1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus in which is mounted a recording head that performs recording by ejecting (discharging) a liquid from an energy generating element or by thermal transfer.
The present invention can be applied for apparatuses, such as printers, copiers, facsimile machines for which communication systems are provided, or word processors that incorporate printers, that perform the recording of images on a recording medium, such as paper, thread, fiber, cloth, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood or ceramics, and for industrial recording apparatuses with which various processors are combined.
xe2x80x9cRecordingxe2x80x9d in this invention is defined not only as the formation on a recording medium of images, such as characters or drawings, that convey meaning, but also as the formation of images, such as patterns, that convey no meaning.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, the demand for recording apparatuses that can produce high quality images has increased, and how to improve image quality has been the subject of numerous discussions. For a recording apparatus in which a recording head is moved in one direction when recording images, the precision of the positioning of an image to be recorded is determined by the accuracy with which the recording head itself is positioned. And for the improvement of the image quality, the enhancement of the accuracy with which a recording head is positioned is an extremely important element. Therefore, in a conventional recording apparatus, for a carriage on which is mounted a recording head that records in only one direction, position detection means (e.g., an image scanner) is provided for accurately ascertaining the position of the recording head. Or, at the carriage""s home position in the apparatus, optical reading means is provided to detect the position of the recording head. Then, based-on the obtained head positioning data, whether the recording position is adequate or whether the recording position must be corrected is determined.
However, in a conventional recording apparatus the recording head, which constitutes the printing means, and the position detection means are arranged separately. Therefore, in a recording apparatus wherein, for example, a head position detection means is provided for a carriage, satisfactory positioning accuracy for the recording head must be obtained by mounting the recording head on the carriage. In order to obtain such accuracy, precision in the sizing of components, such as the carriage and the recording head, must be improved, or a process must be performed for correcting the positioning of the recording head.
In addition, since elements and circuits for detecting the position of the recording head must be formed on the carriage or on the substrate of the apparatus, manufacturing costs will be increased.
From the viewpoint of high quality image recording, highly delicate recording, for improved image density and tone representation, can be performed by producing dots that have variable sizes.
As the resolution of an image is increased, however, extremely high accuracy is needed to position the dots that are formed, and as the number of steps involved in varying the dot sizes is increased, greater dot size accuracy is required.
Thus, when a plurality of recording elements are employed, dot positioning errors and the use of non-uniform dot sizes can result in the deterioration of the image quality.
It is apparent that the demand for increased image quality can not be satisfied merely by improving the accuracy of the positioning of a carriage and a recording head and the accuracy in the production of dot sizes, so that accordingly, the shortcomings attributable to inaccurate dot positioning and to the unstable production of accurately sized dots are not resolved.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide at a low manufacturing cost an ink jet recording apparatus that can not only accurately detect the position of a recording head but can also accurately stabilize the positioning and the sizing of dots, a recording head therefor, and an element substrate to be used for the recording head.
To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, provided is a recording head substrate on which are mounted energy generating elements that contribute to the formation of images by a recording head, and on which both light-receiving elements and light-emitting elements, or at least, light-receiving elements are mounted.
The light-receiving elements can be photodiodes or CCDs.
In addition, a controller for controlling the energy generating elements and the light-receiving elements is also mounted on the recording head substrate.
In this case, it is preferable that the light-receiving elements and at least one part of the controller be produced during the same manufacturing process.
The energy generating elements and the light-receiving elements are arranged along at least one line on the recording head substrate.
The energy generating elements and the light-receiving elements are arranged along a plurality of lines, and the lines are parallel to each other.
In this case, on the individual lines the number of the energy generating elements may be equal to the number of the light-receiving elements, but it is preferable that the number of the light-receiving elements be greater than the number of the energy generating elements.
According to one more aspect of the present invention, provided is a recording head comprising:
the above described recording head substrate;
a top board in which are formed liquid flow paths that correspond to the energy generating elements; and
discharge orifices (port) which is communicated with the liquid flow path of the top plate and through which liquid is discharged by the application of energy by the energy generating elements,
wherein the light-receiving elements and the light-emitting elements on the recording head substrate are optically opposite a face on which an image is formed by using the discharge ports.
According to the present invention, as is described above the energy generating elements and the light-receiving elements are mounted on the same substrate. Therefore, when the light-receiving elements optically detect dots formed by the energy generating elements, accurate information concerning the positioning, the sizes and the densities of the image dots can be obtained quickly. Further, since in contrast to an arrangement where the energy generating elements, the light-emitting elements and the light-receiving elements are mounted on separate substrates, the process for the formation of the individual elements can be commonly employed and no connections are required, the manufacturing cost and the size of an apparatus can be considerably reduced.
According to another aspect of the present invention, provided is a recording head substrate on which are mounted energy generating elements that contribute to the formation of images by a recording head, and on which are mounted a plurality of head position detecting elements for detecting the position of the recording head.
According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a recording head, for forming images using energy generating elements, comprises:
a substrate on which are mounted not only the energy generating elements but also a head position detecting element for detecting the position of the recording head.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a liquid recording apparatus comprises:
a recording head for forming images employing energy generating elements while moving on a line;
head position detecting elements that are provided for the recording head for detecting the position of the recording head; and
a member in the recording apparatus that, in order to be detected by the head position detecting elements, is fixed opposite the head detecting element and along a track where the recording head moves.
The head position detecting elements are mounted on a substrate on which the energy generating elements are also mounted. In addition, it is preferable that, in accordance with position data for the recording head, detected by the head position detecting elements, and other recorded data, a circuit for generating signals to drive the energy generating elements, and light-receiving elements, for detecting an image that is formed, be mounted on the substrate on which the energy generating elements are mounted.
The head position detecting elements may be magnetic detecting elements, light-receiving elements or electric field detecting elements. The energy generating elements may be electro-thermal converting elements for heating liquid and inducing film boiling in order to discharge liquid droplets for forming images.
As is described above, according to the present invention, since the energy generating elements that contribute to image recording and the elements for detecting the position of the recording head are mounted on the same substrate, the accuracy at which the position of an image can be recorded is extremely high. In addition, since using semiconductor fabrication processing at least the elements having two functions can be mounted on the same substrate at the same time, the manufacturing costs can be drastically reduced.


The present invention relates to a stereo image photographing system, and more particularly to one capable of easily obtaining information and measuring data necessary for obtaining three-dimensional data from a stereo image.
In recent years, line drawing has been made for a site to be measured by using a surveying instrument, e.g., a pen-based mapping system, and a portable computer in combination thereof. In such a conventional pen-based mapping system, plotting has been carried out by drawing a line image on the portable computer, using a surveying instrument such as a total station and a GPS. The plotting of the site to be measured was carried out on site by watching the situation there, or in an office based on photographed images. In aerial photography, plotting was carried out by using an analytical plotting device or the like based on stereo-photographed images. When three-dimensional measurement was carried out from a stereo image in a terrestrial photogrammetry, conventionally, photographing, analysis and measurement were executed by a stereo-camera having a base line length and the facing direction of the camera strictly fixed.
However, in the conventional art, the fixing of the base line length or the like of the stereo-camera has placed limitations on the range of photographing and accuracy (object). In addition, conventionally, when measurement was carried out without fixing the base line length or the like, even if two images were overlapped and photographed for three-dimensional analysis by stereo-photographing, it was difficult to form an image to be subjected to stereo-analysis. In other words, in most cases, the analysis of images was impossible, and even if possible, the images were unstable with low accuracy and considerably low reliability. In particular, when photographing was carried out with a camera loaded on a balloon, a car, or other moving body, it was extremely difficult to obtain a highly reliable and analyzable image.
The present invention was made with the foregoing problems in mind, and it is an object of the invention to easily obtain a stable, highly reliable and accurate stereo image when three-dimensional measurement is carried out by a general camera. It is another object of the invention to provide a stereo image photographing system which makes it easy and reliable to perform stereo-photographing for three-dimensional measurement, which has been difficult, and further enable automatic stereo-photographing.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a stereo image photographing system is provided, comprising:
a photographing unit which is movable and has a camera for photographing and a reflection member placed thereon;
a signal generating unit for generating a timing signal indicating a photographing timing when photographing is made by the camera of the photographing unit; and
a measuring unit placed in a position apart from the photographing unit, for emitting a measuring light toward the reflection member of the photographing unit in accordance with the timing signal from the signal generating unit, and measuring a position of the photographing unit based on a reflected light reflected from the reflection member.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a stereo image photographing system is provided, comprising:
a photographing unit which is movable and has a camera for photographing an image of an object in accordance with a timing signal indicating a timing and a reflection member placed thereon;
a measuring unit placed in a position apart from the photographing unit, for emitting a measuring light toward the reflection member of the photographing unit, and measuring a position of the photographing unit based on a reflected light reflected from the reflection member;
a photographing position calculating unit for calculating photographing position data based on photographing condition data regarding the object to be photographed;
a driving unit for moving the photographing unit to a predetermined position based on the photographing position data calculated by the photographing position calculating unit;
a movement control unit for controlling the driving unit; and
a photographing control unit for outputting a timing signal to the camera of the photographing unit when coincidence/rough coincidence is determined between position data regarding the position of the photographing unit measured by the measuring unit and the photographing position data calculated by the photographing position calculating unit.
In accordance with a third aspect of the invention, a stereo image photographing system is provided, comprising:
a photographing unit which is movable and has a camera for photographing and a reflection member placed thereon;
a photographing position calculating unit for calculating photographing position data based on photographing condition data regarding an object to be photographed;
a driving unit for moving the photographing unit to a predetermined position based on the photographing position data calculated by the photographing position calculating unit;
a movement control unit for controlling the driving unit; and
a storing unit for storing data of an image photographed by the camera of the photographing unit.


