A system for mobile communication based on code division multiple access includes base stations, each of which communicates with mobile stations by using a plurality of radio frequencies covering respective cells, the respective cells including a first cell covered by a first radio frequency and a second cell covered by a second radio frequency. The system further includes a base-station controller which communicates with the base stations, and controls the mobile stations to switch from the first cell of a first base station to the first cell of a second base station via a soft hand-off operation and switch between the first cell and the second cell within any base station via a hard hand-off operation, the base-station controller providing the mobile stations with no direct switch between the second cell of the first base station and the second cell of the second base station.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cell designs of a mobile communication system that is based on a CDMA (code division multiple access) scheme typically used in an IS-95-A scheme.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a number of customers increases in a mobile-communication system, there is an increasing need for a system that can accommodate a large number of customers.
FIG. 10 is an illustrative drawing showing a configuration of a typical related-art mobile-communication system.
In the system of FIG. 10, a public telephone network is connected to a mobile network via mobile switch center MSC. The mobile switch center MSC has base station controllers BSC connected thereto, and the base station controllers BSC in turn have base stations BTS connected thereto. Each of the base stations BTS communicates with mobile stations MS residing in its cell (i.e., area of control) so as to render services such as a telephone service. In such a mobile-communication system, a CDMA (code division multiple access) scheme, a TDMA (time division multiple access) scheme, or a FDMA (frequency division multiple access) scheme is typically employed for the purpose of providing multiple accesses.
[CDMA Scheme]
The CDMA scheme is used in the IS-95-A scheme. In the CDMA scheme, a base station uses the same frequency for communicating with different mobile stations residing in its own cell. Channels for communicating with respective mobile stations are established by using predetermined codes, which are called dispersion codes, and serve to discriminate respective signals of mobile stations. Data exchanged between the base station and a mobile station is encrypted (frequency dispersed) by convolving the data with a dispersion code. On the receiver side, the received data is further convolved with the same dispersion code in order to identify a channel.
In the CDMA scheme, a transmitter side of a base station uses two types of dispersion codes. One is a short code, which is used for discriminating the base station from other base stations. The other is a long code, which is used for discriminating a mobile station as a destination. These two codes are convolved with transmission data.
Further, a transmitter side of a mobile station uses two types of dispersion codes. One is a short code again, which is used by a base station for obtaining a data timing of data received from the mobile station. The other is a long code, which serves to discriminate the mobile station from other mobile stations. These two codes are convolved with transmission data.
Such dispersion codes as described above are used for channel-discrimination purposes in the CDMA scheme. Because of this, each mobile station can selectively pick up a channel directed to itself from a relevant base station even when each mobile station simultaneously receives signals of the same radio frequency from a plurality of base stations.
In this manner, the CDMA scheme allows base stations to transmit the same frequency to all the mobile stations, and allows all the mobile stations to transmit the same frequency to the base stations. Please note, however, that the transmission frequency of the base stations is different from the transmission frequency of the mobile stations.
[Hand-off of CDMA Scheme]
xe2x80x9cHand-offxe2x80x9d refers to an operation performed when a mobile station moves from a cell of a given base station to a cell of an adjacent base station while engaging in a call. The CDMA scheme performs a soft hand-off operation to insure a continuous call without a break.
During a period of a soft hand-off state, two base stations having bordering cells transmit the same data received from the base-station controller to a mobile station currently positioned around the border of the cells. The mobile station combines the received signals sent from the two base stations, thereby improving a reception gain. Each of the two base stations receives a signal sent from the mobile station, and forwards the signal to the base-station controller. The base-station controller compares the two signals sent from the two respective base stations, and select one having a better signal quality. Selected data is then sent to the mobile-switch center. In this manner, a call never breaks during a soft hand-off period as long as either one of the two base stations securely receives signals from the mobile station.
A mobile-communication system based on the TDMA scheme typically employs a different type of a hand-off operation called a hard hand-off. In a hard hand-off operation, a radio frequency is switched after a mobile station comes sufficiently close to a first base station when moving from a second base station to the first base station with an aim of achieving a secure shift. This means, however, that the mobile station becomes distanced from the second base station before the hand-off operation is actually performed. A hard hand-off thus requires a greater transmission power than a soft hand-off. Further, a communication suffers a brief moment of disconnection at the time of switching.
Even the CDMA scheme may use a hard hand-off operation when two base stations cannot use the same frequency to provide respective services to a mobile station, for example. In such a case, a brief moment of disconnection is observed before a switched channel is reconnected.
[Number of Subscribers in CDMA]
The CDMA scheme achieves division of channels by use of codes, and uses the same radio frequency shared by a large number of mobile stations. When a base station attempts to receive a signal from a given mobile station, other signals transmitted from other mobile stations using the same radio frequency appear to be nothing but sources of interferences for the base station. Namely, an increase in the number of mobile stations adding to the number of transmission signals is tantamount to an increase in noise. The acceptable number of mobile stations that can communicate using the same radio frequency is obviously limited by the degree of interference. It is important, therefore, to reduce interferences by using as small transmission power as possible for each mobile station. This is the most important issue to be addressed in deciding the number of mobile stations than can be accommodated in the same cell, i.e., the number of customers of a single system.
In order for a mobile station to reduce its transmission power around a border of cells, a soft hand-off is suitable because it requires only a minimum transmission power that achieves communication with the closest base station.
As a mobile station shifts its position, a building may come into a line between the mobile station and the base station, or may go out of the line. When the mobile station is obscured by a building, the base station in the CDMA system increases transmission power in response to weakening signals if the CDMA system is not using a soft hand-off. Such an increase in transmission power is an increase of noises as far as other mobile stations are concerned. When the mobile station comes out from behind the building, the transmission power is decreased. Such an adjustment of transmission power is repeated as the mobile station moves.
In a system which employs a soft hand-off, even when a base station is obscured by a building, a mobile station may maintain a connection with another mobile station. In such a case, necessary transmission power is smaller compared to the case of no soft hand-off operation. Namely, a noise effect on other mobile stations is smaller.
Accordingly, a system employing the soft hand-off operation can accommodate a larger number of mobile stations than a system using no soft hand-off, thereby achieving a smaller system cost per user.
[System Configuration of CDMA Scheme]
FIG. 11 is an illustrative drawing showing a configuration of areas (cells) of related-art base stations employing the CDMA scheme.
As previously described, the number of channels that a single base station can use with a common radio frequency is limited by an effect of signal interference. When the number of customers (mobile stations) is larger than the number of channels that can be accommodated by the same frequency, a cell configuration is designed such that a single base station uses different radio frequencies for implementing a plurality of cells. For example, a base station that renders services to more mobile stations than an acceptable number of mobile stations for a single radio frequency needs to implement cells using different radio frequencies.
As shown in FIG. 11, a base station 1 implements a plurality of cells by using a plurality of radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3. Areas covered by the respective radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 are completely overlapped, and encompass the base station 1 with a radius R1. Further, the areas of the respective radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 of the base station 1 partially overlap corresponding areas of respective radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 of a base station 2. This partial overlapping is provided in order to permit a soft hand-off operation between areas using the same radio frequency.
[Selection of Soft Hand-off or Hard Hand-off]
In the CDMA scheme, a decision has be to made as to which one of the soft hand-off and the hard hand-off is used at a border of adjoining cells. To this end, a mobile station obtains the following threshold values from a base station.
1) pilot strength usable for communication
2) pilot strength to trigger hand-off
3) pilot strength lower than the above
A mobile station starts communicating with a base station for location update or the like when finding this base station before any other base stations by picking up a signal from this base station that exceeds xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communicationxe2x80x9d.
If a user of the mobile station requests a call, the mobile station sends a call request to the base station. A mobile station constantly searches for pilot channels of surrounding cells, and monitors received strengths of the pilot channels. If any one of the received strengths crosses over from one category to another category classified by the above conditions 1) through 3), the mobile station reports the received strengths of pilot channels to the base-station controller via the currently connected base station.
Based on the reported strengths of pilot channels of surrounding cells, the base-station controller selects one of the following operations.
1) soft hand-off
2) hard hand-off
3) maintain current state
If a soft hand-off or a hard hand-off is selected, a hand-off switch message is sent to the mobile station, thereby prompting the mobile station to switch over to one of the surrounding cells.
In this process, a decision as to which one of the two hand-off operations is selected is made by taking into account the following factors.
1) soft hand-off
Conditions that must be satisfied in order to select a soft hand-off are as follows:
a received pilot strength of a surrounding cell that is reported by the mobile station exceeds xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communicationxe2x80x9d; and
a target cell (a surrounding cell that is currently evaluated) has an available resource for the same frequency and the same frame offset as those of the currently used cell.
Such a soft hand-off achieves a switch to the target cell using the same radio frequency and the same frame offset as those of the currently used cell.
In the example of FIG. 11, each of the base stations 1 and 2 uses the radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 to communicate with mobile stations. Even though a plurality of the radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 are used, overlapping is provided between the cells using the same frequency. A soft hand-off thus can be performed for a mobile station 3 between the cells using the same frequency.
The frame offset refers to a position in a series of time slots that are used for exchanging communication signals of mobile stations between a base station and a base-station controller on a communication line utilizing a time-division multiplex scheme. A soft hand-off can not be performed unless a position of a time slot of a mobile station is the same in a base station after a hand-off as was in a base station before the hand-off. Therefore, a check has to be made as to whether a frame offset (i.e., a particular time slot) used in a base station before a hand-off is available in a base station to be used after the hand-off. That is, whether the same frame offset is available in the base station to be used needs to be checked in order to perform a soft hand-off operation.
2) hard hand-off
Conditions that must be satisfied in order to select a hard hand-off are as follows:
a received pilot strength of a surrounding cell that is reported by the mobile station exceeds xe2x80x9cpilot strength to trigger hand-offxe2x80x9d;
a pilot strength of a currently used cell is below xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communicationxe2x80x9d;
a target cell has available resources; and
the target cell does not have an available space for the same frequency and the same frame offset as those of the currently used cell.
A hard hand-off may include a case where a switch is made to a different radio frequency when moving into a target cell or a case where a switch is made to a different frame offset while using the same radio frequency.
3) maintaining a current status
Conditions that must be satisfied in order to maintain a current status are as follows.
a received pilot strength of a surrounding cell that is reported by the mobile station exceeds xe2x80x9cpilot strength to trigger hand-offxe2x80x9d.
a pilot strength of a currently used cell is above xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communicationxe2x80x9d; and
a target cell has no available resources, or does not have an available space for the same frequency and the same frame offset as those of the currently used cell.
When a decision is made to keep a current status, no hand-off is performed, and a connection with the current base station remains as it is.
In this manner, a hand-off operation is performed by evaluating received pilot strengths that are reported to a base-station controller from a mobile station. Decisions as to whether to perform a hand-off operation and which type of hand-off operation is to be performed are made by the base-station controller. To this end, the base-station controller needs to keep track of locations of and frequencies used by all the mobile stations.
[Details of Hard Hand-off in CDMA]
FIG. 12 is an illustrative drawing showing a hard hand-off operation performed by a mobile station.
In FIG. 12, the base stations 1 and 2 are under the control of a base-station controller 4. Ellipses drawn above the base stations 1 and 2 illustrate cells (areas) covered by the radio frequencies RF1 and RF2. Points a through f indicate positions of the mobile station 3. What is shown in the middle of the figure demonstrates pilot strengths of the base stations 1 and 2 that are received by the mobile station 3 as it moves along. In this presentation, a pilot strength x indicates a xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communicationxe2x80x9d, and a pilot strength y indicates a xe2x80x9cpilot strength to trigger a hand offxe2x80x9d.
In the following, a series of operations from when the mobile station 3 starts communication with the base station 1 at the point a by using the radio frequency RF1 to when the mobile station 3 finally reaches the point f will be described.
When the mobile station 3 reaches the point c, the received pilot strength of the base station 2 exceeds the pilot strength y (i.e., xe2x80x9cpilot strength to trigger a hand-offxe2x80x9d). The mobile station 3 reports this change to the base-station controller 4 via the base station 1.
The base-station controller 4 makes a resource request to the base station 2 with an aim of performing a soft hand-off operation. In this example, however, there is no resources, and a current status is maintained.
When the mobile station 3 moves to the point e, the received pilot strength of the base station 1 becomes smaller than the pilot strength x (i.e., xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communication). The mobile station 3 reports this to the base-station controller 4 via the base station 1. The base-station controller 4 instructs the base station 1, the base station 2, and the mobile station 3 to carry out a hard hand-off operation. The hard hand-off operation is carried out at the point e. In this manner, the mobile station 3 communicates with the base station 1 from the point a to the point e, and communicates with the base station 2 from the point e to the point f.
