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The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
An internal combustion engine generates power by burning fuel in a combustion chamber in an air media drawn into the chamber. Intake valves are operated by a camshaft in order to intake the air, and the air is drawn into the combustion chamber while the intake valves are open. In addition, exhaust valves are operated by the camshaft, and a combustion gas is exhausted from the combustion chamber while the exhaust valves are open.
Optimal operation of the intake valves and the exhaust valves depends on a rotation speed of the engine. That is, an optimal lift or optimal opening/closing timing of the valves depends on the rotation speed of the engine. In order to achieve such optimal valve operation depending on the rotation speed of the engine, various researches, such as designing of a plurality of cams and a continuous variable valve lift (CVVL) that can change valve lift according to engine speed, have been undertaken.
Also, in order to achieve such an optimal valve operation depending on the rotation speed of the engine, research has been undertaken on a continuously variable valve timing (CVVT) apparatus that enables different valve timing operations depending on the engine speed. The general CVVT may change valve timing with a fixed valve opening duration.
However, the general CVVL and CVVT are complicated in construction and are expensive in manufacturing cost.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. | {
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Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other forms of malicious code may propagate through the Internet and other networks. Malicious code may be embedded in media data, such as audio or video data. Such malicious code may cause buffer overruns, for example, resulting in a computer executing arbitrary, and potentially malicious, code. In addition, hidden messages may also be embedded in media data, such as audio or video data. | {
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I. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to can compacting and storage apparatus. More particularly, the present invention pertains to apparatus for crushing cans which minimize bulging and preserve the tops and bottoms of the cans substantially intact. Even more particularly, the present invention pertains to devices for crushing cans which minimize bulging, preserve the tops and bottoms of the cans substantially intact and which provide for efficient collection, stacking and storage thereof.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The disposal of cans has long been a subject of environmental concern. Numerous products, and particularly beverages, are sold in cans which generally comprise metal, formed from aluminum or alloys thereof. Such cans occupy a substantial volume, particularly in relation to their weight, and, therefore, are difficult to store efficiently.
A number of devices are known in the art of can disposal with which empty cans are crushed. However, while these known devices compact the volume of cans for storage, they do not significantly improve the manageability of the cans or provide means whereby the cans can be conveniently stacked or stored.
Moreover, in a number of regions, the tops or bottoms of cans display legends reciting information pertinent to the disposition thereof and, in some cases, to a deposit or other arrangement applicable thereto. In these regions it is necessary that the tops and bottoms of the cans be maintained substantially intact and readily accessible during storage to permit inspection and identification.
The compacting devices known in the prior art are ill suited to these requirements. Most can compressors known in the art crush the cans laterally, thereby crushing the top and bottom. Those known devices which crush cans vertically are impractical as they are adapted to crush only one can at a time and in that they do not provide for the maintainence and storage of the crushed cans.
Therefore, significant advantages would be achieved by providing a compacting system which permits a plurality of cans to be crushed simultaneously, preserving substantially intact, the tops and bottoms of the cans for identification purposes. Further benefits would be realized by providing a compacting system which provides for the maintainence and storage of the crushed cans.
III. Prior Art Statement
In the opinion of the applicant, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,563,379, 2,212,047, and 3,589,090 constitute the most relevant prior art of which the applicant is aware. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel polyester and a production process thereof. Specifically, it relates to a polyester having high heat resistance, low water absorbency, low optical anisotropy, and satisfactory formability (moldability), and to a production process of the polyester. The polyester is useful as, for example, an optical material, electronic information material and medical device material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intensive investigations have been made for the application of plastics to optical materials, electronic information materials and medical device materials. Such plastics for use as optical materials or electronic information materials must have low optical anisotropy in addition to high transparency, low water absorbency and high heat resistance. Likewise, plastics for use as medical device materials must have high compatibility with blood, high mechanical strength and sufficient resistance to hydrolysis.
Polymethyl methacrylates, polycarbonates and amorphous polyolefins are used as the optical materials. However, the polymethyl methacrylates have high hygroscopicity to cause deformation such as warpage and have insufficient heat resistance, although they have excellent transparency and low optical anisotropy. The polycarbonates are high in optical anisotropy, although they are excellent in heat resistance. The amorphous polyolefins are insufficient in formability (moldability) and adhesive property, although they are low in optical anisotropy and are excellent in heat resistance.
Separately, attempts have been made to use polyesters as optical materials or electronic information materials. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1-138225 discloses a polyester resin obtained by using a diol or dicarboxylic acid having an aromatic ring in a side chain. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2-38428 discloses a polyester copolymer obtained by using diphenyldicarboxylic acid as a dicarboxylic acid component. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-35665 discloses a polyester including a 2,2-norbornanedimethanol derivative, terephthalic acid, and other components. However, these resins do not always have high heat resistance, low water absorbency and satisfactory optical characteristics.
Polyesters each having an adamantane skeleton are also known. For example, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 46-34628 discloses a process for producing a linear polyester, in which a diol component containing adamantanediol is allowed to react with a dicarboxylic anhydride component containing an unsaturated carboxylic anhydride. However, the resulting resin obtained by this process is insufficient in heat resistance and transparency, although it can have stability against hydrolysis and against solvent by action of curing. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 50-21090 discloses a process for producing a polyester by polycondensation of a dihydroxyadamantane with an aromatic dicarboxylic acid. However, the resulting polyester does not always have sufficiently low water absorbency and excellent optical characteristics, although it has excellent formability.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel polyester that has high heat resistance, low water absorbency, satisfactory optical characteristics and excellent formability, and to provide a production process of the polyester.
After intensive investigations to achieve the above objects, the present inventors have found that a polyester resin having a specific structure has high heat resistance, low water absorbency, satisfactory optical characteristics and excellent formability (moldability). The present invention has been accomplished based on these findings.
Specifically, the present invention provides, in one aspect, a polyester that is a polycondensation product of a diol component (i) and a dicarboxylic acid component (ii). In the polyester, the diol component (i) includes a tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanediol represented by following Formula (1):
wherein n is 0 or a positive integer, and carbon atoms constituting a ring may each have a substituent; or the dicarboxylic acid component (ii) includes a tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanedicarboxylic acid represented by following Formula (2):
wherein m is 0 or a positive integer, and carbon atoms constituting a ring may each have a substituent.
The polyester includes, for example, a polyester obtained by polycondensation of the diol component (i) containing the tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanediol of Formula (1) and the dicarboxylic acid component (ii) containing the tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanedicarboxylic acid of Formula (2).
In another aspect, the present invention provides a process for producing a polyester. The process includes the step of subjecting a diol component (i) to polycondensation with a dicarboxylic acid component (ii) or a reactive derivative thereof, in which a diol component including the tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanediol of Formula (1) is used as the diol component (i), or a dicarboxylic acid component including the tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanedicarboxylic acid of Formula (2) is used as the dicarboxylic acid component (ii).
Preferably in this production process, a diol component containing the tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanediol of Formula (1) as the diol component (i) is subjected to polycondensation with a dicarboxylic acid component, or a reactive derivative thereof, including the tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanedicarboxylic acid of Formula (2) as the dicarboxylic acid component (ii).
As the diol component (i), a diol component containing a tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanediol represented by following Formula (1a):
wherein carbon atoms constituting a ring may each have a substituent, can be used. As the dicarboxylic acid component (ii), a dicarboxylic acid component containing a tricyclo[3.3.1.13,7]decanedicarboxylic acid represented by following Formula (2a):
wherein carbon atoms constituting a ring may each have a substituent, can be used.
The polyester of the present invention has a bulky alicyclic structure and has high heat resistance, low water absorbency, satisfactory optical characteristics, and excellent formability. Accordingly, the polyester is useful as a material for an optical disk, lens, optical connector, and other optical-electronic information devices, as well as a material for a transfusion solution kit, catheter, syringe, vacuum blood collecting tube, and other medical devices. | {
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With the improvement of people' living standard and the popularization and application of modern communication tools, there are more and more people owning both a mobile phone and a car. A mobile phone brings convenience to a driver's life, but also brings hidden trouble to the security of driving; talking on the mobile phone when driving distracts the driver, and then a traffic accident is very likely to occur in emergency; especially for a touch screen mobile phone with a large screen, it is even very difficult to reject a call. Thus, the Road Traffic Safe Law stipulates explicitly that it is not allowed to make and answer a call with a mobile phone when driving. Although many drivers know the danger of talking on the mobile phone, and they are able not to make a call initiatively when driving, however, having an incoming call when driving is unpredictable, and a calling party does not know that the phone owner is driving; with the design of the existing mobile phone, answering a call will make it dangerous to drive, and not answering the call may delay an important thing, which makes the phone owner face a dilemma. So, it is a problem to be solved about how to improve the security of a driver processing an incoming call when driving. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to peripheral computing devices such as disk drives, and more particularly to pluggable drive carrier assemblies.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern computers often include one or more peripheral devices such as hard-disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and DVD drives. These devices typically include motors and mechanisms for spinning the storage media and for moving read heads or read/write heads, and also include circuitry for controlling mechanical movement as well as the transfer of data. As the cost of nonvolatile, solid state memories decreases, it is also becoming feasible to use solid state drives that have no moving parts. These solid state drives may use the same form factors and storage protocols as conventional drives to facilitate substitution.
For many applications, it is desirable to be able to insert or remove a drive while the computer system is operating. For example, computer networks commonly include servers that include arrays of hot-pluggable disk drives. These disk arrays are typically configured according to a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) configuration in which a malfunctioning drive can be replaced without bringing the disk array off-line, and without causing any loss of data.
In RAID and other disk array subsystems, the drives are commonly mounted on separate trays or carriers and inserted side-by-side into a cavity defined within a computer housing or cabinet. An internal sheet metal chassis of the computer defines or receives guides for aligning connectors on the drives with mating connectors on a rigid backplane. In such systems, the backplane defines an inner wall of the cavity and provides electrical interconnections to and from the mating connectors. Holes often are provided through the backplane to accommodate a cooling airflow through the cavity. In some arrangements the backplane is passive (i.e., does not provide electrical connections) while in other arrangements the backplane contains electrical connectors or components for communicating with the disk drives.
Typically, a computer system having a RAID-type subsystem has a so-called tower configuration wherein the computer system is taller than it is wide, as opposed to a desktop configuration wherein the computer system is wider than it is tall. The individual drives are typically mounted in the computer system such that each drive can be extracted and inserted through the front of the computer system cabinet. In order to accommodate this feature, the backplane for the RAID-type subsystem is mounted with the backplane perpendicular to the sidewalls of the computer system. The sides of the cabinet, the front of the cabinet and the backplane together define a drive cage.
The traditional construction, however, is complex and bulky. The backplane is connected to further circuit boards and controllers through cabling. In addition, the perpendicular backplane occupies additional space relative to the further circuit boards and controllers. Moreover, due to the fixed nature of the backplane relative to the cabinet and the fixed nature of the storage units relative to the cabinet, the proper mating of the backplane and the storage units requires rather precise positioning of the two relative to one another. This proper mating is further complicated by the lack of conformity from storage unit type to storage unit type that result in differing connectors and connector locations.
One aspect of the present invention involves a pluggable drive carrier for drives. The carrier comprises a flex circuit with single-sided mounting of a plurality of connectors. The plurality of connectors comprises a blind connector and a second connector. The blind connector is adapted to couple with a right angle docking connector attached to a base board. The flex circuit is folded such that said second connector extends in a first direction and said blind connector extends in a second direction that is opposite of said first direction.
Another aspect of the present invention involves a computer system comprising a circuit board and a first connector mounted to said circuit board. A drive is secured to a carrier and has a drive connector disposed on a surface. The circuit board extends in a direction generally normal to said surface. The carrier comprises a flexible circuit and said flexible circuit comprises a mating connector and a blind-plug. The mating connector is adapted to connect to said drive connector and said blind-plug is adapted to couple to said first connector.
A further aspect of the present invention involves an electronic system comprising an enclosure and a base board positioned within said enclosure. The base board comprises a docking connector that is fixed to a surface of said base board. A drive carrier is adapted for insertion into said enclosure along a first axis. A drive is disposed within said drive carrier and has a connector disposed along a first surface. The first axis extends in a direction generally parallel to said base board and a flexible circuit extends between said connector of said drive and said docking connector of said base board.
Another aspect of the present invention involves a pluggable drive carrier. The carrier comprises a carrier body adapted to receive a drive and has an outside surface. A blind plug connector is mounted to said outside surface and a flexible circuit is connected to said outside surface. The flexible circuit is electrically coupled to said blind plug connector. A second connector is secured to said flexible circuit and said second connector is capable of being disposed within said carrier body.
Yet another aspect of the present invention involves an electronic system comprising an enclosure having an opening. An insertion passage is defined within said enclosure and has one end terminating at said opening. The insertion passage defines an insertion axis. A carrier is capable of insertion into said opening along said insertion passage. A base board is disposed within said enclosure with a connector mounted to said base board. A cooperating blind connector is disposed on said carrier and said baseboard is positioned parallel to said insertion axis. | {
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New vehicles and automobiles provide the capability for various communication and entertainment devices to be used along with the vehicles. For example, a mobile phone can be linked to the vehicle to allow a driver to send and receive phone calls in a hands-free manner. Additionally, integrated entertainment systems allow a passenger to view a movie or video, listen to music, etc., during a trip. These communication and entertainment devices generally employ short-range communication technologies in an RF frequency band or communication over wires plugged into the vehicle.
Visible light communication (VLC) provides the ability for machine to machine communication using light, or in other words, binary signals transmitted over a frequency of light. Such communications promises an increase in data transfer rates over conventional radio frequency wireless communication devices with faster data transfer rates expected in the future. As a result various mobile device manufacturers are considering including VLC modules in mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptop computers, etc., in order to allow these mobile devices to communicate using visible light communication signals. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a vehicle communication system that allows such VLC-enabled devices to communicate with the vehicle. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to neutralizing unauthorized access to a user input interface in a data processing system, and in particular to distinguishing between physical keystroke input and software keystroke emulation. More particularly, the present invention relates to identifying a physically generated keyboard keystroke within a universal serial bus (USB) host controller and providing selective access to a keyboard driver in response thereto such that system access by emulated keystrokes may be restricted.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer security is becoming increasingly important in today's heavily networked computer systems. Protecting information contained in data files within such systems is a non-trivial and costly undertaking. As intra-networking and inter-networking technologies continue to rapidly advance, providing system security for personal computers is an important goal.
The components of a personal computer are assembled into an enclosure that includes a variety of data ports or external connectors to couple input and output devices to the system processor. In addition to such dedicated ports for connecting input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse, a personal computer system may also include a variety of general purpose busses for interfacing a wide variety of peripheral devices through industry standard interfaces.
One such type of interface is the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, the specification of which is set forth in a generally available document entitled “Universal Serial Bus Specification” Release 1.1, Sep. 23, 1998, (USB.ORG), prepared by representatives of the Compaq, Intel, Microsoft, and NEC corporations. Peripheral device interfaces that comply with this standard are referred to as USB interfaces and have been included in many recently developed personal computer systems. On such personal computer systems, USB interfaces serve to provide well-known plug and play capability for personal computer peripherals such as telephones, CD-ROM drives, joysticks, tape and floppy drives, scanners, and printers. Additionally, the USB interface allows an alternate connection for primary system input devices such as keyboards and mice, providing an alternative to the dedicated keyboard and mouse ports that many personal computer manufacturers provide.
Personal computers have always been vulnerable to acquiring internal system problems that are introduced by outside sources, such as when a virus is introduced into the system via a floppy disk. As avenues for data processing networking increase via internetworking, Local Area Networking, etc., personal computers are becoming even less isolated and more susceptible to externally introduced corruption. One type of such corruption faced by personal computer system users is commandeering of system input interfaces by an unauthorized source. This situation arises, for example, when software instructions are utilized to emulate keyboard keystrokes and thus assume control of the host keyboard driver application.
From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a need exists for a system and method for verifying that a keyboard control instruction originated as a physical keystroke rather than as a software emulated keystroke. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
Water jet cleaning devices, particularly a water jet device for dissolving animal manure, such that it may be absorbed without removal into a lawn or ground surface. Due to the increasing canine population, there has been recent attention to manure or excreta removal devices. Notably, the "Pooper Scooper" has been employed in metropolitan areas. Various other pick-up devices have been devised.
2. Description of the Prior Art
______________________________________ WHITE 2,233,968 NORTH 2,589,020 DICKISON 2,841,923 WILLIAMSON et al. 3,313,353 DOMMER 3,442,828 ROSSITTO 3,740,086 JOHNSON 3,807,632 ______________________________________
The ROSSITO pick-up device includes an inverted cup-like cavity having a plurality of radial ribs which are used to engage the manure; hence, a cover is placed upon the open end for removal and disposal.
WHITE shows the employment of a perforated plate for dispensing fluids. NORTH, DICKISON, WILLIAMSON et al., JOHNSON and DOMMER show the use of hoods to control the spray of a jet stream. JOHNSON teaches, also, the use of a cavitating fluid jet to erode solid.
ROSSITTO is the single device of the "Pooper Scooper" type. However, there is no suggestion of employing a hydraulic jet with the ROSSITTO device. | {
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Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a display device. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a display device which is switchable between a mirror mode and a display mode.
Description of Related Art
With the development of flat panel display application, the display with switchable mirror function is demanded. Generally, the display with switchable mirror function means a display which possesses both display function and mirror function. In the prior art, the display with mirror function is implemented by adding a reflective polarizer. For this conventional technology, the mirror image and the display image are easily interfered with each other so that the vision quality is unfavorably affected. Besides, for this conventional technology, it is not possible for the user to configure the panel to exhibit the mirror image in some regions and simultaneously to exhibit the display image in other regions. For the forgoing reasons, there is a need for an improved display panel which would solve the problem described above. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a streak tube by which a temporal change of light to be detected is detected as a streak image.
2. Related Background of the Invention
A streak tube causes a photocathode to convert light to be detected into electrons (photoelectrons), and detects a temporal change of electrons as a streak image, thereby measuring the change in incident light with time. In general, such a streak tube employs one face of an airtightly closed envelope as an entrance faceplate, whereas a photocathode, a deflecting electrode for controlling the deflection of electrons emitted from the photocathode so as to generate a streak image, and detecting means such as a fluorescent screen for detecting thus generated streak image are arranged within the envelope successively from the entrance faceplate side (see, for example, Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H3-152840, and Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-139183). | {
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1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to an improved electrical connector that is electromagnetically shielded and provides for a secure, low-profile physical/electrical connection with a mating media plug.
2. The Relevant Technology
The demand for personal computers and related equipment continues to expand due to a number of factors. One important factor is in that the prices of computers continues to decline. Another factor is the expansion and development of the Internet and related network communications. More and more commercial and non-commercial enterprises are conducting business via the Internet and consumers need personal computers to gain access to the products and information that are available on the Internet.
In addition to being more affordable, advances in computer application software, operating systems and communications software has fueled the development of computers having greater processing speeds and capacities. At the same time, the pressure to at least maintain, or preferably reduce, the physical size of the computer has increased as well. Accordingly, downsizing and miniaturization of computer components is an issue of great importance in the industry.
In an effort to reduce the form factor of the typical personal computer, and yet expand the capabilities of that computer, manufacturers began to develop miniature portable expansion devices having smaller sizes, such as add-on memory cards and modems. The typical expansion device was designed to plug into a port or socket on the main computer; thus the expansion device served to expand the capability of the computer without significantly increasing the size of the computer's physical envelope.
While the development of portable expansion devices represented a significant advance in the capabilities of personal computers, one drawback of many of the devices was that they were designed to fit only one manufacturer's computer, and thus were not interchangeable between platforms. The industry recognized that standardization of these devices would, among other things, greatly increase the demand for them. To this end, several manufacturers collaborated to form the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). This body developed and promulgated standards for the physical design, dimensions, and electrical interface of expansion devices. Now, many computers being manufactured, especially those having a reduced size, are adapted to accommodate these standards.
PCMCIA cards have become very popular because of their relatively small size, interchangeability, and capability. However, as a result of the relentless drive for smaller and more capable computers, the industry has developed a new generation of expansion devices with an even smaller form factor than that of PCMCIA cards. The new expansion devices, or cards, are sometimes referred to as "compact flash" or "miniature flash" cards.
Some examples of the new devices include compact flash memory cards, which are solid state storage devices that may have a storage capacity as high as 40MB; modems; and local area network (LAN) cards. The new compact devices have a very small "form factor" or physical size. A typical compact flash card uses about 1550 mm.sup.2 (36 mm long.times.43 mm wide) of space on a circuit board. In contrast, a typical card built to PCMCIA standards uses almost three times as much circuit board space, or about 4644 mm.sup.2 (86 mm long.times.54 mm wide).
Clearly, the compact flash form factor represents an important advancement in the art. However, the smaller form factor has also created some new problems that must be overcome in order that the maximum performance and reliability of the compact flash cards may be realized. Certain of these problems are particularly acute in those compact flash LAN cards that use a 4 pin input/output (I/O) connector. Some of the problems flowing from the use of the new form factor concern the construction and composition of the compact flash media card. Other problems concern the physical and electrical interfaces between the compact flash card and the various types of media cables used to carry media between the flash card and other devices.
One of the shortcomings common in current compact flash card designs concerns the harmful electromagnetic radiation produced by the card. Electromagnetic radiation is a natural consequence of current flow through the electrical circuits on the card. Unchecked, electromagnetic radiation can interfere with and disrupt the operation of electrical and electronic circuits in the host device. The interference resulting from electromagnetic radiation is commonly known as electromagnetic interference (EMI). Because electromagnetic radiation is a natural consequence of current flow, it cannot practically be prevented. Instead, emissions of the electromagnetic radiation must be controlled in order to prevent harmful EMI from resulting.
It is generally acknowledged that metal or metallic structures, if properly located and grounded, can be effective in controlling harmful electromagnetic radiation. Metals are effective in this regard because they generally have a low characteristic impedance which has the desirable characteristic of reflecting the high impedance electromagnetic radiation typically emitted by computers and related devices. By reflecting the electromagnetic radiation away from vulnerable circuits or devices, the metal thereby acts as a protective shield. Materials which can absorb electromagnetic radiation would be effective as well. However, typical compact flash cards are housed in a bay or enclosure, inside the host device, that is constructed of plastic or the like. The non-metallic enclosures are largely ineffectual in reflecting the electromagnetic radiation produced by the card. Furthermore, even though many compact flash cards employ metal covers, those covers are nevertheless inadequate to reflect electromagnetic radiation. This is due to the fact that effective EMI control cannot be achieved unless the metal covers typically utilized in compact flash cards are electrically bonded together and grounded. Since the metal covers of typical compact flash cards are not bonded and grounded, those covers are generally of little use in preventing PCB-generated EMI.
While it is clear that there are unresolved concerns regarding EMI and the construction of the compact flash cards, EMI problems are not limited solely to the card itself. As suggested earlier, some of the problems flowing from the new compact flash form factor relate to the physical/electrical interface used to connect a media cable to the card.
In particular, the current flowing through the media cable and the physical/electrical interface, or I/O connector, generates electromagnetic radiation which, in turn, causes harmful EMI. Many of the connectors currently in use with the compact flash card, including the 4 pin connectors, lack any device or means to reflect or absorb the electromagnetic radiation produced by the connector. Thus, when a media plug at the end of the media cable is inserted into the compact flash card connector, the unchecked electromagnetic radiation that is produced as a result of current flow through the connector, acts to interfere with the operation of electrical and electronic components inside the compact flash card and in the host device.
Not only are the typical compact flash card I/O connector designs ineffectual in preventing harmful EMI, those connectors suffer from other shortcomings as well. A significant problem concerns the structural configuration of the typical connector. In particular, the physical shape of the receiving portion, or aperture, of the connector, i.e., the portion that receives a mating media plug, is such that the connector can readily accommodate modular plugs. For instance, the connector may be capable of receiving a modular plug from a telephone line or a network line. This can give rise to a significant problem if the compact flash card comprises a LAN card, for instance, which is inadvertently connected to a telephone line. In particular, the telephone ring voltage that is applied to a modem line could damage the electronics on a LAN card. Thus, because a user may not always be able to readily ascertain whether a particular connector is a modem card connector or a LAN card connector, it would be relatively easy for a user to inadvertently plug a modem cord into the connector typically used with compact flash LAN cards, and thereby expose the LAN card to harmful telephone ring voltages.
Finally, in addition to their structural deficiencies and the EMI problems that they present, the typical compact flash card I/O connector suffers from an insubstantial and ineffectual mechanical interface with media plugs. Again, this problem results from the small physical size of the card or peripheral, which also limits the size and functionality of any connector that is used. In particular, larger connector schemes provide a more robust and functional retention scheme for maintaining a connection. Moreover, the connectors also provide a user with a tactile "feedback" that indicates when a plug has been satisfactorily received by a connector. In contrast, miniaturized connector schemes provide less physical space in which to provide a satisfactory retention mechanism and any sort of tactile feedback.
For example, a significant problem with existing compact flash I/O connector retention mechanisms is that the contact area between the retaining portion of the receptacle and the retained portion of the plug, respectively, is relatively small. Accordingly, the forces required to insert and withdraw the mating media plug are correspondingly small. Small insertion and withdrawal forces are problematic at least partly because they fail to provide the audible and tactile feedback necessary to indicate to the user that the media plug has engaged the receptacle portion of the connector. Indeed, the feedback provided by typical mechanisms is oftentimes so minimal--as low as 1 to 2 pounds--that the user cannot be certain that latching has occurred. Finally, an implicit and undesirable consequence of small insertion and withdrawal forces is that the media plug is likely to be inadvertently removed from the connector even during normal use.
In view of the foregoing problems with miniaturized peripherals, such as compact flash cards, and their associated I/O connectors, what is needed is an improved shielded I/O connector that can be used with compact flash card-sized devices, such as LAN cards and modem cards. Specifically, the connector should be able to reflect and/or absorb the electromagnetic radiation produced by the connector when current flows through the connector. Further, the connector should be grounded and should be capable of physically and electrically connecting the top and bottom covers of the housing of a compact flash card so that the covers can function effectively as a shield against the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the PCB. Additionally, the connector should be configured in such a way as to ensure that a particular compact flash card is only connectible with media plugs, cables, devices, and the like, that are electrically compatible therewith. Also, the connector should provide a tactile and audible feedback that indicates to the user that the mating media plug is properly received and seated within the connector. Moreover, the retention force exerted by the connector on the received plug should resist at least some inadvertent withdrawals of the plug during normal use. | {
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The subject matter disclosed herein relates to compressor stator vanes, and more specifically, to a third stage compressor stator vane.
Compressors are used in a variety of industries and systems to compress a gas, such as air. For example, gas turbine engines typically include a compressor to provide compressed air for combustion and cooling. Compressors typically include a rotor assembly and a stator assembly. In multi-stage compressors, the rotor assembly may include multiple rows (e.g., rotor stages) each row having multiple rotor blades. Likewise, the stator assembly may include multiple rows (e.g., stator stages) each row having multiple stator vanes. The rotor assembly is designed to rotate with respect to the stator assembly, compressing an intake fluid as the fluid traverses the compressor. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information device having a function for inputting information by using means such as a pen. In particular, the present invention relates to an information device in which pen input operations are performed on a screen of a display device. The present invention relates to an EL display device using EL elements as the display device, and further, relates to electronic devices, such as portable information devices, having the information device of the present invention.
Note that, in this specification, the term EL element denotes an EL element utilizing both light emission from singlet excitons (fluorescence) and light emission from triplet excitons (phosphorescence).
2. Description of the Related Art
The demand for pen input method portable information devices has risen in terms of miniaturization and operability. The pen input method is a method for the input of information by using a specialized pen or arbitrary pen, and by either contacting pen tip to a display screen, or bringing the pen tip close to the display screen.
Namely, input of information corresponding to positions indicated by the pen tip on the display screen is performed. The display screen also functions as a pen input screen. It is necessary to specify the positions indicated by the pen on the pen input screen with this pen input method, and methods such as a resistive film method and an optical method exist as means for the pen input.
The resistive film method is explained first.
FIG. 7 is a cross sectional diagram showing the structure of a resistive film pen input device. Note that a pen input device 7711 is formed overlapping with and on the upper portion of a display device 7708. The display device 7708 has a display portion 7709 and a peripheral circuit 7710.
A movable electrode 7701 and a fixed electrode 7702 sandwich dot spacers 7704 in the pen input device 7711, and both are connected in parallel with a gap of approximately 100 to 300 μm by a lamination material 7703. The movable electrode 7701 and the fixed electrode 7702 are formed by conductive materials having transparency so that images projected on the display portion 7709 of the display device 7708 can be seen through the pen input device 7711. In general, an indium tin oxide (ITO) film is used as the conductive material having transparent properties.
The movable electrode 7701 touches the fixed electrode 7702 in a position indicated by the input pen 7704 on the pen input device 7711 with the resistive film method (input point A in FIG. 7). At this time, in the method, the position of the input point A is read out as the ratio of resistances R1 and R2 from two position detection electrodes 7706 and 7707.
Specifically, an example of performing position read out is shown in FIG. 8. A pressure Is applied by an input pen 807 from a movable electrode 801 side and there is contact between the movable electrode 801 and a fixed electrode 802 at the input point A. A voltage is applied between two electrodes 803 and 804 of the m ovable electrode 801 here, and an electric potential gradient is generated within the movable electrode 801. By measuring the electric potential VA of the input point A at this point, resistance values Rx1 and Rx2 from the electrode 803 and the electrode 804 to the input point A can be found. If the film quality of the movable electrode 801 is assumed to be uniform, then the resistance values Rx1 and Rx2 are proportional to the distances from the electrodes 803 and 804 to the input point A, respectively.
Similarly, a voltage is applied between two electrodes 805 and 806 of the fixed electrode 802, and an electric potential gradient within the fixed electrode 802 is generated. By knowing the electric potential VA of the input point A at this point, resistance values Ry1 and Ry2 from the electrode 805 and the electrode 806 to the input point A can be found. If the film quality of the fixed electrode 802 is assumed to be uniform here, then the resistance values Ry1 and Ry2 are proportional to the distances from the electrodes 805 and 806 to the point A, respectively. The position of the input point A can thus be determined.
Note that the method of measuring the electric potential of the input point A for measuring the position of the input point A is not limited to the above structure, and various other methods can also be used.
An optical method pen input device is explained next. A schematic diagram of an upper surface of the optical method pen input device is shown in FIG. 9A.
If a pen tip of an input pen 901 makes contact to an input portion 902, the contact position is detected. The position detection operation is explained.
X-1 light emitting diodes (hereafter referred to as LEDs) 21 to 2x are arranged in a right edge portion in the periphery of the input portion 902, and x-1 phototransistors (hereafter referred to as PTs) 31 to 3x are arranged in a left edge portion of the input portion 902, opposite the LEDs 21 to 2x. The light emitting diodes and the phototransistors are embedded in a frame 4.
Y-1 LEDs 51 to 5y are arranged in a lower edge portion, and y-1 PTs 61 to 6y are arranged in an upper edge portion, opposite the LEDs 51 to 5y. The LEDs and the PTs are embedded in the frame 4.
The LEDs 21 to 2x and the PTs 31 to 3x form x-1 horizontal direction touch input lines, and the LEDs 51 to 5y and the PTs 61 to 6y form y-1 vertical direction touch input lines.
The term touch input lines refer to paths along which light emitted from the LEDs travels when input to the PTs between pairs of opposing LEDs and PTs.
Note that although PTs are used as the components having reference numerals 31 to 3x and 61 to 6y there is no limitation associated with PTs, and other components can be freely used provided that they are photoelectric conversion elements that convert light into an electric signal.
In order to increase the directionality of light emitted from the LEDs 21 to 2x and 51 to 5x, and made incident on the PTs 31 to 3x and 61 to 6y, hole shaped slits 7 are formed in front of the frame 4 in which each of the elements is embedded.
FIG. 9B is a cross sectional diagram along a line segment a-a′ of FIG. 9A. A display device 910 is formed in a portion below the pen input device. The display device 910 is structured by a display portion 911 and a peripheral circuit 912. Differing from the resistive film method, it is possible to directly see images displayed in the display portion 911.
FIG. 9A is again referenced.
The emission of light and the receiving of light are performed one pair at a time from the edge for the pairs of opposing LEDs and PTs. This operation (hereafter referred to as scanning) is performed at the same time for the horizontal direction touch input lines and the vertical direction touch input lines in the pen input device having the above structure.
One point within the input portion 902 is indicated by the input pen 901. The input point A within FIG. 9A is indicated. Light is cutoff between two touch lines 2n to 3n and 5m to 6m at this point, and the position A at which the input pen 901 contacts is recognized.
It is necessary to mechanically change the shape of the movable electrode as information is input with the resistive film method. The movable electrode thus fatigues with repeated shape change, and there is the possibility of it being broken. This becomes an endurance problem.
Further, even if damage does not reach actual breakage, the ITO film conductivity becomes non-uniform due to repeated deformation and in the case where minute cracks on the order of micrometers in size are formed during manufacturing process. Therefore, problems in the precision of input pen location detection develop.
In addition, the display device image is read out through the two electrodes, the movable electrode and the fixed electrode. The transmittivity of the transparent electrodes is not 100% at this time, and therefore light from the display device is attenuated and brightness of the image falls, generating visibility problems with the screen. The intensity of light emitted form the display device consequently must be made stronger so as to increase the brightness of the image, and there is a problem with increased power consumption of the device.
Further, when stress opposing substrate is applied from the outside of the device, and the distance between the two electrodes, the movable electrode and the fixed electrode, becomes equal to or less than 40 μm, then a problem exists in which Newton rings appear due to an interference effect of light reflected between the two electrodes.
In addition, this is a capacitor structure in which the two electrodes are arranged in parallel, and therefore consumption is large when a battery electric power source is used. This is a large problem for portable information devices in which low power consumption is desired.
On the other hand, there are no mechanical endurance problems with the optical method pen input device because it is not necessary for the thin films to repeatedly be deformed as with the resistive film method. Further, the display device is not seen through transparent electrodes, and therefore problems with screen visibility are also few.
However, for cases where light emitted from the light emitting elements is not received in a straight line by the paired light receiving elements, there is a possibility that recognition will not be made even if the input pen or the like indicates the position.
Furthermore, it is necessary to form columns of light emitting elements and light receiving elements, slits and the like on the display device and therefore there is a problem in that it is difficult to make the device smaller. | {
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This invention relates to the field hemostasis devices; that is, medical instruments designed to stanch the flow of blood from a ruptured or punctured blood vessel. More specifically, in one aspect, the present invention relates to a percutaneous hemostasis device, i.e., a device that can reach through the skin and subcutaneous tissue to promote hemostasis in a perforated or punctured bodily lumen, such as a blood vessel. In another aspect, the present invention relates to the method of using such a device to promote hemostasis at a perforation or puncture site in a subcutaneous bodily lumen, particularly a blood vessel.
A growing number of therapeutic and diagnostic medical procedures involve the percutaneous introduction of instrumentation into a vein or artery. For example, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), most often involving the femoral artery, is performed hundreds of thousands of times annually, while other vessel-piercing procedures (e.g., percutaneous coronary angiography and atherectomy) number more than two million per year.
In each event, the closing and subsequent healing of the resultant vascular puncture is critical to the successful completion of the procedure. Traditionally, the application of external pressure to the skin entry site has been employed to stem bleeding from the wound until clotting and tissue rebuilding have sealed the perforation. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,388--Toller, which discloses an external pressure application device for effecting hemostasis in a femoral artery puncture.) In some situations, this pressure must be maintained for up to an hour or more, during which the patient is immobilized, often with sandbags or the like. With externally-applied manual pressure, both patient comfort and practitioner efficiency are impaired. Additionally, a risk of hematoma exists, since bleeding from the vessel may continue until sufficient clotting effects hemostasis. Also, external pressure application devices may be unsuitable for patients with substantial amounts of subcutaneous adipose tissue, since the skin surface may be a considerable distance from the vascular puncture site, thereby rendering skin compression inaccurate and thus less effective.