Natural coal is generally regarded as a non-renewable energy source in part because of the amount of time needed for the formation thereof to occur naturally. For instance, lignite coal requires millions of years, and anthracite coal requires hundreds of millions of years for its respective formation. The burning of natural coal releases toxic agents, such as heavy metals (e.g., mercury, uranium) co-deposited as part of its sedimentary formation process. Other serious toxic by-products resulting from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels such as oil, gasoline, tar and natural gas include: soot, ash, and oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon. The release of these toxic chemicals into our atmosphere from the burning of these fossil fuels for the production of energy has resulted in air pollution as well as global warming. Additionally, since fossil fuels are a finite resource and the recovery thereof is becoming more costly as the supplies thereof dwindle, continued reliance thereon will at some point become economically as well as environmentally unfeasible. Also, since a significant amount of crude oil used in the United States is imported, a substantial imbalance in the balance of trade with oil-exporting countries has resulted in severe economic damage to US economy due to the outflow over time of trillions of dollars.
A further environmental problem concerns the need for nitrogen fertilizers for agricultural purposes. Currently, nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate and urea require ammonia for their manufacture. Ammonia is chiefly manufactured from nitrogen and hydrogen at high temperature and pressure employing the Haber-Bosch process. While nitrogen can be obtained relatively easily from the atmosphere, hydrogen is obtained by a process known as steam reforming from natural gas. Currently, 5% of the world's annual natural gas is utilized for that purpose. Thus, it would be desirable to generate nitrogen fertilizers without reliance on the use of natural gas.
In response to significantly increased crude oil prices and politically and economically uncomfortable dependence on imports of crude oil, ethanol has been utilized as an additive to gasoline since 1980 and has now commonly reached concentrations of 10% by volume, with 20% by volume being legislated to occur in Minnesota in 2013. Several states also currently offer E85 which contains 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. A primary advantage of synthetic fuels derived from biomass is that the carbon in them that is released as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned is not newly introduced and additive to the carbon dioxide already present therein. Rather, the released carbon dioxide is recaptured and recycled by plants through photosynthesis resulting in no net addition of that global warming gas to the earth's atmosphere.
The prior art process of producing ethanol and which is representative of how 85% of the ethanol produced in the US is made, can be understood by referring to FIG. 3. As seen therein ethanol, a two carbon alcohol and, to a lesser degree, butanol, a four carbon alcohol, are obtained in the United States primarily by the fermentation in large fermentation vats 10 containing a ground fermentable material. Typically, such material is starch as present in corn kernels, potatoes and other like vegetable materials. Water is added to the fermentable material and enzymes, natural and/or added, are used to breakdown the starch into fermentable dextrins and sugars. Of course, it is also well known to simply start with sugars as obtained, for example, from sugarcane or sugar beets. Yeast is also added to the vat 10 and the mixture is heated by a heater 12 to approximately 37 degrees C. to facilitate the fermentation of the dextrins and sugars producing the ethanol and generating carbon dioxide gas. At the end of the fermentation process the fermented material in vat 10 is pumped along line 14 to a “beer well” 16 which also includes a heater 18. Well 16 is a sealable container and a distillation apparatus 20 is fluidly secured thereto by an outlet conduit 22. The fermented material is then heated by operation of heater 18 to a temperature sufficient to boil the ethanol but not the water, i.e. between approximately 78 and 90 degrees C. As is well understood, the ethanol vapor is then cooled and condensed to liquid form by distillation apparatus 20 and directed to a storage container 24. As is well understood, the resultant ethanol product will contain small amounts of water because water and ethanol form an azeotropic mixture that cannot be separated by distillation. As is also well understood, subsequent processes can be applied such as through the use of molecular sieves for the conversion of the distilled ethanol into absolute or 100% ethanol. After the removal of the ethanol from the fermented material, what remains is a fermentation residue. Those of skill will recognize that the fermentation residue is a highly processed material which differs from the original ground fermentable materials in it is depleted of carbon both from the loss of the carbon dioxide gas during the fermentation step and from the ground fermentable material and the fermented residue as it is further depleted of carbon through the loss of the carbon contained in the ethanol or butanol that is removed from the fermented residue by distillation.
After the removal of the ethanol, the remaining fermentation residue in well 16, referred to as whole stillage (WS), having a dry solids content of about 10-15%, in the dry-grind corn ethanol production industry, is then sent to a centrifuge 26 where it is separated into a solid portion referred to as Wet Distillers Grains (WDG), having a dry solids content of about 35%, and a liquid portion called Thin Stillage (TS), having a dry solids content of 5-10%. TS can be further processed by the evaporation of the water therefrom in evaporator 28 to produce a thick syrup-like portion referred to as Condensed Distillers Solubles (CDS), having a dry solids content of 30-50%. WDG can be sent along a conduit depicted by dashed line 32 directly to a dryer 30 and dried into a shelf-stable animal feed product called Dried Distillers Grains (DDG) by operation of a heater 34 thereof. Alternatively, a shelf-stable animal feed product referred to as Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) can be manufactured. DDGS is typically what is made in the ethanol industry and is obtained by the combining of WDG and CDS, to form a mixed grains material followed by extensive drying of that combination in dryer 30 until the DDGS has a moisture content of less than 10% dry weight and is used as a shelf-stable animal feed product. Although DDG is an acceptable, high quality shelf stable animal feed as well, the DDGS includes additional nutrients present in the CDS. Typically, a bushel of corn can provide 2.8 gallons of ethanol, 18 pounds of DDGS, and 16 pounds of carbon dioxide.
The WDG fermentation residue is comprised of residual fermentable dextrins, yeast, non-fermentable dextrins, protein, fat, low concentrations of metal salts, and water. Often the protein content can be quite high, ca. 30%, and the material is utilized as a high-grade feed especially for ruminants such as cattle, with small amounts able to be employed in feeds for mono-gastric animals such as swine and poultry. WDG can be transported directly to farm sites but only within a relatively small radius, e.g., 30 miles, of the manufacturing site. The limited shipping radius of 30 miles is due to the amount of water present in the WDG which leads to microbial growth that quickly renders it unsuitable for animal consumption.
Unfortunately, and in either case, the physics of the removal of water by heating in dryer 30 requires the input of substantial amounts of energy which adds considerable cost to the production of either DDG or DDGS feed. It is estimated that the intensive drying operations performed on these by-products accounts for 40-45% of the thermal energy and 30-40% of the electrical energy required in the dry-grind ethanol process. In addition, there is also a significant energy cost associated with evaporating the TS and producing CDS. To complicate matters, ethanol manufacturers are often in the situation of having a large surplus of WDG that must be dried at the manufacturing site as there often exists insufficient need for it within the 30 mile radius of their plants. Other fermentation residue stillages that can have similar negative economic and/or waste disposal issues include Brewer's Grains from the production of beer and whiskey, E.-Coli residues from production of antibiotics, and residues from other bacterial, fungal and yeast fermentation processes. As a result, there has been a long felt need for decades to find an economical, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable solution for obviating the need to dry fermentation residues such as TS and WDG.
This need is particularly pressing for the production of biofuels because it is has been difficult, if not impossible, for the alternative fuel industry to compete on a dollar per gallon basis with the petroleum industry. And specifically, the ethanol industry has been criticized for not being energy efficient, that is, the energy represented by the ethanol being barely greater or even less than the energy needed to produce it, especially when the drying of the TS and WDG are taken into account. However, despite the tremendous pressure to find solutions that would create an economically viable and sustainable alternative fuel industry, results have not been forthcoming.
There also exists a need in the energy resource field for improved synthetic coal products that possess a commercially viable high British Thermal Unit (BTU) per pound content. There further exists a need for nutritive media that can be utilized as plant fertilizers and reduce the consumption of natural gas required in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers.
Additionally, there exists a need for innovative processes utilizing natural biological materials as carbon neutral energy resources, thereby not increasing the net amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that utilizing fossil fuels causes.


