1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to magnetic devices and magnetic recording media using ferromagnetic films and to devices employing ferroelectric films. The present invention is particularly directed to improvements on the dimensions of the elements and magnetic particles so as to achieve uniform coercive force and coercive field characteristics and to contribute to miniaturization of the devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various devices utilizing the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) effect and the tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) effect have been known in the art. Examples of such devices include magnetic recording elements and magnetic read heads.
FIG. 1 shows a basic structure of a magnetic random access memory. An example of the magnetic random access memory can be found in Wang et al., IEEE Trans. Magn. 33 (1997), 4498. Referring to FIG. 1, the magnetic random access memory is basically constituted from memory elements which are either GMR elements or TMR elements, word lines, and bit lines, which also function as sense lines. The word lines are orthogonal to the bit lines, and the memory elements are held between the word lines and the bit lines at the intersections thereof. Note that in FIG. 1, reference symbol W denotes the width of each memory element in the direction parallel to the bit lines and reference symbol L denotes the length of each memory element in the direction parallel to the word lines.
Referring now to FIG. 2, a first end of the memory element is connected to the bit line, and a second end of the memory element is connected via a lead to a logic circuit that selects a memory cell. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a field effect transistor (FET) constituted from a silicon substrate, a drain D, a source S and a gate G is connected to the second end of the memory element via a plug (interconnecting lead). Note that FIG. 2 illustrates an example using a TMR element. The TMR element is constituted from a free layer composed of CoFe, NiFe, or the like, a barrier layer composed of Al2O3 or the like, a reference layer composed of CoFe or the like, a non-magnetic layer composed of Ru or the like, a fixed layer composed of CoFe or the like, and an antiferromagnetic layer composed of PtMn or the like. These layers are arranged in that order when viewed from the bit line side. A GMR element has basically the same multilayer structure as that of the above-described TMR element and only differs from the TMR element in structural details such as the absence of barrier layer, etc.
The combination of the anisotropic magnetic field in the soft magnetic free layer and the demagnetization field determined by the size of the free layer defines the magnetic field necessary for rotating the magnetization direction of the free layer, i.e., the coercive force Hc.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the free layer, the reference layer, and the fixed layer of the memory element. In the drawing, the bold arrow in each layer indicates the magnetization direction of that layer. As shown in the drawing, the x axis extends along the long side of rectangular layers and the y axis extends orthogonal to the x axis. Reference symbol W denotes the width of the memory element in the y direction, and reference symbol L denotes the length of the memory element in the x direction. As shown in FIG. 3, easy axes of the free layer and the fixed layer are substantially parallel to each other. The magnetization direction of the reference layer is antiparallel to those of the free layer and the fixed layer.
The magnetization of the fixed layer is fixed by the antiferromagnetic layer. Given, for example, that bit information “1” is represented by the magnetization direction of the free layer being oriented in a direction parallel to the magnetization direction of the reference layer and that bit information “0” is represented by the magnetization direction of the free layer being oriented in a direction antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the reference layer, the magnetization direction of the free layer rotates due to the magnetic field, induced by a bit line current and a word line current, that exceeds the above-described coercive force Hc. Magnetic recording is performed through such a rotation.
FIGS. 4A to 4C illustrate example structures of shield-type magnetic read heads including read elements each disposed in the gap between a pair of shields (for example, refer to C. Tsang et al., IEEE Trans. Magn. 30 (1994), 3801). The shield-type magnetic read head includes a read element, namely, a GMR element or a TMR element, a lower shield S1, and an upper shield S2. In the drawings, hard magnet layers for controlling magnetic domains, disposed adjacent to the read element, a write head integrally formed above the read head, and so on are omitted for the sake of simplicity of explanation. The GMR or TMR heads shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C are classified into three types according to the direction of the sense current Is. FIG. 4A illustrates, for example, a horizontal current-in-plane (CIP) GMR head in which an electric current flows in the track direction. FIG. 4B illustrates, for example, a vertical CIP GMR head in which an electric current flows in the height direction of the element. FIG. 4C illustrates, for example, a current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) GMR or TMR head in which a sense current Is flows in the thickness direction. The view of FIG. 4C is made partially transparent for the sake of simplicity of explanation. In the FIGS. 4A to 4C, arrows in strip-shaped recording media represent the recording magnetization direction.
FIG. 5 illustrates another example structure including a TMR element. The TMR element is constituted from a free layer, a barrier layer, a reference layer, a nonmagnetic layer, a fixed layer, and an antiferromagnetic layer arranged along the z axis in the drawing. In short, the TMR element in FIG. 5 has substantially the same layer structure as that shown in FIG. 2. However, in FIG. 5, hard magnets #1 and #2 are formed at the two sides of the TMR element, and the nonmagnetic layers NM are formed between the TMR element and the hard magnets #1 and #2. Hard magnet layers for controlling the magnetic domains must be disposed at the two sides of the TMR element to orient the magnetization direction of the free layer in the x axis direction.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the free layer, the reference layer, and the fixed layer of the above TMR element. The hard magnet layers for controlling the magnetic domains, a nonmagnetic layer, a base layer, and a protection layer are omitted from the drawing. In the drawing, a bold arrow in each layer indicates the magnetization direction of that layer. As shown in FIG. 6, the x axis extends along the long side of the rectangular layers and the y axis extends orthogonal to the x axis. Reference symbol W denotes the width of the element in the y direction, and reference symbol L denotes the length of the element in the x direction. As shown in FIG. 6, whereas the easy axis of the free layer extends substantially in the x-axis direction, the easy axes of the reference layer and the fixed layer are orthogonal to the easy axis of the free layer. The magnetization directions of the reference layer and the fixed layer are antiparallel to each other. The magnetization direction of the fixed layer is pinned by the antiferromagnetic layer.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic plan views showing the shape of the above-described memory element and the read element. The memory element and read element are formed into a rectangular shape, as shown in FIG. 7A, or into an elliptic shape, as shown in FIG. 7B. In FIG. 7A, reference symbol W denotes the breadth of the element, and reference symbol L denotes the longitudinal length of the element. In FIG. 7B, reference symbol W denotes the length of the short axis and reference symbol L denotes the length of the long axis. In FIG. 7B, the element is formed into an elliptic shape to make the demagnetizing field as uniform as possible inside the element.
Known magnetic recording elements and magnetic read elements, however, suffer from the following technical bottlenecks:
(1) Since the variation in the coercive force Hc among magnetic memory elements is large, practical production of the magnetic memory element is difficult; and
(2) For magnetic read elements, as the element size is reduced, a decrease in the sensitivity occurs due to the hard magnet layers for controlling magnetic domains, and thus magnetic read heads for higher-density media are difficult to design.
First, regarding point (1) above, in order to put magnetic random access memories having a storage capacity comparable to that of current widespread flash RAMs or DRAMs into practical use, all 106 to 109 magnetic memory elements must exhibit a uniform coercive force Hc. If the variation in Hc is 50% or more, the magnetization rotating current may differ by as much as 200% or more between some elements. In practice, this precludes selective recording.
As the size of magnetic memory elements decreases, the ratio of the demagnetizing field in coercive force Hc increases. Since the demagnetizing field is heavily dependent on the size and shape of the element, the variation in the coercive force Hc tends to increase in inverse proportion to the size of the elements. For the purpose of illustration, the dependency of the coercive force Hc on the element size was examined using a magnetic memory element having a free layer made of CoFe 2 nm in thickness. The results are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.
In the graph of FIG. 8, characteristics of square and rectangular elements, i.e., box-shaped elements, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the aspect ratio W:L is varied are shown. The abscissa represents 1/W (unit: 1/μm), and the ordinate represents the coercive force Hc (unit: Oe=103/4π A/m).
In the graph of FIG. 9, characteristics of elliptic elements, as shown in FIG. 7B, are shown. The aspect ratio W:L is varied. The abscissa and the ordinate are the same as in FIG. 8.
In these graphs of FIGS. 8 and 9, solid lines connecting circular symbols represent the characteristics of an element having an aspect ratio W:L=1:1, long dotted lines connecting square symbols represent the characteristics of an element having an aspect ratio W:L=1:2, and short dotted lines connecting rhombus symbols represent the characteristics of an element having an aspect ratio W:L=1:3. An inclined straight line extending from the origin represents the characteristic according to the theoretical formula: Hc=2πMs(t/W), wherein Ms denotes the intensity of the magnetization, and t denotes the thickness.
As shown in these graphs, theoretically, the demagnetizing field is supposed to increase in inverse proportion to the length W of the short side of the element. However, this is not the case in practice. Particularly when the aspect ratio W:L is low, deviation from the theoretical value is significant. Since the number of the magnetic memory elements is large, as described above, it is preferred that the coercive force Hc be constant although some degree of variation in the aspect ratio may be observed.
Secondly, regarding point (2) above, in order to read higher-density recording media, the size of the read element installed in the magnetic read head must be reduced. Such a reduction in size increases the relative thickness of the domain walls at the ends of the free layer of the read element.
FIG. 10 is a graph showing the resistance/magnetic field characteristics of read elements each having a NiFe free layer with a track width L of 0.1 μm and 2 nm in thickness. No hard magnet layers for controlling the magnetic domains are provided for the read elements. The abscissa indicates the magnetic field (unit: Oe=103/4π A/m) in the y axis direction in FIG. 6, and the ordinate indicates the resistance R (arbitrary units). In the graph, the solid lines connecting circular symbols represent the characteristics of read elements having an aspect ratio W:L=1:1, the long dotted lines connecting square symbols represent the characteristics of read elements having an aspect ratio W:L=1:2, and the short dotted lines connecting rhombus symbols represent the characteristic of read elements having an aspect ratio of 1:3.
As the thickness of the magnetic walls increases, hysteresis appears in the resistance/magnetic field curves of the read elements. In other words, when the aspect ratio is large, the curve around zero magnetic field is a straight line; however, the curve clearly exhibits hysteresis as the aspect ratio decreases.
The aspect ratio is preferably as small as is feasibly possible so as to read higher density media. However, read elements must maintain a particular magnetization state when no signals are provided and must respond linearly to an external magnetic field. In other words, read elements with a large coercive force Hc and hysteresis are not preferred. In order to eliminate hysteresis, hard magnet layers for controlling the magnetic domains are provided at the two sides of the element so as to forcibly orient the magnetization direction of the free layer in the track direction by the biasing magnetic field from these hard magnet layers. However, application of the biasing magnetic field from the hard magnet layers inhibits the rotation of the magnetization of the free layer, thereby drastically decreasing the sensitivity to the external magnetic field. In other words, small elements suffer from a decrease in the sensitivity because of the presence of the hard magnet layers.
As for the problem of point (1) above, defect-free bulk memories can be manufactured by making the coercive force Hc uniform over all the elements. In contrast, as for the problem of point (2) above, the coercive force Hc needs to be eliminated so as to decrease the biasing magnetic field of the hard magnet layers as much as possible and to manufacture magnetic read heads having high sensitivity. In other words, the object in point (1) is to maintain the coercive force Hc in the hysteresis curve in the easy axis direction of the free layer at a particular level; and the object in point (2) is to reduce the coercive force to zero in the hysteresis curve in the hard axis direction of the free layer. These objects appear contradictory but can be achieved simultaneously if the magnetization of the free layer can rotate simultaneously. The means for achieving these objects is the same.
The dependency of the coercive force characteristic on the size and shape of the element can be confirmed through investigation of the magnetization distribution immediately before rotation.
FIGS. 11A, 11B, 12A, and 12B show example magnetization distributions immediately before the rotation of the magnetization. The distributions are estimated by carrying out a micromagnetics simulation. FIGS. 11A and 11B show the distributions in rectangular elements, and FIGS. 12A and 12B show the distributions in elliptic elements. In the drawings, arrows inside the frames represent magnetization distributions, and streamlines above the frames schematically illustrate the general directions of the magnetization.
A large rectangular element of, for example, 1/W=1.5 μm−1, has a vortex distribution, as shown in FIG. 11A. A small rectangular element of, for example, 1/W=3.0 μm−1, has a distribution resembling the shape of letter S (hereinafter, the “S distribution”), as shown in FIG. 11B.
A large elliptic element of, for example, 1/W=1.5 μm−1, has a vortex distribution, as shown in FIG. 12A. A small elliptic element of, for example, 1/W=3.0 μm−1, has a distribution resembling the shape of letter C (hereinafter, the “C distribution”), as shown in FIG. 12B.
Note that the C and S distributions can be considered as a low-level buckling magnetic wall. Whereas buckling magnetic wall has many undulations, the number of undulations in the C and S distributions is low. The state of the magnetic wall in the element is determined according to the balance between the demagnetizing field energy, the anisotropic energy, the exchange coupling energy, and the Zeeman energy.
As the size of the element is reduced, the relative strength of the demagnetizing field energy increases, resulting in changes in magnetization distribution immediately before the rotation of the magnetization. Presumably, in most cases, the vortex distribution has a relatively large coercive force Hc, and the S and C distributions have a relatively small coercive force Hc.
It should be noted that the above description can be applied not only to devices using ferromagnetic layers but also to devices using ferroelectric layers. When applied to devices using ferroelectric layers, the demagnetizing field corresponds to the depolarization field, and the coercive force Hc corresponds to the coercive field Ec.