Consequently, devices have been developed for promoting hemostasis directly at the site of the vascular perforation. For example, there are devices that deploy intraluminal plugs within the vessel to close the puncture site, as disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,852,568--Kensey; 4,890,612--Kensey; 5,021,059--Kensey et al.; and 5,061,274--Kensey. Another approach is to deliver a tissue adhesive or clotting agent to the perforation site, as disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,221,259--Weldon et al.; 5,383,899--Hamrnmerslag; 5,419,765--Weldon et al.; and 5,486,195--Myers et al. This method may entail some risk of disadvantageously introducing some of the adhesive or clotting agent into the bloodstream. Still another approach is the application of pressure directly to the perforation site, as exemplified by PCT International Publication Number WO 95/32671; U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,261--Guerrieo; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,246--Sinofsky, the last-named disclosing the simultaneous application of direct pressure to the perforated vessel and the direction of laser energy through an optical fiber to cauterize the wound. Yet another approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,616--Fowler, wherein a cylindrical plug is inserted along the shaft of a catheter segment extending from the skin surface to the blood vessel. The catheter is then removed so that the plug can expand as fluid is drawn into the plug from the vessel and the surrounding tissue. Unless pressure is applied, however, bleeding may occur around the plug into the subcutaneous tissue. A similar concept is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,183--Janzen et al., which discloses a variety of plug delivery devices, including threaded plug pushers and multilegged channels, that install a plug that may be resorbable.
Many of the above-noted devices rely, to varying degrees, on tactile sensation alone to indicate to the surgeon the proper placement of the puncture closing instrumentation, and they may also require upstream clamping of the blood vessel to reduce intraluminal pressure to approximately atmospheric pressure at the puncture site.
Another type of percutaneous vascular hemostasis device is exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,417,699 and 5,527,322, both to Klein et al. This type of device comprises a mechanism for delivering a suture percutaneously to a vascular suturing site, and then tying the suture in situ. While such devices, if properly employed, are capable of very effectively stemming blood flow, they may require a relatively high degree of dexterity to be operated properly. Furthermore, they tend to be somewhat complex and expensive to manufacture, and thus are not practically employed as single use, disposable products. Consequently, sterilization is required between uses to reduce the risk of infection, thereby increasing their cost and inconvenience.
Accordingly, there has been a long-felt need for an effective percutaneous vascular hemostasis device that is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use, that is adapted for use as disposable device, and that does not require the introduction of a foreign sutbstance--such as a plug, tissue adhesive, or clotting agent--into the bloodstream. | {
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This invention relates to o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dyes and to elements containing a photobleachable o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dye.
The use of dyes in antihalation layers is well-known in the photographic art. These dyes have been incorporated in undercoat layers and backing layers of photographic elements as described in Carroll et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,583. However, the incorporation of the dyes in this manner requires the coating of extra layers. This method also has associated with it the problem of how to remove the dye and/or modify its spectral absorption characteristics after its usefulness has ceased to exist. In one method, the antihalation dye is incorporated in a layer coated on the opposite side of the support from the picture-recording layers. This layer is then scrubbed off during processing. This method requires extra processing equipment solely for the purpose of removing the antihalation layer and presents the possibility of scratching the support material during the scrubbing operation. In another method, heat-sensitive antihalation dyes are destroyed or have their spectral absorption characteristics suitably altered by subjecting the photographic element to a sufficiently elevated temperature at some point during processing. With this method, the possibility exists of concurrently altering thermally sensitive image dyes adversely or of adversely affecting the dimensional stability of the image. It therefore is desirable to provide antihalation protection for photographic elements which avoid these difficulties.
Sturmer, Belgian Pat. No. 788,279, issued Feb. 28, 1973 describes a class of o-nitro-arylidene dyes which are photobleachable. The photobleachable property of these dyes permits their being used as antihalation dyes in photographic elements in such a way as to avoid the above-described problems associated with prior art antihalation dyes and layers. The patent additionally describes the dyes as being useful for other purposes in photographic elements such as imaging dyes, in filter layers and as desensitizers for silver halide emulsions. However, it has been found that the photodecomposition products of dyes of the above Sturmer patent tend to yield some unwanted density; i.e. they absorb radiation in some portions of the visible spectrum. While the amount of unwanted density obtained with such dyes would be acceptable for many purposes, it nevertheless would be desirable if the amount of density could be reduced or eliminated.
I have found that o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dyes are photobleachable and, hence, are useful in photographic elements in the same ways as the dyes described by Sturmer, yet the decomposition products of my dyes result in reduced amounts of unwanted density. While the reasons for this are not entirely clear, it appears that the o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dyes photodecompose in a different way than the o-nitro arylidene dyes to yield products which have less absorption in the visible region of the spectrum than do photodecomposition products of o-nitro arylidene dyes.
One aspect of my invention relates to novel photobleachable dyes. Another aspect of my invention relates to photographic elements containing these photobleachable dyes.
The dyes employed in the practice of my invention are o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dyes. As employed herein the term "o-nitro-o-azaarylidene" refers to the group formed by a methine linkage and an aromatic heterocyclic nitrogen group having a nitrogen atom in one of the positions ortho to the carbon atom to which the methine linkage is attached and having in the other ortho position a nitro-substituted carbon atom. The aromatic heterocyclic nitrogen group is joined through the methine chain linkage to a basic heterocyclic nucleus containing an electron-donating atom. The number of atoms joining the electron-donating atom and the nitro group is an even number. In a preferred form the aromatic heterocyclic nitrogen group is joined through an acyclic methine chain containing an odd number of methine groups to a basic heterocyclic nucleus of the type used in cyanine dyes. Typically, the electron-donating atom in the basic heterocyclic nucleus is a nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur atom. The aromatic heterocyclic nitrogen group can be a mono, bi or polycyclic aromatic nucleus and can contain additional nitrogen atoms. Typically, aromatic heterocyclic nuclei are pyridines, pyridazines, pyrimidines, pyrazines, quinolines, quinaldines, quinoxalines and the like.
Accordingly, one embodiment of my invention is a photobleachable o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dye in which the o-nitro-o-azaaryl group of the dye is joined through a methine linkage to a basic heterocyclic nucleus containing an electron donating atom linked to the nitro group through an even number of atoms.
In a specific preferred embodiment of my invention, the o-nitro-substituted dyes have the formula: ##STR1## wherein: (a) k represents 0 or 1;
(b) m represents 0 or 1; PA1 (c) each L represents a methine group, including substituted methine groups, (e.g., --CH.dbd., --C(CH.sub.3).dbd., etc.); PA1 (d) A represents an electron donating moiety, such as oxygen (--O--), sulfur (--S--), or ##STR2## (e) R.sub.1 represents (1) an alkyl group having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms and preferably a lower alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms (e.g., methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, secondary-butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, pentyl, hexyl, octyl, decyl, dodecyl, octadecyl); a sulfoalkyl group, preferably sulfo lower alkyl containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl moiety (e.g., .beta.-sulfoethyl, .gamma.-sulfopropyl, .gamma.-sulfobutyl, .delta.-sulfobutyl, etc.); a carboxyalkyl group, preferably a carboxy lower alkyl containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl moiety (e.g., .beta.-carboxyethyl, .gamma.-carboxypropyl .delta.-carboxybutyl, etc.), a sulfatoalkyl group, preferably a sulfato lower alkyl containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl moiety (e.g., .beta.-sulfatoethyl, .gamma.-sulfatopropyl, .delta.-sulfatobutyl, etc.); an alkoxyalkyl group, preferably a lower alkoxy lower alkyl containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in both the alkoxy and alkyl moieties (e.g., .beta.-methoxyethyl, .gamma.-methoxypropyl, .delta.-propoxybutyl, etc.); an acyloxyalkyl group, preferably an acyloxy lower alkyl containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl moiety (e.g., acetyloxyethyl, propanoyloxyethyl, butanoyloxybutyl, benzoyloxyethyl, toloyloxypropyl, etc.); an alkoxycarbonylalkyl group, preferably a lower alkoxy carbonyl lower alkyl containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms in both the alkoxy and alkyl moieties (e.g., .beta.-methoxycarbonylethyl, .delta.-ethoxycarbonylbutyl, .beta.-butoxycarbonylethyl, etc.); a dialkylaminoalkylene group, preferably a di-lower alkylamino lower alkylene containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkylene and alkyl moieties (e.g., dimethylaminoethylene, diethylaminopropylene, diethylaminobutylene, etc.); a cycloaminoalkylene group, preferably cycloamino lower alkyl containing 4 to 6 atoms in the cycloamino moiety and 1 to 4 atoms in the alkyl moiety (e.g., pyrrolidinylethylene, morpholinopropylene, piperidinobutylene, pyrrolinylmethylene, etc.); (2) an alkenyl group (including a substituted alkenyl group), preferably a lower alkenyl containing 2 to 4 carbon atoms (e.g., ethenyl allyl, 1-propenyl, 1-butenyl, 2-butenyl, etc.), or (3) an aryl group (including a substituted aryl)--e.g., phenyl, naphthyl, tolyl, xylyl, halophenyl such as p-chlorophenyl, p-bromophenyl, etc., alkoxyphenyl such as methoxyphenyl, 2,4-dichlorophenyl, etc. and an aralkyl group, preferably an aryl lower alkyl containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl moiety (e.g., benzyl, .beta.-phenethyl, .omega.-phenbutyl, etc.) PA1 (f) Y represents the atoms necessary to complete an azaaryl nucleus such as pyridine, pyridazine, pyrimidine, pyrazine, quinoline, quinaldine, quinoxaline, etc., including nuclei containing additional substituents, aside from the o-nitro substituent, such as nitro, halo, e.g. chloro, bromo and fluoro, lower alkoxy of 1 to 4 carbon atoms e.g. methoxy, ethoxy, butoxy, or other electron-withdrawing substituents; and PA1 (g) Z.sub.1 represents the nonmetallic atoms necessary to complete a heterocyclic nucleus of the type used in cyanine dyes containing the electron-donating moiety A which ring can contain additional hetero atoms such as oxygen, nitrogen, selenium or sulfur. The heterocyclic nucleus preferably is selected from the group consisting of a thioazole nucleus including substituted and unsubstituted benzothiazole and naphthothiazole nuclei and the like, (e.g., thiazole, 4-methylthiazole, 4-phenylthiazole, 4,5-diphenylthiazole, 4-(2-thienyl)thiazole, benzothiazole, 4-chlorobenzothiazole, 4-methylbenzothiazole, 4-methoxybenzothiazole, 4-ethoxybenzothiazole, 4-phenylbenzothiazole, 5-chlorobenzothiazole, 5-bromobenzothiazole, 5-methylbenzothiazole, 5-methoxybenzothiazole, 5-ethoxybenzothiazole, 5-phenylbenzothiazole, 6-chlorobenzothiazole, 6-bromobenzothiazole, 6-methylbenzothiazole, 6-methoxybenzothiazole, 6-ethoxybenzothiazole, 5-methoxynaphtha[2,3-d]thiazole, .beta.-naphthothiazole, .alpha.-naphthothiazole, 5-nitrobenzothiazole, 6-nitrobenzothiazole, 5-chloro-6-nitrobenzothiazole, etc.); an oxazole nucleus including substituted and unsubstituted benzoxazole and naphthoxazole nuclei and the like, (e.g., oxazole, 4-phenyloxazole, benzoxazole, 5-chlorobenzoxazole, 5-methylbenzoxazole, 5-bromobenzoxazole, 5-methoxybenzoxazole, 5-ethoxybenzoxazole, 5-phenylbenzoxazole, 5-methoxynaphthoxazole, 5-nitrobenzoxazole, 6-nitrobenzoxazole, 5-chloro-6-nitrobenzoxazole, etc.); a selenazole nucleus including substituted and unsubstituted benzoselenazole and naphthoselenazole nuclei and the like, (e.g., selenazole, 4-methylselenazole, 4-nitroselenazole, 4-phenylselenazole, benzoselenazole, 5-chlorobenzoselenazole, 6-chlorobenzoselenazole, naphtho[2,1-d]selenazole, 5-nitrobenzoselenazole, 6-nitrobenzoselenazole, 5-chloro-6-nitrobenzoselenazole, nitro group-substituted naphthoselenazoles, etc.); a thiazoline nucleus, (e.g., thiazoline, 4-methylthiazoline, 4-nitrothiazoline, etc.); a 2-pyridine nucleus, (e.g., 2-pyridine, 5-methyl-2-pyridine, etc.); a 4-pyridine nucleus (e.g., 4-pyridine, 3-methyl-4-pyridine, nitro group-substituted pyridines, etc.); a 3,3-dialkylindolenine nucleus (e.g., 3,3-dimethylindolenine, 3,3-diethyl-5 or 6-cyanoindolenine, 3,3-diethyl-5 or 6-nitroindolenine, 3,3-dimethyl-5 or 6-nitroindolenine, etc.); an imidazole nucleus, (e.g., imidazole, 1-alkylimidazole, benzimidazole, 1,3-dialkyl, 1,3-diaryl or 1-alkyl-3-arylimidazoles and benzimidazoles, such as 5-chloro-1,3-dialkylbenzimidazoles, 5-chloro-1,3-diarylbenzimidazoles, 5,6-dichloro-1,3-diarylbenzimidazoles, 5-methoxy-1,3-dialkylbenzimidazoles, 5-methoxy-1,3-diarylbenzimidazoles, 5-cyano-1,3-dialkylbenzimidazoles, 5-cyano-1,3-diarylbenzimidazoles, 1,3-dialkylnaphth[1,2-d]imidazole, 1,3-diarylnaphth[2,1-d]imidazole, etc.); a quinoline nucleus, (e.g., quinoline, 6-methylquinoline, 6-methoxyquinoline, 6-ethoxyquinoline, 6-chloroquinoline, 4-methoxyquinoline, 4-methylquinoline, 8-methoxyquinoline, .beta.-methylquinoline, 4-chloroquinoline, 6-nitroquinoline, etc.); an imidazo-[4,5-b]quinoxaline nucleus (as described in Brooker and Van Lare, U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,111), (e.g., imidazo[4,5-b]-quinoxaline, 1,3-dialkylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline such as 1,3-diethylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline, 6-chloro-1,3-diethylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline, etc., 1,3-dialkenylimidazo[4,5-b]-quinoxaline such as 1,3-diallylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline, 6-chloro-1,3-diallylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline, etc., 1,3-diarylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline such as 1,3-diphenylimidazo[4,5-b]quinoxaline, 6-chloro-1,3-diphenylimidazo[4,5-b]-quinoxaline, etc.); a 3H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine nucleus, e.g., 3,3-dialkyl-3H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine such as 3,3-dimethyl-3H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine, 3,3-diethyl-3H-pyrrolo-[2,3-b]pyridine, 1,3,3-trialkyl-3H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine such as 1,3,3-triethyl-3H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine, etc.); and a thiazolo[4,5-b]quinoline nucleus; a pyrylium (including benzopyrylium, thiapyrylium and benzothiapyrylium) nucleus; and a dithiolinium nucleus.
These dyes will hereinafter be referred to as o-nitro-substituted dyes.
The above dyes, wherein k represents O, preferably are prepared by reacting a heterocyclic salt of the formula: ##STR3## with a nitro-substituted compound having the formula: III. ##STR4## In the above formulae II and III, m, A, Z.sub.1, L and Y have the same meaning as defined above, G represents a halide such as fluoride, chloride or bromide, and X represents an acid anion (e.g., halide such as chloride, bromide, or iodide, p-toluenesulfonate, thiocyanate, sulfamate, perchlorate fluoroborate, methylsulfonate, ethylsulfonate, fluorosulfonate, 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonate, etc.).
In accordance with this process of preparation, nitro-substituted dyes are prepared by the nucleophilic substitution of a compound of formula II for the G substituent of the o-nitro-substituted compound of formula III. This reaction is advantageously conducted in a suitable solvent. Suitable solvents include any non-nucleophilic solvent such as acetonitrile, benzene, dimethylformamide, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, ether and the like. The quantity of solvent to provide a fluid reaction mixture, suitable from 2 to 10 weight units of solvent per weight unit of reactants.
The reaction is generally conducted at elevated temperatures to accelerate the reaction. Suitable temperatures range from about 40.degree. C. up to about 150.degree. C., although temperatures of from about 60.degree. C. to about 100.degree. C. are preferred. Most conveniently, a reaction solvent is chosen which has a boiling point at atmospheric pressure in the preferred range and the reaction is conducted at the reflux temperature of the reaction mixture.
The reaction time must be of sufficient duration to allow the reaction to go to completion. If conducted in the preferred range, the reaction is usually complete within 1 to 3 hours. The product is thereupon recovered from the reaction mixture. If acetonitrile is used as the reaction solvent, the dye is generally obtained as a crystalline product when the reaction mixture is cooled to room temperature and allowed to stand for several hours.
The above dyes wherein k represents 1 are prepared by reacting a heterocyclic ammonium salt of the formula: ##STR5## with a nitro-substituted compound having the formula: ##STR6## In the above formulas IV and V; m, A, Z.sub.1, L, Y and X have the same meaning as defined above. R.sub.2 represents a displaceable electrophilic group such as anilino, acetanilino, alkoxy, halo, mercapto and the like. Instead of utilizing a single vinylene group attached to R.sub.2 in formula IV, two or more vinylene groups can be interposed between R.sub.2 and the heterocyclic ring and the resulting dye.
The above reaction is conducted in the presence of a base-solvent combination. Preferably the bases are non-nucleophilic bases such as diisopropylethylamine, sodium hydride, butyl lithium, etc. Suitable solvents include tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, dimethyl sulfoxide, acetonitrile and the like. Reaction times and temperatures can be chosen in the same manner as for the preceeding dye preparation method.
These ortho-nitro-substituted dyes exhibit excellent photobleaching properties. That is, they are colored until exposed to electromagnetic radiation to which they are sensitive. The dyes thereupon decolorize or are bleached in such a manner that they have significantly less absorbance. These dyes photobleach both in solutions as well as in the solid state, although the rate of bleaching is generally faster when in solution form.
The relative rate of bleaching of different compounds depends on various factors such as the heterocyclic moiety containing the electron donating atom (e.g., in formula I that portion of the formula containing Z.sub.1). The rate of bleaching also depends upon the number of nitro groups on the azaaryl ring and their position relative to the methine chain.
The o-nitro-substituted dyes can be used with photographic supports and elements for several different purposes. In one form the dyes can be incorporated into a photographic support or coated onto the support in a binder and used to produce photographic images. One or more of the photobleachable dyes associated with the support are simply imagewise exposed to actinic electromagnetic radiation for a length of time sufficient to cause the amount of bleaching desired. Since the dyes bleach directly upon exposure, no processing is required in order to obtain a visible image. The images obtained can be viewed under low-intensity light or under lighting conditions not containing electromagnetic radiation to which dye or dyes are sensitive. A positive of the original image is obtained.
When the photograph is viewed under normal lighting conditions, the background areas initially protected from exposure will be bleached unless special precautions are taken. Since the intensity of normal indoor room lighting is generally much lower than the intensity of the exposing light, the image can be viewed for several minutes or more without significant degradation of quality. If it is later desired that the image be obliterated, this can be easily accomplished by blanket exposure to electromagnetic radiation until the image is no longer visible. Because of the nonstable properties of the photograph obtained, it can be used as a proof image. If a permanent record of the proof is desired, it can be photographically copied using conventional photographic materials.
Preferably, instead of relying upon the o-nitro-substituted dyes to produce images, they can be incorporated into a photographic element and employed for the antihalation protection of a separate light-sensitive imaging material. The dyes can be incorporated in the support for the element, in a separate layer between the support and the layer containing the light sensitive imaging material, or in a separate layer on the opposite side from the light sensitive layer. Additionally, the dyes can be dispersed within a light-sensitive imaging layer to reduce light scattering within the imaging layer and thereby contribute to the formation of sharper images--i.e., provide antihalation protection internally of the imaging layer.
Accordingly, one embodiment of my invention is a photographic element comprising a support, a light sensitive layer and incorporated in the support, in the light sensitive layer or in a separate layer adjacent to the support, a photobleachable o-nitro-o-azaarylidene dye in which the o-nitro-o-azaaryl group of the dye is joined through a methine linkage to a basic heterocyclic group containing an electron donating atom linked to the nitro group through an even number of atoms. In a specific embodiment the o-nitro dyes are used as antihalation dyes in photographic elements.
Inasmuch as the photobleachable o-nitro-substituted dyes provide antihalation protection by physical means, i.e. absorption of light, the nature of the light sensitive layer is not significant and any light sensitive materials which would benefit from antihalation protection could be used in the photographic elements of this invention. Preferably, the light sensitive layer contains photosensitive silver halide.
Since the optical density attributable to the dyes is readily decreased by exposure to light, there is no need to remove the dye after imagewise exposure of the light sensitive layer, as is typical of conventional antihalation materials. Further, by using the o-nitro-substituted dyes for antihalation protection, the difficulties of contamination of processing solutions or the use of separate processing steps required for antihalation layer removal can be avoided. It is to be recognized that in antihalation and filter layer applications the dye is not required to bleach on imagewise exposure. Rather the o-nitro-substituted dye can be primarily bleached after processing of the photographic element, if desired. For most applications the dyes are sufficiently bleached merely by allowing the exposed and processed photograph to remain uniformly exposed to ambient room light. It is, of course, recognized that the dyes can be quickly bleached by uniform exposure to actinic electromagnetic radiation at a higher intensity than ambient room light.
While the o-nitro-substituted dyes can be employed for antihalation and filtering with a variety of conventional photographic imaging layers, these dyes are particularly advantageous when employed in combination with photothermographic imaging layers. As is well appreciated by those skilled in the art, photothermographic elements are processed by heating to elevated temperatures, typically within the temperature range of from 80.degree. to 170.degree. C. The o-nitro-substituted dyes are well suited for use in photothermographic elements, since they surprisingly possess a high level of thermal stability, yet are readily photobleachable. The thermal stability of the o-nitro-substituted dyes is, of course, also advantageous in applications where it is desired to incorporate the dye into a melt from which the support is to be fabricated.
In still another application, when the o-nitro-substituted dyes are chosen to be adsorbed by silver halide crystals, they can be incorporated into a silver halide emulsion for the purpose of desensitizing the emulsion. This is particularly advantageous where it is desired to provide an emulsion that can be handled under safelight or ambient lighting conditions with retention of sensitivity to more intense or different wavelength radiation--e.g., X-ray radiation. Those o-nitro-substituted dyes which are not readily adsorbed by silver halide crystals are useful in silver halide emulsions as light absorbing (internal antihalation) dyes.
In a simple form the present invention is directed to a photographic support incorporating therein an o-nitro-substituted dye. In order to use the dyes for imaging or antihalation protection when incorporated within the support it is necessary that the support be transparent (and it is usually preferred that the support be substantially colorless) except for the dye present. A variety of conventional transparent photographic film supports are known to the art in which the o-nitro-substituted dyes can be incorporated. These supports can be broadly categorized for purposes of this discussion into those that can be solvent cast and those that are formed from a melt. The o-nitro-substituted dyes of this invention can be dissolved in nonionic solvents such as toluene, acetone, dichloromethane, dioxane, dimethylformamide, and the like. To incorporate the o-nitro-substituted dye into a solvent cast film support, such as a cellulosic support--e.g., cellulose nitrate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate, etc.--it is merely necessary to dissolve the support forming material and the dye in a common solvent system. The o-nitro-substituted dye can be incorporated into melt formed polymer film supports merely by dispersing the dye within the molten polymer. Since the o-nitro-substituted dyes possess a surprising degree of thermal stability they can be incorporated into melt formed film support materials such as polyalkylenes (e.g., polyethylene), polystyrene, terephthalic acid polyesters such as poly(ethylene terephthalate), polycarbonates and other, lower melting resinous polymers useful in forming film supports. It is generally preferred that the dyes be substantially homogeneously dispersed within the film support so as to exhibit uniform optical density upon viewing the support. This can be readily achieved by thoroughly mixing the dye with the support material using procedures well known in the art.
As is well understood by those skilled in the art very small quantities of antihalation dyes are incorporated in nominally transparent film supports for the purpose of minimizing halation due to laterally transmitted light. Accordingly, the dyes of the present invention will provide some degree of antihalation even when incorporated in quantities too low to be visually detected. However, for most antihalation applications it is preferred that the dyes be incorporated into the support in a concentration sufficient to provide an optical density of at least 0.5, most preferably at least 1.0, before photobleaching. For imaging applications the dye is incorporated in a concentration sufficient to yield an optical density differential between image and background areas of at least 0.05. However, for most imaging applications it is preferred that an optical density differential of at least 0.20 be obtainable and, most preferably, an optical density differential in excess of 0.50.
Where the o-nitro-substituted dye is coated onto a support rather than being incorporated therein, it is, of course, possible to employ any conventional photographic support. The support can be opaque or transparent. The support can take any one of a variety of diverse forms, such as a glass, metal, film, wood, paper or composite (e.g., resin coated paper) support. Where the dye is employed for imaging it is preferred that the dye be chosen to offer a visual contrast in hue or density with respect to the support. To immobilize spatially the dye on the support it is generally prferred that it be incorporated within a transparent binder. In one form the binder with the dye dispersed therein can be identical to the support compositions with the dye incorporated therein as previously discussed. The dye can also be incorporated into any conventional photographic vehicle. Generally any conventional transparent binder can be used. The binder layer containing the dye can be located directly on the support or can be separated by one or more undercoats provided for the purpose of improving adhesion to the support. Suitable conventional photographic vehicles useful as binders and layer arrangements are described in Product Licensing Index, Vol. 92, December 1971, publication 9232, page 108, paragraph VIII, here incorporated by reference. (Product Licensing Index is published by Industrial Opportunities, Ltd., Homewell Havant, Hampshire PO9 1EF, U.K.) Generally, the dye concentration in the binder layer is chosen to provide optical densities similar to those set forth above for dyes incorporated in the support. Optically homogeneous dispersion of the dye in the binder is preferred. This can be achieved by techniques well known to those skilled in the art.
One method which has been found to yield satisfactory results is to prepare a 5 to 10 percent by weight solution of the binding agent in a satisfactory solvent and to saturate the solution with the o-nitro-substituted dye. Generally any solvent which exhibits good solvent action for the binding agent is suitable. However, lower molecular-weight solvents having relatively high volatility such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate and the like are particularly useful. When binding agents such as gelatin are used which are normally dissolved in water, it may be necessary to dissolve the dye in another solvent and disperse the dye solution in the binding agent solution to form an emulsion. Instead of being dissolved or emulsified in the binder the dye can be finely comminuted to minimize graininess, preferably to average particle sizes of less than 5 microns, most preferably below 1 micron, and simply uniformly dispersed in the binder of agent solution.
The dye blended in the binder or binding agent solution is coated on the support to form the photographic element. Coating can be accomplished by various coating procedures including dip-coating, air-knife coating, curtain-coating, doctor-blade coating or extrusion coating using hoppers of the type described in Beguin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,681,294. If desired, two or more layers may be coated simultaneously by the procedures described in Russell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,761,791, and Wynn, British Pat. No. 837,095. The coverage at which the dispersion is coated on the support can vary widely depending upon the properties of the particular blend and the results to be achieved. For example, satisfactory results are generally obtained when a 5 to 10 percent by weight solution of the binding agent saturated with dye is coated. Wet coated thicknesses of 2 to 100 microns are generally preferred for imaging applications with coatings of like thicknesses or considerably less being useful for antihalation applications.
Where the o-nitro-substituted dyes are to be employed for imaging, it is unnecessary that any other radiation-responsive material be present. In a simple form then a photographic element useful for producing an image can consist of only the support with the dye incorporated therein or incorporated thereon in a binder layer. An image is formed merely by exposing the o-nitro-substituted dye to actinic electromagnetic radiation. Additional dye, addenda, layers and structural features can be associated with the photographic element which are not incompatible with the intended imaging application.
The electromagnetic radiation to which the dyes are sensitive varies with each particular dye and ranges from the long-wavelength ultraviolet region and into the infrared region, but usually falls in the visible region. Generally speaking, suitable imaging exposures can be accomplished with a tungsten light source. Exposure time depends upon the intensity of the source.
To use the o-nitro-substituted dyes for antihalation protection it is merely necessary to have at least one other radiation-sensitive layer associated with the support. Where the o-nitro-substituted dye is incorporated in a binder layer, this layer can be overcoated with the additional radiation-sensitive layer. Alternatively, the binder layer can be located on the opposite face of the support from the additional radiation-sensitive layer. It is merely necessary that the o-nitro-substituted dye be capable of absorbing radiation of a wavelength capable of exposing the additional radiation-sensitive layer in order for the dye to provide effective antihalation protection.
Where it is desired to employ the dyes for filtering, the o-nitro-substituted dyes can be used in a separate layer similar or identical to the antihalation layer described above, but with the difference that the filter layer overlies at least one other radiation-sensitive layer. Where a plurality of radiation-sensitive imaging elements are employed, as in color photography, the filter layer can be advantageously located between adjacent radiation-sensitive imaging layers. As is well understood by those skilled in the art, the optical density and spectral absorption of the dye in the filter layer can be varied widely, depending upon the particular choice of radiation-sensitive imaging layers and photographic effects desired. Typically the o-nitro-substituted dyes are employed for filtering purposes in concentrations sufficient to yield optical densities of 3.0 or less, most typically from 0.5 to 2.0. The photobleaching and thermal stability characteristics of the o-nitro-substituted dyes are advantageous in filter layers similarly as in antihalation layers.
While the additional radiation-sensitive layer can take any one of a variety of conventional forms, it is particularly contemplated to employ the o-nitro-substituted dyes for antihalation protection and for filtering with silver halide emulsion coatings. It is further considered particularly advantageous to utilize the o-nitro-substituted dyes for antihalation and filtering in photothermographic elements.
The described o-nitro-substituted dyes are useful in a variety of photothermographic elements.
Exemplary photothermographic elements are described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,904 of deMauriac, issued June 27, 1972; Belgian Pat. No. 802,519, issued Jan. 18, 1974; U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,075 of Morgan et al, issued July 22, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,438 of Lokken, issued Nov. 5, 1968 and U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 26,719 of Sorensen et al, issued Nov. 18, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,020 of Yutzy et al, issued July 9, 1968; U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,739 of Ohkubo, issued Feb. 29, 1972; Belgian Pat. No. 765,452, issued May 28, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,903 of Shepard et al, issued Oct. 13, 1964; U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,901 of Lyons, issued June 29, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,903, issued June 29, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,328 of Birkeland, issued Oct. 9, 1973; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,329 of Lee, issued Oct. 9, 1973.
Other exemplary photothermographic elements in which the described o-nitro-substituted dyes are useful are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,444 of Haist et al, issued Apr. 14, 1970; Belgian Pat. No. 799,262, issued Nov. 8, 1973; and Belgian Pat. No. 766,590, issued June 15, 1971.
It is specifically recognized that the o-nitro-substituted dyes of this invention can be used as an absorber dye directly within a radiation-sensitive layer to prevent radiation scattering within this layer. By absorbing scattered radiation sharper images are obtained. It is specifically contemplated to incorporate the o-nitro-substituted dyes in silver halide emulsions to act as absorber dyes. Since the o-nitro-substituted dyes can be photobleached after the photographic element is fully processed, the concentration of the o-nitro-substituted dye is typically limited only by the reduction in speed that can be tolerated for the radiation-sensitive layer. Very low levels of incorporated o-nitro-substituted dye will produce a significant increase in sharpness, since a significant component of scattered radiation moves laterally. For most applicantions it is preferred to incorporate from 0.01 to 0.40 gram of o-nitro-substituted dye per gram of silver halide present in the radiation-sensitive layer. The dye is, of course, chosen to absorb radiation of a wavelength to which the radiation-sensitive layer is responsive.
In addition to acting as an absorbing dye which provides internal antihalation protection to a radiation-sensitive layer the o-nitro-substituted dye can also act as a desensitizer for silver halide emulsions. It is preferred to employ those o-nitro-substituted dyes of this invention as absorber dyes in silver halide emulsions which are less readily or totally unadsorbed by silver halide crystals and to employ those remaining dyes which are more readily adsorbed by silver halide crystals as desensitizers.
As used herein, "a desensitizer" for a photographic silver halide emulsion refers to a dye which, when added to a gelatinous silver bromoiodide emulsion containing 2.5 mole percent iodide (based on total silver halide) at a concentration of from 0.01 to 0.4 gram of dye per mole of silver halide, causes a loss in the blue speed of the emulsion when sensitometrically exposed and developed for 6 minutes in an Elon-hydroquinone developer at room temperature. Preferred desensitizers are those which, when tested as just described, cause a loss of at least 50 percent and preferably 90 percent or more of speed to blue radiation.
The o-nitro-substituted dyes can be incorporated into radiation-sensitive layers, such as silver halide emulsion coatings, by techniques well known to those skilled in the art. For example, to prepare a gelatino-silver halide emulsion incorporating the o-nitro-substituted dye, a quantity of the dye is dissolved in methyl alcohol or other suitable solvent, and this solution (which can be diluted with water) containing the dye is slowly added to 1000 cc of a gelatino-silver halide emulsion with stirring. It is, of course, desired to substantially uniformly disperse the dye within the radiation-sensitive layer, so that localized variations in coating response are minimized. The radiation-sensitive layers and the silver halide emulsion layers specifically can take any desired conventional form, and it is specifically contemplated to employ the o-nitro-substituted dyes in multilayer elements, such as those typically employed to form conventional color photographs. Typical emulsions, addenda, coatings and coating combinations contemplated for use with the o-nitro-substituted dyes are illustrated by those disclosed in Product Licensing Index, Vol. 92, December 1971, publication 9232, pages 107 through 110, (Product Licensing Index is published by Industrial Opportunities, Ltd., Homewell Havant, Hampshire PO9 1EF, U.K.), the disclosure of which is here incorporated by reference. | {
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Pedicle screws held by clamps in osteosynthetic assemblies are one type of implant used for treating spinal injuries and deformities. In one common treatment the pedicle screws are driven into the pedicles of vertebrae above and below the injured vertebra or vertebrae. A supporting rod is attached to the pedicle screws, for example, by clamps or by threading it through slots in the pedicle screws. The supporting rod holds the spinal column approximately in its desired alignment, thereby relieving pressure on the injured vertebra or vertebrae and permitting it to heal and regain its natural conformation.
One type of pedicle screw is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,596, filed Mar. 2, 1988, commonly owned herewith.
As noted, clamps may be used to connect rigidly the part of the pedicle screw protruding from the vertebra to a spinal support rod. In most of these known clamps the pedicle screw and the supporting rod are arranged in the same plane allowing no adjustment to anatomical requirements.
In another known type of pedicle screw clamp (according to AT-B 387,710 to Sulzer) the central axis of the pedicle screw and the central axis of the support rod are located in different planes but are still maintained at a fixed, non-adjustable distance, again preventing the surgeon from adapting the clamp to anatomical needs. Furthermore, these known pedicle screw clamps do not permit relative angular adjustment of the pedicle screw and the support rod. Thus, current clamps do not allow sufficient adjustment to the specific alignment required by each patient's needs. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, a computer-readable recording medium, and an inspection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques for detecting distinguishing points (pixels) and regions within images, such as detection of abnormalities through appearance inspection of products or using monitoring cameras, have been already known. In conventional techniques for detecting distinctive points (pixels) and regions within images, a group of reference images that are normal are prepared in advance. A step that often follows this is calculating the difference between feature values, such as luminance values, of each pixel and a corresponding pixel in inspection target images and reference images to identify changes between images.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-265661 proposes image inspection configured to statistically determine a normal range of luminance values in an inspection target image in appearance inspection of products, thereby being independent of an inspection operator. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-160629 proposes a method in which averages and standard deviations of luminance values of corresponding pixels in the respective reference images are determined in advance. In the method, when inspection is then conducted, standard scores for respective pixels are obtained by subtracting the corresponding average values from luminance values in an inspection target image and then dividing results of the subtraction by the corresponding standard deviations, and a pixel the standard score of which is larger than a previously determined threshold is identified as an abnormal pixel.
