Airbags for motor vehicles are known and have been used for a substantial period of time. These devices are installed on the driver and passenger side of automobiles and, in the event of a collision, are rapidly inflated with gas, to act as an energy absorbing barrier between the driver or passenger and the steering wheel or dashboard of the automobile.
More recently, airbag safety restraints in the form of an inflatable restraining curtain disposed along the side of a vehicle between an occupant and window or door openings have played a well recognized role in preventing injury to the occupant during a collision event. Typically, such curtains are inflated rapidly by the pressure of a reaction gas released from an inflator at the outset of generating agent in the inflator induces a chemical reaction activated by a collision signal from a collision detecting sensor when deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a certain level. The gas which is generated by the inflator is then conveyed to the airbag curtain. Inflatable curtains are typically deployed downwardly from a storage position along the roof rail so as to at least partially cover window and/or door openings across the side of the vehicle. The deployed curtain thus provides both a degree of cushioning restraint as well as a barrier preventing the occupant from being ejected from the vehicle. Due to the extended duration of a roll-over collision event where the vehicle may turn over several times it is desirable for the curtain-type airbags to remain inflated for an extended period of time so as to maintain a degree of head protection and barrier restraint until the entire event is concluded.
Curtain-type airbags are typically formed by sewing together panels of fabric to form a plurality of pillows when inflated or by weaving two layers of fabric that are interconnected at certain areas in a Jacquard loom. Such pillowed fabrics typically utilize seams which control the shape and size of the inflated cushion. Upon inflation of these airbag cushions in response to a collision event, pressure is applied in great force, particularly on the seams and can result in seam combing. In this regard it is to be understood that the term “seam combing” refers to the phenomenon wherein applied pressure causes the seaming threads to spread apart and thereby release additional gas pressure.
Performance can be improved by applying substantial quantities of permeability blocking coating materials. In the past, coatings have been applied to fabrics intended for use in automotive airbags in order to resist the unwanted permeation of gas through the fabric and, to a lesser extent, to protect the fabric from detriment by the hot gases used to inflate the bags. Polychloroprene was utilized in the early development of airbags. More recently, silicone (polydimethylsiloxane or similar materials) has gained increasing acceptance.
Since the airbag must retain its integrity during a collision event, in order to sufficiently protect the driver or passenger, there is a great need to provide coatings which provide both effective permeability characteristics and sufficient restriction of seam combing for the airbag to function optimally, if and when necessary. Thus, there exists a need for providing good adhesion and a strong bond between the individual yarns in order to effectuate long-term rigidity of the fibers to prevent unraveling at cut edges or at seams while simultaneously providing aging stability and excellent low air permeability characteristics.
One approach to decreasing coating weights while maintaining low permeability performance of the airbag fabrics has been to use a two layered coating system, as disclosed for example in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,177,365 and 6,177,366 to Li (all hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety). Alternative coating compositions have been disclosed based on polyurethanes, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,666 or on polyurethane/polyacrylate dispersions as found in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,043 (all hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety).
Current industry practice typically utilizes conventional coating methods employing solvent or water based coatings for airbag fabrics. Consequently, the solvent or the water needs to be removed by drying and the organic polymer needs to be cured by subsequent exposure to heat. The coating method is predominantly some form of knife over air/gap or transfer coating.
An alternative approach is to laminate polymeric films to the airbag fabric. Traditional lamination methodology employs a tie coat of an adhesive layer on the fabric before film lamination. This type of approach is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,770,578, 6,908,528, and 6,753,275 (all incorporated by reference in their entirety), all of which teach application of an adhesive layer as an aqueous or solvent containing dispersion which necessitates the removal of water or solvent at a subsequent point in the process.


During the course of treating a fluid, for instance to control the atmospheric emission of polluting contaminants, it is common to disperse a treating agent into the fluid in order to combine with a catalyst to treat the undesired component of the fluid. In general, a mixing apparatus is used to disperse the treating agent into the fluid. Holes, which include hardened holes, holes, nozzles, injection nozzles, and the like, can be used for this purpose. Since simple ejection of the agent from such holes is not very effective in thoroughly mixing the agent with the fluid, it is also known to use baffles (sometimes also referred to as “deflectors” and “flow mixers”), usually positioned directly downstream of the injection point to encourage turbulence, thereby enhancing the mixing of the agent with the fluid.
One of the applications of the mixing apparatus is the treatment of flue gas containing nitric oxide and nitric dioxide (collectively, “NOx”) and other hazardous chemicals produced during the combustion of fossil fuels. NOx emissions may be minimized by catalytically reducing flue gas NOx to nitrogen and water using ammonia (NH3) in a chemical reaction before releasing the gas into the atmosphere.
Flue gas may be treated by passing the gas through treatment systems, which attempt to provide maximum exposure of the catalyst to the flue gas in order to ensure that all the flue gas comes sufficiently into contact with the catalyst for treatment.
In the treatment systems, a treating agent, such as ammonia, is typically introduced into the flue gas stream by the mixing apparatus comprised of pipes having a plurality of holes. The mixing apparatus is designed to provide an even distribution of ammonia throughout the flue gas. The holes on the mixing apparatus are usually arranged such that the ammonia is injected into the flue gas towards a catalyst bed located downstream in the treatment system.
Ammonia is commonly injected through the mixing apparatus into the flow of flue gas by utilizing an external ammonia vaporization system wherein liquid ammonia, either in an anhydrous or aqueous state, is vaporized in a heater or vaporizer, mixed with dilution air, and then routed to the mixing apparatus for injection into the flow of flue gas at a location upstream of the mixing apparatus. Typically, the ammonia is diluted with water prior to being injected through the mixing apparatus into the flow of flue gas.
To increase the mixing efficiency, some mixing apparatus include baffles disposed adjacent to the holes of the pipes or baffles installed between the pipes. Known mixing apparatus commonly utilize horizontal baffles for creating a turbulent mixing effect. Other mixing apparatus utilize square pipes rather than conventional circular pipes. Other known apparatus utilize baffles located in an upstream position from the pipes to create a wake downstream to increase the ammonia flue gas mixing efficiency.
It is therefore desirable to provide a mixing apparatus that evenly distributes the ammonia into the flue gas before reaching downstream catalyst for heat recovery, steam generation systems, packaged boilers, simple or combined cycle catalyst systems, and fired heaters.


Programmable logic devices (PLDs) are a well-known type of integrated circuit that can be programmed to perform specified logic functions. One type of PLD, the field programmable gate array (FPGA), typically includes an array of programmable tiles. These programmable tiles can include, for example, input/output blocks (IOBs), configurable logic blocks (CLBs), dedicated random access memory blocks (BRAM), multipliers, digital signal processing blocks (DSPs), processors, clock managers, delay lock loops (DLLs), and so forth.
Each programmable tile typically includes both programmable interconnect and programmable logic. The programmable interconnect typically includes a large number of interconnect lines of varying lengths interconnected by programmable interconnect points (PIPs). The programmable logic implements the logic of a user design using programmable elements that can include, for example, function generators, registers, arithmetic logic, and so forth.
The programmable interconnect and programmable logic are typically programmed by loading a stream of configuration data into internal configuration memory cells that define how the programmable elements are configured. The configuration data can be read from memory (e.g., from an external PROM) or written into the FPGA by an external device. The collective states of the individual memory cells then determine the function of the FPGA.
Another type of PLD is the Complex Programmable Logic Device, or CPLD. A CPLD includes two or more “function blocks” connected together and to input/output (I/O) resources by an interconnect switch matrix. Each function block of the CPLD includes a two-level AND/OR structure similar to those used in Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs) and Programmable Array Logic (PAL) devices. In CPLDs, configuration data is typically stored on-chip in non-volatile memory. In some CPLDs, configuration data is stored on-chip in non-volatile memory, then downloaded to volatile memory as part of an initial configuration sequence.
For all of these programmable logic devices (PLDs), the functionality of the device is controlled by data bits provided to the device for that purpose. The data bits can be stored in volatile memory (e.g., static memory cells, as in FPGAs and some CPLDs), in non-volatile memory (e.g., FLASH memory, as in some CPLDs), or in any other type of memory cell.
Other PLDs are programmed by applying a processing layer, such as a metal layer, that programmably interconnects the various elements on the device. These PLDs are known as mask programmable devices. PLDs can also be implemented in other ways, e.g., using fuse or antifuse technology. The terms “PLD” and “programmable logic device” include but are not limited to these exemplary devices, as well as encompassing devices that are only partially programmable. For example, one type of PLD includes a combination of hard-coded transistor logic and a programmable switch fabric that programmably interconnects the hard-coded transistor logic.
FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of an exemplary FPGA. The FPGA of FIG. 1 includes an array of configurable logic blocks (LBs 101a-101i) and programmable input/output blocks (I/Os 102a-102d). The LBs and I/O blocks are interconnected by a programmable interconnect structure that includes a large number of interconnect lines 103 interconnected by programmable interconnect points (PIPs 104, shown as small circles in FIG. 1). PIPs are often coupled into groups (e.g., group 105) that implement multiplexer circuits selecting one of several interconnect lines to provide a signal to a destination interconnect line or logic block. As noted above, some FPGAs also include additional logic blocks with special purposes (not shown), e.g., DLLs, block RAM, and so forth.
The design of a PLD logic block can have a strong impact on the usefulness of the PLD as a whole. The lookup tables included in some PLD logic blocks, for example, can include features enabling a wide range of important functions, such as arithmetic functions or compare functions, or can make the implementation of these functions more efficient in area or speed. Improved interconnections within a logic block can also provide significant improvements to the functionality and/or performance of user designs implemented utilizing the logic block.
Further, a PLD interconnect structure can be complex and highly flexible. For example, Young et al. describe the interconnect structure of an exemplary FPGA in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,616, issued Jun. 22, 1999 and entitled “FPGA Repeatable Interconnect Structure with Hierarchical Interconnect Lines”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Additional flexibility is a valuable feature in a PLD interconnect structure.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide improvements to a PLD logic block and/or interconnect structure that provide added flexibility, improved efficiency, and/or improved performance.