A power conversion device mounted on a vehicle or the like has functions of converting DC power into AC power and supplying the same to a rotating electrical machine and converting AC power from the rotating electrical machine into DC power. The power conversion device has an inverter circuit constituted by a semiconductor element having a switching function. As a circuit body performing power conversion, that is, a power semiconductor module, one with a structure formed by resin-sealing an upper arm circuit and a lower arm circuit, which are constituted by insulating gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and diodes, integrally has been known. In a circuit body with this structure, each of the IGBTs and the diodes of the upper and lower arm circuits is mounted on one face of an insulating board. A metal base is arranged on the other face of a pair of insulating boards on which the upper arm circuit or the lower arm circuit is formed.
The connection conductors connected to the IGBTs and the IGBTs of the upper and lower arm circuits are mounted so as to form a loop current path on the metal base. In this circuit, when the IGBTs of the upper arm circuit are turned on, the diodes of the lower arm circuit are reverse biased so that the recovery current passes through the upper and lower arm circuits. At this time, an induced current is generated at the metal base. The direction of the magnetic flux generated around this induced current is opposite to the direction of the magnetic flux generated by the recovery current flowing through each conductor plate of the upper and lower arm circuits. Thus, the magnetic fluxes cancel each other, and an inductance of an internal circuit decreases (e.g., see FIG. 9 of PTL 1).


A nonaqueous secondary battery, which is represented by a lithium ion secondary battery, has a high energy density and is widely used as a main electric power source of a portable electronic equipment, such as a portable phone and a notebook computer. The lithium ion secondary battery is demanded to attain a further high energy density, but has a technical issue on assuring safety.
A separator plays an important role on assuring safety of a lithium ion secondary battery, and under the current situation, a polyethylene microporous membrane is used since it has a high strength and shutdown function. The shutdown function referred herein means a function of shutting down an electric current by closing the pores of the microporous membrane when the temperature of the battery is increased, and the battery is suppressed from generating heat by the function, thereby preventing the battery from suffering thermal runaway.
The energy density of the lithium ion secondary battery is being increased year by year, and for assuring safety, heat resistance is demanded in addition to the shutdown function. However, the shutdown function contradicts the heat resistance since the operation mechanism thereof depends on closure of the pores through melting of polyethylene. There have been proposals on improvement in heat resistance with the molecular weight of polyethylene, the crystalline structure or the like, but sufficient heat resistance has not yet been attained. Such techniques have been proposed that polypropylene is blended or laminated, but under the current situation, these systems fail to attain sufficient heat resistance. Furthermore, for enhancing the heat resistance with the shutdown function attained simultaneously, such techniques have been proposed that heat resistant porous layers are coated on both front and back surfaces of a polyethylene microporous membrane, and nonwoven fabrics containing heat resistant fibers are laminated thereon.
It is an important factor of a separator for assuring safety of a nonaqueous secondary battery that the separator has shutdown function and heat resistance, and furthermore, it is also important that the separator has flame retardancy from the standpoint of ignition. The currently available separator for a nonaqueous secondary battery as described above uses a polyethylene microporous membrane in consideration of shutdown characteristics, and there are many techniques for enhancing heat resistance mainly with the polyethylene microporous membrane. Polyethylene is a polymer that is highly combustible, and in consideration of the property, cannot be considered as having high safety.
Such a separator has been known that has a polyethylene microporous membrane and a heat resistant porous layer having an oxygen index of 26 or more, which are laminated on each other (see Patent Document 1). However, a polyethylene microporous membrane is still combustible even though it is coated with a layer having a high oxygen index, and it is not effective from the standpoint of flame retardancy.
Such a separator has been also known that has a polyethylene microporous membrane and a heat resistant porous layer laminated on each other, in which ceramic powder is mixed in the heat resistant porous layer (see Patent Document 2). In Patent Document 2, the ceramic powder is mixed for the purpose of improving the ion permeability. However, there is no effect in flame retardancy by adding ceramic powder, which is represented by a so-called metallic oxide. Furthermore, the separator has a handling problem, in which an equipment is severely abraded due to the ceramic particles, which are generally hard. In the case where the equipment is abraded, metallic powder and the like are attached to the separator and may cause decrease in capability of the battery.
In addition, techniques for imparting flame retardant effect to the separator by adding a flame retarder thereto (see Patent Documents 3 to 6). Patent Document 3 discloses examples of utilizing a halogen flame retarder and barium sulfate in the form of solid particles. Patent Documents 4 to 6 disclose examples of adding a polymer flame retarder to a separator. The proposals contribute to flame retardancy of a separator, but cannot enhance the heat resistance sufficiently, and thus it is difficult to assure safety of a battery.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2006-269359    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3,175,730    Patent Document 3: JP-A-7-272762    Patent Document 4: JP-A-2006-351316    Patent Document 5: JP-A-2005-149881    Patent Document 6: JP-A-2001-210314


Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) systems enable data to be transmitted over a pair of metallic twisted pair (usually copper) wires to customer premises. It is thought that the maximum transmission performance that is likely to be obtained with modern variants of ADSL is a download data rate of 24 Mbps and an upload speed of about 3 Mbps. Such data rates are dependent on the length of the metallic twisted pair from the customer premises to the telephone exchange and thus many customers will receive services at significantly lower data rates.
To improve data rates optical fibre has been installed into the access network. The greatest data rates are likely to be provided using fibre to the premises (FTTP) networks, such as passive optical networks (PONs), but there is a significant cost involved in providing fibre to customer premises. Fibre to the cabinet (FTTCab) networks are known to provide an attractive solution to providing customers with high data rate services without requiring as much investment as FTTP networks. Typically in FTTCab networks, very high bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) systems are used to provide data rates of 40 Mbps and higher, for both upload and download on the metallic twisted pair cables. It is believed that improvements to VDSL systems may provide data rates in excess of 100 Mbps.
DSL systems work by utilising the frequencies above those which are used by the conventional telephony signals. In particular, VDSL2 defines three frequency windows for downstream data and 2 frequency windows for upstream data. Each of these windows comprises a number of carriers which have a 4.3125 kHz frequency separation. Each of these carriers will transmit one or more symbols with each of these symbols being used to transmit up to 15 bits of data. During a training process the insertion loss and noise level are determined for each of the carriers such that the signal to noise ratio (SNR) for each carrier can be determined. The training process determines the capacity of the upstream and downstream links in accordance with the SNRs of each of the carriers.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus having a first digital subscriber line connection to a first communications network and a second connection to a local area network, the apparatus being configured to, in use, transmit data via the local area network in response to the initiation of a training process for the digital subscriber line connection.
The apparatus may comprise a modem or a router. The apparatus may be configured, in use, to transmit data to a device connected to the local area network via a powerline adaptor. Data may be transmitted by the apparatus to a set top box or a router via the powerline adaptor. The apparatus may be further configured to cease transmitting data via the local area network in response to the termination of the training process for the digital subscriber line connection.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a communications network, the method comprising the steps of: a) initiating a training process for a digital subscriber line connection with an apparatus connected to a communications network; and b) in response to the initiation of the training process, transmitting data from the apparatus to a local area network. In step b) the apparatus may transmit data to a further device via a powerline adaptor.
The network may comprise the further step of c) ceasing to transmit data to the local area network in response to the termination of the training process for the digital subscriber line connection.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a tangible data carrier for use in a computing device, the data carrier comprising computer executable code which, in use, performs a method as described above.


The present invention relates generally to telephone message recording and transcribing systems, and in particular to an improved message retrieval system for use with a telephone answering system which includes a plurality of telephone answering machines and a plurality of message memory units coupled to the answering machines.
Telephone answering systems are routinely used to enable operating personnel to service a large number of callers. Such systems include a plurality of answering machines coupled to telephone lines. These answering machines deliver prerecorded messages after seizing a line and record caller responses on a message memory unit such as an endless loop tape recorder. Operators then transcribe the recorded messages on the message memory units and take appropriate action. For example, an operator may call back a caller who has left a telephone number and a request.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,494 discloses a microprocessor-controlled telephone call inventorying and sequencing system. This system records priority information (such as the time of recording of a message) along with the stored messages in the message memory unit. The microprocessor uses this stored priority information to select which of the message memory units is to be interconnected with a transcribing station requesting transcription. The selection criteria are chosen to prevent stored messages on any particular message memory unit from being delayed excessively in transcription. The system disclosed in the above identified patent operates automatically to disconnect a message memory unit from a transcribing station if the message memory unit has not been transcribed from in a predetermined period, such as 60 seconds. In this way, the system prevents an inactive transcribing station from monopolizing a message memory unit.
Our previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,255 discloses a conversational telephone call distributor which utilizes a manually controlled distribution panel to interconnect operator stations with selected message recorders.
In spite of the many advantages offered by the systems described above, a need presently exists for an improved message retrieval system which provides improved protection against operator abuse of the system or the callers, improved flexibility by which an operator can both transcribe recorded messages and respond to live telephone calls, and which takes positive action to prevent stored messages from being delayed excessively in transcription.


A DC/DC voltage regulator is operative to maintain a level output voltage despite variations in power supply voltage or current drawn by a load. As one example, a step down converter may take a relatively unstable input voltage and maintain a desired level output voltage that is nominally lower than the input voltage. Specifically, a step down converter may receive as an input a voltage in the range of 2-10 volts and output a level voltage of (for example) 1.8 volts.
Many portable devices require a steady voltage supply such as that provided by a DC/DC voltage regulator. Further, the advent of portable electronics and the need for longer battery life requires new types of voltage regulators. These DC/DC voltage regulators need to be efficient while operating in both low current and high current load conditions. For example, handheld electronics such as PDA's and cell phones now require high efficiency at varying loads (such as standby and active modes) to extend battery life. The standby mode requires a very low amount of current to operate. Only critical systems and volatile memory need to be powered to constantly refresh and maintain the data in the device. Because of these requirements, new voltage regulator schemes have been developed that are very efficient at all current levels.
For example, a pulse width modulated (PWM) switch-mode regulator is an efficient regulation scheme during heavy loads. It offers high efficiency, low output voltage ripple, good line and load regulation. However at light loads the PWM regulator has poor efficiency.
At light loads, a pulsed frequency modulation (PFM) switch-mode regulator is commonly used due to its high efficiency. However the large output voltage ripple, poor line and load regulation inherent to PFM precludes its use in many systems. Thus, a low quiescent current LDO regulator is desirable in these systems. The LDO regulator offers relatively good light load efficiency, low output voltage ripple, and good line and load regulation, but at heavy loads the efficiency is far below that of switching regulators.
Combining a PWM switch-mode regulator and a linear LDO regulator in parallel offers the high efficiency and good output voltage regulation required by many portable battery powered systems. Switch-mode and linear regulators have been paralleled in the prior art, but the regulation voltages have been slightly different, and the control scheme of the regulators are very basic. These types of systems do not have the optimal efficiency and the output voltage regulates at two different voltages making the load regulation poor.


The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) is a memory card standard for the interface between a computer and a computer peripheral product. A PCMCIA card (briefly referred to PC card) is an integrated circuit (IC) card that conforms to the PCMCIA standard, and a PCMCIA slot is a slot that conforms this standard. PC cards are widely used for connecting computers and computer peripheral devices. Especially for notebook computers, external peripheral devices are required due to the small size of a notebook computer, and PC cards therefore become an optimum interface. Presently, PC cards mainly act as data transmitting or local network cards for notebook computers, in order to eliminate the user's trouble for carrying heavy peripheral devices.
In order to provide more a superior transporting interface, the PCMCIA developed an express card which is lighter, faster, thinner, easier to use, and applies for more extensive I/O mode than traditional PC cards. The express card has two standards, one is express card/34 having a 34 mm width (small card) and the other is express card/54 having a 54 mm width (big card).
In general, when inserting into a card connector, the express card is positioned in the slot of the card connector and pushed inward to the top of the slot. During insertion, the user has to aim the express card at the opening of card connector carefully thus making a quick insertion difficult. FIG. 7, FIG. 8, and FIG. 9 respectively show a top view of a known card connector, a top view of a known top board, and the cross-section view of A-A line in FIG. 8. When inserting the card (the direction shown by the arrow “a” in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8), if the user can not precisely aim the card at the right position of cover 2 of the card connector (the center of the cover 2), the cover 2 will be undesirably urged and bent in the card-inserting direction “a”, and can be easily damaged. For example the cover 2 can be damaged such that it separates from the card connector.


