring operating time of mechanical construction equipment and automatically measuring consumption of heat or electricity. In the future, M2M communication will be extended to various applications in association with existing mobile communication, wireless high-speed Internet, and low-output communication solutions such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee. That is, M2M communication will evolve from Business to Business (B2B) markets to Business to Consumer (B2C) markets.
In the era of M2M communication, all machines equipped with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card can transmit and receive data so that the machines can be remotely managed and controlled. For example, M2M communication technology can be used for numerous machines and equipment such as automobiles, trucks, trains, containers, vending machines, gas tankers, etc. and the variety of applications thereof will continue to expand.
Conventionally, mobile stations were managed individually for one-to-one communication between a base station and a mobile station. On the assumption that numerous M2M devices communicate with the base station through one-to-one communication, network overload is likely to occur due to signaling generated between each of the M2M devices and the base station. As M2M communication rapidly spreads and expands as described above, an overhead problem may occur due to communication between the M2M devices or between the M2M devices and a base station.
In addition, as use of the M2M devices is activated, there is generated an environment in which general mobile stations and the M2M devices coexist. In a case in which the existing communication method is used without change, therefore, it may be necessary for the general mobile stations to decode all messages for the M2M devices.
In addition, in order to transmit multicast data for the M2M devices, the base station transmits a paging message to the M2M devices in a state of including an M2M group identifier and multicast related information in the paging message. In a case in which the M2M devices do not receive a MAP information element (IE) or an error occurs when a corresponding paging message is decoded, however, the M2M devices may not receive the multicast data.
In addition, in a case in which the M2M devices cannot receive a paging group identifier information message and/or a paging message due to change of a paging group to which the M2M devices belong, the M2M devices may not receive multicast data/unicast data. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates generally to the field of protective helmets, and in particular to a new and useful football helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,498 to Maddux et al. discloses a helmet with a rigid shell containing impact absorbing pads that are removably attached to the inner surface of the shell. The pads are made of spaced inner and outer sheets of TPU (thermoplastic urethane) each have a plurality of spaced apart and projecting hollow protrusions extending to the other sheet with the protrusions of one sheet alternating with the protrusions of the other sheet to form an impact absorbing pattern of alternating protrusions in the space between the sheets. From this reference it is known to use hook-and-loop fastening tape for connect the pads to the inner surface of the helmet shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,178 to Maddux et al. discloses a quick release, twist-off faceguard retainer for use with a protective headgear and faceguard. The headgear has a face opening and the faceguard has at least one substantially horizontal top bar. The retainer includes two complementary retention arms that form two complementary retention channels with one channel having a downward opening and the other having an upward opening. Each have an inner surface which together surround the top horizontal bar of the faceguard. A space between the two retention arms receives the top bar so that the faceguard can be twisted into place.
Published U.S. patent application US 2009/0106882 to Nimmons et al. discloses a helmet with unique shell configuration and faceguard assembly with unique attachments at the sides of the helmet shell for connecting the faceguard to the shell. As with conventional faceguards, the faceguard of this patent application has upper cross-bars that extend generally horizontally across the front of the helmet shell, just above the lower edge of the face opening of the shell.
Published U.S. patent application US 2011/0131695 to Maddux et al. discloses a protective jaw pad for a helmet shell that includes first and second resilient shock absorbing members. The first shock absorbing member includes a sheet with a plurality of hollow protrusions, tapering side walls of the protrusions being compressible for absorbing shocks applied to the shell and the second resilient shock absorbing member is either a monolithic block of foam or is made of a second sheet with a plurality of hollow protrusions that are interleaved with the first protrusion.
Published U.S. patent application US 2011/0214224 to Maddux et al. discloses a helmet with partial turn faceguard mounting for faceguard connecting loopstraps that engage around wire or bar segments of the faceguard to fasten the faceguard to the helmet shell.