1. Field of the Invention
An aspect of the present invention relates to a sputtering apparatus for depositing an extremely low concentration of a metal catalyst on an amorphous silicon layer in order to crystallize the amorphous silicon, and more particularly, to a sputtering apparatus capable of minimizing non-uniformity of a metal catalyst caused by a pre-sputtering process without reducing process efficiency, and thus improving uniformity of the metal catalyst deposited on an amorphous silicon layer at an extremely low concentration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display devices have replaced cathode ray tube display devices due to characteristics such as light weight, thin thickness, and so on, and typical examples thereof include liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices. In comparison with the LCDs, the OLED display devices are excellent in brightness and viewing angle characteristics, and require no backlight, so that OLED display devices can be realized as ultra thin displays.
The OLED display devices are classified into two types, a passive matrix type and an active matrix type, according to the driving method. The active matrix type OLED display devices include a circuit using a thin film transistor (TFT).
The TFT generally includes a semiconductor layer, which has a source region, a drain region and a channel region, and gate, source and drain electrodes. The semiconductor layer may be formed of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) or amorphous silicon (a-Si). The poly-Si has a higher electron mobility than the a-Si. Thus, the poly-Si is mainly used for the TFT of OLED display devices.
Among the methods of crystallizing the a-Si into the poly-Si, one uses a metal. The crystallizing method using the metal involves depositing a metal catalyst on a substrate using a process such as a sputtering process of depositing a metal layer on a substrate by applying plasma to a metal target formed of a crystallization-inducing metal such as nickel, or an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process of forming an atomic layer of a crystallization-inducing metal catalyst such as nickel on a substrate using a chemical method based on a reaction gas containing the metal catalyst, and crystallizing the a-Si using the metal catalyst as a seed, thereby providing an advantage in that the a-Si can be crystallized at a relatively low temperature in a short time.
Typical sputtering apparatuses are designed to concentrate the plasma on the metal target and substrate using a magnetic assembly located at the rear of the metal target to uniformly deposit a thick layer in a short time. However, the crystallizing method using the metal degrades the characteristics of the TFT when the metal catalyst remains in the poly-Si formed by crystallizing the a-Si, and particularly, the TFT may be driven unstably when the metal catalyst remaining in the poly-Si is magnetized. Therefore, sputtering apparatuses based on the crystallizing method using the metal perform a deposition process while moving the metal target made of the metal catalyst without using the magnetic assembly to be able to prevent magnetization of the metal catalyst discharged from the crystallization-inducing metal such as nickel as well as to deposit the metal catalyst at an extremely low concentration.
In the sputtering apparatus that performs the deposition process while moving the metal target without using the magnetic assembly, when a pre-sputtering process of removing foreign materials such as NiO2 attached to a surface of the metal target prior to the deposition process is performed to be able to more uniformly and stably deposit the extremely-low-concentration metal catalyst, the metal catalyst discharged from the metal target during the pre-sputtering process is deposited on an edge of the substrate, so that the uniformity of the metal catalyst deposited on the substrate can be reduced.
Further, to prevent the metal catalyst discharged from the metal target during the pre-sputtering process from being deposited on the substrate, a region where the plasma is produced is isolated during the pre-sputtering process. In this case, a separate shield is required to isolate the plasma production area. Further, it takes a predetermined time to form or remove the separate shield depending on progress of the pre-sputtering process, so that the deposition process is delayed, and thus overall process efficiency is reduced.


This invention relates to intraocular surgical instruments and more particularly to instruments adapted to vitrectomy surgery that incorporate reciprocating cutters.
It is sometimes necessary to surgically remove a portion of the vitreous body of the eye in order to eliminate opaque regions of the body, blood, retinal tissue and the like. The vitreous body has a jelly-like consistency, requiring that portions to be excised be cleanly cut off from the remaining portion of the vitreous body. One method of severing vitreous portions involves the use of a surgical instrument that comprises coaxial slender tubes and which is inserted into the region of the vitreous to be removed. The outer tube has an orifice with a sharp cutting edge on the internal surface of the tube, while the inner tube has a sharp cutting edge formed on its outer periphery. The portion of the vitreous body to be excised is pulled into the orifice in the outer tube by suction applied to the inner tube, and the portion is severed by moving the cutting edge of the inner tube past the cutting edge of the outer tube in a reciprocating fashion.
It is important that the cutting edges of the reciprocating tubes of such instruments fit together closely in order to provide a good cutting action. If the cutting edges do not cooperate properly, there is a danger that a portion of the vitreous body might become trapped between the outer wall of the inner tube and the inner wall of the outer tube. This is a serious problem because tissue that becomes trapped is difficult to cut cleanly away from the remaining vitreous body, and further movement of the instrument may cause tension on the vitreous body that may damage the retina.
Various means have been provided for effecting the proper orientation of the cutting edges of the inner and outer tubes in order to clearly sever the portion of vitreous body to be removed. In most of the prior art devices, this objective is addressed by providing minimal clearance between the internal wall of the outer cutter tube and the external wall of the inner cutter tube along the entire length of their adjacency. While this arrangement helps to ensure the proper orientation of the tubes at the point where the cutting edges meet, it has caused a considerable amount of friction between the two walls.
In an attempt to overcome the problem of friction while retaining a proper alignment at the cutting edges, a longitudinal portion of the outer tube has been cut away between its two ends, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,902, issued to Martinez. In this fashion, the friction that would have otherwise occurred between the cut-away portion and the inner tube is of course eliminated, but the amount of friction caused by movement of the remaining portions against the inner tube is maintained, and the lessened structural integrity caused by the removal may also be a source of problems. In particular, the cutting away of a large longitudinal portion of one of the cutting tubes may increase the flexibility of that tube to an extent that the precise orientation of the cutting edges is lost.
In addition, prior art devices of this type are generally manufactured in a way that increases the cost of the devices and causes disposability after a single use to be impractical. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,902, the device is generally complex and requires a number of threaded parts.


In the prior art as presented by U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,165, by Rushing et al, there is disclosed an electrostatographic copier/printer with adjustable process control parameters wherein image contrast and color balance can be adjusted. The process control parameters considered adjustable are initial or primary charge, V.sub.o, exposure E.sub.o and developer bias V.sub.B.
The copier/printer described in Rushing et al is specifically directed to overcoming the problem of non-uniformities in reproductions that are associated with a direction that is cross-track to the process direction. Such non-uniformities cannot be well accommodated by making overall process changes.
In order to overcome this problem, the copier/printer described in Rushing et al provided for the printing of special test images. These printed test images are then delivered and fed into a scanner. The scanned data are analyzed to characterize the overall process in terms of cross-track uniformity and deviation from desired tone scale. The Rushing et al patent recognizes that cross-track nonuniformity and deviation from desired tone scale may result from misalignment of one or more process stations for example an exposure station, a charging station or a development station. Thus, z-axis skewing (tilt) of the LED printhead and/or Selfoc lens which focuses light from the LEDs (light-emitting diodes) onto the photoconductive surface can provide for a non-uniformity. Other recognized potential problems are the tilt of the primary charger or non-parallelism of the development station relative to the photoconductor. The Rushing et al patent proposes that, as a result of the scanning, adjustments can be made in LED exposure on-time or driver current to correct for same.
A problem with the apparatus of the prior art is that a scanner is required to provide for correction for such non-uniformities. The tilt and bow non-uniformities are the most common and most objectionable.
In the printer art generally, it is also known to detect non-uniformities using a visual detection by an operator and correction can be provided by adjustment of signals to each of the recording elements. In this regard, reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,353.
A problem with the above apparatus is that where several thousand recording elements are arranged on the printhead, it becomes relatively cumbersome to provide the manual correction suggested in this patent except where only a relatively few recording elements require correction, a situation not typical in a tilt or skew or bow situation.
It is an object of the invention therefore to provide for an improved control of cross-track non-uniformity in a reproduction apparatus.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrostatographic copier and/or printer apparatus and method for adjusting for cross-track non-uniformities without the need of a scanner to scan a test print printed by the apparatus and without the need for an operator to identify specific recording elements and provide specific corrections to specific recording elements.


