Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. (Cancer Facts and Figures 2004, American Cancer Society, Inc.). Despite recent advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment, surgery and radiotherapy may be curative if a cancer is found early, but current drug therapies for metastatic disease are mostly palliative and seldom offer a long-term cure. Even with new chemotherapies entering the market, the need continues for new drugs effective in monotherapy or in combination with existing agents as first line therapy, and as second and third line therapies in treatment of resistant tumors.
Cancer cells are by definition heterogeneous. For example, within a single tissue or cell type, multiple mutational “mechanisms” may lead to the development of cancer. As such, heterogeneity frequently exists between cancer cells taken from tumors of the same tissue and same type that have originated in different individuals. Frequently observed mutational “mechanisms” associated with some cancers may differ between one tissue type and another (e.g., frequently observed mutational “mechanisms” leading to colon cancer may differ from frequently observed “mechanisms” leading to leukemia). It is therefore often difficult to predict whether a particular cancer will respond to a particular chemotherapeutic agent (Cancer Medicine, 5th edition, Bast et al., B. C. Decker Inc., Hamilton, Ontario).
Components of cellular signal transduction pathways that regulate the growth and differentiation of normal cells can, when dysregulated, lead to the development of cellular proliferative disorders and cancer. Mutations in cellular signaling proteins may cause such proteins to become expressed or activated at inappropriate levels or at inappropriate times during the cell cycle, which in turn may lead to uncontrolled cellular growth or changes in cell-cell attachment properties. For example, dysregulation of receptor tyrosine kinases by mutation, gene rearrangement, gene amplification, and overexpression of both receptor and ligand has been implicated in the development and progression of human cancers.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface emitting laser, a surface emitting laser array, and an optical apparatus having the surface emitting laser array.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), by which it is easy to form a two-dimensional array as an exposure light source for forming a latent image on a photoreceptor as a scanning surface, is used for a scanning optical apparatus in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus for use in a laser beam printer or a digital copier.
An example of an optical system of an image forming apparatus using a surface emitting laser is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-052197. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-052197, a surface emitting laser having a plurality of light emitting points is used as a multi-beam laser light source. In order to limit the light beam width of a light beam emitted from the light source and to form the beam into a desired beam shape, the optical system has an aperture stop common to each laser light source. The formed beams are deflected and scanned by an optical deflector and imaged in a spot shape on a photoreceptor drum surface as a scanning surface by an imaging optical system.


Fluid supply networks, such as municipal water supply systems, typically test the flow and pressure characteristics of outlets, such as hydrants, on the system to determine the capabilities of the system to deliver an adequate flow of water during high water use events such as the fighting of a fire using water from the supply system.
Not only are these characteristics of the municipal water supply system a concern of the municipality in gauging the likely ability of the fire department to fight fires, but insurers of property are also concerned with this capacity in setting insurance rates for the property. Accurate and current data for each hydrant indicates how much water is available from each hydrant, which may affect fire suppression practices at different points on the system so as not to place greater fire fighting water demands on the hydrant than the individual hydrant or hydrants can supply. The hydrant flow characteristics are not measured in isolation from other proximate hydrants, so that fire fighting personnel are aware whether the system will support the use of multiple proximate hydrants without simply diverting the flow from hydrants already opened and being utilized. Additionally, the use of fire fighting equipment to draw water from the hydrant using a pump can increase the flow capacity of water from the water supply system, but attempting to pump water from the hydrant in excess of the safe capacity of water available from the hydrant at that point in the supply system can have effects detrimental to the system due to the creation of a negative pressure condition created in the main. These detrimental effects include triggering a collapse of the water main or the introduction of contaminants into the main through cracks or joints in the pipe. Thus, knowledge of the actual flow capabilities of the water supply system at a hydrant is needed as guidance to fire fighting personnel seeking to draw water from the hydrant in emergencies.
Similarly, in an actual firefighting situation, it is desirable to monitor the residual pressure in the water supply system as water is being pumped or drawn out of the supply system by fire fighting equipment to ensure that the pressure in the supply system does not fall below a desired threshold pressure and possibly cause the aforementioned problems.
Further, flow test data can provide information about the water supply system so that system managers can estimate the capabilities of water mains, such as flow rates, and plan system upgrades and expansions or determine the resistance to water or fluid flow in a fluid main. The latter resistance and flow velocity may be used by engineers, such as by coefficient factor (C-factor) testing, to determine if a main is plugging or becoming clogged. In this latter testing, flow velocity (V) is related to a flow coefficient (C) by the Hazen-Williams flow formula:
      V    =          1.318                              C                                (                          R              H                        )                          0.63                                    (          S          )                0.54                  Where:                                V          =                                          flow velocity, ft/s                                                        C          =                                          flow coefficient                                                                    R            H                    =                                          hydraulic radius, ft                                                                                Note:                                                           R                H                                      =                                          1                /                4                                                          (                Di                )                                                                                for pipe flowing full or half full                                                                                S          =                                          hydraulic slope, ft/ft                                                                    D            i                    =                                          pipe inside diameter, ft                              Also,
      Q    =          0.006756                                              CD        i        2.63                          f        0.54                  Where:                                Q          =                                          flow rate, gal/min                                                        C          =                                          flow coefficient                                                                    D            i                    =                                          pipe inside diameter, in                                                                    f            =                                                                  head loss, ft of                                                                                H                2                                          O                                            /1000 ft                                                                                f            =                                                            0.2083                                                        [                                          100                      C                                        ]                                                  1.85                                                                            Q                  1.85                                                  D                  i                  4.86                                                                                Where:                                                        f          =                                                        friction loss, ft of                                                                                H              2                                    O                                      /1000 ft                                                                    C          =                                          flow coefficient                                                        Q          =                                          flow rate, gal/min                                                                    D            i                    =                                          pipe inside diameter, in
Flow rate (e.g., gal/minutes) from a hydrant is related to the flow coefficient C and pressures in the systems as follows:
      Q    =          0.442                    D        i        2.63                                    C                                [                                                            P                  1                                -                                  P                  2                                            L                        ]                          0.54                  Where:                                Q          =                                          flow rate, gal/min                                                                    D            i                    =                                          pipe inside diameter, in                                                        C          =                                          flow coefficient                                                                    P            1                    ,                                    P              2                        =                                                  gauge pressures, psi                                                                    L          =                                          pipe length, ft
Hydrant flow characteristics can affect decisions as to what fire protection and fire resistance features are required for areas of new developments, and where priorities should be placed with respect to upgrading older, smaller water mains. Such testing can indicate systemic weaknesses such as main clogging, failing water mains such as when residual pressures imposed upon water mains become too high by pulling water from the main at a flow hydrant, and compromised valves.
Testing is typically conducted on a periodic basis, since water supply systems are constantly being affected by changing conditions, including improvements to the system, deterioration of parts of the system, and changes in usage of the system, etc. The testing of hydrants in a water supply system may follow the requirements of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) No. 291, entitled “First Flow Testing and Marking of Hydrants”. In general, the testing of hydrants in a municipal water supply system where the testing is directed to flow rates and the effect thereof. These tests involve the measurement of static pressure, residual pressure and pitot pressure with respect to the subject hydrant being tested (a test hydrant). C-factor testing may only involve measuring or determining flow velocity simultaneously with residual pressure and calculating resistance to fluid flow using other known characteristics of the system. However, the procedures of both of these tests are not performed only at the subject hydrant being tested, but also at another hydrant on the same water supply system as the subject test hydrant. This testing provides an accurate idea of the subject hydrant's individual characteristics and efficiency as well as other characteristics of the system such as a flow coefficient. More specifically, as to flow characteristics which involve the effect of flow rate on a system, static pressure and then residual pressure are measured at the subject test hydrant, while pitot pressure is measured in a flow of water at a proximate location on the water supply system, such as a fire hydrant (the “flow hydrant”) downstream or adjacent to the subject hydrant being tested on the water supply system (adjacent especially in the case of determining the effect of flow rate on residual pressure, or other access points to the water flow, even from a nearby residential water service). In the latter circumstance when determining the effect of flow rate on residual pressure, because the water in the supply system is flowing at the proximate or adjacent flow hydrant, measurements taken at the subject test hydrant are substantially isolated from effects such as friction loss, and the measurements of these characteristics is thus more accurate.
It will be noted that although the hydrants are proximate or adjacent to each other in the water supply system, the hydrants are typically widely separated in a geographic sense, and personnel are usually stationed at each of the hydrants to conduct the testing.
Just as significant as the physical separation of the subject test hydrant and the proximate flow hydrant is the temporal requirements of the testing. More specifically, while the static pressure is typically measured at the subject test hydrant in testing involving flow rate and the effects thereof just prior to opening the proximate flow hydrant to flow water from the system, the measurement of pitot pressure at the proximate flow hydrant and residual pressure at the subject test hydrant must occur simultaneously or substantially simultaneously. Substantially simultaneously means that errors caused by not precisely temporally linking the determined residual pressure with a determined flow rate using pitot pressure should not exceed 10% and preferably not more than 5% and even more preferably not more than 1%.
In the past systems, methods and apparatuses used in flow rate, flow velocity or C-factor testing, one person alone has not been able to accurately conduct these tests because of the geographical and temporal requirements of these tests. Whether involving flow rate testing or flow velocity used in C-factor testing, in the past at least two persons have been required to take action at each hydrant, the test hydrant and flow hydrant. Thus, the expense of the testing process is increased by the personnel costs. Also, the simultaneous timing of the measurements has not been always reliable, as clocks must be synchronized and/or the testing personnel must communicate the exact time of the taking of the measurement, once the proximate hydrant valve has been fully opened and the pressure in the water main has stabilized. Communication of this timing is thus often performed verbally by the personnel over a portable radio system. Also, there is rarely, if ever, any independent verification of the simultaneous timing of the taking of these measurements.
Testing equipment which monitors pressure at fire hydrants are known where a hydrant pressure measuring device and recorder are attached to a hydrant being tested for static and residual pressure as well as attached to a hydrant which is permitted to flow and flow rate is determined. In these systems a hand held computer or personal digital assistant is configured to download pressure or flow data being measured at each hydrant. Clocks in each unit on each hydrant are carefully synchronized so that data being measured at each hydrant can be correlated and the effect of fluid flow at a flow rate at a flow hydrant can be seen on a residual pressure on a test hydrant. There is no communication between the devices on each hydrant to assure that the collected data concerning a pitot pressure and/or flow rate will directly correlate to a residual pressure being measured at a test hydrant. Moreover, for these types of devices to work, their clocks at each hydrant have to be carefully and precisely synchronized.
Further increasing the expense and complication of the testing are situations where more than one hydrant needs to be opened to achieve a desirable drop in residual pressure approaching 25 percent from the static pressure. This adds to the personnel expense and complication to the timing of the opening of the hydrants.
In the fire-fighting situation, where it is desirable to monitor the pressure in the water supply system and the effect on such pressure of a flow rate from a flow hydrant, an additional fire fighter or municipal employee must be stationed at a hydrant proximate to the flow hydrant from which water is being drawn in order to monitor the residual pressure in the supply system. This situation thus also requires additional personnel simply to monitor flow conditions in the supply system. In fire fighting situations, the term “fire flow” is sometimes used. As discussed herein, fire flow means the rate at which water may be drawn from the system (such as gallons per minute) without the residual pressure dropping below 20 psi.
It is also desirable to coordinate the opening of the proximate hydrant (or the downstream hydrant in the case of C-factor testing) and the taking of pressure and flow readings in order to minimize the time that the flow hydrant is opened. This minimizes the amount of water that flows from the proximate or downstream flow hydrant, and thereby minimizes the amount of water that is wasted and that needs to be disposed of.
Using the static, pitot, and residual pressure measurements, the flow rate in gallons per minute may be calculated using the formula:
  Q  =      29.83                                cd      2                  p
where Q=observed flow, c=coefficient, d=outlet diameter, p=pitot pressure.
The available flow may be calculated, subject to some qualifications, using the formula:
      Q    R    =            Q      F        ×                  h        r        0.54                    h        f        0.54                            where Qr=observed flow, hr is the drop in pressure from the static pressure to the desired residual baseline and hf is the drop in psi from static pressure to the actual residual pressure that was measured during the test.
Due to the accuracy required in making the measurements, and the labor intensive nature of the taking of the measurements over sometimes long distances, it is believed that there is needed a system for administering and recording data relative to flow testing for the effect of flow rate on residual pressure or for C-factor testing involving flow velocity and conducting these tests in a manner that is able to increase the accuracy of and decrease the personnel needed for such tests. These measurements not only include measurements of static and residual pressures, determination of flow rates and flow velocities such as from measuring pitot pressure, but also include identifying specific geographical locations of test and flow hydrants using a global positioning system (GPS), correlating the data to record the location of each hydrant into a memory or storage device and associating the location of each hydrant with the data taken at each hydrant. Hence, there is not only a need for making measurements concerning hydrants and valves with devices which “talk” to each other via wireless communications, but also geographically map the hydrants or valve system and associate the measurements taken as to the hydrant or valve with a position on the geographical map.