This invention relates to the aerially transporting of loads between sites and more particularly, to the transporting of such loads using a lift balloon.
The concept of aerially transporting loads such as logs with lift balloons is well known. Balloons provide a great amount of lift at relatively low cost and can be maneuvered to hover over a loading or discharging site.
A recent example of a method for aerially transporting loads between loading and discharging sites by balloons is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,316 to Chipper et al. There, the lift balloon is guided between the sites by an aerial cable. The balloon contains a liquid ballast container that can be filled with ballast to maintain the proper buoyancy of the balloon. At the loading site, liquid ballast is ejected in an amount corresponding to the weight of the load to be suspended from the balloon. Upon return to the load discharging site, liquid ballast is replaced in the ballast container and the load is removed from the balloon.
One drawback of Chipper et al. and other conventional balloons is the aerodynamic drag their pear shape creates. Specially shaped balloons may be formed to reduce this drag, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,673 to Mosher, but these balloons cost considerably more than conventional balloons.
Another drawback is the difficulty of maintaining the proper buoyancy of the balloon with the added weight of the load. Chipper et al. compensates by ejecting a corresponding amount of ballast. But this ballast is then lost and must be replaced by additional ballast. However, replacement may be impractical under conditions where water is not readily available, such as in remote logging areas.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dry etching method adapted for fine processing of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and particularly to a method for preventing regression of a resist mask formed on an SiON based antireflection film so as to improve anisotropy.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to realize large scale integration of semiconductor devices, the minimum processing size of the circuit pattern formation has been rapidly diminished. For instance, the minimum processing size of the 16M DRAM of approximately 0.5 .mu.m (half micron), the minimum processing size of the 64M DRAM of 0.35 .mu.m (sub-half micron), and the minimum processing size of the 256M DRAM of 0.25 .mu.m (quarter micron) are required.
This increasingly fine processing depends largely upon a technique of photolithography to form a mask pattern. Visible to near ultraviolet rays, such as g rays having a wavelength of 436 nm or i rays having a wavelength of 365 nm, of a high pressure mercury lamp are used for the current 0.5-.mu.m class processing, and far ultraviolet rays, such as KrF excimer laser lights having a wavelength of 248 nm, are used for 0.35 to 0.25-.mu.m class processing. In the photolithography technique for forming a fine mask with a ray width of not greater than 0.4 .mu.m, an antireflection film to weaken a reflected light from an underlying material layer is substantially required for preventing reduction in contrast and resolution due to halation and standing wave effect.
As the component material of the antireflection film, amorphous silicon, TiN and TiON are conventionally used. However, since it has been shown that SiON (silicon oxide nitride) exhibits satisfactory optical properties in the far ultraviolet region, application of SiON to the excimer laser lithography is proposed. It is exemplified by a process of fine gate processing with an SiON film restraining the reflectivity of a W (tungsten)--polycide film or an Al (aluminum) based material film.
Meanwhile, after the patterning of the resist mask by such photolithography is finished, the antireflection film is etched in the subsequent etching process.
In this case, such a problem is now being apparent that the anisotropic shape of the underlying material layer may be deteriorated by oxygen discharged from SiON in the etching process, particularly in overetching. This problem is explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
FIG. 1 shows a state of a wafer prior to the etching, in which a gate SiO.sub.x film 22, a W-polycide film 25 and an SiON antireflection film 26 are sequentially stacked on an Si substrate 21, with a resist mask 27 patterned in a predetermined shape being formed thereon. The W-polycide film 25 is composed of, from the bottom, a polysilicon layer 23 containing impurities and a WSi.sub.x (tungsten silicide) layer 24 which are sequentially stacked.
If the W-polycide film 25 is etched using a Cl.sub.2 /O.sub.2 mixed gas, the etching is promoted by a formation of etching reaction products, such as SiCl.sub.x and WClO.sub.x. On the other hand, a carbon based polymer derived from decomposition products provided by forward sputtering of the resist mask is deposited to form a sidewall protection film 28 on the sidewall surface of the pattern. If the wafer temperature is sufficiently low, SiCl.sub.x of relatively low vapor pressure among the etching decomposition products can be a component of the sidewall protection film 28.
As a result, a gate electrode 25a of anisotropic shape is formed at the end of just etching, as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, materials after the etching are denoted by their respective original numerals plus subscripts "a".
However, if the overetching follows the just etching, regression of the edge of the resist mask 27 causes the SiON antireflection film 26a to have its end surface tapered to be easily exposed, as shown in FIG. 3. SiON, having an element composition ratio of approximately Si:O:N=2:1:1, is richer in Si than SiO.sub.2 is. Consequently, SiON has low durability to a Cl based plasma, and easily discharges active O* when its exposed end surface is etched. Then, O* removes the sidewall protection film 28 in the form of CO.sub.x, to lower sidewall protection effects. In addition, since the W-polycide film 25 to be etched is reduced in the overetching, a relatively excessive amount of O* is present in the etching gas.
As a result, a gate electrode 25b having an undercut is formed, as shown in FIG. 4. The material layers having the undercut denoted by their respective original numerals plus subscripts "b". The undercut is generated most conspicuously in the WSi.sub.x layer 24b. Since O* sputtered out from the end surface of the SiON antireflection film removes W atoms in the form of WClO.sub.x, the etchrate in the WSi.sub.x 24a is increased.
As the anisotropic shape of the gate electrode is thus deteriorated, serious problems rise, such as, the metallization resistance falling off the designed value and difficulty in forming the sidewall to attain an LDD structure.
The deterioration in the anisotropic shape in the overetching is not limited to the above-described SiON antireflection film, but is a phenomenon which may be generated in cases where an antireflection film capable of easily discharging oxygen is used and where conductive material layers of Al based metallization and the like other than the W-polycide film are used as etching targets.


Transistors are used for many purposes. When used as amplifiers, high gain is often desirable. However, it can be desirable for such a transistor to be substantially linear as non-linearity can introduce distortion, and it is typically desirable that the gain of a transistor should not change in response to operating conditions such as collector-emitter voltage Vce. This is generally indicated by a transistor exhibiting a relatively large “Early” voltage.
The Early effect (named after its discoverer James Early) describes how an effective width of a base region of a bipolar transistor changes with collector-emitter voltage. The width of the base affects the gain of the transistor. Consequently the gain of a transistor can vary with the instantaneous amplitude of a signal. If the signal was a sinusoid then the gain applied to the peak of the sinusoid would be different to the gain applied to the trough of the sinusoid, which gives rise to harmonic distortion


In the prior art, all air conditioning units for aircraft, such as helicopters and small airplanes, are air conditioned with permanently installed air conditioners. Generally these units are mounted to the mainframe and may be divided into several different modules. The various components or modules are connected via permanent hoses and electrical connections. Because of the various components and connections, these prior art systems are heavier than a single modular portable unit. Also, because these units are installed permanently, the aircraft must carry the additional weight of the air conditioner whether it is being used or not.
However, a portable unit is difficult to use in small aircraft because ducts cannot be easily installed to remove waist heat from the condenser. Generally, even if portable or semi-portable air conditioners are used the ducting must be permanent and in some instances, such as the BAK-109 used on the Beech 18 and DC-3, the airframe was permanently altered to allow for the ducting. Thus, these prior art air conditioners had to be installed when the aircraft was manufactured or as a retrofit in the factory.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable vapor cycle air conditioning unit for small aircraft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved vapor cycle air conditioning unit that is easy to install and remove.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved vapor cycle air conditioning unit that does not require any permanent alterations of the aircraft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved vapor cycle air conditioning unit in which normal condensate within the air conditioning unit is eliminated without requiring any permanent alterations of the aircraft.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved vapor cycle air conditioning unit that requires a very small space.


Many attempts have been made to utilize simultaneously the allied foot and arm powers while the arms also steer the bicycle. In the prior art the steering mechanisms pivot with the front wheel fork while at the same time imparting power to assist turning the wheels. Because of this dual function, inefficencies result. For a person to crank efficiently the hand crank rotational axis should be substantially parallel to the person's shoulder line, while the imaginary longitudinal center plane of his body lies in coincidence to a centrally located vertically oriented plane of the hand crank. In past devices the structures are such that, when their bars or handles are turned to the right or left, the above-referred to planes will automatically produce an obtuse included angle. In these instances the person cannot transmit an effective manual crank power because the anatomy of the human arms simply cannot function effectively in this position.


Multi-layered heteostructures are employed to implement devices for a number of applications. These applications include, but are not limited to, optoelectronic components (e.g. PIN junction or multi-quantum well). The functionality of these multi-layered heteostructures are typically built from layer to layer in a vertical direction, using different semiconductor materials. Further, the multi-layered heteostructures are vertically etched leading to the exposure of their sidewalls, and polymer is spun to seal the sidewalls. To facilitate provision of a contact to one of these devices, the polymer may be etched back to expose the top semiconductor layer, to allow a metal contact to be deposited thereon. Alternatively, a vertical via may be etched to open the polymer to facilitate contact between the top semiconductor layer and the metal contact.
However, both practices have disadvantages. In particular, the former practice may not be able to clear the top semiconductor layer without exposing the sidewalls of some of the device layers underneath the top layer. Whereas, the latter practice is difficult and complicated, especially in the smaller than micro scale, e.g. at nanometer scale. As at the nanometer scale, not only alignment of the via mask becomes very difficult, making of the via mask in and of itself becomes almost impossible, due to current sub-micro lithography is unable to accurately resolve nanometer via printing. Also, at nanometer scale, the via approach will not allow the full use of the available area of the top semiconductor layer because a typical via approach requires some margin so the via must be smaller than the device. Even if the first practice is able to open the whole area of the top device layer, at micrometer or nanometer scale, the top semiconductor area may not be sufficiently large to provide a desired low contact resist interconnect (as resist is inversely proportional to the contact area).


This invention relates to portable, power-driven, cutting tool guides and gauges, and more particularly to a power saw guide and gauge for crosscut operations on wooden boards and planks.
A very large percentage of cuts with a hand power saw in construction work involve cutting boards and planks to proper length with a square, crosscut. The cuts are generally repetitious in that many boards or planks must be cut to the same length.
A problem typically encountered with many available portable cutting tool guides is their need for mechanical clamping devices. Such devices often are not suitable because they are cumbersome and require excessive amounts of time to set up, thereby reducing the saw user's efficiency. Those guides that do not require clamping devices usually do not have a gauge for determining board length, and a separate length measuring operation must take place before a crosscut is made, thereby reducing the saw user's efficiency.
The few guides which combine a gauge means, usually lack the ruggedness needed for outdoor construction work and are more readily applicable to indoor or occasional use. None lend themselves to quick and repetitious use.