The invention relates to a locking device of a cover for closing an opening in a wall of a storing compartment, in particular in a trunk of an automotive vehicle.
Generally such a locking device includes a pivotal handle for displacing a locking bar from a locking position to an unlocking position against the force of a return spring. When the locking bar is in the locking position, it retains the cover in its position within the trunk, and when the locking bar is in the unlocking position, it releases the loading cover so that the cover may be lifted from the opening.
There is a certain risk that the locking bar, when the cover is lifted from and inserted into the opening, may move to its unlocking position where it projects relatively far from the locking device. As a result the edge of the opening within the trunk, which is generally covered by a textile layer, may be damaged. Furthermore, the projecting locking bar renders lifting and inserting the loading cover from and into the opening relatively difficult.


1. Field of the Invention
The document relates to a system and a method for controlling transport rates of real time streaming services. The services are configured to control a transport rate of data transmitted from a streaming server to a client using a real time transport protocol, thereby maintaining a buffer level of a streaming client at a constant level.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Conventionally, multimedia data, such as video data, computer animation data or any combination thereof, is all downloaded to a hard disc drive of a PC (Personal Computer), for example, via access to an Internet for reproduction of the same. However, in the streaming environment, the entire data may not be all downloaded, and the data can be reproduced real time in the course of buffering without first downloading the entire file data. In other words, streaming is the ability to view data without first downloading an entire file. In general, streaming is a multimedia data transmission method which reads, transmits and plays data on an Internet in real time.
When a streaming server and a streaming client are connected over a wired/wireless network, and the streaming server transmits the multimedia contents, the streaming client having received the transmission of the multimedia contents buffers the received contents and reproduces the contents real time.
Basically, the transport rate of the streaming server conforms itself to requirements of data to be transmitted. In audio/video stream packets transmitted by compression via Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), time information for controlling the transport rate of the streaming server is recorded in a header.
However, there arises a problem even if the transport rate is under prolonged time of streaming service. It is impossible to calculate an accurate transport speed even if the time information is of an extreme accuracy, and a small difference of transport speeds can cause a buffer overflow after prolonged time.
There is another problem in that the streaming server and the streaming client, each being an independent identity, have separate reference clocks, and fine differences of clocks are accumulated in the course of use of a cheap crystal oscillator to prevent provision of a stable operation.
FIG. 1 is a first graphical representation illustrating a buffer level change according to the related art.
As in FIG. 1, the buffer level keeps increasing if the transport speed of the streaming server is faster than the speed of data reproduced by an actual streaming client, resulting in a case of exceeding a maximum buffer level defined by the streaming client.
Another problem is that a method of determining a transport rate only by time information contained in the multimedia data to be transmitted causes to generate a time delay from a streaming start time to a start of an actual reproduction.
FIG. 2 is a second graphical representation illustrating a buffer level change according to the related art where a buffer level change following the start of the streaming is shown. There is needed a minimum quantity of data for grasping and reproducing context of multimedia content in which an MPEG decoder of a streaming client is transmitted. This is because the streaming client can accept a delay variance to a certain degree. Subsequently, as in FIG. 2, ‘a buffer level to be required’ supposed to be filled in the buffer without reproducing the transmitted data is determined up to a certain level prior to the start of the reproduction.
However, control by a simple comparison of buffer level reported from the required buffer level and the streaming client can deteriorate the stability of the system, and a very small difference of transport speeds between the streaming server and the streaming client can result in generation of a buffer overflow or an under-run.
The streaming server is required to continuously control a transport rate in order to maintain a buffer level reported by the streaming client. Furthermore, there is a need of filling the buffer at a maximally fastest speed at a point where streaming starts for a fast reproduction.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a watertight connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known watertight connector has a housing with opposite front and rear ends. A fittable portion is disposed at the front end of the housing and is dimensioned to fit in a receptacle of a mating connector. Terminal fittings are mounted in the fittable portion and a tubular seal is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of a fittable portion. The seal seals a clearance between the outer peripheral surface of the fittable portion and the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle.
A holder is provided at the rear end of the fittable portion of the housing and a lock is formed at the rear end of the seal to prevent the seal from coming off the fittable portion when the watertight connector is withdrawn from the receptacle. The lock engages the holder to prevent loose forward movements of the seal and separation of the seal from the fittable portion.
It generally is desirable to shorten the seal along forward and backward directions to reduce connection resistance with the receptacle and to prevent the seal from buckling. Thus, the seal is at a rear end of the fittable portion and is held resiliently in contact with a front area of the receptacle.
The mating connector often is on a fixed piece of equipment and the watertight connector may have to be fit into the receptacle by touch due to a narrow space near the receptacle. Thus, the opening to the receptacle may be slanted outwardly to guide the insertion of the fittable portion. However, the degree of resilient deformation of the seal with the slanted surface changes depending on the depth of engagement of the fittable portion, and sealing performance is unstable. Accordingly, the slanted leading end cannot be a sealing surface. A portion of the receptacle more backward than the slanted opening is set as a sealing surface for resilient contact with the seal, and a resilient contact of the seal with the receptacle is near the front-end of the fittable portion.
The rear end of the seal is held at the rear end of the fittable portion so as not to come off. Thus, the seal must be longer along forward and backward directions if an attempt is made to position the resilient contact of the seal at the front end of the fittable portion. However, frictional resistance pushes the resilient contact portion of a longer seal back during the fitting operation, and hence the longer seal may buckle.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problems and an object thereof is to prevent a sealing member from being buckled.
The invention relates to a watertight connector with a housing in which at least one terminal fitting is accommodated. The watertight connector has a fittable portion that can be fit in and withdrawn from a receptacle of a mating connector. A substantially tubular seal is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the fittable portion and is formed on its outer peripheral surface with at least one resilient contact that is held resiliently in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle. One or more fastening means are provided at the rear end of the fittable portion and/or at the rear end of the seal for preventing the seal from moving forward and off the fittable portion. One or more loose-movement preventing means are provided on the fittable portion and on the seal for preventing loose backward movement of the resilient contact.
The fastening means preferably are provided at the rear end of the fittable portion and/or at the rear end of the seal.
The loose-movement preventing means preferably is at the fittable portion and at the seal and engage each other to prevent loose backward movement of the resilient contact.
Frictional resistance that acts during the fitting of the watertight connector into the receptacle may push the resilient contact back. However, the loose-movement preventing means prevents the resilient contact from moving loosely backward in response to forces exerted by the receptacle. Thus, the seal will not buckle even if the seal is long along forward and backward directions and the resilient contact is at the front-end of the seal.
The loose-movement preventing means preferably comprises steps on the outer peripheral surface of the fittable portion and on the inner peripheral surface of the seal. The steps prevent the loose movements of the resilient contact by bringing into contact surfaces of the steps aligned at an angle to a fitting direction of the fittable portion into the receptacle.
A backward-acting pushing force exerted by the receptacle on the resilient contact is received by the step of the fittable portion via the step of the seal. The surfaces of the steps intersect the fitting direction of the fittable portion into the receptacle. Thus, the fittable portion can receive the pushing force from the receptacle to prevent loose backward movements of the resilient contact.
The steps of the fittable portion and the seal prevent the loose movements of the resilient contact by bringing into contact surfaces that overhang or are undercut with respect to the fitting direction. Thus, an acute-angled corner of each step bites in or engages an angled corner of the mating step due to the inclination of the overhanging surface to prevent the loose movements of the resilient contact. Accordingly, disengagement of the steps and loose movements of the resilient contact can be avoided.
The step of the seal is at a position near the resilient contact with respect to forward and backward directions.
The backward pushing force of the receptacle on the resilient contact deforms the resilient contact inwardly and the restoring force of the resilient contact presses the step of the seal against the outer peripheral surface of the fittable portion. Accordingly, the step of the seal will not disengage outwardly from the step of the fittable portion and loose movements of the resilient contact are prevented.
An escaping groove is formed in an area of the inner surface of the fittable portion that faces the terminal insertion space in the housing. The escaping groove avoids interference with an improper insertion preventing projection on the outer surface of the terminal fitting when the terminal fitting is inserted in a proper orientation. An area of the outer surface of the fittable portion corresponding to the escaping groove preferably forms a rib shape, and the front end of the rib-shaped projection defines the step.
A nonuniform thickness of the wall of the fittable portion can be reduced by forming the rib shape on the outer surface of the fittable portion to align with the escaping groove. Thus, a variation in the degree of deformation caused by thermal shrinkage (i.e. xe2x80x9csink marksxe2x80x9d) during the resin molding of the housing can be suppressed to ensure dimensional stability. Further, the step of the fittable portion takes advantage of the rib-shaped projection corresponding to the escaping groove. Accordingly, the shape of the fittable portion can be simplified as compared to a case where the step is separate from the rib-shaped projection.
The fastening means may comprise a stopper fit to the housing for engaging the seal and preventing the seal from moving forward.
A single loose-movement preventing means may be provided on each of the fittable portion and the seal around substantially the entire periphery thereof.
Alternatively, a plurality of loose-movement preventing means may be spaced around the periphery of the fittable portion and/or the seal.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings. It should be understood that even though embodiments are separately described, single features thereof may be combined to additional embodiments.