However, the conventional techniques are disadvantageous in that abnormalities cannot be adequately detected when there is an error in positioning of an inspection target and there is a slight change in shape of an inspection target. Furthermore, the method in which standard scores are obtained using averages all over an image is disadvantageous in that a local abnormality cannot be detected in some cases because a locally existing abnormality acts as a noise component all over the image. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a MOSFET device and, more particularly, to a method for fabricating a MOSFET capable of forming an ultra shallow junction and improving the stability of threshold voltage control.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, gates of MOSFET devices are typically made from polysilicon. This is because polysilicon provides the properties required for gates, for example, high melting point, easy formation of thin films, easy patterning of lines, stability in an oxidizing atmosphere, and suitability for the formation of planarized surfaces. Where such polysilicon gates are employed in MOSFET devices, the resistance is typically lowered by doping the polysilicon with a dopant such as phosphorous (P), arsenic (As), or boron (B).
Meanwhile, the increased degree of integration of MOSFET devices requires corresponding reductions in the values of various parameters, such as the line width of gates, the thickness of gate insulating films, and/or the junction depth in those MOSFET devices. For this reason, where highly integrated MOSFET devices are fabricated using polysilicon gates, it is difficult to achieve the desired low resistance while also achieving the required micro line width. Thus, it is necessary to develop gates made of a material after than doped for polysilicon.
At the early stage of this development, active research and development efforts have been made in connection with polycide gates employing a transition metal-silicide material.
However, such polycide gates are limited in their ability to provide low resistance gates due to the fact that polysilicon still remains in the electrode structure. That is, polycide gates have problems such as increasing the effective thickness of gate insulating film due to a gate depletion effect and introducing variations in the threshold voltage as a result of boron penetration and dopant distribution fluctuations in P+ polysilicon gates.
As a result, active research and development efforts have recently become more focused on metal gates. The metal gates solve the above mentioned problems involved in the polycide gates because they do not use any dopant. Also, where such a metal gate comprises a metal having a work function value corresponding to the mid band-gap of silicon, it can be fabricated into gates usable for both NMOS and PMOS type devices. Metals having a work function value corresponding to the mid band-gap of silicon may include tungsten (W), tungsten nitride (WN), titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), molybdenum (M), tantalum (Ta), and tantalum nitride (TaN).
Where such a metal gate is actually employed in a MOSFET device, however, it introduces problems associated with the required processing, such as etching difficulties damage generated by plasma during the etching process and ion implantation, and/or thermal damage resulting from thermal processes subsequent to the formation of the gate that tend to degrade device characteristics.
For this reason, it is difficult to form such a metal gate using conventional gate formation processes. To this end, a method has been proposed in which the metal gates are formed using a damascene process. The metal gate formation method using the damascene process involves sequential formation of a transistor including a sacrificial gate made of polysilicon, formation of an interlayer insulating film, removal of the sacrificial gate, deposition of metal film, and a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process for the metal film.
Since this metal gate formation method process involves no etching processes, it has advantages of avoiding etch-induced degradation in the characteristics of the device. Moreover, the method can integrated easily into a conventional MOSFET process by selecting the metal suitable for CMP processing.
A conventional MOSFET fabrication method using a damascene process will be described in conjunction with FIGS. 1A to 1H.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a silicon substrate 1 is first prepared which has field oxide films 2 defining an active region. A first thermal oxide film 3 is formed as a screen oxide film on the silicon substrate 1 to cover the active region. Thereafter, desired impurity ions are implanted to control threshold voltage into the silicon substrate 1 through the first thermal oxide film 3.
Referring to FIG. 1B, the first thermal oxide film is removed, and a oxide film 4 is then formed on the silicon substrate 1. A polysilicon film 5 is deposited on the filed oxide film 2 and the oxide film 4. A hard mask film 6 of oxide film or nitride film is then deposited on the polysilicon film 5.
Referring to FIG. 1C, a hard mask pattern 6a is formed by patterning the hard mask film in accordance with a conventional photolithography process. The polysilicon film and the oxide film 4 are then etched using the hard mask pattern 6a as an etch mask to form a sacrificial gate 5a. A gate re-oxidation process is conducted on the resultant structure to remove the etch damage from the silicon substrate 1 and prevent it from further damage during the subsequent implantation process. As a result of this reox process, a second thermal oxide film 11 is formed on the side walls of the sacrificial gate 5a and the exposed surfaces of the silicon substrate 1.
Referring to FIG. 1D, impurity ions having a desired conductivity are implanted in a low concentration into portions of the silicon substrate 1 on opposite sides of the sacrificial gate 5a, thereby forming a lightly doped drain LDD region 12.
Referring to FIG. 1E, the second thermal oxide film is removed. A nitride film is deposited on the entire resultant structure and then the nitride film is blanket etched, thereby forming a spacer 13 on the side walls of the sacrificial gate 5a and the hard mask pattern 6a. Impurity ions having a desired conductivity are then implanted in a high concentration into portions of the silicon substrate on opposite sides of the sacrificial gate 5a including the spacer 13, thereby forming source/drain regions 14.
Referring to FIG. 1F, an interlayer insulating film is deposited on the resultant structure. The interlayer insulating film 15 and the hard mask pattern 6a are polished by employing a CMP process using the sacrificial gate 5a as a polishing stop layer. As a result, the interlayer insulating film 15 is planarized, the hard mask pattern is removed, and the sacrificial gate 5a is exposed.
Referring to FIG. 1G, the exposed sacrificial gate is removed, thereby forming a groove defining a region where a metal gate is to be formed. A gate insulating film 16 is then formed on the resultant structure. A metal film 17 is then deposited to a thickness at least sufficient to fill the groove completely.
Referring to FIG. 1H, a metal gate 20 is then formed by polishing the metal film in accordance with a CMP process using the interlayer insulating film 15 as a polishing stop layer, thereby completing a MOSFET device having a metal gate 20.
However, in accordance with a conventional MOSFET fabrication method, it is difficult to form an ultra shallow junction required in a high integrated MOSFET device. For this reason, it is necessary to use a process technique capable of forming elevated source/drain regions. Moreover, there is a disadvantage that tends to produce unstable MOSFET threshold voltages because the impurity ions implanted for controlling threshold voltage have a varied distribution after the thermal processing.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a MOSFET device fabrication method capable of forming an ultra shallow junction and ensuring the stability of the threshold voltage.
In accordance with the present invention, this object is accomplished by providing a method for fabricating a MOSFET device comprising the steps of preparing a silicon substrate provided with field oxide films; forming a oxide film and a polysilicon film on the silicon substrate; forming a hard mask pattern defining a gate formation region on the polysilicon film; forming a sacrificial gate by etching the polysilicon film and the oxide film using the hard mask pattern as an etch mask; forming a thermal oxide film on the side walls of the sacrificial gate and the exposed surface of silicon substrate by a re-oxidation process; forming LDD regions in the silicon substrate at opposite sides of the sacrificial gate by implanting impurity ions having a desired conductivity using the sacrificial gate as an ion implantation mask; removing the thermal oxide film; forming a spacer on the side walls of the sacrificial gate and the hard mask pattern; forming source/drain regions in portions of silicon substrate on at opposite sides of the sacrificial gate by implanting impurity ions having a desired conductivity using the sacrificial gate and the spacer as an ion implantation mask; depositing an interlayer insulating film on the resultant structure; removing a portion of the interlayer insulating film and the hard mask pattern to expose the sacrificial gate and planarize the structure; removing the exposed sacrificial gate to form a groove exposing that portion of silicon substrate that had been under the sacrificial gate; etching the exposed portion of silicon substrate to a desired thickness; forming a sacrificial oxide film on the etched surface of silicon substrate; implanting impurity ions for controlling threshold voltage into the silicon substrate through the sacrificial oxide film; removing the sacrificial oxide film; forming a gate insulating film on the resultant structure; depositing a desired metal film on the gate insulating film sufficient to fill the groove completely; and forming a metal gate by etching the metal film and the gate insulating film until the interlayer insulating film is exposed. | {
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The invention relates generally to the handling of conductors adapted to be connected to and disconnected from the receptacles of electrical and other appliances having multiple line connections. | {
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Recent years have seen a trend to down size computers. Presently there are generally speaking, physical size classifications for computers that are arranged as follows( largest to smallest): main frame, personal, desk top, lap top, note pads (notebook) and hand held. The latter three categories include computers which are easily carried by a person. Printers for computers have kept a pace with the down sizing trends also. They too are easily carried by a person and come in portable sizes.
The consumer often desires portability as a feature of his computer work station, the work station having the computer, the printer, at least one power supply and paper. Thus, the computer, printer, paper and related accessories such as power supplies and electrical cables (collectively the "components") are often packed into a case, bag or the like for ease of transportation.
These components, being fragile, must be packed carefully. Typically, they are packed in hard case or soft cases. The soft case is often a canvas or vinyl bag with a foam lining. Such a bag does not physically hold the components and accessories together as a working unit but does form some limited protection from interference from outside. Typical hard cases comprise a small, hinged suitcase (similar to those used for luggage) containing cut-out foam. Such cases are typical of those for video cameras and for hand held cameras. The cut-out foam generally contains two main pockets, one pocket for the lap top and one pocket for the printer. A number of pockets are also cut out for the accessories (power supplies, cables, paper and the like). The accessories are usually disassembled and need to be placed together before use. These cases have no place for paper or printer stand. The accessories still need to be assembled before use. Moreover, the hard case/foam type generally collect dust or create their own by the dissolution of the foam. The dust gets into the components and creates problems. Additionally, as the foam settles, the fit loosens. The typical hard case/foam when turned upside down will allow the components to fall loosely within, or out of, the case. The components in such cases cannot be removed as a unit assembly, but require assembly. Thus, none of the typical hard or soft cases can be defined as a portable work station. That is, a portable work station requires the two main components of the system, the computer and the printer, to be held rigidly within the case in pre-assembled, ready to use positions. None of the typical hard or soft cases adapt the computer, the printer, the paper (in position for use) and related accessories to the case in a manner which allows ready use of the system upon opening the case, without any pre-assembly.
One such case which does provide such portability is the Gemini I, II and III from Gemini, Inc., Canon Falls, Minn., as more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,776 (1990, Kabanok et al). The Gemini is a portable work station enclosed in a hard case which allows the user, upon opening the case, to use the system without further assembly of the components. The Gemini consists of a molded plastic floor with a support pedestal for the lap top and the printer permanently attached to the bottom of the case. The paper feeds the printer through a storage compartment beneath the printer stand. The lid of the hard case is detachable. However, the Gemini is not adapted to store accessory items. Nor is the Gemini adapted to properly guide paper from the paper storage compartment to the printer. The lack of proper paper guides, the lack of proper accessory storage compartment areas, as well as the generally limited ability of the Gemini to portably maintain all the components of the work place in a self-contained system, has presented severe shortcomings to the consumer.
Last, the Gemini unit is integral with the bottom shell of the case and not removable from it. Thus, there is needed a portable work station having a hard case in which is contained an adapter which spatially fixes a lap top computer and a printer over a paper and accessories' compartment, which adapter may be easily removed from the hard case, without the use of tools. | {
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Companies and consumers increasingly depend on computers to process, distribute, and play back high quality video content. Engineers use compression (also called source coding or source encoding) to reduce the bit rate of digital video. Compression decreases the cost of storing and transmitting video information by converting the information into a lower bit rate form. Decompression (also called decoding) reconstructs a version of the original information from the compressed form. A “codec” is an encoder/decoder system.
Compression can be lossless, in which the quality of the video does not suffer, but decreases in bit rate are limited by the inherent amount of variability (sometimes called source entropy) of the input video data. Or, compression can be lossy, in which the quality of the video suffers, and the lost quality cannot be completely recovered, but achievable decreases in bit rate are more dramatic. Lossy compression is often used in conjunction with lossless compression—lossy compression establishes an approximation of information, and the lossless compression is applied to represent the approximation.
A basic goal of lossy compression is to provide good rate-distortion performance. So, for a particular bit rate, an encoder attempts to provide the highest quality of video. Or, for a particular level of quality/fidelity to the original video, an encoder attempts to provide the lowest bit rate encoded video. In practice, considerations such as encoding time, encoding complexity, encoding resources, decoding time, decoding complexity, decoding resources, overall delay, and/or smoothness in quality/bit rate changes also affect decisions made in codec design as well as decisions made during actual encoding.
In general, video compression techniques include “intra-picture” compression and “inter-picture” compression. Intra-picture compression techniques compress a picture with reference to information within the picture, and inter-picture compression techniques compress a picture with reference to a preceding and/or following picture (often called a reference or anchor picture) or pictures.
For intra-picture compression, for example, an encoder splits a picture into 8×8 blocks of samples, where a sample is a number that represents the intensity of brightness or the intensity of a color component for a small, elementary region of the picture, and the samples of the picture are organized as arrays or planes. The encoder applies a frequency transform to individual blocks. The frequency transform converts an 8×8 block of samples into an 8×8 block of transform coefficients. The encoder quantizes the transform coefficients, which may result in lossy compression. For lossless compression, the encoder entropy codes the quantized transform coefficients.
Inter-picture compression techniques often use motion estimation and motion compensation to reduce bit rate by exploiting temporal redundancy in a video sequence. Motion estimation is a process for estimating motion between pictures. For example, for an 8×8 block of samples or other unit of the current picture, the encoder attempts to find a match of the same size in a search area in another picture, the reference picture. Within the search area, the encoder compares the current unit to various candidates in order to find a candidate that is a good match. When the encoder finds an exact or “close enough” match, the encoder parameterizes the change in position between the current and candidate units as motion data (such as a motion vector (“MV”)). In general, motion compensation is a process of reconstructing pictures from reference picture(s) using motion data.
The example encoder also computes the sample-by-sample difference between the original current unit and its motion-compensated prediction to determine a residual (also called a prediction residual or error signal). The encoder then applies a frequency transform to the residual, resulting in transform coefficients. The encoder quantizes the transform coefficients and entropy codes the quantized transform coefficients.
If an intra-compressed picture or motion-predicted picture is used as a reference picture for subsequent motion compensation, the encoder reconstructs the picture. A decoder also reconstructs pictures during decoding, and it uses some of the reconstructed pictures as reference pictures in motion compensation. For example, for an 8×8 block of samples of an intra-compressed picture, an example decoder reconstructs a block of quantized transform coefficients. The example decoder and encoder perform inverse quantization and an inverse frequency transform to produce a reconstructed version of the original 8×8 block of samples.
As another example, the example decoder or encoder reconstructs an 8×8 block from a prediction residual for the block. The decoder decodes entropy-coded information representing the prediction residual. The decoder/encoder inverse quantizes and inverse frequency transforms the data, resulting in a reconstructed residual. In a separate motion compensation path, the decoder/encoder computes an 8×8 predicted block using motion vector information for displacement from a reference picture. The decoder/encoder then combines the predicted block with the reconstructed residual to form the reconstructed 8×8 block.
I. Video Codec Standards.
Over the last two decades, various video coding and decoding standards have been adopted, including the H.261, H.262 (MPEG-2) and H.263 series of standards and the MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 series of standards. More recently, the H.264 standard (sometimes referred to as AVC or JVT) and VC-1 standard have been adopted. For additional details, see representative versions of the respective standards.
Such a standard typically defines options for the syntax of an encoded video bit stream according to the standard, detailing the parameters that must be in the bit stream for a video sequence, picture, block, etc. when particular features are used in encoding and decoding. The standards also define how a decoder conforming to the standard should interpret the bit stream parameters—the bit stream semantics. In many cases, the standards provide details of the decoding operations the decoder should perform to achieve correct results. Often, however, the low-level implementation details of the operations are not specified, or the decoder is able to vary certain implementation details to improve performance, so long as the correct decoding results are still achieved.
During development of a standard, engineers may concurrently generate reference software, sometimes called verification model software or JM software, to demonstrate rate-distortion performance advantages of the various features of the standard. Typical reference software provides a “proof of concept” implementation that is not algorithmically optimized or optimized for a particular hardware platform. Moreover, typical reference software does not address multithreading implementation decisions, instead assuming a single threaded implementation for the sake of simplicity.
II. Acceleration of Video Decoding and Encoding.
While some video decoding and encoding operations are relatively simple, others are computationally complex. For example, inverse frequency transforms, fractional sample interpolation operations for motion compensation, in-loop deblock filtering, post-processing filtering, color conversion, and video re-sizing can require extensive computation. This computational complexity can be problematic in various scenarios, such as decoding of high-quality, high-bit rate video (e.g., compressed high-definition video). In particular, decoding tasks according to more recent standards such as H.264 and VC-1 can be computationally intensive and consume significant memory resources.
Some decoders use video acceleration to offload selected computationally intensive operations to a graphics processor. For example, in some configurations, a computer system includes a primary central processing unit (“CPU”) as well as a graphics processing unit (“GPU”) or other hardware specially adapted for graphics processing. A decoder uses the primary CPU as a host to control overall decoding and uses the GPU to perform simple operations that collectively require extensive computation, accomplishing video acceleration.
In a typical software architecture for video acceleration during video decoding, a video decoder controls overall decoding and performs some decoding operations using a host CPU. The decoder signals control information (e.g., picture parameters, macroblock parameters) and other information to a device driver for a video accelerator (e.g., with GPU) across an acceleration interface.
The acceleration interface is exposed to the decoder as an application programming interface (“API”). The device driver associated with the video accelerator is exposed through a device driver interface (“DDI”). In an example interaction, the decoder fills a buffer with instructions and information then calls a method of an interface to alert the device driver through the operating system. The buffered instructions and information, opaque to the operating system, are passed to the device driver by reference, and video information is transferred to GPU memory if appropriate. While a particular implementation of the API and DDI may be tailored to a particular operating system or platform, in some cases, the API and/or DDI can be implemented for multiple different operating systems or platforms.
In some cases, the data structures and protocol used to parameterize acceleration information are conceptually separate from the mechanisms used to convey the information. In order to impose consistency in the format, organization and timing of the information passed between the decoder and device driver, an interface specification can define a protocol for instructions and information for decoding according to a particular video decoding standard or product. The decoder follows specified conventions when putting instructions and information in a buffer. The device driver retrieves the buffered instructions and information according to the specified conventions and performs decoding appropriate to the standard or product. An interface specification for a specific standard or product is adapted to the particular bit stream syntax and semantics of the standard/product.
Given the critical importance of video compression and decompression to digital video, it is not surprising that compression and decompression are richly developed fields. Whatever the benefits of previous techniques and tools, however, they do not have the advantages of the following techniques and tools. | {
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1. Field
This invention relates generally to networks used in automotive applications, and more particularly to power and control policies used in automotive data networks.
2. Related Art
Currently available power management and control policies used in automotive data networks are adapted from policies used in traditional data networks, such as enterprise systems, data centers, and access systems. Power management and control policies in both automotive communication networks and the traditional data networks focus on identifying the type of traffic (e.g. whether traffic is video or audio data) and on satisfying restraints imposed by applications running on networked devices (e.g. whether data to a mission critical application can be delayed). For example, current technology allows networked devices to be placed in a low power state when link utilization is low, i.e. there is little or no data traffic to or from the device. Likewise, when data traffic to or from a device has a low priority, the device can be placed in a low power state. If, however, link utilization is high, or the data traffic is high priority, the device is not placed in a low power state.
Various techniques are currently available for implementing low power states. For example, legacy Ethernet standards for interfaces of 100 Mbps generally incorporate an idle state that allows use of a low power state when link usage is low, but in practice only minimal power savings are achieved. Proposed IEEE 802.3az standard achieves power savings by sending only occasional transmission data bursts during a low power idle state. Proposed IEEE 802.3az standard also achieves power savings by powering down part of a network interface during the low power idle state. For higher speed Ethernet applications such as Gigabit Ethernet, some techniques achieve power savings by reducing the data transfer rate of one or more lanes of data, or by turning off some of the data lanes.
Regardless of the way in which a low power state is implemented, however, decisions about if and when to place a device in a low power state must still be made. This decision is complicated by the fact that a decision that incorrectly places a device in a low power state can cause unnecessarily long link startup and acquisition times. Similarly, a decision not to place a device into a low power state can result in unnecessarily high power usage. As previously mentioned, conventional power management and control policies focus on the amount of traffic being sent over a link, the type of traffic being sent over the link, or operating constraints imposed by applications running on networked devices. Use of these conventional network metrics may not result in optimum decision making in all situations. It is apparent, therefore, that currently available techniques for controlling the amount of power used by networked devices are less than perfect. | {
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Image projectors can take many forms and use a variety of different technologies, which range in both cost and complexity. For example, many common projectors used in office, conference, and home theater systems for video projection make use of 3 color light recombination (red, green, blue) for full color video. In liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors, light from a lamp is separated for each of the red, green, and blue components and passed through LCD gates including a plurality of pixels for blocking or allowing the light to pass to generate an output light pattern. Digital light processing (DLP) and liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) projectors use similar technology but respectively make use of micromirror and reflective active matrix liquid-crystal elements for generating the output light patterns instead of LCD gates. Due to the need for including optical elements for each of the 3 colors, these systems may be large and overly complex. | {
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Technical Field
The invention relates to a system and architecture that enables customer service applications to access and share data with enterprise information systems in real time.
Description of the Background Art
To automate customer service functions, business applications need to exchange data with a variety of enterprise information systems, such as: customer relationship management systems (for managing customer profiles and transactions), supply chain management systems (for managing logistics and procurement), order entry systems, and e-commerce systems. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) tools have emerged to enable business applications to connect and share data with multiple information systems. These tools shield applications from the development and maintenance burden required to link data across systems that use different data structures, run on different architectures, or are provided by different vendors.
Current EAI tools have a number of limitations. These tools are heavyweight, requiring specialized staff for system administration. They may not use business objects or, if they use business objects, these business objects are vendor-specific, or are limited to business objects from one specific business vertical, e.g. health care, travel, insurance, etc. As a result, these tools facilitate integration with information systems from only a single vendor or a specific vertical. These tools are low-level; they essentially comprise a programming model and a development kit that provides only basic building blocks. Current tools will support a predefined set of data protocols, and cannot be easily extended to handle custom protocols. These tools do not monitor and adapt their operation to the quality of service of the connected enterprise information systems. Also, current tools were designed and architected for single-tenant use, and force the deployment of multiple instances to handle multi-tenant applications. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to the formation of a contact for an integrated circuit device on a semiconductor substrate, such as a silicon wafer. More particularly, embodiments of the invention are directed to the formation of a self-aligned contact for a memory device in an integrated circuit device formed on a semiconductor material layer or substrate.
2. State of the Art
As microchip technology continues to increase in complexity and decrease in component size, dimensions are shrinking to the quarter micronscale and smaller. With use of the current high-yield photolithographic techniques, the margin of error has become increasingly tighter such that a single misaligned fabrication step can cause an entire chip to be flawed and be discarded. As devices shrink further, overstepping each process step's window of error increases the likelihood of fabrication failure. A production-worthy device feature requires incidental skill of a process engineer and a fabrication operator to fabricate the feature.
One device that is subject to the ever-increasing pressure to miniaturize is the dynamic random access memory (DRAM). DRAMs comprise arrays of memory cells that contain two basic components a field effect access transistor and a capacitor. Typically, one side of the transistor is connected to one side of the capacitor. The other side of the transistor and the transistor gate electrode are connected to external connection lines called a bit line and a word line, respectively. The other side of the capacitor is connected to a reference voltage. Therefore, the formation of the DRAM memory cell comprises the formation of a transistor, a capacitor and contacts to external circuits.
It is advantageous to form integrated circuits with smaller individual elements so that as many elements as possible may be formed in a single chip. In this way, electronic equipment becomes smaller, assembly and packaging costs are minimized, and integrated circuit performance is improved. The capacitor is usually the largest element of the integrated circuit chip. Consequently, the development of smaller DRAMs focuses to a large extent on the capacitor. Three basic types of capacitors are used in DRAMs—planar capacitors, trench capacitors, and stacked capacitors. Most large capacity DRAMs use stacked capacitors because of their greater capacitance, reliability, and ease of formation. For stacked capacitors, the side of the capacitor connected to the transistor is commonly referred to as the “storage node,” and the side of the capacitor connected to the reference voltage is called the cell plate. The cell plate is a layer that covers the entire top array of all the substrate-connected devices, while there is an individual storage node for each respective storage bit site.
The areas in a DRAM to which an electrical connection is made are the gate of a transistor of the DRAM, a contact plug to an active area, and the active area itself. Active areas, which serve as source and drain regions for transistors, are discrete specially doped regions in the surface of the silicon substrate. A bit line contact corridor (BLCC) is created in order to make electrical connection to an active area. The BLCC is an opening created through the insulating material separating the bit line and the active area. The BLCCs are filled with a conductive material, such as doped polysilicon, doped Al, AlSiCu, or Ti/TiN/W. Before filling the BLCC, however, a process engineer must design a process flow for fabricating the BLCC that assures that the BLCC is not misaligned and, therefore, not prone to shorting out or subject to errant charge leaking due to an exposed cell plate in the BLCC.
Conventional methods of fabricating bit line contacts may tend to cause shorting of the bit line contact in the BLCC into the cell plate due to misalignment. For example, titanium is conventionally sputtered into a BLCC. Next, titanium nitride is deposited by CVD or PVD processing. A rapid thermal anneal step (RTA) then causes silicide formation. Tungsten is then deposited to fill the remaining opening in the BLCC. Depending upon the accuracy in the formation of the BLCC itself, it is possible for the BLCC to be shorted to other conducting layers. This is described below. In general, the BLCC can also be composed of tungsten, titanium/tungsten, aluminum, copper, a refractory metal silicide with aluminum, and a refractory metal silicide with copper.
As the size of the DRAM is reduced, the size of the active areas and the BLCCs available for contacts to reach the active areas are also reduced. Every process step has its own alignment limitations. While alignment is not exact between process steps, strict tolerances are required in order to accomplish a corridor that avoids a short between a contact that will be deposited in the BLCC and any other conductive materials (i.e., cell plate to active area). Hence, it is desirable to effectively isolate the contacts from the transistor and capacitor components while optimizing the space available to make the contacts.
The conventional methods of forming contacts between bit lines and active areas experience alignment problems in avoiding a short circuit between the electrically conductive bit line contact and the cell plate or storage node of a capacitor. | {
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Tumor protein 53 (P53) is a tumor suppressing protein that regulates the cell cycle, suppresses tumors, and thereby prevents cancer. Murine double minute 2 (MDM2) is an important negative regulator of p53 and inhibitor of p53 transcriptional activation (see Vassilev 2006 Trends in Molecular Medicine 13(1), 23-31). MDM2 binds and inactivates p53 by directly blocking the p53 transactication domain and by serving as an E3 ubiquitin ligase for p53, thereby targeting p53 protein for ubiquitin-dependent degradation in the proteasome. About 11 million cancer patients have an inactivating mutation in the p53 protein.
EGFR is involved in the same cellular signaling pathway as MDM2. EGFR is a known cancer-associated molecule and EGFR inhibitors, such as Tarceva, provide targeted cancer treatment. Significant numbers of cancer patients become resistant to treatment with approved EGFR inhibitors, such as Tarceva. There is currently no approach to overcome such resistance. | {
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This application relates to multithreaded processing and, specifically, to multithreaded code processing.
Computer programs (hereafter xe2x80x9cprogramsxe2x80x9d) are written in order to handle a task, typically in response to some problem to be solved. Structurally, programs include program code in the form of statements written based on grammatical rules which are also referred to as the language syntax. Statements such as, for example, declaration, definition, assignment and function statements outline the type of, and the manner of creating and manipulating, data abstractions. A series of statements that manipulates one or more data abstractions can be viewed as a supporting abstraction and is referred to as an algorithm. Data abstractions represent any simple or complex data structure types that model abstract concepts or objects in the real world. Data structures may include a numerical value or any programmatic combination thereof, a dictionary entry, an array of objects, a decision flag, an entry in a database of electronic hardware components, or a basic electronic hardware item description. Generally, a program design identifies the candidate data obstructions of a task and/or problem domain, the supporting abstractions of an implementation of the task or solution, and the relationship between the various abstractions.
In a computer, the program design and execution is facilitated by an operating system. The operating system is charged with controlling the operations of a computer system. The operating system is responsible for managing computer system resources, as well as compiling programs to convert the statements in programs to an executable form and managing the execution of such programs once they are compiled and linked into executable modules. An operating system such as the UNIX operating system (hereafter xe2x80x9cUNIXxe2x80x9d) includes a kernel and system programs. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. The kernel provides, by responding to system calls, a file system, a processor scheduling, memory management, etc. System programs include system libraries, compilers, interpreters, shells, etc. Compilers convert program statements (also known as source code) into object code. For example, a C compiler translates C source programs into object modules or into executable modules. An option of the C compiler (e.g., the -c option) causes the C compiler to produce an object module rather than an executable module.
In general, compilation of programs involves translation of program source code into object modules or executable modules that are ready to be loaded and executed. The compilation process, also referred to as language code processing, proceeds in stages. An initial input stage of a compiler performs a lexical analysis of symbols and tokens in the program statements. This phase is followed by parsing to determine the syntactic structure of statements in the program. In order to produce the syntactic structure of program statements, a parser normally takes as input a sequence of symbols and tokens output by a lexical analyzer. Since programs typically also includes statements for macro definitions and references to library and other header files to be included, a preprocessor expands the macros and includes the header files. Header files provide, for example, symbols definitions and function prototypes. The preprocessor copies header files into the source code programs prior to compilation. The macros represent the compiler options so that compiler options need only be changed in one place rather than in the entire file.
Next, the compiler makes several passes through the program source code to translate the code first to the assembly language of a target machine and then into machine code. The result is an object module consisting of machine code and tables of unresolved external references.
An object module cannot be loaded into memory or executed until it is linked to libraries and other modules to resolve external references. Hence, the final stage of compilation links a collection of object modules together to form an executable module with all the external references resolved. Only those parts in a library that corresponds to unresolved references are incorporated in the executable module. References present in shared libraries are loaded at run time using dynamic loading. To that end the compiler scans the shared libraries for references but does not put them in the executable module. Loading libraries is accomplished by explicitly specifying pathnames for directories to be searched for the libraries.
In more specific terms, compilation can be one phase in a more comprehensive language code processing. Considering, for example, a hardware design system in which the language used is any commercially available or proprietary hardware description language (HDL). HDL is a language typically used for conceptual design of integrated circuits. Verilog is an example of an HDL for electronic design and gate level simulation by Cadence Design Systems (hereafter xe2x80x9cCadencexe2x80x9d). Verilog is a trademark of Cadence.
Much like any other program, HDL programs have statements written based on language syntax, in this case HDL syntax. The data obstructions include data structures such as an electronic hardware database or components library (collectively referred to as the xe2x80x9cdatabasexe2x80x9d) that can be created and modified by the HDL program statements or code. A benefit provided by the use of the database is the creation and enforcement of standards. For example, the database defines common interfaces, buses, and building blocks. The database may also define common hardware specification and logic functionality. Engineers can refer to common information such as the common building blocks and interfaces information and develop in synch hardware, firmware and software.
In a concept-to-implementation loop of an integrated circuit design, HDL is used for modeling electronic hardware components of the integrated circuit, singly or in combination. Simulation and optimization are phases in the design loop following the generation, compilation and linking of the HDL programs. The concept-to-implementation loop is iterative. Namely, the conceptual design, HDL program generation and compilation, simulation, analysis, and adjustment cycle is repeated throughout the design process using various parameters in each iterations (e.g., timing specifications).
In order to make the concept-to-implementation loop efficient, more efficient simulation, optimization, and re-creation and compilation the HDL programs are required. Increased efficiency is required, for example, since the HDL programs generation, compilation and linking (hereafter xe2x80x9ccode processingxe2x80x9d) draws from the ever growing library of hardware building blocks to become more complex and time consuming.
For virtual implementation of circuits at any level including integrated circuits, the design process described above is interactive. Ideally, an interactive design process allows a user to virtually create, test and evaluate integrated circuits in real time. However, the complexity and time consumption of HDL programs code processing increases in a direct relationship with the increased complexity and size of the HDL programs and hardware libraries. For real large databases the interactive design cycle takes too long, i.e., it takes too long to add or retrieve information from the data base and process the HDL program code using this information. Hence, whether it is a commercially available HDL, such as Verilog, or a proprietary program language, the HDL program code processing efficiency need to be improved in order to improve the design cycle. The efficiency of code processing is of particular importance in an interactive design cycle.
Moreover, as a general observation, the efficiency of code processing is important for any given type of programming language. Accordingly, what is needed is a more efficient program code processing. The present invention addresses this and related problems.
The present invention relates to multithreaded program code processing. A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides multithreaded layered-code processing for improved efficiency of program code processing. Conceptually, the present invention breaks the task of program code processing into smaller tasks, i.e., threads, which can be executed concurrently. Concurrent processing of layers of code, through multithreading, is far more efficient then serial processing the layers of code. Preferably, the multithreading is implemented in a multiprocessor environment for concurrent execution of the multiple threads.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, one aspect of the invention is a method including steps for the multithreaded processing of layered code. Another aspect of the invention is a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium embodies computer program code configured to cause a computer system to perform steps for the multithreaded processing of layered code.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the steps include passing through the layered code to discover each layer of the layered code. The steps also include acquiring a lock when a layer is discovered, determining whether to spawn a thread to process the discovered layer, and, if it is so determined, spawning a thread to process the discovered layer. The steps further include releasing the lock once the new thread is either spawned or aborted, and, if spawned, proceeding with execution of the thread concurrently with other threads.
In further accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, an additional aspect of the invention is a multithreaded layered-code processor. Yet another aspect of the invention is a multithreaded layered-code processing system. The system includes a multiprocessor environment for concurrent execution of multiple threads, and a memory including a code processor.
The multithreaded layered-code processor and the code processor of the system (hereafter collectively referred to as xe2x80x9cthe code processorxe2x80x9d) similarly include means for passing through the layered code to discover each layer of the layered code, means for acquiring a lock when a layer is discovered and means for determining whether to spawn a thread to process the discovered layer. The code processor further includes means for spawning a thread, if it is so determined, for processing the discovered layer, means for releasing the lock, and means for proceeding with execution of the thread concurrently with other threads.
Advantages of the invention will be set forth, in part, in the description that follows and, in part, will be understood by those skilled in the art from the description herein. The advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims and equivalents. | {
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Mix-net is an operation of substituting and decrypting the elements of an input ciphertext sequence such that the correspondence between the elements of an output decrypted text sequence and those of the input ciphertext sequence becomes unnoticeable. | {
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The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a primary preform for optical fibres using an internal vapour deposition process, comprising the steps of:
i) providing a hollow glass substrate tube having a supply side and a discharge side,
ii) surrounding at least part of the hollow glass substrate tube by a furnace set at a temperature T0,
iii) supplying doped or undoped glass-forming gases to the interior of the hollow glass substrate tube via the supply side thereof
iv) creating a reaction zone with conditions such that deposition of glass on the inner surface of the hollow glass substrate tube will take place, and
v) moving the reaction zone back and forth along the length of the hollow glass substrate tube between a reversal point located near the supply side and a reversal point located near the discharge side of the hollow substrate tube so as to form at least one preform layer on the inner surface of the hollow glass substrate tube, which at least one preform layer comprises several glass layers.