Manufacturers of personal care and cosmetic products typically use a variety of emulsions. This requires a certain supply chain and manufacturing complexity. Using a common formulation to create a variety of products ranging from lotions to creams would greatly simplify the manufacturing supply chain and reduce overall manufacturing costs. However, there are limitations to the extent which a formulation can be used in a variety of products because of instability.
What is needed is a common base emulsion that can be used to make a variety of cosmetics. It is desirable to have a common base emulsion that is sprayable. Further, it is desirable to have a common base emulsion that is largely anhydrous, yet stable.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a collapsible work horse having first and second pairs of legs pivotally mounted to a support beam to move from an extended or working position to a storage and/or transporting, e.g., collapsed, position, and a locking arrangement to lock the legs in the extended position and, more particularly, to a collapsible work horse having the legs secured in the extended position by a plunger mounted in each of the legs and biased into a hole in the support beam. The invention further relates to a work station having one or more work horses for supporting a shaping tool and for supporting the pieces to be shaped.
2. Discussion of the Technical Problems
In general, work horses, also known as sawhorses or trestles, include a first pair of legs secured to one side of a support beam and a second pair of legs secured to an opposite side of the support beam. The legs can be fixedly secured to the support beam using fasteners, e.g. but not limited to, nails, screws, and/or nut and bolt arrangements, or detachably secured to the support beam using clamps. In general, the clamps include a pair of elongated members pivotally mounted together such that moving one end of the members away from one another moves the opposite ends of the members toward one another against the support beam. In another arrangement, the legs are secured by pivotally attaching the legs to the support beam as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,233 (hereinafter also referred to as “U.S. Pat. No. '233”).
Although the presently available work horse designs are acceptable for their intended use, they have drawbacks. More particularly, work horses that have the legs and support beam fixedly secured together are usually moved and/or stored in the assembled state, which results in wasted unused space. The work horses that have the legs detachably secured to the support beam reduces the amount of unused space required for storage but requires disassembling the work horse, keeping track of the disassembled parts, and assembling the parts to use the work horse.
The collapsible work horse of U.S. Pat. No. '233 eliminates many of the problems discussed above; however, the work horse of U.S. Pat. No. '233 has limitations. More particularly, the extended legs of the work horse disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. '233 are maintained in the extended position by a constant frictional force applied to the pivot point of the legs. The frictional force is applied by tightening the bolt at the pivot point. For a detailed discussion of the arrangement to maintain the legs in the extended position, reference can be made to Patent '233.
As can be appreciated, tightening bolts to secure the legs in the extended position requires the use of the tool to tighten the bolts to secure the legs in the extended position and to loosen the bolts to move the legs to the collapsed position. It can be appreciated by those skilled in the art that it would be advantageous to provide a work horse that has legs that can be moved between the extended position and the collapsed position and does not have the drawbacks and/or limitations of the presently available work horses.


Wellbores may be drilled into a surface location or seabed for a variety of exploratory or extraction purposes. For example, a wellbore may be drilled to access fluids, such as liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, stored in subterranean formations and to extract the fluids from the formations. Wellbores used to produce or extract fluids may be lined with casing around the walls of the wellbore. A variety of drilling methods may be utilized depending partly on the characteristics of the formation through which the wellbore is drilled.
The drilling system may drill a wellbore or other borehole through a variety of formations. The formation may include geologic formations ranging from unconsolidated material to rock formations such as granite, basalt, or metamorphic formations. The drilling system may include a drill bit with a plurality of cutting elements located on the bit to loosen material from the formation to create the wellbore. The cutting elements may include a cutting edge or surface on that is sufficiently durable to penetrate through the formation and maintain desirable uptime of the drilling system.
Harder formations (i.e., geologic formations including harder rocks or other materials) increase wear on a drill bit and the cutting elements mounted on the drill bit compared to softer formations. The increased wear in harder formations increases the risk of failure of a cutting element or the drill bit and, therefore, increases the risk of damage to the drilling system. The increased wear in harder formations reduces the operational lifetime of a cutting element and drill bit, which in-turn increases the time and cost involved in retrieving the drill bit from the wellbore, replacing or repairing the drill bit, and tripping the drill bit back into the wellbore.


The present invention deals with a method of and a device for producing heat/cold with electric energy. The present invention can be used in refrigerators and air-conditioners of high efficiency as well as for heating spaces by taking energy from outer areas having deep cold.
Cold producing machines usually produce cold from a supplied energy, such as mechanical, thermal or electrical energy. In known cooling devices, a working gas is Freon which inevitably escapes to the atmosphere. When refrigerators or air-conditioners are utilized in great numbers, the Freon leaks lead to substantial damages to the ecology. It is therefore extremely undesirable to use such refrigerators and air-conditioners.
On the other hand, semiconductor elements are known, in which when electric current is supplied through the semiconductor element, one end of the element becomes hot while the other end of the element becomes cold. Such an element usually includes a negative semiconductor branch and a positive semiconductor branch. The substantial disadvantage of such elements is their high thermal conductivity since they are formed as monolithic semiconductor elements. A direct flow of heat from the hot end to the cold end occurs in these elements, which reduces efficiency of the system and makes it unsuitable for practical use.


Wear and laundering of fabric articles, and particularly white fabric articles, can result in a discoloration from the original fabric color. For example, white fabrics which are repeatedly laundered can exhibit a yellowing in color appearance which causes the fabric to look older and worn. To overcome the undesirable yellowing of white fabrics, and similar discoloration of other light colored fabrics, some laundry detergent products include a hueing or bluing dye which attaches to fabric during the laundry wash and/or rinse cycle.
However, after repeated laundering of fabric with detergent containing bluing dye, the bluing dye tends to accumulate on the fabric, giving the fabric a bluish tint. Such repeated laundering of white fabric articles tends to give the articles a blue, rather than white, appearance. To combat this accumulation of bluing dyes on fabric, chlorine treatments have been developed. While the chlorine treatment is effective to remove accumulated bluing dyes, the chlorine treatment is an additional and often inconvenient step in the laundry process. Additionally, chlorine treatment involves increased laundering costs and is harsh on fabrics and therefore undesirably contributes to increased fabric degradation. Accordingly, a need exists for improved laundry detergents which can counter the undesirable yellowing of white fabrics, and similar discoloration of other light colored fabrics.


Pigments which are inferior in heat resistance, weatherability, light fastness and chemical stability (resistance to acids, alkalis and other chemicals) can be improved by coating the surface thereof with a physically and chemically stable metal oxide or treating the surface thereof with a coupling agent.
For instance, cadmium pigments undergo discoloration when subjected to a temperature 700.degree. C. or higher and their brilliant color is lost, because cadmium sulfide, their principle, is converted to cadmium sulfate or cadmium oxide. Therefore, cadmium pigments cannot be used for products such as ceramic tiles which are subjected to high temperatures.
Of the chromium yellow pigments, the principle of which is lead chromate, and chromium orange are inferior in heat resistance and acid resistance and lemon yellow is inferior in heat resistance and resistance to alkali and they all suffer discoloration. Molybdenum red, which essentially consists of lead chromate and lead molybdate, is inferior in heat resistance, acid resistance, alkali resistance, weatherability and light fastness, and suffers discoloration.
Cadmium yellow (pale light), ultramarine, chromium green, lithopone, Bordeaux-10B, etc. are inferior in acid resistance, and prussian blue, chromium green, brilliant carmine 6B, lake red C, Bordeaux-10B, rhodamine lake Y, etc. are inferior in alkali resistance.
As methods for surface treatment of pigment for the purpose of improving heat resistance, weatherability, light fastness, acid resistance, alkali resistance, etc., the following are known; (a) To form a coating of silica on the surface of pigments by addition of a silicate salt when the pigments are formed by precipitation. (b) To form a coating by adding a metallic salt which forms a water-insoluble metal hydroxide or oxide upon neutralization or a metal salt pair which forms a water-insoluble salt by double decomposition reaction in a dispersion of a pigment. (c) To modify the surface of pigments using a titanium coupler or silane coupler.
In addition to the above, there is known a method for preventing oxidation decomposition of pigments for ceramic tiles comprising mixing a stable material such as zirconium silicate which is not attacked by glaze into a pigment and firing the mixture.
In the methods (a) and (b), precipitate of silica or a water-insoluble metal salt is formed on the surface of pigments. Formation of precipitate is usually influenced by temperature, pH, etc. and adjustment of many factors are required, and yet it is very difficult to form dense and homogeneous coating. The method (c) is effective for improving weatherability, light fastness and dispersibility of pigments. However, the couplers are mere surface-modifiers for pigments and do not form a dense coating on the surface of pigments, and therefore, they are of little use for improving heat resistance, acid resistance, alkali resistance, etc.
When a coating for improving heat resistance, light fastness, acid resistance and alkali resistance of pigment is formed, formation of the coating is usually carried out under the heated condition, since the reactivity is low at room temperature or lower temperatures. By the reaction at an elevated temperature, no dense coating film is formed. The reason is surmised to be that metal hydroxide molecules formed by rapid hydrolysis attach to the already formed suspended metal hydroxide or oxide particles in preference to the surface of pigments, meaning that the percentage of the molecules depositing on the pigment surface is low.
We have found that if a hydrophilic pigment is contacted with a metal alkoxide such as alkyl silicate in an at least partially water-miscible organic solvent, a dense and uniform coating is formed at relatively lower temperatures. Further, we found that if a secondary coating is formed on the thus formed primary coating by repeating the above procedure or by the known precipitation process, a firm coating is formed and heat-resistance, weatherability, light fastness, chemical stability such as acid resistance and alkali resistance, etc. of the pigment is further improved.


