Techniques for estimating adaptive noise canceling (ANC) performance in a personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, provide robustness of operation by triggering corrective action when ANC performance is low, and/or by saving a state of the ANC system when ANC performance is high. An anti-noise signal is generated from a reference microphone signal and is provided to an output transducer along with program audio. A measure of ANC gain is determined by computing a ratio of a first indication of magnitude of an error microphone signal that provides a measure of the ambient sounds and program audio heard by the listener including the effects of the anti-noise, to a second indication of magnitude of the error microphone signal without the effects of the anti-noise. The ratio can be determined for different frequency bands in order to determine whether particular adaptive filters are trained properly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to personal audio devices such as headphones that include adaptive noise cancellation (ANC), and, more specifically, to architectural features of an ANC system in which performance of the ANC system is measured and used to adjust operation.
2. Background of the Invention
Wireless telephones, such as mobile/cellular telephones, cordless telephones, and other consumer audio devices, such as MP3 players, are in widespread use. Performance of such devices with respect to intelligibility can be improved by providing adaptive noise canceling (ANC) using a reference microphone to measure ambient acoustic events and then using signal processing to insert an anti-noise signal into the output of the device to cancel the ambient acoustic events.
However, performance of the ANC system in such devices is difficult to monitor. Since the ANC system may not always be adapting, if the position of the device with respect to the user's ear changes, the ANC system may actually increase the ambient noise heard by the user.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a personal audio device, including a wireless telephone that implements adaptive noise cancellation and can monitor performance to improve cancellation of ambient sounds.

Adaptive-noise canceling (ANC) effectiveness estimation and correction in a personal audio device


A processing arrangement (1) includes a processing unit (3) adapted to execute a predetermined set of processing instructions received from an instruction input (12). The set of processing instructions includes at least one predetermined processing instruction adapted to initiate a fixing operation. A memory unit (2) with a multiplicity of memory cells (5) is adapted to store data values. A detection unit (6) is adapted to detect a data value of a memory cell (5) and a data output (7) adapted to provide, on successful detection, the detected data value of a memory cell (5) or, on unsuccessful detection, a predetermined data value to the data output (7). The data output (7) is operationally coupled to the instruction input (12). The predetermined data value is mapped to the predetermined processing instruction adapted to initiate the fixing operation of an execution through the processing unit (3).

Processing arrangements comprising a processing unit and a memory unit are widely known. For example, most electronic devices such as computers or consumer electronic devices comprise a microprocessor and a BIOS (basic input output system) memory unit comprising processing instructions performed after providing the microprocessor with an operating voltage, i.e., after switching the device on.
Another example of processing arrangements of the described kind are memory card devices such as flash memory cards, in which a non-volatile memory unit is accessed by means of an integrated microcontroller acting as processing unit.
During startup and operation of such processing arrangements temporary problems or faults can occur. For example, it may take more time for the memory unit to become operational than it takes for the processing unit.
A processing unit receiving no data or an unexpected data value from a memory unit due to a temporary fault will typically perform some unwanted operation, often resulting in a malfunctioning of the entire processing arrangement.
For example, a memory card device trying to access its memory unit after connection of the device to a host system may crash, because a power supply from the host system to the memory card device is not stable at the time of the first access. As a consequence, the memory card device may not respond as expected by the host system and is unavailable for storing, receiving or sending data.
In order to overcome such and similar problems, one can design a separate detection circuit that is capable of detecting a temporary fault or error. On detection, the detection circuit can then stop the processing unit, for example by providing a suitable control signal to it or by stopping a clock signal of the processing arrangement.
However, such detection circuits require additional electronic components and thus space in the processing arrangement. As a consequence, the processing arrangement becomes more complex and thus more expensive.
Another disadvantage of such a solution is that it cannot be changed after the design of the processing arrangement has been completed. For example, it is impossible to introduce new fixing operations for responding to a detected temporary problem after the design stage of the processing arrangement.
In one aspect, the present invention describes a processing arrangement with a simple and flexible design that is capable of performing a fixing operation. In a further aspect, the invention provides a memory card device with a simple and flexible design that is capable of performing a fixing operation. In yet another aspect, the invention describes methods for manufacturing and operating processing arrangements in accordance with the invention.

Processing arrangement, memory card device and method for operating and manufacturing a processing arrangement

Infineon Technologies Flash GmbH & Co. KG


In one embodiment an ion source includes an arc chamber and an emitter having a surface disposed in the arc chamber, where the emitter is configured to generate a plasma in the arc chamber. The ion source further includes a repeller having a repeller surface positioned opposite the emitter surface, and a hollow cathode coupled to the repeller and configured to provide a feed material into the arc chamber.

In high volume manufacturing processes including ion implantation for processing semiconductor substrates increasing ion current continues to be a priority. One ongoing challenge for ion sources is the ability to breakup and ionize molecular gases that are commonly used as a source of dopants to be implanted into substrates. A related problem is the efficiency of producing multiply charge ions from a precursor species. As is well known, in ion implantation systems multiply charged ions may be used as a means to increase ion implantation energy without increasing acceleration voltage. One particular challenge facing the industry is the ability to produce multiply charged dopant ions from molecular precursors. Commonly used ion sources, such as indirectly heated cathode sources may yield, for example, a higher fraction of singly charge ions than desirable.
Ionization of species to a multiply charged state generally proceeds through a stepwise process, in which the precursor molecule is first broken up into constituent neutral atoms. A neutral atom subsequently loses initially one electron as a result of collision with an electron, thereby forming a singly charged ion. The singly charged ion then loses a second electron in a collision with another electron, and so on. To increase the output of multiply charged ions it is desirable to increase the production rates of ions and decrease the loss rates for ions in the stepwise production process. In principle, this may be accomplished in various manners. For one, the energy of electrons in a plasma within the ion source may be increased. The degree of ionization may also be increased, meaning that the fraction of charged particles such as charged molecules to neutral molecules is increased. In addition, minimizing the rate of ion losses due to collisions with neutrals or chamber walls increases net ion production rate. However, in present day IHC ions sources for many ion species ion production is less than desired.

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.


Broadly this invention provides an invention which is inbred corn line G0302. The methods for producing a corn plant by crossing the inbred line G0302 are also encompassed by the invention. Additionally, the invention relates to the various parts of inbred G0302 including culturable cells. This invention relates to hybrid corn seeds and plants produced by crossing the inbred line G0302 with at least one other corn line.