The present invention relates to catalysts for purification of gaseous condensate and oil fractions from mercaptans and can be used in oil-processing and in petrochemical industry.
Usually oxidation of mercaptans is performed by oxygen or air at room or elevated temperature in the presence of homogenous or heterogeneous catalyst based on a transitional metal:2RSH+½02→RSSR+H20
Mercaptans are extracted from organic phase by strongly alkali aqueous solutions, in which at elevated temperature and pressure catalytical oxidation of mercaptans takes place, and as a catalyst salts from metals of alternating valency (Fe, Co, Ni, V, Mn, Cr) in the form of simple or complex compositions, more often phatocyanites (as disclosed for example in European patent no. 394571, German patent 3008284 and others). The catalysts of this type provide sufficiently complete removal of mercaptans. Their common disadvantage is not sufficient availability and high cost of phatocyanites, which leads to making the process of purification expensive. Moreover, the necessity to conduct the process in strongly-alkli medium leads to a significant corrosion of equipment and worsening of the properties of oil pipelines.
It is known that phtalocyanines in catalytical compositions can be replaced with other compounds of transitional metals.
A catalyst are known based on metallo-organic derivatives of metals of VIA, VIIA, and VIII groups with general formula Mea(R)x(CO)y where R is aromatic ligand, for example benzol or its alkyl derivatives, antrazen, benzpirin, phenanthren (U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,756). Disadvantages of such catalysts include their low stability, high cost and toxicity.
A catalyst for oxidating demercaptanization of carbohydrates is known which is a helate complex of a transitional metal with bi, tri, or tetra dentant ligand, containing at least one amide group (French patent 2,573,087). In particular, replaced 2-(alkyl(aryl, alkylary))-aminocarboxypyriditines and others even more complicated compounds are utilized. As a metal it can be Co, Fe, Cu, Ni, Mn. The disadvantage is a low stability of the catalyst and use for its manufacture of expensive and scarce components.
Also, catalysts of oxidating demercaptanization are known-complexes of copper with tetracyantiophenol and tetracyandentin (French patent 2591610). These catalysts provide high degree of purification, but their practical use is questionable because their very high cost and scarce availability of the components.
A method of oxidative demercaptanization are known which is performed by oxidation of mercaptans with oxygen of air in presence of helate complexes of a transitional metal (Co, Fe, Cu, Ni, Mn) with polydentan ligand from the class of amides, in particular from aminocarboxyperidines (French patent 2573087). The main disadvantage of the method with the use of this catalyst is high cost of its components.
A heterogeneous catalyst is described, based on complexes of copper with amino derivatives (aminoalcohols, aminoacids, amines) applied on a mineral carrier or activated coal (European patent 996500). The disadvantage of this catalyst is a low content of active phase on the surface of the carrier, which inevitably leads to a significant consumption of the heterogeneous catalyst.
The closest solution to the present invention is disclosed in U.S. patent no. In accordance with this patent, a catalyst of alkali-free purification of oil fractions from mercaptans is proposed, which contains a copper oxide, a complex of copper with nitrogen-containing compound of amines, aminoalcohols, aminoacids, or amids and an inert carrier. The disadvantage of this method is a complex technology for producing catalyst and a high consumption of the carrier, which makes the catalyst quite expensive.


This disclosure generally pertains to a music processing system that converts sound from musical instruments into an electronic data format. More specifically, this invention pertains to a system and method that converts sound generated by musical instruments to a form to be used in electronic media based on a first harmonic of an input signal. In one embodiment, the data format is the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) format.
For years digital keyboard players enjoyed unparalleled flexibility and functionality in interfacing and composing with their computers, such as the ability to instantly create notation and change sounds generated by their instruments with the push of a button. The music processing system described herein offer this flexibility and functionality to guitarists as well as the ability to use a guitar with computer games. The methods and apparatus described may comprise a pick-up and converter that attaches directly to any electric, acoustic electric or acoustic guitar, thereby making a user's guitar fully plug and play compatible with Windows XP or higher as well as Mac OSX. Preferably, no driver installation is necessary.
The music processing system described herein may be adapted for use with Guitar Wizard, a game that allows users to jam along to popular songs while learning to play a real guitar. Guitar Wizard teaches aspiring musicians everything from single note picking to complex chords and strumming techniques. Modern Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software, such as Sony Acid™ Music Studio and Apple GarageBand harness the power of PCs, allowing musicians to play samples and software instruments. With the music processing system described herein, guitarists can control these programs to play sampled sounds and synthesized instruments such as a keyboard or piano, a different style guitar, drums or a woodwind instrument. Using the music processing system described herein, guitarists can compose a complete masterpiece controlling and recording each instrument from trumpets to tympanis using their guitar.
Using the music processing system described herein, users will enjoy the ability to connect a real guitar to console systems bridging the gap between gaming and reality. For instance, using the music processing system described herein, one may be able to: use a guitar to connect with a computer, operating with for instance Windows XP and/or Mac OSX; learn to play guitar; record, compose and edit music easily; arrange with flexibility and control; and convert recorded songs into sheet music. As described below, the pick-up and control components of the music processing system mount on any guitar and preferably recognizes and transmits specific instructions for each individual note played on the guitar, thereby allowing for great flexibility in playing and recording. This is conveyed simply as a list of events which describe the specific steps that a soundcard, program or other device use to generate the specific sound. At its simplest the language would indicate for example ‘Middle C on” at a specific time along with the volume of the note—then it would indicate “Middle C off” at a later time. Any number of other commands can be added to make it as expressive as desired.
Thus, the music processing system may allow the user to make his or her guitar sound like another instrument. With the system, a guitar can sound like anything: a keyboard or piano, a completely different style guitar or a guitar with any number of different effects applied, a woodwind or brass instrument or the human voice. Each note can even be assigned to play a different recorded clip or sound effect. Different or “drop” tunings are simple because the note or tuning of the guitar need not be changed. The instructions for playing the note are simply “transposed” to the desired note in accordance with the desired tuning. The language of the music processing system is very specific as to what note is being played down to the specific fret on each string. This information can be used in conjunction with a learning program to teach guitar. Since each string is tracked individually this can be a very complex and robust application, teaching everything from single note picking to complex chords and strumming techniques.
Furthermore, the instructions generated can optionally be recorded on a computer memory. This allows recorded instructions to be edited using computer software. A single note within a recorded song is easily adjusted because all that is changed is the instruction for that specific note. To change or delete a note or passage in a regular recording would require clipping out the undesirable portion and re-recording—not an easy task as precision is next to impossible yet required. An embodiment described herein also allows for easy tempo changes of a recorded performance. The instruction is simply adjusted to change the tempo, thereby avoiding pitch change when a recording slowed down. Editing recorded music is simple using computer software—drag and drop functionality may be provided to edit individual notes. Shorten or lengthen a note simple by clicking on it and changing its duration. Using software, the user can change the whole recording to a new key using the same principle described above regarding alternate tunings. Users can cut and paste a section for use later in the song. File size is small because the methods described herein store instructions for playing a note, not sampling and digitizing the actual note or sound wave. This saves storage space on a hard drive. For example a sampled or digitized 1 minute clip requires about 10 Megabytes of data. The same 10 seconds with the music processing system only requires 10 Kilobytes for the same 1 minute clip. Many files that are already recorded in this language have tracks that are separated from the rest of the tracks making it easy to listen to just one instrument track and study it to learn more about it or how to play it. Then this track can be muted, played over to practice playing the song or for a live performance with backing tracks. One may print out actual sheet music of what has been recorded. It is very simple to convert the recorded instructions into musical notation. One may also create a ring tone for a cell phone.
The music processing system can be used to trigger much more than notes. The instructions for turning a note on and off and other such commands can optionally be used to activate any action or event within a program or computer game. Many prerecorded elements such as loops or tracks can be triggered on a computer program turning them on and off as backing tracks for example. These elements can also be turned on and off building them to create a song by selecting each individual element by playing a single note. Events can optionally be triggered in games. Playing a specific note or notes can be used for a game such as Guitar Hero™ or other similar game. It can be as simple as the current offerings or as complex as a real-world guitar performance. Notes could even be used to move a character around the screen. Embodiments of the present invention can also be used in conjunction with a wide variety of musical equipment. Most electronic musical equipment supports one of the various versions of the MIDI format.
One using the technology disclosed herein can achieve sound electronically using any classical instruments or any sound source. One method disclosed herein includes analyzing sound from the sound source, and then generating an appropriate sound electronically based on the detection of the first harmonic of the input signal. The second method disclosed herein requires fast and precise first harmonic period determination from the signals generated by a classical instrument, and then the measured period may be transformed to digital information acceptable by electronic instruments to generate sound electronically. Algorithms for transforming the measured period into digital information are disclosed in a co-pending patent application entitled “Adaptive Triggers Method for Signal Period Measuring,” U.S. application Ser. No. 11/873,970, filed Oct. 17, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. However, other tone detection methods known in the art may also be used. Such algorithms, which for instance provide a solution for transforming guitar sounds to MIDI commands, require powerful thirty-two bit microprocessors and/or DSP processors, as will be described below.