A need remains for further advancements in the field of football helmet design. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for non-contact determination of run-out of a rotating body, and more particularly to an optical method and apparatus for determining the run-out of a rotating body, especially an automobile tire.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore known methods and apparatus to determine run-out, in particular radial run-out, of rotating bodies, e.g., automobile tires, has been accomplished by means of rollers applied against the tire and displacement transducers connected to the rollers. The mechanical radial run-out detected is transformed, e.g., by means of inductive displacement transducers, into a proportional electrical signal. That approach to run-out determination and measurement requires mechanical contact of the roller with the tire.
On the other hand, it is known to determine run-out of rubber-coated paper rolls via a reflection measuring technique. For that purpose the rubber-coated surface of the paper roll is exposed to radiation that emanates from a suitable radiation source and the radiation that is reflected by the rubber-coated surface is received and measured in a receiver. With rotating bodies that have circumferential surfaces that are grooved, or otherwise have an intentional surface roughness, such as, for example, automobile tires, it is possible to ascertain the quality of the sidewalls by using the reflection technique, but similar determination of radial run-out of such rotating bodies is difficult, particularly if the groove depth is larger than the radial run-out. With automobile tires the tread groove depth is about 8 mm and radial run-out is generally about 0.2 mm. Consequently the interfering signal obtained as a result of the grooves, or the surface roughness, would mask the run-out signal. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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While cold brewing, a technique that involves steeping coffee at cold temperatures for an extended period of time, is by no means a new technique, in recent years general knowledge of and demand for cold-brewed coffee, or cold brew, has increased dramatically. Presently, there are generally four conventional methods for cold brewing coffee.
The first method involves a filtration process utilizing a cheese cloth felt filter for holding coffee grinds, while water is passed through the filter to produce a cold brewed coffee. However, this filter is limited to producing small amounts of coffee and requires an extensive amount of cleaning to remove contaminants from the cloth filter.
The second conventional method is generically referred to as a “bucket system” which involves batch brewing within individual buckets. The primary disadvantage with his system is the significant lack of consistency from batch to batch.
The third method is generally carried out in coffee shops or cafes and involves use of a commercially available dripper machine. This method is limited is designed for brewing individual cups of coffee and is not well suited for large scale production.
The fourth conventional method utilizes equipment initially designed for brewing beer, but which has been adapted for cold brewing coffee. While this method is suitable for industrial scale cold brewing of coffee, the necessary equipment is very expensive and difficult to use.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an apparatus and method for cold brewing coffee that overcomes the above described drawbacks. Specifically, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for cold brewing coffee on a large scale that is inexpensive and easy to implement and use with high consistency of the finished brew, and that is also easy to clean. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mechanized power assisted apparatus for applying tanned hides on a smooth flat plate preparatory to drying in the course of leather manufacture.
Tanning of leather is an ancient art. From the earliest times, man has changed rough raw animal hides into supple wearable materials. This involves mechanical and chemical treatment of the hide to remove blood, lymph, adhering flesh, hair, etc. and enzymatic and bacterial action to render the hide soft and supple. These are wet treatments. The leather is commonly dyed and treated with oils and fats for lubrication, softness, strength and water-proofing. After dyeing and fat-liquoring, leather contains about 45 to 60 percent water and is commonly dried to about 14 percent moisture. Chemical and physical reactions take place during drying. Loose tannins, dyes and oils spread uniformly, penetrate deeply and are firmly fixed. Uneven drying causes migration of unfixed tannin, dye and oil to the surface, resulting in undesirable dark stains and non-uniform appearance.
A common industry technique of drying wet hides is so-called "paste drying." Hides are literally pasted by the grain side to large flat plates of adhesive coated glass, porcelain or metal, and then are passed through a tunnel dryer. After drying to the desired moisture content, the hide is stripped off yielding flat, smooth grain, large area leather sheets ready for finishing and fabrication into various leather goods. Alternatively, the wet hides may be vacuum dried after being similarly spread out on a flat smooth polished plate. Vacuum drying is faster but requires costly equipment.
