Abstract: A cutting apparatus including a grinder for sharpening knives in the cutting assembly is disclosed. The cutting apparatus includes a mouth for delivering the material to be cut to a cutting position, a cutting drum having at least one knife having a cutting edge, the cutting drum having a drive system and being rotatable about an axis. A grinder is described for removing material from the cutting edge of a knife, the grinder brought into contact with the cutting edge with a movement in a first direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the cutting drum and with a movement in a second direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the cutting drum, the grinder configured to move in the first direction at a first speed and move in the second direction at a second speed, the first speed different to the second speed.

Abstract: An integrated circuit with distributed power using through-silicon-vias (TSVs) is presented. The integrated circuit has conducting pads for providing power and ground located within the peripheral region of the top surface. A number of through-silicon-vias are distributed within the peripheral region and a set of TSVs are formed within the non-peripheral region of the integrated circuit. Conducting lines on the bottom surface are coupled between each peripheral through-silicon-via and a corresponding non-peripheral through-silicon-via. Power is distributed from the conducting pads to the TSVs within the non-peripheral region through the TSVs within the peripheral region, thus supplying power and ground to circuits located within the non-peripheral region of the integrated circuit chip.

Abstract: An integrated circuit with distributed power using through-silicon-vias (TSVs) is presented. The integrated circuit has conducting pads for providing power and ground located within the peripheral region of the top surface. A number of through-silicon-vias are distributed within the peripheral region and a set of TSVs are formed within the non-peripheral region of the integrated circuit. Conducting lines on the bottom surface are coupled between each peripheral through-silicon-via and a corresponding non-peripheral through-silicon-via. Power is distributed from the conducting pads to the TSVs within the non-peripheral region through the TSVs within the peripheral region, thus supplying power and ground to circuits located within the non-peripheral region of the integrated circuit chip.

Abstract: An integrated circuit with distributed power using through-silicon-vias (TSVs) is presented. The integrated circuit has conducting pads for providing power and ground located within the peripheral region of the top surface. A number of through-silicon-vias are distributed within the peripheral region and a set of TSVs are formed within the non-peripheral region of the integrated circuit. Conducting lines on the bottom surface are coupled between each peripheral through-silicon-via and a corresponding non-peripheral through-silicon-via. Power is distributed from the conducting pads to the TSVs within the non-peripheral region through the TSVs within the peripheral region, thus supplying power and ground to circuits located within the non-peripheral region of the integrated circuit chip.

Abstract: A cutting apparatus including a grinder assembly for grinding and sharpening the knives in the cutting assembly is disclosed. The cutting apparatus comprises, a mouth defined by a jaw assembly for delivering the material to be cut to a cutting position at the mouth, a cutting drum having at least one knife the, or each, knife having a cutting edge, the cutting drum having drive means therefor and being rotatable about an axis arranged substantially parallel to the mouth such that the cutting edge of the at least one knife is arranged substantially perpendicular to the material to be cut.

Abstract: A power-on-reset circuit determines when it is safe for a programmable device to access configuration data from an associated non-volatile memory following a reset operation. The power-on-reset circuit receives a bandgap reference voltage produced by the programmable device. A comparator circuit is used to trigger a self-clocking delay unit when the bandgap reference voltage reaches a threshold level. The self-clocking delay unit generates its own clock signal independent of the clock frequency of the programmable device. The self-clocking delay unit may use edge-dependent delay units in a feedback loop to generate the clock signal. Using its own clock signal, the self-clocking delay unit waits for a predetermined time period and the outputs a signal to be used to enable access to the associated non-volatile memory.

Abstract: A smaller mask programmable gate array (MPGA) device derived from a larger field programmable gate array (FPGA), comprising: a layout of transistors and a plurality of interconnect layers substantially identical to a smaller region of the FPGA; and input/output pads matching a subset of the input/output pads of the FPGA; wherein, a design that is mapped to said smaller region of the FPGA device using said subset of input/output pads by a user programmable means can be identically mapped to the MPGA by a hard-wire circuit. Such a gate array further comprises a mask programmable metal-circuit in lieu of a user programmable configuration circuit of the FPGA; and a logic block to input/output pad connection in lieu of a logic block to a register at the boundary of said smaller region to an input/output pad connection of the FPGA.

Abstract: A power-on-reset circuit determines when it is safe for a programmable device to access configuration data from an associated non-volatile memory following a reset operation. The power-on-reset circuit receives a bandgap reference voltage produced by the programmable device. A comparator circuit is used to trigger a self-clocking delay unit when the bandgap reference voltage reaches a threshold level. The self-clocking delay unit generates its own clock signal independent of the clock frequency of the programmable device. The self-clocking delay unit may use edge-dependent delay units in a feedback loop to generate the clock signal. Using its own clock signal, the self-clocking delay unit waits for a predetermined time period and the outputs a signal to be used to enable access to the associated non-volatile memory.

Abstract: Programmable routing structures to couple physical memory nodes to logical memory nodes in embedded multi-port memory FPGA's are disclosed. In a first embodiment, a plurality of physical domain nodes couples a plurality of variable node sets in a logical read domain, wherein a configuration element activates one of the sets and selects a fixed input or an address signal to decode the data read. In a second embodiment, a plurality of physical domain nodes couples a plurality of variable node sets in a logical write domain, wherein a configuration element activates one of the sets and couples a fixed input or an address signal to an enable signal of a driver device to decode the data written. A third embodiment provide logical read and logical write functions for a single port in a multi-port physical memory array, wherein the logical read data width and the logical write data width can be independently configured, and wherein the read and write functions share common address lines.

Abstract: A method of fabricating integrated circuits is provided that allows new integrated circuits to be fabricated with reduced die areas and reduced power consumptions relative to old integrated circuits. The new circuits are interchangeable with the old integrated circuits, because the delay times for the data pathways through the new circuits are the same as the delay times for the data pathways through the old circuits. A family of new circuits, each of which is compatible with a corresponding one of a series of old circuits, can be fabricated using a common circuit layout. Each new circuit is associated with a parameter value that governs the delay time of a component in a data pathway through the circuit and ensures that the new circuit is compatible with the corresponding old circuit.

Abstract: A smaller mask programmable gate array (MPGA) device derived from a larger field programmable gate array (FPGA), comprising: a layout of transistors and a plurality of interconnect layers substantially identical to a smaller region of the FPGA; and input/output pads matching a subset of the input/output pads of the FPGA; wherein, a design that is mapped to said smaller region of the FPGA device using said subset of input/output pads by a user programmable means can be identically mapped to the MPGA by a hard-wire circuit. Such a gate array further comprises a mask programmable metal-circuit in lieu of a user programmable configuration circuit of the FPGA; and a logic block to input/output pad connection in lieu of a logic block to a register at the boundary of said smaller region to an input/output pad connection of the FPGA.