Conventional portable audio systems often include a pair of headphones that are connected to a media player (e.g., by one or more wires or by wireless technology). It is increasingly common for users to use portable audio systems when engaging in outdoor activities. While the media player in any given portable audio system can be used in a variety of settings, it is often the case that the headphones employed are not as versatile. For example, in-ear headphones may provide for portability, but such headphones may provide poor audio quality, be uncomfortable, or both. Where multiple wires are used to connect the headphone speakers to the media player, each additional connection (e.g., each connection between male and female audio jacks) may further degrade audio quality. While larger, over-the-ear headphones may be more comfortable, they may be awkward to wear with outdoor gear, such as goggles. For example, it is increasingly common for outdoor enthusiasts, such as skiers and snowboarders, to use portable audio systems when engaging in outdoor activities, such as skiing and snowboarding. In most cases, skiers and snowboarders favor smaller, in-ear style headphones because helmets, ski goggles, ear protectors, hoods, and headbands can more easily be worn over such headphones.


This invention relates generally to hinge means and, more particularly, to hinge means for mounting an element such as a door for swinging between open and closed positions on an element such as a cabinet.
In certain so-called European-style cabinets, the door is mounted on the cabinet by hinges which are fully concealed from the front and sides of the cabinet when the door is fully closed. Prior fully concealed hinges of this type are comparatively large and complex and require a significant amount of material. For example, a hinge which enables the door to be opened through approximately 175 degrees generally requires a linkage mechanism with as many as seven parallel pivots or requires a linkage mechanism with six parallel pivots and a slide. Another type of a prior fully concealed hinge has a somewhat simplified linkage mechanism with only four parallel pivots but such a hinge generally does not permit the door to be opened beyond approximately 125 degrees.
The complexity of the prior fully concealed hinges is increased even further when the hinges are of the self-closing type. A self-closing hinge includes a spring mechanism which acts to swing the door to its fully closed position once the door has been closed part way.


Receivers that detect stereophonic/monophonic signals are incorporated into a vast number of devices used in everyday life. For example, such receivers are used in automobile radios, a variety of communication systems such as cellular telephones, and even in children's toys. Unfortunately, many modern receiver systems suffer from performance shortfalls, such as frequent switchover between monophonic and stereophonic modes due to noisy channel environments and false detection of stereophonic signals as monophonic due to rated maximum system deviation (RMSD) mismatch.
In order to receive FM audio signals, be they music or any other type of information, a receiver must be robust enough to handle changes in the channel wherein the transmission could become very noisy and/or must overcome interference. Generally, a pilot tone is transmitted as part of the baseband signal that is used to modulate an FM carrier signal in order to indicate the nature of the transmission to be stereophonic. The energy of the pilot tone may fluctuate significantly in a harsh channel scenario. Simply comparing the pilot tone energy, estimated at the receiver, against a predetermined threshold may cause the receiver to switch between monophonic and stereophonic mode too frequently and degrade the entertainment quality of the audio program delivered to the consumer.
In addition, the receiver structure and the accompanying algorithms must also be flexible enough to handle a situation where the transmitted FM signal RMSD is not known beforehand. Generally, the allowed RMSD values are 75 kHz and 50 kHz. Hence, a mono/stereo transmission may be utilizing either one of them. However, the receiver may be set to operate at a different RMSD than the received signal RMSD. If the received signal RMSD and the RMSD of the receiver are not matched, a situation may occur wherein a stereophonic signal may be falsely interpreted as monophonic by the receiver. This results in the listener being denied the stereophonic quality of the program that the service provider is transmitting on the airwaves.


The present invention relates generally to microfabrication methods. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for forming and positioning moldable permanent magnets on electromagnetically actuated microfabricated components, such as electrical switches. Micromachining is a recent technology for fabricating micromechanical moving structures. In general, semiconductor batch fabrication techniques are employed to achieve what is in effect three-dimensional machining of single-crystal and polycrystalline silicon and silicon dielectrics, producing such structures as micromotors, microsensors and switches. Thus, except for selective deposition and removal of materials on a substrate, conventional assembly operations are not involved.
Electromagnetically actuated micromechanical components include permanent magnets attached to a microfabricated moving structure. A separate electromagnet, appropriately energized, produces a controllable magnetic field which cooperates with the permanent magnet to cause the microfabricated element to move.
One example of an electromagnetically actuated microfabricated component is disclosed in an article by B. Wagner and W. Benecke, "Microfabricated Actuator with Moving Permanent Magnet" IEEE MEMS '91, Nara, Japan (1991). Another example is disclosed in commonly-assigned Ghezzo et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/000,172, filed Jan. 4, 1993, entitled "Micromechanical Moving Structures Including Multiple Contact Switching System, and Micromachining Methods Therefor."
A temporary structure, known alternatively as a release layer or as a sacrificial layer, is critical for micromachining because it allows moving parts to be formed by self-registered casting methods, with subsequent selective etching to remove the sacrificial layer. Since micromachining originated from the technology of silicon integrated circuit processing, low-temperature SiO.sub.2 is commonly employed as a sacrificial layer material. However, metals may also be employed for the sacrificial layer. For example, the use of a copper sacrificial layer is disclosed in the above-identified application Ser. No. 08/000,172.
The fabrication of such structures also requires that magnets somehow be attached to or formed on a movable element. In general, two approaches have previously been employed.
The first approach has been to attach magnets using pick-and-place equipment. This approach, however, has several disadvantages. In particular, the overall process is relatively time-consuming, in that suitable magnets must be purchased, and the magnets must be cut to a specific size, which is difficult with tiny elements. The magnets are then carefully placed and secured in position employing a suitable adhesive. Thus, while rare earth NdFeB magnets are effectively used in miniature components as small as 1 mm, they are difficult to machine, and in general are costly to produce.
The second approach has been to deposit magnetic material employing RF sputtering techniques. It has been observed, however, that crack-free rare earth transition metal films cannot be deposited with thicknesses greater than about 10 .mu.m. Such is reported for example in F. Cadieu, "Permanent Magnet Thin Films: A Review of Film Synthesis and Properties" Physics of Thin Films, M. Francombe and J. Vossen, Editors, Volume 16, Academic Press Inc., 1992. In addition, to obtain the desired physical properties, the films need to be heated to temperatures greater than 400.degree. C. While such may be possible in the case of silicon micromachining in general, such temperatures cannot be used in the presence of materials employed in high density interconnect (HDI) technology.
More particularly, what is known as high density interconnect (HDI) technology for multi-chip module packaging, is disclosed for example in Eichelberger et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,695. Very briefly, in systems employing this high density interconnect structure, various components, such as semiconductor integrated circuit chips, are placed within cavities formed in a ceramic substrate. A multi-layer overcoat structure is then built up to electrically interconnect the components into an actual functioning system. To begin the multi-layer overcoat structure, a polyimide dielectric film, such as Kapton polyimide (available from E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Del.), about 0.5 to 3 mils (12.7 to 76 microns) thick, is laminated across the top of the chips, other components and the substrate, employing Ultem.RTM. polyetherimide resin (available from General Electric Company, Pittsfield, Mass.) or another thermoplastic as an adhesive. The actual as-placed locations of the various components and contact pads thereon are determined by optical sighting, and via holes that are adaptively laser drilled in the Kapton film and adhesive layers in alignment with the contact pads on the electronic components. Exemplary laser drilling techniques are disclosed in Eichelberger et al. Pat. Nos. 4,714,516 and 4,894,115; and in Loughran et al. Pat. No. 4,764,485, each of which is incorporated by reference. Such HDI vias are typically on the order of one to two mils (25 to 50 microns) in diameter. A metallization layer is deposited over the Kapton film layer and extends into the via holes to make electrical contact to chip contact pads. This metallization layer may be patterned to form individual conductors during the deposition process, or it may be deposited as a continuous layer and then patterned using photoresist and etching. The photoresist is preferably exposed using a laser which is scanned relative to the substrate to provide an accurately aligned conductor pattern upon completion of the process. Exemplary techniques for patterning the metallization layer are disclosed in Wojnarowski et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,780,177 and 4,842,677; and in Eichelberger et al. Pat. No. 4,835,704 which discloses an "Adaptive Lithography System to Provide High Density Interconnect" each of which is incorporated by reference. Any misposition of the individual electronic components and their contact pads is compensated for by an adaptive laser lithography system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,704. Additional dielectric and metallization layers are provided as required in order to make all of the desired electrical connections among the chips.
As is described in detail hereinbelow, one aspect of the present invention is the fabrication of molded permanent magnets on micromechanical structures employing a modified HDI technology, including use of a polymer such as a polyimide (e.g. Kapton) as a mold material.