The present invention relates to a polar transmitter, and more particularly, to an amplitude modulation circuit in a polar transmitter and a method for calibrating the amplitude offset in the polar transmitter.
Conventional polar transmitters have already been disclosed and discussed in various literatures such as U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060089111, whose content is incorporated herein by reference. Furthermore, in transmission systems in which a combined AM and PM signal is used in a power control loop having a wide range of power output levels and to meet strict GSM/enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) spectral emissions limitations, a high level of precision is typically required when converting the amplitude modulated portion of the transmit signal from the digital domain to the analog domain. This typically requires a DAC having 11-bit resolution, and when a larger cover range for the DC offset is required in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060089111, it has to use a DAC having higher resolution such as 12-bit or 13-bit. However, such a DAC is costly to implement, both with respect to area on the circuit and power consumption. For example, the 12-bit DAC has twice larger area than the 11-bit DAC.


1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to the processing of a C3 to C6 hydrocarbon cut from a cracking process, such as steam or fluid catalytic cracking, primarily for conversion of C4 olefins to propylene via metathesis.
2. Background
In typical olefin plants, such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,223,895, there is a front-end demethanizer for the removal of methane and hydrogen followed by a deethanizer for the removal of ethane, ethylene and C2 acetylene. The bottoms from this deethanizer tower consist of a mixture of compounds ranging in carbon number from C3 to C6. This mixture may be separated into different carbon numbers, typically by fractionation.
The C3 cut, primarily propylene, is removed as product and is ultimately used for the production of polypropylene or for chemical synthesis such as propylene oxide, cumene, or acrylonitrile. The methyl acetylene and propadiene (MAPD) impurities must be removed either by fractionation or hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is preferred since some of these highly unsaturated C3 compounds end up as propylene thereby increasing the yield.
The C4 cut, consisting of C4 acetylenes, butadiene, iso- and normal butenes, and iso- and normal butane can be processed in many ways. A typical steam cracker C4 cut contains the following components in weight %:
TABLE 1Typical C4 cut components and weight percentages.C4 AcetylenesTraceButadiene33%1-butene15%2-butene 9%Isobutylene30%Iso- and Normal Butanes13%The components in a refinery or FCC based C4 cut are similar, with the exception that the percentage of paraffins are considerably greater.
Typically, the butadiene and C4 acetylenes are removed first. This can be accomplished by either hydrogenation or extraction. The product from butadiene and C4 acetylene removal is designated Raffinate I. If extraction is employed, the remaining 1-butene and 2-butene remain essentially in the same ratio as that of the initial feedstock. If hydrogenation is employed, the initial product from butadiene hydrogenation is 1-butene. Subsequently, hydroisomerization occurs within the same reaction system changing the 1-butene to 2-butene. The extent of this reaction depends upon catalyst and reaction conditions within the hydrogenation system. However, it is common practice to limit the extent of hydroisomerization in order to avoid “over hydrogenation” and the production of butanes from butenes. This would represent a loss of butene feedstock for downstream operations. The butenes remaining in the mixture consist of normal olefins (1-butene, 2-butene) and iso-olefins (isobutylene). The balance of the mixture consists of both iso- and normal-butanes from the original feed plus what was produced in the hydrogenation steps and any small quantity of unconverted or unrecovered butadiene.
A Raffinate I stream can be further processed in many ways. A Raffinate II stream is by definition a stream following isobutylene removal. Isobutylene can be removed in a number of ways. It can be removed via fractionation. In fractionation isobutane will be removed along with the isobutylene. In addition, some fraction of the 1-butene will be lost as well. The resultant Raffinate II will contain primarily normal olefins and paraffins and minimal isoolefins and isoparaffins. Isobutylene can also be removed via reaction. Reactions include: reaction with methanol to form MTBE, reaction with water to form tertiary butyl alcohol, or reaction with itself to form a C8 gasoline component. In all reaction cases, the paraffins are not removed, and thus the mixture will contain both normal and iso-paraffins. The paraffin content and composition of the Raffinate II impacts downstream processing options.
The butenes have many uses. One such use is for the production of propylene via metathesis. Another is for the production of ethylene and hexene via metathesis. Conventional metathesis involves the reaction of normal butenes (both 1-butene and 2-butene) with ethylene (principally the reaction of 2-butene with ethylene to form propylene). These reactions occur in the presence of a group VIA or VIIA metal oxide catalyst, either supported or unsupported. The paraffin components of the reaction feed are essentially inert and do not react, and are typically removed from the process via a purge stream in the separation system that follows the metathesis reactor. Typical catalysts for metathesis are tungsten oxide supported on silica or rhenium oxide supported on alumina. Examples of catalysts suitable for the metathesis of olefins are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,683,019 and 6,420,619, for example. Isobutylene (isobutene) may be removed from the feedstock prior to the metathesis reaction step. The reaction of isobutylene with ethylene is non-productive and reaction with itself and/or other C4's is limited in the presence of excess ethylene. Non-productive reactions essentially occupy catalyst sites but produce no product. If allowed to remain in the feed to the metathesis unit, the concentration of this non-reactive species would build up creating capacity limitations. The reaction of 1-butene with ethylene is also non-productive. However, it is common to employ a double bond isomerization catalyst within the metathesis reactor to shift 1-butene to 2-butene and allow for continued reaction. Typical double bond isomerization catalysts include basic metal oxides (Group IIA), either supported or unsupported. Magnesium oxide and calcium oxide are examples of such double bond isomerization catalysts that may be physically admixed with the metathesis catalyst. No equivalent co-catalyst exists for the skeletal isomerization of isobutylene to normal butene. In the case of a conventional metathesis system employing both a metathesis catalyst and a co-mixed double bond isomerization catalyst, the butadiene must be removed to a level of less than 500 ppm to avoid rapid fouling of the double bond isomerization catalyst. The metathesis catalyst itself can tolerate butadiene levels up to 10,000 ppm.
In some cases, an isobutylene removal step is employed prior to metathesis. Options include reacting it with methanol to produce methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) or separating the isobutylene from the butenes by fractionation. U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,482 discloses the removal of isobutylene from the C4 mixture prior to metathesis. This scheme is further reflected in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,075,173 and 5,898,091. U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,009 discloses a process for the production of propylene and hexene from a limited ethylene fraction. For molar ratios of ethylene to butenes (expressed as n-butenes) from 0.05 to 0.60, the inventors utilize a Raffinate II stream as the C4 feedstock.
The typical metathesis process takes the Raffinate I feedstock and removes the majority of the isobutylene via fractionation, as described above to form a Raffinate II. In this step, the isobutene is removed as well plus some quantities of normal butenes, dependent upon the fractionation conditions. The Raffinate II is then admixed with ethylene, passed through guard beds to remove poisons, vaporized and preheated and fed to the metathesis reactors. The operating conditions are typically 300° C. and 20 to 30 bar pressure. The reactor effluent following heat recovery is then separated in a fractionation system. First the ethylene is recovered overhead in a first tower and recycled to the reactor system. The tower bottoms are then sent to a second tower where the propylene is recovered overhead. A side draw is taken containing the majority of the unconverted C4 components and recycled to the reactor. The tower bottoms containing the C5 and heavier products plus C4 olefins and paraffins are sent to purge. The purge rate is typically fixed to contain sufficient C4 paraffins to avoid their buildup in the reactor recycle stream. In some cases, a third tower is employed on the tower bottoms stream to separate the C4 components overhead and the C5 and heavier components as a bottoms stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,430 discloses a two-step process for the production of propylene. The first step consists of reacting 1-butene and 2-butene in a raffinate II stream in an auto-metathesis reaction to form propylene and 2-pentene. The products are then separated in the second step. The third step reacts specifically the 2-pentene with ethylene to form propylene and 1-butene. This process utilizes the isobutylene free raffinate II stream. The pentenes recycled and reacted with ethylene are normal pentenes (2-pentene).
Isobutylene removal from the C4 stream can also be accomplished by employing a combined catalytic distillation hydroisomerization deisobutyleneizer system to both remove the isobutylene and recover n-butenes at high efficiency by isomerizing the 1-butene to 2-butene with known isomerization catalysts and thus increasing the volatility difference. This technology combines conventional fractionation for isobutylene removal with hydroisomerization within a catalytic distillation tower. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,780 to Arganbright, 2-butene is hydroisomerized to 1-butene as the fractionation occurs. This allows greater than equilibrium amounts of 1-butene to be formed as the mixture is separated. Similarly, 1-butene can be hydroisomerized to 2-butene in a catalytic distillation tower. In separating a C4 stream containing isobutylene, 1-butene, and 2-butene (plus paraffins), it is difficult to separate isobutylene from 1-butene since their boiling points are very close. By employing simultaneous hydroisomerization of the 1-butene to 2-butene with fractionation of isobutylene, isobutylene can be separated from the normal butenes at high efficiency.
The metathesis reaction described above is equimolar, i.e., one mole of ethylene reacts with 1 mole of 2-butene to produce 2 moles of propylene. However, commercially, in many cases, the quantity of ethylene available is limited with respect to the quantity of butenes available. In addition, the ethylene is an expensive feedstock and it is desired to limit the quantities of ethylene used. As the ratio of ethylene to butenes is decreased, there is a greater tendency for the butenes to react with themselves which reduces the overall selectivity to propylene.
The metathesis catalysts and the double bond isomerization catalysts are quite sensitive to poisons. Poisons include water, CO2, oxygenates (such as MTBE), sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, and heavy metals. It is common practice to employ guard beds upstream of the metathesis reaction system to insure the removal of these poisons. It does not matter if these guard beds are directly before the metathesis reaction system or further upstream as long as the poisons are removed and no new poisons are subsequently introduced.