This invention relates to a magneto-optical recording capable of recording medium, reproducing/erasing with a laser beam, and more particularly to the structure of a magneto-optical disk effective for the suppression of deterioration in the reproduction output due to repetitions of recording/erasing, while maintaining a high S/N and also for the control of shape of a formed recording domain.
With the recent progress toward a highly informational society, needs for a file memory of larger capacity and higher density are now increasing and optical disks have been regarded as a response to these needs. Particularly, magneto-optical recording is now to be used in the form of a practical, rewritable optical disk. Currently known layer structures are classified into two types, i.e. three-layer structure (underlayer/recording layer/protective layer) and four-layer structure (underlayer/recording layer/protective layer/metallic layer). Most importantly, disks of a four-layer structure utilize both the Kerr effect and the Faraday effect of magneto-optical recording layer concurrently and thus a large rotational angle can be obtained and, also the reproduction output can be increased at the driving. Therefore, disks of a four-layer structure are now extensively studied and are under development.
On the other hand, studies on higher density and higher speed are also underway. For example, it has been proposed to utilize a field modulation recording system, a system for using a double layer based on an exchange couple, etc. in order to attain the overwritting. In order to attain a higher density, it has been studied to form micromagnetic domains or to use pit edge recording. In any event, disks having a high S/N and a good controllability of magnetic domains are required. If magneto-optical disks can be used not only in computer file memory, but also for domestic purposes for example as rewritable compact disks, a larger requirement will be posed on the development. The first condition for this purpose is a lower cost. To satisfy the condition, it is necessary to use low cost plastics as substrate materials and to make the disk structure as simple as possible. This can be attained only as a result of of improvements in disk technology such as (1) technology of preparating substrates, (2) technology of making a magneto-optical recording layer of higher corrosion resistance and (3) optimization of disk structure, etc. In particular, the technology of making a magneto-optical recording layer of higher corrosion resistance, as mentioned in (2), is important.
In the above-mentioned disk technology, research and development have been thus far concentrated on an increase in the rotational angle, while no particular consideration has been paid to the decrease in disk characteristics, especially reproduction output, when recording/erasing are repeated, and therefore no higher reliability has been obtained. This decrease in disk performance results from the amorphous state of magneto-optical recording layers being relaxed by a laser beam used for the recording/erasing.
In the case of higher density recording by field modulation recording, recording domains themselves interfere with one another or no better shapes of recording domains are obtained, and thus no satisfactory reproduction output is obtained. This is because parts in a larger ratio of the domain wall to the domain area exist and consequently the energy of the domain wall is so high that the shapes of recording domains become unstable.
Furthermore, in the case of domestic applications, etc. on the other hand, no satisfactory simplification of layer structure has been made yet, resulting in poor mass production and higher cost. In other words the magneto-optical disks have been found to be unsuitable for the domestic applications. Still furthermore, an underlayer made mainly of inorganic compounds must have a thickness of at least 750 .ANG., in view of the optical effect. This increases an overall stress of the magneto-optical recording medium and causes the underlayer to peel off, especially when formed on a plastic substrate. In order to prevent such a peeling, it has been attempted to reduce the stress on the underlayer of inorganic compounds or to apply some treatment to the substrate surface. The thickness of the underlayer of inorganic compound has been restricted to 700-900 .ANG. in view of the optical characteristics, which case the recording layer has been sometimes corroded via pinholes existing in the underlayer.


In a TDD (Time Division Duplexing) system, information is sent and received by using different time slots of a same frequency carrier. With regard to a frame structure of the TDD system, FIG. 1 may be referred to, in which each radio frame has a frame length of 10 ms and includes ten subframes each of which has a length of 1 ms, and each half radio frame has a frame length of 5 ms.
In the TDD system, an uplink-downlink configuration may be semi-statically adjusted according to different types of services, so as to meet a service requirement of asymmetrical uplink-downlink. In a 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) LTE (Long Term Evolution) TDD system, as shown in Table 1, there are seven kinds of uplink-downlink configurations in total, where ‘D’ represents a downlink subframe, ‘U’ represents an uplink subframe and ‘S’ represents a special subframe. Since the special subframe includes a DwPTS, the special subframe can be used for downlink
TABLE 1Uplink-downlink configurations in a TDD systemuplink-downlinksubframe serial number in aconfigurationrepeatradio frameserial numberperiod012345678905 msDSUUUDSUUU15 msDSUUDDSUUD25 msDSUDDDSUDD310 ms DSUUUDDDDD410 ms DSUUDDDDDD510 ms DSUDDDDDDD65 msDSUUUDSUUD
In a LTE system, which uplink-downlink configuration to be used is configured semi-statically by a base station, so it will occur that a configured uplink-downlink configuration does not match an instantaneous service type, and thus resources cannot be used efficiently, which is especially serious in a cell with a relatively small number of users. In order to solve this problem, a technology of applying a dynamic TDD subframe may be introduced to the LTE R11 Version, namely that several dynamic subframes, which are able to not only be used as uplink subframes but also be used as downlink subframes, are configured in a radio frame. Table 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of applying a dynamic TDD subframe in a radio frame, that is, the last two subframes of each half radio frame are dynamic subframes, wherein ‘F’ represents a dynamic subframe. In addition, subframes with subframe numbers 0, 1, 5 and 6 in a radio frame are all used for downlink, namely downlink subframes, and these four subframes may also be referred to as fixed downlink subframes. Subframes with subframe numbers 2 and 7 in a radio frame are both uplink subframes, and these two subframes may also be referred to as fixed uplink subframes.
TABLE 2Subframe number in a radio frame0123456789DSUFFDSUFF
However, in a scenario of applying the dynamic TDD subframe, the related art does not solve a problem how to determine whether a dynamic subframe is an uplink subframe or a downlink subframe, thus an information transmission in the scenario of applying the dynamic TDD subframe can not be implemented.


Many beneficial human manufacturing and energy production activities involve the transport of a heated fluid in a fluid conduit situated in a cold environment. Where the fluid is susceptible to solidification or becoming unmanageably viscous because of heat loss to the cold environment, prudent engineering practices include insulating pipes against passive heat loss to the environment and/or actively heating the fluid conduit along its length.
Heat loss and its attendant consequences may become particularly severe where flow of the heated fluid through the conduit is interrupted. The conduit, containing the heated liquid gradually cools via heat loss to the environment and the fluid may solidify or become unmanageably viscous within the conduit. When flow is resumed, the thermally depleted matter within the fluid conduit may prevent or delay the resumption of fluid flow within the fluid conduit. Problems can be particularly severe when the heated fluid readily crystallizes on cooling, as is the case with relatively pure phenol (melting point 43° C., CAS No. 108-95-2) or otherwise forms solids on cooling. (See natural gas hydrates for example.)
Thus, heat retention within fluid conduits may be critical to the efficient operation of facilities in which a hot fluid susceptible to deleterious phase changes in response to heat loss to a cold environment is transported. There is at present a particular need for improved thermal control in subsea hydrocarbon production operations in which hot production fluids may undergo deleterious phase changes as a result of heat loss to the cold subsea environment. The present invention provides one or more embodiments enabling improved thermal control in such environments.


The present invention relates to an extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) light spectrum measuring apparatus and an EUV light intensity calculating method used to evaluate an EUV light source (having a wavelength between 10 and 15 nm) for use with a projection exposure apparatus in a photolithography in manufacturing semiconductor devices.
Reduction projection exposures using ultraviolet have been conventionally employed to manufacture such fine semiconductor devices as a semiconductor memory and a logic circuit in the photolithography method. The critical dimension to be transferred by the reduction projection exposure is proportionate to a wavelength of light used for transfer, and inversely proportionate to the numerical aperture (“NA”) of a projection optical system. In order to transfer a finer circuit pattern, a shorter wavelength of used ultraviolet (“UV”) light has been promoted from an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp i-line with a wavelength of about 365 nm to a KrF excimer laser with a wavelength of about 248 nm and an ArF excimer laser with a wavelength of about 193 nm.
However, the lithography using the UV light has the limits to satisfy the rapidly promoting fine processing to semiconductor devices, and a reduction projection exposure apparatus using the EUV light with a wavelength of about 10 to 15 nm much shorter than that of the ultraviolet has been developed to efficiently transfer a very fine circuit pattern of 0.1 μm or less.
A development of the EUV light source for the reduction projection exposure apparatus is promoted parallel to a development of the reduction projection exposure apparatus. One illustrative EUV light source is, for example, a laser excited EUV light source as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 2002-174700 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,256). The laser excited EUV light source irradiates a highly intensified pulse laser beam to a target material put in a vacuum chamber, and generates the high-temperature plasma. Among the lights having various wavelengths emitted from thus generated plasma, the EUV light utilizes the light having a wavelength, for example, of about 13 nm. The target material uses a metallic thin film, an inert gas, a droplet, etc., and is supplied to a vacuum chamber by such a means as a gas jet. The EUV light emitted from the plasma is generally condensed into a condensing point by a rotationally elliptic condenser mirror, is introduced into a projection exposure apparatus after diverging from the condensing point, and illuminates a mask uniformly via an illumination optical system of the projection exposure apparatus. Alternatively, the EUV light may be introduced, as light collimated by the rotationally elliptical condenser mirror, into the projection exposure apparatus.
In the exposure apparatus using the EUV light, an optical element in the optical system that introduces the EUV light mainly uses an oblique-incidence total reflection mirror and a Si/Mo multilayer coating mirror as a mirror having an incident angle close to normal incidence. Since the multilayer coating mirror for the normal incidence has a high reflectance to the EUV light having a wavelength around 13.5 nm, the EUV light for projection exposure generally uses a wave range between 13.365 nm and 13.635 nm around the wavelength of 13.5 nm among the lights emitted from the EUV light source. The throughput of the projection exposure apparatus depends upon the absolute value of the EUV light intensity in the wave range between 13.365 nm and 13.635 nm, and an exposure apparatus has a higher productivity as the absolute value increases.
The EUV light source needs to emit the EUV light at a high intensity in the wave range between 13.365 nm and 13.635 nm among the lights having various wavelengths. The light intensity in the non-exposure wave range should be low, because this light turns to the heat after absorbed in the optical element in the optical system, and deteriorates the of the optical system.
For these reasons, it is important to previously recognize a spectrum of the light emitted from the EUV light source for the exposure apparatus.
One illustrative, conventional EUV light spectrum measuring apparatus is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 10-073698. According to this reference, a diffraction grating forms a spectrum of part of the EUV light (or referred to as “soft-X-ray” in this reference) emitted from the plasma as a light emitting point, making the light intensity of each wavelength measurable.
However, the above prior art can measure the spectrum of the light only in a specific divergent direction and cannot structurally measure the spectra in all the divergent directions. When the spectra differ according to divergent directions, the prior art cannot measure the spatial spectrum distribution or the intensity in the predetermined wave range, such as between 13.365 nm and 13.635 nm, in the entire divergent directions. In addition, the prior art disadvantageously cannot measure a total intensity in the predetermined wave range emitted from the light source.