This invention concerns axial fluid flow inducing devices such as fans, which use a set of rotating blades reacting with the fluid to cause axial fluid flow.
In the above-referenced copending application there is described a unique direct magnetic drive in which impeller blades are permanently magnetized to establish a magnetic pole at each blade tip, which interacts with pulsed magnetic fields set up by one or more electromagnets located around the perimeter of the impeller or rotor in such a way that magnetic repulsion and attraction forces acting on the blades cause the impeller to rotate.
In the past, in order to increase the static pressure generated by an axial flow impeller, it has been the practice to provide fixed stator blades providing fluid reaction surfaces increasing the static pressure generated downstream of the impeller. The presence of the stator blades creates flow resistance, reducing flow. To avoid this disadvantage, it is known that counter-rotating impellers increase the static pressure without increasing flow losses in the system. However, complex mechanical drives are necessary in order to drive two or more closely positioned coaxial impellers in opposite directions.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a drive for multi counter rotating impellers not requiring a complex mechanical drive means.
Another known flow device has multiple impellers connected together and rotating in the same direction in order to provide a multiple stage pumping action. However, in order to enable proper multistage operation of synchronously rotating impellers, reduced blade areas must be established that increased the cost. In this application blade area remains the same while rotation speed is changed.
It is thus another object of the present invention to provide a multistage impeller in which the material and labor costs are reduced.
The above objects as well as others that will become apparent upon reading of the following specification and claims are achieved by an arrangement of a plurality of impellers that are coaxially mounted in a shroud and independently rotated with respect to each other. In a first application of the invention, the impellers are driven by forces created by intermittently generated magnetic fields acting on magnetized portions of each of the impellers so as to rotate the impellers. By causing rotation of two impellers in opposite directions a much-simplified means is provided for obtaining increased static pressure of the fluid flow induced by rotation of the impeller blades. Preferably, the magnetic field is generated by a pulsed generating means including one or more driver coils each having an U-shaped core with opposite core legs extending generally radially and with their ends located adjacent the outer perimeter of the associated impeller.
Preferably, a pair of electromagnetic driver coils is provided which are arranged at an angle to each other and spaced apart so that when one pair of core legs straddles one blade, the other pair has sequential blades aligned with each leg. A pair of sensors, such as Hall effect sensors, are arranged to detect the passage of the leading edge of each successive impeller blade and to control the energization and magnetic polarity of the driver coils such as to induce rotation in opposite directions of each impeller by magnetic interaction between the field of the respective coils and the magnetic field of the permanently magnetized portions of the impeller blades.
For the embodiment of the invention having two counter rotating impellers, each electromagnetic coil is preferably skewed such that respective legs of the coil core are located at the outer perimeter of a respective impeller so that both impellers are energized and driven by the same pair of electromagnetic coils making synchronization of the rotation of the two impellers much simpler. However, using more than one pair of electromagnetic coils is also possible, each disposed around the perimeter of a respective impeller.
Driving the impellers by a single driver coil is also possible. In this case, a simple electromagnet may be utilized in order to locate each impeller in a proper start up position with respect to the driving electromagnetic coil in which the spaced core legs straddle a blade tip.
The impellers preferably have blades of a type of plastic material that is permanently magnetizable and the magnetized tips comprise the outer portions of the impeller blades that are magnetized to interact with the pulsed magnetic fields.
The impellers may be constructed in two sections, each having an alternate set of impeller blades with the tips magnetized with the same polarity, and each impeller section having its tips magnetized with opposite poles to the other section. The impeller sections are interfit at assembly to produce an impeller in which successive blades are magnetized with opposite polarities.
Alternatively, instead of a stationary shroud, the fluid flow passage can be formed by an outer ring that concludes, which is formed by a series of arcuate segments attached to the tip of each rotor blade, each segment interfit to the next adjacent segment on either side. Again, a two-section impeller construction may be advantageously employed.
An intermediate ring fixed to one impeller may also be employed with a labyrinth seal formed between the ring and adjacent end of the corresponding impeller.
The impeller ring segments adjacent the housing end wall may be provided with projecting portions that are received within the housing to form a labyrinth seal, such that while each ring rotates independently of the other, a sealed confinement of the fluid flow is assured.
In another version, the outer ring can be attached to the tips of blades and magnetized by segments with opposite polarities.
The impellers may also have magnetized outer portions which are driven by pairs of driver coils in such a manner as to be driven in the same direction at controllably different rates of rotation such as to produce a multistage pumping action which does not require differing impeller blade areas. A set of stator blades is required to be placed between impellers.
In another version, connected impellers can be disposed on either side of a set of stator blades.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silicon carbide (SiC) structure, a method of forming the SiC structure, in particular, the invention relates to a single crystal SiC structure, a method of the single crystal SiC structure, and an electronic device having the single crystal SiC structure.
2. Background Arts
An electronic device implementing an SiC substrate has been drawn attention because of not only excellent breakdown voltage but also higher operable frequencies thereof. For instance, an electronic device operable at higher temperatures, having excellent breakdown voltages and losses in higher frequencies is realizable by using a channel made of silicon carbide (SiC) like an SiC-MOSFET (SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor filed effect transistor). Also, an electronic device with a graphene layer on the SiC substrate may be operable at higher frequencies.
A Japanese Patent Application laid open No. of JP-2004-022878A has disclosed an SiC-MOSFET having (000-1) crystal plane as a primary surface thereof in order to enhance carrier mobility in a channel. An international Patent Applications laid open No. WO2009/063844 has disclosed an SiC substrate with an non-polar surface macroscopically but with a composite surface having a non-polar surface and a polar surface in which one of Si-polar surface and C-polar surface dominate. Another international patent application laid open No. WO2011/074237 has disclosed a technique to reduce defects formed at an interface between an SiC substrate and an insulating film by adding phosphorous (P) in the insulating film. Still another international patent application laid open No. WO2013/145023 has disclosed a technique to suppress variation in a threshold voltage of an FET by providing a laminated insulating film having a charge capturing function as the gate insulating film.
A Japanese Patent Application laid open No. JP-2004-152813A has disclosed a device, which has a layer made of an SiC film of 3C-SiC type on an SiC substrate having a 6H-SiC type, which is operable in a high frequency by localizing electrons within the layer of 3C-SiC type. A Japanese Patent Application laid open No. JP-2013-197167A has disclosed a technique of forming a gate insulating film made of 3C-SiC type on an SiC substrate of 4H-SiC type. A conference report of Solid State Devices and Materials, Tokyo (1987) has disclosed a technique often called as the step controlling epitaxy where a lateral growth on a surface of an SiC substrate offset from a closest packed surface is carried out.
A document of Nature Materials volume 8, pages 171 and 172 (2009) has disclosed a technique for growing a graphene layer on an SiC substrate by raising a temperature of the SiC substrate higher than 1100° C. by reducing the SiC substrate. An international patent application laid open No. WO2010/023934 has disclosed another technique for forming a graphene layer on an SiC substrate by exposing Si surface of the SiC substrate by removing a native oxide layer of the SiC substrate, oxidizing Si surface to form SiO2 layer, and heating the SiC substrate within a vacuum. A Japanese patent application laid open No. JP-2015-110485A and an international patent application laid open No. WO2013/125669 each have disclosed a technique to form a graphene layer by heating an SiC substrate within an inactive atmosphere to vaporize Si atoms. A Japanese patent application laid open No. JP-2013-510071A has disclosed a technique of hydrogenating a graphene layer.
A Japanese patent application laid open No. JP-2014-162683A has disclosed a technique of removing hydrocarbons in a graphene layer by forming a carbon buffer layer on an SiC substrate by heating the SiC substrate, decomposing bonds between Si atoms in the SiC substrate and the carbon buffer by exposing the carbon buffer in hydrogen (H2) atmosphere, terminating Si bonds in the SiC substrate by hydrogen (H2), and heating the SiC substrate in a vacuum. A Japanese patent application laid open No. JP-2014-152051A has disclosed a technique of forming a graphene layer by removing native oxide on the surface of an SiC substrate to expose the C-polar surface of the SiC substrate, forming an SiC layer on the C-polar surface of the substrate, and heating the SiC substrate in argon (Ar) atmosphere. A Japanese patent application laid open No. JP-2013-180930A has disclosed a technique of forming a graphene layer by segregating carbon (C) atoms between an SiC substrate and an SiO2 film covering the SiC substrate to form a state where excess carbons are on the SiC substrate, and heating the SiC substrate at a temperature so as not to sublimate Si atoms. A Japanese patent application laid open No. JP-2014-240173A has disclosed a technique of forming a graphene layer by forming an SiC layer on a Si substrate, and heat-treating a surface of the SiC layer by using hydrogen (H2).
Thus, various trials and experiments have been carried out for enhancing the carrier mobility and reducing defects in an SiC-MOSFET. Also, various techniques have been proposed for forming a graphene layer having less defects and superior quality on an SiC substrate. However, no reports have seemed to be proposed how the SiC substrate has a preferable surface structure when a single crystal SiC substrate forms a film thereon.