Metathesis reactions are very sensitive to the location of the olefin double bond and the stereo-structure of the individual molecules. During the reaction, the double bond on each pair of olefins adsorb on the surface and exchange double bond positions with the carbon groups on either sides of the double bonds. Metathesis reactions can be classified as productive, half productive or non-productive. As described above, non-productive reactions result in essentially no reaction taking place. When the double bonds shift with metathesis reaction, the new molecules are the same as the originally adsorbed molecules thus no productive reaction occurs. This is typical for reactions between symmetric olefins or reactions between ethylene and alpha olefins. If fully productive reactions occur, new products are generated no matter which orientation the molecules occupy the sites. The reaction between ethylene and 2-butene to form two propylene molecules is a fully productive reaction. Half productive reactions are sterically inhibited. If the pair of olefins adsorb in one orientation (typically the cis position with respect to the attached R groups), when the double bonds shift, new products are formed. Alternately if they adsorb in a different steric configuration (the trans position), when the bonds shift, the identical olefins are formed and thus no new products are formed. The various metathesis reactions proceed at different rates (a fully productive reaction is usually faster than a half productive reaction). Table 2 summarizes the reactions between ethylene and various butenes and the reactions between the butenes themselves.
The reactions listed in Table 2 represent the base reaction with ethylene (reaction 1, 4 and 5) as well as the reactions between the various C4 olefins. It is especially important to make a distinction between the selectivity to propylene from total C4 olefins (including isobutylene) and the selectivity to propylene from the normal C4 olefins involved in the reaction. The reaction of isobutylene with 2-butene (reaction 6) produces propylene and a branched C5 molecule. For this reaction, propylene is produced at 50 molar % selectivity from total C4's (similar to reaction 2) but at a 100 molar % selectivity from the normal C4 (2-butene). For the purposes of definitions, conventional metathesis is defined as the reaction of the C4 olefin stream with ethylene. However, the C4 stream can also react in the absence of ethylene as a feedstock. This reaction is called auto or self metathesis. In this case, reactions 2, 3, 6, and 7 are the only possible reactions and will occur at rates dependent upon the feedstock composition.
TABLE 2Molar %Molar %SelectivitySelectivity(C3H6 from(C3H6 fromNo.ReactionTypeRatetotal C4s)n-C4s)12-butene + ethylene →FullyFast1001002 propyleneProductive(Conventional Metathesis)21-butene + 2-butene →FullyFast5050Propylene + 2-penteneProductive31-butene + 1-butene →HalfSlow00Ethylene + 3-hexeneProductive4Isobutylene + Ethylene →Non-No——No reactionproductiveReaction51-butene + ethylene →Non-NoNo reactionproductiveReaction6Isobutylene + 2-butene →FullyFast50100Propylene + 2-methyl 2-buteneProductive7Isobutylene + 1-butene →HalfSlow00ethylene + 2-methyl 2 penteneproductive
In conventional metathesis, the focus is to maximize reaction 1 to produce propylene. This will maximize the selectivity to propylene. As such, excess ethylene is used to reduce the extent of the reactions of butenes with themselves (reactions 2, 3, 6, and 7). The theoretical ratio is 1/1 molar or 0.5 weight ratio of ethylene to n-butenes but it is common in conventional metathesis to employ significantly greater ratios, typically, 1.3 or larger molar ratio to minimize reactions 2, 3, 6 and 7. Under conditions of excess ethylene, and due to the fact that both isobutylene and 1-butene do not react with ethylene (see reactions 4 and 5), two process sequences are employed. First, the isobutylene is removed prior to metathesis. If isobutylene is not removed, it will build up as the n-butenes are recycled to achieve high yield. Second, 1-butene is isomerized to 2-butene by including a double bond isomerization catalyst such as magnesium oxide admixed with the metathesis catalyst. Note that this catalyst will not cause skeletal isomerization (isobutylene to normal butylenes) but only shift the double bond from the 1 position to the 2 position for the normal butenes. Thus by operating with excess ethylene, eliminating isobutylene from the metathesis feed prior to reaction, and employing a double bond isomerization catalyst, reaction 1 is maximized. Note, however, that by removing the isobutylene, potential production of propylene or other products is lost.
When there is limited or no fresh ethylene (or excess butylenes for the ethylene available), there are currently two options available for propylene production. In these cases, the first option will first remove the isobutylene and then process the normal butenes with whatever ethylene is available. The entire n-butenes-only mixture is subjected to metathesis with the available ethylene. Ultimately, if there is no fresh ethylene available, the C4's react with themselves (auto metathesis). Under low ethylene conditions, reactions 2, 3, 6 and 7 will occur, all leading to a lower propylene selectivity (50% or lower versus 100% for reaction 1). The lower selectivity results in lower propylene production. Note that reactions 6 and 7 will be minimized as a result of the removal of isobutylene (to low levels but not necessarily zero). Alternately, the molar flows of ethylene and butenes can be matched by limiting the flow of butenes to produce conditions where there is a high selectivity of the normal butenes to propylene via reaction 1. By limiting the flow of n-butenes to match ethylene, the production of propylene is limited by the reduced butenes flow.
Pentenes and some hexenes are formed to some extent in the conventional metathesis case with low ethylene via reactions 2 and 3. The volume of these components will depend upon the ethylene/n-butenes ratio with a lower ratio producing more C5 and C6 components. In the conventional prior art case where isobutylene is removed before any metathesis, these C5 and C6 olefins are normal olefins since no skeletal isomerization occurs. It is possible to recycle these olefins back to the metathesis step where, for example, the reaction with ethylene and 2-pentene will occur yielding propylene and 1-butene. The 1-butene is recovered and recycled. Note however, with limited ethylene, reaction 1 can occur only to the limit of the ethylene availability. Ultimately these non-selective byproducts, pentenes and hexenes, must be purged from the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,582 discloses a process for the auto-metathesis of olefins to produce propylene and hexene. Therein, auto-metathesis of a mixed normal butenes feed in the presence of a metathesis catalyst operates without any ethylene in the feed mix to the metathesis reactor. Some fraction of the 2-butene feed may be isomerized to 1-butene and the 1-butene formed plus the 1-butene in the feed react rapidly with the 2-butene to form propylene and 2-pentene. The feed to the reactor also includes the recycle of the 2-pentene formed in the reactor with unreacted butenes to simultaneously form additional propylene and hexene. The 3-hexene formed in the reaction may be isomerized to 1-hexene.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,396, ethylene and hexene-1 are produced from butene-1 by metathesis of butene-1 and isomerization of the hexene-3 produced therein to hexene-1. The initial starting material is a mixed butene stream wherein butene-1 is isomerized to butene-2 with isobutylene being separated therefrom, followed by isomerization of butene-2 to butene-1, with the butene-1 being the feed to the metathesis.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,841, the C4 cut from a hydrocarbon cracking process is first subjected to auto-metathesis prior to any isobutylene removal and without any ethylene addition, favoring the reactions which produce propylene and pentenes. The ethylene and propylene produced are then removed leaving a stream of the C.sub.4's and heavier components. The C.sub.5 and heavier components are then removed leaving a mixture of 1-butene, 2-butene, isobutylene, and iso- and normal butanes. The isobutylene is next removed preferably by a catalytic distillation hydroisomerization de-isobutyleneizer. The isobutylene-free C4 stream is then mixed with the product ethylene removed from the auto-metathesis product together with any fresh external ethylene needed and subjected to conventional metathesis producing additional propylene.
Another use of the C4 olefin stream is as a feedstock to an olefin cracking process, where the olefins are reacted with themselves over a zeolitic catalyst to produce a mixture comprising ethylene, propylene, and aromatics (such as benzene). Similar to the metathesis process, the paraffins are inert in this cracking process and must be removed from the process via a purge stream. U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,117 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20050080307 both describe such a process. A mixture of typically C4 to C6 olefins as well as paraffins is vaporized and fed to a reactor filled with a crystalline zeolitic catalyst and operating at a temperature between 450 and 600° C. and a pressure between 10 and 70 psia. The reactor effluent is first sent to a compression step. The cracking reactor system operates at relatively low pressure to avoid fouling of the catalyst in the cracking reactor. In order to reduce the energy costs due to refrigeration in the subsequent separation system, the pressure is typically increased to pressures on the order of 12 to 25 barg. This allows the subsequent fractionating towers to utilize cooling water instead of refrigeration in the overhead condensation step. The compression effluent is then sent to a separation system where the ethylene and propylene are recovered along with an aromatics stream. The ethylene and propylene is recovered overhead in a first tower. Unlike metathesis, these products contain sufficient quantities of ethane and propane that additional purification of this stream is necessary. This can be accomplished by additional fractionation or by utilizing the recovery system of an adjacent facility such as an olefins plant. The tower bottoms contains C4, C5 and C6+ paraffins and aromatics. This is sent to a second tower. The overhead is a C4/C5 stream and the highly aromatic C6+ stream is the bottoms product. The unconverted C4 and C5 products are typically recycled. The cracking process can handle both iso and normal olefins with equivalent efficiency. There is no need to remove isobutylene for example from the feed to maximize propylene production.
The isomerization and metathesis of olefins in the above-described processes currently utilizes two catalysts. For example, WO3/SiO2 catalyst may perform the metathesis reaction and MgO catalysts may perform the olefin isomerization reaction. The MgO catalyst also serves a reactive guard bed, which prevents the adsorption of poisons onto the WO3/SiO2 (metathesis) catalyst, and, therefore, prolongs its cycle length.
The two-catalyst system typically consists of a physical mixture of two catalysts. One is a tabletted MgO and the other is a silica supported WO3 in the form of granules. The MgO catalyst is present to act both as a reactive guard bed and to provide isomerization of 1-butene to 2-butene for the reaction of 2-butene with ethylene to ultimately form two propylene molecules. These catalysts, when loaded as a (MgO: WO/SiO2) bed with a part upper MgO bed, or an overall (MgO: WO/SiO2) mixed bed, present several issues. For example, the MgO is subject to significant sintering and loss of surface area over catalyst regenerations; the loss of surface area results in loss of MgO activity for both isomerization and as an adsorbent of poisons. As another example, the mixed co-catalyst system may be subject to uneven mixing, bed non-uniformity, flow channeling, and uneven temperature distribution in the bed, which also further affects catalyst performance. Additionally, the reactive effectiveness of a physical mixture on a kinetic basis is lower than a single catalyst where the functionality is in close proximity.
As described above, there is considerable interest in the processing of C4, C5, and heavier olefin streams to produce lighter olefins, such as propylene. Accordingly, there exists a significant need for catalysts and processes that may result in the efficient isomerization and metathesis of linear butenes for the production of high purity propylene from such olefin-containing streams at low cost and low energy.