Whether to be paste dried or vacuum dried, it is essential that the wet hide be in intimate contact with the smooth planar surface without any entrapped air bubbles. The wet hide is applied to the surface and manually smoothed by means of a squeegee-type slicker element. This is most commonly in the form of a flat edged blade which is manipulated over the surface of the wet hide from the center to the edge working out any entrapped air or water between the hide and plate surfaces. At the same time, the hide is stretched somewhat increasing its area. This is tough, arduous work requiring great strength and staying power. Typically, in the course of a day's work, fatigue sets in toward the end of the day and productivity is materially reduced. The principal objective of the present invention is to provide a mechanical power assisted apparatus to perform this back-breaking task, with its attendant advantages of lessened fatigue, higher productivity, and more uniform product.
2. The Prior Art
No prior art pertinent to the invention is known. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There has been known a conventional technique for limiting a function of a mobile phone by use of an acceleration sensor and an illuminance sensor which are included in the mobile phone. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for, in both a case where a dynamic acceleration generated in a mobile phone is greater than a predetermined value and a case where a brightness in an area surrounding the mobile phone has been decreased by much larger than a predetermined amount, providing, in a touch panel included in the mobile phone, a restricted region which restricts acceptance of a touch operation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In computer systems, computer component cards may be connected to a single base or carrier card that plugs into the computer bus or data path. The component cards may be stacked on the base or carrier card and are commonly referred to as mezzanine cards. Existing mezzanine cards may use conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) as the primary data bus interface to the base or carrier card. Examples of existing or legacy mezzanine cards include a Common Mezzanine Card (CMC), a PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC), a Processor PMC (PrPMC), and a Switched Mezzanine Card (XMC).
An Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) is a high-speed hot-swappable mezzanine card designed for, but not limited to, Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) carriers. The AMC standard is designed to enhance modularity and high-speed serial connectivity for ATCA and other platforms. AMC cards may use high speed interconnect standards such as PCI Express, which provides a high speed serial connection.
Although the industry may be moving toward the AMC standard, there remains widespread acceptance and use of non-AMC mezzanine cards. AMC is not backward compatible with mezzanine standards based on the CMC specification, and the differences between these types of mezzanine cards may present problems, for example, when adapting legacy mezzanine cards to ATCA carriers. To connect to an AMC connector on an ATCA carrier, for example, legacy mezzanine cards may need to be redesigned to provide the proper connectors and/or bridges.
Although the following detailed description will proceed with reference being made to particular illustrated embodiments, it should be understood that numerous variations and modifications will be apparent to those having skill in the art. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter should be interpreted broadly without limitation to the particular illustrated embodiments herein. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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According to a Jul. 29, 2009 press release by the Freedonia Group, a publisher of market research on various business industries, the $7.2 billion home organization products industry is continuously looking for apparatuses and method to reduce the cost for launching setups into homes. U.S. demand for home organization products will rise 4.3 percent annually through 2013. Bins, baskets and totes will remain the largest group while modular units grow the fastest. Garage units will overtake family room products as the second largest segment, with closet organizers also doing well; therefore, formulating alternatives that could make the savvy client happy might not be a bad idea. There is a need for a positive change regarding “dangles” in the organizing industry.
With crowded cities, and small apartments, many residences have a shortage of closet space for clothing. The lack of space for organizing clothing and other articles leads to overpacking of luggage for travel. This costs a lot of extra travel duties. Not having fully organized apparel, accessories and other articles also increases the time and burden of packing and hence of travelling.
In addition, many accessories and articles do not fit neatly into cubbies. Furthermore, traditional cubic-shaped organizers of folder clothing are not portable and occupy a lot of three-dimensional space in an apartment. They do not lend themselves to being positioned other than in specific places in a room. Furthermore, many prior art home organizers are expensive or complicated to install and in some case would require a contractor to physically install in the home. For example, large, complex dangle products are expensive to produce and install.
Another issue is that many consumers want their homes to have products in their homes to be ecologically friendly. One example of this is reduction of carbon emissions.