As an example of a mobile communication system to which the present invention is applicable, a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (hereinafter, referred to as LTE) communication system is described in brief.
FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a network structure of an E-UMTS as an exemplary radio communication system. An Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications. System (E-UMTS) is an advanced version of a conventional Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and basic standardization thereof is currently underway in the 3GPP. E-UMTS may be generally referred to as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. For details of the technical specifications of the UMTS and E-UMTS, reference can be made to Release 7 and Release 8 of “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network”.
Referring to FIG. 1, the E-UMTS includes a User Equipment (UE), eNode Bs (eNBs), and an Access Gateway (AG) which is located at an end of the network (E-UTRAN) and connected to an external network. The eNBs may simultaneously transmit multiple data streams for a broadcast service, a multicast service, and/or a unicast service.
One or more cells may exist per eNB. The cell is set to operate in one of bandwidths such as 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz and provides a downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) transmission service to a plurality of UEs in the bandwidth. Different cells may be set to provide different bandwidths. The eNB controls data transmission or reception to and from a plurality of UEs. The eNB transmits DL scheduling information of DL data to a corresponding UE so as to inform the UE of a time/frequency domain in which the DL data is supposed to be transmitted, coding, a data size, and hybrid automatic repeat and request (HARM)-related information. In addition, the eNB transmits UL scheduling information of UL data to a corresponding UE so as to inform the UE of a time/frequency domain which may be used by the UE, coding, a data size, and HARQ-related information. An interface for transmitting user traffic or control traffic may be used between eNBs. A core network (CN) may include the AG and a network node or the like for user registration of UEs. The AG manages the mobility of a UE on a tracking area (TA) basis. One TA includes a plurality of cells.
Device to device (D2D) communication refers to the distributed communication technology that directly transfers traffic between adjacent nodes without using infrastructure such as a base station. In a D2D communication environment, each node such as a portable terminal discovers user equipment physically adjacent thereto and transmits traffic after setting communication session. In this way, since D2D communication may solve traffic overload by distributing traffic concentrated into the base station, the D2D communication may have received attention as the element technology of the next generation mobile communication technology after 4G. For this reason, the standard institute such as 3GPP or IEEE has proceeded to establish the D2D communication standard on the basis of LTE-A or Wi-Fi, and Qualcomm has developed their own D2D communication technology.
It is expected that the D2D communication contributes to increase throughput of a mobile communication system and create new communication services. Also, the D2D communication may support proximity based social network services or network game services. The problem of link of a user equipment located at a shade zone may be solved by using a D2D link as a relay. In this way, it is expected that the D2D technology will provide new services in various fields.
The D2D communication technologies such as infrared communication, ZigBee, radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communications (NFC) based on the RFID have been already used. However, since these technologies support communication only of a specific object within a limited distance (about 1 m), it is difficult for the technologies to be regarded as the D2D communication technologies strictly.
Although the D2D communication has been described as above, details of a method for transmitting data from a plurality of D2D user equipments with the same resource have not been suggested.


For a variety of reasons, a packet en route to its destination often passes through one or more networking device(s). For example, for security purposes, a packet may pass through various network devices, such as a firewall, a router, and an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). Once a networking device has received the packet it may perform a series of complex operations on the packet before the packet is allowed to be transmitted or is dropped. For example, a firewall that has received a packet may perform a series of operations on the packet to determine whether the packet is valid and safe before transmitting it out the egress (output) interface.
With conventional approaches, a user may know that a packet has arrived in the ingress interface of a network device, but the user has no efficient way of determining the various operations performed on the packet within a network device. For example, with conventional approaches, a user may need to go through what could possibly be hundreds of logging messages to try to understand the various operations performed on a packet within a network device. In addition, in a typical network device, the conditions and rules that have been configured are generally numerous and complex, which means that the reason for dropping a packet in a network device may be elusive for a user on a time constraint and without full understanding of the device, or intimate knowledge of the protocols utilized.
For example, a traditional approach in analyzing the operations performed on the packet is by examining associated logs (syslogs) and debugs. However, a limitation of current logs and debugs is that the current logs and debugs do not apply to a single packet, but instead apply to an entire feature or protocol. As of result, trying to determine the operations performed on an individual packet by examining associated logs and/or debugs requires correlation of the logs/debugs back to the specific packet. This is very time consuming and inefficient.


1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for matching contents of a cache memory to contents of a database.
2) Description of the Related Art
Systems are known that make is possible to execute electronic-commerce transactions, over the Internet and using a web browser, from terminal of the users, or make it possible to access database of an enterprise, over the Internet and using a web browser, from terminal of the users. An application server is used in such systems as a middleware to control access to the database from the terminals of the users.
Although it is difficult to handle status transition in the web browser, it is not so difficult in the application server. Therefore, the systems mentioned above can be easily construction and operates smoothly when the application server is provided as the middleware.
In such systems, a cache is provided to reduce frequency of access to the database. A related technology has been disclosed in, for example, Introduction to Web system, Jan. 23, 2003, HYPERLINK http://www.atmarkit.co.jp/fjava/rensai2/websys08/websys08.html.
However, when the database is updated, a mismatch is produced between the contents in the cache memory and the contents in the database. To solve this problem, a notification that indicates that the database has been updated is sent to the application server and the application server refreshes the contents in the cache to match with the contents in the database.
However, there is a problem that it is necessary to provide a means to generate and output the notification that indicates that the database has been updated.
In recent years, especially, parts-production of a program running in an application server or the like has advanced due to object-oriented languages such as JAVA 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). However, the parts-production of the program becomes difficult due to dependence on the processing performed at the database-side.
Further, cache contents in the application server are not stored at the database side, and a location in the database from which the cache contents have been extracted is not stored at the server side. Hence, when the database has been updated, an update notification is transmitted regardless of whether the cache contents should be refreshed, and moreover, the application server erases from the cache, even data that is not required to be updated. As a result, excessive cache refreshing occurs, which results in an increased load on the server.
Further, when the number of application servers connected to a database increases, load required for the database to perform a cache processing in each application server increases, which reduces the processing speed of the database.


As a measure against global warming, solar photovoltaic power generation has become popular in the world. For the solar photovoltaic power generation, a photoelectric conversion device (also called a solar cell) in which light energy is converted into electrical energy by using photoelectric characteristics of a semiconductor is applied in many cases, as compared to the case of utilizing solar heat.
Production of photoelectric conversion devices tends to increase year after year. For example, the total production of solar cells in the world in 2005 was 1,759 MW, which is a drastic increase of 147% as compared to that in the previous fiscal year. Photoelectric conversion devices which have become popular worldwide use a crystalline semiconductor; photoelectric conversion devices using a single crystal silicon substrate or a polycrystalline silicon substrate constitute a large part of the production.
The thickness of a crystal-type photoelectric conversion device using silicon, which is needed to absorb sunlight, is only about 10 μm. Nevertheless, a single crystal silicon substrate or a polycrystalline silicon substrate manufactured as a product has a thickness of about 200 to 300 μm. That is, the photoelectric conversion device using a single crystal semiconductor substrate or a polycrystalline semiconductor substrate has a thickness ten or more times as large as the thickness needed for photoelectric conversion, and thus the single crystal silicon substrate or the polycrystalline silicon substrate is far from being effectively utilized wholly. Speaking of extremes, most part of the single crystal silicon substrate or the polycrystalline silicon substrate functions only as a structural body for keeping the shape of the photoelectric conversion device.
With the increase of production of photoelectric conversion devices year after year, short of supply of polycrystalline silicon, which is the material of a silicon substrate, and resulting rise of cost of the same have become problems of the industry. The production of polycrystalline silicon is expected to be about 36,000 tons in 2007; in contrast, 25,000 tons or more of polycrystalline silicon is needed for semiconductor (LSI) and 20,000 tons or more of polycrystalline silicon is needed for solar cells, which means polycrystalline silicon seems to be in short of supply by about 10,000 tons. This short of supply is predicted to continue.
There are a variety of structures of photoelectric conversion devices. In addition to a photoelectric conversion device having a typical structure in which an n-type or a p-type diffusion layer is formed in a single crystal silicon substrate or a polycrystalline silicon substrate, a stacked photoelectric conversion device in which different kinds of unit cells, i.e., a unit cell formed of a single crystal semiconductor and a unit cell formed of an amorphous semiconductor, are combined is known (see Examined Patent Application Publication No. H6-044638). The photoelectric conversion devices are the same in that a single crystal silicon substrate or a polycrystalline silicon substrate is used. Here, as another mode of a photovoltaic device using a single crystal semiconductor substrate, a photovoltaic device using a single crystal semiconductor layer formed into a slice is given. For example, Patent Document 4 (Patent Document 4: Japanese Published Patent Application No. H10-335683) discloses a tandem solar cell in which hydrogen ions are implanted into a single crystal silicon substrate, a single crystal silicon layer which is separated from the single crystal silicon substrate in a layer shape is disposed over a support substrate in order to lower the cost and save resources while maintaining high conversion efficiency. In this tandem solar cell, a single crystal semiconductor layer and a substrate are bonded to each other with a conductive paste.
On the other hand, photoelectric conversion devices using a crystalline silicon thin film have also been developed. For example, a method for manufacturing a silicon thin-film solar cell in which a crystalline silicon film is deposited over a substrate by a plasma CVD method using a VHF of 27 MHz or higher which has been pulse modulated is described (see Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2005-50905). Further, a technique for controlling plasma process condition to optimize dopant concentration in crystal grains and crystal grain boundaries when a polycrystalline silicon thin film is formed by a plasma CVD method over a special electrode called a texture electrode which has minute unevenness on its surface is disclosed (see Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2004-14958). However, a crystalline thin-film silicon solar cell is still inferior to a single crystal silicon solar cell in crystal quality and photoelectric conversion characteristic. Moreover, a crystalline silicon film needs to be deposited to a thickness of 1 μm or more by a CVD method, which leads to a problem of low productivity.