In a wireless cellular communication system, one or multiple Downlink (DL) Common Reference Signals (CRSs) may be used for channel measurements, or for coherent demodulation and channel measurements, for a mobile terminal in a given cell. A mobile terminal is also denoted as a User Equipment (UE) in some wireless communication systems. Each CRS defines a so-called antenna port in a given cell and a common way to implement antenna ports is to associate an antenna port with a physical transmit antenna.
The Reference Signals (RSs) of different antenna ports should be orthogonal to each other to allow interference-free identification of corresponding propagation channel coefficients, i.e. the propagation channel from each transmit antenna to each receive antenna. The RSs are usually cell-specific to minimize interference between RSs in different cells. Without loss of generality, antenna ports are defined by CRS or cell-specific CRS throughout this document. Cell specific CRS implies that they are used by multiple UEs in a cell to measure the channel from each antenna port. Antenna ports may also be user specific, which means that they are used for measurements and/or demodulation by a specific single UE.
The CRSs are transmitted on exclusively reserved resources of a cell, such as time and frequency Resource Elements (RE), codes, etc. Data is not transmitted on these reserved resources to avoid interference with RSs, which would hamper the estimation of the channel propagation coefficients from that antenna port.
In order to be able to use DL CRSs properly and to perform standard communication with a base station, such as a eNB, the number of antenna ports used for DL channel measurements and/or DL transmission is very important information that a UE needs to know. After a UE obtain information about the number of antenna ports used in a cell, the UE will know which transmission mode is used for each physical channel, and which resources that are used for data transmission and which that are used for DL CRS. This is important information to avoid that received data is punctured by CRSs, since if a UE is not aware of all CRSs in radio resources, it will assume reception of data on those resources where there actually is a CRS transmission, and this will degrade the performance of data reception due to the interference from the CRSs.
Furthermore, knowing the number of CRSs is also important to measure multiple channels using CRSs and to detect physical channels, etc. In the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Release-8 (Rel-8) standard, the information about number of antenna ports is embedded in the signal transmitted on a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). After successful cell search procedure, the UE will obtain time and frequency synchronization with a cell, as well as the cell Identity (ID) of the cell; and then the UE begins to detect the PBCH to obtain cell-specific information and the number of antenna ports.
In the LTE Rel-8 standard, three types of cell-specific CRSs are supported defining: one, two and four antenna ports (3GPP TS 36.211 v8.4.0). The number of antenna ports in a cell decides the maximum number of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transmission layers supported by a eNB in said cell. For instance, if there are four antenna ports in a cell, up to four MIMO layers transmission can be supported by the eNB. The information about the number of antenna ports is embedded into the signal transmitted on the PBCH by using different Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks to indicate the number of antenna ports. As a UE has no prior information about the number of used antenna ports in a cell, i.e. the used CRC mask of the transport block of the PBCH, the UE has to make blind detection of that information, which means that it has to check all possible CRC masks and select the mask that is the most probable conditioned on the received PBCH signal.
The operation of embedding information about the number of antenna ports into PBCH at transmitter and the corresponding blind detection of PBCH at receiver for a LTE Rel-8 system will be described in the following.
Firstly, at the transmitter, the entire transport block bits of PBCH a0, a1, . . . aA-1 is used to calculate the CRC parity bits p0, p1, . . . pL-1, where A is the size of the transport block (i.e. the number of information bits) and L is the number of CRC parity bits which is set to 16 in the LTE Rel-8 standard. Secondly, according to the antenna port configuration of the cell, the CRC parity bits are scrambled by a sequence having length 16, x0n, x1n, . . . x15n corresponding to a number of antenna ports n, where n=1, 2 or 4. After scrambling, the masked CRC parity bits will be c0, c1, . . . c15, where ci=(pi+xin) mod 2, i=0, 1, . . . , 15. The mapping relation between the three scrambling sequences and the number of antenna ports according to the LTE standard is shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1CRC mask sequences for PBCH in LTE Rel-8Number ofantenna portsCRC mask sequences1<0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0>2<1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1>4<0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1>
Then, the masked CRC parity bits are attached to the tail of the transport block bits of the PBCH to obtain the information bits to be transmitted as a0, a1, . . . , aA-1, c0, c1, . . . c15.
Finally, a set of operations including channel coding, rate matching, modulation and resources mapping are performed on the information bits a0, a1, . . . , aA-1, c0, c1, . . . c15.
In the case of one antenna port, the modulation symbols are directly mapped to the reserved resources on antenna port 0; in the case of two antenna ports, a transmit diversity scheme known as Space Frequency Block Coding (SFBC) is performed on the modulation symbols, and the output of the SFBC is mapped to the reserved resources on antenna port 0 and 1, respectively; in the case of four antenna ports, SFBC combined with Frequency Switching Transmit Diversity (FSTD) is performed on the modulation symbols, and the output of SFBC+FSTD is mapped to the reserved resources on antenna port 0, 1, 2 and 3, respectively. It should be observed from the above description that the information about the number of antenna ports is implicitly embedded into the PBCH.
At the receiver, the corresponding inverse operations to find the number of antenna ports are done by a UE who is accessing to the cell. As the UE knows that there are three hypothesises possible regarding the number of antenna ports (i.e. one, two or four antenna ports) the UE performs blind detection of the PBCH, which is illustrated in FIG. 1. In the procedure of blind detection, SFBC or SFBC+FSTD decoding, demodulation, channel decoding and CRC detection are all standard operations, so the details of them will not be further described, but the operation of removing the CRC mask will be explained in the following disclosure.
Assuming that the output of channel decoding is â0, â1, . . . , âA-1, ĉ0, ĉ1, . . . ĉ15, where the last 16 bits of information ĉ0, ĉ1, . . . ĉ15 are the CRC parity bits scrambled with a CRC mask corresponding to information about the number of antenna ports, as mentioned above. When blind detection of the PBCH is performed, the CRC parity bits are de-scrambled with an assumed CRC mask (i.e. removing the CRC mask) in the following way:{tilde over (c)}i=(ĉi+xin)mod 2where i=0, 1, . . . , 15;                n is the number of antenna ports,        xin is the defined CRC mask corresponding to n antenna ports
If the assumed CRC mask is the same as the actual CRC mask used at transmitter, the above operation will completely remove the CRC mask embedded into CRC parity bits, and the probability of correct detection is increased.
As mentioned, in the LTE Rel-8 system up to four antenna ports can be supported on the DL. The LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system of Release 10 (Rel-10) and beyond are supposed to be an extension of LTE system in which up to eight layers transmission (possibly even more layers for releases beyond Rel-10) will be supported to further increase system performance, such as peak data rate, cell average spectrum efficiency, etc (3GPP TR 36.814 v1.0.0). In order to support up to eight layers transmission more antenna ports than the antenna ports supported in LTE Rel-8 must be defined in a LTE-A communication system.
In addition, to fulfil LTE-A backwards compatibility requirement, it should still be possible for a LTE-A cell to also serve LTE UEs. In order to enable LTE UEs to operate in a LTE-A system, the antenna ports defined in LTE should also be supported in a LTE-A system, i.e. n number of LTE CRSs should also exist in a LTE-A system, where n=1, 2 or 4; and LTE UEs use LTE CRSs for coherent demodulation and channel measurement as in the LTE system, while LTE-A UEs may also use these LTE CRS for demodulation of the control channels, such as PBCH and Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).
Hence, in a LTE-A system there will be a number of LTE antenna ports used for transmitting LTE data/control and/or LTE-A control information; in addition, it is also possible to define a number of additional antenna ports used only for supporting LTE-A data transmission. For all antenna ports in a LTE-A system, the new defined additional antenna ports are denoted as LTE-A antenna ports, and the number of LTE-A antenna ports could be zero. Therefore, a communication system which can serve both LTE UEs and LTE-A UEs is needed. Also, since the number of LTE and LTE-A antenna ports may be different in a LTE-A cell, a question is how to signal the existence of LTE-A antenna ports to LTE-A UEs in way that is transparent to the reception of the number of LTE antenna ports.
It is thus clear that a LTE-A eNB may need to enable additional CRSs (antenna ports) for measurements and/or demodulation compared to the antenna ports defined by LTE CRSs (i.e. n=1, 2 or 4). Up to eight additional antenna ports (CRSs) may be needed for LTE-A UEs in Rel-10. These additional CRSs are denoted Channel State Information-RSs (CSI-RSs). It is thus another question how to signal the number of LTE-A antenna ports or the number of CSI-RS to LTE-A UEs in way that is transparent to LTE UEs.
Therefore, a signalling method which is backwards compatible to enable LTE UEs to obtain the number of LTE antenna ports, while the signalling of LTE-A antenna ports should be transparent to LTE UEs is needed in the art.


Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor device, and particularly relates to a transistor structure.
Description of Related Art
The high voltage transistor device (such as lateral diffused metal-oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) etc.) is broadly applied to various integrated circuits (ICs). However, the charge and the electric field is easy to concentrate at the sharp edge or the sharp point of the high voltage transistor device, and thus the leakage current is occurred and the electrical performance is reduced.


In a typical personal computer, there exists a processor, a basic input-output system (BIOS), a main memory, and a hard drive that stores an operating system and one or more application programs. The BIOS usually takes the form of executable instructions stored on a read-only memory (ROM). During a regular boot-up process, the processor accesses and executes the instructions in the BIOS, and under direction of the BIOS, the processor implements the booting process. The BIOS causes the processor to perform some low-level setup functions to prepare the computer for regular operation. After the setup functions are performed, the BIOS causes the processor to load and execute the operating system stored on the hard drive. By doing so, the BIOS in effect transfers control from itself to the operating system. After the operating system is loaded and executed by the processor, the boot-up process is complete and the computer is ready for operation.
The ROM (read-only-memory) on which the BIOS resides (referred to hereinafter as the BIOS ROM) is typically quite small in size. Despite this small size, however, it has been observed that one or more auxiliary programs may be stored on the BIOS ROM. These auxiliary programs may be executed during the booting process prior to and even in lieu of the operating system on the hard drive to provide certain desired functionalities. An example of an auxiliary program is the self-contained browser disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/449,065 entitled “Self Contained Browser Architecture” filed on Nov. 24, 1999, which is now abandoned, the contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference. Auxiliary programs are generally self-contained, meaning that they comprise all of the components that they need to operate. As a result, they do not need the operating system on the hard drive to function. This can be quite advantageous because even if the hard drive fails or the operating system becomes corrupted, the auxiliary programs are not affected. They can still function. Hence, the auxiliary programs are impervious to many system failures.
Currently, auxiliary programs are executed, if at all, during the boot-up process prior to the transfer of control to the operating system. A mechanism for invoking an auxiliary program during a boot-up process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,082,526 entitled “Mechanism for Intuitively Invoking One or More Auxiliary Programs During A Computer Booting Process” filed on Mar. 14, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference. Once the operating system assumes control, however, the auxiliary programs typically can no longer be accessed. This means that if a user wishes to execute an auxiliary program after the operating system has already loaded and executed, the user has to reboot the computer. This can be an inconvenient and time-consuming process.