The original maize plant was indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. The plants were weedlike and only through the efforts of early breeders were cultivated crop species developed. The crop cultivated by early breeders, like the crop today, could be wind pollinated. The physical traits of maize are such that wind pollination results in self-pollination or cross-pollination between plants. Each plant has a separate male and female flower that contributes to pollination, the tassel and ear, respectively. Natural pollination occurs when wind transfers pollen from tassel to the silks on the corn ears. This type of pollination has contributed to the wide variation of maize varieties present in the Western Hemisphere.
The development of a planned breeding program for maize only occurred in the last century. A large part of the development of the maize product into a profitable agricultural crop was due to the work done by land grant colleges. Originally, maize was an open pollinated variety having heterogeneous genotypes. The maize farmer selected uniform ears from the yield of these genotypes and preserved them for planting the next season. The result was a field of maize plants that were segregating for a variety of traits. This type of maize selection led to, at most, incremental increases in seed yield.
Large increases in seed yield were due to the work done by land grant colleges that resulted in the development of numerous hybrid corn varieties in planned breeding programs. Hybrids were developed by selecting corn lines and selfing these lines for several generations to develop homozygous pure inbred lines. One selected inbred line was crossed with another selected inbred line to produce hybrid progeny (F1). The resulting hybrids, due to heterosis, are robust and vigorous plants. Inbreds on the other hand are mostly homozygous. This homozygosity renders the inbred lines less vigorous. Inbred seed can be difficult to produce since the inbreeding process in corn lines decreases the vigor. However, when two inbred lines are crossed, the hybrid plant evidences greatly increased vigor and seed yield compared to open pollinated, segregating maize plants. An important consequence of the homozygosity and the homogenity of the inbred maize lines is that all hybrid seed produced from any cross of two such elite lines will be the same hybrid seed and make the same hybrid plant. Thus the use of inbreds makes hybrid seed which can be reproduced readily. The hybrid plant in contrast does not produce hybrid seed that is readily reproducible. The seed on a hybrid plant is segregating for traits.
The ultimate objective of the commercial maize seed companies is to produce high yielding, agronomically sound plants that perform well in certain regions or areas of the Corn Belt. To produce these types of hybrids, the companies must develop inbreds, which carry needed traits into the hybrid combination. Hybrids are not often uniformly adapted for the entire Corn Belt, but most often are specifically adapted for regions of the Corn Belt. Northern regions of the Corn Belt require shorter season hybrids than do southern regions of the Corn Belt. Hybrids that grow well in Colorado and Nebraska soils may not flourish in richer Illinois and Iowa soil. Thus, a variety of major agronomic traits are important in hybrid combination for the various Corn Belt regions, and have an impact on hybrid performance.
Inbred line development and hybrid testing have been emphasized in the past half-century in commercial maize production as a means to increase hybrid performance. Inbred development is usually done by pedigree selection. Pedigree selection can be selection in an F2 population produced from a planned cross of two genotypes (often elite inbred lines), or selection of progeny of synthetic varieties, open pollinated, composite, or backcrossed populations. This type of selection is effective for highly inheritable traits, but other traits, for example, yield requires replicated test crosses at a variety of stages for accurate selection.
Maize breeders select for a variety of traits in inbreds that impact hybrid performance along with selecting for acceptable parental traits. Such traits include: yield potential in hybrid combination; dry down; maturity; grain moisture at harvest; greensnap; resistance to root lodging; resistance to stalk lodging; grain quality; disease and insect resistance; ear and plant height. Additionally, Hybrid performance will differ in different soil types such as low levels of organic matter, clay, sand, black, high pH, low pH; or in different environments such as wet environments, drought environments, and no tillage conditions. These traits appear to be governed by a complex genetic system that makes selection and breeding of an inbred line extremely difficult. Even if an inbred in hybrid combination has excellent yield (a desired characteristic), it may not be useful because it fails to have acceptable parental traits such as seed yield, seed size, pollen production, good silks, plant height, etc.
To illustrate the difficulty of breeding and developing inbred lines, the following example is given. Two inbreds compared for similarity of 29 traits differed significantly for 18 traits between the two lines. If 18 simply inherited single gene traits were polymorphic with gene frequencies of 0.5 in the parental lines, and assuming independent segregation (as would essentially be the case if each trait resided on a different chromosome arm), then the specific combination of these traits as embodied in an inbred would only be expected to become fixed at a rate of one in 262,144 possible homozygous genetic combinations. Selection of the specific inbred combination is also influenced by the specific selection environment on many of these 18 traits which makes the probability of obtaining this one inbred even more remote. In addition, most traits in the corn genome are regrettably not single dominant genes but are multi-genetic with additive gene action not dominant gene action. Thus, the general procedure of producing a non segregating F1 generation and self pollinating to produce a F2 generation that segregates for traits and selecting progeny with the visual traits desired does not easily lead to a useful inbred. Great care and breeder expertise must be used in selection of breeding material to continue to increase yield and the agronomics of inbreds and resultant commercial hybrids.
Certain regions of the Corn Belt have specific difficulties that other regions may not have. Thus the hybrids developed from the inbreds have to have traits that overcome or at least minimize these regional growing problems. Examples of these problems include in the eastern corn belt Gray Leaf Spot, in the north cool temperatures during seedling emergence, in the Nebraska region CLN (corn Lethal necrosis and in the west soil that has excessively high pH levels. The industry often targets inbreds that address these issues specifically forming niche products. However, the aim of most large seed producers is to provide a number of traits to each inbred so that the corresponding hybrid can useful in a broader regions of the Corn Belt. The new biotechnology techniques such as Microsatellites, RFLPs, RAPDs and the like have provided breeders with additional tools to accomplish these goals.


In producing nodular silica sol, a polymerized silicic acid solution with viscosity of silicic acid from 0.9 to 100 mPa·s is prepared by aging a silicic acid solution with pH from 1.0 to 7.0 and silica concentration from 0.05 to 3.0% by weight at a temperature from 1 to 98° C. Then, a seed liquid is prepared by adding an alkali to the polymerized solution to adjust the pH from 10 to 12.5 and heating the resultant mixture solution at a temperature from 50 to 150° C. According to necessity, an alkali is added to the obtained seed liquid to adjust the pH in from 9 to 12.5. Finally, a silicic acid solution or a highly purified silicic acid solution is dropped to the seed liquid at a temperature from 20 to 98° C. continuously or intermittently for building up.