1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to processes for determining torque output and controlling power impact tools. The invention also relates to a mechanical impact wrench having electronic control.
2. Related Art
In the related art, control of power impact tools has been accomplished by directly monitoring the torque of impacts of the tool. For instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,366,026 and 5,715,894 to Maruyama et al., incorporated herein by reference, controlled impact tightening apparatuses are disclosed in which complex processes involving direct torque measurement are used. Direct torque measurement involves the measurement of the force component of torsional stress, as exhibited by a magnetic field about a tool output shaft, at the point in time of impact. From this force component, related art devices directly determine the torque applied during the impact, i.e., torque T=force F times length of torque arm r. As exemplified by FIG. 10 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,026, however, torque measurements fluctuate, even after a large number of impacts are applied. This phenomena is caused by the inconsistent nature of the force component of the impact. In particular, some devices measure torque at a given point in time, such that the torque measured is based on whatever force is being applied at that point in time. In other cases, the force is monitored as it rises, and is measured for peak at a point in time at which a force decrease is detected. In either case outlined above, the force may not be the peak force and, hence, the peak torque derived may not be accurate.
To rectify this problem, related art devices use weighting factors, or peak and/or low pass filtering of torque peak measurement, and/or assume, even though it is not the case, a constant driving force from the motor. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,026, torque measurements are used to calculate a clamping force based on the peak value of a pulsatory torque and an increasing coefficient that represents an increasing rate of a clamping force applied. Unfortunately, torque measurement accuracy remains diminished. Accordingly, there exists a need for better processes of operating power impact tools and, in particular mechanical impact tools (i.e., those with mechanical impact transmission mechanisms), with greater accuracy of torque measurement. There also exists a need for more accurate torque measurement.
Another shortcoming of the related art is the lack of an electronic control in a mechanical impact wrench.


Most modern vehicles include inflatable restraint apparatus having deployable airbags positioned in many locations throughout an automotive vehicle. Generally, an interior panel includes a deployment door formed into the panel which is designed to break free upon deployment of the airbag.
A primary aim of the airbag assembly is to control the opening of the deployment door to avoid break explosion and the possibility of flying parts. Clean deployment is achieved in some airbag assemblies by providing a deployment door with a seam, meaning the door is not physically interconnected with the surrounding interior panel. Unfortunately, the seam in the interior panel around the deployment door may not be visually appealing. Thus, in other airbag assemblies clean deployment is provided, in part, by a “seamless” deployment door having aggressive pre-weakening of the outline of the door (typically by laser scoring, mechanical scoring, etc.) by cutting the material or creating perforations.
While this weakening of seamless deployment doors is typically done on the underside of the panel, there still exists a potential for creating blemishes or other disturbances on the exposed class “A” surface. Furthermore, there is a potential to have an uneven break or tear in the deployment door since the plastic is not completely cut through. Accordingly, there exists a need to provide a seamless deployment door which quickly and reliably breaks free from the surrounding panel while eliminating the potential for surface blemishes due to pre-weakening of the door outline.


The structure of the intervertebral disc disposed between the cervical bones in the human spine comprises a peripheral fibrous shroud (the annulus) which circumscribes a spheroid of flexibly deformable material (the nucleus). The nucleus comprises a hydrophilic, elastomeric cartilaginous substance that cushions and supports the separation between the bones while also permitting articulation of the two vertebral bones relative to one another to the extent such articulation is allowed by the other soft tissue and bony structures surrounding the disc. The additional bony structures that define pathways of motion in various modes include the posterior joints (the facets) and the lateral intervertebral joints (the unco-vertebral joints). Soft tissue components, such as ligaments and tendons, constrain the overall segmental motion as well.
Traumatic, genetic, and long term wearing phenomena contribute to the degeneration of the nucleus in the human spine. This degeneration of this critical disc material, from the hydrated, elastomeric material that supports the separation and flexibility of the vertebral bones, to a flattened and inflexible state, has profound effects on the mobility (instability and limited ranges of appropriate motion) of the segment, and can cause significant pain to the individual suffering from the condition. Although the specific causes of pain in patients suffering from degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine have not been definitively established, it has been recognized that pain may be the result of neurological implications (nerve fibers being compressed) and/or the subsequent degeneration of the surrounding tissues (the arthritic degeneration of the facet joints) as a result of their being overloaded.
Traditionally, the treatment of choice for physicians caring for patients who suffer from significant degeneration of the cervical intervertebral disc is to remove some, or all, of the damaged disc. In instances in which a sufficient portion of the intervertebral disc material is removed, or in which much of the necessary spacing between the vertebrae has been lost (significant subsidence), restoration of the intervertebral separation is required.
Unfortunately, until the advent of spine arthroplasty devices, the only methods known to surgeons to maintain the necessary disc height necessitated the immobilization of the segment. Immobilization is generally achieved by attaching metal plates to the anterior or posterior elements of the cervical spine, and the insertion of some osteoconductive material (autograft, allograft, or other porous material) between the adjacent vertebrae of the segment. This immobilization and insertion of osteoconductive material has been utilized in pursuit of a fusion of the bones, which is a procedure carried out on tens of thousands of pain suffering patients per year.
This sacrifice of mobility at the immobilized, or fused, segment, however, is not without consequences. It was traditionally held that the patient's surrounding joint segments would accommodate any additional articulation demanded of them during normal motion by virtue of the fused segment's immobility. While this is true over the short-term (provided only one, or at most two, segments have been fused), the effects of this increased range of articulation demanded of these adjacent segments has recently become a concern. Specifically, an increase in the frequency of returning patients who suffer from degeneration at adjacent levels has been reported.
Whether this increase in adjacent level deterioration is truly associated with rigid fusion, or if it is simply a matter of the individual patient's predisposition to degeneration is unknown. Either way, however, it is clear that a progressive fusion of a long sequence of vertebrae is undesirable from the perspective of the patient's quality of life as well as from the perspective of pushing a patient to undergo multiple operative procedures.
While spine arthroplasty has been developing in theory over the past several decades, and has even seen a number of early attempts in the lumbar spine show promising results, it is only recently that arthoplasty of the spine has become a truly realizable promise. The field of spine arthroplasty has several classes of devices. The most popular among these are: (a) the nucleus replacements, which are characterized by a flexible container filled with an elastomeric material that can mimic the healthy nucleus; and (b) the total disc replacements, which are designed with rigid endplates which house a mechanical articulating structure that attempts to mimic and promote the healthy segmental motion.
Among these solutions, the total disc replacements have begun to be regarded as the most probable long-term treatments for patients having moderate to severe lumbar disc degeneration. In the cervical spine, it is likely that these mechanical solutions will also become the treatment of choice. At present, there are two devices being tested clinically in humans for the indication of cervical disc degeneration. The first of these is the Bryan disc, disclosed in part in U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,130. The Bryan disc is comprised of a resilient nucleus body disposed in between concaval-covex upper and lower elements that retain the nucleus between adjacent vertebral bodies in the spine. The concaval-convex elements are L-shaped supports that have anterior wings that accept bones screws for securing to the adjacent vertebral bodies.
The second of these devices being clinically tested is the Bristol disc, disclosed substantially in U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,637. The Bristol disc is comprised of two L-shaped elements, with corresponding ones of the legs of each element being interposed between the vertebrae and in opposition to one another. The other of the two legs are disposed outside of the intervertebral space and include screw holes through which the elements may be secured to the corresponding vertebra; the superior element being secured to the upper vertebral body and the inferior element being attached to the lower vertebral body. The opposing portions of each of the elements comprise the articulating surfaces that include an elliptical channel formed in the lower element and a convex hemispherical structure disposed in the channel.
As is evident from the above descriptions, the centers of rotation for both of these devices, which are being clinically tested in human subjects, is disposed at some point in the disc space. More particularly with respect to the Bryan disc, the center of rotation is maintained at a central portion of the nucleus, and hence in the center of the disc space. The Bristol disc, as a function of its elongated channel (its elongated axis being oriented along the anterior to posterior direction), has a moving center of rotation which is, at all times maintained within the disc space at the rotational center of the hemispherical ball (near the top of the upper element).
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a cervical disc replacement device that supports, preserves, and maintains proper disc height.
It is an equally important object of the present invention to provide a cervical disc replacement that supports, preserves, and promotes proper anatomical motion.
Other objects of the invention not explicitly stated will be set forth and will be more clearly understood in conjunction with the descriptions of the embodiments disclosed hereafter.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waterproof part for a feedhorn, and more particularly, to a waterproof part having double waterproof units for a feedhorn to ensure return loss and useful bandwidth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A feedhorn, which is also known as low-noise block converter, for a satellite antenna is disposed on a focus of a dish reflector of the satellite antenna. The feedhorn is used for receiving radio signals reflected via the dish reflector from a satellite or transmitting radio signals to the satellite. The satellite antenna is usually installed at an outdoor location such as a roof or an exterior wall of a building to ensure communication quality against signal blocking.
The feedhorn is normally equipped with a waterproof part made of insulation materials to prevent rain water from dripping into the feedhorn. During signal transmission, the satellite signals encounter insertion loss and part of the satellite signals are attenuated when the satellite signals pass through the waterproof part. Another part of the satellite signals transmit through the waterproof part to be reflected by the dish reflector to the air. However, due to dielectric constants and impedance differences between the waterproof part and the air, there is a reflected wave generated at an incident interface of the waterproof part, which is reflected backward to the feedhorn. In such a situation, a radiating efficiency of the feedhorn is decreased, and a useful bandwidth of the feedhorn may become narrower.
In addition, a return loss of the satellite signal or the feedhorn (i.e. a ratio of incident and reflected waves) is relative to the radiating efficiency and the useful bandwidth. Under some conditions, the waterproof part may improve the return loss but narrows the useful bandwidth, and thus the return loss and the useful bandwidth cannot be improved at the same time. Therefore, how to improve both of the return loss and the useful bandwidth of the satellite signals or the feedhorn has become a topic of the industry.