A method as described in the introduction is known per se from U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,747. More in particular, the aforesaid patent discloses a method of fabricating optical preforms according to the PCVD method, wherein glass layers are deposited by moving a plasma back and forth between two points of reversal inside a glass tube whilst adding a reactive gas mixture to the tube at a temperature between 1100° C. and 1300° C. and a pressure between 1 and 30 hPa. The regions of nonconstant deposition geometry at the ends of the optical preform are reduced by moving the plasma nonlinearly with time in the area of at least one reversal point.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,070 relates to a method and a device for manufacturing optical preforms wherein a furnace is placed over a rotating substrate tube, wherein the temperature setting of the furnace is a function of r, viz. the radial distance, and x, viz. a longitudinal position along the length of the substrate tube. The temperature function mentioned in said U.S. patent only applies to radial and longitudinal distances and is set at a constant value during the entire deposition process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,353 relates to a method for manufacturing optical fibres, wherein silica layers having a constant thickness but varying dopant percentages are deposited in the interior of a substrate tube, using MCVD technology, in which use is made of a heat source having a circular, asymmetrical temperature profile.
U.S. patent application US 2004/0173584 relates to a method for manufacturing an optical preform, using MCVD technology, wherein the dimension of a plasma flame is controlled as a function of the dimension of the preform.
Japanese publication JP 2004-036910 relates to a quartz burner adapted to effect a wide and uniform high temperature zone at a focal position of the flame by mixing oxyhydrogen gas.
U.S. patent application US 2005/0144983 relates to a method for manufacturing a preform, using CVD technology, wherein the temperature of at least one of the heating element of the furnace and the glass substrate tube is measured, after which the amount of heat generation of the heating element is adjusted based on the measured temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,225 relates to a method for manufacturing optical preforms wherein a special temperature profile is set so that core layers are applied to the interior of the substrate tube in a desired thickness.
An optical fibre consists of a core and an outer layer surrounding said core, also referred to as cladding. The core usually has a higher refractive index, so that light can be transported through the optical fibre. The core of an optical fibre may consist of one or more concentric layers, each having a specific thickness and a specific refractive index or a specific refractive index gradient in radial direction.
An optical fibre having a core consisting of one or more concentric layers having a constant refractive index in radial direction is also referred to as a step-index optical fibre. The difference between the refractive index of a concentric layer and the refractive index of the cladding can be expressed in a so-called delta value, indicated Δi % and can be calculated according to the formula below:
Δ i % = n i 2 - n cl 2 2 n i 2
where:
ni=refractive index value of layer i
ncl=refractive index value of the cladding
An optical fibre can also be manufactured in such a manner that a core having a so-called gradient index refractive index profile is obtained. Such a radial refractive index profile is defined both with a delta value Δ % and with a so-called alpha value α. To determine the Δ % value, use is made of the maximum refractive index in the core. The alpha value can be determined by means of the formula below:
n ( r ) = n 1 ( 1 - 2 Δ % ( r a ) α ) 1 2
where:
ni=refractive index value in the centre of het fibre
a=radius of the gradient index core [μm]
a=alpha value
r=radial position in the fibre [μm]
A representation of the refractive index as a function of the radial position in an optical fibre is referred to as a radial refractive index profile. Likewise it is possible to graphically represent the refractive index difference with the cladding as a function of the radial position in the optical fibre, which can also be regarded as a radial refractive index profile.
The form of the radial refractive index profile, and in particular the thicknesses of the concentric layers and the refractive index or the refractive index gradient in the radial direction of the core determine the optical properties of the optical fibre.
A primary preform comprises one or more preform layers which form the basis for the one or more concentric layers of the core and/or part of the cladding of the optical fibre that can be obtained from a final preform. A preform layer is built up of a number of glass layers.
A final preform as referred to herein is a preform from which an optical fibre is made by using a fibre drawing process.
To obtain a final preform, a primary preform is externally provided with an additional layer of glass, which additional layer of glass comprises the cladding or part of the cladding. Said additional layer of glass can be directly applied to the primary preform. It is also possible to place the primary preform in an already formed glass tube, also referred to as “jacket”. Said jacket may be contracted onto the primary preform. Finally, a primary preform may comprise both the core and the cladding of an optical fibre, so that there is no need to apply an additional layer of glass. A primary preform is in that case identical to a final preform. A radial refractive index profile can be measured on a primary preform and/or on a final preform, with the radial refractive index profile of the final preform corresponding to the radial refractive index profile of the optical fibre.
The length and the diameter of the final preform determine the maximum length of optical fibre that can be obtained from the final preform.
To decrease the production costs of optical fibres and/or increase the output per primary preform, the object is to produce, on the basis of a final preform, a maximum length of optical fibre that meets the required quality standards.
Accordingly, there is a desire to increase the amount of additional glass that is applied to a primary preform.
The diameter of a final preform can be increased by applying a thicker layer of additional glass to a primary preform. Because the optical properties of an optical fibre are determined by the radial refractive index profile, the thickness of the layer of additional glass must at all times be in the correct proportion to the layer thickness of the preform layers of the primary preform that will form the core, more in particular the one or more concentric layers of the core in the optical fibre.
Consequently, the layer thickness of the glass layer additionally applied to the primary preform is limited by the thickness of the preform layers being formed by means of the internal vapour deposition process.
In other words, the following criterion must be met:
CSA CL , vezel CSA i , vezel = CSA CL , vv CSA i , vv
where:
CSACL,fibre=Cross-sectional area of the cladding in the fibre
CSACL,vv=Cross-sectional area of the cladding in the final preform
CSAi,fibre=Cross-sectional area of het concentric layer i in the fibre
CSAi,vv=Cross-sectional area of the preform layer i in the final preform
An increase of the diameter of the final preform leads to an increase of the cross-sectional area of the cladding. From the above criterion it follows that the cross-sectional area of the preform layer or layers (CSAi,vv) must also be increased. The cross-sectional area of said one or more preform layers must thus be increased during the internal vapour deposition process. This means that, given an unchanged diameter of the hollow glass substrate tube, the thickness of the preform layers being deposited on the inner surface of the hollow glass substrate tube must be increased.
The present inventors have surprisingly found that when relatively thick preform layers for step-index type optical fibres are deposited, the refractive index of a doped preform layer is not sufficiently constant in radial direction. An insufficiently constant radial refractive index adversely affects the optical properties of the optical fibre. In particular factors such as dispersion, cutoff wavelength, bending losses and attenuation may be affected.
The present inventors have also found that when relatively thick preform layers for gradient index type optical fibres are deposited, the alpha value is different from the alpha value being aimed at. A deviating alpha value adversely affects the properties, in particular the bandwidth, of the gradient index optical fibre. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the area of illumination control, and more particularly related to apparatus and method for synchronizing illumination in accordance with music being played, wherein the illumination includes lights (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights) and displays (e.g., computer screen and TV displays).
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional consumer electronic products, such as mobile phone, MP3 or CD player etc., a plurality of Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) is employed to flash along with a piece of music being played to enhance visual effects. In these products, the LEDs are activated to turn off and on with the rhythm of the music. Many media players such as a DVD player or Microsoft media player, can play both audio and video media files or discs. However, when audio media is played, a display screen supporting such a media player displays either a static image or random patterns that have no any connection with the rhythm in the audio, resulting in boring visual effects.
Many audios, especially music and songs, possess rhythm including varying tones and tempos. Thus there is a need for techniques that converse the rhythm in audio being played into synchronized illumination in a display including LED lights and a display screen. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to percolators, and relates more particularly to such a percolator which includes a base with an electric heating circuit on the inside and a hot plate at the top, a pot detachably connected to the base at the top to hold a guide tube on the inside, a filter mounted in the pot at the top, a handle fixedly secured to the pot at the top, and a lid pivoted to the handle and covered on the filter.
Various percolators have been disclosed for percolating coffee, and have appeared on the market. FIG. 1 shows a regular percolator which comprises a base 2A, which has an electric heating circuit on the inside, a pot 1A fixedly secured to the base 2A at the top, a filter (not shown) mounted in the pot 1A at the top and covered by a lid, and a guide tube 3A vertically disposed inside the pot 1A for guiding boiling water through ground coffee in the filter. Because the pot 1A is fixedly secured to the base 2A, the user have to employ much effort when pouring prepared coffee out of the pot. When a percolator is used, an electric cable must be matched for connecting the electric heating circuit to a power supply outlet. However, regular percolators do not provide any receiving means for holding the electric cable. Furthermore, because the connecting area between the lid and the pot tends to be covered with dust, it must be regularly cleaned. However, because the lid is commonly designed not detachable, it is difficult to clean the connecting area between the lid and the pot. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the restoration of aqueous solutions of polymers used as quenching baths. Quenching baths are used in the heat treatment and tempering of steels and other ferrous alloys.
2. Prior Art
One of the methods for heating treating steels and ferrous alloys consists of heating the metal to a relatively high temperature and then quenching or cooling the metal at a controlled rate. The rate of cooling is controlled by immersion in a liquid of controlled composition. Quenching oils and salt quenching baths are well known in the art. More recent on the scene have been quenchants which are aqueous solutions for example of polyvinyl alcohol, polyglycols or polyvinyl pyrrolidone.
With the polymeric quenchants one of the methods for controlling the quenching severity or rate of cooling is by varying the concentration of the polymer in the solution. That is, pure water conducts heat away from the hot metal being quenched very rapidly. As the concentration of the polymer increases the rate of heat removal by both conduction and convection slows. This is primarily the result of viscosity increase about the metal part and the increase in polymer deposition on the part being quenched as the concentration increases.
The polymer is added to the water in the quench bath to decrease the rate at which the heat is removed from the metal articles immersed in the bath. An increase in the concentration of the polymer causes a decrease in the rate of heat removal by convection and a decrease in the heat removal by conductivity in the solution.
This simple relationship, however, gets distorted during the use of the quenching bath. The cooled metal parts tend to preferentially drag out the higher molecular weight polymer molecules. Also as the heated metal enters the bath there is a certain amount of cracking of the higher molecular weight polymer molecules into fragments with lower molecular weights.
The preferential removal or cracking of larger molecular weight polymer molecules leads to skewing of the normal molecular weight distribution. The skew in the molecular weight distribution of the polymer can be observed using gel permeation chromatography. At a given concentration of polymer this skewing towards lower molecular weights results in a lower viscosity and a higher conductivity in the quench bath.
As a result of these effects accurate control of quench severity becomes difficult when a bath has been used for any significant period of time. The quench severity of a bath cannot be controlled by simply measuring the concentration of the polymer by a method such as refractive index. The rate of heat removal from the metal articles is a function of more than just concentration. Measurements of viscosity of the bath while more accurate than concentration measurements still do not give any clue as to the rate at which heat is conducted away from metal articles in the bath. | {
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The present invention is concerned with a catalytic composition and a process which uses that composition for the dimerization, codimerization and oligomerization of olefins, and, in particular, propylene, the composition resulting from dissolving a nickel compound mixed or complexed with a phosphine in the liquid mixture of ionic type of quaternary ammonium halide and/or quaternary phosphonium halide, aluminium halide, an aromatic hydrocarbon and optionally an aluminium alkyl compound.
French Patent 2611700 describes the use of liquids of the ionic type formed from quaternary aluminium halides and ammonium halides as solvents of organometallic nickel complexes for dimerization catalysis of olefins. The use of such media which are immiscible with aliphatic hydrocarbons, particularly with end products of olefin dimerization makes better use of homogeneous catalysts possible. U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,840 describes a liquid composition of the ionic type resulting from contacting quaternary ammonium halides and/or quaternary phosphonium halides with aluminium alkyl dihalides and possibly also an aluminium trihalide. This same patent describes the use of these media as solvents of transition metal complexes, particularly nickel complexes not containing a nickel-carbon bond which are transformed into olefin oligomerisation catalysts. Hereinafter, these media will be called "molten salts" because they are in a liquid state at a moderate temperature.
During the work undertaken, it has been seen that the most active and most stable nickel catalysts are obtained in "molten salts" constituted by a molar equivalent of ammonium halide and/or phosphonium halide with one equivalent and more of aluminium trihalide, and optionally any quantity of aluminium alkyl dihalide. This formulation was seen to be particularly worthwhile because the nickel complexes dissolved there had a high degree of catalytic activity which was constant with the passage of time.
However, it has been seen that under such conditions "the phosphine effect" described by G. Wilke et al in Ind. Eng Chem., 1970, 62, No. 12, P34 and in GB Patent 1.058.680 which manifests itself by the influence which the substituents provided by the phosphorus atom have on the way in which the propylene molecules are interlinked during catalytic dimerization by nickel, rapidly disappears with the passage of time. This unexplained phenomenon has unfortunate consequences since it is not possible to obtain the desired selectivities. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Several devices which control a pump power source in response to some property of the pumping system are commercially available. Each of the different control devices monitors either directly or indirectly the quantity of liquid being pumped and disconnects the pump power source whenever the liquid being pumped falls below a predetermined value.
One group of control devices uses flow sensors which incorporate impellers, paddles, or differential pressure devices to measure the liquid flow rate from the pump at the wellhead. Mechanical devices like these tend to fail in service because of corrosion, scale build up and blockage by debris.
Beam monitor and rod tension devices are also used. Strain gauges are attached to the pump jack beam and mechanical or electronic tension gauges known as "dynomometers" are attached to the pumping rod or its support members to determine the stress on the rodstring as a function of time. The shape of the stress versus time graph is related to the quantity of liquid lifted by the down hole pump.
Some of the control devices use sonic sounding devices. An acoustical impulse is propagated down the annular region between the tubing and well casing. The return echo is analyzed to determine the height of the liquid in the annulus. The height and rate of change of height of the liquid column is used to determine a suitable pumping cycle.
Some control units use temperature sensors to determine the temperature of the polished rod. When the flow of liquid from the wellhead begins to decrease, the polished rod is no longer adequately cooled and its temperature increases because of frictional heating. The rising temperature of the polished rod is detected and used as a control parameter.
Some control units determine the rate at which electrical energy is consumed by the pump power source since the amount of power used depends on the quantity of liquid being pumped. | {
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Apparatus of the type useful for sequentially dispensing food items to be cooked to a cooking unit are well known in the art. Such apparatus have particular application in short-order vending operations, particularly coin-operated vending machines of the type employing an endless belt to convey dispensed raw food past a cooking element. Difficulties have been encountered, however, in the practical use of such apparatus, both with respect to the dispensing means and the endless belt systems employed to convey the food for cooking. Owing to the great variability in the physical characteristics of different foods, dispensing units have been typically restricted to dispensing only one type of foodstuff, characteristically hot dogs and accompanying buns. Even then, the non-uniform characteristics of the same type of foodstuff have resulted in irregular and unreliable operation of many prior art dispensers. Additionally, it has been necessary to develop specialized endless belt conveyor systems for use in conjunction with the cooking of specific foodstuffs, again owing to non-uniformity between different types of foods. Known conveyor systems for foods such as hot dogs are typically prone to result in a poorly cooked product, most usually overdone on one side and underdone on the opposite side. Frequently, it has been difficult to develop dispensing apparatus compatible with conveyor systems specifically designed for use with a certain type of foodstuff.
Accordingly, the invention provides a dispenser for both food and non-food articles, but particularly for skewered food items. Owing to the uniformity of the skewers employed, a wide variety of disparate food items can be reliably dispensed, including many food items not previously dispensible in an automated operation. Further, the dispensation of foodstuffs on skewers particularly facilitates use of the dispenser with a variety of endless conveyor means for conveying the raw food through a cooking unit. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for using link send and receive information to select one of multiple links to use to transfer data for send and receive operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Host systems in a storage network may communicate with a node through multiple paths. The node may be comprised of separate storage clusters or nodes, where each storage cluster is capable of accessing the storage and provide redundancy to access the storage. Hosts may access the attached storage through either cluster. If a storage cluster fails, then the host may failover to using the other storage cluster to access the storage.
The host systems have to select a link or path to use to communicate with another host. One prior art solution is to use round robin load balancing algorithms that try to balance the amount of work even on each link. However, round robin balancing technique may fail to detect and report that throughput on a link is less capable than another link or is degraded, and may also fail to properly balance workloads under certain conditions because data transfer tasks take longer on links having lower data throughput. For instance, if a more capable link is completing work faster, the round robin load balancing algorithm may just as likely select a worse performing link over a better performing link In this way, using a round robin method may result in work backing-up on the slower performing link due to the 50-50 distribution, whereas the better performing link would drain quickly and the number of tasks would grow on the slower link, eventually putting all but an occasional single task on the faster link.
There is a need in the art for improved techniques to select one of multiple links to use to communicate between nodes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Precise polysilicon resistor has been used in conventional integrated circuit (IC) design. When a semiconductor device such as a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is scaled down through various technology nodes, a high k dielectric material and metal are adopted to form a gate stack. For gate replacement process, the resistance of the formed polysilicon resistors is too low. A single crystalline silicon resistor has been proposed to resolve the issue. However, the single crystalline silicon resistor cannot provide precise impedance matching for the applications, such as analog, radio frequency (RF) and mixed-mode circuits. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention generally relates to a printhead in an image producing apparatus and more particularly to a calibration station for adjusting output power of a printhead that writes onto an exposure-sensitive medium and to a method for calibrating output power of such a printhead.
Pre-press color proofing is a procedure that is used by the printing industry for creating representative images of printed material. This procedure avoids the high cost and time required to actually produce printing plates and also avoids setting-up a high-speed, high-volume, printing press to produce a single example of an intended image. In the absence of pre-press proofing, the intended image may require several corrections and be reproduced several times to satisfy customer requirements which result in reduced profits. By utilizing pre-press color proofing, time and money are saved.
A laser thermal printer having half-tone color proofing capabilities is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,708 titled xe2x80x9cLaser Thermal Printer With An Automatic Material Supplyxe2x80x9d issued Dec. 7, 1993, in the name of R. Jack Harshbarger et al. The Harshbarger et al., device is capable of forming an image on a sheet of thermal print receiver by transferring colorant from a roll (i.e., web) of colorant donor material to the thermal print receiver. This is achieved by applying a sufficient amount of thermal energy to the colorant donor material to form the image on the thermal print receiver. This apparatus generally comprises a material supply assembly; a lathe bed scanning subsystem, which includes a lathe bed scanning frame, a translation drive, a translation stage member, a laser printhead, and a vacuum imaging drum; and exit transports for exit of thermal print receiver and colorant donor material from the printer.
The Harshbarger et al. device writes an image using a plurality of laser disposed in an array at the laser printhead. In order to write the image, individual lasers are energized in coordination with imaging and timing signals to write the output image onto the donor material in a continuous swath. As is well known in the laser thermal printing art, there can be differences in output power from one laser to the next. A printer of this type can employ 20 or more lasers, each of which may vary from its neighbors in terms of the dependence of its output power upon wavelength. Because the achieved output density is dependent upon the applied power absorbed by the image-recording medium, imaging anomalies such as banding can result when lasers in the array emit different power levels, causing a print to be unacceptable for its intended purpose.
For printers of the type disclosed in the Harshbarger et al. patent, calibration procedures are used to compensate for laser-to-laser output power differences. Laser calibration procedures are also employed in the data recording art, such as for writing digital data onto optical disks. As some examples, U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,156 (Hurst, Fr.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,733 (Finkelstein, et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,659 (Call et al.) disclose techniques used to calibrate lasers in optical disk writing. However, for purposes of recording digital data, represented in sequences of binary 1/0 data, only two discrete levels of laser power are needed. In contrast, when writing image data using a device such as is disclosed in the Harshbarger et al. patent, output laser power is related to achievable density, so that power must be accurately adjustable over a range, wherein each discrete value within the range can be correlated to corresponding density of donor colorant transferred to the receiver. Even when applying or withholding only one level of laser power to expose a halftone image on an image-recording material whose image density varies with exposure, that applied power level must be set accurately to the intended value in order to render the image with fidelity.
There are detailed calibration procedures developed to systematically adjust the power output of each laser in order to minimize banding and related anomalies. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,921,221 and 5,323,179, Sanger et al., disclose use of a calibration station and sensor for laser calibration in a multichannel printer. The method disclosed in the Sanger et al. patents involves both direct measurement of laser power and measurement of densities for colorant output on a receiver medium. From the detailed description of the laser calibration process, it is clear that it would be advantageous to eliminate steps in the overall calibration procedure to simplify this procedure where possible.
While such methods developed for power calibration compensate for differences in laser output power, there is room for improvement. It has been observed that even if two writing lasers are very closely matched in terms of measured output power, the lasers may yet achieve different efficiencies in donor colorant transfer. It is known that the donor colorant exhibits more efficient transfer for some wavelengths of the light source than for others. Moreover, while each writing laser in the array is manufactured to emit wavelengths within a narrow range, there are differences in laser fabrication that result in diode lasers having slightly different wavelengths. For example, while the specified wavelength of each laser in an array may be 840 nm, nominal, the actual wavelengths obtained may range from 832 nm to 846 nm. It is known that each diode laser provides the substantial portion of its output within a narrow 1 nm band. Alternatives to compensate for wavelength effects, such as manufacturing diode lasers to within tighter wavelength tolerances or manufacturing a donor colorant medium that is less wavelength-dependent are very costly.
There are methods for tuning some types of lasers to adjust frequency, thereby adjusting laser output wavelength. As one example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,114, Jayaraman et al., discloses a tunable laser used in data communications. A feedback control loop for an optogalvanic glow-discharge modulator comprises beamsplitters and detectors used to control modulation of the output laser to achieve a desired wavelength. As part of the feedback loop, an interference filter is used to select that portion of the sensed feedback signal that is needed to achieve output frequency and wavelength tuning. These tuning procedures are not applicable to diode lasers, however, and maintenance of all emission at a specific wavelength is not required for the type of image-recording material used in imaging applications.
Interference filters have been used as part of a calibration feedback loop for laser frequency tuning control, as disclosed in the Jayaraman et al. patent noted above. Interference filters have also been used to isolate specific wavelength components of a sensor signal, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,327, Watkins et al., for laser-based sensing during an arc welding operation. Interference filter transmission profiles have been adapted to isolate specific wavelengths for measurement by a sensor, but without adaptation to a response profile of an imaging medium.
As a result of wavelength dependence, an operator calibrating a printhead may be required to measure laser wavelength for each diode laser in an array and to compensate by making power adjustments corresponding to each wavelength. Alternatively, an operator may be forced to perform additional cycles of calibration, preparation, and measurement procedures, such as manually adjusting power output to achieve uniform density response. A radiation source may also change the wavelength distribution of its emitted power during exposure of an image, so that a suitably prepared feedback-power-controller would be desirable to maintain constant deposited energy in the image-recording medium. Thus, there is a need for a simple and inexpensive solution that allows a calibration procedure to adjust lasers for output power for a wavelength-sensitive image recording material.
There is a need for a printer having a calibration apparatus and method that accommodates differences in laser output wavelength and compensates for these differences in a manner corresponding to variability in wavelength-sensitive response of the image-recording medium.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printhead that is adapted to the wavelength-dependent response of an exposure-sensitive image recording medium.
It is another object of the present invention to simultaneously equalize the colorant transfer by all of the sources in a multiple-source printhead regardless of the distribution of wavelengths emitted by any single source or of the disparity among wavelengths emitted by different sources in the same printhead.
It is a further object of the present invention to adjust the output power of a printhead during printing and employ a feedback loop to maintain constant energy deposition in the exposure-sensitive medium if the distribution of emitted wavelengths changes.
According to one aspect of the present invention calibration station for a printhead adapted to provide a beam of electromagnetic radiation from a variable electromagnetic energy source onto a sensitive radiation medium, the calibration station incorporating a sensor disposed for sensing the beam provided by the printhead, wherein the sensor provides an output sensor signal indicative of the sensed power of the beam. A control circuit is adapted to accept the output sensor signal from the sensor and adjusts the variable electromagnetic energy source. A filter is disposed in the path of the beam between the printhead and sensor, adapted to transmit to the sensor a portion of incident electromagnetic radiation over a predefined range of wavelengths, dependent upon a measured response characteristic of the radiation-sensitive medium.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a printhead for an image producing apparatus applies a level of light energy to generate an image by transferring a donor colorant from a donor medium onto a receiver medium. A calibration apparatus allows measurement of light energy output. A control apparatus adjusts effective output light energy based on the measurement obtained. In a preferred embodiment, the printhead uses a plurality of lasers arranged in an array. Each laser output power can be separately adjusted in order to equalize the output power of the array.
A feature of the present invention is the design of a transmission profile for the optically absorptive filter or interference filter that compensates for wavelength-dependent sensitivity of an imaging medium. The absorptive filter having these characteristics thereby enables the accurate adjustment of each one of a plurality of light sources, in which each light source may emit light at a separate wavelength, such that adjusting each light source results in achieving uniform light energy absorbed by the portion of the imaging medium responsive to the exposing radiation.
An advantage of the present invention is that it allows a calibration procedure to measure the output power delivered by a light source at a specific wavelength in proportion to the effectiveness of output power at that specific wavelength, preferably summed over a range of wavelengths. As a result, an operator calibrating the printhead output power need not be concerned with wavelength differences between individual light sources.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it can be applied for reducing the overall amount of calibration work and time required by a technician when an imaging apparatus is first manufactured, or at any subsequent occasion, such as when a laser is replaced.
A further advantage of the present invention is that it can be employed in conjunction with a printhead-power feedback-control loop during the course of printing to maintain constant energy deposition in the exposure-sensitive image recording medium if the distribution of emitted wavelengths change.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Similar to the mechanical hard disk, solid storage device (SSD) is a large capacity, non-volatile storage device used for computer system. Solid storage device in general uses Flash as storage medium. In Chinese patent documents CN102043689A the solid storage device as shown in FIG. 17 is disclosed. FIG. 13 shows the function block diagram of the general present solid storage devices, including the host system 1701 and solid storage device 1702. Thereinto, the solid storage device 1702 includes the interface module 1703, solid storage processor 1304, as well as Flash array 1706 consisting of Flash chip 1705 as a unit. Among them, the interface module 1303 is mainly used for implementing the interface protocol consistent with the host system, such as SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment), USB (Universal Serial Bus), PCIE (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) etc. Through the interface module 1703, the solid storage device shows the host system a standard storage device with certain logic space. Solid storage processor 1704 is the control core of the whole storage device, which is mainly in charge of the control signals and data transmission between the interface module 1703 and flash array 1706, Flash management, conversion or mapping from the host logical address to Flash physical address, wear-leveling (the logical addresses are mapped to different physical addresses so as to prevent a single Flash chip from being concentratedly operated and disabled early), bad block management and so on. Solid storage processor 1704 can be implemented by a variety of software, hardware, firmware or their combination. 1705 is the individual Flash chip, and Flash array 1706 is consisting of a plurality of Flash chip 1705.
In order to improve the reading and writing speed of the solid storage device, random access memories such as DRAM or SRAM or other types of high speed reading/writing memories can be set up in the solid storage device, serving as cache memory when reading and writing data from the Flash. In the process of the storage device access, as an example, the computer sends SCSI (small computer system interface) command to the storage device, and the storage device receives and processes the SCSI command, executing corresponding storage medium reading and writing process according to the operation that the SCSI command indicates. In this process, the SCSI command does not directly operate the high speed buffer memory. That means, the cache memory is “transparent” to the computer or user. There are also some storage devices providing cache memory “flushing” mechanism, which means the computer or user can use a predetermined command to force the storage device to write the data in the cache memory to the non-volatile storage medium (for example, a disk or flash memory).
However, allocation and management of the cache memory will become the burden of the controller on the solid storage device. And when the cache memory is fully occupied, if the solid storage device receives new access request from the host system, it also needs to perform replace operations on the cache memory. Thus not only the complexity of the controller is increased, but also the host will experience bump on read/write performance over.
DMA (Direct Memory Access) transmission can also be executed between the host and the device. Method and device for executing DMA transmission is disclosed in the Chinese patent documents CN101221544A. A typical procedure of DMA transmission is Scatter/Gather operation. In the scatter/gather operation, a plurality of data blocks to be transmitted is stored at multiple discontinuous address location in the system (host) memory. The processor does not need to provide programming operation to the DMA controller for each data block being moved from a source to a destination, but just sets up descriptor table or the descriptor linked table in the system memory. Descriptor table or the descriptor linked table comprises a set of descriptors, each of which describes the data block's moving direction, source address, destination address and optional number of bytes transmitted. In the case not including number of bytes transmitted in a descriptor, the agreed length data can be transmitted through the DMA mode.
Chinese Patent CN101710252B discloses a technical solution of avoiding data loss in the buffer memory storage device during unexpected power outage. Thereinto, a standby power is provided in the storage device, so when the unexpected power outage occurs, the standby power will provide temporary electricity to the storage device for transferring data in the buffer memory (cache) to the flash memory. In American Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 8,031,551 B2 discloses the technical solution of using a capacitor as standby power for the storage device, and the performance of the capacitor can be detected at run time, upon which when the capacitance is too low, the capacitor will be charged. | {
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The liver is the single organ that is largest in the body and is said to have more than one hundred different kinds of functions including, in addition to metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and amino acids, bile production, detoxication, foreign matter treatment, control of hormones, production of prothrombin, one of blood coagulating agents, storage of various constituents of organisms (such as fat, glycogen, proteins, vitamines, etc.) and the like. This organ which has such precise and well-balanced functions possesses a large self-restorative ability and hence is expected to heal spontaneously even if it is functionally disordered. Nevertheless the liver may suffer an acute or chronic lesion due to one or more of various factors such as alcohol, undernutrition, virus infection, medicaments, poisons, biliary obstruction, disorder of the enterohepatic circulatory system and the like and such lesion is manifested as one or more of diseases such as fatty liver, drug-toxic hepatic failure, drug-hypersensitive hepatic failure, alcoholic hepatitis, viral hepatitis, congestive hepatitis, hepatopathy due to biliary engorgement, jaundice, and hepatocirrhosis which is the final picture of the foregoing diseases.
When these hepatic failures are induced, a medication can be employed with the intention of accelerating restoration of cells of the liver parenchyma or alleviating the damage of liver cells with the aid of protection against various hepatopathy-inducing factors, thereby accelerating the recovery from its functional disorder or preventing aggravation.
The inventors have found that paticular cysteine derivatives are effective for the above-mentioned purpose and accomplished the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A heretofore commonly utilized animal litter product is particulate clay. Such animal litter is normally used on a volumetric rather than weight basis. However, the lack of uniformity in clay bulk density as a result of diverse mining and processing operations creates a packaging problem. If the bulk density is high relative to the norm for a particular package of granules, a predetermined weight will only partially fill a bag of a predetermined size. On the other hand, if the bulk density is low relative to the norm, the bag will not accommodate the required weight of the absorbent granules.
Moreover, a relatively large proportion of the absorbent capacity of the particulate clay is wasted inasmuch as a dispensed aliquot of animal litter is disposed of after use for other reasons long before its absorbent capacity has been exhausted.
It has now been found that an animal litter product of controlled bulk density and adequate absorbent capacity can be produced by certain combinations of particulate clay and paper granules. Such animal litter product provides a desirable balance of benefit, convenience and efficacy for the consumer inasmuch as the need to carry and handle an excessive weight or volume of product is minimized. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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With the advent of convenience copiers adapted to produce copies of a number of different sized originals, the need was recognized for interchangeable copy paper cassettes designed for rapid and simple insertion into the copier, the cassettes being adapted to accept the sizes of copy paper normally encountered, such as 8 1/2 .times. 11, 8 1/2 .times. 13, and 8 1/2 .times. 14, to enable rapid changeover of the machine to produce the desired size copies.
In providing a cassette for a convenience copier, a number of problems must be addressed. First the cassette must be rapidly and easily removable and insertable. Further, upon insertion, means must be provided to accurately position the cassette within the machine to enable proper operation of the sheet separator associated therewith. A mechanism must also be provided to assure that the cassette is securely locked in the machine. Once the copying operation begins, in a top feeder, means must be provided to maintain the top sheet in the stack in contact with the sheet feeder either by raising the sheets in the cassette into contact with the feeder, or by allowing the feeder to drop into the cassette or "eat its way" into the paper stack as the sheets are depleted.
In recent years, friction retard feeders having a feed belt in contact with the sheet to be fed, adapted to feed sheets from the stack through a retard throat formed by a portion of the feed belt and a stationary retard pad to prevent multiple sheet feeding has found increased acceptance. With this type of feeder, ordinarily the second sheet, or the sheet adjacent to the sheet being fed, is dragged partially into the nip formed by the feed belt and the retard pad. When this type of feeder is utilized with a cassette type paper tray, after the copy opertion is completed and the cassette is removed from the machine either to replenish the paper supply or to replace the cassette with a cassette containing different sized sheets, the sheet which has been dragged into the nip of the feeder may be held in the machine and be pulled out of the cassette as the cassette is removed. Thus, the operator must reach into the machine and remove this sheet prior to reinsertion of a cassette, or if this sheet is not completely pulled out of the cassette, the sheet must be carefully fed back into the cassette before the cassette can be reinserted.
Another problem encountered with friction retard feeders is rapid wear of the friction retard pad since each sheet of paper fed from the machine is dragged across this pad.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved copy sheet cassette for use in a convenience copier wherein the friction retard pad is mounted within the cassette, thereby maintaining all of the sheets within the confines of the cassette, even those which are dragged into the nip between the feed rolls and the retard pad to prevent retention of sheets in the machine upon the removal of the cassette. It is the further object of this invention to provide a cassette adapted for secure and accurate location within a convenience copier and which is provided with means for holding the top sheet in the stack against the feed mechanism to provide the required normal force therebetween for optimum sheet feeding. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an injection control method and system for internal combustion engines, in particular Diesel engines.
The invention specifically relates to an injection control method for controlling a CR (Common Rail) fuel injection system in a Diesel engine.
The invention relates, particularly but not exclusively, to an injection control method and system for a direct injection Diesel engine, and the following description will make reference to this application for convenience of illustration only.
2. Description of the Related Art
As it is well known, the strict restrictions on the emissions and fuel usage in internal combustion engines enacted by the European Union for application by the year 2005, along with the latest technological developments of fuel injection systems, have focused the attention of the automobile industry on the optimization of the engine fuel injection process.
At the same time, the market of Diesel-powered cars has increased from 20 to 35%, the expansion being ascribable to the superior thermodynamic efficiency of Diesel engines compared to gasoline engines, in the face of a potential for pollution that is still fairly high.
This favorable trend to the Diesel engine opens new prospects for research on fuel injection systems, fuel injection being the only input of this type of engines that can be manipulated.
Another requisite is observance of the limits enforced by standing European regulations (EURO IV and V), schematically shown in FIG. 1.
Accordingly, the Diesel engine industry is thoroughly investigating the operation of fuel injection systems, including injectors, in order to find out a flexible solution that can cope with statutory limitations.
The study of fuel injection systems must take account of that variations in the number of injections per working cycle substantially modify the percentages of polluting matter. Also the changes in percentage are of opposite signs for some substances: for example, carbon monoxide CO drastically decreases as the number of injections increases, whereas “white smoke” or hydrocarbons HC increases with the number of injections, as it is shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 is a comparative graph of the percentages of combustion noise (A), specific consumption (B), emissions of nitrogen oxides NOx(C), hydrocarbons HC (E), carbon monoxide CO (F), and particulate (D) under the following conditions of operation: one pilot injection (Pilot) and one main injection (Main); one initial injection (Pre) and one main injection (Main); one initial injection (Pre), one main injection (Main), and a later injection (After); and one initial injection (Pre), a first main injection (Main1) at 50%, and a second main injection (Main2) at 50%.
It should be noted that the pilot injection and pre-injection are pulse injections, whereas the main injections last longer.
It should be further considered that fuel injection systems are presently used to serve high performance engines as made available on a large scale by recent developments in the Diesel field. These high performance engines use less fuel and exhibit much reduced carbon monoxide CO2, gaseous and particulate emission values.
A comparison of the “old” indirect injection Diesel engine (IDI engine) with the “new” direct injection engine (DI engine) can help to illustrate the development.