In production of substrates each with a semiconductor integrated circuit thereon, irregularities or steps are generated when a circuit is formed on a silicon wafer with metal such as copper, and therefore metal portions of the circuit are preferentially removed by polishing to remove the irregularities or steps in a surface. Furthermore, irregularities are generated when aluminum wiring is provided on a silicon wafer and an oxide film of silica or the like as an insulating film is provided, and the irregularities are averaged by polishing the oxide film. In the process of polishing a substrate as described above, it is generally required that the polished surface does not include any step nor irregularity and is flat and smooth without any micro blemish or the like, and that the polishing speed is high.
Recently, in association with the needs for size reduction and higher performance of electric and electronic products, a degree of integrated in semiconductor devices has been becoming increasingly higher, but, for instance, when there remain impurities such as Na or K in a separating layer of a transistor, the desired performance may not be realized or some failures may occur. Especially, when Na is deposited on a surface of a polished semiconductor substrate or of an oxide film, Na having high dispersibility may be trapped in defects of the oxide film or the like. In this case, even when a circuit is formed on the semiconductor substrate, sometimes an insulation failure or a short circuit may occur, and furthermore the dielectric constant may drop. Because of the tendency, under some conditions for use of the semiconductor substrate, or when the semiconductor substrate is used for a long time, the failures as described above may occur, so that there is a strong need for development of a polishing material containing little impurities such as Na or K.
As particles for polishing, such materials as a silica sol, fumed silica, and fumed alumina are generally used.
A polishing material used in the CMP technique generally includes spherical particles for polishing with the average diameter of around 200 nm made of a metal oxide such as silica or alumina, an oxidizing reagent for raising an operational speed in polishing metal material for wiring or circuits, and additive such as an organic acid, and solvent such as deionized water. Since there are steps (irregularities) caused by a trench pattern for wiring formed on the base insulating film on a surface of a polished material, the surface is polished down to the common plane by mainly removing the convex portions to provide a flat polished surface. With the spherical particles as described above, however, when a portion above the common plane is polished, the metal for a circuit within a wiring trench under concave sections may disadvantageously be polished down to a level under the common plane, and the problem is generally referred to as dishing. When the dishing (excessive polishing) as described above occurs, there occur such problems as that a thickness of the wiring diminishes and the wiring resistance becomes larger, or that the flatness of an insulating film formed on the polished surface becomes lower, so that there is the need for suppressing the dishing.
When a polishing material containing a group of nodular particles is used for polishing a substrate having the irregularities as described above, concave portions on a surface of the substrate are prevented from being polished until upper end faces of the convex portions are polished to the same level as bottom faces of the concave portions. After the upper end faces of the convex portions are polished down to the same level as the bottom faces of the concave portions, both the convex portions and the concave portions can be polished at the same polishing speed, the dishing (excessive polishing) never occurs, and the polished surface has no irregularities and is excellent in the flatness as well known. Since the dishing never occurs in a polishing process performed, for instance, when forming a semiconductor integrated circuit, increase of a circuit resistance in the obtained integrated circuit does not occur, and the polished surface is excellent in the flatness, so that a laminated integrated circuit can efficiently be formed.
Applications of the polishing material containing the nodular particles as described above expectedly include, but not limited to mirror machining of aluminum wiring on a aluminum disk (aluminum or a metal skin over the substrate) or on a semiconductor multilayered wiring substrate, a glass substrate for an optical disk or a magnetic disk, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for a photo mask, and other glass materials.
As a method of producing a silica sol containing nodular particles, for instance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 4-187512 (Patent document 1) discloses the method in which a silicic acid solution is added to an aqueous solution of an alkali metal silicate with the concentration in the range from 0.05 to 5.0 weight % when calculated as SiO2 so that the SiO2/M2O (molar ratio, wherein M denotes an alkali metal or quarternary ammonium) in the mixture solution is in the range from 30 to 60, and then one or more metal compounds selected from the group consisting of Ca, Mg, Al, In, Ti, Zr, Sn, Si, Sb, Fe, Cu and rare earth metals are added to the mixture solution (before or during the process of adding the silicic acid solution), the resultant mixture solution is maintained at a temperature of 60° C. or more for a certain period of time, and furthermore a silicic acid solution is added to the mixture solution so that SiO2/M2O (molar ratio) is in the range from 60 to 100 to obtain a sol in which nodular silica particles are substantially dispersed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7-118008 (Patent document 2) discloses a method of producing a silica sol of particles having a slender form in which water-soluble calcium salt, magnesium salt, or an aqueous solution of the compounds is added to a colloidal solution of active silicic acid, an alkali substance is added to the resultant aqueous solution, a portion of the obtained mixture is heated to 60° C. or more to obtain a heal liquid, a remaining portion of the mixture is used as a feed liquid, the feed liquid is added to the heal liquid, and the mixture solution is condensed to the SiO2 concentration in the range from 6 to 30 weight % by evaporating water during the adding process to obtain a silica sol having a slender form.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-11433 (Patent document 3) discloses a method of a silica sol of particles having a beads-like form in which an aqueous solution containing either one or both of an water-soluble bivalent and tervalent metal salts is added to a colloidal solution of active silicic acid including the active silica by 0.5 to 10 weight % as calculated as SiO2 with the pH of 2 to 6 so that a molar ration of the metal compound (expressed as MO in a case of a bivalent metal salt and as M2O3 in a case of a tervalent metal salt, wherein M denotes a bivalent or tervalent metal atom, and O denotes a oxygen atom) against SiO2 in the colloidal solution of the active silicic acid is in the range from 1 to 10 weight %, the resultant mixture solution is well agitated to obtain a mixture solution (1), an acidic and spherical silica sol with the average diameter in the range from 10 to 120 nm and pH in the range from 2 to 6 is added to the mixture solution (1) so that a ratio (weight base) of a content (A) of silica originated from the acidic spherical silica sol against a content (B) of silica originated from the mixture solution is in the range from 5 to 100 and at the same time so that a total silica content (A+B) as calculated as the SiO2 concentration in a mixture solution (2) obtained by mixing the acidic spherical silica sol with the mixture solution (1) is in the range from 5 to 40 weight %, an alkali metal hydrate or the like is added to the mixture solution (2) to adjust the pH to 7 to 11, and a resultant mixture solution (3) is heated at a temperature in the range from 100 to 200° C. for 5 to 50 hours.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-48520 (Patent document 4) discloses a method of silica sol in which alkyl silicate with the silica concentration in the range from 1 to 8 mol/liter, the acid concentration in the range from 0.0018 to 0.18 mol/liter, and water concentration in the range from 2 to 30 mol/liter is hydrolyzed with acid catalyst, the product is diluted with water so that the silica concentration is in the range from 0.2 to 1.5 mol/liter, and then alkali catalyst is added to the diluted solution to adjust the pH to 7 or more, the solution is heated to advance polymerization of the silicic acid to obtain a silica sol in which slender non-crystalline silica particles having the average diameter in the sideward direction in the range from 5 to 100 nm and that in the longitudinal direction in the range from 1.5 to 50 times of the sideward direction above when observed with an electron microscope are dispersed in the liquid dispersing element.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-150334 (Patent document 5) discloses a method of producing a silica sol of distorted particles in which a salt of an alkali earth metal such as Ca, Mg, Ba is added in an acidic aqueous solution of active silicic acid with the SiO2 density in the range from 2 to 6 weight % obtained by subjecting an aqueous solution of an alkali metal silicate such as water glass to the processing for removing cation at the weight ration of the salt as calculated as an oxide thereon against SiO2 in the acidic silicic acid in the range from 100 to 1500 ppm, furthermore the alkali material is added to this solution so that the SiO2/M2O molar ratio (wherein M denotes an alkali metal atom, NH4, or a quarternary ammonium group) is in the range from 20 to 150 to obtain an initial heal liquid, an aqueous solution of active silicic acid obtained in the same way as that described above and having the SiO2 concentration in the range from 2 to 6 weight % and the SiO2/M2O molar ratio (M denotes an alkali metal atom) in the range from 20 to 150 is used as a charge liquid, and the charge liquid is added to the initial heal liquid at the temperature in the range from 60 to 150° C. at a rate expressed as a weight ratio of SiO2 in the charge liquid/SiO2 in the initial heal liquid per hour in the range from 0.05 to 1.0 evaporating (or not evaporating) water from the solution to obtain a sol of distorted particles.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-279480 (Patent document 6) describes that, in the colloidal silica aqueous solution prepared by the method (1) in which an alkali aqueous solution of silicic acid is neutralized with a mineral acid, then an alkali substance is added to the neutralized aqueous solution, and the mixed solution is heated for aging, by the method (2) in which an alkali substance is added to active silicic acid obtained by subjecting an aqueous solution to the cation exchange processing and the mixture solution is heated for aging, by the method (3) in which alkoxy silane such as ethyl silicate is hydrolyzed and the obtained active silicic acid is heated for aging, or by the method (4) in which fine powder of silica is directly dispersed in an aqueous medium, generally colloidal silica particles having the diameter in the range from 4 to 1,000 nm (nanometers), and more preferably in the range from 7 to 500 nm are dispersed in an aqueous medium, and that the concentration of SiO2 is in the range from 0.5 to 50 weight % and more preferably in the range from 0.5 to 30 weight %. The document furthermore describes that forms of the silica particles includes a spherical form, an irregular form, a flat form, a plate-like form, a slender form, and a textile-like form.
Also in the case of the silica sol containing the nodular particles as described above, a high purity silica sol containing such impurities as Na or K as little as possible is required.
As a method of producing an aqueous silica sol with high purity, there is known a method using alkoxy silane containing few impurities as a starting material, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-316407 (Patent document 7) discloses a method in which alkyl silicate is hydrolyzed in the presence of alkali and generated silicic acid is polymerized to obtain an aqueous silica sol. Also Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-2411 (Patent document 8) and other documents disclose a method in which alkoxy silane is hydrolyzed in an acidic solvent and the obtained silicic acid monomer is polymerized in a basic solvent to obtain an aqueous silica sol. In the methods described above, there are the several problems, for instance, that stability of the obtained aqueous silica is not sufficient, or that an alkoxy group (OR group) remains, the density of obtained particles is low, and therefore a sufficient polishing speed can not be obtained when the silica sol is used as a polishing material.
In the method using water glass obtained by dissolving cullet obtained by solving glass sand with an alkali in water as a starting material, an aqueous silica sol can be obtained, for instance, by dealkylating the water glass and polymerizing the obtained silicic acid solution (containing silicic acid monomers much) in a basic solvent.
However, since many types of metals such as Al, Ti, Fe, Mg, and Ca are contained as impurities in the glass sand, alkali metals (represented by Na) remain much in the obtained aqueous solution in proportion to an amount of the metal ions, so that the aqueous solution is not suited for use as a polishing material for a semiconductor substrate.
Such metals as Al and Na can be reduced to some extend by processing the aqueous solution with an acid or a chelating agent, but the purity is not sufficient as a polishing material for a semiconductor substrate. Also high purity silica powder is used in place of the glass sand, but the high purity silica is expensive, and it take disadvantageously long time in solving the high purity silica with an alkali.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 61-58810 (Patent document 9) discloses a method in which an aqueous solution of alkaline silicate having a prespecified concentration is contacted to a strong acidic cation exchanger, then an acid is added, the mixture solution is subjected to ultrafiltration and is furthermore contacted to a anion exchanger as well as to a cation exchange, and then ammonium is added therein to grow particles.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 5-85718 (Patent document 10) discloses a method of producing an aqueous solution with high purity comprising the steps of: (1) decationizing a diluted aqueous solution of water glass to obtain an aqueous solution of active silicic acid, (2) processing the solution of active silicic acid with a strong acid, (3) deionizing the aqueous solution of active silicic acid having been processed with the strong acid to obtain a solution of active silicic acid with high purity, (4) adding an alkali to the aqueous solution to obtain a stabilized aqueous solution of active silicic acid, (5) evaporating and condensing this aqueous solution to grow particles and obtain a silica sol of the particles with the average particle diameter in the range from 10 to 30 mμ, and (6) contacting this silica sol to ion exchange resin to obtain an aqueous silica sol with high purity. In this method, impurities are removed (leaching) by adding a strong acid in the stage of active silicic acid, but there is a problem concerning stability of the active silicic acid after leaching, which easily causes gelatination of the sol.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-16414 (Patent document 11) discloses a method of producing a silica sol with high purity comprising the steps of: adding a strong acid or a salt of a strong acid to alkali metal silicate or to an aqueous solution of active silicic acid to obtain a mixture solution, processing the mixture solution with ion exchange resin, adding the solution obtained in the process described above to the solution obtained by means of ion exchanging to prepare a silica sol, processing the obtained silica sol with ion exchange resin, and adding ammonia to the obtained silica sol. Also in this method, there are the same problems like those recognized in the invention disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 5-85718.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-89786 (Patent document 12), a chelate type ion exchange resin and a chelating agent are used as metal ion capturing agents. In this invention, it is require at first to contact an aqueous solution of alkali silicate to strong acidic ion exchange resin for removing alkali metals in the alkali silicate to prepare an aqueous solution of active silicic acid from the aqueous solution of alkali silicate, and then to contact the solution to chelate resin to removing multivalent metal ions. Namely in this invention, ion exchange is performed through multiple steps, so that the production efficiency is disadvantageously low. In addition, the chelate type ion exchange resin has strong selectivity to tervalent ions, and it is difficult to reuse the resin repeatedly, and when it is tried to reuse the chelate type ion exchange resin, a large amount of reclaiming agent is disadvantageously required.
When a chelating agent is used to capture metal ions, it is necessary to repeat cleaning with a ultrafiltration film for removing the remaining chelating agent and the chelating agent having capture metal ions, so that the production efficiency is rather low, and even when cleaning is repeated, it is difficult to completely remove the chelating agent, and the remaining chelating agent may give negative effects to the polishing performance.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 4-187512    Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7-118008    Patent document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-11433    Patent document 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-48520    Patent document 5: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-150334    Patent document 6: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-279480    Patent document 7: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-316407    Patent document 8: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-2411    Patent document 9: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 61-158810    Patent document 10: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 5-85718    Patent document 11: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-16414    Patent document 12: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-89786


A method (and structure) for performing a matrix subroutine, includes storing data for a matrix subroutine call in a computer memory in an increment block size that is based on a cache size.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a technique for improving performance for linear algebra routines. More specifically, matrix data is stored into and retrieved from memory in a block size that is related to the size of the L1 cache, such as 2NB-by-NB/2, where NB2 is a fraction of the size of the L1 cache.
2. Description of the Related Art
Scientific computing relies heavily on linear algebra. In fact, the whole field of engineering and scientific computing takes advantage of linear algebra for computations. Linear algebra routines are also used in games and graphics rendering.
Typically, these linear algebra routines reside in a math library of a computer system that utilizes one or more linear algebra routines as a part of its processing. Linear algebra is also heavily used in analytic methods that include applications such as supply chain management, as well as numeric data mining and economic methods and models.
A number of methods have been used to improve performance from new or existing computer architectures for linear algebra routines. However, because linear algebra permeates so many calculations and applications, a need continues to exist to optimize performance of matrix processing. Prior to the present invention, no optimal method and structure as described herein has been proposed.
More specific to the technique of the present invention and as recognized by the present inventors, performance loss occurs for linear algebra processing when the size of the L1 cache is not considered.