Opto-electronic devices that make use of organic materials are becoming increasingly desirable for a number of reasons. Many of the materials used to make such devices are relatively inexpensive, so organic opto-electronic devices have the potential for cost advantages over inorganic devices. In addition, the inherent properties of organic materials, such as their flexibility, may make them well suited for particular applications such as fabrication on a flexible substrate. Examples of organic opto-electronic devices include organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), organic phototransistors, organic photovoltaic cells, and organic photodetectors.
More details on OLEDs can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,279,704, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Various ways to deposit the organic materials used to fabricate organic devices are known, such as vacuum thermal evaporation, solution processing, organic vapor phase deposition, and organic vapor jet printing.


Airbags may be mounted within a vehicle and deployed so as to prevent a vehicle occupant from impact with a vehicular structure during a collision event. Some airbags suffer from one or more drawbacks or may perform less than optimally in one or more respects. Certain embodiments disclosed herein can address one or more of these issues.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a printer, and more particularly to a printer which makes a print by scanning a sheet of photo-sensitive material with a beam of light emitted from a light source of light emitting diodes, or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a conventional printer which makes a print by scanning a sheet on which a photo-sensitive material is applied (hereinafter referred to as a photo-sensitive sheet) with a beam of light emitted from a light source of light emitting diodes (LED), or the like. In the conventional printer, for main scanning, a light beam from the LED light source is deflected by a scanning mirror which is oscillated by a cam mechanism so that the light beam can traverse the photo-sensitive sheet in the form of a line of light (hereinafter referred to as a line beam) in a main scanning direction. For sub-scanning, a unit (a stage) on which the photo-sensitive sheet is set (hereinafter referred to as a sub-scanning unit) is horizontally moved in a sub-scanning direction which is perpendicular to the main scanning direction so that the photo-sensitive sheet can be scanned with the line beam from the LED light source in the sub-scanning direction. Thus, the photo-sensitive sheet can be scanned with the light beam from the LED light source in both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and thereby an image is printed on the photo-sensitive sheet.
In the conventional printer, a face cam is used in the cam mechanism for oscillating the scanning mirror, and a cam follower is pressed against a cam face of the face cam by a biasing spring, so that the cam follower can follow the cam face of the face cam, which is rotated by a motor. This cam mechanism, however, has a problem in that a contact friction between the face cam and the cam follower and a load torque of the drive motor are great. Moreover, the load torque fluctuates according to the movement of the cam follower which moves up and down on the cam face of the face cam, and the fluctuation of the load torque has bad effects on the print. If the conventional printer using the cam mechanism makes a print at higher speed, the force of the biasing spring to press the cam follower must be increased in proportion to the square of the rate of revolution of the face cam, and the driving force of the diving motor must be increased in proportion to the cube of the rate of revolution of the face cam.
In the conventional printer, the scanning mirror is oscillated by the cam mechanism shown in FIG. 19, and a light beam in the form of a line in the main scanning direction is generated. As shown in FIG. 19, a swing pin 304 is attached to the end of a swing lever 302, and the swing pin 304 is biased against a face cam 300, which is rotated by a motor (not shown), by a biasing spring (not shown). A scanning mirror 306 is fixed to the swing lever 302. A light beam enters from the right side in FIG. 19, and is reflected downward by the scanning mirror 306. When the motor rotates the face cam 300, the swing lever 302 swings up and down, and the light beam changes its reflecting directions to the right and left to thereby generate a line beam.
In the conventional printer, the line beam in the main scanning direction falls on the photo-sensitive material while the sub-scanning unit, on which the photo-sensitive material is set, is moving in the sub-scanning direction as described above. Thus, the line beam which is reflected by the mirror 306 as shown in FIG. 20(A) describes forward (left to right) scanning lines and backward (right to left) scanning lines on the photo-sensitive sheet as shown in FIG. 20(B), and both scanning lines are inclined because the photo-sensitive sheet moves (upward in the drawing). For this reason, the forward and backward scanning lines cannot be parallel to one another, and the resolution of the print can be deteriorated. Hence, the conventional printer makes a print using only the forward scanning lines, and then the number of scanning lines is reduced by half. In this case, the quality of the print is lowered, and the quantity of light is poor. To solve these problems, there is a printer which uses a fast-forwarding mechanism to oscillate the scanning mirror, but there is a disadvantage that the printer shakes and makes noise.
In the conventional printer, if one motor drives the cam mechanism which oscillates the scanning mirror and the sub-scanning unit on which the photo-sensitive material is set, the cam mechanism oscillates the scanning mirror when the sub-scanning unit returns to the start printing position at a high speed after moving to make a print (for example, because the swing pin, which swings the scanning mirror, abuts on a cam member such as the face cam). Thus, a large load is applied to the motor, and the cam mechanism makes loud noise while rotating at a high speed.


In traditional metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices, high temperature nitridation before the high dielectric constant (k) deposition is needed to prevent bottom electrode oxidation during the high-k deposition. It is noted that a high dielectric constant (k) is above about 3.9.
The major concern is to eliminate native oxide and to increase capacitance. However, a high temperature anneal is not acceptable for embedded DRAM because logic performance will be degraded.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,115 B2 to Agarwal describes a capacitor electrode for integrating high-k materials (wherein high-k materials have a dielectric of greater than about 20).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,098 to Creighton et al. describes a method for deposition of a conductor in integrated circuits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,101 to Joshi describes low stress tungsten films by silicon reduction of WF6.


An ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) has been widely used in various commercial banks and for postal saving. The ATM operates in the 24-hour self-help manner, which brings people great convenience.
In an ATM automatic banknote adding system, all of cash recycling ATMs, cash deposit ATMs and banknote adding machines share a same kind of banknote boxes. The banknote box itself has an information memory for storing information on banknotes in the banknote box. Each banknote box has a physical ID number which is globally unique, so as to be able to distinguish from each other. The automatic banknote adding system may directly transmit a banknote box which is full of banknotes in a cash deposit ATM to a cash outputting ATM, and the cash outputting ATM automatically gets the information on the banknote in the banknote box, so as to automatically add banknotes. The banknote box may be changed at any moment at will between all banknote processing machines in the automatic banknote adding system, and information on each replacing banknote box is uploaded to a server of a bank through each ATM so as to record corresponding data, thus no man-made count is needed, so that the efficiency of processing banknote is greatly improved.
Presently, if an ATM is used for cash withdrawal, the ATM may send unqualified banknotes to a recovery part. However, information (including the number and face values of the banknotes) on the banknotes sent to the recovery part cannot be correctly determined. Therefore, it is impossible to accurately obtain the information on the residual banknotes in the banknote box.
For example, if a certain banknote is in an unqualified status such as an overlapped banknote or an adhesion banknote) when the banknote is output from a cash recycling ATM, it can be determined that the banknote is in the abnormal status by measuring the thickness or width, and thus the banknote is recovered. However, it is very difficult to determine the number of the recovered banknotes (taking the overlapped banknotes as an example, it is impossible to determine whether three or two banknotes are overlapped; and if there is adhesive substance on one banknote, the banknote may also be mistakenly determined as two banknotes). Therefore, it is unable to accurately track the information on the residual banknotes in the banknote box. To accurately obtain the information on banknotes in the banknote box is an important prerequisite for the ATM to automatically add banknotes.


Various proposals have been offered regarding the protection of vehicles against theft Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8(1996)-91176, for example, teaches an arrangement in which engine control means is provided that checks a key ID code against a reference ID and enables engine starting when the two are in a relationship defined beforehand, and the engine control means is connected with various drive/control means to be controlled by connectors having a unique shapes in accordance with the configuration thereof, whereby the connectors of an engine control means of another configuration and the connectors of the various drive/control means cannot be properly electrically connected.
However, this proposed system does not always function as an effective immobilizer because the engine can be easily started by obtaining another genuine engine control means whose ID code is known and replacing the engine control means installed in the vehicle.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a vehicle electronic control system with anti-theft capability and a method of controlling a vehicle engine which overcome this problem of the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling a vehicle engine capable of preventing vehicle theft.