[Details of Soft Hand-off in CDMA]
FIG. 13 is an illustrative drawing showing a soft hand-off operation performed by a mobile station. In FIG. 13, the same numerals and symbols as those of FIG. 12 are used for referring to the same items.
In the following, a series of operations from when the mobile station 3 starts communication with the base station 1 at the point a by using the radio frequency RF1 to when the mobile station 3 finally reaches the point f will be described.
When the mobile station 3 reaches the point c, the received pilot strength of the base station 2 exceeds the pilot strength y (i.e., xe2x80x9cpilot strength to trigger a hand-offxe2x80x9d). The mobile station 3 reports this change to the base-station controller 4 via the base station 1. The base-station controller 4 makes a resource request to the base station 2 with an aim of performing a soft hand-off operation. When resources are secured, the base-station controller 4 instructs the base stations 1 and 2 and the mobile station 3 to carry out a soft hand-off operation, so that the mobile station 3 starts communicating with both of the base stations 1 and 2.
When the mobile station 3 moves to the point e, the received pilot strength of the base station 1 becomes smaller than the pilot strength x (i.e., xe2x80x9cpilot strength usable for communication). The mobile station 3 reports this to the base-station controller 4 via the base stations 1 and 2. The base-station controller 4 instructs the base station 1, the base station 2, and the mobile station 3 to end the soft hand-off operation. As a result, the mobile station 3 communicates only with the base station 2. In this manner, the mobile station 3 communicates with the base station 1 from the point a to the point e, and communicates with the base station 2 from the point c to the point f. Between the point c and the point e, the soft hand-off operation is being engaged, allowing simultaneous communications with the two base stations.
[Configuration of Base Station and Base-Station Controller]
FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a related-art configuration of a base station and a base-station controller.
The base station includes a plurality of identical configurations as many as there are used radio frequencies (i.e., three in this example since three radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 are used).
The base station is provided with two antennas with respect to each radio frequency for signal exchanges with mobile stations. One antenna is used for transmission of signals, and the other antenna is used for receiving signals.
On a receiver side, RF-conversion units 301 through 303 convert a radio signal received by the antenna into an intermediate frequency signal, which is then demodulated by a QPSK-modulation/demodulation unit 31 before being sent to CDMA-modulation/demodulation units 320 through 32n. The CDMA-modulation/demodulation units 320 through 32n are provided as many as there are mobile stations that can communicate simultaneously with the base station. In this example, therefore, the base station can establish simultaneous communications with n+1 mobile stations. The CDMA-modulation/demodulation units 320 through 32n convolve the received signals with dispersion codes so as to attend to an inverse-dispersion process of the CDMA signals. The dispersion codes are determined by a BTS-control unit 33 in advance. A BSC-connection unit 34 receives the received signals having the inverse-dispersion process applied thereto, and forwards the them to the base-station controller.
On a transmitter side, the BSC-connection unit 34 receives transmission data from the base-station controller, and sends it to one of the CDMA-modulation/demodulation units 320 through 32n selected in advance by the BTS-control unit 33. The selected one of the CDMA-modulation/demodulation units 320 through 32n convolves the transmission data with a dispersion code to attend to a CDMA-dispersion process. Further, the QPSK-modulation/demodulation unit 31 applies a QPSK modulation to generate an intermediate frequency signal. One of the RF-conversion units 301 through 303 converts the intermediate signal into a radio transmission signal, and transmits it via the antenna.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a RF-conversion unit 30 of the base station. The RF-conversion unit 30 is any one of the RF-conversion units 301 through 303.
On the receiver side of the RF-conversion unit 30, a band-pass filter 301 filters a received radio signal, and, then, a low-noise amplifier 302 amplifies the filtered signal. A multiplier 303 multiplies the amplified signal by an output of a receiver local-signal generator 306-1 to obtain an intermediate frequency signal.
On a transmitter side of the RF-conversion unit 30, an intermediate frequency signal is filtered by a band-pass filter 304. A multiplier 305 multiplies the filtered signal by an output of a transmitter local-signal generator 306-2 to generate a radio transmission signal. The radios transmission signal is amplified by a high-power amplifier 308, and, then, is transmitted from the antenna.
With reference to FIG. 14 again, on a receiver side of the base-station controller, data sent from a plurality of base stations are received by a BTS-connection unit 11, and are provided to a communication setting unit 12. The communication setting unit 12 supplies the received data to corresponding selection units 130 through 13m as a given chunk of the received data has an allocated selection unit. This allocation is determined by a BSC-control unit 16. Each of the selection units 130 through 13m selects one of the two received data chunks that has fewer errors than the other during a period of a soft hand-off operation, and, then, applies an audio-decoding process before sending the selected data to a MSC-connection unit 15. The MSC-connection unit 15 combines data supplied from the selection units 130 through 13m to generate frames, and sends these frames to a mobile-switch center 5.
On a transmitter side of the base-station controller, frames received from the mobile-switch center 5 are processed to extract transmission data, which is then sent to one of the selection units 130 through 13m that is preselected by the BSC-control unit 16. The one of the selection units 130 through 13m applies an audio-coding process before sending the transmission data to the communication setting unit 12. The transmission data is then transmitted via the BTS-connection unit 11 to a destination that is specified by the BSC-control unit 16.
[Configuration of Selection Unit]
FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a selection unit of the base-station controller. The selection unit 13 of FIG. 16 is any one of the selection units 130 through 13m.
The selection unit 13 includes a first buffer 131, a second buffer 132, a third buffer 133, an audio decoding unit 134, an audio coding unit 135, a buffer-control unit 136, a demultiplexer 137, a first check unit 138, a second check unit 139, and a selector 140.
On a receiver side of the selection unit 13, the demultiplexer 137 receives data, and supplies a first one of two data chunks consecutively received to the first check unit 138 and a second one of the two data chunks to the second check unit 139 if a soft hand-off operation is being engaged. The buffer-control unit 136 is notified when the data transfer is completed. The first check unit 138 and the second check unit 139 check errors in the received data, and send the received data to the first buffer 131 and the second buffer 132, respectively. Results of the error checks are provided to the buffer-control unit 136. The buffer-control unit 136 controls the selector 140 to select one of the two data chunks that has the smallest errors, and controls a corresponding one of the first buffer 131 and the second buffer 132 to supply the received data to the audio decoding unit 134. These operations as described above are repeated for each frame. If the soft hand-off operation is not being engaged, the demultiplexer 137 supplies data to the first check unit 138 as it receives the data.
On a transmitter side of the selection unit 13, the audio coding unit 135 applies audio-coding processing to transmission data, and sends the processed transmission data to the third buffer 133. Under the control of the buffer-control unit 136, the third buffer 133 supplies the transmission data to the communication setting unit 12.
[Configuration of Mobile Station]
FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a receiver portion of a related-art mobile station.
The mobile station of FIG. 17 includes a RF-conversion unit 21, a QPSK-demodulation unit 22, a searcher 23, a finger-control unit 24, a first finger 25, a second finger 26, a control unit 27, a maximum-ratio-integration unit 28, a signal processing unit 29, and an audio decoding unit 210.
A signal received at the antenna is supplied to the RF-conversion unit 21, where the received signal is changed into an intermediate frequency signal. The intermediate frequency signal is demodulated by the QPSK-demodulation unit 22, and, then, the demodulated signal is provided to the searcher 23, the first finger 25, and the second finger 26.
The searcher 23 includes a searcher-control unit 231, a correlation unit 233, a peak-detection unit 234, and a timing-generation unit 235. The searcher-control unit 231 indicates a dispersion code to be searched for and a time span during which the search is to be conducted. The correlation unit 233 detects a correlation between a pilot signal of a currently used base station and a pilot signal of a surrounding base station as these pilot signals are contained in the demodulated received signals. The peak-detection unit 234 detects a peak in an output of the correlation unit 233, and the timing-generation unit 235 generates a timing signal indicative of a timing of the peak. The timing signal is supplied to the finger-control unit 24. The finger-control unit 24 obtains a delay profile of the received signal of the currently used base station by using the timings reported from the searcher 23. In a descending order of the correlation in the delay profile, the finger-control unit 24 notifies the first finger 25 and the second finger 26. Further, the finger-control unit 24 reports the received pilot strength of the surrounding base station to the control unit 27.
The first finger 25 and the second finger 26 have the same configuration. Each finger includes a timing-synchronization unit 251, a correlation unit 252, and a correlation-value detecting unit 253. The correlation unit 252 calculates a correlation between the received signal and the dispersion code that is specified by the control unit 27 in advance. The correlation-value detecting unit 253 detects a correlation value at a timing specified by the timing-synchronization unit 251, and the detected correlation value is supplied to the maximum-ratio-integration unit 28. The maximum-ratio-integration unit 28 attends to a maximum-ratio-integration process with respect to the correlation values supplied from the first and second fingers 25 and 26, and supplies the integrated signal to the signal processing unit 29. The signal processing unit 29 attends to error corrections, and the audio decoding unit 210 reproduces audio from the error-corrected signals. Here, if the data output from the signal processing unit 29 is a control message, the control message is supplied to the control unit 27.
In the related-art configuration as described above, a single station may have a plurality of cells using a plurality of radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3 as shown in FIG. 11. In such a case, a soft hand-off can take place in any one of the radio frequencies RF1, RF2, and RF3, and, thus, hardware and software for providing a soft hand-off function are required with respect to each radio frequency. Namely, every single one of the selection units 130 through 13m of the base-station controller needs to have a function to select one of the two received data sets in order to achieve a soft-hand-off operation. This results in an undesirable cost increase.
Between adjacent base stations, areas covered by the same radio frequency are overlapped at a peripheral portion. When a hard hand-off operation is engaged because a soft hand-off is not available due to lack of resources, the mobile station 3 may move deep into a new cell to arrive at the point e while keeping communication with the base station of an old cell. In such a case, signals transmitted from the base station 2 appear to be nothing but noises to the mobile station 3. Further, the transmission signals of the base station 2 are stronger than transmission signals coming from the base station 1 that is currently used. Namely, the signals transmitted from the base station 2 interferes with communications of the mobile station 3 residing within the cell of the base station 1. These factors further limits the number of mobile stations that can be used in the system.
As shown in FIG. 12, when the mobile station 3 having a connection with the base station 1 is located at the point e, the mobile station 3 needs to transmit signals with such a strong power as to make them reach the base station 1 by covering the distance r1. As far as the base station 2 located only a distance r5 from the mobile station 3 is concerned, such strong transmission from the mobile station 3 at the point e is a source of interference against signals coming from other mobile stations. This factor further limits the number of mobile stations that can be used in the system.
In the related art, a soft hand-off operation should be usable regardless of what radio frequency is used by a mobile station. In this configuration, a mobile station shifting a position thereof may come close to a neighboring base station, resulting in a change in a received pilot strength. Because of this, a delay profile needs to be constantly monitored for all the radio frequencies with respect to the neighboring base stations in addition to a delay profile of multi-path components. As a result, it is necessary to keep the searcher 23 in operation all the time for monitoring purposes. This can be achieved, however, at a cost of an increase in power consumption.
Accordingly, there is a need for a CDMA mobile communication system which can accommodate a large number of mobile stations at a low cost while providing soft hand-off services to the mobile stations.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a CDMA mobile communication system which can satisfy the need described above.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide a CDMA mobile communication system which can accommodate a large number of mobile stations at a low cost while providing soft hand-off services to the mobile stations.
In order to achieve the above objects according to the present invention, a system for mobile communication based on code division multiple access includes base stations, each of which communicates with mobile stations by using a plurality of radio frequencies covering respective cells, the respective cells including a first cell covered by a first radio frequency and a second cell covered by a second radio frequency. The system further includes a base-station controller which communicates with the base stations, and controls the mobile stations to switch from the first cell of a first base station to the first cell of a second base station via a soft hand-off operation and switch between the first cell and the second cell within any base station via a hard hand-off operation, the base-station controller providing the mobile stations with no direct switch between the second cell of the first base station and the second cell of the second base station.
In the system as described above, the plurality of radio frequencies are used for communication purposes, yet the number of radio frequencies permitting a soft hand-off operation between adjacent base stations is limited. In this configuration, device elements on the base-station side can be simplified because there is no need for device elements to perform a soft hand-off function with respect to some of those radio frequencies. This results in a lower device cost.
Further, a mobile station currently using a radio frequency that does not permit a soft hand-off operation can stop its search operation from seeking pilot signals of surrounding base stations. This reduces power consumption in the mobile station.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the respective cells covered by the plurality of radio frequencies have different area sizes (e.g., different radii). In this configuration, mobile stations communicating via one of the smaller cells can reduce transmission power thereof compared to when communicating via one of the larger cells. Such reduction in transmission power results in a decreased effect of interference on other mobile stations. Further, the mobile station communicating via one of the smaller cells ends up keeping a distance from adjacent base stations. This mobile station thus suffers only a limited degree of interference from signals transmitted by surrounding base stations. Consequently, the configuration of the present invention increases the number of mobile stations that can be accommodated by a single base station.
In the manner as described above, the present invention can provide a CDMA mobile communication system which can accommodate a large number of mobile stations at a low cost while providing soft hand-off services to the mobile stations.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Code-division-multiple-access mobile communication system accomodating increased number of mobile stations