Method and structure for producing high performance linear algebra routines using composite blocking based on L1 cache size

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments relate to a torsion sensor device which measures a degree of torsion of a measurement object by using a fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) sensor, the sensor device comprising: an FBG sensor including a sensing unit formed in one section of an elongated optical fiber; and a fixing device for fixing and supporting the FBG sensor to cause displacement of the FBG sensor according to motion of the measurement object, wherein the fixing device includes a bending prevention member to enable the sensing unit to have torsion displacement without bending displacement, according to the motion of the measurement object.

3D motion capture systems are used in a variety of fields including sports, robotics, medical applications, games and graphics & animation all over the world, and there is a gradually increasing trend of the global market size using 3D motion capture systems.
To implement 3D motion capture systems, there is a need for technology development for systems for simultaneously measuring full body (including upper body and lower body) motions and finger motions in real time, and research and development of various types of products is now being conducted.
Detection of human's full body (including upper and lower bodies) motions or finger motions using an optical sensor using markers, an inertial sensor, an electromyography (EMG) sensor, a video camera, a location detection encoder and variable resistance has been studied and commercialized, and the inertial sensor has drift accumulated over time, the optical sensor using markers and the location detection encoder have some areas impossible to measure due to shadow areas, and the EMG sensor has errors caused by attachment and external mistakes.
Recently, to overcome these disadvantages, attempts have been made to detect various human motions using FBG sensors. For example, FBG sensors may be used as strain sensors to measure tensile forces applied to the axial direction of a measurement object, may be used as shape sensors to measure the direction and the degree of bending occurred in the measurement object, and may be used as tiltmeters to detect the tilt in the measurement object.
Human bodies move, bend and are tilted, and even twisted in the axial direction like arm movements. Therefore, to measure human body motions more precisely, it is necessary to measure torsion of the human bodies.
However, there are not many developed sensors for measuring axial twisting motions using FBG, and when shear forces by twisting are applied to FBG, forces by bending and tension are also transmitted at the same time, so it is difficult to separate the complex forces.
Additionally, there are some cases of numerical approaches of methods for individually distinguishing the results of complex reflected wavelength generated by bending and twisting, but since changes in wavelength by bending are much larger than changes in wavelength by twisting, there are high risks of errors due to the real-time classification operation. Accordingly, in the actual application to real-time 3D motion capture systems, there are limitations in numerically classifying and distinguishing a huge amount of wavelength change data and sending back location, angle or torsion information to graphical user interfaces (GUI) or actual models.

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A patient pull-up system is provided which enables a single operator to reposition a patient situated on a patient support, such as a bed, cart, gurney, or table, from a slumped position to a more upright position nearer the head of the patient support. The repositioning event is accomplished with minimal risk of injury or discomfort to the operator and patient. The patient pull-up system includes a translating device, a frame member, and a clamp adapted to grasp a portion of a sheet situated between a patient and a patient support.

It is often desirable for patients to lie on platforms or patient supports in which the head portion of the platform has been raised or angled upwardly. Often, to obtain the most benefit and comfort from a bed in this raised position, the patient should be disposed such that the patient's abdomen and thorax are in an elevated position. However, elderly, weak, or incapacitated patients tend to slide or slump from this position toward the foot of the bed, thereby losing the healthful benefits of a more upright position. Many are unable to push or pull themselves back to a more comfortable, upright position.
Elderly, weak, or incapacitated persons in hospitals, nursing homes, or other assisted care settings must often be routinely and periodically pulled up from a slumped position when situated in patient supports, such as beds, carts, and gurneys. This pull-up maneuver is typically done manually by two or more attendants, although the number of attendants required to perform a maneuver increases with the weight of the patient. To return the patient to a position more toward the head of the bed, two or more health care workers may either grasp the patient by the upper arms, or grasp the sheet on which the patient is resting, and attempt to lift or drag the patient toward the head of the bed. This manual lifting may cause strain on the workers' upper and lower backs, as well as possible contact bruises on the patient. These lifting events may be necessary for a particular patient several times in a regular shift, requiring that the procedure be repeated.
A typical patient weighs between 45 and 90 kilograms, although many weigh more. These manual lifting activities often create unacceptable risks of injury to healthcare workers, almost without regard to the number of health care workers used in repositioning the patient. The risks are particularly high when a sufficient number of workers are not available to assist in a patient repositioning event. Injuries to workers' backs account for approximately 50% of worker's compensation costs for work place injuries in the health care industry in the United States.
Since a health care worker often has to bend at the waist to accomplish a patient pull-up, the stresses encountered are potentially magnified well beyond what would otherwise be expected for a maximum recommended lift of approximately fifty pounds. Normally this recommended maximum lift is measured with the lift at or near the worker's center of mass. Extremes in a health care worker's height, either taller or shorter than average, or any weakness in either the arms or legs, may further exaggerate these risks. Thus, back injuries to health care workers are a particularly vexing problem.
Given these difficulties, there have been attempts to mechanize the patient pull-up process. Typically, space is limited in hospital and assisted care rooms. Therefore, a device to effect patient pull-ups should preferably occupy a minimum of space or should be incorporated into the design of existing patient supports. Patient pull-ups are typically performed at frequent intervals and it is usually not feasible to transport equipment to and from a room to perform a patient pull-up every few hours, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,642, issued to Huff on Mar. 25, 1958, discloses a device for moving a patient on a bed. The device includes a shaft mounted in ball bearing brackets. The brackets are bolted or otherwise secured to the headposts of the bed. Straps for a fabric webbing are secured to the shaft and a fabric supporting section is secured to the straps. A crank handle is removably secured to one end of the shaft. A patient lying on the fabric supporting section is pulled toward the head of the bed by cranking, and thereby winding the straps on, the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,929, issued to Crane on Mar. 11, 1997, discloses a patient-positioning device. The positioning device includes a sheet which is placed under the patient and connected to a rope or braided line. One end of the braided line is anchored to a metal peg on the headboard. The remainder of the braided line is threaded through several pulleys. One of the pulleys is attached to a frame assembly. The patient is pulled up when the head portion of the bed is raised or by an independent motor operating to wind the line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,774, issued to Warren on Aug. 10, 1971, discloses a patient moving device which is attached to hospital beds. The patient moving device includes an adjustable post and clamps for attaching the post to the head of a bed. A winch is mounted on the post. A patient to be pulled up is secured with apron straps and apron tabs are connected to a T-bar. The T-bar is connected to a cable. The winch is operated to wind the cable and pull the patient up. Alternatively, a harness is employed. The harness is arranged under the patient's arm pits and connected to the T-bar before the winch is operated to pull the patient up.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,047 issued to DiMatteo on Oct. 11, 1988, discloses a multiple function invalid bed arrangement for transferring a prone patient longitudinally or laterally between beds or surfaces adapted to accept the patient in a prone position. The longitudinal bed transfer is accomplished by equipping the patient's bed with two rollers, one roller at the head and one roller at the foot of the bed. A bed sheet is connected from the head to the foot roller much like a piano roll. The rollers are rotated to transfer the patient to a second bed which is equipped similarly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,938 issued to Knouse on Sep. 16, 1989, discloses a transportable patient mover and moving method. The patient mover moves a patient laterally from a first to a second surface such as from a bed to a gurney. The patient mover includes a bottom stand member and an upstanding support frame carrying an elongated roller. The support frame may be mounted on wheels or casters. One edge of a web-like sheet material is attached to the roller. The other edge of the web material is attached to a clamp. The clamp secures a transfer sheet disposed beneath a patient and the roller winds the web thereon, thereby transferring the sheet and patient thereon.
A need exists for a device which can enable a single attendant to effect patient pull-ups which may either be retrofitted on existing patient supports, or which may be incorporated into the design of future patient supports, such as beds, gurneys, carts, tables, or similar patient supports.

Device and method for positioning patients


A pull aid structure includes a handle; a connecting element movably disposed at the handle; and a positioning element disposed at the handle and movably coupled to the connecting element. The pull aid structure enables a user to place the connecting element on an object, rotate the handle to fasten another object, confine the positioning element to the connecting element, and compress an elastic element, so as to couple together the two objects. To remove one of the objects, the user separates the positioning element and the connecting element to thereby separate the two objects, thereby achieving quick coupling and ease of removal.