Tubular endoprosthesis or “stents” have been suggested for dilating or otherwise treating stenoses, occlusions, and/or other lesions within a patient's vasculature or other body lumens. For example, a self-expanding stent may be maintained on a catheter in a contracted condition, e.g., by an overlying sheath or other constraint, and delivered into a target location, e.g., a stenosis within a blood vessel or other body lumen. When the stent is positioned at the target location, the constraint may be removed, whereupon the stent may automatically expand to dilate or otherwise line the vessel at the target location.
Alternatively, a balloon-expandable stent may be carried on a catheter, e.g., crimped or otherwise secured over a balloon, in a contracted condition. When the stent is positioned at the target location, the balloon may be inflated to expand the stent and dilate the vessel.
Balloon-expanded stents tend to be relatively stiff and straight, as are the balloons used to deliver them, which reduces the ability of the stents to conform to the shape of vessels that are curved and/or angulated. Curved connectors between rings of certain stent designs may allow bending of the unexpanded stent, but such connectors rarely provide enough differential lengthening to allow significant bending of the expanded stent because the connectors are made from the same inelastic material used throughout the stent. Moreover, if such a fully expanded stent were capable of bending easily, e.g., to accommodate a bend in the artery, the stent may be capable of bending repeatedly in response to arterial motion, increasing risk of the stent becoming work-hardened and/or breaking, e.g., after deployment within a body lumen, such as a cardiac vessel, within which the stent may experience significant dynamic forces. The interface between the end of a substantially stiff, straight balloon-expanded stent and a relatively soft, otherwise curved artery may also become the focus of stress. The resulting micro-trauma may cause inflammation, scarring, and/or flow-limiting narrowing, especially when the artery stretches or bends repeatedly with the cardiac cycle, respiratory excursion, and/or flexion/extension of a joint.
One solution involves the implantation of many short unconnected stents, so that the stented artery can bend, just as a long train bends. The simultaneous delivery of multiple short balloon-expanded stents is complicated by the tendency of individual stents to migrate relative to the balloon during inflation. When a conventional balloon on a balloon catheter is expanded, one end of the balloon may initially expand before the other, which may cause the stent to migrate away from the initially expanding end and/or compress the stent axially, or both ends may expand initially before a central region carrying the stent, which may cause the stent to compress or otherwise deform undesirably. If this occurs, the actual position of the stent may be difficult to control, which risks the stent being deployed misaligned relative to a desired location. This aspect of balloon expansion may be particularly problematic when deploying many short stents.
Accordingly, an improved apparatus and methods for delivering stents would be useful.


The present invention relates to an access authorization system comprising at least one arrangement of a plurality of microparticles. In addition to simple mechanical access controls, such as for example keys, combined mechanical and electronic access controls or wholly electronic access controls are also realized in conjunction with access authorization systems, in particular computer systems or computer networks but also access controls for buildings.
In this context, queries are made of, for example, access cards or passwords.
However, having proven problematic for electronic access controls is the fact that experts can circumvent such access controls, whereby these experts take advantage of vulnerabilities in the electronic access controls and “hack into” them.
There is thus the need to make access authorization systems even more secure, in particular to the effect of preventing or obstructing unauthorized persons from gaining access to protected systems by means of access authorization.
Color-coded microparticles consisting of a plurality of colored layers in a preselected color sequence, wherein the color sequence represents an identification code, are already known from DE 26 51 158 A1. The microparticles are thereby made of melamine-alkyd resin, whereby, for example, 7 layers of color are deposited one atop the other at a thickness of approximately 100 μm on a polyester carrier film of approximately 50 μm.
DE 198 53 764 A1 relates to a system for securing and marking products using microparticles which each have a respective plurality of color layers forming a code.


People's demands for energy continuously increase with the progress in various technological fields. To avoid shortage or even depletion of energy resources, endeavors have been made to discover new energy sources. On the other hand, effective means have also been developed to minimize the power consumption of existing electric and electronic devices.
Lighting fixtures account for a very large part in all kinds of power-consuming devices. Presently, the bases for general lamps are mainly divided into two types, namely, conventional and electronic lamp bases. The conventional and the electronic lamp base all are equipped with a starter, but have a conventional and an electronic ballast, respectively. The conventional ballast and the electronic ballast are different in their wiring configuration, fundamental characteristics, use manners and power consumption. The biggest difference between the conventional and the electronic ballast is that the conventional ballast uses a low frequency of 60 Hz, while the electronic ballast uses a high frequency ranged between 30,000 and 50,000 Hz.
Since the lighting fixtures account for a very large part in the power-consuming devices, improvements of the power consumption efficiency of lighting fixtures and development of creative use manners thereof have become new and important issues. Among others, the use of LEDs to replace the conventional illumination light sources has become a frequently adopted technical means for improvement of various kinds of lighting fixtures. In recent years, the LED-related technique develops quickly to largely widen the applications of LEDs. There are more and more daily necessaries with LEDs. The LED illuminates light using high current with low voltage, and has the advantages of long service life, low power consumption and low heat production. With these advantages, LEDs are environmentally friendly and attract many manufacturers to the research and development of LED tube lights.
Driving circuits for LED tube lights are generally divided into three types according to their technical features. In the first type of driving circuit for LED tube light, two circuit boards are included, one of which is a power driving circuit board while the other one is an LED circuit board. The power driving circuit board and the LED circuit board are electrically connected to each other via conductors or connection terminals and all are mounted in the tube light, so that power can be effectively supplied from the power driving circuit board to the LED circuit board to produce light sources. In the second type of driving circuit for LED tube light, three circuit boards are included in the LED tube light. Two of the circuit boards are power driving circuit boards while the third one is an LED circuit board. The two power driving circuit boards are separately arranged at two opposite ends of the tube light, and the LED circuit board is arranged in the tube light at a middle section thereof and electrically connected via conductors or connection terminals to the power driving circuit boards located at two opposite ends of the tube light, such that power can be effectively supplied from the power driving circuit boards to the LED circuit board to produce light sources. In the third type of driving circuit for LED tube light, only one LED circuit board is included in the LED tube light. The LED circuit board is connected via conductors to two pinned bases mounted to two opposite ends of the tube light, and a power driving circuit is arranged outside the tube light or in a corresponding lamp base.
In either one of the above-mentioned three types of driving circuits for LED tube light, complicated wiring is required to achieve electrical connection between the LED circuit board and the power driving circuit boards or the externally arranged power driving circuit. Since the tube light has only very limited internal space, complicated working procedures are needed to mount the LED circuit board and the somewhat bulky power driving circuit boards in the small internal space of the LED tube light, which inevitably largely increases the manufacturing and material costs of the LED tube light.


Various embodiments of the invention relate to a focus detecting apparatus.
As digital photographing apparatuses, such as digital cameras, camcorders, or the like, have been miniaturized and as technology relating to a battery, or the like, has been developed, digital photographing apparatuses can be easily carried. Thus, an image can be easily captured anywhere. In addition, digital photographing apparatuses provide a wide variety of functions that enable non-professionals to capture a good quality image.
In order to capture a good quality image of a subject, light has to be sufficiently irradiated onto the subject. When light is not sufficiently irradiated onto a subject, it is not easy to focus on the subject and a captured image is dark, and thus it is not easy to recognize the photographed subject. Thus, a lighting device for lighting a subject may be embedded in a digital photographing apparatus or may be separably installed on the digital photographing apparatus as occasion demands.
It is required that a subject be precisely focused on in order to capture a clear still image or a clear moving picture image by using a digital photographing apparatus, such as a camera, a camcorder, or the like. Examples of autofocusing (AF) methods include a contrast AF method and a phase difference AF method.
In the contrast AF method, a photographing operation is performed when a position of a focus lens is changed, a contrast value is obtained from an image signal generated by an image capturing sensor, and the focus lens is driven to a position at which the contrast value is a peak.
In the phase difference AF method, an image capturing sensor and an additional sensing device are disposed, and a focus position is detected from a phase difference in beams of light irradiated onto the sensing device.