The present disclosure provides a light homogenizing film, a backlight module and a display device. The light homogenizing film includes a substrate film layer on which a plurality of light homogenizing structures are arranged in an array. The light homogenizing structure includes: a first recess in a regular pyramid shape positioned on a light incident surface of the substrate film layer, and a second recess in a regular pyramid shape positioned on a light emitting surface of the substrate film layer. On a plane where a main body of the substrate film layer is located, an orthographic projection of the second recess completely covers an orthographic projection of the first recess, and the orthographic projections of the first and second recesses are regular polygons which have overlapped centers, the same number of sides and the same orientation.

In the current research field of liquid crystal display panels, the LED backlight technology is helpful to improve the color effect and contrast of the display panels, and due to the continuous reduction of processing costs, LEDs will have a great market prospect in the future. LEDs in a backlight are arranged in an array, and there is a certain distance between two adjacent LEDs. Since LEDs emit light that is similar to Lambert light, changes in the radiation intensity along with the angle between an observation direction and a normal of a surface light source follow the Cosine law. Namely, the smaller the angle between the observation direction and the normal of the surface light source is, the stronger the radiation intensity will be. In actual observations, a region with an LED is brighter, while a region without an LED is darker. As a result, problems such as lamp shadow, halo and the like are easy to occur after the light emitted from the LED passes through a diffusion film.