The prior art involves coupling two objects, for example, coupling and fixing the two objects, such as a panel and a circuit board, to the inside of a case with screws and by direct latching. Although the two objects can be coupled together, removal of one of the objects requires loosening the screws and then taking out the object by hand. Furthermore, the prior art lacks any special mechanism for assisting users in taking out the objects and thus lacks ease of use.
Accordingly, it is imperative to provide a pull aid structure with a view to overcoming the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.


Radio communication is performed between a base station and a mobile communication apparatus including a speech signal processing unit, a codec unit, a radio unit, a power supply control unit and a main control unit. An intermittent reception ratio between a period of calls from the base station to the mobile communication apparatus and a period of intermittent reception effected by associated periodic supply of the operating power from the battery is set in an intermittent reception ratio setting unit implemented by a processor in a main control unit and a mode flag in a memory, in accordance with extended information items contained in announcement information from the base station. The intermittent reception ratio may alternatively be set by a terminal device connected to the mobile communication apparatus via a connection unit. The power supply control unit supplies an operating power to a reception unit in accordance with the intermittent reception ratio set in the intermittent reception ratio setting unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a mobile communication system including a base station and mobile communication apparatuses such as portable telephones, and a mobile communication apparatus used in such a system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mobile communication system and a mobile communication apparatus in which a wait time is extended.
A mobile communication apparatus such as a portable telephone has a built-in battery or is detachably coupled to a battery. Call origination, call proceeding and call incoming are controlled using the operating power supplied by the battery. The base station calls a mobile communication apparatus at predetermined intervals so that an extended wait time of the mobile communication apparatus is insured by supplying the power from the battery at the same intervals as the intervals at which the base station calls the mobile communication apparatus. Given the same wait time, such an approach is effective in reducing the size and weight of the battery. There is a demand for extending the wait time of the mobile communication apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The format of transmission from a base station is such that 36 subframes constitute 1 superframe, wherein one subframe has a duration of 20 ms so that 1 superframe has a duration of 720 ms. Generally, 1 subframe in 1 superframe is used to call a mobile communication apparatus. The subframe used to call the mobile communication apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a call subframe) is identified by announcement information from the base station. The mobile communication apparatus in a zone served by the base station performs intermittent reception such that the operating power is supplied for 20 ms immediately preceding the call subframe, from a battery to a radio reception unit. Upon detecting the call, the mobile communication apparatus generates a ringing tone and responds to the incoming call, whereupon speech communication proceeds.
The base station transmits announcement information adapted for the base station. As shown in FIG. 1A, the announcement information contains information items including a message type, a network number, regulation information, control channel construction information, designated transmission power for transmission to a mobile station, a wait enable level, a wait deterioration level, multiplicity of location registration areas, the maximum number of report channels, the number of perch channels for determining zone/sector, a location registration timer, extended information items and the like.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the control channel construction information items include Np, Nc, Ab, Ap, As1, As2, F.sub.1, S.sub.1 -F.sub.NC, S.sub.NC, where Np indicates the number of groups of mobile stations per a channel, Nc indicates the number of control channels in a zone (including the perch channels), Ab indicates the number of BCCH (announcement channel) slots per a control channel, Ap indicates the number of PCH (control channel) slots per a group, As1 indicates the number of SCCH (control channel) slots succeeding BCCH, As2 indicates the number of SCCH slots succeeding PCH, F.sub.1, S.sub.1 -F.sub.NC, S.sub.NC indicates frequency codes of the control channels and slot numbers.
A mobile station enters a wait state in a perch channel, based on the control channel construction information contained in the announcement information. The mobile station may also switch from the perch channel to a designated control channel. Since 1 subframe of the 36 subframes in a 720 ms superframe is used as a call subframe, the maximum intermittent reception ratio in the conventional mobile station is 20/720=1/36. Thus, the wait time is extended as compared to a case where the battery continually supplies an operating power.
In a mobile communication system, the frequency of call incoming to the mobile station (mobile communication apparatus) may vary depending on the behavior of users. Generally, the frequency of call incoming also varies significantly depending on the time zone and the area. It is also to be noted that reduction of the battery size is also requested in addition to the extension of the wait time. However, the conventional mobile station only achieves extension of the wait time by setting the intermittent reception ratio to, for example, 1/36, as described above. Further extension of the wait time has not been available.

Mobile communication system and mobile communication apparatus in which wait time is extended


One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for an arrow extractor. The arrow extractor can comprise a first and a second elongated lever that are in rotatable engagement with each other. The respective elongated levers comprise a first end configured to be manipulated by a user, and a second end that comprises a tool configured to engage a first and second part of a gripper. The gripper comprises an elongated cavity that can be configured to grip the shaft of an arrow. The first tool and the second tool are engaged with the gripper, and when the user applies a grasping force to the first end of the respective levers, the grasping force may also applied to the gripper, thereby gripping the shaft of the arrow, which may then be extracted from an object using the levers.

Bows and crossbows are used to fire arrows. Arrows fired from a bow or crossbow may strike an object and become embedded therein. Because of the energy imparted to an arrow upon firing, it is not uncommon for an arrow embedded in an object to be difficult to extract therefrom.


A motion measurement apparatus according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a controller unit. The controller unit extracts, from an acceleration in each direction of three axes that includes a dynamic acceleration component and a static acceleration component of a detection target that moves within a space, the dynamic acceleration component of the detection target, and generates, as a control signal, a change in kinematic physical quantity of a posture of the detection target from the dynamic acceleration component.

The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus that measures a trajectory of a body motion of a user, for example.
In recent years, in the fields of sports science, human science, and the like, an apparatus that analyzes the motion of a human or an object has been developed. As this type of apparatus, there are known an inertial sensor type that measures a motion from an output of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like attached to a detection target, an optical type that images a plurality of markers attached to a detection target with a camera and processes the camera image to measure a motion, and the like.
In processing using an inertial sensor, in order to calculate a movement distance or a direction from an output of the inertial sensor, it is necessary to perform integration twice in a case of using an acceleration sensor or perform integration once in a case of using an angular velocity sensor (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Specifically, angular velocities in three-axis directions, which are obtained from a gyro sensor, are integrated to obtain a posture angle, and a gravity component is estimated and obtained from the posture angle. The gravity component obtained from the previously-calculated posture angle is then subtracted from accelerations in the three-axis directions, which are obtained from an acceleration sensor, and an acceleration for a global coordinate system is calculated and subjected to double integration, thus obtaining a position in a global coordinate system.


A process for forming a sheet metal component using an electric current passing through the component is provided. The process can include providing a double side incremental forming machine, the machine operable to perform a plurality of double side incremental deformations on the sheet metal component and also apply an electric direct current to the sheet metal component during at least part of the forming. The direct current can be applied before or after the forming has started and/or be terminated before or after the forming has stopped. The direct current can be applied to any portion of the sheet metal. The electrical assistance can reduce the magnitude of force required to produce a given amount of deformation, increase the amount of deformation exhibited before failure and/or reduce any springback typically exhibited by the sheet metal component.