There have previous attempts in the prior art to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. For example, there is a multipositional apparatus for hanging things described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,238. However, this apparatus does not satisfy the objectives of the organizing industry. Besides not being ecologically friendly, since it is made of metal, this apparatus cannot be easily disassembled and is generally not able to be custom-tailored for different spaces. It also lacks versatility for the many categories of articles that need to be organized.
As can be seen, there is a compelling need for organizers that overcome the disadvantages of the prior art and are inexpensive, simple to manufacture, install and use, ecologically friendly, efficient in space-saving, and versatile in the number of articles they can handle for a given amount of space. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system that enables adjustment of positional misalignment of dot creation, an equivalent method of adjustment, and a recording medium.
2. Discussion of the Background
Ink jet printers that cause ink to be ejected from a print head and thereby implement printing have been widely used as an output device of the computer. The ink jet printer moves the print head back and forth relative to a printing medium during a main scan and ejects multiple color inks to create dots. Variable dot printers that are capable of expressing multiple densities with regard to each pixel, instead of just two stages, dot-on and dot-off, have recently been proposed. The multiple densities are attained, for example, by creating dots of different ink quantities.
In some of these ink jet printers, dots are created during both forward and backward movements in the main scanning direction for the purpose of enhancing the recording speed (hereinafter this recording process is referred to as bidirectional recording). In this case, it is required to make the positions of dots created in the forward pass coincident with the positions of dots created in the backward pass in the main scanning direction. A relative positional misalignment between dots created in the forward pass and dots created in the backward pass is attributable to a rough touch to a resulting printed image and deteriorates the picture quality of the resulting printed image. One proposed method to reduce such a positional misalignment utilizes a predetermined test pattern for the adjustment. The background art technique adjusts the creation timings of, for example, black dots in the forward pass and in the backward pass to reduce the positional misalignment of dots in the course of bidirectional recording.
This background art adjustment technique can not, however, sufficiently reduce the positional misalignment of dots in the variable dot printer that creates dots of different ink quantities. The flight characteristics of an ink droplet ejected from the print head depend upon the ink quantity. In some cases, even when the dot creation timing is adjusted for one of the variable dots, the adjustment of the dot creation timing may be insufficient for the other dots. The background art adjustment technique leaves some dots having an insufficiently corrected positional misalignment in the course of bidirectional recording. This causes deterioration of the picture quality in the case of bidirectional recording.
In the case of bidirectional recording, even a slight positional misalignment of dot creation often significantly affects the picture quality. For example, it is assumed that a print head moves left and right during a main scan and creates dots in the forward pass at positions deviated leftward from the expected positions. Because of the characteristic of the print head, dots are created in the backward pass at positions deviated rightward from the expected positions. The relative positional misalignment between the dots created in the forward pass and the dots created in the backward pass in the course of bidirectional recording is approximately twice the positional misalignment of dots created in only one of the forward pass and the backward pass. Namely, the presence of dots having insufficiently adjusted creating positions significantly deteriorates the picture quality in the case of bidirectional recording.
The printer is generally required to perform high-quality and high-speed printing. Bidirectional recording with a printing speed almost double that of unidirectional recording is desirable for the purpose of the high-speed printing. Due to the positional misalignment of dots discussed above, bidirectional recording produces a reduced picture quality and is thus used in a print mode that gives preference to printing speed over picture quality. With the recent advance of the printer for the higher resolution and a higher picture quality, an image tends to be printed by a greater number of passes of the main scan. Since unidirectional recording has a low printing speed, the enhanced printing speed of the bidirectional recording is highly demanded. The recent trend simultaneously requires an extremely high picture quality, even in the case of bidirectional recording. In the variable dot printer that enables a multi-value expression in each pixel for the improved picture quality, the deterioration of the picture quality due to the positional misalignment of dots in the course of bidirectional recording is of great significance.
The variable dot printer varies the quantity of ink ejected from an identical nozzle and enables dots of different ink quantities to be created in respective pixels. No technique has been proposed to adjust the positional misalignment of variable dots created by the identical nozzle. Further, different ink quantities generally result in different flight velocities of the ink droplets. There is accordingly a positional misalignment of dots having different ink quantities even when they are created by the identical nozzle.
