All The Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for characterizing friction stir welds in materials comprising:
providing a sensor having a meandering drive winding with at least three extended portions and at least one sensing element placed between an adjacent pair of extended portions;
passing a time varying electric current through the extended portions to form a magnetic field;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor over the weld region;
measuring an electrical property of the weld region for each sensing element location; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising orienting the extended portions in a direction parallel to the weld axis.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising orienting the extended portions in a direction perpendicular to the weld axis.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising translating the sensor across the weld region, perpendicular to the weld axis.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising translating the sensor along the weld region, parallel to the weld axis.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising translating the sensor along a path forming a small angle with the axis of the weld region, with the extended portions oriented perpendicular to the translation path.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the small angle is 15 degrees.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the electrical property is an electrical conductivity.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the feature is a DXZ width.
10. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein at least one sensing element measures the properties of the base material so that the response from the sensing elements is normalized by the response from the base material.
11. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the feature is the shape of the conductivity response across the transition region for dissimilar materials.
12. The method as claimed in claim 8 wherein the feature is an electrical conductivity at the center of the weld region.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the weld quality is indicated by an LOP thickness.
14. The method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the weld quality is indicated by the presence of planar flaws.
15. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the electrical property is a magnetic permeability.
16. The method as claimed in claim 15 wherein the permeability is used to determine weld residual stress.
17. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the feature characterizing the weld quality is an image of the weld region created by combining the electrical property values with the position information.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the weld quality is indicated by the presence of planar flaws.
19. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the use of multiple excitation frequencies.
20. The method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the excitation frequency ranges from 100 Hz to 10 MHz.
21. The method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising the use of pre-computed databases of the sensor response to determine several material properties simultaneously.
22. The method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the material properties are a LOP conductivity and a LOP defect thickness.
23. The method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising the use of non-linear least-square minimization calculation which minimizes the error between a predicted sensor response and the measurement data to determine several material properties simultaneously.
24. The method as claimed in claim 23 wherein the material properties are a LOP conductivity and a LOP defect thickness.
25. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sensing elements are rows of inductive coils with the rows oriented parallel to the extended portions.
26. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the sensing elements are magnetoresistive sensors.
27. The method as claimed in claim 26 wherein the magnetoresistive sensors are in rows oriented parallel to the extended portions.
28. The method as claimed in claim 27 wherein the feature characterizing the weld quality is a high-resolution image of surface and through thickness properties of the weld region created by combining the electrical property values with the position information.
29. The method as claimed in claim 28 wherein the weld quality is indicated by the presence of a crack-like defect.
30. The method as claimed in claim 28 wherein the weld quality is indicated by a LOP defect.
31. The method as claimed in claim 30 wherein the sensor is translated over the top surface of the weld so that the LOP defect is on the opposite side of the weld.
32. The method as claimed in claim 28 wherein the weld quality is indicated by the presence of an internal flaw.
33. The method as claimed in claim 26 wherein the sensing elements have a secondary coil surrounding the magnetoresistive sensors.
34. The method as claimed in claim 33 wherein the secondary coils are used in a feedback configuration.
35. A method for characterizing weld quality comprising:
placing an eddy current sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor across the weld region;
measuring an electrical property at each sensor location across the weld region; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality.
36. The method as claimed in claim 35 wherein the electrical property is an electrical conductivity.
37. The method as claimed in claim 36 wherein the feature is a DXZ width determined from a property image.
38. A method for characterizing friction stir welds in materials comprising:
providing a sensor having several concentric circular drive windings with varying numbers of turns in each winding and a magnetoresistive sensor placed at the center of the drive windings;
passing a time varying electric current through the drive windings to form a shaped magnetic field distribution;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
translating the sensor over the weld region;
measuring an electrical property of the weld region for each sensor location; and
using a feature of the electrical property measurement and location information to determine weld quality.
39. The method as claimed in claim 38 wherein the feature characterizing the weld quality is an image of surface and through thickness properties of the weld region created by combining the electrical property values with the position information.
40. The method as claimed in claim 39 wherein the weld quality is indicated by the presence of a crack-like defect.
41. The method as claimed in claim 39 wherein the weld quality is indicated by a LOP defect.
42. The method as claimed in claim 41 further comprising that the sensor is translated over the top surface of the weld so that the LOP defect is on the opposite side of the weld.
43. The method as claimed in claim 39 wherein the weld quality is indicated by the presence of an internal flaw.
44. The method as claimed in claim 38 wherein the magnetoresistive sensor is surrounded by a secondary coil.
45. The method as claimed in claim 44 wherein the secondary coil is used in a feedback configuration.
46. The method as claimed in claim 38 further comprising an array of magnetoresistive sensors for producing an image of the material properties.