During forming of metals using various bulk and sheet deformation processes, the required magnitude of force to perform deformation is a significant factor in terms of the manufacturing of parts. For example, as the required force for deformation increases, larger equipment must be utilized, stronger tools and dies are required, tool and die wear increase, and/or more energy is consumed in the process. Furthermore, all of these factors increase the manufacturing cost of a given component and a process or apparatus that would decrease the required force for deformation and/or increase the amount of deformation that can be achieved without fracture and/or retain the deformed shape after unloading could have a significant impact on many manufacturing processes.
Presently, deformation forces are reduced, elongations are increased and deformed shapes are maintained by working metals at elevated temperatures. However, significant drawbacks to deforming materials at elevated temperatures exist, such as increased tool and die adhesion, decreased die strength, decreased lubricant effectiveness, decreased dimensional accuracy and consumption of materials for heating (which raises energy cost), and the need for additional equipment to be purchased.
One possible process of deforming metallic materials without using such elevated temperatures is to apply an electric current to the workpiece during deformation. In 1969, Troitskii found that electric current pulses reduce the flow stress in metal (Troitskii, O. A., 1969, zhurnal eksperimental'noi teoreticheskoi kiziki/akademi'i'a nauk sssr—pis'ma v zhurnal .eksperimental' i teoretiheskoi fiziki, 10, pp. 18). In addition, work by Xu et al. (1988) has shown that continuous current flow can increase the recrystallization rate and grain size in certain materials (Xu, Z. S., Z. H. Lai, Y. X. Chen, 1988, "Effect of Electric Current on the Recrystallization Behavior of Cold Worked Alpha-Ti", Scripta Metallurgica, 22, pp. 187-190). Similarly, works by Chen et al. (1998, 1999) have linked electrical flow to the formation and growth of intermetallic compounds (Chen, S. W., C. M. Chen, W. C. Liu, Journal Electron Materials, 27, 1998, pp. 1193; Chen, S. W., C. M. Chen, W. C. Liu, Journal Electron Materials, 28, 1999, pp. 902).
Using pulses of electrical current instead of continuous flow, Conrad reported in several publications that very short-duration high-density electrical pulses affect the plasticity and phase transformations of metals and ceramics (Conrad, H., 2000, "Electroplasticity in Metals and Ceramics", Mat. Sci. & Engr., A287, pp. 276-287; Conrad, H., 2000, "Effects of Electric Current on Solid State Phase Transformations in Metals", Mat. Sci. & Engr. A287, pp. 227-237; Conrad, H., 2002, "Thermally Activated Plastic Flow of Metals and Ceramics with an Electric Field or Current", Mat. Sci. & Engr. A322, pp. 100-107). More recently, Andrawes et al. has shown that high levels of DC current flow can significantly alter the stress-strain behavior of 6061 aluminum (Andrawes, J. S., Kronenberger, T. J., Roth, J. T., and Warley, R. L., "Effects of DC current on the mechanical behavior of AlMg1SiCu," A Taylor & Francis Journal: Materials and Manufacturing Processes, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 91-101, 2007). Complementing this work, Heigel et al. reports the effects of DC current flow on 6061 aluminum at a microstructural level and showed that the electrical effects could not be explained by microstructure changes alone (Heigel, J. C., Andrawes, J. S., Roth, J. T., Hoque, M. E., and Ford, R. M., "Viability of electrically treating 6061 T6511 aluminum for use in manufacturing processes," Trans of N Amer Mfg Research Inst, NAMRI/SME, V33, pp. 145-152).
The effects of DC current on the tensile mechanical properties of a variety of metals have been investigated by Ross et al. and Perkins et al. (Ross, C. D., Irvin, D. B., and Roth, J. T., "Manufacturing aspects relating to the effects of DC current on the tensile properties of metals," Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, Vol. 29, pp. 342-347, 2007; Perkins, T. A., Kronenberger, T. J., and Roth, J. T., "Metallic forging using electrical flow as an alternative to warm/hot working," Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, vol. 129, issue 1, pp. 84-94, 2007). The work by Perkins et al. (2007) investigated the effects of currents on metals undergoing an upsetting process. Both of these previous studies included initial investigations concerning the effect of an applied electrical current on the mechanical behavior of numerous materials including alloys of copper, aluminum, iron and titanium. These publications have provided a strong indication that an electrical current, applied during deformation, lowers the force and energy required to perform bulk deformations, as well as improves the workable range of metallic materials. Recently, work by Ross et al. (2006) studied the electrical effects on 6Al-4V titanium during both compression and tension test (Ross, C. D., Kronenberger, T. J., and Roth, J. T., "Effect of DC Current on the Formability of 6AL-4V Titanium," 2006 American Society of Mechanical Engineers-International Manufacturing Science & Engineering Conference, MSEC 2006-21028, 11 pp., 2006).
It is appreciated that electrical current is the flow of electrons through a material and the electrical current can meet resistance at the many defects found within materials, such as: cracks, voids, grain boundaries, dislocations, stacking faults and impurity atoms. In addition, this resistance, termed "electrical resistance", is known and measured with the greater the spacing between defects, the less resistance there is to optimal electron motion, and conversely, the less spacing between defects, the greater the electrical resistance of the material.
It is also appreciated that during loading, material deformation occurs by the movement of dislocations within the material. Furthermore, dislocations are line defects which can be formed during solidification, plastic deformation, or be present due to the presence of impurity atoms or grain boundaries, and as such, dislocation motion is the motion of line defects through the material's lattice structure causing plastic deformation.
Dislocations also meet resistance at many of the same places as electrical current, such as: cracks, voids, grain boundaries, dislocations, stacking faults and impurity atoms. Under an applied load, dislocations normally move past these resistance areas through one of three mechanisms: cross-slip, bowing or climbing. As dislocation motion is deterred due to localized points of resistance, the material requires more force to continue additional deformation. Therefore, if dislocation motion can be aided through the material, less force is required for subsequent deformation. Theoretically, this will also cause the material's ductility to be subsequently increased and a process that would afford for an increase in dislocation motion with less force would be desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrical-assisted double side incremental forming and processes thereof


An instruction to perform load testing is sent to a mobile device where an application running on the mobile device determines whether the mobile device is in a state where load testing is permitted. In response to receiving the instruction, the application running on the mobile device performs load testing on a web server if the mobile device is in the state where load testing is permitted. Performance information associated with the load testing is received from the application running on the mobile device and the performance information associated with the load testing is displayed.

Load testing is a type of stress testing where a server (e.g., a web server) is sent many requests, the server responds to the requests, and the response of the server is observed and evaluated. Oftentimes, load testing is performed using a cloud computing service (e.g., offered by Amazon, Google, etc.). New types of load testing which improve the quality of the test would be desirable.

Distributed website load testing system running on mobile devices


A barrier system comprises a housing, substantially vertical members, and vertical guide tubes. The housing extends into the ground. The guide tubes are positioned in the housing and also extend into the ground below the housing. The substantially vertical members are translatable vertically within the guide tubes. At least one barrier member is secured to the substantially vertical members. The at least one barrier member may comprise at least one guardrail, a plurality of chains or cables, and/or a plurality of gate beams. A series of cables and pulleys form an actuation system that raises and lowers the substantially vertical members relative to the guide tubes to selectively extend and retract the at least one barrier member relative to the ground. A cover plate may selectively cover the top opening of the housing when the barrier member and substantially vertical members are retracted within the housing.

Versions of the present invention relate to systems and devices that may be used to provide a barrier to prevent the passage of vehicles and the like. Some barriers may be installed in a fixed configuration, such that the barrier system constantly prevents the passage of vehicles and the like. Other barriers may be selectively deployable, such that vehicles may pass during selected times (e.g., when the barrier is present but not deployed); while vehicles may be prevented from passing during other selected times (e.g., when the barrier is deployed). Some vehicle barriers are shown and described in U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0264080, entitled "Vehicle Barrier Deployment System," published Nov. 15, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. While a variety of systems and methods have been made and used to provide a barrier, it is believed that no one prior to the inventor has made or used the invention described herein.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.

Vertically actuated vehicle barrier system


The subject invention provides, for the first time, an efficient method for obtaining high quality essentially pure starch from legumes. The method involves milling dehulled legumes to obtain a powder followed by wet separating (centrifugation) the small particle size fraction of said powder to separate pure starch from a protein concentrate. The invention is specifically exemplified with respect to garbanzo beans.