The basic difference between an IDI engine, schematically shown at 1 in FIG. 3, and a DI engine is in the injection pressure of the injection system and in the manner of producing and burning the fuel/air mixture.
The engine 1, specifically its engine cylinder 2, includes a small swirl chamber 5 in the cylinder head 3 of the cylinder 2, which opens to the main combustion chamber placed in the head 7 of the piston 9 through a passage having suitable dimensions. The swirl chamber 5 is connected to an injector 4 and a glow plug 6. Also shown in FIG. 3 is a valve 8.
The function of the swirl chamber 5 is the one of optimizing the formation of the fuel/air mix and of the following combustion to be completed in the cylinder 2.
This combustion mode is at least 15% less efficient than that to be obtained by injecting the fuel directly into the cylinder as it is done in ID engines of recent manufacture.
IDI engines show, in fact, higher load and thermal losses through the mix transfer and combustion areas compared to ID engines.
The combustion process in a Diesel engine is typically heterogeneous, in the sense that fuel and air are not mixed together before combustion but are only contacted after the air temperature has been raised (about 500° to 600° C.) by compression in the cylinder to ignite the mix.
Until recently, the direct injection of fuel, which constitutes a significant step forward, was impracticable especially in “light-duty” engines which are conceived for higher rotational speeds than standard truck engines, because of engineering and operating problems, such as noise emission and rugged power output.
To improve on these limitations and make direct fuel injection a practical proposition, pumps and electronic control arrangements have been developed that afford higher injection pressures.
In particular a so-called “common rail” (CR) injection control system, schematically shown in FIG. 4, has been recently introduced. The CR system allows to reach enough high injection pressures such to obtain the fuel spraying in the combustion chamber, that results in a near-perfect fuel/air mix.
A CR injection system basically comprises a high-pressure radial-piston feed pump, a rail, a set of injectors connected to the high-pressure pipe, a control unit, actuators, and a plurality of sensors. The pump maintains the fuel under a high pressure and delivers it into the rail that serves all the injectors and essentially acts as a reservoir. Part of the fuel is then injected into the combustion chamber by the injectors receiving an electromagnetic command, and the rest of the fuel is returned to the fuel tank to be recycled.
The circulating fuel flow is established and monitored by sensors connected to an electronic control unit, where the pressure recorded by the sensors is compared with predetermined values and thus overpressure is driven by returning the exceeding fuel to the tank. The information from the sensors enables the control unit to adjust the amount of fuel to be injected according to the engine load and RPM, thereby providing for highly flexible management.
The pressure so produced meets the engine requirements at all ranges, unlike traditional systems where the pump was linked to the engine operation such that the pressure depended on the engine RPM and was never at optimum levels, especially at low speeds.
Further, in fast diesel engines, as light duty diesels are, mixing time must be the shortest as possible in order to ensure the engine desired performances. The innovative aspect of the CR system is that high pressures (up to 1600 bar) can be produced independently of the engine speed, so that the right amount of fuel is delivered for optimum fuel/air mixing and combustion under all conditions.
In engines already in the field and those still in the laboratory stage, the CR system is controlled by pre-set mapping. In practice, a pressure sensor mounted in the rail senses a voltage signal between 0 and 5 Volts and sends it to the control unit, where the engine operation maps (or matrices) are implemented.
Particularly in the operation maps, a duty cycle of the pressure regulator placed in the high-pressure pump corresponds to each voltage value.
Thus, when the rail pressure sensor senses the required pressure to meet a load variation and the control unit maps the appropriate duty cycle to produce that pressure (the value of the duty cycle being a function of the engine RPM), the system settles, ensuring that the injection occurs correctly.
A limitation to conventional injection control systems comes inherently from their operating method, wherein the duty cycle of the pressure regulator is set according to fixed maps. It is evident that such maps cannot account for transients and mechanical variations due to an ageing engine.
Also, the electronic control unit will decide on the duration of the injection (and, therefore, the fuel flow rate) according to the load demand once the optimum pressure is established, and with it the torques and power outputs of the engine for that speed.
It is recalled that currently available CR systems only effect two injections (the Pilot and Main injections) per cycle. However, more recent studies have led to new generation systems effecting five injections per cycle (called the Pilot, Pre, Main, After and Post injections). FIGS. 5A and 5B schematically show the injections for traditional (FIG. 5A) and new generation (FIG. 5B) systems. | {
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Approximately 20% of human proteins are predicted to contain disulfide bonds between cysteine residues. [1] Small-molecule thiols can reduce these (and other) disulfide bonds, thereby modulating biomolecular function. [2] The reaction mechanism involves thiol-disulfide interchange initiated by a thiolate. [3] The ensuing mixed disulfide, however, can become trapped if the reagent is a monothiol, such as β-mercaptoethanol (βME). [4]
To overcome this problem, Cleland developed racemic (2S,3S)-1,4-dimercaptobutane-2,3-diol (dithiothreitol or DTT; Table 1), a dithiol that resolves a mixed disulfide by forming a six-membered ring. [2a, 5] DTT is a potent reducing agent (E°′—0.327 V) [2g] and has been, despite its high cost, the preferred reagent for the quantitative reduction of disulfide bonds and is now the standard reagent for reducing disulfide bonds in biological molecules. [6, 7] At physiological pH, DTT is, however, a sluggish reducing agent. The reactivity of a dithiol is governed by the lower of its two thiol pKa values. [2, 3] With its lower thiol pKa value being 9.2, [Table 1] greater than 99% of DTT thiol groups are protonated at pH 7 and thus unreactive (i.e., less than 1% of DTT residues are in the reactive thiolate form at pH 7 [8])
Thus, there is a need in the art for reducing agents useful in biological systems, for example, for the reduction of disulfide bonds, which exhibit properties improved over those of prior art reducing agents. The present invention provides dithiol amines which can be prepared from inexpensive starting materials in high yield and which exhibit desirable improved properties as reducing agents. | {
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The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for transmitting and extracting a timing signal, and finds particular application in a system for parallel data transmission by the use of a plurality of carriers.
Parallel data transmission over multiple carriers is attracting particular interest in recent years, as it permits transmission of a large amount of data over a transmission line limited in bandwidth, such as a telephone line. One example of a system for such parallel data transmission is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,511. In the prior art, the transmission and extraction of a timing signal for such a system is achieved by transmitting one of a plurality of carriers as a pilot signal for the timing signal on the transmitting side and extracting the pilot signal on the receiving side. However, such a method for transmitting and extracting a timing signal has the disadvantage that, because one of the carriers in a transmission band, which could otherwise be used for data transmission, is used as a pilot signal, the quantity of transmissible information is correspondingly reduced. | {
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Resource scheduling is a complex task that requires satisfaction of several potentially conflicting goals and constraints. In a complex environment a resource scheduling algorithm may reach its conclusion with several unfulfilled goals and exceptions. These unfulfilled goals frustrate the intended result of a working resource schedule. One such complex environment of resource scheduling is call center forecasting and agent scheduling. In this complex an diverse setting, a significant amount of configuration and parameter specifications must be done via user interfaces before a final result can be produced. Existing applications for resource scheduling do not adequately produce an unobtrusive interactive mechanism for warning the user of parameter or configuration selections that are likely to result in poor performance or failure of the schedule.
Current algorithms produce warnings or an indication of a conflict that interrupt the scheduling process. Present systems, known to one skilled in the art, use modal interfaces to detect and inform the user of errors. Errors that are detected in mid-stream of the user's work forcibly interrupt the user with a warning message. This warning message prevents the user from continuing work without at least acknowledging its presence. These warning mechanisms are rigid in their application and, if disabled, are completely ineffective at providing any type of failure notification. For example, this warning process is accomplished through a series of programmed communications between the error detection program and the primary scheduling program that results in the scheduling operations ceasing.
The prior art fails to provide an unobtrusive or concurrent means to notify a user of a resource scheduling conflict. By forcing the user to interact with a warning or notification of a pending error, the efficiency of the scheduling process suffers. If the user elects to dismiss the warning, no further indication is present to convey to the user that the conflict is still present. Furthermore, should a user elect to correct the conflict upon receiving notification, the user is required to navigate independently in the program to the position in the program that contains the cause of the conflict, which is both inefficient and costly. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to television receivers, and more particularly, to a double-scanning non-interlace television receiver for displaying a received interlace television signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A television picture is a two-dimensional picture formed by scanning a one-dimensional time sequence signal. The time sequence signal is perceived as a picture which is continuous in time as well as space because of the time and space integrating functions of human vision. If the number of pictures displayed on a television screen per second is less than the threshold of human vision, the time integration effect is insufficient, and the picture is perceived as flickering. If the number of scanning lines comprising a television picture is below the threshold of human vision, the space integration effect of human vision is insufficient to produce an acceptable picture. The television picture is perceived as coarse, and the scanning lines are conspicuous.
Interlace scanning television systems, such as the NTSC system or the like, attempt to reduce flicker by increasing the number of pictures per second beyond the threshold of human vision. However, the television picture displayed with such an interlace scanning system is inferior to a television picture displayed with a non-interlace scanning system in which, for example, 525 lines are scanned. The interlace television picture is inferior because the space integration effect of human vision is not as effective in such an instance.
The space integration effect of human vision is not effective in the perception of a rapidly moving object displayed by an interlace scanning system, such as the NTSC system. If the object moves more quickly than the time required for the system to scan the second field comprising a frame, only the lines of the first field display the object. One half of the scanning lines, or 262.5 scanning lines, are used. The image, accordingly, becomes coarse. This effect is even more pronounced in a television receiver with a large screen. Although there are various factors which determine the quality of a television picture, one of the most important factors is the coarseness of each scanning line.
One solution to the problem of the coarseness of a scanning line is to double the number of scanning lines with an interlace system 1050 scanning lines. A second solution is to scan every line with a non-interlace system having 525 consecutively scanned lines. However, there are problems with displaying an interlace television signal having 525 scanning lines, such as the NTSC system, on receiver systems constructed in accord with such suggestions. In an interlace receiver system with 1050 scanning lines, a flicker occurs between the upper and lower portions of a scanning line. In a non-interlace receiver system with 525 scanning lines, a straight oblique line will be displayed as a zig-zag line because of the deviation between the position of the scanning line when it is repeated and the position when it is first displayed, since the same picture signal generates the two scanning lines. | {
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The class of linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one olefinically unsaturated hydrocarbon has been known for some time. Such polymers were produced by Nozaki, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,412, using arylphosphine complexes of palladium moieties as catalysts and certain inert solvents. More recent methods for the production of such linear alternating polymers, now known as polyketone polymers or polyketones are illustrated by a number of published European Patent Applications including nos. 121,965, 181,014, 213,671, and 257,663. The processes generally involve the use of a catalyst composition formed from:
a) a compound of a Group VIII metal
b) an anion of a strong non-hydrohalogenic acid, and
c) a phosphorus bidentate ligand of the general formula (R)(R)P--R'--P(R)(R) in which R independently is a hydrocarbyl or substituted hydrocarbyl group, and R' represents a divalent organic bridging group which contains from two to four carbon atoms in the bridge connecting the two phosphorus atoms.
Preferred catalyst compositions are formed from:
a) a compound of a Group VIII metal selected from palladium, cobalt or nickel,
b) an anion of a non-hydrohalogenic acid with a Pk.sub.a of less than 2,
c) a phosphorus bidentate ligand of the general formula (R)(R)P--R'--P--(R)(R) in which R and R' have the previously indicated meaning.
It has now been found that the polymerization activity of these catalyst compositions can be greatly improved by incorporating therein a weak acid. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode package, and more particularly, to a light emitting diode package having an improved brightness level by optimizing the mounting position of a light emitting diode chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of the consumer electronics industry, various display devices having a smaller size and lower energy consumption continue to be developed. By the use of such display devices, optical devices provided in video devices, computers, mobile communication terminals, flashes, and the like, are being developed.
In general, a light emitting diode (LED) is an electronic component that makes charge-carriers (electrons or holes) by the use of pn junctions, recombines them, converts electrical energy into light energy, and emits light.
That is, when a forward voltage is applied to a semiconductor, electrons and holes flow through the junction of an anode and a cathode and they are recombined. A lower energy level is present when an electron meets a hole, relative to when the electron is apart from the hole. At this time, due to an energy gap, light is emitted to the outside.
Light emitted from LEDs ranges from red (630 nm to 780 nm) to blue-ultra violet (350 nm) and may include blue, green, and white. LEDs present many advantages over traditional light sources such as incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps, including lower power consumption, high efficiency, longer lifetimes, and the like, so the demand for LEDs is continuously increasing.
Currently, LED applications are gradually being extended from small lighting devices for cellular phones, PDA displays, and the like, to indoor or outdoor lighting devices, automotive lighting devices, backlights for large LCDs, and the like.
In the case of an LED package to which an LED is electrically connected, since an operator only checks the mounting position of the LED roughly when mounting the LED on a lead frame by die bonding, it is difficult to mount it on the exact position intended.
Such slight deviations in the LED mounting position prevent the optimization of the LED's brightness in the LED package and increase variations in brightness levels according to LED package.
Also, positional variations in wire bonding in the LED package cause poor contact, due to the deviations in the LED mounting position as described above, and lead to economic losses. Therefore, there is a need for techniques with which to address such defects. | {
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As the use of network-based publication systems and marketplaces, such as on-line commerce services or auction services expands, and the volume of item listings in such applications increases, the speed, ease and convenience with which information can be retrieved from such marketplaces increases in importance to customers.
Item listings in such network-based marketplaces typically include details of a particular item which is e.g. up for sale or auction and these details are typically stored in text format and include a description of the item together with other information, such as the price, useful to a potential buyer in assessing the item listing. In addition, item listings often include visual material related to the item, typically in the form of a photograph, drawings or video clips.
The use of images in this context has customarily been limited to the provision of information about item listings to customers, but it would be useful to employ images associated with item listings for additional purposes, such as for image-based searching or for the automatic identification of images for fraud protection purposes. | {
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This invention relates to polyethers and more particularly to energetic polyethers containing azido groups.
Azido compounds and polymers are important in the fields of explosives and propellants because the azido group is highly energetic and relatively small in size. The size of the azido moiety imparts excellent polymer properties to the compound and enhances compatibility in polymer systems. An example of how the azido group improves the physical properties of a compound is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,051, issued on Mar. 23, 1976 to James N. Haynes. The compounds are azido formates of omegahydroxyalky phthalates and their condensation polymers. Due to the largeness of the compounds in relation to the azido group, the compounds are considered nonenergetic. Their use is primarily as a surface modifying agent in order to improve the adhesive properties of polyesters.
Few energetic polymers are suitable for compounding propellants because of the severe physical-property requirements of propellants. The polymer must be capable of holding large quantities of solid ingredients as well as plasticizers. The polymers should have a low viscosity in order to facilitate propellant mixing, casting, and have a long pot life. The polymer should have exceptional thermal and chemical stability so that an explosive or propellant composition would have a long shelf life and good reliability. The polymer should also have a low sensitivity but a high energy content.
Wayne R. Carpenter, J. ORG. CHEM, 27, P. 2085+ at 2086, discloses 3,3-bis(azidomethyl)oxetane. Milton B. Frankel, et al in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 237,837, filed on Feb. 25, 1981, entitled "Azido Polymers and Preparation Thereof," disclosed the polymerization of 3,3-bis(azidomethyl)oxetane to form an energetic polymer possessing desirable properties.
Nevertheless, it would be desirable to provide polymers possessing still better properties such as thermal and impact stability and workability. In particular, it would be desirable to provide polymers in which the azido groups are attached directly to the polymer backbones. | {
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The radiofrequency signal receiver of the electronic device can be used for example in a satellite navigation system of the GLONASS or GALILEO or GPS type.
The radiofrequency signal receiver of the electronic device can be of the GPS type, wherein the radiofrequency signal reception and shaping means generate intermediate signals, which are frequency converted for a correlation stage. This correlation stage is composed of several correlation channels for receiving the intermediate signals in order to correlate them with carrier frequency and specific code replicas from satellites to be sought and tracked. Preferably, the receiver can include a larger number of correlation channels than the number of visible satellites for the electronic device worn by a user situated on the Earth.
In the case of a GPS system, any radiofrequency signal receiver can receive GPS signals from satellites in orbit. The ground distance between the receiver and a visible satellite can be between 20,000 km, when one of the satellites is at the zenith, and 26,000 km, when one of the satellites is on a tangent point to the Earth's surface, i.e. on the horizon.
Currently, 30 satellites are placed in orbit at a distance close to 20,200 km above the surface of the Earth on 6 orbital planes each inclined by 55° in relation to the equator. The time taken by a satellite to complete one rotation in obit in order to return to the same point above the Earth is around 12 hours. The distribution of the satellites in orbit allows a terrestrial GPS receiver to receive GPS signals for example from at least four visible satellites in order to determine its position, speed and the local time for example. The GPS message from the GPS signals contains ephemeredes and almanac data used in particular for calculating the X, Y and Z position, speed and local time.
All of this known ephemeredes and almanac data is stored in the storage means of the portable electronic device. Thus, using an approximate known position of the receiver, it is possible to configure said receiver to search and track satellites that should be visible at the moment of search.
In the case of a navigation system, the use of a compass in addition to the radiofrequency signal receiver is known in order to provide the user of the portable device with information regarding the target to be reached.
In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,477 can be cited, which discloses a watch provided with a GPS receiver, and a magnetic compass. In this watch, the coordinate points of a geographical target to be reached have to be entered and stored. In order to facilitate the operations for calculating the direction to be followed, the compass provides data relating mainly to geographical north. After processing the GPS signals and the data from the compass, a display device of the watch indicates the direction to be followed to reach the desired target.
In this case the compass is used only for the watch to give information to the user in relation to the direction to take in order to get to the geographical place to reach.
International Patent Application No. WO 92/21990 discloses a portable electronic device as a navigation system direction indicator. In order to do this, the device includes a GPS receiver, and a magnetic compass. The GPS receiver and compass generate signals that are processed by a processing unit in order to provided a direction signal. A display screen of the portable device displays an arrow indicating the direction to be followed in order to reach a selected geographical target.
The magnetic compass of this portable electronic device has no functions other than providing information to the processing unit to enable it to display the direction of the geographical place to be reached.
Since the electronic device of the present invention is worn on a user's wrist, the user's body can form an obstacle to reception of radiofrequency signals from certain visible satellites when the device is in the reading position. This can constitute a drawback if many of the visible satellites to be sought are hidden by the user's body.
It is thus a main object of the invention to provide a portable electronic device provided with a radiofrequency receiver and a compass to assist said receiver in order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. | {
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A typical switch mode power supply (SMPS) includes a switching transistor coupled to a primary winding of power transferring transformer for periodically applying an input supply voltage to the primary winding. It is known to operate the SMPS in a run mode of operation and in a standby mode of operation. During a run mode operation, pulses of current are developed in a secondary winding of the transformer at a high frequency and are rectified for periodically replenishing a charge in a filter or smoothing capacitor. An output supply voltage, developed in the capacitor, is connected to energize a load.
In the run mode of operation, the SMPS operates in a continuous mode. In the standby mode of operation, it may be desirable to operate the SMPS in a burst mode for reducing power dissipation. In a given cycle of the burst mode, the high frequency current pulses a are developed in the transformer windings. The current pulses are followed by a relatively long interval, referred to herein as dead time interval, of several milliseconds, in which no current pulse is produced. An advantageous type of a SMPS is a zero voltage switching SMPS.
In carrying out an inventive feature, in a zero voltage switching SMPS, switching on the transistor occurs when the voltage between the main current conducting terminals of the transistor is zero for minimizing switching losses. It may be desirable to operate the zero voltage switching SMPS in the burst mode, during standby.
In a zero voltage switching SMPS, embodying an inventive feature, the standby mode is initiated by disconnecting a run mode load from the filter capacitor via a switch. Thereby, the run mode load ceases consuming load current. Because the run mode load circuit is de-energized, a feedback loop of the SMPS causes the transistor to conduct in a substantially shorter duty cycle than in the run mode. The short duty cycle in successive switching cycles of the transistor causes the zero voltage switching SMPS to operate in a standby, burst mode. | {
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Various methods have been developed for growing crystalline bodies from a melt. One such method is known as the EFG ("Edge-defined, Film-fed Growth") process. Details of the EFG process and of apparatus for growing crystalline bodies according to the EFG process are described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,348 issued Jul. 6, 1971 to Harold E. La Belle, Jr. for "Method of Growing Crystalline Materials", and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,633 issued aug. 29, 1972 to Harold E. La Belle, Jr. et al. for "Apparatus for Growing Crystalline Bodies from the Melt".
In the EFG process, a capillary-forming die member is placed in association with a melt of liquid source material so that a growth face on the die member is wetted with a liquid film of source material from the melt by capillary action. A product crystalline body is then grown by first introducing a seed crystal to the liquid film of source material so that crystal formation is initiated, and then drawing the seed crystal away from the growth face at a controlled rate so that the liquid film of source material remains sandwiched between the growing crystalline body and the growth face of the die member. Since the liquid film of source material on the die's growth face is continuously replenished from the melt by the die's one or more capillaries, continuous crystalline bodies of significant size may be grown from the melt.
One consequence of the EFG process described above is that the cross-sectional shape of the product crystalline body is determined by the shape of the growth face of the die member. As a result, by appropriately shaping the growth face of the die member, crystalline bodies may be grown which have the shape of a round rod (i.e., where the crystalline body has a cross-sectional shape which is that of a solid circle), a flat ribbon (i.e., where the crystalline body has a cross-sectional shape which is that of a solid rectangle), a hollow tube (i.e., where the crystalline body has an annular cross-section of circular, elliptical or polygonal shape), etc.
The present invention is directed to apparatus adapted to grow tubular crystalline bodies according to the EFG process.
Existing apparatus for growing tubular crystalline bodies according to the EFG process is described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,674 issued Oct. 8, 1980 to Aaron S. Taylor et al. for "Crucible-Die Assemblies For Growing Crystalline Bodies Of Selected Shapes", U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,728 issued Apr. 3, 1984 to Richard W. Stormont et al. for "Apparatus For Growing Tubular Crystalline Bodies", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,528 issued Oct. 1, 1985 to Richard W. Stormont et al. for "Apparatus For Growing Tubular Crystalline Bodies".
In practice, it has been found that significant improvements in crystal quality can be obtained if one can control the atmosphere surrounding the growing crystalline body. This is because control of the atmosphere surrounding the growing crystalline body allows harmful reactive gases to be removed from the area surrounding the growing crystalline body while allowing inert gases, beneficial reactive gases, and/or beneficial doping gases to be introduced to the area surrounding the growing crystalline body. In addition, control of the temperature of the atmosphere surrounding the growing crystalline body can facilitate proper regulation of the temperature of the growing crystalline body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,401 issued Nov. 15, 1983 to Fritz Wald et al. for "Control Of Atmosphere Surrounding Crystal Growth Zone", U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,411 issued Apr. 17, 1984 to Juris P. Kalejs for "Apparatus For Controlling The Atmosphere Surrounding A Crystal Growth Zone", and the publication "Modeling Of Ambient-Meniscus Melt Interactions Associated With Carbon And Oxygen Transport In EFG Of Silicon Ribbon" by J. P. Kalejs and L. Y. Chin, published in the Journal Of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 129, No. 6, June 1982, teach ways of controlling the atmosphere surrounding a growing crystalline body where that body is a flat ribbon. Unfortunately, these references are silent as to how to control the atmosphere surrounding the growing crystalline body where that body is in the form of a hollow tube. In this respect, it is noted that the problems of controlling the atmosphere surrounding the growing crystalline body are magnified significantly in the case of apparatus adapted to grow hollow tubes, since in such apparatus the body of the growing hollow tube serves to effectively divide the atmosphere surrounding the growing crystalline body into an "exterior" zone (i.e., the zone located outside the growing crystalline body) and an "interior" zone (i.e., the zone located inside the growing crystalline body), because the walls of the growing crystalline body serve to prohibit the direct flow of gases between the "exterior" and "interior" zones and gases can only flow between the two zones by passing through the seed holder located at the remote end of the hollow crystalline body. | {
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A common problem associated with repairing damaged file systems on storage devices is that known methods of repair are often slow and consume a considerable amount of resources. Known methods for repairing file systems rely on scanning the entire storage mechanism to identify and repair damaged sectors. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a prior art method for repairing a file system on a hard disk drive that was corrupted as a result of a power failure.
Corruption of sectors in this scenario typically stems from interruption of a writing operation on sectors of a disk drive. Upon a boot up of a computing system subsequent to a power failure, step 104, a repair utility would begin scanning the hard disk drive for defective sectors. The scan comprises examining each sector, step 108, to determine whether any of the sectors includes an error, step 112. Upon determination that a sector includes an error, the repair utility corrects the error, step 116, and continues to scan all sectors and repair errors until the last sector is reached. This process often requires several minutes to several hours to complete on large storage devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium, and more particularly, to a magnetic recording medium having as low a cobalt content as possible, specifically a molar ratio of cobalt to iron of not more than 0.06:1 and as high a coercive force as possible, specifically not less than 1,800 Oe, and exhibiting an excellent stability independent to change in passage of time and a large output in a high recording frequency region.
In recent years, in magnetic recording apparatuses such as a hard disc drive, there has been a remarkable tendency that information devices or systems used therewith are miniaturized and required to have a high reliability. In association with such a recent tendency, in order to deal with a large capacity data, there is an increasing demand for magnetic recording media on which information can be stored with a high density.
In order to fulfill such requirements, the magnetic recording media have been strongly required to have as high a coercive force as possible.
As magnetic recording media having a large coercive force, there are widely known those comprising a substrate and a magnetic thin film formed on the substrate.
The magnetic thin films which have been already put into practice, are generally classified into magnetic iron oxide thin films composed of maghemite, etc. (refer to "Technical Report of Electronic Telecommunication Institute", published by Electronic Telecommunication Institute, (1981) MR81-20, pp. 5 to 12), and alloy thin films composed of Co--Cr alloy or the like.
The magnetic iron oxide thin films are excellent in oxidation resistance or corrosion resistance because maghemite is already oxidized. Therefore, the magnetic iron oxide thin films can show an excellent stability independent to change in passage of time, i.e., less change in magnetic properties with passage of time. However, the coercive force of the magnetic iron oxide thin films is as low as at most about 700 Oe.
Whereas, the alloy thin films have a coercive force as high as not less than about 2,000 Oe. However, the alloy thin films tend to be readily oxidized, so that the stability independent to change in passage of time is deteriorated.
In order to prevent magnetic properties of these alloy thin films from being deteriorated due to the oxidation, the surfaces of the alloy thin films have been coated with a protective film, e.g., a carbon film having usually a thickness of about 100 to about 200 .ANG.. However, in such a case, a distance between a magnetic write head and a magnetic recording layer becomes increased by the thickness of the carbon film, resulting in large loss due to the magnetic spacing, which disables the magnetic recording medium to be applied to high-density recording.
In consequence, it has been attempted to enhance the coercive force and saturation magnetization of the above-mentioned magnetic iron oxide thin films which are excellent in oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance and stability independent to change in passage of time, by incorporating cobalt or the like thereinto. The magnetic iron oxide thin films containing cobalt, etc., have been already put into practice.
In the magnetic cobalt-containing iron oxide thin films, the more the cobalt content, the higher the coercive force thereof becomes. However, with the increase of cobalt content, the stability independent to change in passage of time of these magnetic iron oxide thin films tend to be deteriorated by adverse influences of heat or the like.
Thus, at the present time, there has been a strong demand for providing magnetic recording media for high-density recording which are suitable for use in current magnetic recording systems equipped with a ring-type magnetic write head. For this reason, various kinds of magnetic recording media mentioned above have been extensively developed. Among them, the magnetic iron oxide thin films having excellent oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance have been considered to be most useful, so that it have been more strongly demanded to improve properties of these magnetic iron oxide thin films.
That is, as described above, the magnetic iron oxide thin films have been strongly required not only to have a high coercive force even when the cobalt content therein is as low as possible, but also to exhibit a large output in a high recording frequency region.
Conventionally, as typical magnetic iron oxide thin films, there are known maghemite films. It is also known that cobalt can be incorporated into the maghemite in order to enhance the coercive force thereof (Japanese Patent Publications (KOKOKU) Nos. 51-4086(1976) and 5-63925(1993), and "CERAMICS", published by Japan Ceramics Institute (1986), Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 21 to 24).
More specifically, in Japanese Patent Publication (KOKOKU) No. 51-4086(1976), there is described a magnetic thin film memory comprising a ceramic substrate made of a high-purity alumina ceramic material which has a high density and is free from damaging memory properties of ferrite due to the reaction therewith even at an elevated temperature of 1,000 to 1,300.degree. C. to produce the ferrite, and a cobalt-based spinel-type ferrite film formed on the substrate and having a composition represented by the general formula of Co.sub.(1-x) Fe.sub.(2+x) O.sub.4 where -0.2.ltoreq..times..ltoreq.0.3, the ferrite film being composed of fine crystalline aggregates of the ferrite.
In Japanese Patent Publication (KOKOKU) No. 5-63925(1993), there is described a process for producing a magnetic iron oxide thin film having a high coercive force, comprising reactive sputtering an iron alloy as a target in an oxidization atmosphere of argon and oxygen to directly form ferromagnetic oxide magnetite (Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4) of a non-stoichiometric composition having a resistivity of 1.times.10.sup.-1 to 8.times.10.sup.-1 .OMEGA..cm, and heat-treating the ferromagnetic oxide magnetite (Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4) having the above-mentioned resistivity in an atmosphere at a temperature of 280 to 350.degree. C., thereby producing ferromagnetic oxide .gamma.--Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 having a high coercive force.
At the present time, as the magnetic recording media for high-density recording which are suitable for use in current magnetic recording systems using a ring-type magnetic write head, there have been demanded those having a higher coercive force, an excellent stability independent to change in passage of time, and a large output in a high recording frequency region. However, there have not been provided yet such magnetic recording media having all of the above-mentioned properties.
That is, the above-mentioned known cobalt-containing maghemite thin films are still unsatisfactory in coercive force relative to the amount of cobalt contained. When it is attempted to obtain a high coercive force, specifically not less than 1,800 Oe, it is necessary to incorporate a large amount of cobalt so that the molar ratio of Co to Fe is more than 0.06:1. In this case, such cobalt-containing maghemite thin film suffers from severe deterioration in magnetic properties with passage of time by adverse influences of heat or the like.
Also, there is a problem that the Co-containing maghemite thin film cannot show a sufficiently large output in a high recording frequency region.
As a result of the present inventors' earnest studies to solve the above problems, it has been found that by forming a Co-containing maghemite thin film on a substrate so as to control a cobalt content of the Co-containing maghemite thin film to such an amount that the molar ratio of Co to Fe is not more than 0.06:1, and to adjust a spacing of a (311) plane to not more than 2.510 .ANG., a spacing of a (222) plane to not more than 2.415 .ANG. or a spacing of a (220) plane to not more than 2.950 .ANG., the obtained magnetic recording medium has a coercive force as high as not less than 1,800 Oe, and exhibits an excellent stability independent to change in passage of time and a large output in a high recording frequency region. The present invention has been attained on the basis of the finding. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Recently, the development of the backbone network communication line as mainly focusing on the optical fiber communication technology is proceeding steadily and, in such a situation, the electronic wirings in the information terminal are becoming a bottleneck. Against such background, instead of the conventional electric circuit substrate in which all signal transmissions are made by using the electric signal, the optoelectronic composite substrate (optical waveguide device) of the type that transmits high-speed parts by the light has been proposed, in order to compensate the limit of transmission speed of the electric signal.
In the optoelectronic composite substrate, the light signal is transmitted by the optical waveguide including such a structure in which the core layer is surrounded by the cladding layers.
In an example of the optical waveguide manufacturing method, first, the lower cladding layer, the core layers, and the upper cladding layer are formed sequentially on the substrate. Then, the resultant structure is processed by a rotary blade so as to divide the core layer from the upper cladding layer, and thus the groove portion having the inclined surface inclined at an angle of 45° to the light propagation direction is formed. Then, the metal layer having light reflection property is partially formed on the groove in the core layer, and then the metal layer on the inclined surface is used as the light path conversion mirror.
Then, a light that propagates through the core layer is reflected in the vertical direction by the light path conversion mirror on the inclined surface of the groove, thus the light path is converted.
A related art is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-293244.
As explained in the column of the preliminary matter described later, there is the case in either the case where two optical devices (the light emitting element and the light receiving element) are optically coupled to both end sides of the optical waveguide by two rows respectively, or the case where the optical devices in which the light emitting portions or the light receiving portions with two rows are built in the inner part are optically coupled to them respectively. In such optical waveguide, the different light paths with two routes are prepared according to the optical devices, and the light path conversion mirrors are arranged in the different positions in every light path.
In case the optical waveguides serving as the different light paths are stacked and formed, a distance of the light path in the optical device which is optically coupled to the optical waveguide located on the lower side is set longer by a thickness of the optical waveguide located on the upper side. Therefore, an increase of an optical coupling loss is caused, and as a result enough reliability of the optical characteristics cannot be obtained. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to the mounting of microwave circuits in housings. More particularly, the present invention relates to making right angle microwave connections to the housing to supply signals to microwave circuits on a carrier.
Typically many microwave circuits or individual components make up a subsystem enclosed within a single housing. The components may include amplifiers, couplers, switches, detectors, transmission lines, matching circuits or MMICs which may include any or all of the proceeding. Most of these components must be mounted to ground. Such mounting can be accomplished using solder or conductive epoxy to attach the components to the metal housing.
It may also be desired to mount individual components, or a small group of components or MMICs, on a metal carrier to provide the ground. A carrier is a thin piece of metal, typically xc2xd to 1 mm thick, which provides the ground for the circuits. An undesirable feature with carriers is that at high frequencies, such as microwave frequencies, the ground normally formed by the thickness of the carrier at lower frequencies provides an electrical discontinuity that can approach a full reflection at millimeter wave frequencies if full contact is not maintained between the carrier and housing.
Carriers which can provide grounding at high frequencies become more desirable with the increasing availability of MMIC subsystems. If a number of MMICs are mounted directly onto a housing and one of them fails, the entire assembly must be discarded, as it is generally impossible to remove a fragile MMIC after it has been mounted without destroying other MMICs in the vicinity. However, a carrier can be mechanically placed in and removed from the housing without destroying the circuit components mounted on it.
Once circuit components are mounted on a carrier, it is necessary to make connections between the carrier and the outside world. This is frequently accomplished using a coaxial connector. It is critical to maintain a good ground between the outer conductor of the coaxial cable supplying a signal to the coaxial connector and the carrier. It is also desirable to minimize the area required to make a connection between the coaxial cable and the carrier. However, as shown in FIG. 1A, a standard coaxial cable connector 4 occupies a large area.
In accordance with the present invention, a coaxial cable right angle connection is used to make a high-frequency electrical connection between microwave integrated circuit components in a housing and the outside world. A carrier is mounted within the housing, and provides grounding for attached microwave components. A coaxial cable extends through a sleeve, which is contained within the housing. The sleeve is soldered to the coaxial cable and is maintained against the carrier using an axial screw, thereby assuring good grounding from the outer conductor of the coaxial cable to the carrier. A bore is provided through the carrier for the coaxial cable and is counterbored to form first and second bores with different diameters. The outer conductor of the coaxial cable is removed for insertion through the carrier and the dielectric provided within the coaxial cable extends through the first bore in the carrier. A center conductor of the coaxial cable extends through both bores in the carrier to a point adjacent microwave components mounted on the carrier. The dielectric of the coaxial cable is removed so that the center conductor alone extends through a portion of the second bore to form an air dielectric section. The center conductor of the coaxial cable can be attached to microwave components mounted to the carrier using ribbon bonding. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Power consumption by electronic devices is an increasingly important factor in the design of electronic devices. From a global perspective, the energy consumption of electronic devices occupies a sizable percentage of total energy usage due to large corporate data centers and the ubiquity of personal computing devices. Environmental concerns thus motivate efforts to reduce the power consumed by electronic devices to help conserve the earth's resources. From an individual perspective, less power consumption translates to lower energy bills. Furthermore, many personal computing devices are portable and powered by batteries. The less energy that is consumed by a portable battery-powered electronic device, the longer the portable device can operate without recharging the battery. Lower energy consumption also enables the use of smaller batteries and the adoption of thinner form factors, which means electronic devices can be made more portable or versatile. Thus, the popularity of portable devices also motivates efforts to reduce the power consumption of electronic devices.