Swimming pool cleaning devices (hereinafter pool cleaners) are used for maintaining residential and commercial swimming pools in a clean and attractive condition. Pool cleaners have been developed for cleaning and/or dislodging settled debris from the floor and side wall surfaces of the swimming pool, thereby substantially reducing the need for manual vacuuming and/or brushing of the floor and side wall surfaces of the swimming pool.
Some swimming pool cleaning devices may be powered by a floating power supply which floats on a water surface of the swimming pool. A power cable may be used to connect the swimming pool cleaning device to the floating power supply. The floating power supply is generally coupled to a main power supply source located external of the swimming pool. A main power cable may be used to couple the floating power supply to the main power supply source.
Unfortunately, the main power cable is generally laid across the deck of the swimming pool. Not only is this unsightly, but it poses a hazard to those around the swimming pool. The main power cord may pose a tripping hazard to those walking around the swimming pool. Further, since the main power cord generally has to be long enough to not limit where the swimming pool cleaning device can be used in the swimming pool, those around the swimming pool may get tangled within the main power cord thereby posing not only a tripping hazard but a potential choking hazard.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above.


Applications have a user interface that can take a variety of different forms. One common user interface includes menus and toolbars. On a computer system, each application program can have its own user interface which appears when the application program is executing. An application may also be a composite application consisting of multiple, different application programs. Each of the different application programs may be a component of the composite application. The composite application may present to a user a single common interface for all the component application programs. With this single interface, all the application programs of the composite application may share the same command menus and toolbars. A single user interface for the composite application may be shared between all the application programs. One drawback of the foregoing is that each application program contributing to the single user interface may be developed independently of the other application programs of the composite application. In such instances, the user interface for each program of the composite application may require a collaborative effort while the remaining portions of each application program are independently developed.


In some printing apparatuses, toner is applied to a substrate to form a toner image. The image can be heated while being subjected to pressure by a fixing device to fix the toner to the substrate. In these apparatuses, the fixing device can be subjected to temperature conditions that shorten the lifetime of components of the fixing device.
It would be desirable to provide fixing systems and methods for fixing marking material to a substrate that can utilize temperature conditions that allow lower run costs and desirable image quality.


Generally, if the position of an object acting as a communication object is changed or if scanning is needed to search for the position of the communication object, a directional pattern of an antenna must be changed.
Conventional art controls the direction of a main beam by changing a phase difference between array radiation elements, or changes a directional pattern using mechanical rotation.
However, according to the conventional art in which the phase difference between array radiation elements is changed, a plurality of additional circuits may be needed to control the phase of each array radiation element, the angle of pattern variation is a small angle, and a high side lobe occurs, resulting in a reduction of radiation efficiency of each antenna.
In addition, according to the conventional art in which the directional pattern changed using mechanical rotation, a separate structure for rotating the antenna is needed. If the communication object moves at high speed, it may be difficult for the directional pattern to be changed in the accurate direction.


1. Field of the Invention
The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus creating drawing data based on a printing job, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
So called production printing that is of printing service, in which a lot of documents for business use are printed or bound, is known (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-238188). In the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-238188, a printing system for informing a user whether a post process is available or not, in view of the whole system, is disclosed.
In the production printing, a printing process is usually handled as a workflow, and opening of a printing workflow is proceeded with. By opening the printing workflow, it is possible to describe setting files, or the like for printing jobs in important printing processes, etc., by common format, in software (workflow applications, described below), or printers of different manufacturers. A standard format referred to as a JDF (Job Definition Format) is known, as a format for describing all the processes of the printing workflow.
There are various processes in the printing workflow, such as a process for creating documents or contents, processes for designating printing methods, printing processes, post processes, or the like. Although these processes are performed by various workflow applications or printers, cooperation or printing process management can be achieved between printers by the JDF.
However, some workflow applications or printers may extend the format of the JDF. In this case, the JDF provided by the workflow applications of the different manufacturers may include a description in proprietary format.
FIG. 1A is an illustration diagram for illustrating an example of an inconvenience in accepting printing jobs by a print processing device of a manufacturer “C”. Additionally, FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B shows an example of comparison, not an example of prior art. The print processing device of “C” receives printing jobs from workflow applications of a manufacturer “A” and a manufacturer “B”. It may occur that the print processing device of “C” cannot analyze the JDF to process since the respective workflow applications extend the format of the JDF.
Therefore, in order to accept the printing jobs of the respective workflow applications, the print processing device of “C” may have a rendering engines 59 (hereinafter, referred to as RIP engines 59) capable of JDF conversion and handling respective workflow applications. In FIG. 1B, a JDF analyzing unit 56 analyzes the JDF to determine the manufacturer of the workflow application, and converts the setting information so as to be processed by the print processing device of “C”. Also, the printing jobs can be processed to print with user's desired finished appearance, by installing the RIP engines 59 capable of handling respective workflow applications.
Thus, the print processing device of “C” can process the printing jobs to print with user's desired finished appearance, even if the respective workflow applications extend the format of the JDF.
By the way, a user may need to display or change contents of the printing jobs before rendering the printing jobs by the RIP engine. However, since settable attributes or settable range of values of the attributes may differ by respective RIP engines, the print processing device of “C” may not appropriately display the content of printing jobs of “A” or “B”. Further, an instruction, to change the value of the attribute into a value which is valid only for the printing job of “B”, may be accepted as an instruction for the printing job of “A”.
An example of aggregation printing imposition will be described. In the workflow application of “A”, only one of setting options for aggregation printing imposition of 2-up (2 pages are aggregated into 1 page)/4-up (4 pages are aggregated into 1 page)/9-up (9 pages are aggregated into 1 page)/16-up (16 pages are aggregated into 1 page) is acceptable, and the setting options are displayed as selectable options to accept one of the options. Meanwhile, in the workflow application of “B”, the aggregation printing imposition can be set by using a format of “M (number of pages in longitudinal direction)×N (number of pages in lateral direction)”, where any combinations are accepted as far as “M” and “N” are set within the respective limits.
In the workflow application of “C”, the same setting screen as that of the workflow application of “A” is used. If the print processing device of “C” displays the printing job of “B”, in a case where the aggregation printing imposition set as “M×N”=“1×2”, “2×2”, “3×3”, or “4×4” can be displayed respectively as 2-up, 4-up, 9-up, or 16-up. However, in a case where the combination of “M” and “N” is not one of the options shown above, the print processing device of “C” cannot appropriately display the setting information of the aggregation printing imposition.
To the contrary, a case, where the same setting screen as the workflow application of “B” is used in the workflow application of “C”, will be described. In this case, the print processing device of “C” can display the printing jobs of 2-up, 4-up, 9-up, or 16-up, and accept an instruction to change into any one of the combinations of “M×N”. However, in a case where the changed combination of “M×N” is neither “1×2” nor “M”=“N”, the rendering cannot be performed since the RIP engine of “A” does not support such an aggregation printing imposition.


The present invention relates to radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PA) module. Portable devices such as laptop personal computers (PC), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and cellular phones with wireless communication capability are being developed in ever decreasing size for convenience of use. Correspondingly, the electrical components thereof must also decrease in size while still providing effective radio transmission performance. However, the substantially high transmission power associated with RF communication increases the difficulty of miniaturization of the transmission components.
A major component of the wireless communication device is the radio frequency PA. The PA is conventionally in the form of a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chip or die in which signal amplification is effected with substantial power. The amplifier chip is interconnected in a circuit with certain off-chip components such as inductors, capacitors, resistors, and transmission lines used for controlling operation of the amplifier chip and providing impedance matching of the input and output RF signals. The amplifier chip and associated components are typically assembled by interconnected metal circuit and bond wires on a printed circuit board (PCB) having a dielectric substrate or a lead frame.
Among significant considerations in the miniaturization of RF amplifier circuits is the required impedance matching for the input and output RF signals of the amplifier. Input and output impedance matching circuits typically include capacitors, resistors, and inductors in associated transmission lines or micro strips for the RF signals into and out of the amplifier chip. However, these impedance matching circuits may require specifically tailored off-chip components located around the amplifier IC chip. Accordingly, the application circuitry must include many electrical input and output terminals or bonding pads to which the corresponding portions of the off-chip impedance matching circuits are separately joined. This increases the difficulty of assembly and required size of the associated components, and affects the overall manufacturability of the portable devices.
One important requirement for the state-of-the-art wireless devices is to provide power amplification in a plurality of frequency bands. The quality and power level of the amplified RF signals need to be properly controlled. The amplification of RF signals is required to be linear over a wide signal power range in each of the plurality of frequency bands. Preferably the amplification is reduced or increased according to input RF signal, transmittance range and data rate so that power consumption can be optimized.