Starch (Chd 6H.sub.10 O.sub.5).sub.x is available from a variety of natural sources including most cereal grains, tubers, roots, and other plant parts. Starch can be used in a wide variety of applications ranging from adhesives to major food ingredients or critical food functional additives. The current invention is primarily directed to an efficient method of obtaining essentially pure starch, along with a protein concentrate, with excellent qualities for food preparation.
The starch content of legumes ranges from 35 to 60% of the dry weight of the beans. Legume starches have been identified as a new and exciting food ingredient. For example, pea starch has been used widely in the processed meat industry where heat and mechanical stability are of great interest. In canned foods, cooked sausages, pates, and other foods, pea starch can substitute for traditional starches with excellent results. As a thickening agent in soups and sauces and in many other products, pea starch gives a pleasant mouth feel. Heat stability, excellent expansion properties and marked resistance to mechanical shear are important in extruded products. Until now, the main limitation of the use of pea starch in foods is the relatively high cost of its isolation.
Most legume starch isolation methods are lengthy, laborious, and costly. Techniques for the isolation of legume starches were originally reported by Kawamura et al. (Kawamura, S., Y. Tuboi, T. Huzii [1955] "Studies on legume starches. I. Microscopic observation on the granules of starches from some Japanese legumes," Tech. Bull. Kagawa Agr. Coll. 7:87-90) and Kawamura et al. (Kawamura, S., M. Tada [1958] "Legume starches. III. Separation and determination of amylose and amylopectin. I. Introduction and preliminary experiments with iodine coloration," Chem. Abstr. 52:20428h). The Kawamura method involves treatment of a legume preparation with a 0.2% NaOH solution, washing with water, and dehydration with ethanol and water. See also Deshpande, S. S., S. Damodaran (1990) "Food legumes: Chemistry and technology," Chapter 3 In, Vol. X, Adv. Cereal Science & Technol. (Y. Pomeranz, editor) Am. Assoc. Cereal Chem., St. Paul Minn., pp. 147-241). The procedures most widely used today are three methods developed by Schoch et al. (Schoch, T. J., E. C. Maywald [1968] "Preparation and properties of various legume starches," Cereal Chem. 45:564-573), who identified certain conditions for starch isolation from legumes. In the first method, which is used for mung beans, garbanzo beans, and dehulled split yellow peas, starch can be obtained by initially steeping legume seeds in warm water in the presence of toluene to prevent fermentation. This initial steeping is followed by wet grinding and repeated screening. A second methods exists for lentils, lima beans, and white navy beans. The initial steps of the second method are similar to the first method but the second method further involves resuspension in a 0.2% NaOH solution (to dissolve most of the protein) and several tabling steps. The third method (for wrinkled seeded peas) requires exhaustive alkaline steeping and washings of the isolated starch.
The separation of pure legume starch is difficult because of the presence of a highly hydrated fine fiber (cotyledon cell wall material) and strong adherence of large amounts of insoluble proteins. The above procedures, or modifications thereof, were used recently, among others, by Haase et al. (Haase, N. U., W. Kempf, G. Tegge, U. D'heur [1987] "Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur Erbenstarkeisolierung auf nasstechnischen Wege," Die Starke 39:416-421), Honingfort (Honingfort, T. [1988] "Versuche zur Gewinnung and Charakterisierung yon Starke aus Erbsen, M. Sc. Thesis. U. Berlin, Inst. Food Technol., Dept. Cereal Technology.), and Hoover et al. (Hoover, R., S. C. Rorke, A. M. Martin [1991] "Isolation and characterization of lima bean Phaseolus lunatus starch," J. Food Blochem. 15:117-136). Vose (Vose, J. R. [1977] "Functional characterization of an intermediate amylose starch from smooth-seeded field peas compared with corn and wheat starches," Cereal Chem. 54:1141- 1151) prepared pea starch by pin milling whole peas, air classification of the very fine flour, defibering the starch concentrate, washing and repeated centrifugation. Unfortunately, this procedure is very damaging to the starch. Therefore, to obtain a product with minimum starch damage, the Schoch et al. ([1968], supra) method is required. Olsen (Olsen, H. S. [1978] "Continuous pilot plant production of bean protein by extraction, centrifugation, ultrafiltration, and spray drying," Lebensm.-Wiss. Technol. 11(2):57-64) described a batch and continuous ultrafiltration method for isolation of fababean protein isolates. The process can be used to obtain pea starch as a by-product. Colonna et al. (Colonna, P., D. Gallant, C. Mercier [1980] "Pisum sativum and Vicia faba carbohydrates: Studies of fractions obtained after dry and wet protein extraction processes," J. Food Sci. 45:1629-1636) isolated by a wet process starches from air classified pea and fababean fractions. The isolation was not possible from starchy by-products probably due to their high hemicellulose content. Ningsanond et al. (Ningsanond, S., B. Ooraikul [ 1989] "Chemical and nutritional properties of dry and wet milling products of red cowpeas," Can. Inst. Food Sci. Technol. J. 22:147-155) describe wet and dry processes for fractionation of dehulled and milled cowpea seeds into protein-rich and starch-rich fractions. The dry process involves pin milling and air classification; the wet process involves wet milling of soaked whole seeds, alkaline extraction (pH 9), and acid-heat precipitation (pH 4.4 at 80.degree.).
There has been particular interest in split and broken garbanzo beans since there is very little market for these products other than grinding them up and using them for animal feed. Splits or brokens are a by-product of marketing whole garbanzo beans. The price of the brokens is about 1/10 of that of the whole beans. Most of the brokens are incorporated into feeds.
Stone-milled garbanzo bean flour is commercially available. However, the flour is creamy in color with a wide variation of particle size. It does not hydrate well and thus is not good for incorporation into foods and instead is most often used for feed.
Currently, there is no efficient method for the isolation of highly pure starch from legumes.

Process for fractionating legumes to obtain pure starch and a protein concentrate

Washington State University Research Foundation


Protection of a solid-state imaging device is disclosed. One example of a protection unit includes a capacitor connected between an output terminal of a shutter drive pulse of a pulse drive unit and a substrate voltage terminal of a solid-state imaging device, a diode connected between a predetermined potential point and the substrate voltage terminal, and a clamp circuit configured from a resistor element connected between the substrate voltage terminal and a reference potential point. An anode end of the diode is connected to the predetermined potential point to which a potential corresponding to a rated voltage of the substrate voltage terminal is applied.

Among solid-state imaging devices, there is one capable of using a so-called electronic shutter function (an electric charge sweep operation in a substrate direction) to sweep a generated electric charge in the substrate direction by superimposing an electronic shutter pulse on a substrate voltage. For example, the substrate voltage can adjust a saturation signal amount of a light-receiving part. By changing the substrate voltage in a drive mode, the saturation signal amount necessary in each drive mode can be adjusted. A signal can be reset by application of a shutter pulse to the substrate voltage. This enables adjustment of an exposure time. Here, to drive a solid-state imaging device, a driver (pulse drive unit) is used. Both of the solid-state imaging device and the driver (especially, a vertical driver) require a voltage value away from an operation voltage value (for example, +5V system, +3V system, +1.8V system, and the like) required in other various circuits, and usually, two voltages having different polarities are necessary (because a reference potential is 0 V). Therefore, these two types of voltage are increased/decreased and supplied by a voltage conversion circuit (DC/DC converter, or the like), for example.
Here, in a driver capable of performing an electric charge sweep operation in the substrate direction, the electric charge sweep control is performed by an electronic shutter pulse driver circuit in the driver in order to control a timing of the start of storing an electric charge of a photoelectric conversion part such as a photodiode, and the electronic shutter pulse is applied to a first polarity substrate (for example, an n-type substrate) through a separate wiring from a transfer clock. A substrate voltage control circuit is connected to a substrate voltage terminal of the first polarity substrate, and a predetermined voltage (reverse bias voltage) is always applied to the first polarity substrate during the operation. At the sweep of an electric charge, the electronic shutter pulse driver circuit outputs a pulse signal, and a voltage of the pulse signal is superimposed on an applied voltage of the substrate voltage control circuit, a reverse bias voltage stronger than usual is applied to the first polarity substrate, and the stored electric charge is swept.
Meanwhile, when such a solid-state imaging device is driven, a voltage range applicable in each terminal or between terminals is defined as an absolute maximum rating. Such a rating is observed in a steady state. However, for example, the rating may deviate from the rating when a power supply switch of the imaging device is turned ON/OFF, or the like. Therefore, depending on a configuration of the electronic shutter pulse circuit between the driver and the solid-state imaging device, an abnormal voltage exceeding the absolute maximum rating may be applied to the substrate voltage terminal at the start or the interruption of a power supply, and there is a concern that the solid-state imaging device may be deteriorated or broken.
As a measure, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-327360 discloses a protection circuit in which a clamp circuit including a DC cut capacitor, a clamp diode, and a discharge resistor is formed into a two-stage configuration. The diode is connected to the resistor in parallel, and an anode end is connected to a reference potential (usually, 0 V). That is, the diode is connected to be conducted by a negative voltage of a substrate voltage terminal. A connection point of the capacitor, a cathode end of the diode, and the resistor of a clamp circuit in the second stage is connected to the substrate voltage terminal. Accordingly, when a potential of the substrate voltage terminal exceeds a forward drop voltage of the diode at the start or the interruption of a power supply (in reality, becomes larger toward the negative potential side), the diode is turned ON. Therefore, the potential of the substrate voltage terminal is clamped to nearly the forward drop voltage of the diode. This can prevent a negative voltage that falls below the rating from being provided to the substrate voltage terminal.

Imaging device and protection device of solid-state imaging device


The invention relates to a device for improving security in an aircraft during the operation of air traffic. The invention is characterized in that a security zone (2′), which can be sealed off by controllable access doors (25, 26) and monitored by sensors (24, 31), is provided between the passenger cabin (3) and cockpit (1) areas. The invention also relates to methods for improving security during the operation of air traffic, using said device. The advantage of the invention is that the penetration of the cockpit by unauthorized persons, who could neutralize the functions of the pilot or operational components, can be prevented. Even in the case of a present threat or a terrorist attack, involving the taking of hostages or a threat with the use of violence, the pilots in the cockpit are protected effectively.

The air traffic operation is increasingly exposed to incursions by unruly passengers and also to terrorist attacks. Thus, particularly, those incidents substantially endanger the flight safety in which access to the sensitive cockpit area is achieved by force. Different technical and personnel and safety measures are in existence for protecting the cockpit. However, these are unsatisfactory in practice. As an example it should be mentioned that armed air marshals who are present incognito among the passengers cannot effectively protect the cockpit in particular instances where hostages are taken and where several terrorists are present. On the other hand it is also not possible to hermetically seal the cockpit from the passenger cabin, for example by a separation wall. Due to operational reasons it is self understood that the cockpit must have an access to the cabin so that authorized persons can enter the cockpit at any time without hindrance and to leave it again. For example, when pilots need to inspect equipment in the cabin or when a flight attendant needs to bring food and when an information exchange with the pilots needs to be maintained.
Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide safety measures for the cockpit area which achieve an effective protection against an unauthorized penetration of persons into the cockpit. Simultaneously the accessability of authorized persons must be assured.

Device and method for improving security during the operation of air traffic


An automatic soldering method and the apparatus thereof is disclosed, wherein a transporting device progressively moves up a horizontal position of a base board as the latter is transported to be soldered in a direction from a base board entrance side to a soldered base board exit side of a base board transporting path. An elongated molten solder storing tank is arranged laterally of the base board transporting path. The solder storing tank has an elongated molten solder jetting nozzle located therein and is inclined in a horizontal plane with respect to a base board transporting direction. An operating device is provided to adjust an inclination of the base board in a vertical plane intersecting the base board transporting direction such that a distance between a lower side of the base board and a top end of the molten solder jetting nozzle is constant all through the length of the nozzle as the base board is transported past over the nozzle.