Light homogenizing film, backlight module and display device


An evaporative air cooler for cooling ambient air includes a housing, a tank, a misting structure, a filter structure, and a fan. The housing includes a top panel, a bottom panel, and side panels defining an interior of the evaporative air cooler. The tank is positioned adjacent to the top panel and at least one of the side panels. The tank receives, stores, and releases liquid. The misting structure comprises a mister and a misting structure coupling and creates a mist within the evaporative air cooler. The filter structure has a plurality of filters for absorbing the mist. The fan draws the ambient air into the evaporative air cooler and directs the ambient air through the filter structure and out of the evaporative air cooler. The evaporative air cooler cools the ambient air by at least one of the mist and the filter structure before exiting the evaporative air cooler.

Evaporative personal air coolers are commonly used to cool air in a home, office, or another hot, dry air environment. Conventional evaporative air coolers operate by drawing air into the evaporative air cooler and through a water-soaked filter device. The air releases heat to evaporate water trapped in the water-soaked filter device. The evaporated water cools the air as it leaves the water-soaked filter device and exits the evaporative air cooler.
Conventional evaporative air coolers typically include a fan, a filter device, and a water distribution system. The fan draws outside air into the evaporative air cooler, pushes it through the evaporative air cooler to produce cooler air, and then pushes the cooler air out of the evaporative air cooler. More specifically, the water distribution system provides water to the filter device so that the filter device becomes water soaked. The water distribution system includes a water pump that draws water from a reservoir and distributes the water to a bottom surface of the filter device to soak upwards. Depending on the type of filter and the amount of water in the reservoir, the water may travel only partially up the filters. If the filters are not fully soaked with water, the evaporative air cooler is less effective at producing cooler air. The filter device includes filters typically made of a paper-like material that have to be replaced often. The filters 58 cannot be reused or easily cleaned.
Some of the water distributed to the filter device evaporates as air flows through the filters. The water in the reservoir depletes as the evaporative air cooler operates due to the evaporation. Any unabsorbed water that recirculates within the evaporative air cooler returns to the reservoir. When the reservoir fully depletes of water but the filter device is soaked with water, the evaporative air cooler can still produce cooler air, but it becomes less effective. The evaporative air cooler will cease producing cooler air when the filter device is dry. Thus, additional water must be constantly added to replace the water that has been evaporated.
Furthermore, it typically takes conventional evaporative air coolers a time to begin cooling air because the filter device must soak up water from the reservoir before the cooling process can begin. In other words, conventional evaporative air coolers do not instantly produce cooler air.


According to one implementation, a composite material structure includes a first member and a second member. The first member has at least one first bonded surface. The second member has at least one second bonded surface to be bonded to the at least one first bonded surface. The second member is made of a composite material. At least one surface formed by fibers forming the composite material is used as the at least one second bonded surface by disposing end portions of the fibers, in the first member side, inside the composite material.

Conventionally, a fastener joint that fix parts, which are objects to be joined, with each other by bolts and nuts is known as a method for joining composite materials, such as GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastics) or CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastics), which are used as a material of a part of an aircraft or the like, with each other or a method for joining a composite material with a metal.
However, when fastener joints are required at many places like in a case of a joint of parts of an aircraft with each other, for example, increase in assembly man-hours and increase in the weight of a product are caused.
Thus, a technique using an adhesive joint for joining parts of an aircraft or the like with each other has been devised in expectation of a weight reduction compared with a fastener joint. For example, a scarf joint that cuts parts, which are objects to be joined, obliquely to each other in order to widen joint surfaces has been devised as an adhesive joint (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,454 A).
A composite material is formed by laminating thin sheets, which are called prepregs and each made of reinforced fibers impregnated in a resin, and subsequently heating and curing the laminated sheets. Therefore, strength of a composite material in a lamination direction is small compared with strength in a direction along surfaces of prepregs.
Thus, a technique to place a metal sheet, such as a titanium sheet, between sheets of prepregs as a reinforcement member in order to secure strength of a composite material in the lamination direction has been devised (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication JP 2014-024334 A).
An object of the present invention is to further improve strength of an adhesive joint of a composite material.

Composite material structure and method of manufacturing composite material structure


A method for finding the impedance of a device under test using an impedance measuring apparatus having a modem-type auto-balancing bridge, two or more measurement signals, each of which has a different phase with respect to the reference signals supplied to the modem inside said auto-balancing bridge, are applied to a device under test; the impedance of this device under test is measured when each of the measurement signals is applied to the device under test; and the impedance of this device under test is found using the above-mentioned phase and the impedance measurement value of each of these measurements.

The auto-balancing bridge method is one method for measuring the impedance used in the newest impedance measuring apparatuses. Measurement circuits that use the auto-balancing bridge method comprise a signal source for applying measurement signals to a device under test; a current-to-voltage converter for converting the current that flows through a DUT to voltage; and a vector ratio detector for measuring the voltage of measurement signals applied to the DUT and the output voltage of the current-to-voltage converter. The current-to-voltage converter that is used is one which is appropriate for the frequency of the measurement signals. Modem-type current-to-voltage converters are used in conventional measuring apparatuses in order to respond to a broad frequency range. It should be noted that modem means a modulation-demodulation system or modulator-demodulator. Modem-type current-to-voltage converters comprise a null detector, an quadrature detector, an integrator, and a vector modulator. Quadrature detector is referred as phase sensitive detector in below. Vector modulator is referred as vector generator in below. An auto-balancing bridge circuit that uses this modem-type current-to-voltage converter is called a modem-type auto-balancing bridge circuit or simply a modem-type auto-balancing bridge. See JP Unexamined Patent Application (Kokai) 2003-279,607 (pages 2 and 3, FIG. 7).
DC offset occurs in the phase sensitive detector and integrator of modem-type current-to-voltage converters. This DC offset is converted to AC by a vector generator, which is described later and produces an error in the impedance measurement values of the device under test. This difference is called open offset because it can be regarded as constant impedance when a device under test is not connected to the impedance measuring apparatus. An object of the present invention is to eliminate or reduce the effect of open offset on measurement values when measuring the impedance of a device under test.

Open offset canceling method and an impedance measuring apparatus using the method


The present invention relates to capital equipment units, such as systems for providing medical treatment, that are associated with smart supplies. The smart supplies are tagged with data carriers which may encode such information as a unique ID for the supply or component, the identification of the supply or component, the identification of the source of the supply or component, the status of whether said supply or component has been previously used, the expiration date of the supply or component, and in the case where the supply or component contains drug, the purity levels of the drug and the concentration levels of the drug. The capital equipment units or their users then utilize the information to assure quality of any procedure run with the units, by way of improved pre-use checks, certification of the supplies for use, record keeping, inventory control, and charge capture.

Many medical procedures, such as the administration of drugs (e.g., sedative and analgesic drugs) are safety-critical tasks with patient health at issue. Therefore, identification and certification of the origin and manufacturer of medical supplies and the identification of drugs to be administered to a patient is important. Such identification and certification enhances patient safety by ensuring and enhancing the quality of pharmaceuticals and single-patient use disposable devices, including assuring such criteria as proper purity, concentration, sterility, calibration, and manufacturing tolerance.
Also important are means for preventing medical supplies having already been used with one patient from being subsequently reused with another patient. Cross-contamination between patients is a concern because of infectious diseases caused by blood-borne pathogens such as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C, and by respiratory pathogens such as multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Further, contamination of certain pharmaceuticals have caused fatal cases of septicemia because these compounds support the growth of bacteria.
In an attempt to prevent cross-contamination, medical equipment, components and supplies are often sterilized prior to reuse with a different patient. However, recent studies indicate that sterilization of many medical devices, especially those that have valves, complex mechanisms, or narrow and long lumens (e.g., laparoscopic trocars, endoscopic biopsy forceps, and fiberscopes), may not be entirely effective.
An alternative way to avoid cross-contamination is through single patient use (disposable) medical supplies and components. Disposable medical supplies and components will not prevent cross-contamination if they are reused. Therefore, concerns remain as to both the deliberate and the unintentional reuse of disposable medical supplies and components. There is also concern beyond patient cross-contamination with the unauthorized sterilization and/or reuse of disposable medical supplies and components which are not designed or validated to be sterilized or to have a long service life.
Goods that outwardly and superficially look like a component or supply of a medical device having the appropriate form, fit, and function to be used with the device may actually be uncertified products that were otherwise not manufactured according to original design specifications. In many circumstances where quality and reliability of performance are mission-critical, the customer or other user may not be able to discern the difference between uncertified and genuine parts. For example, proper use of a drug administration or infusion system requires knowledge of the drug concentration, dead space volume in the infusion tubing and drug pump cassette, and calibrated tubing and compression surfaces (in order to generate volumetric control of the rate of drug infusion). This information may not be known or be outside the specifications for uncertified versions of components or supplies of infusion systems.
If medical supplies were "smart," the detection of the presence or absence of certified medical supplies and their use-condition could be easily automated. Automation may also relieve the clinician of the chore and memory load of certifying products and may enhance patient safety by ensuring that all necessary supplies are present and where appropriate, unused, before the initiation of a medical procedure.
Further, despite the best quality assurance efforts of manufacturers, contaminated or defective products sometimes reach the marketplace. Ensuing product recalls are an extremely costly endeavor for the manufacturer. An identification system that would facilitate localization and removal of every single recalled product would be advantageous. As an added safety measure, it would be beneficial if the batch number and unique identification numbers of the recalled products could be programmed into the associated delivery device, like a conscious sedation machine, or at any dispensing location like a pharmacy or a centralized database so that any recalled product, such as a tainted drug vial, slipping through the recall is rejected by the delivery device.