Snappy is one algorithm in the LZ77 family that is widely used in applications such as Hadoop Compression, BTRFS file-system, in data center usages such as index-servers and is also enabled in the some browsers. In these usages, decompression latencies are critical to system performance.


1. Field
Embodiments relate to a ball balancer of a washing machine, and more particularly, to a relation between a gap, between a racer and balls, and viscous oil of a ball balancer of a washing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, washing machines wash laundry by rotating a drum containing the laundry using a driving motor. The drum is rotated at a low speed in regular and opposite directions during a washing process, and is rotated at a high speed in a regular direction during a dehydrating (drying) process.
During the dehydrating (drying) process, the drum is rotated at a high speed under the condition that laundry is not equally disposed in all regions of the drum and is crowded at a specific region of the drum, or the laundry is pushed to one side of the drum due to the accelerated rotation of the drum at an initial state of the dehydrating (drying) process. As a result, the center of gravity of the drum does not coincide with the center of rotation of the drum, thus generating vibration and noise. When the above phenomenon is repeated, components of the washing machine, including a drum, a rotary shaft, and a driving motor, break down or have a shortened life span.
Particularly, a drum washing machine has a structure in which a drum accommodating laundry is disposed horizontally so that the drum is rotated at a high speed in a dehydrating (drying) operation under the condition that the laundry is gathered together on the bottom of the drum by gravity. Thus, the center of gravity of the drum does not coincide with the center of rotation of the drum. Therefore, the drum washing machine has a great possibility of generating vibration and noise.
Drum washing machines, in which a drum is disposed horizontally, and vertical axis washing machines, in which a drum is disposed vertically, are generally provided with balancers for maintaining the dynamic balance of the drum.
Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-1999-0038279 discloses an example of a washing machine having balancers. Each of the balancers of this washing machine includes a racer installed at the upper or lower part of a drum for maintaining the dynamic balance of the drum when the drum is rotated at a high speed. Balls made of steel and freely movably are disposed in the racer, and viscous oil fills the inside of the racer.
When the drum is rotated, the drum cannot maintain its dynamic balance due to the unbalanced eccentric structure of the drum and the partial distribution of laundry in the drum. Then, the steel balls compensate for the above unbalance, thus allowing the drum to maintain its dynamic balance.
Since the viscous oil of the balancer employed by the above conventional washing machine is sensitive to an outdoor temperature, in the case that a gap between the inner wall of the racer and the steel balls is small, the ball balancer has a considerably high deviation in vibration (time) to attain a correct position according to the outdoor temperature.
On the other hand, in the case that the gap between the inner wall of the racer and the steel balls is large, the ball balancer rapidly attains a correct position, and thus the vibration of the drum is decreased. However, in this case, when the viscosity of the viscous oil is low, the ball balancer generates a large amount of noise. Further, when the gap is expanded to a certain extent, it is difficult to control vibration and noise characteristics due to the manufacturing error of the racer.


Various components used in microelectronic packaging or in interconnecting microelectronic packages can includes conductive features formed in a support structure in the form of a substrate or the like having vias or other routing or distribution circuitry formed therein. Such features are typically formed from various wiring metal such as copper, gold, nickel, aluminum, etc., which are formed in a support structure such as, for example, a thin dielectric or semiconductor material layer, by a number of different methods.
In some instances, the materials used to form such conductive features were made from a material of the type listed above in a form having impurities therein. Such materials, such as oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, and carbon, occurred naturally within the material or were added to the material as a by-product of various mineral extraction or processing steps. These and other impurities within the wiring material were known to increase the resistivity of the wiring material, which can slow the performance of microelectronic packages or package assemblies including such wiring material and increase operating temperatures thereof. In addition, these impurities sometimes directly resulted in failure or the creation of defects within wiring circuitry by causing small explosions within the wiring material within which they were embedded. In an effort to reduce the resistivity of components and to otherwise increase their reliability, the previously discussed impurities were reduced in the wiring materials by additional processing, for example, to result in wiring material that was substantially more pure than that which was previously used. The removal of such impurities, however, lead to increased grain size within the wiring material used, which accordingly resulted in a decreased mechanical strength for such materials.
The reduced strength in the materials used to form wiring circuitry can lead to failure within the components within which they are formed. Such failure can include fracture within components due to heat cycling of support structures or other related components. Additional failure can be in the form of delamination from within support structures due to plastic deformation of the wiring components caused by elastic deformation of support structures or thermal expansion thereof. Accordingly, a wiring metal composition and associated method are needed that produce high strength wiring components while maintaining an acceptable level of resistivity without susceptibility to failure modes similar to those of low-purity wiring metals.


In the search for a suitable fuel to replace the high enriched UAlx fuel generally used in Research and Materials Test Reactors (MTR) with a lower enrichment fuel, one viable candidate is found to be a U—Mo alloy. Mo is added to metallic uranium to extend the stability domain of the high temperature gamma phase, since this phase is stable under the required irradiation conditions in contrast to the room temperature alpha phase. 7-10 wt % Mo is sufficient to avoid transformation to the alpha phase during the production process. U(Mo) particles are used in the fabrication of so-called dispersion fuel plates or rods, in which the U(Mo) particles are mixed with a matrix material (generally Al). In case of a fuel plate, the compacted powder mixture is subsequently pressed in between two Al alloy plates, after which this sandwich structure is rolled to the required thickness. In case of fuel rods, fabrication may often be based on coextrusion methods.
A common method to manufacture the U(Mo) particles is by atomisation processes, which can best be described as a technique in which an ingot of U(Mo) alloy is molten using arc melting while it is spinning or a variation thereof. This causes molten material to be dispersed in small droplets by the centripetal forces. The droplets solidify on their way to the cooled chamber walls. The resulting spherical particles are very well suitable for the fabrication of the dispersion fuel plates or rods. Their sizes depend on the parameters used in the melting process, but are generally around 100 μm in diameter. Another production process based on grinding of ingots results in more or less irregular ground particles of similar average dimensions. Both production processes have been used in the production of test fuel plates.
Tests of U(Mo) based fuels in the reactor have revealed that the U(Mo) particles (atomised and ground) form an interaction layer with the Al matrix under irradiation. This interaction layer was demonstrated to amorphise under irradiation and shows very poor fission gas retention. This causes swelling of the fuel plates, which eventually leads to their failure by pillowing. In an attempt to remedy this behaviour, it was found that Si addition to the Al matrix results in some improvement, although it may not provide a complete solution, particularly for higher power densities. In “Dispersed (Coated particles) and monolithic (zircalloy-4 cladding) U—Mo Particles” (RERTR—2005 Meeting), Pasqualini describes CVD coating of U(Mo) particles with a silicon coating for introducing silicon as an inhibitor. Chemical vapour deposition of silicon thereby is based on silane. Furthermore, silicon is undesireable for the reprocessing of the used fuel and an alternative way, without Si, to stabilise the behaviour of the U(Mo) fuel during irradiation would be beneficial.
The incorporation of neutron poisons in nuclear fuels is a frequently used method to fine-tune the characteristics of the fuel towards its use in the reactor. Neutron poisons typically may have the purpose of lowering the reactivity at the beginning of the use of a fuel assembly in the reactor. Incorporation of neutron poisons is preferably homogeneous throughout the fuel and is often accomplished by blending neutron poison powders in the matrix. Because of several reasons, eg. the higher uranium loadings required in the LEU based fuels, this blending method is less appropriate for LEU based fuels and efforts are made to incorporate the neutron poison in the structural materials of the fuel element. In “Cd wires as burnable poison for the BR2 fuel element” by Franck et al. in Transactions of RRFM 2009, it is suggested to replace the provision of neutron poisons as powder mixed in the matrix by the provision of wires of neutron poison material in the structural materials of the fuel element.