An electronic device consumes power if the device is coupled to a power source and is turned on. This is true for the entire electronic device, but it is also true for individual parts of the electronic device. Hence, power consumption can be reduced if parts of an electronic device are powered down, even while other parts remain powered up. Entire discrete components of an electronic device, such as a whole integrated circuit (IC) or a Wi-Fi radio, may be powered down. Alternatively, selected parts of a discrete component may likewise be powered down. For example, a distinct processing entity or a circuit block of an integrated circuit chip, such as a core thereof, may be selectively powered down for some period of time to reduce energy consumption.
A portion of an integrated circuit, such as a core, can therefore be powered down to reduce power usage and extend battery life. A core can be powered down by, for example, decoupling the core from a power source or otherwise causing the core to cease drawing an appreciable current level. Generally, if a core is not drawing current, the core is not consuming power. A strategy of turning off the current drawn by a core does reduce energy consumption. Unfortunately, this strategy also strains the operation of a power supply for the core.
In modern electronic devices, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) generates and provides voltages for different loads, such as a core of an integrated circuit. The PMIC can be disposed on the same integrated circuit as the core being powered or a different integrated circuit. The PMIC is responsible for providing a stable, steady voltage to the core to enable the core to operate properly. During standard operation or as part of a power-conserving strategy, the core can draw a load current that fluctuates over time. Nevertheless, a voltage regulator of the PMIC is expected to be capable of maintaining a regulated output voltage level as the load current changes over time.
However, the ability of a voltage regulator to provide a stable output voltage is undermined if a load current of a load repetitively falls to a low current level and then climbs to a high current level. In response to such sudden repetitive changes in the load current, the voltage regulator provides an output voltage that exhibits a pronounced dip, such as by as much as 40% below a set point for the output voltage. This dip on the output voltage adversely affects the performance of the load. For example, the ability of a core to correctly perform processing operations is jeopardized, such as by slowing processing throughput while the voltage is being stabilized or even causing data to become corrupted. These concerns have hindered the rate at which cores can be powered down and therefore the ability of integrated circuits to conserve power by reducing the current flow to a circuit load. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field
Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable mediums consistent with exemplary embodiments relate performing a service, and more particularly, to performing a service based on a widget.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to accelerated convergence between devices, services of various scenarios based on the convergence are being developed. A service capable of maximizing a user experience based on convergence between a plurality of devices connected in a network increasingly attracts attention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing device.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Computers or electrical devices are sometimes deployed in surroundings exposed to environmental elements. For example, telephone interface devices may be located on telephone poles, in boxes at a roadside, or under a body of water. Such devices are housed inside sealed enclosures to protect sensitive electrical equipment from exposure to contaminants, such as water, insects and dust.
Often many incoming and outgoing cables, such as electrical cables and fiber optic cables, are connected to the sensitive electrical equipment and communicate to the world outside the enclosure. Therefore, some arrangement must be provided around the cables to allow the incoming and outgoing cables to enter and exit the enclosure, without violating the sealed integrity of the enclosure.
FIGS. 1-4 illustrate a cable sealing arrangement in accordance with the background art. FIG. 1 is a view of an upper surface 3 of an enclosure 1 having a plurality of cable sealing devices 2. FIG. 2 is a close-up perspective view of one of the cable sealing devices 2 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates a disassembled cable-sealing device 2. FIG. 4 illustrates an assembled cable-sealing device 2, sealing a cable 4.
Each cable-sealing device 2 includes a base 5. The base 5 is attached to, and protrudes upward from, the upper surface 3 of the enclosure 1. The base 5 has first threads 6 formed around an outer periphery thereof An inside of the base 5 includes a first through hole 7, which communicates an interior of the enclosure 1 with the environment surrounding the enclosure 1. A periphery of the first through hole 7 is formed by a continuous tapered inner wall 8, which tapers in a direction opening away from the enclosure 1.
Each cable-sealing device 2 further includes a gasket 9, such as a grommet. An outer profile of the gasket 9 resembles a cork. A continuous tapered outer wall 11 of the gasket 9 is tapered in a direction opening away from the enclosure 1. A second through hole 10 is formed in a center of the gasket 9. A periphery of the second through hole 10 is formed by a continuous straight inner wall 12. The gasket 9 is made of a compressible and resilient material, such as rubber.
Finally, each cable-sealing device 2 includes a cap 13. Outer walls 14 of the cap 13 form a hexagon, like a bolt or nut. An inside of the cap 13 is hollow and provided with second threads 16 around an inner periphery wall. A third through hole 15 is formed in a center of an upper surface of the cap 13 and passes through to an undersurface 18 of the cap 13. The undersurface 18 of the cap 13 forms a boundary wall of the hollow inside of the cap 13.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the gasket 9 is interposed between the base 5 and the cap 13. The second threads 16 of the cap 13 are engaged to the first threads 6 of the base 5. Clockwise rotation of the cap 14 causes the undersurface 18 of the cap 13 to contact the gasket 9 and forces the gasket 9 further into the first through hole 7 in the base 5.
As the gasket 9 is pushed into the first through hole 7, the tapered outer wall 11 of the gasket 9 contacts with the tapered inner wall 8 of the base 5. The contact causes radial forces tending to close the second through hole 12 in the gasket 9. Therefore, tightening of the cap 13 results in a seal being formed around the cable 4, as well as, a seal being formed between the outer walls 11 of the gasket 9 and the inner walls 8 of the base 5.
The cable sealing device 2 according to the background art performs adequately in sealing a cable port in the enclosure 1. However, other drawbacks exist in the system of the background art. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in order to tighten or loosen the caps 13, a service technician applies a hand wrench 17. The hand wrench 17 engages the outer walls 14 of the cap 13. Therefore, a space must exist between adjacent cable sealing devices 2 to accommodate the hand wrench 17. Accordingly, an area of the upper surface 3 of the enclosure 1 must be made relative large in order to accommodate a desired number of cables 4. Conversely, the number of cables 4 must be limited in order to fit into a desired area for the upper surface 3 of the enclosure 1. | {
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It is known in the art to provide safety helmets for users of vehicles such as motorcycles, or snowmobiles, with an anti-dazzle visor, usually burnished or in any case produced in such a manner as to filter external light, which is pivoted, or constrained, to the outer shell and which, due to an appropriate operating mechanism, is movable between a position of engagement of the front opening of the helmet, i.e. to protect the user's sight, and a position of disengagement from the opening.
More in particular, it is known to produce a safety helmet comprising an outer shell made of rigid synthetic material, coupled integral to a complementary inner shell made of a shock absorbing material, usually an expanded material, in turn associated with a cap for the user's comfort, which is shaped in such a manner to have a front opening which allows the user to see and a lower opening to allow the helmet to be put on.
As it is known, in some safety helmets, known as “open face” helmets, the two openings mentioned above are connected to each other without interruption, while in other helmets they are separated from each other by a specific portion of the outer shell, provided with a corresponding shock absorbing layer, arranged in the user's chin area, and consequently called “chin guard”. In this latter case, production of the chin guard secured integral with the remaining part of the outer shell gives produces helmets which are known as “full face”, while the production of a chin guard that is pivoted, or in any case constrained with at least a degree of freedom, to the outer shell, and which can therefore usually be lifted relative to this latter, defines helmets known as “flip-up full face”.
In any case, regardless of the type of safety helmet considered, it is known to constrain to the outer shell, or optionally to extensions of the chin guard, when this is of the type that can be flipped up, a visor for protection of the user's face which reversibly covers the aforesaid front opening, and, in some cases, it is known to constrain to the outer shell an antidazzle visor, intended to engage at least part of the user's field of vision.
The anti-dazzle visor is usually constrained to the outer shell by means of an operating mechanism which allows the user, through a specific manual control, to move the visor in relation to the outer shell to engage or disengage the front opening of the helmet with the antidazzle visor.
In this regard, there are known different operating mechanisms of the anti-dazzle visor which allow the user to switch, rapidly and easily, from the aforesaid position of engagement of the anti-dazzle visor, usually coinciding with a lowered position relative to the outer shell, to the position of disengagement, usually coinciding with a raised position relative to the outer shell, and vice versa.
It is in fact essential for the person wearing the helmet to be able during travel to move the anti-dazzle visor, rapidly and with simple manual movements, from its position covering the user's field of vision, i.e. of engagement with the front opening of the helmet, to its position out of the user's field of vision, i.e. of disengagement from the front opening, when there are sudden changes in environmental light conditions, for example when entering and exiting a tunnel.
It must be noted that, above all when requiring to change from the position of engagement of the anti-dazzle visor with the front opening of the helmet to the position of disengagement of the anti-dazzle visor, or vice versa, the rapidity with which this change takes place is particularly critical.
It is also essential for the anti-dazzle visor, once arranged in the most suitable position by the user, to remain firmly in this position and not to move accidentally, for example due to vibrations or slight knocks to which the safety helmet is subjected, to the opposite position.
This requirement is particularly important in the case in which the user utilizes the safety helmet provided with the anti-dazzle visor to drive a vehicle at night or to drive a vehicle in conditions of poor environmental light, or in cases in which the anti-dazzle visor is arranged by the user in the raised position of disengagement from the front opening of the helmet. In fact, in these cases accidental lowering, due to vibrations or knocks, of the anti-dazzle visor to the position of engagement with the front opening of the helmet could cause effective problems for the user, while driving the vehicle.
The operating mechanism of the anti-dazzle visor is therefore required to ensure, even when there are vibrations and slight knocks, that it firmly maintains at least the raised position of the anti-dazzle visor, after it has been arranged in this position by the user.
Among the operating mechanisms of the anti-dazzle visor of known safety helmets, those mechanisms that provide for the use of cables for transmitting motion from a control slider, which can be operated manually by the user, to the anti-dazzle visor, are particularly effective and structurally simple.
The international patent application WO 2006/037294 A1, by SCHUBERTH ENGINEERING AG, describes an operating mechanism for an anti-dazzle visor comprising two Bowden cables, i.e. cables capable of transmitting pushing and pulling forces and movements, which have one end thereof connected to at least one control slider, sliding inside a guide integral with the outer shell of the helmet, and the other end thereof connected respectively to lateral operating portions of the anti-dazzle visor. Operation of the control slider, by the user, causes, due to the Bowden cables, transmission of motion from the slider to the anti-dazzle visor, which is thus caused to move from a position covering the field of vision, corresponding to a lowered position, to the position out of the field of vision, corresponding to a raised position, and vice versa.
Although structurally simple., this operating mechanism for the anti-dazzle visor on the one hand proves to be relatively ineffective, given that the speed with which the anti-dazzle visor passes from its position of engagement to its position of disengagement is left to the manual rapidity of the user, and on the other hand the force required by the user to move the control slider, given the presence of the Bowden cables, is substantially equivalent to the force required to raise or lower the anti-dazzle visor, and can therefore represent a possible obstacle to rapid operation of the visor.
The international patent application WO 2010/066278 A1 by LAZER S. A., relates to an operating mechanism to raise or lower an anti-dazzle visor of a safety helmet which comprises a cable, of the flexible or Bowden type, extending between a control slider of the visor, in turn slidable inside a related guide integral with the outer shell of the helmet, and a slider., constrained to two arms of two respective levers, which are in turn integral with lateral end portions of the aforesaid anti-dazzle visor, to cause raising or lowering thereof relative to the outer shell and to the related front opening.
Manual movement of the control slider inside its guide causes, through the motion transmission cable and the kinematic mechanism composed of the slider and of the two levers, movement of the anti-dazzle visor from its lowered position, i.e. covering the user's field of vision, to its raised position, i.e. out of the field of vision, and vice versa.
Although this operating mechanism was designed to allow the user to apply relatively low forces in order to operate the anti-dazzle visor, due to the presence of the two levers employed, it nonetheless has a certain degree of structural complexity and is also cumbersome and difficult to assemble.
Moreover, although the operating mechanism of the anti-dazzle visor described in WO 2010/066278 A1 allows the anti-dazzle visor to be operated by exerting a limited force on the related control slider, it is not provided with specific technical means for rapidly raising this latter in the case of need and does not seem to have any mechanism that ensures the anti-dazzle visor remains stably in its raised position, of disengagement from the front opening of the helmet.
Although the German utility model DE 8534132 U, by WITZMANN does not refer explicitly to a helmet provided with an anti-dazzle visor, it describes a mechanism for raising and lowering the protective visor relative to the front opening of the shell, which includes the use of two flexible motion transmission cables, coupled functionally to a control slider and, respectively, at the lower lateral ends of the visor that act as operating portions of this latter. The helmet also comprises elastic return means, which, interposed functionally between the outer shed and the visor, are structured to push the visor into its raised position, i.e. of disengagement from the front opening of the helmet.
The control slider, which engages slidingly inside a stepped guide adapted to provide a plurality of stable retaining positions for the slider, can be operated by the user in order to lower the visor in opposition to the action of said elastic return means.
Although this visor operating mechanism ensures considerably rapid raising of the visor, it suffers from the same drawbacks already set forth in relation to the international patent application WO 2006/037294 A1, as the force to apply to the slider, given the direct transmission of forces from the slider to the visor, must be equivalent to the force required to raise or lower the visor. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to computer-aided chemical illustration systems. Specifically, it relates to a system for emulating the illustration tools used in making precise drawings of chemical structures.
The accurate representation of molecules remains a problem for scientists. The use of molecular formulas represents an early attempt at describing molecules. For example, dibromo-ethane can be represented by the molecular formula C.sub.2 H.sub.4 Br.sub.2. However, molecular formulas do not necessarily indicate molecular structure--an aspect which is crucial to the communication of chemical structures.
In particular, molecular formulas do not readily illustrate the variation between isomers, i.e., where two structurally different compounds have the same molecular formula. Even chemical names, which distinguish between isomers, may be difficult to interpret for more complex molecules. For example, carbenicillin, a common antibiotic, has an empirical molecular formula of C.sub.26 H.sub.25 N.sub.2 NaO.sub.6 S. Its chemical name is 1-(5-Indanyl)-N-(2-carboxy-3, 3-dimethyl-7-oxo-4-thia-I-azabicyclo[3.2.0 ] hept-6-yl)-2-phenyl-malonate. However, most readers would not be able to discern carbenicillin's structure from this information. Clearly, a better method is desired to indicate chemical structures.
Structural formulas, first developed by Crum Brown in 1864, attempt to depict three-dimensional molecular structures with two-dimensional drawings. The development and use of structural formulas is well known in the art (see Roberts, J. and Caserio, M., Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, W. A. Benjamin, Inc., 1977) .
For the most part, structural formulas emphasize ease of drawing over geometric accuracy. Three-dimensional detail is commonly omitted. It is understood that the technical reader will infer the three-dimensional structure from the two-dimensional structural formula.
Methane (CH.sub.4) illustrates this point. It is well established that the carbon atom in methane forms its four single bonds at the corners of a regular tetrahedron, i.e., bond angles equal to 109.5 .degree.. However, it is much easier to draw this as a planar structure. Therefore, methane is represented as a cross-shaped molecule with a carbon (C) atom in the center of four evenly-spaced hydrogen (H) atoms: ##STR1## While methane appears to be a flat molecule with bond angles of 90.degree., the technical reader will infer a tetrahedron. Alternatively, one may draw a more detailed or "projection" structural formula to emphasize methane's tetrahedral nature: ##STR2## Both structural formulas represent two-dimensional depictions of a three-dimensional molecule.
Arguably, a molecule is more accurately represented by three-dimensional models, such as ball and stick or space-filling models. Additional illustration techniques, such as shading or perspective geometry, could be added to structural formulas to yield more accurate renditions. However, these are more difficult and time consuming to create and add little information to the informed scientific reader. The structural formula method is a good compromise between ease of use and geometric accuracy. As a result, it retains great popularity with scientists and technical writers.
While scientists and technical writers have traditionally relied upon templates and pencils to create structural formulas, the human hand can rarely, if ever, achieve the precision that is available with computer-aided systems. As a result, computers have become a powerful tool for the rapid and economical creation of pictures. The use of computer graphics is particularly well suited for automating chemical illustrations.
In computer-aided chemical illustration systems, each object (ring, atom, bond, chemical formula, etc.) exists as an independent constituent with its own attributes. For example, instead of creating a chemical bond by drawing continuously, as one would do by hand, the user need only specify the beginning and ending points. The computer generates a line representing the bond specified by these points. Once an object is entered into the computer, the user may perform various operations which would be difficult or impossible to do manually.
However, current systems have several drawbacks. For example, prior systems have limited bond drawing capabilities. The actual bond drawing method is inefficiently implemented: the user must click a mouse button once at each end of each bond. Also, the user may not change a bond type while drawing. He or she must draw a second bond over the first in order to produce a double bond or enter a different bond mode in which each successive bond will be of the same type.
There are other shortcomings in bond drawing. While one may draw a bond at certain angles (angle constraints) or continuously at any angle, there is no provision for bisecting the angles of existing bonds. For labeling, the user must select a particular atom (usually located at the end of a bond) and type in the label. This cannot be performed "on the fly," e.g., while in a drawing mode with a mouse button depressed. Moreover, there is no provision for the automatic alignment of labels.
Computer-aided systems have automated the process of manipulating or transforming objects. Basic transformation techniques, including move, copy, re-orient, rotate, scale, or flip (mirror), are known in the art. However, current chemical systems have limited transformation facilities. For example, the user is only allowed to pivot (rotate transformation) a structure, such as a ring, around a point while it is being drawn. The user cannot create additional views or "reflections" while in a drawing mode, such as out-of-plane rotations of rings.
In prior systems, the user may draw chemical rings comprised of single and double bonds, for example, the Kekule structure for benzene. However, current implementations cannot recognize a closed chain of bonds as a ring. Without this ability, these systems cannot perform automatic ring operations, such as moving or "shifting" bonds within a ring.
current systems for illustrating chemical structures offer significant advantages over freehand techniques. However, there are notable shortcomings. In particular, these systems fail to recognize or implement many techniques which are needed for the efficient illustration of chemical structures. The present invention provides novel methods and apparatus which fulfills this and other needs. | {
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Sonar (SOund NAvigation Ranging) technology is used to detect objects under the water. A sonar device emits acoustic pulses in water and receives an echo from any objects that the acoustic pulse reflects back from. The distance between the sonar device and the object can be determined by measuring the time between the pulse transmission and reflected pulse reception. Active sonar creates a pulse of sound, often called a “ping”, and then listens for reflections of the pulse. To measure the distance to an object, one measures the time from emission of a pulse to reception. The acoustic pulse travels at the speed of sound underwater, thus the distance is determined by the (speed of sound)/(time between sending and receiving the pulse/2).
The pulse may be at constant frequency or a chirp of changing frequency. For a chirp, the receiver correlates the frequency of the reflections to the known chirp. The resultant processing gain allows the receiver to derive the same information as if a much shorter pulse of the same total energy were emitted. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to the method for manufacturing the semiconductor device provided with a capacitor (information storage capacitance element), which is formed using a metal oxide film such as a tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) film as a capacitive insulating film.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-194006 filed on Jul. 2, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Large Scale Integrations (LSIs) known as a representative of semiconductor devices are roughly classified into memory products and logic products, the former of which, in particular, has been developed remarkably with advancing semiconductor device manufacturing technologies in recent years. Further, the memory products are classified into Dynamic Random Access Memories (DRAMs) and Static Random Access Memories (SRAMs), most of which are made up of Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) transistors excellent in integration density. Further, the DRAMs, in particular, are greatly advantageous over the SRAMs because of improvement in integration density as described above and hence because of a reduction in cost, thereby finding wide applications in a variety of memory units in information devices or a like.
In a DRAM, each memory cell includes a memory cell selecting transistor made up of an MOS type switching transistor and a capacitor connected to the memory cell selecting transistor, to store information in accordance with whether charge is stored in the capacitor or not. Recently, however, an amount of information to be stored has increased with growth of an information-oriented society, to limit an area occupied by the capacitors to be formed on a semiconductor substrate. Therefore, it is necessary to produce increased capacitance of the capacitor of each memory cell. If the capacitor does not have capacitance large enough to store information, the DRAM readily malfunctions due to an influence of an external noise signal or a like, being subject to errors represented by a soft error.
Conventionally, as a capacitive insulating film of the capacitor of a DRAM, there has been used, for example, a silicon oxide (SiO2) film, a silicon nitride (SiN) film, a metal oxide film such as a tantalum oxide film or a like. Of these potential capacitive insulating films, especially, the tantalum oxide film, which is a metal oxide film, has a large permittivity as compared to the silicon oxide film, the silicon nitride film, or the like. Therefore, by using the tantalum oxide film as the capacitive insulating film, it is possible to from the capacitor having large capacitance. Such the tantalum oxide film is typically formed by using a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method, because it is easy to do so.
When forming the tantalum oxide film by the CVD method conventionally, as described above, an oxidizing gas such as an oxygen gas is used together with a material gas containing tantalum in order to fill oxygen vacancies liable to occur in the tantalum oxide film when it is being formed and also to remove organic residue. If oxygen vacancies are generated in the tantalum oxide film, a leakage current may flow through the formed capacitor, resulting in formation of the capacitive insulating film having a poor film quality.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 7-14986 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-35842 discloses a semiconductor device manufacturing method for introducing the material gas and the oxygen gas into a reaction chamber simultaneously to thus form the tantalum oxide film by a CVD method. Oxygen contained in the oxygen gas fills the vacancies and also removes the organic residue, thereby working to improve the film quality of the tantalum oxide film.
As shown in FIG. 10, formation of the tantalum oxide film is started by: placing a semiconductor substrate in a reactor (reaction chamber) kept at, for example, about 430° C. (deposition temperature) and at about 10 Torr (Torricelli) (deposition pressure); and, at a time t10, introducing into the reactor a material gas and the oxygen (O2) gas at a same time on condition of respectively predetermined amounts of flow, wherein the material gas is obtained by spray and vaporizing, for example, tantalum pentaethoxide [Ta(OC2H5)5: hereinafter may be referred to as PET], which is one of tantalum compounds, with a nitrogen (N2) carrier gas. At a time t20 when a predetermined time has elapsed, introduction of the material gas and that of the oxygen gas are stopped simultaneously. In this case, the oxygen gas is used to fill oxygen vacancies liable to occur when the tantalum oxide film is being formed as described above and also to remove organic residue. Further, by a conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method using such a deposition sequence, the material gas is introduced in one continuous step, to form the capacitive insulating film having a finally required film thickness.
If the material gas and the oxygen gas are introduced into the reaction chamber simultaneously to form the tantalum oxide film as in the case of the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method, a partial pressure of the material gas decreases. As a result, step coverage of the formed tantalum oxide film is deteriorated, so that film thickness of the capacitive insulating film formed on a surface of a lower electrode is liable to be non-uniform, thereby making it difficult to obtain stable capacitance of the capacitor when it is formed. In particular, when the lower electrode is a three-dimensional structure such as a cylinder or its surface shape is formed like a Hemispherical Silicon Grain (HSG) in order to increase the capacitance, the step coverage is deteriorated remarkably, to give rise to such a problem that a desired capacitance value cannot be obtained or upper and lower electrodes short-circuit with each other.
If the oxygen gas is introduced less to improve the step coverage, on the other hand, the oxygen works less correspondingly, to cause oxygen vacancies to occur in the tantalum oxide film and also organic residue to be accumulated, so that the film quality of the tantalum oxide film is deteriorated inevitably. Further, if a deposition rate is decreased by lowering a deposition temperature in order to improve the step coverage, not only the film quality is deteriorated but also much time is spent to form a film having a finally required film thickness.
A tantalum oxide deposition method for solving these problems by introducing the material gas in a non-oxidizing atmosphere to continuously form the tantalum oxide film until it has a finally required film thickness and then annealing the film in an oxidizing atmosphere to fill oxygen vacancies that have occurred in the tantalum oxide film is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-340559.
However, by the tantalum oxide deposition method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-340559, the tantalum oxide film is continuously formed until it has a finally required film thickness and annealed in the oxidizing atmosphere, thus giving rise to a problem that oxygen vacancies generated in the tantalum oxide film cannot completely be filled.
That is, by a semiconductor device manufacturing method by use of the tantalum oxide deposition method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-340559, when forming the tantalum oxide film which makes up the capacitive insulating film of the capacitor, the oxygen gas is not introduced simultaneously with the material gas and so not influenced by the material gas, thereby improving step coverage. On the other hand, the material gas is continuously introduced at a constant flow rate to form the tantalum oxide film until it has the finally required film thickness and then the film is annealed in an oxidizing atmosphere, so that oxygen vacancies in the tantalum oxide film thus formed cannot completely be filled, thereby resulting in the capacitive insulating film having a poor film quality being formed when the capacitor is formed. Therefore, a leakage current flows trough the capacitor, to make it difficult for the capacitor to serve as an information storage capacitive element, resulting in deteriorated reliabilities of a relevant DRAM. In this case, in the tantalum oxide film manufacturing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-340559 as described above, if heat treatment for introducing the oxygen gas to supply a sufficient amount of oxygen to the oxygen vacancies in the formed tantalum oxide film is prolonged, a throughput is deteriorated inevitably. Furthermore, as duration of the heat treatment is prolonged, a surface of a polysilicon film or a like making up the lower electrode is oxidized, to form the silicon oxide film or a like having a small permittivity, thereby reducing a total capacitance value of the capacitor.
By such the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method, it has been impossible to form the capacitive insulating film having good step coverage and a good film quality. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat structure, to be in more detail, a seat structure suitably used for a seat of a transportation equipment such as a plain, a train, a ship, a fork lift and an automobile.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-177099) discloses a vehicle seat using a three-dimensional net member (solid knitted fabric) which is excellent in cushioning property even in a thin-type as a cushioning layer, for instance. The cushioning property is served by straining respective cushioning layers made of a three-dimensional net member over a back frame and a cushion frame for forming a seat back and a seat cushion to use as a tension structure.
The vehicle seat disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with a sufficient cushioning property even in a thin-type as described above, and excellent air permeability, since it uses a three-dimensional net member. However, the vehicle seat disclosed in Patent Document 1 is allowed to have a vibration absorbing function by providing a flat-type supporting member supported by coil springs at the lower portion of the three-dimensional net member on a seat cushion side, and a vibration absorption measure on a seat back side is not considered to be so important. Besides, the three-dimensional net member provided on the seat back is strained with low tension, which sometimes makes an impression that a slight slack exists in the vicinity corresponding to the waist portion of a seated person, causing a problem in appearance.
Meanwhile, especially in a seat for transportation equipment such as an automobile, improvement in impact absorbing function against collision or the like as well as improvement in the above-described vibration absorbing function is always requested to be solved. Though it is an example of a vehicle seat not using a cushioning layer composed of a tension structure in which a three-dimensional net member or the like is strained over a back frame, in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-278128), for instance, disclosed is a vehicle seat, which includes: a pair of cantilever type outer pipes divided into two and each one end being fixed into each side frame; and inner pipes accommodated in the pair of outer pipes, on the lower portion of the back frame, and when impact force beyond a predetermined limit is inputted by collision, the outer pipes are easily bent rightwards, leftwards, and backwards, and at the same time, the inner pipes are slid in the inside of the outer pipes to hold the waist portion of the human body deeply in the seat back so that a slipping-up phenomenon of the human body is prevented.
In order to improve the impact absorbing function, it is desirable to hold a portion from the waist portion to the haunches of the human body (namely, the pelvis portion) deeply in the seat back at the time of collision, as disclosed in Patent Document 2. This is the same as in the case of a seat using a cushioning layer composed of a tension structure such as a three-dimensional net member strained over a back frame. However, in the structure disclosed in Patent Document 2, even though the outer pipes are divided into two, since the inner pipes are housed therein, the stiffness of the pipes perform as an obstacle to backward movement of the human body such as sliding into the seat back. Therefore, it is requested to realize a structure capable of performing backward displacement of the human body more quickly. | {
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Evaporative pattern casting is a type of casting method, and is also called full-mold casting. An outline of this method is as follows. First, a pattern is made from an evaporative material that evaporates by the heat of molten metal. This pattern is called an evaporative pattern. Next, a sand mold is made in which the evaporative pattern is embedded. Molten metal is poured into a cavity of the sand mold. Here, “cavity” means a space in the sand mold occupied by the evaporative pattern. When the molten metal is poured, the evaporative pattern is evaporated (melted or burnt) by the heat of the molten metal, and the space which had been occupied by the evaporative pattern is filled by the molten metal. After the molten metal has cooled and solidified, the sand mold is removed, completing a cast structure having exactly the same shape as the evaporative pattern. Typically, polystyrene foam or wax is employed as the evaporative material.
The structural strength (rigidity) of polystyrene foam or wax is low, and consequently when a large-scale evaporative pattern was to be made, the evaporative pattern was manufactured as a plurality of separate parts, and then the parts were assembled. For example, a method of manufacturing an evaporative pattern as a plurality of separate parts is disclosed in Patent Document 1. | {
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An organic polymer having at least one reactive silyl group per molecule is known to have a characteristic that it is cross-linked by siloxane bond formation involving hydrolysis or other reactions of the silyl group due to factors such as moisture even at room temperature, whereby a rubbery cured product is obtained.
Among such polymers, polymers containing an alkyldialkoxysilyl group are known to offer excellent, flexible and tough cured products and are widely used in applications such as sealants, adhesives, and coating agents. Curable compositions containing these organic polymers are usually cured by means of a condensation catalyst such as a dibutyltin compound. In the case that such a curable composition needs to be cured in a short time, generally, for example, the amount of condensation catalyst is increased. However, the toxicity of organotin compounds has been pointed out in recent years, and these compounds must be used with care from the viewpoint of environmental safety.
Although polymers having a trialkoxysilyl group at both terminals have high curability, the resulting cured products are known to be hard and brittle. In the case of using these polymers for contact adhesives, the crosslink density becomes too high during curing, which causes the problem that the length of time until tack development (i.e., so-called open time) cannot be long.
Meanwhile, it has been suggested that the use of a polymer having a specific terminal structure, although terminated with a dialkoxysilyl group, can provide a curable composition having a high curing rate (Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2). In some cases, however, the curable compositions prepared from the polymers described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 give cured products having poor tensile properties. | {
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This invention relates generally to the field of indoor fitness machines, and more particularly to an apparatus for browsing reading material while working out on fitness equipment such as treadmills, stationary bikes, and stationary cross country ski machines.
Trying to have at least a light fitness routine workout in today""s fast paced society often takes a backseat to other pressing matters such as trying to read a newspaper, e-mail, review graphics, magazine articles, or searching the Internet. This invention allows combining both functions for the browsing of various media forms while having a workout at the gym or at home.
Plastic reading platforms typically about the size of a large textbook have been attached to the top of a treadmill or stationary bicycle for reading while working out. However, these tend to move with the vibration of the fitness machines resulting in difficulty in reading while working out. In addition, the small size of these platforms generally precludes placing an open newspaper on it to read while working out. Further, the design of these platforms may not allow it to be used with various other fitness machines.
A primary object of the invention is to provide a workout stand for browsing through reading material while working out.
Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable height reading platform for various fitness equipment that is unencumbered by the fitness machine.
Another object of the invention is to provide a large base platform to be used without a fitness machine for those who don""t want to sit due to a bad back.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a workout browsing stand that can easily be stored.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a free-standing workout browsing stand to be used with fitness equipment, the stand comprises two main posts connected by a crossbar sufficiently long that the main posts are at a distance approximately wider than the workout equipment, and a browsing platform connected to the cross bar for displaying material.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. | {
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The present disclosure relates to downhole tools used in the oil and gas industry and, more particularly, to degradable downhole tools comprising doped magnesium alloy solid solutions.
In the oil and gas industry, a wide variety of downhole tools are used within a wellbore in connection with producing hydrocarbons or reworking a well that extends into a hydrocarbon producing subterranean formation. For examples, some downhole tools, such as fracturing plugs (i.e., “frac” plugs), bridge plugs, and packers, may be used to seal a component against casing along a wellbore wall or to isolate one pressure zone of the formation from another.
After the production or reworking operation is complete, the downhole tool must be removed from the wellbore, such as to allow for production or further operations to proceed without being hindered by the presence of the downhole tool. Removal of the downhole tool(s) is traditionally accomplished by complex retrieval operations involving milling or drilling the downhole tool for mechanical retrieval. In order to facilitate such operations, downhole tools have traditionally been composed of drillable metal materials, such as cast iron, brass, or aluminum. These operations can be costly and time consuming, as they involve introducing a tool string (e.g., a mechanical connection to the surface) into the wellbore, milling or drilling out the downhole tool (e.g., breaking a seal), and mechanically retrieving the downhole tool or pieces thereof from the wellbore to bring to the surface. | {
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The family of natural products known as the schweinfurthins includes four compounds (FIG. 1, 1-4) isolated from the African plant Macaranga schweinfurthii Pax (see Beutler, J. A. et al., J. Nat. Prod. 1998, 61, 1509-1512; and Beutler, J. A., et al., Nat. Prod. Lett. 2000, 14, 349-404). Schweinfurthins A (1), B (2), and D (4) display significant activity in the NCI's 60-cell line anticancer assay with mean GI50's <1 μM. Their biological activity has attracted interest because some CNS, renal, and breast cancer cell lines are among the types most sensitive to these compounds. Inspection of the spectrum of activity shows no correlation with any currently used agents and suggests that these compounds may be acting at a previously unrecognized target or through a novel mechanism.
Repeated attempts to isolate larger samples of the schweinfurthins from natural sources have met with limited success; the absolute stereochemistry of these compounds has yet to be determined.
A cascade cyclization approach to the synthesis of racemic Schweinfurthin B was reported by E. Treadwell, et al., Organic Letters, 2002, 4, 3639-3642. The reported synthetic method, however, could not be elaborated to provide enantiomerically enriched mixtures of Schweinfurthin B.
Accordingly, there exists a need for synthetic methods that are useful for preparing enantiomerically enriched Schweinfurthin compounds. In addition to providing commercially useful quantities, such methods would allow sufficient quantities of the Schweinfurthin compounds to be prepared such that the absolute stereochemistry of the biologically active natural products can be determined. Additionally, general synthetic methods for preparing the Schweinfurthin ring structure would allow the preparation of structurally related compounds that might also have useful biological activity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an integrated circuit and more particularly to an integrated circuit metallization layer having nitride and silicide regions.
2. Background of the Relevant Art
To form an integrated circuit from a group of devices manufactured simultaneously upon the same monolithic substrate, the devices must be electrically connected to one another. The entire process of making ohmic contact to the devices and routing conducting material between ohmic contacts is defined herein as "metallization." While materials other than metal are often used, the term metallization is generic in its application and is derived from the origins of interconnect technology, where metals were the first conductors used. As the complexity of integrated circuits has increased, the complexity of the metallization composition has also increased. Accordingly, metallization may incorporate conductive materials other than metals.
It is not uncommon to have several levels of metallization spaced from each other across the upper substrate surface. In addition, each level of metallization may contain multi-layers of conductive material. As such, metallization may include one or more layers, whereby certain layers may be used in the contact region and other layers configured as interconnect routing between the contacts. Metallization thereby uses specific composition in the contact area to enhance adherence to the underlying silicon. The material used in the contact area, however, may not be suitable as a routing material. Therefore, routing may, for example, utilize a material which is more highly conductive and easier to deposit and etch than the contact area material.