47. A method for joining process quality control comprising:
providing at least one sensor having a meandering drive winding with at least three extended portions and at least one sensing element placed between an adjacent pair of extended portions;
passing a time varying electric current through the extended portions to form a magnetic field;
placing the sensor in proximity to the test material;
measuring an electrical property of the test material with the sensor and test material in relative motion, and using a feature of the electrical property measurement in the control of the joining process.
48. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the joining process involves tracking the seam between the joint materials.
49. The method as claimed in claim 48 wherein the orientation of the extended portions is varied with respect to the seam axis.
50. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the electrical property is an electrical conductivity.
51. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the joining process is a friction stir welding process.
52. The method as claimed in claim 51 further comprising mounting at least one sensor in the anvil.
53. The method as claimed in claim 51 further comprising positioning a sensor ahead of the anvil and a sensor behind the anvil.
54. The method as claimed in claim 51 further comprising positioning a sensor ahead of the welding tool and a sensor behind the welding tool.
55. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the joining process uses a tool and the position of the sensor relative to the position of the tool is kept constant.
56. The method as claimed in claim 55 further comprising positioning a sensor over the front surface of the test material.
57. The method as claimed in claim 56 further comprising positioning another sensor near the back surface of the test material.
58. The method as claimed in claim 55 further comprising positioning a sensor ahead of the welding tool and a sensor behind the welding tool.
59. The method as claimed in claim 55 further comprising positioning a sensor over the front surface of the test material and a sensor near the back surface of the test material.
60. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the at least one sensor is not in contact with the test material.
61. The method as claimed in claim 47 further comprising the use of multiple excitation frequencies.
62. The method as claimed in claim 61 wherein the excitation frequency ranges from 100 Hz to 10 MHz.
63. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the sensing elements are inductive coils.
64. The method as claimed in claim 63 wherein the inductive coils form rows that are oriented parallel to the extended portions.
65. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the sensing elements are magnetoresistive sensors.
66. The method as claimed in claim 65 wherein the magnetoresistive sensors are giant magnetoresistive sensors.
67. The method as claimed in claim 47 wherein the sensing elements form an array for creating property images.
68. The method as claimed in claim 67 wherein the excitation frequency ranges is high to image surface breaking flaws.
69. The method as claimed in claim 68 wherein the excitation frequency ranges from 100 kHz to 10 MHz.
70. The method as claimed in claim 67 wherein the electrical property is magnetic permeability.
71. The method as claimed in claim 70 wherein the image provides a stress mapping of the heat affected zone and weld region.

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 multi port memory device including a first port and a second port, the memory device comprising:
a first group of bit lines associated with the first port, the first group of bit lines including a first bit line;
a second group of bit lines associated with the second port, the second group of bit lines including a second bit line, wherein the second bit line is disposed in closer proximity to any of the first group of bit lines than any of the remaining bit lines in the second group of bit lines, and the first bit line is disposed in closer proximity to any of the second group of bit lines than any of the remaining bit lines in the second group of bit lines;
wherein the first bit line and the second bit line are formed in different metallization layers; and
wherein the second group of bit lines is separated in at least one direction of a horizontal plane from the first group of bit lines.
2. The memory device of claim 1, wherein one or both of stray or coupling capacitance associated with the bit lines is reduced due to the vertical andor horizontal separation between the bit lines.
3. The memory device of claim 1 further comprising first metal-to-substrate contacts of the first group of bit lines arranged in an opposite corner of the multi-port memory device from second metal-to-substrate contacts of the second group of bit lines.
4. The memory device of claim 1 further comprising a VSS or VDD line located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
5. The memory device of claim 4 further comprising a VSS or VDD line located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
6. The memory device of claim 1 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
7. The memory device of claim 3 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
8. The memory device of claim 4 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
9. The memory device of claim 5 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
10. A multi port memory device including a first port and a second port, the memory device comprising:
a first group of bit lines associated with the first port, the first group of bit lines including a first bit line and a third bit line;
a second group of bit lines associated with the second port, the second group of bit lines including a second bit line and a fourth bit line, wherein the second bit line is disposed in closer proximity to any of the first group of bit lines than any of the remaining bit lines in the second group of bit lines, and the first bit line is disposed in closer proximity to any of the second group of bit lines than any of the remaining bit lines in the second group of bit lines;
wherein the first bit line, the second bit line, the third bit line, and the fourth bit line are formed in different metallization layers; and
wherein the second group of bit lines is separated in at least one direction of a horizontal plane from the first group of bit lines.
11. The memory device of claim 10, wherein one or both of stray or coupling capacitance associated with the bit lines is reduced due to the vertical andor horizontal separation between the bit lines.
12. The memory device of claim 10 further comprising first metal-to-substrate contacts of the first group of bit lines arranged in an opposite corner from second metal-to-substrate contacts of the second group of bit lines.