When professionals develop training applications using eLearning tools, they typically create such applications section-by-section. The creation of each section often includes setting background and other art and also implementing user-interactive attributes (e.g., buttons that represent choices and cause an application to jump to different sections) in some of the sections. If later during the development process, the professional desires to go back and change one or more interactions in a previous section, the professional may have to search section-by-section until he or she finds the particular interaction, then edit the interaction in the section creation interface. This can be very burdensome, especially for large applications with many sections because using a “poke-and-peek” strategy may require looking through an unreasonable number of previous sections before the interaction is found.
One prior art solution has been to manually create a story board during the development process, wherein each section is laid out with its characteristics and interactions listed. A disadvantage of this solution is that it uses time and effort for something that is purely administrative and takes time and effort away from the development process. There is no solution currently available that allows a user to view and access interactions from a number of sections in a convenient and well-organized manner, thereby dispensing with the current section-by-section search approach.


This invention relates to methods and apparatus for deriving substantially correct parameter data for processing workpieces, more particularly, processing workpieces for electronic device fabrication.
The most successful processing of materials for electronic devices typically requires optimization and precise control of the processing environment at all process steps. Many of these process steps are performed under conditions that make it difficult or impossible to measure the desired process variables. In those cases where an important process variable cannot be readily measured, an attempt is made to correlate the parameter of interest to other measurable or controllable parameters. The accuracy and stability of these correlations, also called equipment response models, are a critical factor in determining the process capability and device yield at any given process step.
Descriptions of some of the available technologies and sensor apparatus for measuring process variables are available in the technical and patent literature. Examples of some of the technologies are described in United States patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,244,121, 6,051,443, 6,033,922, 5,989,349, 5,967,661, 5,907,820, and Patent Corporation Treaty application WO 02/17030.
Some of the available technologies are tethered systems in which sensors exposed to the process conditions that are to be measured have physical connections to remote facilities such as power sources and information processors, and electronic components. Other technologies use an electronics module that is coupled to the detectors on a support; the sensors and electronics module are part of a single unit that is exposed to the process conditions that are to be measured. The electronics module is necessary for a sensor apparatus with capabilities such as autonomous information processing capability, wireless communication capability, and other electronically controlled on-board capabilities.
In some applications, the presence of the tether or electronics module can introduce an unacceptable error in the measurement data. For the case of measuring temperatures using a sensor apparatus, the mere presence of the electronics module will distort the temperature field being measured. It is possible to reduce the distortion by using very small components in the module, thereby reducing the module""s overall size and thermal mass.
Of course, for some applications the module distortion effect may be ignored if a high degree of measurement accuracy is unnecessary. However, some of the critical process steps required for processing high-value workpieces such as semiconductor wafers for electronic device and optical device fabrication and substrates for flatpanel display fabrication do indeed require high accuracy for the values of the process conditions. For such applications, measurements of a parameter such as temperature need to be extremely accurate, particularly for the temperature uniformity across the area of the workpiece. Furthermore, applications involved with the manufacture, calibration, research, and development of process equipment for processing high value substrates require high accuracy measurements since the operation of the equipment can be limited by the accuracy of the measurements. Inaccurate data can result in the loss of millions of dollars of product in some instances. Alternatively, the inaccurate data can result in the production of products having poorer performance because the process conditions were optimized based on the inaccurate data.
Clearly, there are numerous applications requiring high accuracy methods and apparatus by which spatially resolved and time resolved equipment response models can be easily and economically developed and maintained. An example of an important application is the uniform processing of workpieces such as semiconductor wafers, flatpanel displays, and other electronic devices. Furthermore, there is a need for high accuracy methods and apparatus capable of collecting data for response models in a nonperturbing manner on unmodified process equipment running realistic process conditions. Still further, there is a need for methods and apparatus capable of correcting measurements errors that can be caused by the methods and apparatus used for the measurements.
This invention seeks to provide methods and apparatus that can improve the accuracy of measured parameter data used for processing workpieces. One aspect of the present invention includes methods of deriving substantially correct data for applications such as generating data for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing processes and process tools. Another aspect of the present invention includes apparatus for deriving substantially correct data for applications such as generating data for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing processes and process tools.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out aspects of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
The above and still further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed descriptions of specific embodiments thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to an LCD device that performs a gradation display by a combination of a plurality of sub frames according to a gradation level represented by a plurality of bits.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, a sub frame drive scheme has been known as one of half-tone display schemes used in an LCD device. In the sub frame drive scheme which is a kind of a time axis modulation scheme, a certain period of time (for example, a frame which is a display unit of an image in a case of a moving image) is divided into a plurality of sub frames, and the sub frames are combined according to a gradation to be displayed so as to drive pixels. The gradation to be displayed is decided according to a ratio of a pixel drive period of time occupied in the certain period of time. The ratio of the pixel drive period of time occupied in the certain period of time is decided according to a combination of the divided sub frames.
As an LCD device employing the sub frame drive scheme, known is an LCD device including pixels each of which includes a master latch, a slave latch, an LCD element, and three switching transistors of first to third switching transistors as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. JP-T-2001-523847 is known. In this case, in each pixel, first data of one bit is applied to one of two input terminals of the master latch through the first switching transistor; and second data of one bit having a complementary relation with the first data is applied to another input terminal through the second switching transistor. Then, when a target pixel is selected as a row selection signal applied through a row scanning line, the first switching transistor and the second switching transistor are turned on, and the first data is written. When the first data has a logical value of “1” and the second data has a logical value of “0,” the pixel performs a display based on data.
After each data is written in all pixels by the above-described operation within a certain sub frame period of time, the third switching transistors of all pixels are turned on within the sub frame period of time. Then, the data written in the master latch is read out to the slave latch with a certain time difference. Then, the data latched in the slave latch is applied to a pixel electrode of the LCD element. The above-described series of operations are repeated at intervals of sub frames, and a desired gradation display is performed based on combinations of all sub frames within one frame period of time.
In other words, in the LCD device employing the sub frame drive scheme, certain display periods of time which are the same as or different from each other are allocated to all sub frames present within one frame period of time. Further, each pixel performs a white display in all sub frames at the time of a maximum gradation display (displayed), but does not perform a white display in all sub frames at the time of a minimum gradation display (not displayed, that is, displayed black). In the case other than at the time of the maximum gradation display or the minimum gradation display, a sub frame to be displayed white is selected according to a gradation to be displayed white. In addition, in the LCD device according to the related art, data to be input is digital data representing a gradation, and a digital drive scheme of a two-stage latch configuration is used.
However, in the LCD device according to the related art, each of the two latches in each pixel is configured with a so-called static random access memory (SRAM), and thus the number of transistors configuring the circuit becomes large. Thus, there is a problem in that it is difficult to reduce the size of a pixel. Further, data written in the two-stage master latches is read out to the slave latch at the same time, and the data latched in the slave latch is applied from the slave latch to the pixel electrode of the LCD element. At this time, however, when switching is performed on all pixels at the same time (at one time), all pixels are read out and thus a consumption current at the moment becomes extremely high. The occurrence of an instantaneous peak of consumption current results in a drop in a power voltage or an increase in a GND voltage, which seriously influences the drive operation of the whole LCD device.


(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with a process and a device for determining the quantity of impurities in a gas by chromatography in gas phase and the utilization of such a process for measuring the quantity of doping impurities found in traces in silane.
(b) Description of Prior Art
The technology of chromatography, under normal conditions, does not permit detection to reach thresholds lower than about 2.10.sup.-2 ppm.volume and it may be necessary to determine the quantity of impurities which are found in a gas as traces, in lower quantities. This is particularly the case during the utilisation of silane in the manufacture of semi-conductors. This gas should indeed contain so called doping gas impurities, such as phosphine (PH.sub.3), arsine (AsH.sub.3) or hydrogen sulfide (H.sub.2 S). The effect of these impurities once incorporated into the semi-conductor should be controlled and maintained at a very specific level of concentration, which is very low, is exceeded. For example, it may be necessary to detect in silane traces of phosphine and arsine which are not in excess of 10.sup.-5 ppm.volume in order to be able to guarantee the quality of the silane used in the manufacture of semi-conductors.