The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a low viscosity alkyl toluene or alkyl xylene sulfonate.
Alkyl toluene and alkyl xylene sulfonates have utility as surfactants for use in enhanced oil recovery. However, these sulfonates are often highly viscous and therefore can be difficult to handle and transport except in highly dilute form. Since the selection of a particular surfactant which can be utilized in petroleum recovery techniques is based in part upon economic considerations, it would be advantageous to have a method for obtaining a low viscosity alkyl toluene or alkyl xylene sulfonate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,671 describes a low viscosity detergent acid mix containing alkyl benzene sulfonic acid which is prepared by sulfonating alkyl benzene in the presence of benzoic acid.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to expanding markets for products and services by making resource placement decisions in an objective manner, and deals more particularly with techniques for comparing one or more locations to a set of criteria that are directed toward identifying market strengths and weaknesses of the location(s) as part of an overall value chain.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many countries or localities represent an untapped or an emerging market for the sale and adoption of information technology (“IT”). Often, these same countries are simultaneously experiencing a high growth rate in the availability of skills supportive of IT. Connections between a company's business and marketing strategy (and its related decisions) and its resource placement strategy (and its related decisions) may be revealed by examining and understanding the value chain in which the company participates.
A value chain is defined as a sequence or network of transactions and mutually-beneficial relationships occurring between companies in the delivery of value to an end customer. Value chains have also been referred to as supply chains and value nets. Economists as far back as Adam Smith have described in great detail how value chains work, especially with regard to how such chains allow for and encourage specialization of business roles, and how they also drive more responsive business systems over time.
As an example, consider a simple value chain that corresponds to a hardware supply chain, wherein a wholesale hardware manufacturer supplies a hardware product directly to a retailer who in turn sells it to an end customer. The hardware manufacturer receives value from the retailer because the retailer enables the manufacturer's products to reach the marketplace; this link in the value chain provided by the retailer supports and sustains further orders for the products provided by the manufacturer, thereby causing an increase not only in the manufacturer's revenue but also in the revenue of the retailer. The retailer receives value from the hardware manufacturer in terms of obtaining products that will meet needs of customers in this marketplace. The end customer receives value from the retailer, who provides the customer with an opportunity to buy the needed product, and in turn, the retailer receives value from the customer from the sale of the products. Other benefits may also result, such as increased market presence or brand awareness, and so forth. Symbiotic relationships thus exist between entities in the value chain.
More complicated value chains, which may be recursive in some cases, are seen in the IT field. FIG. 1 illustrates representative entities in a sample IT-related value chain. A plurality of components 110 may be required in this particular chain, for example, and these components may be adapted for use with a plurality of operating systems 120. In the more general case, a number of entities (see, for example, reference number 130 in FIG. 1) may be involved in creating one or more IT solutions 140, which may be marketed through one or more distribution channels 150.
With these simple examples, it should be clear how companies become part of a value chain and also how they become dependent on both the upstream and downstream vitality and growth of other links in the chain. No company in a mature and free market is likely to own the entire chain of value. In fact, economists use the complexity of a value chain as one indicator of a market's (and a country's) economic maturity. It therefore follows that a company's ability to expand its market presence by delivering value to emerging and immature markets is influenced and limited by its ability to develop a rich and differentiated value net within these emerging markets.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide techniques that leverage a value chain analysis approach for determining optimal resource placement, particularly in emerging IT markets.


1. Field
The following description relates to an equal model conservation technique for a pipeline processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
An instruction is processed at several stages in a pipeline processor. For example, an instruction may be processed at a fetch stage, a decoding stage, an execution stage, and a write-back stage. In the pipeline processor, because a plurality of instructions sequentially pass through the individual stages of the pipeline while overlapping each during execution, programs can be processed at high speeds.
Examples of a pipeline processor include an equal model processor and a less-than-or-equal (LTE) processor. In the pipeline processor, a maximum latency may be set for each instruction. For example, a value of maximum latency for each instruction may depend on a processor type.
“Maximum latency” indicates a maximum time period for which an operation corresponding to each instruction is executed and the result of the execution is written in a target register. In the equal model processor, the result of the execution of an instruction is written in the target register after the set maximum latency elapses. Meanwhile, in the LTE model processor, the result of execution of an instruction may be written in the target register before set maximum latency elapses. Accordingly, the equal model processor allows flexible scheduling through multiple assignment of a target register because the result of the execution of an instruction is not written in the target register until maximum latency elapses. Alternatively, in the LTE model processor, because the result of execution of an instruction can be written in a target register before maximum latency elapses, multiple assignment of the target register is limited.


The invention relates to a runflat device for a motor vehicle, enabling a considerable distance to be traveled at relatively high speed with a tuneless tire that is partially or totally deflated.
In general, for fitting to civilian vehicles, runflat devices need to be suitable for being mounted on standard wheel rims, which means one-piece rims of the drop-center type.
Presently-known runflat devices are generally constituted by a rolling ring which is clamped around the rim of the wheel inside the tire. The ring is constituted either by a single, relatively flexible piece from which a splice has been removed, or else by at least two rigid pieces in the form of circular arcs or sectors. To mount the ring in a clamped configuration around the rim, it is necessary to provide assembly and clamping fastener means between the two free ends of the split ring or between the facing ends of the ring sectors. Assembly and clamping fastener means are rigid and they are constituted by mechanical elements such as nuts-and-bolts, for example.
Unfortunately, experience shows that it is such rigid fastener means that constitute the weak links in runflat devices (e.g. Due to fatigue phenomena). Furthermore, mounting a runflat device is an operation that requires the operator to be trained, in particular because of the small amount of space available for the tool that is required for clamping the ring onto the rim.
According to document FR-97/13618 in the name of the Applicant, the runflat device is made up in such a manner as to eliminate assembly and clamping fastener means. It comprises at least one open inner ring of relatively rigid material for mounting on the rim, and a continuous outer ring that is substantially in extensible and that is engaged on the inner ring so as to clamp it and fix it to the rim.
In an improvement disclosed in document FR-98/04225, likewise in the name of the Applicant, the ring is made up of three pieces, namely: two first annular pieces that are open at respective slices and that are designed to be mounted one on the other around the rim, and a third annular piece that is continuous and coaxial about the two preceding pieces, said third piece serving to clamp the system built up in this way onto the rim.
An object of the invention is specifically to avoid problems associated with assembly and clamping fastener means between the two free ends of a ring or between sectors of a ring.
To this end, the invention provides a runflat device for a motor vehicle, the device comprising a ring for mounting inside a tire on a one-piece non-standard wheel rim that presents a drop center, an inner flange and an outer flange, said ring being made as at least two sectors each having a radially inner zone and a radially outer zone, wherein the sectors of the ring are independent of one another, and wherein each sector is fixed to the rim via its radially inner zone.
In general, the radially inner zone of each sector of the ring is terminated by a circularly actuate footing designed to bear against the bottom of the drop center, and said footing presents an inner lateral flange and an outer lateral flange, the inner flange being received in a lateral groove in the drop center while the outer flange matches the profile of the drop center and cooperates with the means for fixing the sector of the ring on the rim.
In the invention, each sector of the ring is secured to the wheel rim by means of screws or by means of a clamping belt.
In a first embodiment of the invention, fixing screws are used which pass through the outer flange of the footing of each sector of the ring and penetrate into tapped blind holes formed in the thickness of the wheel rim from the bottom of the drop center.
Advantageously, the tapped blind holes are machined obliquely in the thickness of the rim to facilitate screw-fitting operations.
In a second embodiment of the invention, fixing screws are used which pass through tapped holes machined laterally through the rim and opening out into the drop center so as to bear in clamped manner against the outside faces of the sectors of the ring.
In addition, the inner flanges of the footings of the sectors of the ring bear against an O-ring placed in the lateral groove of the drop center and designed to accommodate the lateral tolerances of the various parts of the assembly, while each fixing screw has an enlarged head which bears against the rim via a sealing ring.
In a third embodiment of the invention, the means for fixing the sectors of the ring on the rim are constituted by a clamping belt which surrounds the outer flanges of the sectors of the ring.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to processor-based systems, and, more particularly, to error recovery in a directory cache of a distributed, shared-memory processor-based system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Businesses typically rely on network computing to maintain a competitive advantage over other businesses. As such, developers, when designing processor-based systems for use in network-centric environments, may take several factors into consideration to meet the expectation of the customers, factors such as functionality, reliability, scalability, and performance of such systems.
One example of a processor-based system used in a network-centric environment is a mid-range server system. A single mid-range server system may have a plurality of system boards that may, for example, be configured as one or more domains, where a domain, for example, may act as a separate machine by running its own instance of an operating system to perform one or more of the configured tasks.
A mid-range server, in one embodiment, may employ a distributed shared memory system, where processors from one system board can access memory contents from another system board. The union of all of the memories on the system boards of the mid-range server comprises a distributed shared memory (DSM).
One method of accessing data from other system boards within a system is to broadcast a memory request on a common bus. For example, if a requesting system board desires to access information stored in a memory line residing in a memory of another system board, the requesting system board typically broadcasts on the common bus its memory access request. All of the system boards in the system may receive the same request, and the system board whose memory address ranges match the memory address provided in the memory access request may then respond.
The broadcast approach for accessing contents of memories in other system boards may work adequately when a relatively small number of system boards are present in a system. However, such an approach may be unsuitable as the number of system boards grows. As the number of system boards grows, so does the number of memory access requests, thus to handle this increased traffic, larger and faster buses may be needed to allow the memory accesses to complete in a timely manner. Operating a large bus at high speeds may be problematic because of electrical concerns, in part, due to high capacitance, inductance, and the like. Furthermore, a larger number of boards within a system may require extra broadcasts, which could further add undesirable delays and may require additional processing power to handle the extra broadcasts.
Designers have proposed the use of directory caches in a distributed shared memory systems to reduce the need for globally broadcasting memory requests. Typically, each system board serves as home board for memory lines within a selected memory address range, and where each system board is aware of the memory address ranges belonging to the other system boards within the system. Each home board generally maintains its own directory cache for memory lines that fall within its address range. Thus, when a requesting board desires to access memory contents from another board, instead of generally broadcasting the memory request in the system, the request is transmitted to the appropriate home board. The home board may consult its directory cache and determine which system board is capable of responding to the memory request.
Directory caches are generally effective in reducing the need for globally broadcasting memory requests during memory accesses. However, as would be expected, the effectiveness of the directory caches depends in part on the directory caches being properly operational while the system is running. An inoperable or a partially inoperable (i.e., functioning but with one or more errors) directory cache may sometimes go undetected for extended periods of time, and may thereby adversely affect the overall operation of the system.