1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fabrication of semiconductor devices and more particularly to the fabrication of an oxynitride layer for use as an anti-reflective coating (ARC) or as a stop layer having low leakage current.
2) Description of the Prior Art
The semiconductor industry's continuing drive toward integrated circuits with ever decreasing geometries, coupled with its pervasive use of highly reflective materials, such as polysilicon, aluminum and metal silicides, has led to increased photolithographic patterning problems. Unwanted reflections from these underlying materials during the photoresist patterning process cause the resulting photoresist pattern to be distorted. The use of an anti-reflective coating (ARC) has become popular in the semiconductor industry to prevent distortion of photoresist patterns. An Anti-Reflection Coating (ARC) is a layer of electiomagnetic energy absorbing material formed subjacent to a photoresist layer to minimize pattern distortion caused by reflection. Oxynitride can be used to form anti-reflective coatings.
Importantly, the inventors have found that to increase manufacturing efficiency, it would be advantageous in the semiconductor industry to use an ARC as a dielectric in subsequently defined semiconductor devices. However, the inventor's have found that oxynitride ARCs exhibit leakage currents that prevent their use as a dielectric in a semiconductor device.
The importance of overcoming the various deficiencies noted above is evidenced by the extensive technological development directed to the subject, as documented by the relevant patent and technical literature. The closest and apparently more relevant technical developments in the patent literature can be gleaned by considering the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,687 (Roman et al.) discloses a process of making a Si-rich silicon oxynitride layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,104 (Godinho et al.) shows a SiON process for making a silicon oxynitride passivation layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,631 (Kaganowicz et al.) shows a method for making SiON having a specific low Hydrogen % range.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of signal processing. More specifically, the present invention relates to the processing of measured signals, containing a primary signal portion and a secondary signal portion, for the removal or derivation of either the primary or secondary signal portion when little is known about either of these components. The present invention is especially useful for physiological monitoring systems including blood oxygen saturation systems and pulserate measurement systems. The present invention further relates to a method and apparatus for signal processing of signals in order to compute an estimate for pulserate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Signal processors are typically employed to remove or derive either the primary or secondary signal portion from a composite measured signal including a primary signal portion and a secondary signal portion. For example, a composite signal may contain a primary signal portion comprising desirable data and a secondary signal portion comprising noise. If the secondary signal portion occupies a different frequency spectrum than the primary signal portion, then conventional filtering techniques such as low pass, band pass, and high pass filtering are available to remove or derive either the primary or the secondary signal portion from the total signal. Fixed single or multiple notch filters could also be employed if at least one of the primary and secondary signal portions exists at a fixed frequency band.
It is often the case that an overlap in frequency spectrum between the primary and secondary signal portions exists. Complicating matters further, the statistical properties of one or both of the primary and secondary signal portions may change with time. In such cases, conventional filtering techniques are ineffective in extracting either the primary or secondary signal. If, however, a description of either the primary or secondary signal portion can be derived, correlation canceling, such as adaptive noise canceling, can be employed to remove either the primary or secondary signal portion of the signal isolating the other portion. In other words, given sufficient information about one of the signal portions, that signal portion can be extracted.
Conventional correlation cancelers, such as adaptive noise cancelers, dynamically change their transfer function to adapt to and remove portions of a composite signal. However, correlation cancelers and adaptive noise cancelers require either a secondary reference or a primary reference which correlates to either the secondary signal portion only or the primary signal portion only. For instance, for a measured signal containing noise and desirable signal, the noise can be removed with a correlation canceler if a noise reference is available. This is often the case. Although the amplitudes of the reference signals are not necessarily the same as the amplitudes of the corresponding primary or secondary signal portions, the reference signals have a frequency spectrum which is similar to that of the primary or secondary signal portions.
In many cases, nothing or very little is known about the secondary and primary signal portions. One area where measured signals comprising a primary signal portion and a secondary signal portion about which no information can easily be determined is physiological monitoring. Physiological monitoring generally involves measured signals derived from a physiological system, such as the human body. Measurements which are typically taken with physiological monitoring systems include electrocardiographs, blood pressure, blood gas saturation (such as oxygen saturation), capnographs, other blood constituent monitoring, heart rate, respiration rate, electro-encephalograph (EEG) and depth of anesthesia, for example. Other types of measurements include those which measure the pressure and quantity of a substance within the body such as cardiac output, venous oxygen saturation, arterial oxygen saturation, bilirubin, total hemoglobin, breathalyzer testing, drug testing, cholesterol testing, glucose testing, and carbon dioxide testing, protein testing, carbon monoxide testing, and other in-vivo measurements, for example. Complications arising in these measurements are often due to motion of the patient, both external and internal (muscle movement, vessel movement, and probe movement, for example), during the measurement process.
Many types of physiological measurements can be made by using the known properties of energy attenuation as a selected form of energy passes through a test medium such as a finger, shown schematically in FIG. 1.
A blood gas monitor is one example of a physiological monitoring system which is based upon the measurement of energy attenuated by biological tissues or substances. Blood gas monitors transmit light into the test medium and measure the attenuation of the light as a function of time. The output signal of a blood gas monitor which is sensitive to the arterial blood flow contains a component having a waveform representative of the patient's arterial pulse. This type of signal, which contains a component related to the patient's pulse, is called a plethysmographic wave, and is shown in FIG. 2A as a curve s(t) 201. Plethysmographic waveforms are used in blood gas saturation measurements. As the heart beats, the amount of blood in the arteries increases and decreases, causing increases and decreases in energy attenuation, illustrated by a cyclic wave seen in the curve 201.
Typically, a digit such as a finger, an ear lobe, or other portion of the body where blood flows close to the skin, is employed as the medium through which light energy is transmitted for blood gas attenuation measurements. The finger comprises skin, fat, bone, muscle, etc., as shown FIG. 1, each of which attenuates energy incident on the finger in a generally predictable and constant manner. However, when fleshy portions of the finger are compressed erratically, for example by motion of the finger, energy attenuation becomes erratic.
An example of a more realistic measured waveform is shown in FIG. 2B, as a curve M(t) 202. The curve 202 illustrates the effect of motion and noise n(t) added to the clean waveform s(t) shown in FIG. 201. The primary plethysmographic waveform portion of the signal M(t) is the waveform representative of the pulse, corresponding to the sawtooth-like pattern wave in curve 201. The large, secondary motion-induced excursions in signal amplitude obscure the primary plethysmographic signal s(t). Even small variations in amplitude make it difficult to distinguish the primary signal component s(t) in the presence of a secondary signal component n(t).
A pulse oximeter is a type of blood gas monitor which non-invasively measures the arterial saturation of oxygen in the blood. The pumping of the heart forces freshly oxygenated blood into the arteries causing greater energy attenuation. As well understood in the art, the arterial saturation of oxygenated blood may be determined from the depth of the valleys relative to the peaks of two plethysmographic waveforms measured at separate wavelengths. Patient movement introduces motion artifacts to the composite signal as illustrated in the plethysmographic waveform illustrated in FIG. 2B. These motion artifacts distort the measured signal.