Smart supplies, components and capital equipment


A gas turbine blade (1) has a shroud (3) which is cooled by different cooling mechanisms in various regions (A, B, C) according to the different thermal load. In a first region (A), in a fin (8), bores are provided, by which a convective cooling of the fin and a film cooling of the hot gas side of the fin are implemented. A second region (B) is cooled by impingement cooling by a cooling air stream from a duct in the radially opposite stator housing. A third region (C) has a plurality of bores running parallel which run from a cooling duct of a cooling system for the blade leaf to the radially outer surface of the shroud. A cooling air stream flowing through these bores causes a convective cooling of this region.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a blade for a gas turbine and, in particular, to cooling for the shroud of the blade.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Shrouds for gas turbine blades serve for sealing and limiting the leakage flow in the gap region between the blade tips and the radially opposite stator or rotor. Such shrouds extend in the circumferential direction and, over a defined region, in the direction of the turbine axis, as far as possible so as to match the contour of the inner housing or of the rotor. For the purpose of improving the sealing, conventional shrouds in many instances also have one or more sealing ribs, also called fins, which run from a platform of the shroud, that is to say of an essentially flat portion of the shroud, along the radial direction.
For the purpose of prolonging their operating time in the gas turbine through which hot gas flows, the shrouds are cooled convectively, as disclosed, for example, in EP 1013884 and EP 1083299. These documents each describe a blade with a shroud which has a plurality of bores for a cooling air flow. The bores are connected to a cooling duct in the blade leaf and each lead to a lateral exit in the circumferential direction.
EP 1041247 discloses a gas turbine blade with inner radially cooling ducts which issue into a plenum 42 and 44. Bores 54, 56, 58 extend from there in the plane of the shroud, the shroud being cooled by means of film and convective cooling through the bores. In a variant, the bores extend from the plenum obliquely and in a slightly radial direction with respect to the radially outer surface of the shroud platform.
A shroud of a gas turbine blade is subjected to varying thermal load along the direction of flow of the hot gas and also, in various regions, to varying mechanical load. Consequently, the requirements for cooling and mechanical load-bearing capacity in various regions of the shroud are also different. This is taken into account, in the aforementioned gas turbine blades, by the matching of the bore diameters and other measures for changing the pressure differentials.


A fairing assembly is provided for a towed body having multiple sections that are flexibly joined together. For each pair of sections, a fairing is joined to the first section and positioned over the space between the pairs of sections. The fairing has discrete tabs that extend from the first section across the space between the sections. The tabs are separated to allow angular displacement of the first section with respect to the second section. Two layers of overlapping tabs are provided for reducing hydrodynamic forces in between the sections.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to drag reducing devices for use in fluid mediums and in particular to fairings used to reduce drag and splashing between adjacent floating elements passing through water.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Objects moving through a fluid medium, for example air or water, experience drag forces associated with their movement. Objects that move through fluid mediums include objects that are towed through the water from a vessel on or below the surface of the water. Examples of objects towed through the water include dredges, sonar devices and fishing nets. Drag forces work against the movement of the object, extracting speed and energy. Therefore, the objects are engineered to minimize these forces. The engineering efforts involve modifications to the materials, shape and surface characteristics of the objects. In addition to the objects, lines, ropes or cables are used for towing the objects, and the length of these can be considerable, resulting in a large amount of additional drag. Methods used to reduce the drag associated with these tow members include attaching fairings along the length of the member.
In general, fairings are formed like aerofoils or aerofoil sections that extend around a tow member such as a cable. Since the cable is flexible and the fairing sections can move or pivot about the cable, misalignments between the fairing sections and the direction of movement, i.e., direction of flow of the fluid medium around the cable, result in forces that push the cable to the sides, i.e., perpendicular to the direction of movement. These side forces result in a loss of control of the towing vessel. Also, the towing cable can be pulled out of handling equipment such as a sheave wheel. This can result in significant damage or complete loss of equipment. In addition to problems with misalignment, the fairing sections can migrate or move along the length of the cable, damaging the fairing sections.
Attempts at providing improved fairings for tow cables are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,836,122, 4,700,651, 4,398,487 and 4,075,967. These fairings, however, are for cables that pull objects below the water and are specifically adapted to reduce the drag on long, generally cylindrical cables. The cables are either long, unitary cables or cables constructed in sections. These sections, however, move through the water laterally not longitudinally. Thus, the hydrodynamic forces are forces perpendicular to the axis of the towed sections.
Applications exist where objects are arranged as a series of sections that are towed along the surface of the water or through the water. Each section is capable of articulation with respect to the adjoining sections, and the articulated sections move through the water in series, one behind the other. Therefore, disturbances in the water caused by a leading section affect trailing sections. In addition, the gap between adjacent sections that are used to provide the desired degree of movement between adjacent sections results in additional undesirable forces.
An example of an object arranged as a series of articulated sections is the multi-element buoyant cable antenna (MBCA), which is an antenna arranged to float horizontally on the sea surface and operate while being towed. Usual towing speed of such an antenna is about six knots. In one arrangement, the MBCA includes multiple pressure vessels which house the antenna, electrical, and connection components. The pressure vessels keep the contained components dry. Between the pressure vessels are a series of floats that are used to reduce the specific gravity of the overall assembly, allowing the antenna to protrude out of the water as much as possible. The floats are segmented to allow the assembly to conform to the water surface, e.g., waves, and to allow movement and turning of the assembly.
The spaces between the sections create drag and also cause splashing as the sections are towed through the water. Previous attempts at reducing drag have used hydrodynamic fairings placed between adjacent sections. These fairings were arranged as rectangular fabric pieces that were wrapped approximately one and one half times around the girth of each section. The rectangular fabric pieces, however, buckled when the sections articulated and become entrapped in the spaces between the sections, reducing the effectiveness of the fairing.
Therefore, the need exists for a fairing to be used between articulated sections to reduce the drag and splashing. In addition, the fairing should facilitate a sufficient range of articulation between adjacent sections while still providing the benefits of drag and splash reduction.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A system for cooling a gradient coil assembly of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system includes a gradient coil having a first surface comprising a plurality of conductors and a plurality of inter-turn channels. Each inter-turn channel is located between turns of the plurality of conductors. The system also includes a seal layer applied to the first surface of the gradient coil to seal the inter-turn channels. The inter-turn channels are configured to transport a cooling fluid. Alternatively, at least one cooling tube may be located in the inter-turn channels of the gradient coil in order to transport a cooling fluid.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging modality that can create images of the inside of a human body without using x-rays or other ionizing radiation. MRI uses a powerful magnet to create a strong, uniform, static magnetic field (i.e., the "main magnetic field"). When a human body, or part of a human body, is placed in the main magnetic field, the nuclear spins that are associated with the hydrogen nuclei in tissue water or fat become polarized. This means that the magnetic moments that are associated with these spins become preferentially aligned along the direction of the main magnetic field, resulting in a small net tissue magnetization along that axis (the "z axis," by convention). An MRI system also comprises components called gradient coils that produce smaller amplitude, spatially varying magnetic fields when a current is applied to them. Typically, gradient coils are designed to produce a magnetic field component that is aligned along the z axis and that varies linearly in amplitude with position along one of the x, y or z axes. The effect of a gradient coil is to create a small ramp on the magnetic field strength and concomitantly on the resonant frequency of the nuclear spins, along a single axis. Three gradient coils with orthogonal axes are used to "spatially encode" the MR signal by creating a signature resonance frequency at each location in the body. Radio frequency (RF) coils are used to create pulses of RF energy at or near the resonance frequency of the hydrogen nuclei. The RF coils are used to add energy to the nuclear spin system in a controlled fashion. As the nuclear spins then relax back to their rest energy state, they give up energy in the form of an RF signal. This signal is detected by the MRI system and is transformed into an image using a computer and known reconstruction algorithms.
During a patient scan, the gradient coil(s) of the gradient coil assembly that produce the magnetic field gradients dissipate large amounts of heat. A cooling system or apparatus may be provided to remove the heat generated by the gradient coils. The maximum attainable performance of a gradient coil may be limited by the heat removal capability of the cooling system or systems used. With modern high power MRI imaging sequences, it is increasingly difficult to remove the larger levels of heat generated by the gradient coils. In addition, imposed limits on the temperature rise inside a gradient coil and on the resulting temperature elevation in the patient bore during scanning may result in duty cycle limitations for aggressive imaging sequences.
The gradient coil assembly used in an MRI system may be a shielded gradient coil assembly that consists of inner and outer gradient coil assemblies bonded together with a material such as epoxy resin. Typically, the inner gradient coil assembly includes inner (or main) coils of X-, Y- and Z-gradient coil pairs or sets and the outer gradient coil assembly includes the respective outer (or shielding) coils of the X-, Y- and Z-gradient coil pairs or sets. The Z-gradient coils are typically cylindrical with a conductor spirally wound around the cylindrical surface (or mandrel). The transverse X- and Y-gradient coils are commonly formed from a copper panel with an insulating backing layer. A conductor turn pattern (e.g., a fingerprint pattern) may be cut in the copper layer which leaves an interturn spacing (or gap) between the adjacent turns.
One prior cooling system includes using a hollow conductor for the main Z-gradient coil located on the outside of the inner gradient coil assembly. A cooling fluid may then be passed through the hollow Z-conductor to remove heat generated by the gradient coil assembly. Such a cooling arrangement, however, does not provide direct cooling to the transverse X- and Y-gradient coils of the inner gradient coil assembly. Typically, heat generated by the transverse X- and Y-gradient coils must be transferred to the hollow Z-gradient coil via insulation layers between the gradient coils of the inner gradient coil assembly. The heat transfer may be limited, therefore, by the thermal resistance of the insulation layer material (e.g., glass-epoxy resin).
In order to provide additional cooling, a dedicated cooling channel or channels may be provided on, for example, an inside diameter of the inner gradient coil assembly. Another option for providing additional cooling is using a hollow conductor for the transverse X-gradient coil of the inner gradient coil assembly. Additional dedicated cooling channels or additional hollow inner gradient coils, however, increase the radial space of the gradient coil assembly and also move the main X-, Y- and Z-gradient coils to positions at larger radii. These may result in reduced gradient strength for the gradient coil assembly.
There is a need, therefore, for a gradient coil cooling system that allows for the removal of heat and for the control of the temperature rise inside the gradient coil without the addition of radial space to the gradient coil assembly.