The invention relates to an automatic soldering method and the apparatus thereof and more particularly relates to a method for arranging an elongated molten solder storing tank laterally of a base board transporting direction in a manner as inclined with respect to the base board transporting direction in a horizontal plane while transporting a base board in a manner that a horizontal position of the base board is progressively moved up as the base board is transported and further in a manner that the base board is inclined in a vertical plane intersecting the base board transporting direction such that a distance between a lower side of the base board and a top of an elongated molten solder jetting nozzle provided in the solder storing tank is constant all through the length of the nozzle as the base board is transported part over the nozzle, to thereby secure a same soldering condition between the points of the base board to be soldered and the molten solder jetted up from the nozzle all through the length of the nozzle.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a method and the apparatus thereof for transporting a carrier carrying the base board to be soldered from a base board entrance side to a soldered base board exit side of a base board transporting path and then feeding back the carrier from the soldered base board exit side to the base board entrance side so that the carrier may carry a new base board to be soldered again.
A conventional automatic soldering method and the apparatus is shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, wherein a base board 1 having electronic elements mounted thereon is soldered with the molten solder 3 jetted up from an elongated opened nozzle 2 by the action of a molten solder pressing device while the base board is transported over the nozzle arranged laterally of a base board transporting direction with the right angles.
According to the conventional method and apparatus, when a lower side 1c of the base board 1 is moved past the molten solder 3 jetting up from the nozzle 2, that is, when the soldering process is ended, the molten solder 3 will progressively flow from one end 1a toward a center 1b on the lower side 1c of the base board 1 while the molten solder is separating one after another at the soldering points of the base board. In this case, it is unavoidable that the flow of molten solder will result in the phenomena such as bridges, icicles, drops or dews formed at the center 1b of the width of the base board 1. Such defective soldering places 5 have to be confirmed by inspection and have to be amended by means of a soldering iron. Such inspection and amendment operations will increase the soldering processes and further decrease the operation efficiency. Moreover the failure of defection confirmation and the incomplete amendment will inevitably lower the quality of products.
More precisely, the base board 1 is transported while one end 1a is held, and is liable to be downwardly bent due to its own weight and the weight of the electronic parts mounted on the base board. Such downward bend will be further encouraged as the base board 1 is preheated by a heater and further heated by the molten solder at the time of soldering process. It is therefore apparent that the center part 1b of the base board 1 will be lowest and the separation of solder will be terminated at the center 1b of the base board 1.
As particularly shown in FIG. 12, the base board 1 has many points 4 provided on the lower side 1c thereof which are required to be soldered. Each of the spaces 6 between the soldering points 4 arranged laterally of the base board is very small due to the increased density of electronic parts mounted on the base board. The smallest spaces may be about 0.2 mm and so many. Therefore if the molten solder 3 comes together to one point when the base board 1 is transported past the molten solder jetting nozzle, the defective soldering phenomena will be caused such as the bridges, icicles, etc., as mentioned hereinbefore. Especially the phenomenon of bridges may be often caused in case of a base board having a higher density of electronic parts mounted at the center part 1b of the base board 1. Namely the adjacent points 4 to be soldered are bridged with the solder.
Further in case of base board 1 having one point 4 provided at the center part 1b thereof which is to be soldered, a phenomenon of icicle, drop or dew may be caused at the point because the molten solder 3 flows together a the point.
Japanese patent application made public 59-997 and Japanese patent application laid open 59-15668 disclose a method for arranging elongated nozzles 2 in a manner as inclined in a horizontal plane with respect to the base board transporting direction A in order to solve the defects and disadvantages of the prior art as mentioned above. Especially these patent applications stress a feature that the base board 1 is inclined so as to be progressively opened with respect to the plane of molten solder jetted up from the nozzles 2 as the base board is transported. It is observed that the prior art is designed to terminate the soldering process at the one end 1a of the base board 1 by simply inclining the nozzles 2 with respect to the base board transporting direction in the horizontal plane. In fact, it is admitted that the feature of the prior art will attain an effect for more or less decreasing the defective soldering results such as the soldering phenomena 5 as shown in FIG. 12. However in view of the fact that the base board 1 is progressively moved up as the base board is transported, the vertical distance between the base board 1 and the nozzles 2 is progressively higher all through the length of the nozzles 2. More precisely a period of time is progressively shorter in which the molten solder 3 contacts the lower side 1c of the base board 1 as the base board is moved past the nozzles. It is therefore apparent that the soldering condition is progressively different all through the length of the nozzles, that is, from one end to the opposite end of the base board all through the width thereof. Such variant soldering condition is far from a desired condition in which the molten solder contacts the base board for 3 seconds to attain a very best soldering effect. Namely such variant soldering condition will cause deflected soldering results.
Depending upon the arrangement of the points 4 to be soldered, it may be possible to prevent the formation of such defective soldering phenomena such as the parts 5 as shown in FIG. 12 by enlarging the inclination of the nozzles with respect to the base board transporting direction. But such enlargement of inclination is limited, and excessive inclination would make it impossible for the molten solder 3 to contact the lower side 1c of the base board 1.

Automatic soldering method and the apparatus thereof


A test device is disclosed having a display and a graphical user interface (GUI) that provides guidance to a user by displaying first and second icons for representing first and second actions to be taken by the test device upon selecting the first and the second icons, respectively, by the user. To provide the guidance to the user, the second icon has graphical features indicative of the current status of the first action. For cases where the first action is a test that failed, the second action is highlighted thereby guiding the user to take the second action in response to the failed test. At least one of the graphical features of the second icon is indicative of whether the second icon is currently selectable by the user.

Test equipment, and in particular cable network test equipment, frequently requires a user to choose between functionally distinct tests. The tests are selected in dependence upon a problem being investigated. Typically, the tests are selected from a list-type menu structure, an icon-based menu structure, or a combination of the two menu structures. The user must be able to know which tests and test modes to employ in each particular case. Multiple tests are often required to investigate most problems, such as a poor quality of digital reception, for example. To assist the user, shortcuts can be provided in a graphical user interface of the test equipment. The shortcuts take the user directly from one mode to another without having to return to the main menu.
Referring to FIG. 1, a flow chart of a prior-art method of investigating a network problem is shown. At a step 101, a user, such as a field test technician, selects a test to be run. The test is selected based on the technician's knowledge of which tests need to be run to investigate a particular problem, as shown schematically with an arrow 102. At a step 103, the tests are run by the test device. At a step 104, the test results are obtained, typically in form of a table or a graph on a display unit of the test device. At a step 105, the results are analyzed by the technician to find a root cause of the problem. This step also requires a specific knowledge by the technician, as is shown by an arrow 106. At a step 107, the technician selects further action or actions to be taken to further investigate the problem, and the process continues as illustrated with dots 109 until the root cause of the problem is found. The step 107 of selecting further actions to be taken also requires knowledge 108 by the technician of all tests available to the test device and the appropriate circumstances under which the tests are to be run.
One drawback with the traditional approach illustrated in FIG. 1 is that it requires the field service technicians using the test equipment to know in detail the circumstances under which each test is to be run. Considering a large number of tests that can be run to troubleshoot a particular problem, and considering a significant extent of problems that might occur, this requirement is difficult to meet in practice. Furthermore, new equipment is being developed and added to a typical cable network to expand services delivered to clients. New equipment and associated new services can only be deployed if an equipment update is adequately supported by a growing testing and troubleshooting capability, which requires new tests to be added on ongoing basis. Maintaining an adequate up-to-date training of the technical personnel in such rapidly growing environment represents a formidable challenge.
One known solution to simplify the testing procedure is to program the test equipment to run predetermined successions of tests using a scripted succession of test commands. In this mode, which is sometimes called "autotest" mode, the testing equipment consecutively runs all the measurements listed in the script, typically on multiple information channels. At the end of the measurements cycle, the test equipment generates a table showing test results. For example, channel power readings can be displayed, for all channels present, so that the user can check whether channels of interest have sufficient power to be reliably detected. Many other tests, such as modulation error ratio (MER), bit error ratio (BER), carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) ingress, etc., are also performed on channel-by-channel basis.
While scripted "autotest" measurements provide an advantage of standardized testing done by field service technicians, allowing comprehensive and standardized data logging, the sheer amount of information presented to the technician at the end of the "autotest" represents a difficulty to the technician, whose task is to quickly determine the root cause of the problem. To be able to understand and navigate in vast amounts of data generated by the "autotest", the technician must not only understand the basics of network operation, but also be familiar with data processing and have strong analytical skills. Therefore, introduction of "autotest" does not reduce the amount of training required. In essence, it simply expands the required training into another area.
The prior art is lacking a solution that would allow a user to quickly analyze a particular problem without requiring ongoing, extensive, and time-consuming on-the-job training. Accordingly, it is a goal of the present invention to provide a solution that reduces the amount of training required, while streamlining and standardizing the testing process.

Interactive test device and a method of testing of a cable network