The ink ejection timing is set in advance to prevent the positional misalignment by taking into account the differences in flight velocity. However, it is extremely difficult to completely cancel such a positional misalignment, since there is a variation in flight velocity of the ink droplet due to the variation in manufacturing error of the print head. The positional misalignment of dots is also ascribed to a variation in thickness of printing paper. In the case of thick printing paper, there is a smaller distance between the print head and the printing paper. This shortens the flight time of the ink droplet. In the case of thin printing paper, on the contrary, the ink droplet has a longer flight time. The ejection timings to form the ink droplets of different flight velocities at an identical position are set, based on the relation to the flight time. When the thickness of the printing paper is changed from the initial setting, there is a positional misalignment of ink droplets. Such a positional misalignment significantly damages the picture quality even in the case of creating dots only in one direction of the main scan. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to adapters for use with packaged devices or other adapter apparatus (e.g., male pin adapters).
Certain types of integrated circuit packages are becoming increasingly popular due to their occupancy area efficiency. In other words, they occupy less area on a target board on which they are mounted while providing a high density of contact terminals. For example, such high density package types may include a ball grid array, land grid array package, chip scale package, or wafer level package.
Generally, for example, ball grid array packages contain an integrated circuit having its die bond pads electrically connected to respective conductive solder spheres that are distributed on the bottom surface of the package in an array. A target printed circuit board typically has formed on its surface a corresponding array of conductive pads which align with the array of solder spheres for electrically mounting the ball grid array package on the target board.
The target board typically includes other conductive traces and elements which lead from the array of conductive pads used for mounting the ball grid array package to other circuitry on the board for connecting various components mounted thereon. Typically, to mount such a ball grid array package to a target board, the package is positioned with the array of solder spheres corresponding to the array of conductive pads on the target board. The resulting structure is then heated until the solder spheres are melted and fused to the conductive pads of the target board.
Such area efficient packaging (e.g., ball grid array packages) provide a high density of terminals at a very low cost. Also, this packaging provides for limited lead lengths. Limited lead lengths may reduce the risk of damage to such leads of the package, may provide for higher speed product, etc.
Circuit boards and/or components mounted thereon may be tested by designers as the circuit boards are being developed. For example, for a designer to test a circuit board and/or a ball grid array package mounted thereon, the designer must first electrically connect the solder spheres on the ball grid array package to the target circuit board. As described above, this generally includes mounting the ball grid array package on the target board and heating the solder spheres to fuse the solder spheres to the conductive pads of the target board. Therefore, the package may be prevented from being used again. It is desirable for various reasons to use package adapters for mounting the packages and reuse ball grid array packages after testing. For example, such ball grid array packages may be relatively expensive. Further, for example, once attached, the solder spheres are not accessible for testing. In addition, it is often difficult to rework the circuit board with packages soldered thereon.
Various adapters which have been described for electrically connecting high density packaged devices to a target printed circuit board are known. Various intercoupling components are used to provide such adapters. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,348 to Murphy, issued 28 Dec. 1999, entitled “Solder Sphere Terminal,” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,280 to Murphy, issued 4 Dec. 2001, entitled “Solder Sphere Terminal” describe several adapter apparatus for use in mounting ball grid array packages, as well as intercoupling components of other conventional adapter devices; in many instances such adapters have terminals (e.g., female socket pins) configured for receiving a mating terminal (e.g., female socket pins configured to receive male pins). For example, such female socket pins may be press-fit into openings formed in an insulative material so as to provide a contact for receiving a male pin. Further, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,874,880 to Fedde et al., issued 25 Jan. 2011, entitled “Adapter Apparatus with Sleeve Spring Contacts,” describes yet other alternative adapter apparatus for use in mounting ball grid array packages, as well as intercoupling components of other conventional adapter devices, such as for receiving a mating terminal (e.g., to receive male pins).
Conventional female pin contacts are generally constructed with use of a stamped clip which is formed in a circle with separate fingers which are pushed aside when a male pin is inserted. For example, such a clip is generally manufactured using a stamping or rolling process (e.g., with a material such as berylium copper alloy).