System and apparatus for direct cooling of gradient coils


In an operation method for processing data file of the present invention, reduced-size images and file icons of small area associated with the reduced-size images are displayed in pairs at predetermined interval between a reduced-size image and a file icon in each pair, and at least the data file is processed with a function as selected or the display position of the reduced-size image is changed by performing drag-and-drop operations on the file icons instead of performing a drag-and-drop operation on the reduced-size image directly as in the conventional method. According to the foregoing arrangement of the present invention, the reduced-size image can be displayed without reducing the size even while a drag-and-drop operation is being performed, and it is therefore possible to identify each data file based on the reduced-size image.

Conventionally, in image processing apparatuses, operations using icons which enable excellent GUIs have been available. In recent years, these image processing apparatuses more and more deal wit data files of large volume such as images with their improvements in processing power. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 19669/1994 (Tokukaihei 6-19669 published on Jan. 28, 1994) discloses a typical prior art operation method for processing data files of large volume. In this method, reduced-size images called "thumbnail" images, which allow a user to identify the contents of data files, are displayed, and using the reduced-size images as icons, a function as desired such as print, transmission, etc., is selected by performing a drag-and-drop operation on a reduced-size image directly, and the data file is processed with the selected function.
According to the foregoing method of processing data flies, it is possible for a user to ascertain the contents or intended use of the data files based on the reduced-size images without the need of opening each data file on the screen using application software, and therefore an improved operability can be achieved.
However, the foregoing conventional methods have presented the user with several difficulties when processing a large number of data files. For example, each icon of reduced-size image becomes too small and the image quality becomes too low for a user to see the details, and it is therefore difficult for the user to identify the contents of the original data file. In response, each icon of reduced-size image may be displayed in larger size. However, in this case, other problems arise. For example, all the icons of reduced-size images cannot be displayed at one time, or an icon may be positioned over some of the function icons while a drag-and-drop operation is being performed, which presents a user with difficulties in selecting a function icon as desired. Furthermore, when. adopting larger size icons of reduced-size images, a larger amount of data needs to be processed for a display in a drag operation.

Operation method for processing data file


Disclosed are a composition for inhibiting hyperlipidemia and obesity through suppression of intestinal cholesterol absorption. An IgY-type antibody derived from yolk to NPC1L1 (Niemann-Pick C1-Like1), contained, as an active ingredient, in the composition of the present invention is linked to NPC1L1 (Niemann-Pick C1-Like1) that is a cholesterol transport protein in the intestines, thus interfering with binding between cholesterol and the transport protein to completely block absorption of cholesterol in the body and thereby prevent hyperlipidemia and obesity.

Cholesterol is known to be a factor that induces coronary cardiovascular diseases which are known to be 30% or more of all causes of death at present.
Cardiovascular diseases are considered to be diseases of developing countries having high fat intake and high obesity population and the onset rate thereof in Korea is rapidly increasing due to westernization of diet, lack of exercise, overwork and the like in accordance with development of economical level. In particular, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) that is involved in transport of cholesterol in blood is regarded as a specific arteriosclerosis-inducing factor and oxidized LDL is known to exhibit potent arteriosclerosis induction activity.
Meanwhile, obesity is commonly referred to as a phenomenon in which residual calories left after indigestion and consumption are converted into adipocyte and are deposited in various body sites, in particular, subcutaneous tissues and the abdominal cavity. The causes of obesity include genetic factors, environmental factors, energy metabolic disorders and the like. The types of obesity may be classified into simple (primary) obesity and symptomatic (secondary) obesity depending on the onset cause thereof.
The most of obesity patients suffers from simple (primary) obesity and is known to be caused by accumulation of surplus energy in fat due to calorie over-uptake and consumption lack of calorie in the body thereof.
Symptomatic (secondary) obesity is known to result from diseases such as hypothyroidism, adrenocortical hormone over-secretion and polycystic ovary syndrome, or drugs such as oral contraceptives, tranquilizers, steroid hormones, drugs containing an antihistamine ingredient and the like.
Obesity causes constipation, dyspepsia, gastroenteric troubles due to abdominal press by fat tissues, induces adult diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, cardiac diseases and cancers, and complications thereof as well as mental diseases such as dissatisfaction associated with the body, anxiety, personality disorders and depression. That is, obesity is a cause of all kinds of diseases.
Accordingly, it is necessary to reduce the amount of cholesterol absorbed in the body and thereby prevent cardiovascular diseases and obesity that is a cause of all kinds of diseases. For this purpose, blocking of cholesterol absorption is the most efficient method.
Meanwhile, Ezetimibe is known in the art to be a compound that inhibits absorption of cholesterol, which is also called "Zetia". Taking into consideration the market associated with obesity that gradually increases in demand, development of novel alternative substances is required.

Composition for repression of hyperlipidemia and obesity through suppression of intestinal cholesterol absorption


MicroRNAs are shown to be up- and/or down-regulated in inflammation and immune cells using a mouse model of asthma and regulatory T cells as source of RNA, respectively. Modulating the expression of these microRNAs can be effective in redirecting inflammation and immunity and hence, can be beneficial as biomarkers or as therapeutic agents against diverse human immunologic and inflammatory diseases.

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the airways of the respiratory system. In the United States, about 20 million people have been diagnosed with asthma, nearly half of those affected being children. The incidence of asthma is rising in developed countries, though there is great variation in incidence between countries and socioeconomic groups.
Episodes of asthma are characterized by a constriction of the airways, as the airways become inflamed and excessive amounts of mucus line the airways. Due to the narrowing of reactive airways, less air is able to flow to the lungs. This can result in wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing, especially at night and in the early morning. The exact triggers for asthma are not clear-cut. Moreover, triggers may be due to a combination of factors. Recognized triggers include allergens (e.g. animal dander, dust mites, pollen, and mold), irritants (e.g. cigarette smoke, air pollution, cold air or changes in weather, strong odors such as those from painting or cooking, scented products or perfumes, moist air, exercise or exertion, or emotional stress), or other factors such as certain medicines (e.g. aspirin and beta-blockers), sulfites in food (dried fruit) or beverages (wine), gastroesophageal reflux, and infections. In children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the common cold. The disease also has a significant genetic component.
The development of asthma involves many genes and environmental factors. An understanding of the genetic basis of the disease has great implications its management. To date, dozens of genes have been associated with asthma. Many of the genes are related to the immune system or to modulating inflammation. However, results have not been consistent among various populations studied, indicating that there is variation in the disease and not all genes are associated with asthma under every condition. The heterogeneity in the disease highlights the complex interactions causing the disease and the need for further study to fully understand the mechanisms involved.
The symptoms of asthma can range from mild to life threatening. Symptoms can usually be controlled with a combination of drugs and environmental changes. Treatment for asthma includes avoiding triggers, such as allergens and irritants, monitoring asthma and associated symptoms, and asthma medicines. Current asthma medicines include beta-agonists (bronchodilators), corticosteroids, theophylline and leukotriene modifiers.