Present apparatus and methods for changing out carbon in an industrial carbon filter system, such as in a chemical process plant, include 50 to 2000 pound carbon canisters having openings at the top for receiving fresh carbon. Releasable attachment parts affixed to the canisters, such as nipples and flanges, are provided for connecting the canister into a process stream line for filtering the stream. A stream inlet nipple is usually provided near the top of the canister and a stream outlet nipple near the bottom.
The plant typically provides a roll-off box or the like for collecting spent carbon and sending it off to be revitalized and then re-used. The plant also usually provides a fork lift for moving canisters around the site. Typically a service provider is retained by the plant, however, to change out spent carbon and to refill the canisters with fresh carbon, upon demand and need. Spent carbon is shipped off-site to be revitalized. This spent carbon may be wet or dry.
Current service provider systems and methods typically include a truck, manned by at least two people, the truck having a hopper and vacuum apparatus. At least two people are required to set up the hopper and run the vacuum operation. In operation, in the prior art, canisters with spent carbon filter material are disconnected from their process streams and brought to a central site, usually proximate the location of a roll-off box or the like at a plant facility. A service provider vacuum truck is driven to the site. The at least two service people set up the hopper as the well as the vacuuming equipment. The upper lid of the canisters are opened, each in turn, and spent carbon is vacuumed out from the canister and into the provider's hopper. When the hopper is filled, (a hopper typically holds about 1500 pounds of spent carbon,) vacuuming is stopped and the hopper is frequently moved by the fork lift to a roll-off box, dumped into the roll-off box and returned to the proximity of the truck for further vacuuming. In a less favored system, because it entails higher risks, the hopper dumps its contents into one or more spent carbon container bags at the canister site. The bags are then tied off and moved to a location for collecting and shipping off site. (The possibility of the deterioration of the bags and resulting contamination of the site prior to shipping causes this option to be slightly less favored.)
The instant invention comprises an improvement to these known prior art systems and methods. The instant invention, at least in certain key applications, has been tested to determine that it is more cost effective and requires less equipment and fewer people and takes less time.
In preferred key embodiments of the instant invention, a canister is provided with two valved orifices. While one orifice may always be provided on top of the canister for re-filling the canister with fresh carbon, preferably a second valved orifice is provided by the instant invention on lower parts of the canister or on the bottom. This second orifice is preferably situated on the bottom and preferably includes a ball valve or the like for controlling an approximately four to six inch diameter opening. The same roll-off box and forklift provided by the plant, as discussed above, can be used in the instant invention. As will be shown, however, the instant invention can also be utilized with existing canisters.
In key preferred embodiments of the instant invention, a truck arrives with one person to the site of the canisters. (The truck may include vibration equipment for difficult canisters.) In this preferred embodiment one person lifts, with the fork lift, each canister up and over the top of the plant's roll-off box or the like. (Alternate embodiments are also disclosed below.) The service person opens a lower orifice on the bottom of the canister using a ball valve, and the spent carbon drops by gravity into the roll-off box. Alternately, the service person might pivot the canister, to invert it over the roll-off box, such that the spent carbon dumps from the top orifice.
The instant inventor's tests indicate that while it takes two people 8-9 minutes to vacuum a thousand pounds of spent carbon from a canister, it only takes one person two minutes or less to dump a thousand pounds of spent carbon into a roll-off box. (Note: the canister could also be dumped into saturated carbon containers or bags instead of a roll-off box. Again, use of such bags is slightly disfavored, as mentioned above, for incurring higher potential contamination hazards.)
The instant invention eliminates the need for vacuuming equipment, for the second or more service person and for the intermediate step of filling and emptying the service provider's hopper.
In the odd situation when spent carbon might resist dropping out of a canister by gravity, tests have indicated that the techniques of shaking, scraping and/or vibration can be successfully employed. The inventor's tests have demonstrated that a forklift can affectively shake a canister to cause sections of spent wet carbon that failed to fall by gravity, to break off and fall out of a canister. The inside walls of a canister can also be scraped, or squeegeed, by the service person. In addition, a vibrator, such as a vibrator used with a cement mixer, can be connected or inserted in the canister, possibly with a hand held prong inserted inside of the canister, to help ensure that all spent carbon is dislodged.
Again, preferred novel canisters of key embodiments of the instant invention have a second bottom valved orifice, which opens and closes. Although these canisters should be more expensive than the canisters of the prior art, that cost should be more than recovered by the enhanced speed and lessened cost of dumping rather than vacuuming, and also by the reduced cost of manpower and equipment.


This invention relates to spread-spectrum communications and more particularly to a satellite broadcasting or paging system which communicates over the entire bandwidth of an existing frequency division multiple access (FDMA), or time division multiple access (TDMA), satellite system such as the proposed low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite communication system.


Refrigeration devices, such as, for example, refrigerators, freezers or wine storage cabinets, tend to become increasingly large to provide larger storage capacity. Regardless of their use, such refrigeration appliances have a body having an interior for receiving the objects or products to be cooled, and a door attached to the body. Refrigeration appliances always have an elastically deformable seal disposed between the body and the door to prevent warm air from entering the interior, and to prevent the cold present therein from escaping to the outside when the refrigeration appliance is closed. Consequently, the seal is of particular importance because it is also decisive for the power consumption of the refrigeration appliance. Due to the temperature difference between the environment and the interior of the refrigeration appliance, the warm air that has entered the interior of the refrigeration appliance after opening the door is cooled once the door is closed, causing a decrease in the volume of the air, as a result of which a vacuum develops in the interior of the refrigeration appliance and presses the door against the body with a force increased by the ambient air pressure. As a result of this naturally increased door-closing force, the door may be impossible to open or may be openable only with substantial force, especially with increasing size of the refrigeration appliances.
In order to reduce this force, German Utility Model DE 20 2000 011 427 U1 describes a refrigeration appliance having a body and a door closing the same, where an opening mechanism referred to as “drive means” acts on the door and is actuatable by a trigger sensor. According to the disclosure of this document, the trigger sensor may operate based on different principles, of which mechanical, acoustic or optical operating principles are mentioned by way of example. This document also mentions a force sensor which senses an actuation force acting on the door. Thus, the opening mechanism can be activated, for example, by slightly pushing against the door or slightly pulling on the door handle. The opening mechanism used here is an electric motor having bevel gearing.
Further, DE 20 2005 011 427 U1 also presents an opening mechanism which is composed of a driving gear wheel and a toothed rack and intended solely to assist the opening movement.
In German Patent Application DE 10 2006 061 083 A1, a sensor is described which is preferably disposed in the interior of the refrigeration appliance and, in accordance with the disclosure of this document, may take the form of both a tension sensor and a pressure sensor. This sensor, too, serves to sense movement of the door through pressure measurement, the signal being usable for activating an opening mechanism via a control circuit.
The approaches known heretofore have been found to have the disadvantage that the individual components have to be mounted at specific positions of the refrigeration appliance, which overall makes them complex to install. Some designs provide that the sensor is installed in the door, as a result of which electrical lines need to be run from the body into the door, which entails additional complexity. In sum, until now, there are no designs of opening mechanisms in refrigeration appliances that would be easy to install and, in addition, also satisfy aesthetic considerations.


It is known that effects of memory access latencies in a data processing system may be mitigated by moving elements of vector data into a local, high-speed memory known as a cache. The elements are moved, or prefetched, into the cache before they are needed so that they are readily available when requested. If the elements are in a predictable order, there is no theoretical limit to how far in advance the elements may be fetched. However, since the cache has a limited size, if elements are fetched too far in advance, prior elements may be displaced from the cache before they have been used. This can lead to the phenomenon of “thrashing”, where an element is prefetched and displaced multiple times before they are used. As a consequence, the performance of the data processing system may be worse than if no cache is used.
One approach to prevent thrashing is to prefetch elements directly from memory or indirectly via a cache into a sequentially ordered storage memory or queue. Once queued, elements remain in the queue until used, thus reducing thrashing. A disadvantage of this approach is that repeated accesses to an element either within or between vectors will result in the element being duplicated in the queue as well as in the cache. Additionally, if the element is evicted from the cache before subsequent prefetches, then the element must be fetched from memory again. In the worse case, this would result in a performance similar to having no cache.
Another approach is to provide prefetch instructions and place the burden on the programmer to use them in a manner that avoids thrashing. A disadvantage of this approach is that changes in the sparseness of the vector elements, the number of vectors, the memory access latency and even cache line replacement policy can require changes in the placement of the prefetch instructions.


