1-15. (canceled)
16. A Hall sensor assembly, comprising:
a plurality of non-conductive, nonmagnetic support parts;
a plurality of Hall sensors, each disposed on a respective said nonmagnetic support part;
said support parts being formed to support a formation of three groups of Hall sensors, each group covering a measurement of a magnetic field for one of three Cartesian directions; and
said three groups of Hall sensors being disposed adjacent one another for sharing a common Hall sensor active volume that is smaller than or equal to 200 \u03bcm\xd7200 \u03bcm\xd7200 \u03bcm.
17. The Hall sensor assembly according to claim 16, wherein one respective pair of said Hall sensors is provided for each of the three Cartesian directions, and said two Hall sensors of each said pair are disposed each on an individual support part.
18. The Hall sensor assembly according to claim 16, wherein said support parts are pyramidal support parts formed as truncated pyramids and each said Hall sensor is disposed on a peak of a pyramidal support part.
19. The Hall sensor assembly according to claim 18, wherein said pyramidal support parts represent a cube when assembled.
20. The Hall sensor assembly according to claim 16 wherein said support parts are cuboid support parts and said Hall sensors are disposed on a substrate; said substrate being mounted to one surface of said cuboidic support part, wherein said Hall sensor is located at one outer corner of said substrate.
21. The Hall sensor assembly according to claim 20 wherein said cuboid support parts together with said substrates mounted to one surface thereof represent in general a cube when assembled, wherein all outer corners form said common Hall sensor active volume.
22. A method for manufacturing a Hall sensor assembly, comprising the steps of:
a) depositing a Hall sensor active area on a substrate;
b) contacting the Hall sensor active area with four contact lines on the sensor substrate;
c) mounting the sensor substrate to a support part;
d) optionally smoothing a passage from the sensor substrate and the support part;
e) extending the four contact lines along the support part;
f) assembling a plurality of support parts manufactured according to steps a) through e) in order to form three groups of Hall sensors, each group covering a measurement of a magnetic field for one of three Cartesian directions, wherein the three groups of Hall sensors are disposed adjacent one another in order to share a common Hall sensor active volume that is smaller than or equal to 200 \u03bcm\xd7200 \u03bcm\xd7200 \u03bcm.
23. The method according to claim 22, which comprises forming the Hall sensor active area and the sensor substrate from a semiconductor material, preferably GaAs, and forming the four contact lines from a high conducting material.
24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the semiconductor material is GaAs and the high conducting material is gold.
25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the support parts are made from a non-conducting and non-magnetic material.
26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the support parts are made from crystal or ceramics or from a composite material.
27. The method according to claim 22, which comprises coating the surfaces of the support parts at least partially with a conductive layer; the conductive layer being separated into four sections; each section being connected to one of the four contact lines.
28. The method according to claim 22, which comprises forming at least one of the support parts with a reference surface, enabling a positioning for a rotation during calibration of the Hall sensor assembly.
29. The method according to claim 22, which comprises forming the support parts as truncated pyramids wherein the Hall sensor active areas are disposed with its sensor substrate on an upper surface of the truncated pyramids.
30. The method according to claim 29, which comprises assembling six pyramids having a square base area to form a cube with the Hall sensor active areas all located in a spatial center of the cube.
31. The method according to claim 22 which comprises forming the support parts as cuboids and placing the Hall sensors on a substrate, mounting the substrate to one surface of the cuboid support part wherein the Hall sensor is located at one outer corner of a circuit chip.
32. The method according to claim 31 wherein the cuboid support parts together with the substrates mounted to one surface of the cuboid support parts represent in general a cube when assembled wherein all outer corners form the common Hall sensor active volume.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A recording apparatus comprising:
broadcast signal receiving means for receiving a broadcast signal transmitted from a broadcasting station;
setting means for setting at least a broadcasting time period and a broadcasting station;
communication means for transmitting request information to an external device, the request information requesting at least titles of programs previously broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting means within the broadcasting time period set by the setting means, broadcasting dates and times of the programs, and titles of content broadcasted in the programs, and for receiving reply information returned from the external device in response to the request information, the reply information including at least titles of programs previously broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting means within the broadcasting time period set by the setting means, broadcasting dates and times of the programs, and titles of content broadcasted in the programs;
program table creation means for creating a program table based on the reply information; and
recording scheduling means for, when a program previously broadcasted within the broadcasting time period set by the setting means is selected from the program table, scheduling the recording of a program to be broadcast from the broadcasting station set by the setting means based on the title and broadcasting date and time of the selected previously broadcasted program.
2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
time setting means for, when a program is selected from the program table created by the program table creation means, setting a recording start time and a recording end time of the program based on a broadcasting date and time of the program;
a timer for outputting a current time;
recording means for recording the broadcast signal received by the broadcast signal receiving means in a recording medium as broadcast data; and
control means for controlling the recording means to start recording of the broadcast data in the recording medium when the recording start time set by the time setting means matches an output of the timer, and controlling the recording means to end the recording of the broadcast data in the recording medium when the recording end time matches the output of the timer.
3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the communication means transmits request information to the external device, the request information requesting at least titles of programs previously broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting means within the broadcasting time period set by the setting means, broadcasting dates and times of the programs, titles of content broadcasted in the programs, and the broadcasting start times of the content, and receives list information transmitted from the external device in response to the request information, the list information including at least titles of programs previously broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting means, broadcasting dates and times of the programs, and titles of content broadcasted in the programs; and
the program table creation means creates the program table based on the list information.
4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the communication means transmits request information requesting the list information to at least one external device different for each broadcasting station set by the setting means.
5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the communication means periodically transmits request information to the external device and receives ongoing program information transmitted from the external device according to the request information, the request information requesting the ongoing program information including a title of a program being broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting means, a broadcasting date and time of the program, a title of content being broadcasted in the program, and a broadcasting start time of the content; and
the program table creation means creates the program table based on the ongoing program information.
6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the communication means transmits the request information requesting the ongoing program information at prescribed intervals to at least one external device different for each broadcasting station set by the setting means.
7. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the program table creation means creates the program table every day based on the output of the timer.
8. A recording apparatus comprising:
a broadcast signal receiving unit configured to receive a broadcast signal transmitted from a broadcasting station;
a setting unit configured to set at least a broadcasting time period and a broadcasting station;
a communication unit configured to transmit request information to an external device, the request information requesting at least titles of programs previously broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting unit within the broadcasting time period set by the setting unit, broadcasting dates and times of the programs, and titles of content broadcasted in the programs, and receive reply information from the external device in response to the request information, the reply information including at least titles of programs previously broadcasted from the broadcasting station set by the setting unit within the broadcasting time period set by the setting unit, broadcasting dates and times of the programs, and titles of content broadcasted in the programs;
a program table creation unit for creating a program table based on the reply information; and
recording scheduling unit configured to, when a program previously broadcasted within the broadcasting time period set by the setting unit is selected from the program table, schedule the recording of a program to be broadcast from the broadcasting station set by the setting unit based on the title and broadcasting date and time of the selected previously broadcasted program.