13. The memory device of claim 10 further comprising a VSS or VDD line located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines to reduce coupling capacitance.
14. The memory device of claim 12 further comprising a VSS or VDD line located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines to reduce coupling capacitance.
15. The memory device of claim 10 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
16. The memory device of claim 12 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
17. The memory device of claim 13 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
18. The memory device of claim 14 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
19. A multi port memory device including a first port and a second port, the memory device comprising:
a first group of bit lines associated with the first port, the first group of bit lines including a first bit line and a third bit line;
a second group of bit lines associated with the second port, the second group of bit lines including a second bit line and a fourth bit line, wherein the second bit line is disposed in closer proximity to any of the first group of bit lines than any of the remaining bit lines in the second group of bit lines, and the first bit line is disposed in closer proximity to any of the second group of bit lines than any of the remaining bit lines in the second group of bit lines;
wherein the first bit line and the fourth bit line are disposed in a metallization layer, the second bit line and the third bit line are disposed in another metallization layer, wherein the metallization layer and the another metallization layer are formed as different layers;
wherein the second group of bit lines is separated in at least one direction of a horizontal plane from the first group of bit lines.
20. The memory device of claim 19, wherein one or both of stray or coupling capacitance associated with the bit lines is reduced due to the vertical andor horizontal separation between the bit lines.
21. The memory device of claim 19 further comprising first metal-to-substrate contacts of the first group of bit lines arranged in an opposite corner from second metal-to-substrate contacts of the second group of bit lines.
22. The memory device of claim 19 further comprising a VSS or VDD line located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines to reduce coupling capacitance.
23. The memory device of claim 21 further comprising a VSS or VDD line located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines to reduce coupling capacitance.
24. The memory device of claim 19 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
25. The memory device of claim 21 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
26. The memory device of claim 22 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.
27. The memory device of claim 23 further comprising a vertical shielding metal layer located horizontally between and separating the first group of bit lines and the second group of bit lines.

1. A magnetic head assembly comprising
a magnetic recording unit that includes:
a recording magnetic pole;
a spin torque oscillator that has first and second magnetic layers, and an intermediate layer interposed between the first and second magnetic layers, the spin torque oscillator generating a high-frequency magnetic field by applying a current between the first and second magnetic layers; and
a third magnetic layer that is placed adjacent to at least part of a side face of the second magnetic layer.
2. The head assembly according to claim 1, wherein an insulating layer is provided between the third magnetic layer and the spin torque oscillator.
3. The head assembly according to claim 1, wherein coercive force of the first magnetic layer and the third magnetic layer is smaller than a magnetic field generated from the recording magnetic pole toward the first magnetic layer and the third magnetic layer.
4. The head assembly according to claim 1, wherein the third magnetic layer has magnetic anisotropy in the same direction as the first magnetic layer.
5. The head assembly according to claim 1, wherein the third magnetic layer is made of a material having higher saturation flux density than the second magnetic layer.
6. A magnetic head assembly comprising:
a recording magnetic pole;
a spin torque oscillator that has first and second magnetic layers, and an intermediate layer interposed between the first and second magnetic layers, the spin torque oscillator generating a high-frequency magnetic field by applying a current between the first and second magnetic layers; and
a magnetic shield that is provided to face surfaces of the recording magnetic pole and the second magnetic layer, the surfaces existing in a track movement direction, a distance between the magnetic shield and the second magnetic layer being shorter than a distance between the recording magnetic pole and the magnetic shield.
7. The head assembly according to claim 6, wherein coercive force of the first magnetic layer is smaller than a magnetic field generated from the recording magnetic pole toward the first magnetic layer.
8. The head assembly according to claim 6, wherein the second magnetic layer is located on the opposite side of the first magnetic layer from the recording magnetic pole.
9. The head assembly according to claim 6, wherein the first magnetic layer is located on the opposite side of the second magnetic layer from the recording magnetic pole.
10. The head assembly according to claim 6, wherein one of two electrodes that supply current to the spin torque oscillator is the recording magnetic pole.
11. A magnetic recordingreproducing apparatus comprising:
a magnetic recording medium;
the magnetic head assembly according to claim 1;
a movement control unit that controls the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head assembly to have relative movements in a floating or contact state, the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head assembly facing each other;
a position control unit that controls the magnetic head assembly to be located in a predetermined recording position of the magnetic recording medium; and
a signal processing unit that performs processing on a signal for writing on the magnetic recording medium and a signal for reading from the magnetic recording medium, with the use of the magnetic head assembly.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the magnetic recording medium has a structure formed with two stacked magnetic layers having different magnetic anisotropy levels from each other.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein magnetic anisotropy of a magnetic layer of the magnetic recording medium closer to the magnetic head assembly is smaller than magnetic anisotropy of a magnetic layer of the magnetic recording medium farther away from the magnetic head assembly.