Micro-RNAs modulating immunity and inflammation


A urea-formaldehyde resin useful as a binder for making a variety of products, and of a method for making the resin. The resin is prepared by reacting formaldehyde, urea, triethanolamine, and optionally ammonia in a two-step process, first under alkaline conditions and then under acidic conditions. The urea-formaldehyde resin thus produced has good resistance to hydrolysis, cures quickly without smoking, and is characterized by low formaldehyde release.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a urea-formaldehyde resin composition, to methods of manufacturing the resin and using it, and to products prepared using the resin. More particularly, the invention relates to a urea-formaldehyde resin composition which is resistant to hydrolysis, cures quickly without smoking, and exhibits low formaldehyde emission. The resin is useful as a binder for making glass fiber mats and metal acid salt briquettes or composites.
2. Description of Related Art
Often, products containing fibrous or particulate materials are manufactured by binding the materials together by use of a binding composition. Such compositions typically are known as "binders".
Binders not only retain the fibrous or particulate materials in the desired orientation or shape, but also impart physical characteristics to the product. For example, mats of glass fibers bound together have a variety of forms and uses, such as support sheets for vinyl and other types of composite flooring, roofing shingles, or siding. Various types of binders are also used in the art to maintain the physical integrity of ferrous sulfate briquettes used in, for example, deodorizing applications and in fashioning other types of composites.
Preferred characteristics of binders used to bind glass fibers may be different from preferred characteristics of binders used to bind particulates. For example, it may be desirable to utilize a binder that is soluble in a preselected solvent so that the bound material is released into that solvent. It may be desirable to make the binder freely soluble in some solvent, affording quick release of the bound material, or to make the binder only sparingly soluble, thus delaying release of the material. Because the characteristics exhibited by the binder contribute to the overall characteristics of the product, the binder must be carefully selected.
Unpleasant odors and toxic gases emanate from various daily living environments and various facilities such as cattle farms, poultry farms and sewage disposal plants. Such odors are caused by acidic malodorous gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, as well as alkaline malodorous gases, such as ammonia. Various compounds such as ferrous sulfate, aluminum sulfate, zinc sulfate, zirconium oxide, zirconium phosphate, and titanium oxide are known to remove the bad odors of ammonium. Zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, iron oxide and iron hydroxide, while not very good at removing gaseous ammonia, have been used to eliminate hydrogen sulfide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,972 discloses the incorporation of ferrous sulfate, aluminum sulfate, potassium aluminate sulfate, sodium aluminum sulfate or zinc sulfate into a thermoplastic resins to form a composition having deodorizing properties which can be molded into articles, such as bag for garbage disposal.
Published PCT Application No. 92/16461 discloses blocks of solid material made with synthetic resins containing at least formaldehyde and ferrous sulfate. The blocks may be reinforced with, for example, wood chips or fibers, cellulose fibers, and or acid peat. Gases collect on and are held by the peat, causing the blocks to float. A urea-formaldehyde resin having a U:F molar ratio between 1:1.1 and 1:1.5 is disclosed for use. The blocks are placed in, for example, basins situated under animals in breeding areas and float on the animal sewage surface where the ferrous sulfate is liberated gradually from the block to neutralize free ammonia by forming ammonia-ferro-sulfate and partially deodorize the sewage.
Typical binders used to bind glass fiber mats include urea-formaldehyde resins, phenolic resins, bone glue, polyvinyl alcohols, and latexes. These binder materials are impregnated directly into the fibrous mat and set or cured to provide the desired integrity for the glass fibers. The most widely used binder is urea-formaldehyde because it is inexpensive.
Glass fibers also have been used by themselves and in combination with other types of fibers in the production of paper-like sheet materials. Glass fibers have been used as such a supplemental fiber in specialty, synthetic, fiberboard, pulp, and composite papers, and are finding a use in glass fiber paper, a substitute for papers made of asbestos fiber. Also, there has been and continues to be increasing use of a nonwoven, sheet-like mat of glass fibers (particularly chopped glass fibers or strands, and combinations thereof) as a replacement for organic felts such as cellulose mats in roofing shingles and buildup roofing systems (BUR systems).
Use of the glass fiber mats in the roofing industry provides several advantages. These advantages include: reduction in the amount of asphalt necessary for the roofing products, reduction in the weight of the roofing products, increased production rates for producing roofing products, superior rot resistance, longer product life, and improved fire ratings. These nonwoven, sheet-like mats usually are produced in a process in which glass fibers (chopped fibers, chopped fiber strands, strands, and combinations thereon are dispersed in an aqueous medium and formed into a mat. The nonwoven, sheet-like mat product is produced by contacting the mat of glass fibers with a polymeric binder. An example of such a process is the "wet-laid process". Descriptions of the wet-laid process may be found in a number of U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,906,660, 3,012,929, 3,050,427, 3,103,461, 3,228,825, 3,760,458, 3,766,003, 3,838,995 and 3,905,067, all of the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The wet-laid process involves forming, usually with agitation in a mixing tank, an aqueous slurry of glass fibers, typically chopped fibers or chopped strands of suitable length and diameter. Other forms of glass fibers, such as continuous strands, also may be used. Generally, fibers having a length of about inch to 3 inches and a diameter of about 3 to 20 microns are used. Each bundle may contain from about 20 to 300, or more, of such fibers, which may be sized or unsized, wet or dry, as long as they can be suitably dispersed in an aqueous dispersant-containing medium. The bundles are added to the medium to form an aqueous slurry. Any suitable dispersant known in the art, e.g., polyacrylamide, hydroxyethyl cellulose, ethoxylated amines, and amine oxides, may be used. The dispersant is employed in relatively small amounts, e.g. 0.2-10 parts in 10,000 parts of water.
The fiber slurry is agitated to form a workable, well-dispersed slurry having a suitable consistency. The aqueous slurry, often referred to as slush, is processed into the wet-laid, nonwoven, sheet-like mat by such machines as cylinder or Fourdrinier machines. More technologically-advanced machinery, such as the StevensFormer, RotoFormer, InverFormer, and the VertiFormer machines, also are used. The slush is deposited in some manner from a head box onto a moving wire screen or onto the surface of a moving wire-covered cylinder. On route to the screen, the dispersion usually is diluted with water to a lower fiber concentration. The slurry on the screen or cylinder is processed into the sheet-like that by the removal of water, usually by suction and/or vacuum devices, and the application of a polymeric binder. Binder composition is applied by soaking the mat in an excess of binder solution, or by coating the mat surface by means of a binder applicator, for example, by roller or spray. Suction devices often are utilized for further removal of water and excess binder and to ensure a thorough application of binder.
Thus-incorporated binder is cured, typically in an oven at elevated temperatures. Generally, a temperature of at least about 200.degree. C. is used during curing. Normally, this heat treatment alone will effect curing. Catalytic curing, such as is accomplished with an acid catalyst (for example, ammonium chloride or p-toluene sulfonic acid), generally is a less desirable alternative.
Typically, when urea-formaldehyde resins are used as a binder component they release formaldehyde into the environment during cure or formaldehyde is released from the cured resin, particularly when the cured resin is exposed to acidic environments. Such release is undesirable, particularly in enclosed atmospheric environments. In such environments, formaldehyde is inhaled and comes into contact with the eyes, the mouth, and other parts of the body. Formaldehyde is malodorous and causes human and animal illness.
Various techniques have been utilized to reduce formaldehyde release from urea-formaldehyde resins. Use of formaldehyde scavenger and various methods for resin formulation, including addition of urea as a reactant late in the resin formation reaction, are techniques used to reduce formaldehyde emission. However, use of formaldehyde scavenger often is undesirable, not only because of the additional cost, but also because it affects the characteristics, or properties, of the resin. For example, using ammonia as formaldehyde scavenger reduces the resistance of the cured polymer to hydrolysis (degradation). Later addition of urea to reduce free formaldehyde concentration in the resin may yield a resin that must be cured at a relatively low rate to avoid smoking and polymer stability also can be adversely effected.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,260,033 describes a method which purportedly reduces the amount of free formaldehyde in a urea-formaldehyde resin. In the disclosed process, triethanolamine is added to a mixture of urea and formaldehyde having a 1:1 to 1.5:1 formaldehyde to urea mole ratio in an amount sufficient to neutralize its pH. The mixture is then reacted at 30.degree. C. The resin is used to make molded objects, laminated material and films.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,626,251 describes the preparation of a water soluble, cationic urea-formaldehyde resin. The resin is disclosed as having a high degree of water resistance when cured and is suggested for use in textile applications and for adding wet strength to paper. The preferred resin is prepared by initially reacting urea and formaldehyde at a formaldehyde to urea mole ratio of at least 2.0 but less than 3.0 together with triethanolamine in a urea to triethanolamine mole ratio of 2.0 to not more than 3.0. The resin thus-formed then is made cationic by acidifying it to a pH below 2.5, and preferably at least 1.5, with a strong inorganic acid such as hydrochloric, sulfuric or nitric, followed by prompt neutralization to a pH of 6 to 7. A pH above 7 is discouraged as this is said to retard the cure of the resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,462 to Pearson, describes a urea-formaldehyde resin prepared by reacting sequentially aqueous formaldehyde, a catalyzing acid, triethanolamine and urea. The aqueous resin is taught for use in coatings, adhesives and textile finishes. The preferred resin is prepared using 30 moles of formaldehyde, 2 moles of acid, preferably phosphoric acid, 2 moles of triethanolamine and 12 moles of urea. The various reactants are said to react, without applied heat, as rapidly as the materials are mixed together. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,598, said to be an improvement on the '462 patent, the formaldehyde, urea and triethanolamine are mixed before addition of the acid and the molar quantities, based on about 30 moles of formaldehyde, are changed to 0.13 mole acid, 1.6 mole triethanolamine and 9.9 moles urea. In yet another improvement patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,442, melamine is included in the reaction mix to expand the resin's water dilutability and storage stability. Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,239, Pearson describes including ammonium hydroxide, ammonium chloride and ammonium formate in the composition to reduce formaldehyde emissions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,699 describes a urea-formaldehyde resin adhesive for wood composites, such as particle board, characterized by slow formaldehyde emission. The patent indicates that by increasing the level of methylene linkages in the resin. instead of dimethylene ether linkages and methylol end groups, hydrolytic degradation, which contributes to increased formaldehyde emission, is reduced. To accomplish this goal, the resin is prepared in a process having two stages of condensation and two stages of methylolation. In a first condensation stage, urea is added to a highly acidic formaldehyde solution (pH of 0.5 to 2.5) at a formaldehyde to urea mole ratio of 2.5 to 4.0. The initial stage is very exothermic and proceeds without the application of heat. The reaction can be controlled to a temperature in the range of 50.degree. C. to 99.degree. C. by adding the urea incrementally. Thereafter, the resin solution is neutralized and additional urea is added. Triethanolamine is one of several bases mentioned for neutralizing the resin and a combination of sodium hydroxide and triethanolamine is preferred. After the second stage, the formaldehyde to urea mole ratio is within the range of 1.5: 1.0 to 2.5: 1.0. The second step is conducted at a temperature of 50.degree. C. to 80.degree. C. to permit methylolation to proceed slowly. The resin then is switched again to an acidic pH, heated to reflux and reacted to a desired viscosity. Finally, the resin is neutralized to slight alkalinity (pH of 7.3-7.5) and additional urea is added to provide a cumulative formaldehyde to urea mole ratio of 1.1:1.0 to 2.3:1.0. Methylolation is said to thereafter proceed during storage. Thereafter, the resin is cured to an infusible state during use by adding ammonium chloride and heating at 115.degree. C. for 15 minutes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,773 describes preparing a urea-formaldehyde resin purportedly having a low extractable formaldehyde content by first methylolating urea under alkaline conditions (pH of 6-11) at a formaldehyde to urea mole ratio within the range of 2:1 to 3:1, followed by condensation at a low (acid) pH (pH of 0.5-3.5), then neutralizing the resin (pH of 6.5-9) and adding additional urea to yield a final formaldehyde to urea mole ratio of 1.8:1 or less.