However, such clip manufacturing can be prohibitively costly due to the necessary tooling required when the sockets in which the female socket pins are used have a very small pitch (e.g., in the 0.5 millimeter range). Further, the tooling to form such female clips can be difficult to miniaturize because of the inherent inaccuracies of stamping very small parts. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains generally to engines and, more particularly, to a pulsed plasma engine and method of operating the same.
2. Related Art
A pulsed plasma engine is a type of internal explosion engine that is generally similar in principle to an internal combustion engine except that it uses non-combustible gases such as air, oxygen, nitrogen or inert gas(es) instead of the combustible gases which are used in internal combustion engines.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,076,950 discloses an internal explosion engine and generator which has a cylinder, a piston which divides the cylinder into a pair of chambers that vary in volume in an opposite manner as the piston travels back and forth within the cylinder, a charge of non-combustible gas sealed within each of the chambers, means for alternately igniting the non-combustible gas in the two chambers in an explosive manner to drive the piston back and forth, and means coupled to the piston for providing electrical energy in response to movement of the piston.
Other examples of internal explosion engines are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,670,494 and 4,428,193. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates in general to spray dryers, and more particularly, to a spray nozzle for atomizing and spraying a slurry of finely divided material into a spray drying chamber to be contacted with a hot drying gas therein.
Spray drying is well-known in the prior art and has been used for drying solutions or slurries of finely divided particulate material dissolved or suspended in a volatile carrier liquid, most commonly water. The slurry or solution to be processed is atomized and sprayed into a hot gas stream passing through the spray dryer. The volatile carrier liquid is evaporated, and the dissolved or suspended particulate material dried to a fine powder. Spray drying has for many years been used for drying and processing food products, pharmaceuticals, and many other powder products.
More recently, spray drying has been found to be an effective method for treating flue gases from fossil fuel-fired furnaces to remove gaseous pollutants, most commonly sulfur dioxide, therefrom. In such an application, a solution or slurry of sulfur oxide absorbent, such as lime, limestone, soda ash, or caustic soda, in water is atomized and sprayed into the spray drying chamber to contact hot flue gas from the furnace. As the water in the slurry or solution is evaporated by heat from the hot flue gas, the sulfur oxide absorbent reactant contained therein reacts with sulfur dioxides contained in the flue gas. The resultant product is a dry powder of sulfur-containing salt.
A typical spray dryer generally comprises a housing defining a spray drying chamber designed to provide the proper environment and residence time for efficient drying of the solution or slurry. The drying gas is typically introduced to the vessel through an inlet at the top thereof and an outlet near the bottom thereof. The solution or slurry of particulate material to be dried is sprayed into the vessel in a finely divided form through atomization means. The atomized solution or slurry is sprayed into the hot drying gas as it enters the spray drying chamber so as to intermix with the hot gas so that the volatile carrier liquid is evaporated and the dissolved or suspended particulate material reduced to a fine, dry powder.
One type of atomization means being used in spray drying applications is a sonic atomizing spray nozzle. In such a device, sound waves are generated by impinging a high-velocity stream of a gas, most commonly air traveling at substantially sonic speed, against a tuned cavity, termed a resonator cup, disposed at the outlet of the spray nozzle. Simultaneously, the liquid solution or slurry to be atomized is injected through a plurality of small orifices into the zones of sound waves generated by discharging the high-velocity gas into the resonator cup. The vibrations from the resonating sound waves possess considerable energy and as a result, atomize the liquid into very fine droplets.
One problem encountered in using such sonic spray nozzles to spray slurries into spray dryers, such as slurries of sulfur oxide absorbent particles in a carrier liquid such as water, is the tendency of the orifices through which the slurry is sprayed to become plugged by particles in the slurry. Another problem encountered is the uneven distribution of slurry spray in the spray dryer resulting from the fact that injecting the slurry through a plurality of orifices yields a series of discrete spray streams, one emanating from each orifice, rather than a continuous spray sheet. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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