In typical heavy-duty vehicle applications, including those with hybrid drive systems, a rotating internal combustion engine includes multiple gear and/or pulley and belt power take-offs (PTOs) that operate the vehicle subsystems and accessories. As a result, turning off the engine causes the vehicle subsystems and accessories to be turned off.
It is desirable to eliminate engine idling at vehicle stops to, among other things, increase fuel economy, minimize noise, and minimize engine exhaust emissions pollution to improve the quality of the operating environment. This is especially true for transportation and delivery vehicles such as, but not limited to, urban transit buses, refuse collection trucks, and local package freight pick up and delivery vans that may experience hundreds of stops during daily operation.
A driver could manually turn off and turn on an engine when stopped and restarted; however, in addition to the problem of the vehicle subsystems and accessories not being operation, a typical electric starter motor for the internal combustion engine would wear out rather quickly because it is not designed for the hundreds of stop-starts per day of transportation, collection, and delivery vehicles.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic garnet single crystal and a method for producing the same as well as an optical element using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Faraday rotator is an optical element with a function to rotate the polarization plane of transmitting light and is used in optical devices such as optical isolator, optical attenuator, optical circulator and photo-magnetic field sensor for communication. Faraday rotator is generally prepared by using a plane-like bismuth (Bi)-substituted rare-earth iron garnet single crystal. The Bi-substituted rare-earth iron garnet single crystal is grown by the liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) process as one of flux processes. Single crystals are grown at atmospheric pressure by the flux processes.
In growing the Bi-substituted rare-earth iron garnet single crystal by the solution process (the LPE process) such as flux processes, generally, lead oxide (PbO), bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) and boron oxide (B2O3) are used as the solvents so as to stably grow such garnet single crystal while the solvents are maintained at their supersaturation states. During the growth of the magnetic garnet single crystal, therefore, a small amount of lead (Pb) contaminates in the resulting crystal. In Faraday rotators for use in optical devices for communication, magnetic garnet single crystals at a Pb content “y” of about 0.03 to 0.06 in the chemical formula Bi3-x-yM11xPbyFe5-z-wM12zM13wO12 have been used conventionally. See Patent Reference 1: JP-A-2001-044026; Patent Reference 2: JP-A-2001-044027; and Patent Reference 3: JP-B-6-046604.
Following the upsurge in the recent environmental protection movement, however, efforts are now directed toward the reduction of the content of Pb as an environmental load substance in any of industrial products. Therefore, a trace amount of contaminating Pb in magnetic garnet single crystals grown by the LPE process draws concerns as a factor of environmental pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce or eliminate the amount of Pb contained in magnetic garnet single crystals as materials constituting Faraday rotators.


The washing of preserved rawhides and fur skins before tanning has the purpose of removing dirt, blood, dung, preservatives, fat and water-soluble proteinacous compounds. This is done mostly in a paddle tub or in the tanning tumbler. Frequently service water is used which has a hardness of about 15.degree. dH (degrees german hardness). The washing and cleaning solutions employ the following aids:
(a) Surface-active substances of an anionic or nonionic nature, which not only clean the skins, but also improve at the same time the feel of the fur.
(b) Fat solvents in emulsified form, such as hydroaromates (hydrogenated aromatic hydrocarbons) or petroleum-hydrocarbons.
(c) Inorganic salts, like common salt, which help to improve the washing effect of the tensides by an electrolytic effect. A high pH of 8.5 or over is undesired and can lead to damage of the skins and rawhides. The use of the inorganic salts leads to a high salt content of the waste waters, which is subject to increasing criticism.
A further problem in washing rawhides and skins, particularly when treating raw materials with a high fat content, is that the cleaned product can become fatted again (refatted) and the apparatus can be contaminated in the dilution stage on rinsing. In other words the suspended fat tends to deemulsify and deposit on dilution during rinsing. An improved stabilization of the wash liquors is thus desirable. Furthermore questions of sewage treatment and the resulting costs are becoming important and will become more and more important in the future.


Disadvantages mentioned above are eliminated significantly by the method of authenticity and/or agreement approval at the direct debits through the separate identifier according to this invention, of which bedrock is based on the fact that after activating the payment process or payment process preparation in the mobile communication device, the device sends alphanumerical chain into the identifier approached to the mobile communication device. The identifier is approached in the distance shorter than 10 cm, mostly it may touch the mobile communication device directly. However, the contact or the contact point setting is not essential or necessary since the communication between the mobile communication device and the identifier is wireless. At this point, the identifier is by means of energy supplied contact free from the electromagnetic field of the mobile communication device, receives alphanumerical chain and realizes its processing in the form of an electronic signature. The received alphanumerical chain is signed electronically in the identifier and such established signed alphanumerical chain is sent back to the mobile communication device where the correctness is checked. If the correctness is verified and at the same time the owner approves the payment transaction, the mobile communication device will be approached to the distance, suitably less than 10 cm from the reading unit of the payment terminal.
It is advantageous if the electronic signature of the received alphanumerical chain is made by the process with the help of a private key saved in the memory of the identifier. To the energy supply of the identifier circuits is used direct and/or while approaching, accumulated energy of the electromagnetic field of the mobile communication device, advantageously electromagnetic field created by transmitting unit of the mobile communication device which aim is to communicate with the identifier.
The invention enables to use cryptography of the authentication preserving the energy passivity of the separate identifier. The principal advantage is the high level of security at the satisfactory user comfort. Entering PIN code mostly consisting of four digits can be according to this invention, replaced by apposing the identifier working with more-bit-chain which is variable since the approving code transmitted from the identifier into the mobile communication device is changed according to the cryptography taking place in the identifier processor at every authentication process. By this, the higher level of security is achieved than at the RFID identifiers and the advantage of its passivity is remained. Such energy passivity enables to reduce the size of the identifier since there is no necessity to use own energy source by which the user comfort is increased as the user does not have to bother with identifier's charge or condition.
In a favorable configuration the mobile communication device may use at the payment processing and authentication a remote processing server to which it is connected via general mobile network, mainly the kind of GSM or GRPS net.
The bedrock of this invention is based on the system of authentication and/or agreement approval at the direct debits which concerns payment terminals, a separate identifier and a mobile communication device communicating with the payment terminal via contact free communication channel where the mobile communication device, preferably mobile phone, contains transmitting and receiving unit to allow the contact free communication with the identifier and where the identifier contains a processor for electronic signature of the received alphanumerical chain. Further more, the identifier contains transmitting and receiving unit to allow the communication with the mobile communication device, a block transforming the electromagnetic field into the electric energy and a memory. Components of the identifier are, from the energy point of view, supplied by electromagnetic field of the mobile communication device either directly by immediately gained energy or partially by energy accumulated during the approaching to the mobile communication device at the relevant payment process.
In a possible configuration the system includes a remote processing server connected to the mobile communication device through general mobile network, preferably via GSM or/and GPRS net. From the point of view of compatibleness with the existing, mass-spread devices and standards, it is suitable if the mobile communication device consists of a mobile phone, advantageously a mobile phone with NFC communication unit.
Disadvantages mentioned in the Present Technology Status are eliminated significantly by the identity identifier and/or agreement approval at the direct debits through communicating contact free with the mobile communication device, principally a mobile phone which is connected contact free to the payment terminal according to this invention, of which bedrock is based on the fact that it consists of a processor for electronic signature of the received alphanumerical chain, transmitting and receiving unit to communicate with the mobile communication device. Communication is principally based on receiving the alphanumerical chain and transmitting electronically signed alphanumerical chain. The identifier further more contains a memory, a block transforming the electromagnetic field into the electric energy. Transmitting and receiving unit and a block transforming the electromagnetic field into the electric energy are connected to the processor. Processor is also connected to the memory. Basically, all the units of the identifier are, from the energy point of view, supplied by electromagnetic field of the mobile communication device.
In an advantageous configuration, the identifier of identity and/or approval contains NFC chip and the memory contains a private key for electronic signature of alphanumerical chain received from the mobile communication device.
Utility attributions increase a configuration, where a part of the memory is reserved for the personal data of the user. This part of memory is adjusted to store the personal user data separately from the private key. In such case the identifier may be used like a health insurance card, identity card and so on. Rightness of data demand is evaluated in the processor of the identifier.
To increase the user comfort, the identifier may be located in a pendant and/or a key ring and/or a label and/or a beading.
The invention enables to higher the level of security and comfort of authenticity and direct debit approval since the user does not have to remember his PIN code. At the same time the invention increases the process of direct debit transaction since the mobile communication device functions as a wallet without any delay caused by the PIN code entering.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for fabricating an optical identification element; and more particularly to a method and apparatus for fabricating a holographic optical identification element using a lithographic technique, as well as the holographic optical identification element itself.