Urea-formaldehyde resin composition and method of manufacture thereof


The present invention enables to ensure printing the entire desired image. An image data interpreter 21 interprets the header portion of data transmitted by a digital camera to detect the number of dots indicative of height and width of an image to be printed. A printer analyzer 22 detects the size of a print paper actually set in a printer. To perform printing in a print condition set by an output setting unit 23, image data size is adjusted based on the detected image data size and print paper size as well as the set print condition, and the adjusted image data is outputted to a printer engine.

The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, print control method and a storage medium, and more particularly, to a print control apparatus and method for printing an image based on image data transmitted by an image output apparatus, and a storage medium.
In order to print an image sensed by an image sensing apparatus e.g., a digital camera or the like, by a printer, it is a general procedure to connect the image sensing apparatus to a data processing apparatus e.g., a personal computer or the like, to transfer the sensed image data to the data processing apparatus using communication means and have it print by using an application program of the data processing apparatus.
On the application program, the number of output dots (the number of pixels indicative of height and width of an image) and a size of a print paper are set. However, for instance, in a case where a print paper of A6 size (105 mm×148 mm) is set in a printer and if a user inputs an image larger than the print paper of size A6, a problem arises in that the outputted image will be partly cut off.
Even if the size of a print paper actually set in the printer is sufficiently large, when an image is enlarged to the largest size possible to be printed on the print paper, a blurred image is printed and image quality is deteriorated, although the level of deterioration depends upon the size of the original image data.
Furthermore, in a case where printing is performed via the data processing apparatus, a user must go through the trouble of operating the data processing apparatus, and must learn how to operate the application program.


A vehicle mirror assembly has a mirror support and a mirror plate fitted on said support and a rear cover enclosing the sides and back of the mirror support and the attached plate. The rear cover is attachable to the mirror support and is able to be securely fastened to the mirror support by a screw threaded fastener accessed from the front of the mirror assembly without removal of the mirror plate. This solves the problem of maintaining the aerodynamic surface of the rear cover and yet having it securely fastened without the need to remove the mirror plate.

External Mirrors need to have an aerodynamic rear surface and thus covers need to be smooth and preferably have no surface defects that may create wind noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,703 in FIG. 4 discloses fastening the rear cover by external screws. This creates an unsightly appearance and a non aerodynamic surface.
Most Mirror constructions overcome this problem by having covers that snap on or are clipped onto the mirror assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,577 is illustrative of this approach. These are not satisfactory because they can easily be dislodged if the mirror is struck.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,644 uses an internal screw for the cover which is accessed by removing the mirror plate.
It is an object of this invention to provide a more satisfactory means of securely fastening the rear cover to the mirror assembly.


Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide for technology that assumes, by a root of trust located in a trusted region of a system on chip (SOC), control over a reset of the SOC and conducting, by the root of trust, an authentication of an update package in response to an update condition. The root of trust technology may also apply the update package to firmware located in non-volatile memory (NVM) associated with a microcontroller of the SOC if the authentication is successful.

A system BIOS (basic input/output system) is typically a program (e.g., firmware/FW) that a central processing unit (CPU) uses to start up a computing device when it is turned on. The system BIOS may also manage data flow between the operating system (OS) of the computing device and attached devices such as a hard disk drive, video adapter, keyboard, mouse, printer, and so forth. Attacks on, or damage to, the system BIOS can have a detrimental effect on the overall computing device. While solutions to rendering system BIOS resilient to attacks and damage may exist, there remains considerable room for improvement. For example, modern computing devices may contain system on chip (SOC) architectures with many microcontrollers, where each microcontroller stores boot firmware that is also subject to attack or damage.


Catalysts for selective production of hydrogen peroxide and methods of making and using thereof have been developed. The catalysts include an alloyed or doped metal oxide which permits tuning of the catalytic properties of the catalysts for selection of a desired pathway to a product, such as hydrogen peroxide. The catalysts may be incorporated into electrochemical or photochemical devices.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a commercially important oxidant which has various chemical and environmental applications, such as pulp bleaching chemical-mechanical actuation, and wastewater treatment.
Currently, hydrogen peroxide is produced using the anthraquinone oxidation process (Campos-Martin, J. M., Blanco-Brieva, G. & Fierro, J. L. G. Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis: An Outlook beyond the Anthraquinone Process. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 45, 6962-6984, (2006); and Goor, G. & Kunkel, W. (VCH Weinheim, 1989)) due to high selectivity for hydrogen peroxide in this process. However, the anthraquinone oxidation process is a complex process that involves sequential hydrogenation and oxidation steps and is thereby prone to both mass-transport limitation and energy-demanding purification process (Id.).
A direct electrochemical production pathway for hydrogen peroxide via water oxidation reaction could provide an attractive alternative because it allows for the use of abundant water and oxygen in the air as the principal reactants. However, selective water oxidation to produce hydrogen peroxide over heterogeneous surfaces, under electrocatalytic conditions, has exhibited very low Faradaic efficiencies (FE) due to the competitive reactions of O2 evolution and/or OH radical (OH.) formation.
Accordingly, there is a challenge for selective 2e− water oxidation into hydrogen peroxide and for finding suitable catalysts which avoid other pathways, such as O2 evolution and/or OH radical (OH.) formation. This is a known issue of reported water oxidation catalysts, such as Fe2O3, IrOx, which are not selective for the production of hydrogen peroxide. Other issues of concern exist in that as-produced hydrogen peroxide can be oxidized to 02 at excess overpotentials or undergo chemical disproportionation to water and oxygen at the anode of an electrochemical cell.
Therefore, there is a need for a catalytic process and for catalysts that can selectively produce one desirable product over another, such as hydrogen peroxide. This process may address the conundrum of electrochemical reaction selectivity, even the desired product exhibit less driving force to produce than the undesired product.
There also is a need for methods of preparing such selective catalysts and methods of using the same where the issue of hydrogen peroxide stability is addressed.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide selective catalysts that is selective for one product versus another.
It is also an object of the invention to provide selective catalysts that catalyze the oxidation of water to form hydrogen peroxide by electrical energy input.
It is also an object of the invention to provide methods for preparing such selective catalysts.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods of using the selective catalysts described.

Hydrogen peroxide selective catalysts, methods of using thereof, and methods of making thereof


A method for patterning a substrate is disclosed. Depressions are patterned into a resist layer over a substrate. A mask layer is deposited over the resist layer at least partially filling the depressions. The mask layer is etched to expose a top surface of the resist layer and leaving at least a portion of the mask layer in the depressions of the resist layer, wherein the mask layer over said top surface of the resist layer is etched at a faster rate than said mask layer in the depressions of the resist layer. Exposed portions of the resist layer are removed to expose portions of the substrate. Exposed portions of the substrate are etched.

A hard disk drive (HDD) may be used by a computer system for operations. In fact, most computing systems are not operational without some type of data storage such as a HDD to store the most basic computing information such as the boot operation, the operating system, the applications, and the like. In general, the HDD is a component for use in a computer system or may be used as a component of dedicated remote data storage systems for use in cloud computing. A HDD often uses a media or substrate such as a hard disk. The hard disk may be patterned with a structure useful in normal read and write operations of the HDD.