The low resistivity of aluminum, excellent adherence to both silicon and silicon dioxide, and the ohmic contact it makes to silicon assures it as an attractive conductor for use in the multi-layer metallization scheme. Aluminum can be easily deposited on silicon using conventional techniques such as evaporation or sputtering. Unfortunately, with the advent of high density integrated circuits having thinner diffusion junctions, some of the other properties of aluminum have prevented its complete applicability as the sole composition of the metallization layer.
Referring to FIG. 1, modern integrated circuit manufacture often utilizes relatively thin diffusion junctions 10 placed within the upper surface of silicon or gallium arsenide substrate 12. Junction 10, contained within an active region between thick oxide areas 14, provides an ohmic contact region upon which metallization layer 16 can be deposited. If metallization 16 comprises only aluminum without other multi-layer components, then certain deleterious effects may arise when the aluminum is brought in contact with the doped silicon junction. The most important outcome of aluminum and silicon bonding is silicon's appreciable solubility into the aluminum. Aluminum's ability to dissolve thin layers of silicon or silicon dioxide helps ensure good physical contact or adherence. However, if enough silicon dissolves in the aluminum, small pits can form in the silicon surface. The pits are filled with aluminum and the phenomena, often referred to as aluminum spiking, occurs. As aluminum fills the pits or voids left by the outdiffusing silicon, the amount of aluminum fill can extend completely through a thin junction 10 as shown by reference numeral 18. Aluminum passing completely through the junction provides a conductive path through the junction thereby rendering the device inoperable.
The formation of pits or voids within the silicon is often achieved during sintering operation. Sintering at 300.degree. C. produces discernable pitting at depths to 0.2 .mu.m. At 350.degree. C., pits of 0.5 .mu.m have been observed and at 450.degree. C., pits of 2.0 .mu.m may occur. In order to prevent such pitting, aluminum may be deposited saturated with silicon so that it is unable to absorb any more silicon when contacted with the substrate. Alternatively, or in addition to using saturated aluminum, a thin barrier layer may be placed between the aluminum and silicon. The barrier reduces or minimizes cross-diffusion and destructive reaction between silicon and aluminum, yet allows charge carriers to pass freely from the junction to the overlying metallization.
There are many types of barriers which may be used. A sacrificial barrier is one having a finite lifetime. A sacrificial barrier can be initially placed between the aluminum and silicon where it is eventually consumed by the formation and diffusion of intermediate compounds at the aluminum/barrier interface and the barrier/silicon interface. Sacrificial barriers are predominantly made of pure metals such as transition or refractory metals (or bi-metallic alloys). Aluminides and silicides form at the aluminum/barrier interface and barrier/silicon interface, respectively, and then diffuse outward throughout the barrier material until the initial barrier composition no longer exists. Thus, sacrificial barriers provide only a temporary fix to the problem and do not meet the stringent long-term requirements of very large scale integration (VLSI) or ultra large scale integration (ULSI) technology.
A second class of barrier, known as a diffusion barrier, provides an infinite lifetime--as opposed to the finite lifetime of a sacrificial barrier. A diffusion barrier includes a diffusion layer made of an inert material placed between the aluminum and silicon. Diffusion barriers, being inert, do not substantially react with adjacent aluminum and silicon layers. Inert material, however, offers poor adhesion to the adjacent aluminum and silicon. In order to increase adhesion, multi-layers of dissimilar material are formed within the metallization embodying the barrier. A silicide is often used to aid barrier adhesion to silicon. Silicides generally have very high electrical conductivity and therefore make very dependable ohmic contacts. Silicides are formed by depositing a thin layer of refractory metals over the silicon surface, heating the surface to a high enough temperature for the silicon and metal to react in the active region, and then etch away the unreacted metal on top of the thick oxide. Subsequently, additional metallization layers are added to the exposed upper surface of the refractory barrier metal. Refractory metals often require temperatures near 600.degree. C. for silicide formation.
Many different types of refractory metals may be used to form the barrier layer within metallization. As shown below in Table I, refractory metals such as titanium and tungsten provide very low ohmic contact resistance in the active silicon region and therefore are preferred barrier materials.
TABLE I ______________________________________ Resultant Sinter Silicide Resistivity Temperature ______________________________________ TiSi.sub.2 13-16 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 900.degree. C. TaSi.sub.2 35-55 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 1000.degree. C. CrSi.sub.2 600 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 700.degree. C. MoSi.sub.2 100 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 1000.degree. C. WSi.sub.2 70 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 1000.degree. C. FeSi.sub.2 >1000 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 700.degree. C. PtSi.sub.2 28-35 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 800.degree. C. CoSi.sub.2 18-25 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 900.degree. C. NiSi.sub.2 50-60 .mu..OMEGA./cm.sup.2 900.degree. C. ______________________________________
When a blanket film of refractory metal is placed over patterned oxide silicon surface and subjected to a thermal sinter, silicide forms only where the metal is in direct contact with the silicon substrate. The unreacted metal can be removed during wet or dry etch processing leaving silicide only in the active regions or windows (such as over source and drain areas). Silicides so formed are often referred to as self-aligned silicides or salicides. The formation of silicides can increase the effective contact area to enhance device operation.
The idea of opening a contact region using normal photolithography and then placing a barrier layer of refractory metal over the upper surface of the contact window is well known. Moreover, subsequent placement of a conductive material over the barrier and across selective regions of thick oxide is also well known. The fabrication steps necessary to deposit, sinter and pattern the various layers used in multi-layer metallization can be fairly complex and difficult to incorporate in a normal process flow. Generally speaking, barrier material and overlying aluminum can be deposited using conventional sputtering techniques. The barrier, however, is generally annealed prior to placement of overlying aluminum. Without anneal, implant-induced defects within the barrier and underlying junction (or active region) may remain thereby causing inoperable or improper circuit operation. Annealing helps induce the movement of implanted ions to their proper positions within the crystallographic lattice network. Such annealing can be performed in a separate rapid thermal anneal apparatus at high temperature and at high pressure as described in Hara, T., et al., "Formation of Titanium Nitride Layers by the Nitridation of Titanium in High Pressure Ammonium Ambient," Appl. Phys. Lett. 57 (16), 15 Oct. 1990; and, Kamgar, A., et al., "Self-Aligned TiN Barrier Formation by Rapid Thermal Nitridation of TiSi.sub.2 in Ammonia, "J. Appl. Phys. 66 (6), 15 Sep. 1989 (incorporated herein by reference). Both the Hara and Kamgar articles describe rapid thermal anneal (RTA) in the presence of ammonium to produce nitridation at the upper surface of the barrier during the formation of silicide at the barrier/substrate interface. The barrier is specifically described as titanium having a thickness of 900 .ANG. to 1200 .ANG.. Pure titanium barriers, however, do not exhibit columnar microstructure such as that present in a combination tungsten and titanium barrier. Unfortunately, tungsten and titanium films behave as rather poor diffusion barriers unless nitrogen is incorporated into the titanium and tungsten structure. As described in Dirks, A , et al , . "On the Microstructure-Property Relationship of W--Ti--(N) Diffusion Barriers," Thin Solid Films, 193/194 (1990) pp. 201-210, the columnar microstructure of combination titanium and tungsten readily combines with nitrogen to provide a more suitable diffusion barrier than offered by pure titanium or pure tungsten.
Barriers having titanium, tungsten and nitrogen inhibit cross diffusion better than if the barrier is pure titanium or pure tungsten. However, the methodology by which nitrogen is added to the combination barrier is often complex and cumbersome. Adding nitrogen to the barrier can fall outside the normal integrated circuit fabrication flow. Additional process or fab step can increase the cost of circuit manufacture and reduce yields. It is therefore advantageous that nitrogen be added during normal processing flow of the integrated circuit. Preferably, additional steps or equipment must be minimized in order to make titanium-tungsten barriers cost effective. It would therefore be desirable to incorporate nitrogen using the same processing equipment utilized, for example, in doping the substrate. Modification to pre-existing equipment must be eliminated or minimized. It is also important that the concentration of nitrogen be closely monitored during anneal, and that only controlled amounts of certain contaminants be allowed to enter the anneal chamber. It would therefore be desirable to utilize a low-pressure annealling chamber to ensure additional or undesirable contaminants not be allowed to enter the resulting barrier and thereby adversely affect device operation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In order to move a tool through a three dimensional space and along a predetermined path to do work continuously or at certain locations, it is necessary to program a computer. In prior art practices, this has been accomplished by moving the tool along the surface of the path through which the tool is to be moved while feeding programming information to the computer. One problem associated with this method is that the tool may strike obstacles in the path causing undesirable changes in the angular relationship of the tool to the surface so that the tool would not perform its work properly at such locations. Also, the tool could be damaged. It has been proposed to secure a teaching device to the tool so as to protect the tool while being moved along the path and in contact with the surface. Such a device, while protecting the tool, still suffered the drawback of inadvertantly changing the angular relationship of the tool or even moving it too far out of the intended path if an obstacle was encountered. Also, the structure of the teaching device sometimes prevented the positioning of the tool at the desired angular relationship. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to a new nanoparticle and a nanoparticle composite, and more particularly to the nanoparticle which can improve the dispersibility and surface orientation of guest molecule, and the nanoparticle composite in which the guest molecule is included in the nanoparticle.
In conventional techniques, a compound having a long chain alkyl group such as an acrylic ester oligomer or the like is slightly soluble in a solvent because molecules are entangled with each other. Against this, it has been found to reduce such cohesion and to increase the solubility by using the fact that the surface energy of fluorine is low. However, this is insufficient in orientation to the surface of solvent and resin (See, for example, Non-patent literatures 1 to 3). [Non-patent literature 1] H. Sawada, R. Kasai et al., polym. Adv. Tech., 16, 655 (2005); [Non-patent literature 2] H. Sawada, J. Iidzuka et al., J. Colloid Interface Sci., 263, 1 (2003); and [Non-patent literature 3] Science Council of Japan, 11th Interface Symposium “Construction of Nano-level Structure-controlled Fluorine-based Molecule Aggregate and Coating Surface Improvement”, Hirosaki University, Hideo Sawada (2004). | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to golf club heads, more particularly to hollow metallic wood club heads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a recent development of wood clubs such as a driver and fairway clubs, there have been proposed various kinds of "metalwoods", in which the head has the shape of a traditional wood but formed of metal such as stainless steel or aluminium alloy, molded in a hollow form by the lost-wax casting process. The hitting surface or "face" of the metallic head is formed at a loft angle preselected in accordance with the number of the wood club. Since the loft angle at the moment of impact is retained at the preselected angle, the golf ball is applied with back spin and tends to be floated up by the lift force acting thereon in the air, resulting in decrease of its flight distance or carry and decrease of its run after drops on the ground.
During the lost-wax casting process, it is extremely difficult to control the grain size of the metal structure. As a result, the grain size of the metal structure becomes relatively large, resulting in deterioration of the rigidity of the metallic head. Since the shell of the hollow metallic head may not be thinned for the foregoing reason, the metallic head may not be enlarged without causing any increase of its weight. Accordingly, the sweet spot area of the metallic head is, in general, narrow, and the directional stability of the ball is poor. | {
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The present invention relates to a combination sofa and bunk bed wherein the sofa seat can be converted into the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and the sofa back can be pivoted to an upraised horizontal orientation where it will serve as the upper bunk of a bunk bed.
Various combination sofa-bunk beds are known. Most include fairly complex structures and linkages for controlling the movement of the unit that defines either the sofa back or the upper bunk. Also, the support for the upraised upper bunk is relatively complex. Additionally, these combinations often must occupy considerably more floor space when in their bunk bed mode than when in their sofa mode. Further, self-contained storage for objects which might be needed when the bed is opened, as with pillows, is typically not provided. In addition, assembly and disassembly of the sofa-bunk bed combinations is rather complex. Finally, possible separation of the combination into separate upper and lower bunks is not contemplated.
Examples of known sofa-bunk bed combinations having the foregoing problems are now noted.
Griffin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,815, shows a complex linkage for guiding the upper bunk in its movements. Also, the lower bunk is moved as the sofa moves to the bunk bed mode, increasing the floor space occupied by the combination. Similar comments apply to Griffin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,194; Coomes, U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,254; Riches, U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,601; Mills, U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,901; Nyman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,813 and Bryks, U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,832; Hagstrom, U.S. Pat. No. 2,854,672. Note also Read, U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,169.
Klingler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,410 shows a seat back which must be unfolded itself before it can serve as an upper bunk. This extra folding operation and the complex structure it requires is preferably to be avoided.
Furthermore, none of these has self-contained storage for objects, which is hidden when the sofa-bunk bed combination is in the sofa mode. | {
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Human leukocyte elastase is a serine protease that is widely dispersed throughout the body and plays an important role in degrading foreign material as part of the body's normal inflammatory response. Prolonged exposure to high levels of HLE has been associated with the onset of such disease states as pulmonary emphysema, adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis. See, e.g., A. Janoff, Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 132:417-433 (1985); J. C. Taylor et al., Pulmonary Emphysema and Proteolysis, New York: Academic Press, 1987; C. -B. Laurell et al., Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. 15:132-140 (1963); T. A. Merritt et al., J. Clin. Invest. 72:656-666 (1983); R. A. Stockley et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 624:257-266 (1991); A. H. Jackson et al., J. Respir. Dis. 65:114-124 (1984); L. Eskerot et al., Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 167:335-344 (1984); and A. Janoff, Annu. Rev. Med. 36:207-216 (1985). The excessive levels of HLE associated with the aforementioned diseases are believed to be the result of insufficient production of its natural inhibitor, .alpha.1-protease inhibitor (.alpha.1-PI).
The protease-antiprotease imbalance theory for HLE-related diseases originated from the observation that people inherently deficient in .alpha.1-PI develop an accelerated form of emphysema. C.-B. Laurell et al., supra. Environmental oxidants, such as cigarette smoke, have been shown to be able to oxidize a methionine residue of .alpha.1-PI that is essential for inhibitory activity (H. Carp et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 770:2041-2045 (1982). The resulting oxidized .alpha.1-PI is orders of magnitude less potent that .alpha.1-PI. The chemotactic properties of HLE result in the recruitment of more neutrophils to the site of inflammation. The initial imbalance is amplified by the release of more HLE by the newly recruited neutrophils.
A rational approach to the therapeutic treatment of HLE-related diseases is to reestablish the protease-antiprotease imbalance using exogenously produced inhibitors to HLE. Researchers have developed the proper cloning vectors and have expressed the natural inhibitor .alpha.1-PI using recombinant technologies (H. P. Schnebli, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 624:212-218 (1991), and augmentation therapy using .alpha.1-PI is being evaluated clinically. This approach has merit in that the therapeutic agent is a naturally occurring substance and is the natural inhibitor for HLE; however, the cost and route of administration used for peptides like .alpha.1-PI make this therapy less than desirable.
Several approaches have been investigated for finding low-molecular-weight mechanism-based inhibitors to HLE. Mechanism-based inhibitors are compounds that bind to a specific class of enzyme (e.g., serine proteases) and are processed like the normal substrates; however, during processing the inhibitors react with active site residues and are either released slowly or not at all from the enzymatic cleft. Mechanism-based inactivators, i.e., inhibitors which act irreversibly, are distinctly different from alkylating agents in that inactivators are completely nonreactive until enzymatic processing. The mechanism of HLE action is well understood and as shown in Scheme 1, consists of five major steps. Following initial formation of a Michealis complex, the substrate carboxyl is attacked by the active site serine (Ser-195) to form a tetrahedral intermediate that collapses to form an acylated HLE intermediate (C-terminal cleaved product released). Hydrolysis regenerates the enzyme, releasing the N-terminal cleaved product. In general, mechanism-based inhibitors to HLE either form very stable tetrahedral intermediates or act as alternate substrates for the enzyme, while mechanism-based inactivators of HLE form very stable acylated HLE intermediates that are resistant to hydrolysis. ##STR2##
Efforts to develop mechanism-based inhibitors can be divided into two rational design strategies: those directed to development of peptide-derived inhibitors, on the one hand, and those directed to development of non-peptide inhibitors, on the other. In general, peptide-derived inhibitors are designed to resemble the natural substrate sequence and act to form stable tetrahedral intermediates. Examples of peptide-derived inhibitors include boronic acid, aldehyde, .alpha.-diketone and .alpha.-diketone and .alpha.-ketoester, .alpha.-fluoro-ketone, and .alpha.-ketobenzoxazole derivatives (D. H. Kin der et al., J. Med. Chem. 28:1917-1925 (1985); C. H. Hassal et al., FEBS Lett. 183:201-205 (1985); S. Mehdi et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 166:201-205 (1990); R. A. Wildonger et al., "The in vitro and in vivo inhibition of human leukocyte elastase by .alpha.,.alpha.-difluoro-.beta.-ketoamides", in Eleventh American Symposium Abstracts, poster 87, presented at University of California, San Diego, Jul. 9-14, 1989; J. W. Skiles et al., J. Med. Chem. 35:641-662 (1992); and P. D. Edwards, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 114:1854-1863 (1992)). A number of nonpeptidic inhibitors have been discovered that are specific for serine proteases and show some selectivity for HLE. These compounds generally act to inactivate the enzyme by forming stable acylated enzyme intermediates. Examples of nonpeptidic mechanism-based inactivators of HLE include ynenol lactones, isocoumarins, cephalosporins, azetidinones, and benzoxazinones. (Copp, L. J. et al., Biochemistry 26:169-178 (1987); Harper, J. W. et al., Biochemistry 24:7200-7213 (1985); Hernandez, M. A. et al., J. Med. Chem. 35:1121-1129 (1992); Harper, J. W. et al., Biochemistry 24:1831-1841 (1985); Finke, P. E. et al., J. Med. Chem. 35:3731-3744 (1992); Shah, S. K. et al., J. Med. Chem. 35:3745-3754 (1992); Krantz A. et al., J. Med. Chem. 33:464-479 (1990)).
Most of the reported HLE mechanism-based inhibitors, however, lack plasma solubility, protease stability, and/or enzyme specificity which makes them unsuitable for pharmaceutical development. Accordingly, there remains a need to discover and develop new therapeutic agents that will be effective in treating emphysema and other HLE-related diseases.
The present invention is directed to a novel class of HLE inhibitors which do not have the above-identified disadvantages of the compounds of the prior art. The inhibitors are benzoxazinones substituted at the 6-position as will be discussed in detail below. The effectiveness of these compounds is quite surprising in view of the teaching in the art that substitution at R.sub.6 is highly unfavorable and gives rise to compounds which would not be effective HLE inhibitors (see, e.g., A. Krantz et al., J. Med. Chem. 33:464-479 (1990)). The novel compounds are potent and specific inhibitors of HLE, and are designed to have greater bioavailability than previous benzoxazinone inhibitors. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a signal transmission system and a signal transmission method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a radio frequency repeater in a signal transmission system used in a space in which plural radio systems exist concurrently.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since radio communication technologies have progressed in recent years, various radio communication systems have been proposed, and standardization and commercialization of the various radio communication systems are being carried out. Therefore, there are some cases where plural radio communication systems concurrently exist in the same region.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a part of a space in which such plural radio communication systems exist. FIG. 1 shows plural mobile terminals 12-1, 2 and 3, plural antennas 14-1, 2 and 3, plural amplifiers 16-1, 2 and 3, a synthesizer/distributor 18, and a radio base station (node B) 20. The number of the antennas and he amplifiers can be arbitrarily determined. The mobile terminals 12-1˜3 are placed in an indoor closed space 10, and each of the mobile terminals 12-1˜3 performs radio communications using an antenna near the mobile station. Each of the antennas 14-1˜3 is provided at a predetermined position. For example, the antennas 14-1˜3 are placed at intervals of 20 meters. Alternatively, the antennas may be placed in different densities according to obstacles. Each of the amplifies 16-1˜3 amplifies a signal that passes the amplifier. The synthesizer/distributor 18 synthesizes UP LINK signals from the antennas 14-1˜3, and distributes DOWN LINK signals from the radio base station 20 to each antenna. The radio base station 20 is connected to a radio network controller (RNC) not shown in the figure.
For the sake of simplicity of description, it is assumed that the mobile terminal 12-1˜3 and the radio base station 20 adopt a Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) scheme such as the IMT2000 system, and that radio communications other than the W-CDMA scheme such as a Personal Handy Phone System (PHS), the Personal Communication Service (PCS) system, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and the like can be performed in the indoor closed space 10. In addition, it is assumed that the plural antennas 14-1˜3 are shared by the plural radio communications, and are used for both of transmitting and receiving. For the sake of simplicity, components such as a radio base station for PHS are not shown in the figure.
A DOWN LINK signal transmitted from the radio network controller (RNC) is received by the radio base station 20, sent to the synthesizer/distributor 18 via a transmission cable 19, and is distributed to each of the antennas 14-1˜3 so that the distributed signals are transmitted to the mobile stations 12-1˜3. The DOWN LINK signal is also called a downlink signal, outbound signal and the like. On the other hand, UP LINK signals from the mobile terminals 12-1˜3 are received by the antennas 14-1˜3, synthesized by the synthesizer/distributor 18, and are transmitted to the radio base station 20 via the transmission cable 19 so that the signals are transmitted to the radio network controller (RNC). The UP LINK signal is also called an uplink signal, an inbound signal and the like.
FIG.2 is a schematic diagram showing frequency spectrums for the UP LINK signal received by an antenna (the antenna 14-2, for example) in the indoor closed space 10. FIG. 2 shows three frequency bands corresponding to three radio communications systems existing together. As shown in the figure, a band of 1920˜1980 MHz is used by the W-CDMA scheme, a band of 1895˜1920 MHz is used by the PHS, and a band of 2400˜2497 MHz is used by the wireless LAN scheme. When plural mobile terminals operating under different radio communication systems are located nearly equidistant from the antenna, interference between the radio communication systems is small so that the mobile terminals can perform communications well under each communication system.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-198867 discloses a communication technology when plural radio communication systems exist concurrently.
However, plural mobile terminals operating under different radio communication systems are not necessarily always located nearly equidistant from the antenna. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, assuming that mobile terminals 32-1 and 2 (WiFi terminals conforming to the IEEE802.11b standard, for example) exist near the mobile terminal 12-2 that is performing radio communications using the antenna 14-2, and that the mobile terminal 32-2 is closer to the antenna 14-2 than the mobile terminal 12-2 is. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the signal for the wireless LAN becomes large in the antenna 14-2 so that a spurious component or an interference signal component that affects the communication signal for W-CDMA increases. In other words, a signal-to-noise ratio of the UP LINK signal transmitted from the mobile terminal 12-2 to the radio base station 20 deteriorates. The radio base station 20 or the upper radio network controller (RNS) instructs the mobile terminal 12-2 to transmit signals with a larger power to improve the signal quality of the mobile terminal 12-2. This instruction is transmitted by using a DOWN LINK signal. Then, the mobile terminal 12-2 performs radio communications with a larger transmission power.
In the W-CDMA scheme, since power control of the transmission power is properly performed for solving the near-far problem of the mobile terminal, there are few cases where a terminal of W-CDMA causes a large interference to another mobile terminal. However, such power control is not performed in radio communication systems other than the W-CDMA scheme. Therefore, there is a risk in that a signal from a radio communication system using a frequency band near that of the W-CDMA scheme may become a spurious signal for communications of the W-CDMA scheme.
By the way, the UP LINK signals from the antennas are synthesized by the synthesizer/distributor 18 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and, then, sent to the radio base station 20. Therefore, when a power of a signal transmitted via the antenna 14-2 increases, it is necessary to increase a power of each of signals from other antennas 14-1 and 3 in order to keep signal quality of the signals from the antennas 14-1 and 3. That is, when a power of the UP LINK signal from the antenna 14-2 is increased, noise level (noise floor) measured in the radio base station 20 increases, so that each mobile terminal is instructed to transmit signals with a larger power, or communication is prohibited (mobile terminals 12-1 and 3 shown in FIG. 3, for example). The reason is that the distance between the antenna and the mobile terminal in which communications can be performed decreases when it is requested that the antenna receives a signal with a larger power due to increase of the noise floor. From the view point of a communication capacity, since the number of connectable mobile terminals decreases, the communication capacity decreases. In addition, it can be predicted that the communication is likely to suffer interruptions. Further, since the mobile terminal transmits the signal with the larger power, consumed power increases, which is disadvantageous especially for a small-sized mobile terminal.
As to interference from other radio communication systems for a DOWN LINK signal, the interference can be effectively reduced by providing a band-pass filter in the antenna or by changing a power setting value in the network side or the like. However, as to the UP LINK signal, it is not easy to set such condition to take such measure in each mobile terminal distributed to each individual. Therefore, a technology for reducing or eliminating the above-problem for the UP LINK signal is required.
FIG. 5 shows antennas 16-1˜3 in the indoor closed space 10, and cells 52-1˜3 each indicating a region in which communication using a corresponding antenna can be performed in a normal state. The normal state is a state where there is no above-mentioned increase of the noise floor. Cells 54-1-˜3 smaller than the cells 52-1˜3 indicate cells when the noise floor increases.
FIG. 6 shows a simulation result on a power received by an antenna using an indoor closed space model. The simulation result is under an environment in which visibility is good in the indoor closed space. The vertical axis indicates power level (dBm/MHz) when 50Ω termination. The lateral axis indicates one-line distance (meter) between the antenna and the mobile terminal. More strictly, the one-line distance is obtained as the square root of the sum of squares of a horizontal distance and a vertical distance between the antenna and the mobile terminal. In the simulation, the antenna in the indoor closed space is provided at a ceiling at a height of 3 meters above the floor. The curves in the figure are obtained by plotting a distance by which equal to or more than 90% of received power in the vertical axis can be kept under various conditions or models.
The curve 61 is a graph in a case where a mobile terminal of the W-CDMA scheme outputs an AMR signal (voice conversation signal) with a transmission power of 21 dBm, and the signal is attenuated with a space attenuation index 2. The space attenuation index 2 corresponds to a free space model in which a signal is attenuated in inverse proportion to a square of the distance.
The curve 62 is a graph in a case where a margin to a short section center value variation and shielding of waves due to movement of a human are considered in addition to the conditions for the curve 61. The radius of the cell is evaluated based on this graph.
The curve 63 is a graph showing effects of a spurious signal received by the antenna when a WiFi apparatus performs radio communications with a transmission power of 10 dBm while producing the spurious signal of −35 dBm. The space attenuation index is 2.
The curve 64 is a graph showing effects of a spurious signal received by the antenna when a WiFi apparatus performs radio communications with a transmission power of 10 dBm while producing the spurious signal of −60 dBm. The space attenuation index is 2.
The curve 65 is a graph showing effects of a spurious signal received by the antenna when a PHS terminal performs radio communications while producing the spurious signal of −21 dBm. The space attenuation index is 2.
The curve 66 is a graph showing effects of a spurious signal (251 nW/MHz) of a PHS terminal conforming to an improved standard.
As shown in the figure, the curves 64-66 are below the curve 62 in the full section. Therefore, when the PHS terminal or the WiFi terminal does not exist, or when the PHS terminal or the WiFi terminal exits only far from the antenna (at least when each terminal exists in nearly the same distance from the antenna), a relatively large cell radius such as equal to or more than 20 meters can be realized. However, the peak (−70 dBm/MHz) of the curve 63 is equivalent to a level near 18 meters of the curve 62. Therefore, when the WiFi terminal exists near the antenna (about 3 meters from the antenna), a radio wave emitted from a place at a distance of 18 meters or more from the antenna are blocked. Therefore, according to the simulation result, it can be understood that the cell radius is shrunk to about 18 meters.
FIG. 7 assumes the same conditions as FIG. 6 except that the indoor closed space is in poor visibility. Curves 71 to 76 are graphs obtained by using the same conditions or models as those of the curves 61 to 66 in FIG. 6. In FIG. 7, it can be understood that the attenuation rate of the signal is larger than that in FIG. 6. In FIG. 7, the peak (−70 dBm/MHz) of the curve 73 is equivalent to a level near 12 meters of the curve 72. Therefore, when the WiFi terminal exists near the antenna (about 3 meters from the antenna), a signal emitted from a place at a distance of 12 meters or more from the antenna does not satisfy a required SIR. Therefore, according to the simulation result, it can be understood that the cell radius is shrunk to about 12 meters. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand-held eye-refractometer for objectively measuring the refracting power of an eye to be examined.
2. Related Background Art
Some eye-refractometers have a fogging function. Normally, when a target is presented to an eye to be examined, the function of the human eye called accommodation acts to fix itself on the target. For this reason, in order to measure an accurate refracting power, the accommodation function which acts to fix the eye on the target must be removed from the eye to be examined. In order to remove or relax the accommodation function that acts to fix the eye to be examined on the target, a fogging mechanism for moving the target is arranged.
In order to measure an accurate refracting power, the fogging operation for moving the target must be basically performed prior to obtention of the eye refracting power measurement data. For this reason, in a conventional eye-refractometer, a fogging operation is automatically started upon depression of a measurement switch, and thereafter, eye refracting power measurement data is obtained.
In the conventional eye-refractometer, upon depression of the measurement switch, a predetermined number of measurement data are obtained, and the plurality of data are subjected to statistical processing such as averaging processing. Thereafter, the statistical processing result is displayed.
The eye-refractometer is often used for eyes to be examined, which are impossible or hard to measure, i.e., the eyes of 0- to 3-year old babies, the eyes of patients under operation represented by that of cataract, the eyes of patients suffering from diseases such as nystagmus, the eyes of animals, and the like as objects to be measured. For most of these eyes to be examined, it is impossible or hard to expect fixation of gaze. Therefore, the operation of the fogging mechanism is often of no use, and the conventional eye-refractometer, which automatically starts a fogging operation upon depression of the measurement switch, vainly prolongs the measurement-time. Furthermore, as for the above-mentioned eyes to be examined, it is important for a measurement operator to obtain data. However, in the conventional eye-refractometer, a measurement operator can obtain a measurement value after the eye-refractometer itself obtains a predetermined number of data and performs statistical processing of these data. For example, when the eye-refractometer itself is hard to obtain a predetermined number of measurement data owing to the nature of a specific eye to be examined, a long period of time is required until a measurement value is obtained. In the worst case, the measurement operator cannot obtain a measurement value. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with at least two rollers arranged between a transfer unit for transferring a toner image onto a recording sheet, and a discharge port adapted for discharging the recording sheet transported from the transfer unit outside of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in image forming apparatuses such as a printer and a copier, an imaging unit with a photosensitive drum is widely used. In such an image forming apparatus, an electrostatic area is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum by a charger, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the electrostatic area based on image data generated by laser light or the like irradiated from an exposure unit, and the electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image by a developing unit. Then, the toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet by a transfer unit, followed by removal of toner residues from the surface of the photosensitive drum by a cleaning unit. After the transferred toner image is fixed onto the recording sheet by application of heat by a fixing roller provided in a fixing unit, the recording sheet carrying the fixed toner image is discharged outside of the image forming apparatus by a discharge roller.
In thermal fixation of the toner image, it is highly likely that moisture contained in the recording sheet may evaporate, thereby causing undulation of the recording sheet. In order to solve such a drawback, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-35177 discloses a technique of flattening a recording sheet after an image fixation by setting the transport speed of the discharge roller higher than the transport speed of the fixing roller and applying a tension to the recording sheet.
Further, in recent years, there is known an image forming apparatus equipped with a so-called “short path mechanism”, wherein the length of a transport path for transporting a recording sheet is shortened. In the image forming apparatus equipped with the short path mechanism, there is a case that merely a discharge roller is provided on the downstream side of the transport path relative to the fixing roller, and the transport path between the fixing roller and the discharge roller is curved.
If the arrangement disclosed in the publication is applied to the image forming apparatus equipped with the short path mechanism, it is highly likely that the recording surface of the recording sheet for image formation may be contacted with the inner wall of the curved transport path between the fixing roller and the discharge roller because the transport speed of the discharge roller is set higher than that of the fixing roller for the purpose of applying a tension to the recording sheet. The contact of the recording surface of the recording sheet with the inner wall of the curved transport path may likely cause adhesion of the fused toner that has just been fixed to the recording sheet to the inner wall of the transport path. As the image formation is repetitively carried out, the adhered toner may be accumulatively deposited, with the result that the deposited toner may clog the transport path, and resultantly cause a sheet jam.
There is an idea of relaxing a recording sheet while the recording sheet is being transported along the transport path between the fixing roller and the discharge roller by setting the transport speed of the discharge roller lower than the transport speed of the fixing roller. However, in the conventional art, the fixing roller and the discharge roller are constantly driven at the same speeds once the respective transport speeds thereof are determined. Therefore, in case of transporting a recording sheet of A3 size at the transport speed of transporting a recording sheet of A4 size, for instance, there is likelihood that the recording sheet of A3 size may be relaxed too much owing to a longer length of the A3 size recording sheet than the A4 size recording sheet, with the result that the recording sheet of A3 size may be undulated while being transported between the fixing roller and the discharge roller, and discharged in an undulated state. | {
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(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for transmitting and receiving 3DTV broadcasting. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for transmitting and receiving 3DTV broadcasting capable of providing a high video quality 3D video in a situation in which fixed broadcasting and mobile broadcasting are broadcast using a scalable video coder rather using independent video encoders for a base video (for example, a left video) and an additional video (for example, a right video).
(b) Description of the Related Art
In the case of an existing fixed and mobile broadcasting convergent 3DTV service, a transmitting end (Tx) transmits a base video through a fixed TV channel and transmits an additional video through a mobile TV channel using independent video encoders for the base video and the additional video in order to transmit binocular base and additional videos. In addition, in the case in which a resolution difference between the base video and the additional video is large, the transmitting end additionally transmits data called video enhancement information (VEI) through the fixed TV channel in order to enhance video quality of the additional video. In this case, a receiving end (Rx) receives the VEI and performs VEI related post-processing to enhance the video quality of the additional video.
However, the existing convergent 3DTV scheme is necessarily premised on a simulcast scheme in which the base video and the additional video are simultaneously broadcast to the fixed TV channel and the mobile TV channel, respectively, using the independent video encoders per channel.
When a broadcasting station allows a base layer to air at a HDTV resolution service for a mobile TV broadcasting environment in which a transmission channel environment is poor and allows an enhancement layer to be additionally received in a fixed TV broadcasting environment in which a reception environment is better to provide a UHDTV 2DTV service by applying a scalable video coder based on unequal error protection (UEP) transmission in order to efficiently utilize frequencies, only information of the base video in both of the base layer and the enhancement layer is transmitted.
Therefore, in a broadcasting service environment using SVC scheme, using only the base video based on the UEP transmission, it is impossible to provide a 3D service in the existing convergent 3DTV scheme in which the additional video should be simultaneously transmitted through the mobile TV channel in order to synthesize a 3D video.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art. | {
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The invention relates to a novel manganese dioxide catalyst which can be used for the hydrolysis of organic nitrites to the corresponding carboxamides, and to a process for preparing the catalyst. The invention also relates to a catalytic process for hydrolysing organic nitrites to the corresponding carboxamides with the aid of the catalyst.
The invention relates in particular to a catalytic process for hydrolysing 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile to 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyramide, a valuable intermediate in the preparation of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid, the hydroxy analogue of methionine (MHA), and salts thereof. These substances find use as an animal feed additive, in particular in poultry breeding. These methionine-like compounds can replace methionine and significantly improve the utilization of proteins in the feed.
The hydrolysis of 2-hydroxycarbonitriles (cyano-hydrins) is a special case of nitrile hydrolysis. It is not possible to use any of the known processes for hydrolysing nitrites, in which strong bases may be used, because a back reaction of the cyanohydrin to aldehyde and hydrogen cyanide proceeds under these reaction conditions.