There is known a semiconductor package in which a semiconductor chip (semiconductor element) is covered (encapsulated) with a resin-made encapsulating (sealing) material. The encapsulating material for the semiconductor chip is produced by molding a resin composition through, e.g., a transfer molding method.
A process for producing the resin composition from a powder material thereof includes a surface treatment process in which a processing liquid such as a coupling agent is allowed to adhere to surfaces of inorganic particles such as silica particles (filler material) contained in the powder material of the resin composition.
In this surface treatment process, the silica particles are injected into a chamber from an inlet port thereof, and the coupling agent is also sprayed into the chamber from an opposite side with respect to the inlet port while the silica particles are spirally swirled in the chamber (for example, see patent document 1). In this configuration, a part of the coupling agent is contacted with the silica particles upon spraying the coupling agent and the remaining coupling agent is swirled and contacted with the other silica particles in the chamber during swirling of the silica particles so that the coupling agent adheres to the surfaces of the silica particles. As a result, a mixing property of resin particles constituting the resin composition and the silica particles is enhanced, thereby easily mixing the silica particles and the resin particles since the silica particles are coated with the coupling agent.
However, according to the above method, in the surface treatment process, there is a problem in that the silica particles are aggregated. In this case, it is difficult to uniformly mix the silica particles (inorganic particles) with the resin particles (resin composition).
Patent Document 1: JP-A 2003-275555.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a particle production apparatus, a particle production method and a method for producing a semiconductor encapsulating resin composition, by which a processing liquid is allowed to adhere to inorganic particles contained in a powder material reliably while aggregation of the inorganic particles is suppressed.
In order to achieve the object, one aspect of the present invention is directed to a particle production apparatus which is configured so that a processing liquid adheres to a surface of each of inorganic particles contained in a powder material, the particle production apparatus comprising:
a processing section in which the processing liquid is allowed to adhere to the surface of each of the inorganic particles;
a chamber connected to the processing section at a downstream side thereof in which the powder material is separated from gas carrying the powder material;
a powder material supply device which supplies the powder material into the processing section; and
a processing liquid spraying device which sprays the processing liquid as droplets to the powder material just after the powder material being supplied into the processing section,
wherein after the processing liquid sprayed to the powder material adheres to the surface of each of the inorganic particles contained in the powder material in the processing section, the powder material is transferred into the chamber so that the powder material is separated from the gas.
In the particle production apparatus of the present invention, it is preferred that the processing liquid spraying device comprises: a nozzle; a gas supply device for supplying the gas having a pressure being equal to or higher than 0.3 MPa to the nozzle; and a processing liquid supply device for supplying the processing liquid into the nozzle, and
wherein the processing liquid is sprayed from the nozzle into the processing section due to the pressure of the gas.
In the particle production apparatus of the present invention, it is preferred that the processing liquid supply device is a pump.
In the particle production apparatus of the present invention, it is preferred that the droplets of the processing liquid sprayed from the processing liquid spraying device include small-sized droplets having a particle size being equal to or less than 20 and the processing liquid spraying device is configured so that a ratio of the small-sized droplets to the total of the sprayed droplets becomes equal to or more than 80 wt %.
In the particle production apparatus of the present invention, it is preferred that the particle production apparatus is configured so that a swirl stream of the gas is generated in the chamber by spraying the processing liquid using the processing liquid spraying device.
In the particle production apparatus of the present invention, it is preferred that the chamber has a cylindrical shape and the processing section has a central axis and an outlet port connected to the chamber,
wherein the processing section is connected to a side portion of the chamber such that the central axis of the processing section is inclined with respect to a direction of a radius of the chamber which passes through the outlet port of the processing section, and
wherein the particle production apparatus is configured so that a swirl stream of the gas is generated in the chamber by spraying the processing liquid using the processing liquid spraying device.
In the particle production apparatus of the present invention, it is preferred that the inorganic particles are constituted of silica and the processing liquid is a coupling agent.
In order to achieve the object, another aspect of the present invention is directed to a particle production method by which a processing liquid is allowed to adhere to a surface of each of inorganic particles contained in a powder material, wherein the powder material is supplied into a processing section, and the processing liquid is sprayed as droplets to the powder material just after the powder material being supplied into the processing section, thereby allowing the processing liquid to adhere to the surface of each of the inorganic particles contained in the powder material, and then the powder material is transferred into a chamber so that the powder material is separated from gas carrying the powder material.
In the particle production method of the present invention, it is preferred that the processing liquid and the gas having a pressure being equal to or higher than 0.3 MPa are supplied into a nozzle so that the processing liquid is sprayed from the nozzle into the processing section.
In the particle production method of the present invention, it is preferred that an average particle size of the inorganic particles is in the range of 0.5 to 100 μm.
In the particle production method of the present invention, it is preferred that when the processing liquid is sprayed to the powder material so that the processing liquid adheres to the surface of each of the inorganic particles contained in the powder material, there is a case that the powder material includes aggregated particles each comprised of the inorganic particle and the adhering processing liquid wherein each aggregated particle having a particle size of 150 μm or more, but a ratio of such aggregated particles to the whole of the powder material is equal to or less than 1 wt % of the powder material.
In order to achieve the object, the other aspect of the present invention is directed to a method for producing a semiconductor encapsulating resin composition comprising:
allowing the processing liquid to adhere to the surface of each of the inorganic particles contained in the powder material by the particle production method of the present invention; and
mixing a composition containing a powder material constituted of a resin and the powder material containing the inorganic particles to which the processing liquid adheres.


In the medical field, it is sometimes the case that when a region of interest exists on an image obtained by a given modality, a corresponding region is identified on an image obtained by another modality, and diagnosis is then performed based on the comparison between them. If imaging posture differs between modalities, the shape of the object differs at the times of imaging. This makes it difficult to identify the object. Under the circumstance, attempts have been made to estimate the deformation of an object between modalities (that is, alignment between images accompanying deformation). This makes it possible to estimate the position of a corresponding region based on the position information of a region of interest and to generate an image by deforming one image so as to have the same shape as that of the other image.
NPL 1 discloses a technique of facilitating the comparison between the shapes of an object before and after its deformation by normalizing the shape of the object accompanying deformation. More specifically, there is disclosed a method of calculating the geodesic distance matrix of the surface shape of an object and normalizing the surface shape by using a multidimensional scaling method using the calculated matrix. This method can normalize the shape of an object which deforms without changing the geodesic distance matrix of the object surface so as to allow direct comparison between the shapes of the object before and after the deformation. This makes it possible to easily compare the deformed shapes of an object accompanying deformation and recognize the object based on its shape.


Mobile computing devices are increasingly being adopted by mainstream users. The combination of easy portability, increasing network availability, and large local storage capabilities will result in mobile devices becoming the primary data repository for users. This use of mobile devices to carry the user's core data is a natural evolution of varied uses of previous generations of mobile devices. For example, cellular phones, media players, navigation devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like, were used to carry specialized data related to the device's primary function, e.g., contact data, music/video, maps and geographical data, notes, task lists, etc. Mobile devices have evolved that are capable of performing all of those functions on a single apparatus, and as a result the data related to those functions is also stored on the device.
As mobile devices have gained these various capabilities, the devices are called upon to access a wide variety of local and remote content. Local content may include any files stored on a device's persistent storage or directly accessible via a peripheral interface. Remote content may include data that is accessible via networks, including infrastructure or ad-hoc networks accessible in the home, office, and/or the Internet. As a result of the ubiquity of networking, many uses now blur the lines between local and remote content. For example, a music subscription service may offer music downloads and/or streaming, and be set up in such a way that the user need not know whether a currently playing song is locally stored or streaming over a network.
Even though there may be convergence between local and remote content for a given user application, the way that a user searches for such information may be still be configured to search for a particular type of data in a particular domain. This can lead to confusion in cases where the user is not particularly sure in which domain the target may reside. Further, such specialized searches may be inefficient, particularly in a reduced interface mobile device. Having to type in a query in different programs and in search contexts may be tiresome with a mobile input device. Similarly, trying to view and assimilate results on a small screen may be difficult.