14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the magnetic recording medium is a discrete track medium that has a nonmagnetic material interposed between each two adjacent recording tracks.
15. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the magnetic recording medium is a discrete bit medium that has recording magnetic pattern portions regularly arranged, the recording magnetic pattern portions being isolated from one another by nonmagnetic portions.
16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the magnetic head assembly performs recording, with each two recording magnetic pattern portions adjacent to each other in a track width direction being a unit of recording information.
17. The apparatus according to any one of claim 11, wherein the spin torque oscillator is placed on a trailing side of a movement direction of the magnetic recording medium.
18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the spin torque oscillator is placed on a leading side of a movement direction of the magnetic recording medium.

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. On a computing system, a method of adapting an identification andor scheduling of video items for recording based on usage, the method comprising:
detecting a trigger to perform a series update, the series update comprising an update of a trend group series in which trend group activity of a weighted threshold plurality of members of a trend group regarding a selected video item triggers an automatic scheduling of the selected video item for recording by other members of the trend group, the trigger comprising an exceeding of a threshold ratio, the threshold ratio comprising a quotient of a sum of weighted user count values for members of the trend group that manually scheduled the selected video item for recording before the weighted threshold plurality of members was reached and a total sum of all weighted user count values of the trend group;
upon detection of the trigger, determining one or more video items to record for the trend group series by providing input of weighted user count values to a series update module that returns candidate video items for inclusion in the series, the candidate video items being determined based upon the threshold plurality of members of the trend group having manually scheduled the candidate video items for recording;
automatically scheduling zero or more of the candidate video items for recording;
tracking feedback related to video item playback of one or more video items that were recorded based upon the scheduling; and
based upon the feedback, adapting the input provided to the series update module for a later series update by modifying a weighting factor of the weighted user count value for a trend group member that manually scheduled the selected video item for recording before the weighted threshold number of members was reached.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the weighting factor for the trend group member comprises modifying the weighting factor for each trend group member that manually scheduled the selected video item for recording before the weighted threshold number of members was reached.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input comprises a priority value assigned based upon a comparison between a number of viewers that watch a particular video item and a number of viewers that recorded the particular video item, and wherein adapting the input comprises modifying the priority value based upon the comparison.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback comprises one or more of information regarding whether recorded video items are played, information regarding whether video items played receive positive andor negative user feedback, and information regarding an amount of usage of the series update module.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising assigning a reputation score to one or more of the series and the series update module based upon the feedback.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a personal reputation factor based upon a correlation of playback statistics of a user with playback statistics of one or more other users.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises a client digital video recording device.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises a remote digital video recording service.
9. A computing system comprising:
a processor; and
a storage device comprising instructions executable by the processor to adapt an identification andor scheduling of video items for recording based on usage by
detecting a trigger to perform a series update, the series update comprising an update of a trend group series in which trend group activity of a weighted threshold plurality of members of a trend group regarding a selected video item triggers an automatic scheduling of the selected video item for recording by other members of the trend group, the trigger comprising an exceeding of a threshold ratio, the threshold ratio comprising a quotient of a sum of weighted user count values for members of the trend group that manually scheduled the selected video item for recording before the weighted threshold plurality of members was reached and a total sum of all weighted user count values of the trend group;
upon detection of the trigger, determining one or more video items to record for the trend group series by providing input of weighted user count values to a series update module that returns candidate video items for inclusion in the series, the candidate video items being determined based upon the threshold plurality of members of the trend group having manually scheduled the candidate video items for recording;
automatically scheduling zero or more of the candidate video items for recording;
tracking feedback related to video item playback of one or more video items that were recorded based upon the scheduling; and
based upon the feedback, adapting the input provided to the series update module for a later series update by modifying a weighting factor of the weighted user count value for a trend group member that manually scheduled the selected video item for recording before the weighted threshold number of members was reached.
10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein modifying the weighting factor for the trend group member comprises modifying the weighting factor for each trend group member that manually scheduled the selected video item for recording before the weighted threshold number of members was reached.
11. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the input comprises a priority value assigned based upon a comparison between a number of viewers that watch a particular video item and a number of viewers that recorded the particular video item, and wherein adapting the input comprises modifying the priority value based upon the comparison.
12. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the feedback comprises one or more of information regarding whether recorded video items are played, information regarding whether video items played receive positive andor negative user feedback, and information regarding an amount of usage of the series update module.
13. The computing system of claim 12, further comprising assigning a reputation score to one or more of the series and the series update module based upon the feedback.
14. The computing system of claim 13, further comprising determining a personal reputation factor based upon a correlation of playback statistics of a user with playback statistics of one or more other users.
15. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the computing system comprises a client digital video recording device.
16. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the computing system comprises a remote digital video recording service.