This invention relates to a process for the catalytic hydrogenation of plant-based steroid compounds. More particularly, this invention relates to the metal-catalyzed hydrogenation of phytosterols and to the recovery and regeneration of the metal catalyst species used in such metal-catalyzed hydrogenation.
Steroids are macromolecular organic compounds that, structurally, comprise a cyclopentanephenanthrene skeleton. Many of these compounds are alcohols and are identified as sterols. When combined to form esters, these compounds are called xe2x80x9cceridesxe2x80x9d.
Cholesterol, a sterol, has been known for some time. It has been reputed as being involved in the formation of biliary calculi, a theory which has been confirmed by proof of its involvement in circulatory disorders, and more particularly in the hardening of the arteries.
Nonesterified cholesterol is the main constituent of fatty substances having an animal origin. These animal fats are present in most of our foodstuffs and constitute an important source of cholesterol. When ingested in excess, they may breakdown, releasing cholesterol and the fatty acids which, in turn, may cause serious cardiovascular diseases.
However, fatty substances having a plant origin do not contain cholesterol, but instead comprise a mixture of cholesterol-like materials called phytosterols, i.e., they are unsaturated, plant-based compounds comprising the cyclopentanephenanthrene skeleton. The best known of such compounds include: stigmasterol, sitosterol and ergosterol.
The structure of the molecule on which the animal and plant steroids is based is shown below:
The C 3 carbon atom is hydroxyl-substituted. The carbon atom at position 10 bears a methyl group.
The stereochemistry of the substituents at C 3 and C 10 is important. The steroid ring is a planar structure and, for cholesterol, the two groups at C 3 and C 10 lie above the plane of the ring, i.e., they are in the xcex2 conformation. The hydrogen atom at position C 6 (see the double bond between C 5 and C 6) lies below the plane, i.e., it is in the a position. Cholesterol""s phytosterol look-alike, sitosterol, is substantially identical to cholesterol but, in addition bears an ethyl group at C 24.
In the reduction of these steroid-based structures, it is important to retain the stereochemical conformation of the starting material. Such reductions have typically been carried out with varying degrees of success, using hydrogen in the presence of supported metallic catalysts. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,853. Such catalysts include iron, cobalt, nickel, palladium, platinum, copper, silver and gold.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,235, steroids have been hydrogenated in the presence of catalytic amounts of nickel black, Raney Nickel, and nickel metal embedded in inorganic supports. However, these catalysts have not proven sufficiently selective for hydrogenation of the steroid double bond.
The ""235 patent also shows that steroids have been hydrogenated using noble metal catalysts, principally platinum and palladium. According to this patent, these catalysts have been supported on inorganic substrates, on carbon or used as metal blacks. The best conversions have been obtained when such noble metal catalysts are bound to activated carbon. The noble metal of choice is palladium and one of the most successful of the catalyst species has been shown to be palladium on carbon.
However, prior art catalysts used for the reduction of steroids have proven to be disadvantageous because of difficulties of separation of the catalyst powder from the reaction mass after the hydrogenation process, the inflammability of the catalyst and the catalyst is not recyclable.
As shown on U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,235 palladium bound to an organic substrate (a polyolefin or halo polyolefin) also has been used successfully. The process for manufacturing such a catalyst is difficult and the expense of such a catalyst species has limited its use.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a process for catalytically hydrogenating unsaturated phytosterol compounds. The catalyst used for such hydrogenation is an alumina-supported transition metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, palladium, platinum, ruthenium, rhodium and mixtures thereof.
The process of the present invention is as follows.
An admixture of a solvent, an alumina-supported transition metal catalyst and a material comprising at least one of the unsaturated phytosterol compounds is first formed. This admixture is hydrogenated for a time and at a temperature and pressure sufficient to cause the hydrogenation of at least one of said unsaturated phytosterol compounds.
The alumina-supported transition metal catalyst is next separated from the reaction (the hydrogenated) mixture that was first formed. This separated alumina-supported transition metal catalyst is then admixed with a new mixture containing a solvent and a material comprising at least one unsaturated phytosterol compound. The resulting reaction mixture is hydrogenated for a time and at a temperature and pressure sufficient to cause the hydrogenation of at least one of said unsaturated phytosterol compound. The alumina-supported transition metal catalyst is then separated from the hydrogenated mixture. It may be used again for subsequent hydrogenations of unsaturated phytosterol compounds.
The hydrogenation process disclosed herein can also be applied to the hydrogenation of fatty acids derived from phytosterols, e.g., tall oil, vegetable oil and their distillation products.


Garbage, waste, or any other materials which are compacted for transportation require the use of fixed walled containers or trailers which allow the transportation of materials in compacted form or compacting of the material in the container or trailer itself. These types of trailers cannot backhaul any bulk goods on the way back from the unloading site, as their fixed and closed top does not allow loading from the top using a conventional loader, similar to an open-top trailer.
With the rising cost of fuel, the disposal of garbage becomes increasingly expensive, especially when the trailer cannot backhaul any goods to reduce the cost of waste disposal, and thus, returns empty from the unloading site.
On the other hand, open top trailers, even those which include a cover, cannot be used for compacting or for the transport of loosely compacted material.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0126209 (Wolfe) describes a trailer that converts into a shed. The trailer of Wolfe includes a convertible roof comprising two panels. However, the panels cannot be locked, and the walls are not rigid enough to withstand compressed materials.
European Patent Application No. 1,120,363 and United Kingdom Patent Application No. 2,429,006 (Sumpter) describe a trailer for the collection of waste comprising a chassis and a container. The container comprises a roof including an aperture closeable by a cover that slides over the aperture by means of a channel assembly. The cover may be a partly or fully retractable flexible sheet.
The structure of Sumpter does not allow the trailer to be used for transporting loosely compressed materials because the materials are distributed in the container using reciprocating slats, not a compactor. Furthermore, the cover disclosed in Sumpter is flexible and would thus not be able to withstand any pressure from within the container. Sumpter clearly does neither teach nor suggest using the container disclosed for transport of loosely compacted materials.
Neither Wolfe nor Sumpter deal with loosely compacted materials, and thus, fail to recognize the structural challenges created by internal pressures in a trailer upon compression of loose materials therein.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a trailer that can load and contain loosely compacted material, and which can also backhaul bulk goods on the way back from the unloading site in order to reduce the cost of transportation.


Conventionally, an analyzer for suctioning a reagent from a plurality of reagent containers mounted on a reagent table and analyzing a sample is known. The user needed to remove the reagent container to be replaced from the reagent table and mount a new reagent container to a predetermined position of the reagent table in such analyzer when reagent replacement was necessary. However, the user had to put his/her hand inside the accommodating unit of the reagent container in such analyzer, and thus the replacement task of the reagent was troublesome.
An analyzer that facilitates reagent replacement by the user is thus known (see e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-36658 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-37171).
An analyzer including a rotatable reagent storage in which reagent bottles are arranged, a reagent bottle supply mechanism for supplying the reagent bottle to the reagent storage, and a reagent bottle discharge mechanism for discharging the reagent bottle from the reagent storage is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-36658. Such analyzer enables automatic replacement of the reagent bottle during analysis.
An analyzer including a reagent disc for installing a reagent, a replenishing reagent cabinet arranged at a position different from the reagent disc, and a reagent holding means for conveying the reagent from the replenishing reagent cabinet to the reagent disc is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-37171. Such analyzer facilitates reagent replacement.
However, the analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-36658 has a complicating configuration since a belt line mechanism for conveying the reagent from a reagent bottle set yard to the reagent storage, and a belt line mechanism for conveying the reagent from the reagent storage to a reagent bottle discharge yard are necessary. Furthermore, in the analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-36658, a space for arranging the reagent bottle set yard, the belt line mechanisms, and the reagent bottle discharge yard is necessary, which enlarges the device.
The analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-37171 has a complicating configuration since a mechanism (reagent holding means) for conveying the reagent in three-dimensional directions (XYZ directions) is necessary to convey the reagent from the replenishing reagent cabinet to the reagent disc. Furthermore, in the analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-37171, a space for arranging the reagent holding means and the replenishment reagent cabinet is necessary, which enlarges the device.


During seismic surveying, a seismic source is repeatedly actuated and seismic receivers, such as hydrophones in marine seismic surveying, receive energy direct from the sources and reflected from various boundaries or interfaces. In the case of marine seismic surveying, energy propagates into the earth and is reflected back to the hydrophones from subterranean boundaries or interfaces, for instance between strata of different types. The recorded seismic data can be processed to reveal information about the structure of the earth in the area being surveyed. However, such reflections are contaminated by other reflection paths. For instance, energy from the sources is reflected at the sea surface directly to the hydrophones. Also, energy can be reflected more than once between the sources and the receivers. Such multiple reflections can take place within the earth. Also, energy initially traveling downwards from the sources can be reflected upwardly and then downwardly again from the surface of the sea before arriving at the hydrophones. Reflections of this type are referred to as "free-surface multiple reflections". Free-surface multiple reflections can be classified according to their order, which is equal to the number of reflections from the free-surface. Thus, first order free-surface reflections comprise energy initially traveling downwardly from the sources (as opposed to "ghosting" where energy travels upwardly and is reflected from the free-surface), is reflected upwardly from the sea bed or a boundary below the sea bed, and is then reflected downwardly from the free-surface to the hydrophones. Second order free-surface multiple reflections undergo two downward reflections from the sea-surface before being detected by the hydrophones, and so on.
The invention makes use of a general concept of multiple attenuation using the inverse scattering or scattering Born series. For this general concept reference is made to the published International patent application WO 95/10787 and the British patent application No. 9426255.7 (published as GB-A-2296567).
From those documents it is known how to derive the scattering Born series for removing free surface multiples: EQU D.sub.P =D.sub.0 +AD.sub.1 +A.sup.2 D.sub.2 +A.sup.3 D.sub.3 + . . . ,[1]
wherein D.sub.P denotes the signals without free-surface multiples and A denotes the inverse of the source signature. The first term of the scattering series, D.sub.0, is the actual seismic data, the second term, D.sub.1, removes first order free-surface multiples, the following term, D.sub.2, removes second order free-surface multiples, and so forth.
It is an object of the present invention to improve and utilize the above method for sea bottom seismic acquisition operations.