The 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile can also be hydrolysed with highly concentrated mineral acids, preferably with sulphuric acid, in a virtually equimolar amount. In the first reaction step, the amide of the substituted butyric acid forms. An industrially readily realizable separation of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyramide and sulphuric acid, with the aim of being able to reuse the sulphuric acid, is, however, not known. Only after the hydrolysis of the amide to the hydroxycarboxylic acid is the mineral acid removed as ammonium hydrogensulphate, and worked up back to sulphuric acid in an additional, expensive process step.
It is also known that manganese dioxide catalyses the hydrolysis reaction of carbonitriles to amides, as described, for example, in DE 1593320.
As a result of the incorporation of manganese of other valence states into the crystal lattice, the stoichiometric composition of natural and synthetic manganese dioxide is in the range between MnO1.7 and MnO2.0. Extraneous ions such as sodium, potassium may be present in the crystals. Manganese dioxide exists in several allotropic modifications. They differ greatly in their behaviour as a catalyst. The crystallinity is at its most marked in pyrolysite (beta-manganese dioxide), the most stable modification. This form is catalytically inactive. The crystallinity is less marked in the further modifications and extends up to an amorphous product, ramsdellite. It is possible to assign the modifications by x-ray diffraction. Some of the chemically and catalytically active forms of manganese dioxide are hydrated and additionally contain hydroxyl groups.
Numerous patents describe catalytic processes for hydrolysing carbonitriles, especially 2-hydroxynitriles (cyanohydrins), with manganese dioxide. These processes are highly suitable, for example, for hydrolysing acetone cyanohydrin, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,829, with which yields of over 90% are achieved in the hydrolysis of acetone cyanohydrin to 2-hydroxybutyramide with the aid of manganese dioxide.
The catalytically active modifications of manganese dioxide are, however, also active as oxidizing agents, which significantly restricts their use in the hydrolysis of thioether- or thiol-substituted nitrites, caused by their easy oxidizability. This reduces tetravalent manganese partly to trivalent manganese, and correspondingly oxidizes the sulphur.
DE 1593320 describes a process for hydrolysing nitrites to amides with the aid of manganese dioxide, in which yields up to over 90% were achieved with aliphatic nitrites. Only 8% yield of amide was achieved with thiodipropionitrile, which makes it clear that conventional manganese dioxide is hardly suitable as a catalyst in the presence of easily oxidizable thioether groups.
EP 0 597 298 describes a partial reduction of manganese dioxide by a pretreatment with reducing agents such as alcohol in order to improve the catalyst properties, in particular to suppress oxamide formation there. With increasing proportion of trivalent manganese oxide, however, the activity of the catalyst declines.
The oxidizing action of manganese dioxide is generally undesired in the hydrolysis of nitrites which bear easily oxidizable groups such as thiol or thioether groups. In particular, the S-oxidization is undesired in the hydrolysis of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile to 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyramide, an important intermediate in the preparation of the animal feed additive 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid. Oxidation of the sulphur forms the sulphoxide and this ultimately reduces the yield of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyramide. This by-product formed by oxidation cannot be removed without a considerable level of cost and inconvenience and then leads to a contaminated end product which can no longer be used directly as an animal feed additive.
The reduction of the catalyst which is associated with the oxidization of the sulphur also shortens its lifetime, which, in an industrial process, leads to economic disadvantages, such as increased catalyst consumption and regeneration complexity with corresponding costs.
The patent JP 09104665 describes the preparation of active δ-manganese dioxide and defines its activity via the parameter of surface area. The hydrolysis of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile with full conversion is also described with this catalyst. There is no discussion whatsoever of the formation of sulphoxide in this publication on the part of the applicant. By virtue of application of the conditions specified there, it was, however, found that, during the reaction, the sulphoxide of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyronitrile is formed up to more than 4% in a selectivity of at least 1.6% (comparative example, Example 11), which is highly disadvantageous. Moreover, the nitrile conversion was only 96.1%, the amide yield 79.8% in continuous mode.
The same applicant describes, in the patent EP 0 731 079, a process for preparing carboxylic acids by hydrolysing cyanohydrin with the aid of manganese dioxide and subsequent hydrolysis of the amide formed with alkali to give the salt of the carboxylic acid. The electrodialysis then separates the carboxylic acid and sodium hydroxide solution from one another. In Example 3, in a column reactor with δ-manganese dioxide (amorphous) not described in more detail, the formation of MHA amide at 50° C. by hydrolysis of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthio-butyronitrile with a nitrile conversion of 100% is reported at an MHA amide yield of even 100%. It was likewise impossible to confirm this result. Instead, it was found that, especially in a column reactor with high catalyst concentration, the oxidizing action of active manganese dioxide comes to bear. With simultaneous reduction of manganese4+, this leads to catalytically inactive Mn3+ and to increased formation of the sulphoxide. The reworking of this example which is quite similar to JP 09104665 also shows that the sulphoxide of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyramide is formed with a selectivity of approx. 2% to more than 4%.
The patent FR 2 750 987 solves the problem of the oxidation of sulphur by coating silicon dioxide with manganese dioxide. However, the catalyst contains only 5 to 10% of active catalyst constituents. This must be balanced out by the use of a large amount of catalyst or by reaction times of 17 to 45 hours. For an industrial process, this procedure is disadvantageous. | {
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Use of sealed capsules of the above type in a percolating machines is described, for example, in EP-1 219 217 and EP-1 295 554 of the same Applicant and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,596.
In percolating machines employing non-sealed capsules, percolation is normally performed by sealing a capsule axially and in fluidtight manner between a sprinkler of a pressurized-hot-water dispensing assembly and a piston movable to and from the sprinkler and having an outflow conduit for the percolated beverage.
The same method cannot be used when employing sealed capsules of the type described above, which are made of deformable material incapable of withstanding the axial compression to which non-sealed capsules are normally subjected to ensure fluidtight engagement of their end walls with the sprinkler at one end and with the piston at the other. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reduced pin (gigabit) media independent interface, and a method of forming such an interface. More particularly, the invention relates to signal encoding and decoding techniques for reducing interface pin count.
2. Background Information
Interconnections between computers, peripheral devices, and Internet appliances (referred to as network clients) are ubiquitous. With networks firmly established in everyday life, there is now more demand in the form of increased data transfer rate and functionality being placed on the network switches and other hardware which facilitate network communication to support more complex applications such as multimedia. As a result, the integrated circuits (ICs) in these components are becoming more highly integrated and complex to meet this demand. One problem is that added complexity tends to increase external connections or pin count.
Conventional networks may utilize twisted pair cable such as Category 5 and operate at a data rate of either 10 megabits per second (Mb/s) which generally complies with I.E.E.E. Standard 802.3, section 14, commonly known as 10BASE-T, and 100 Mb/s which generally complies with I.E.E.E. Standard 802.3, sections 24 and 25, commonly known as 100BASE-TX. With the demand for increased data transfer rates, a newer networking standard has been proposed that utilizes twisted pair cable and operates at a nominal data transfer rate of 1 gigabit (1000 megabits) per second. The 1 gigabit per second (Gb/s) transfer rate complies with I.E.E.E. Standard 802.3, section 40, commonly known as 1000BASE-T.
These two standards have different requirements and interfaces. When the network is operated in accordance with 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX, the interface for interconnecting controllers and transceivers is defined in accordance with the a Media Independent Interface (MII). In either a 10BASE-T or a 100BASE-TX system, MII requires 16 connection lines or pins connecting the IC embodying the physical layers (PHY) to the IC embodying the media access controller layers (MAC). When the network is operated at a higher transmission rate in accordance with 1000BASE-T, the interface is defined by the Gigabit MII (GMII). Twenty-four connection lines or pins are required for 1000BASE-T.
The pin count problem in such systems becomes more apparent when we consider that a typical network switch has n ports, where n is the number of PHY and MAC layers respectively. Since the n MACs are typically fabricated as a single integrated circuit, the number of pins are 24×n. For example, if there are 24 ports then the n MACs requires 24×24 or 576 pins. A higher number of pins result in a larger die, a larger package, a more complicated integrated circuit and higher costs, particularly at the higher data transfer rates.
Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. Two ad hoc standards, namely Reduced Media Independent Interface (RMII) and Serial Media Independent Interface (SMII) reduce the number of pins by serialization techniques for 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX. The RMII technique requires 7 pins per port and the frequency doubles from 25 MHz to 50 MHz. Thus, for a 24 port switch, 7×24 or 168 pins are required. The SMII technique requires 2 pins per port plus 1 synchronizing pin, and the frequency increases five fold from 25 MHz to 125 MHz. In the SMII technique, 2×24+1 or 49 pins are required. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, these techniques operate at frequencies in which clock recovery between the PHY and MAC layers is not required.
While RMII and SMII provide reduced pin count interfaces, they are only applicable to 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX systems. Thus, there is a need for an effective interface that reduces pin or connection count in a 1000BASE-T system without compromising functionality, and that also has the flexibility to be used in 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX systems as well. | {
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The invention relates to a method for producing a workpiece in the form of a metal sheet with at least one at least partly rolled edge, the at least one edge to be rolled having a curvature in at least one portion.
The invention also relates to a workpiece produced according to the abovementioned method in the form of a metal sheet having at least one at least partly rolled edge.
It is known to roll edges of metal sheets, for example in order to obtain a reinforced margin of the metal sheet, or in order to produce, for example, a hinge lug on the metal sheet.
To roll an edge of the workpiece in the form of a metal sheet, the workpiece is put into a special rolling tool which has a tool top part and a tool bottom part. The tool top part and the tool bottom part are movable relative to one another. In one of the two tool parts, there is a hollow in the shape of a circle segment in cross section, into which the workpiece, with the edge to be rolled at the front, is pressed by the relative movement between tool bottom part and tool top part. When the edge continues to be pressed into the circle-segment-shaped hollow, the edge rolls along the inner wall of the circle-segment-shaped hollow. The edge may be rolled, for example, only partly, for example over a rolling angle of 90° to 180°, or beyond 180° until a rolling angle of almost 360° is achieved, i.e. until the edge is rolled completely.
The workpieces that can be rolled are not only those whose edge to be rolled is straight but also those whose edge to be rolled has a curvature in at least one section, which also includes the case where the edge to be rolled has a curvature or bend over its entire length to be rolled.
In the case of sheet metal edges which have such a curvature, it has been found that an undesirable kink is produced in the region of the curvature during the rolling of the edge, i.e. the workpiece has a kink in the rolled margin in the region of the curvature after the rolling of the edge, and this kink prevents or even completely rules out the usefulness of the workpiece for the subsequent purpose, for example as a component in the motor vehicle industry. Such a kink can impair not only the aesthetic appearance of the workpiece produced in this way but also its strength or stability, since the kink produced can become greater during loading or stressing of the workpiece. | {
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Only relatively recently have robotic applications also become of public interest in the field of surgery. In the case of surgical robots, the objective is not the exact repetition of programmed working sequences, since the movements which need to be performed are not repeated from one operation to the next. Unlike industrial robots, surgical robots are not therefore controlled by a fixed program; their movements are defined in each individual case by a surgeon controlling the robot who, whether with the naked eye or with the aid of a camera, observes the robot and its surgical field. In order to operate the robot, the surgeon is preferably provided with a computer-supported control device which is connected with the robot and the camera. In particular, applications in which the surgeon monitors the surgical field by means of a camera are of considerable technical and medical interest. On the one hand, they make it possible for experienced specialists to perform operations without needing to be present in the operating theatre themselves, and thus to treat patients in far distant locations without needing to travel. On the other hand, the camera is an effective means for the surgeon (who may also be present in the theatre) to obtain a view of the inside of the body during the course of a minimally invasive procedure. However, one problem with such operations is that, although the operating surgeon can observe the immediate surgical field by means of the camera and control a surgical instrument held by the robot, information on the wider operating environment, on movements of the auxiliary theatre staff who are present etc. is not accessible through direct sensory impressions. Rather, the operating surgeon's attention is focused on the monitor of the control device which displays the image transmitted by the camera and displays the contents of the control program. However, if the operating surgeon is not precisely aware of the shape of the robotic arm guiding the tool and its possible movements, in extreme cases this can lead to undesired contacts between the robotic arm and the patient's body and can in extreme cases lead to injuries.
Another possible application for robot systems in the operating theatre is to assist a surgeon who is personally present, for example by holding in place tissue parts or body parts of the patient. In the case of orthopedic operations in particular, such assisting activities frequently require the exertion of considerable force, which can exceed the capacities of human assistants but which, in contrast, a robot can apply for an indefinite period without tiring or diminishing in its precision. Advances in automatic speech recognition make it possible for such a robot to respond to spoken instructions by the operating surgeon in a similarly reliable way to human assistants. However, here too it must be ensured that an inappropriate movement on the part of the robot cannot injure the patient. A collision with the robotic arm and the possibility of a resulting injury to the patient should also be reliably ruled out before and after the operation, when transporting a patient to and from the operating and/or preparation room.
The prior are discloses a surgical robot system that comprises a multiple-axis articulated arm robot which carries an x-ray device and a collision-monitoring unit which warns of an impending collision between components of the x-ray device and a patient support arrangement or a patient laid thereon and/or prevents a collision. | {
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This invention relates to a nitride compound semiconductor light emitting element and its manufacturing method. More particularly, the invention relates to a nitride compound semiconductor light emitting element having a high confinement efficiency for light and carrier and suppressing leak current, and a method for manufacturing same.
Nitride compound semiconductors are of direct-transition type and are capable of highly efficient radiation recombination in almost all composition range. Their transition energy widely ranges from 1.89 to 6.2 eV, depending on the composition. Because of these advantageous characteristics, light emitting elements using nitride compound semiconductors are expected to be useful elements for intense emission especially in short wavelength range in various fields of application.
In the present application, the term "nitride compound semiconductor" pertains to any semiconductor which can be expressed by the chemical formula B.sub.x In.sub.y Al.sub.z Ga.sub.1-x-y-z N (0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1, 0.ltoreq.y.ltoreq.1, 0.ltoreq.z.ltoreq.1, x+y+z.ltoreq.1) with any values of the mole fractions x, y and z in their respective ranges. For example, InAlN (x=0, y=0.4, z=0.6) has been identified as one the of nitride compound semiconductors.
Conventional nitride semiconductor light emitting devices, in general, have a multi-layered structure made by sequentially growing flat layers of various nitride compound semiconductor crystals on a flat substrate of sapphire, or the like. For example, a double-heterostructure representative as a semiconductor light emitting element is made by sequentially stacking a cladding layer, active layer and cladding layer on a substrate via an appropriate buffer layer. Such a double-heterostructure can effectively confine injected carriers and light generated in the active layer, and is indispensable especially for fabricating a high-performance semiconductor laser.
A high-performance semiconductor laser cannot be realized only by using a double-heterostructure. It is also necessary to confine the current and light in the active layer with high efficiency. However, conventional light emitting elements using nitride compound semiconductors could not ensure such a high efficiency in confinement of current and light. Details about this problem are explained below.
For efficient confinement of current, the active layer stacked as a flat layer must be processed to form a structure for concentrating the current. The most popular process used for the purpose relies on processing the active layer into a narrow mesa configuration and burying it in a layer or layers made by subsequent crystal growth. In the case of forming light emitting devices with nitride compounds, if dry etching is used for processing the active layer into the form of a stripe in nitride light emitting elements, it often damages the etched surface and fails to realize good current characteristics. Wet etching is less harmful to the etched surface, but there has been no appropriate wet etching process suitable for nitride compound semiconductors.
Another problem with nitride compound semiconductors lies in the difficulty in growing layers for burying the mesa-shaped active layer. Even if the mesa-shaped active layer can be buried incompletely, it tends to result in irregular growth and to cause leakage of current.
Under circumstances it is difficult to effectively confine current in conventional light emitting elements using nitride compound semiconductors.
Additionally, confinement of light is also difficult in conventional light emitting element using nitride compound semiconductors. That is, the refractive index of the active layer must be as high as possible relative to the cladding layer to ensure efficient confinement of light in the active layer. To realize a high refractive index of a nitride compound semiconductor, the mole fraction of indium in the nitride compound semiconductor must be high. However, as the mole fraction of indium increases, the crystallographic quality of the semiconductor degrades unacceptably to maintain characteristics required for the active layer.
Moreover, in the case of metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) widely used for growth of nitride compound semiconductors, the temperature must be low during crystal growth to ensure a high mole fraction of indium. However, such a low growth temperature causes further deterioration in crystalline quality and degrades various characteristics of the resulting light emitting element. That is, conventional techniques cannot not realize highly efficient laser oscillation and emission of shorter wavelengths with nitride semiconductor light emitting devices by increasing the mole fraction of indium. | {
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Roofing battens are used widely in securing flexible membranes to underlying materials. Mechanical fasteners, such as roofing screws, are passed through the battens, which may be pre-punched with holes to accommodate such fasteners. Typically, roofing battens comprise metal, wooden, or polymeric strips.
A polymeric material having particular utility in making a roofing batten is disclosed in Kish et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,430. As disclosed therein, the polymeric material comprises a major amount of poly(ethylene terephthalate) and a minor amount of at least one polyolefin, such as polypropylene. As disclosed therein, such material can be substantially mono-axially oriented so as to have a tensile strength of at least about 25,000 psi in the oriented direction.
Other roofing battens made from polymeric materials are disclosed in Russell et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,211 and in Schauffele U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,306. One possible arrangement of roofing battens on a roof is disclosed in Kelly U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,562.
It is disclosed in the copending patent application (Hasan et al. U.S. Ser. No. 07/294,324 filed Jan. 6, 1989) noted above that, as compared to a roofing batten having a single ply, a roofing batten having two plies with a combined thickness equal to the thickness of the single ply provides increased pull-through resistance when used with mechanical fasteners.
Heretofore, for purposes disclosed in the copending application noted above, it has been preferred to make a roofing batten with two plies, in one piece, from a wide strip by folding such strip longitudinally and using an adhesive to bond half portions of such strip to each other. It would be highly desirable to eliminate such strip-folding and adhesive-bonding steps.
A need has been created, to which this invention is addressed, for a better method of manufacturing a roofing batten with two plies. | {
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Aqueous cleaning compositions are useful for removing dirt and other soils from a variety of surfaces including hard surfaces such as floors, walls, countertops, and furniture. Many commercially-available aqueous cleaners include an organic solvent combined with water and optional ingredients such as surfactants, colorants, fragrances, and the like. Makers of these cleaning compositions, whether for household, industrial, or institutional use, are faced with the task of optimizing the cleaning formulations by selecting a solvent that exhibits excellent cleaning performance, but that causes minimum adverse effects on the user and the environment. To date, this problem has not been successfully resolved, as most high performance cleaning compositions do not have benign toxicity profiles and/or include high VOC solvents, while many “green” cleaners, recently developed in light of stricter environmental regulations, exhibit unsatisfactory cleaning performance.
Thus, a need exists for a safe, environmentally friendly cleaning composition capable of removing soil from a substrate with high efficiency. Preferably, the cleaning composition would be effective to remove a variety of types of undesirable substances from a wide range of substrates. Further, the cleaning composition should be able to be manufactured in a cost-effective manner and on a commercial scale. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to colorants comprising certain cationic quinoxaline thiazole azo dyes for keratin fibers, such as, for example, hair, wool or furs.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, to color keratin-containing fibers, use is made either of oxidation dyes, which arise as a result of oxidative coupling or one or more developer components with one or more coupler components, or direct dyes. If required, oxidation-stable, direct dyes can be added to the oxidative system in order to achieve particular color effects. Direct dyes are incorporated into suitable carrier masses in order then to be applied to the fibers. This method, generally known as tinting, is easy to use, exceptionally mild and is characterized by low damage to the keratin fibers since no ammonia or peroxide is added. However, the dyes used here have to satisfy a number of requirements. For example, they have to be acceptable from a toxicological and dermatological point of view and allow colorations to be achieved in a desired intensity and brilliance. Furthermore, the colorations achieved also have to have good fastness to light and resistance to shampoos or hair care products, and good fastness to rubbing.
For a direct, nonoxidative colorant for keratin fibers, a combination of different nonoxidative dyes is generally required in order to achieve certain nuances.
Since the choice of such dyes which adequately satisfy the specified requirements is limited, there continues to be a great need for such dyes.
A further, very interesting field of use for direct dyes is their use in products for simultaneous lightening and coloring. In the case of these colorants, which may have a higher content of oxidizing agents, even further-reaching requirements are placed on the dyes used, particularly with regard to adequate resistance to the oxidizing agents used.
To date, there are hardly any dyes which satisfy the abovementioned prerequisites in every respect and at the same time produce a satisfactory color result. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide direct dyes for coloring keratin fibers, in particular human hair, which satisfy these requirements. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and a method of distinguishing multiple touch points and more particularly relates to a system and a method of distinguishing multiple touch points applied to an optical touch system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, image display technique is constantly innovated. A touch screen that has an interactive human machine interface (HMI) provides direct message input for users. It has been part of an electronic product, such as ticket terminal, projector, lottery terminal or industrial automation system, introduced actively by associated manufactures.
When a user touches a screen by his finger, the finger blocks the light relative to a certain position of the screen and then an image captured by a camera unit has a dark area accordingly. A general technique of optical touch screen achieves the input purpose by transferring the position of the dark area in the image into a coordinate on the screen corresponding to the dark area. In general, the optical touch technique can correctly detect a single touch point. However, once the user indicates two or more touch points on the touch screen at the same time, incorrect coordinates of the touch points may be obtained to the touch screen. As shown in FIG. 6, when there are two touch points on the touch screen, the system calculates two set of touch points (Pa, Pb) and (Pa′, Pb′). The incorrect coordinates therefore may be obtained.
In addition, for the camera unit, when one of the touch points is shaded by the other one (i.e. only a single shaded point or dark area on the captured image), it is difficult to calculate exact coordinates of the touch points respectively because of a lack of enough information of the touch points provided by the captured image.
In view of the above, the invention provides a system and a method of distinguishing multiple touch points. | {
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I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to a frequency divider.
II. Background
A frequency divider is a circuit that receives a clock signal at a first frequency, divides the clock signal in frequency, and provides a divider output signal having a second frequency that is a fraction of the first frequency. Frequency dividers are commonly used in various circuit blocks such as phase locked loops (PLLs), frequency synthesizers, downconverters, upconverters, etc. These applications often require differential output signals from the frequency dividers. A frequency divider that can generate differential output signals with good signal characteristics while consuming low power is highly desirable. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to display racks and, more particularly, is concerned with a display rack with vertically spaced multiple rails having parallel facing grooves for holding card-like objects therebetween which have been received from either opposite ends of the rails.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Small thin rectangular shaped cards, which are commonly referred to as trading cards, are collected and traded by many persons. The cards are typically kept in the pockets of individual thin plastic sleeves or cases being open only at one end, such as the top end. Many card collections are stored out-of-view in drawers, albums or boxes.
Persons possessing trading cards are universally proud of their collections and would like to be able to examine and look at the cards frequently and show them to others. However, the above-mentioned normal ways that persons store their collections do not enable easy access to the cards.
Consequently, a need exists for a display structure which will allow persons to safely and reliably store their trading cards and like objects while displaying them in an attractive way at the same time. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to exercise and training devices that develop and improve balance and coordination. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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During semiconductor fabrication of memory devices, to save space, the capacitor of a storage cell must reduce in size and yet maintain adequate capacitance to retain a sufficient charge, such as during Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) operation. There are several approaches to the capacitor design, for example trench capacitors formed in the substrate of a wafer or a stacked capacitor formed above the wafer substrate, to name two.
Regardless of the design chosen, the size of the capacitor must be reduced and yet maintain sufficient capacitance as mentioned previously. Two of the main contributors to capacitance are the surface area of the capacitor plates and the dielectric quality of the insulator separating the capacitor plates. Major engineering efforts have gone into improvements in both areas.
Once the capacitor design is chosen, another factor should be considered and that is the physical connection between the capacitor plate and the underlying conductor (i.e., a conductive plug between the capacitor plate and a source/drain of an access transistor or the source/drain of the access transistor itself). It is desirable that the physical connection between the capacitor plate and the underlying conductor consist of as low resistance as possible and thus provide for low “time at temperature” (DT) flow during fabrication processing.
A significant focus of the present invention is the development of a capacitor having a high surface area within a confined area that possesses a low DT flow. Thus, the present invention comprises a capacitor structure having a high surface area within a confined area that possesses a low DT flow and a method to fabricate same, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following disclosure. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to impedance matching, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for performing impedance transformations between dissimilar circuit input and output load impedances over broad bandwidths. The invention further relates to employing parallel distributed amplifiers in an amplifier structure to obtain large impedance matching ratios between input and output loads.
2. Related Technical Art
In many applications, it is necessary to transfer electronic signals between components, devices, or systems having different input/output load impedances. That is, the characteristic output impedance for one device or system may differ from the characteristic input impedance of a corresponding load device connected to that output. Any impedance mismatch results in signal reflection or attenuation and a signal being transferred between the devices or systems may experience severe degradation or noise.
To avoid the deleterious effects of impedance mismatching, a variety of devices or circuits have been used to perform impedance transformations. An impedance transformation device receives signals at an input having a first operating impedance, which approximates the characteristic impedance of an input load, and transfers the signal to an output operating at a second impedance which approximates that of a proposed load. One such device is an impedance matching transformer having windings whose characteristic inductive impedance matches that of the respective input and output loads. In microwave applications, quarter wavelength transformers have proven useful for impedance matching.
However, the use of transformer-type impedance transformation devices is generally limited to fixed frequency or resistive impedance load applications. The inductive nature of the transformer makes its output very dependent on operating frequency and it cannot be designed to accommodate large bandwidths. In addition, since a transformer design is static, a transformer cannot adjust to frequency dependent or adjustable impedance changes in reactive loads.
Another impedance transformation or matching technique is the application of reactively tuned amplifiers. Here, appropriately biased transistors are used to transfer an input signal (power) from a source having a first characteristic impedance to a load with a different impedance over a specified frequency range. Within any amplifier design, transistor or transistor stage impedance matching then becomes an important design problem. There is a natural attenuation or gain roll-off that occurs across the frequency limits. To compensate for transistor impedance matching and roll-off, matched amplifier stages are required. While this is conventionally accomplished, it requires complex circuit designs, careful component selection and matching, and multi-sectional filters among other design considerations. The resulting designs can cover moderate band widths with high power. Unfortunately, this approach has proven to be too complex, costly, and difficult for alignment and tuning for most very high frequency applications. This technique does not lend itself to monolithic, mass produced circuits. In addition, the operating bandwidth of reactive circuits is limited by the reactive matching network which is known to have about a two octave limit.
One proposed method of transferring signals over a very high bandwidth, especially at high frequencies, is to use distributed amplifiers. Such amplifiers achieve very broad band signal amplification and show potential for obtaining up to five to six octave bandwidths. However, distributed amplifiers transfer signals between input and impedances of the same value. If there is a difference in the impedances of the loads, signal degradation occurs and the amplification or gain of the circuit is relied upon to compensate for losses. However, impedance mismatch significantly affects output power and amplifier efficiency, and contributes to high signal reflection which in turn causes poor VSWR.
What is needed in the art is a method or apparatus for transferring signals between elements or loads having widely different characteristic impedances. The method needs to have a very broad bandwidth response at very high frequencies. It would be advantageous to obtain appreciable signal gain during transfer with very flat response over the apparatus bandwidth. | {
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The subject matter of the present invention relates to a vehicle and/or system of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,903,810; 3,118,393; and 3,356,040.
The present invention is an improvement on the type of vehicle and the type of control system for controlling the path of movement and speed of the vehicle.
This invention is directed to article delivery apparatus comprising a main conveyor line and an auxiliary conveyor line. A junction is provided between said lines. Each of said conveyor lines has a track and a horizontally disposed drive shaft. Each of the shafts are rotatable about their longitudinal axes.
A vehicle is provided to support and deliver an article. The vehicle is mounted for movement along said lines. The vehicle has a wheel for rolling contact with the tracks and a drive wheel for frictional contact with the shafts. A means is provided to bias the drive wheels so that its axis of rotation is angled with respect to the longitudinal axis of one of said shafts.
A transfer means is provided at the junction between said lines for transferring the vehicle between said lines in a manner so that said drive wheel is transferred from driving contact with one shaft to driving contact with the other shaft. A means is provided on or adjacent transfer means for changing the speed of movement of the vehicle.
On the main conveyor line, the vehicles move at a high speed. On the auxiliary conveyor line, the vehicles move at a slow speed or physically stop to facilitate loading or unloading of articles from the vehicle. | {
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Liquid bleaching compositions are well-known in the art. Amongst the different bleaching compositions available, those relying on bleaching by hypochlorite are often preferred, mainly for performance reasons, especially at lower temperature.
However, there are some limitations to the convenience of hypochlorite bleaches. In particular, it is well-known from consumers that the drawbacks associated with the use of hypochlorite-based compositions are that said compositions may damage and/or yellow the fabrics which are being bleached.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hypochlorite-containing composition, suitable for use in laundry application, whereby the fabric whiteness is improved.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hypochlorite-containing composition, suitable for use in laundry application, whereby fabric safety is improved.
We have now found that the previous objects can be met by formulating an alkaline liquid composition comprising an alkali metal hypochlorite or mixtures thereof and a pH buffering means with low sensitivity to water hardness, i.e. a pH buffering means which, when used in a 1M solution at pH 10, requires more than 2.5 mM of calcium ion, in order to cause precipitation at 25.degree. C. of the calcium salt of the alkali anion of said pH buffering means. Said composition allows to provide improved fabric whiteness and/or improved fabric safety on the fabrics treated therewith, as compared to the same composition without said pH buffering means with low sensitivity to water hardness according to the present invention. We have also found that, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention wherein the liquid hypochlorite bleach-containing compositions comprise said pH buffering means with low sensitivity to water hardness together with a precipitation agent like carbonate salt and/or silicate salt, outstanding whiteness and/or fabric safety performance are provided. Indeed, it has been found that the use of a pH buffering means with low sensitivity to water hardness together with a precipitation agent like silicate salt and/or carbonate salt in a hypochlorite bleaching composition results in a complementary effect on fabric whiteness performance and/or fabric safety performance.
An advantage of the compositions of the present invention is that they allow to provide outstanding fabric whitening action and/or fabric safety properties without compromising on the stain removal performance on different types of stains including bleachable stains (e.g. coffee), enzymatic stains (e.g. blood) and greasy stains (e.g. lipstick).
Another advantage of the compositions of the present invention is that said bleaching compositions are suitable for the bleaching of different types of fabrics including natural fabrics, (e.g., fabrics made of cotton, viscose, linen, silk and wool), synthetic fabrics such as those made of polymeric fibers of synthetic origin as well as those made of both natural and synthetic fibers. Indeed, the compositions of the present invention may be used on synthetic fibers despite a standing prejudice against using hypochlorite bleaches on synthetic fibers, as evidenced by warnings on labels of commercially available hypochlorite bleaches and clothes.
A further advantage is that the liquid compositions according to the present invention comprising a pH buffering means with low sensitivity to water hardness allow a prolonged through-the-bleach buffering action, i.e. to maintain the pH of the bleaching solution as high as possible during the whole bleaching cycle from the moment the dilution is completed, without increasing the pH of the compositions per se as compared to the same compositions but without said pH buffering means.
Compositions comprising hypochlorite and pH buffering means have been described in the art.
WO 88/05462 discloses a composition for removing stains from fabrics comprising an aqueous solution of trisodium phosphate, sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite and a buffer to maintain a pH of between about 10 and 12 such a sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sesquicarbonate or mixtures thereof. WO 88/05462 further discloses that it is preferred that the buffer system employed holds the pH as close to pH 10 as possible, consistent with effective stain removal to provide a product which is more gentle to skin and fabrics than a higher pH. WO 88/0562 also discloses a process of removing stains from fabrics with said compositions. However, pH buffering means having a low sensitivity to water hardness as described herein are nowhere disclosed in WO 88/05462.
EP-A-622 451 discloses compositions suitable for use in diluted form, comprising hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, a bleach stable perfume and as a buffering system whereby the pH of the diluted composition is buffered to a constant value throughout use, carbonate and/or silicate. EP-A-622 451 also discloses a method of bleaching wherein such a composition is contacted with fabrics. No pH buffering means with low sensitivity to water hardness are disclosed.
EP-A-653 482 and EP-A-668 345 disclose hypochlorite-containing compositions comprising a source of strong alkalinity, a pH buffering means and optionally other types of ingredients such as respectively radical scavengers and polycarboxylate acids of pyridine. The pH buffering means disclosed therein are alkali metal silicate and/or carbonate, sodium borate and sodium sesquicarbonate. pH buffering means having a low sensitivity to water hardness as described herein are nowhere disclosed in said patent applications.
UK 1282 906 discloses stabilised aqueous alkali metal hypochlorite solutions comprising as a stabiliser an alkali metal heptonate or boroheptonate. "Alkali metal boroheptonate" as used in UK 1282 906 refers to a mixture of an alkali metal heptonate with either boric acid or an alkali metal metaborate and generally containing two gram moles of alkali metal heptonate per gram atom of boron in the boric acid or metaborate. However, no strong source of alkalinity nor the pH of the solutions therein are disclosed. Also no laundry application is disclosed.
BE-749728 discloses an aqueous system comprising an N-hydrogenate and a hypohalite such as hypobromite, hypochlorite or hypoiodite in equilibrium with the corresponding N-halogenated compound, and a buffering system to maintain the pH of said system in a range of 4 to 11 to stabilise it before use. The buffering system mentioned therein are generically acetates, carbonates, phosphates, polyphosphates, organophosphates, borates, polyborates, organoborates, silicates, polysilicates, organosilicates or mixtures thereof. Strong sources of alkalinity such as sodium/potassium hydroxide are also disclosed. These bleaching compositions are particularly suitable to bleach textiles. But BE 749728 fails to make a distinction between pH buffering means being sensitive to water hardness like silicates or carbonates and pH buffering means with a low sensitivity to water hardness, as the ones described in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,082 discloses defoaming compositions based on lithium salts. More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,082 discloses aqueous cleaning compositions comprising anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, from 5% to 50% by weight of the total composition of a highly alkaline compound selected from the group of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium metaborate and the like, and from 1% to 5% by weight of a lithium salt including lithium hypochlorite. No bleaching application is disclosed, let alone laundry bleaching application.
Actually, the benefits derivable from the use of a pH buffering means according to the present invention, which, when used in a 1M solution at pH 10, requires more than 2.5 mM of calcium ions, in order to cause precipitation at 25.degree. C. of the calcium salt of the alkali anion of said pH buffering means, in an alkaline liquid bleaching composition comprising hypochlorite, for bleaching fabrics, i.e. improved fabric whiteness and/or fabric safety on the fabrics treated therewith, have not been acknowledged in the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Search engines are commonly used by Internet users to acquire information. One type of search engine that is used in ecommerce platforms is a category based search engine. On such a platform, the user enters query keywords, which correspond to one or more categories such as sports, entertainment, etc. The typically category based search engine can accurately narrow a search scope and recommend related products to the user so long as it is able to accurately identify a category corresponding to search keyword. Some category based search engines use a lookup table, such as a mapping table of query keywords and industry categories. An example of such a mapping table is shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1Query wordCategory 1Category 2Category 3electric bikeTransportationSports &Automobiles &EntertainmentMotorcycles. . .. . .. . .. . .
For example, if the user enters query words “electric bike”, the search engine will locate the query words in the mapping table and then return three matching categories to the client, so the user can select one among the three categories and thus will search in that category of interest to him or her through the search engine and receive a search result returned from the search engine.
In category based search engines, since both the query data and the corresponding categories in the mapping table are established manually, the query words that can be processed may be limited to the number of the categories to which the query data belongs in the mapping table, and the search engine can return the search result to the user only if the query words entered by the user match the query data in the mapping table. Consequently, this search method in the prior art offers a low coverage rate of the search data. Also, since both the query data and the corresponding categories in the mapping table are established manually, the maintenance cost of the mapping table tends to be high. Further, the original mapping table has to be updated or reconstructed if any industry category is revised, thus resulting in poor expansibility. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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