A lighting control module (LCM) includes an input configured to receive, from a sensor, a signal indicative of motion and/or occupancy, and to output a first corresponding signal. The LCM includes a microprocessor to receive the first corresponding signal from the input and, in response, transmit a second corresponding signal. A wireless transceiver is communicatively coupled to the microprocessor and configured to communicate with other LCMs. A relay is configured to selectively provide power to an output that is configured to be electrically coupled to a fixture. The relay is configured to selectively provide the power to the output according to a first relay-control signal from the microprocessor. The LCM also includes a regulated power supply, a power input configured to couple the power supply to an external power source, and a dimming module configured to be coupled to the fixture and to, when coupled to the fixture, output a signal to the fixture. The LCM is configured to receive from the sensor the signal, and in response to the signal cause the fixture to change its state of operation.

A variety of environments and facilities use lighting system technology to aid in operating light fixtures to illuminate a space. Certain lighting control systems can be configured to regulate and monitor a light fixture, the level of illumination provided by the fixture, and/or the duration of illumination of the light fixture. Integrating a sensor into a lighting system enables an environment to be partially or fully illuminated only when occupied, during peak-demand periods, or whenever otherwise desired by an end user. In addition to these functional benefits, such lighting systems are more energy efficient, reduce electrical power consumption, extend the lifetime of equipment, and are cost-effective.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional, prior art lighting system 100 that includes a sensor 102 specifically configured to provide power, via a mains power source 104, to a lamp assembly 106 to illuminate a physical space. The lamp assembly 106 includes a driver or ballast 108 and a lamp 110. Generally, the power source 104, the sensor 102, and the lamp assembly 106 are wired together by conventional wiring in the manner depicted in FIG. 1, with neutral and ground wires (112 and 114, respectively) electrically coupling the power source 104 and the lamp assembly 106. A voltage carrying ("hot") wire 116 carries power from the power source 104 to the sensor 102 to power the sensor, which selectively allows power from the power source 104 to flow to the lamp assembly 106 via a switched wire 118 (i.e., the sensor 102 acts as a switch). In some cases, the sensor 102 may also have a ground wire (not shown).
When the sensing device detects motion or occupancy, a switch in the sensor 102 closes to conduct power from the hot wire 116 to the switched wire 118, powering the lamp assembly 106. In some sensors 102, a delay timer can be programmed to switch off the power to the lamp assembly 106 after a programmed delay time expires without detected motion or occupancy, while in other sensors, the delay time is fixed (or there is no delay time).
In general, the installation of any additional control components requires rewiring of the system 100 and, in many instances, replacing the sensor 102 and/or the lamp assembly 106 with a component designed specifically to be interoperable with the additional control components.

Enhanced communication module for lighting control


A method and an apparatus for adjusting the direction of an antenna on the basis of the C/N in a satellite broadcasting receiving system are disclosed. When the image quality is insufficient with the antenna direction in a displaying mode, a user specifies a fine adjustment mode through a key input portion. Then the current antenna direction is stored into a memory as a fine adjustment start position. A CPU deflects the antenna within a predetermined measuring range around the fine adjustment start position. The CPU detects one or more peaks of the C/N level and discriminates non-objective peaks. If the C/N level exhibits a plurality of peaks resulting from the signal reception, the CPU selects the antenna direction corresponding to the peak closest to the fine adjustment start position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and an apparatus for adjusting the direction of an antenna in a system receiving satellite broadcasting waves directly from a satellite, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for automatically adjusting the antenna direction to receive images with an optimum quality.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to automatically adjust the direction of an antenna for received images with an optimum quality in a system receiving broadcasting waves directly from a satellite, a method is known in the prior art by which the level of an automatic gain control (AGC) voltage for a received signal is measured and the antenna is steered so as to maximize the level of the AGC voltage. This type of method is disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 62-69737 entitled "Satellite Broadcasting Receiving System".
According to the conventional technique, the magnitude of an input signal is detected in terms of an AGC voltage and an antenna is steered in the direction where the maximum magnitude of an input signal is obtained. However, the AGC voltage is affected by the signal losses within cables interconnecting an outdoor unit and an indoor unit and the noises amplified excessively by an amplifier inserted to compensate losses. On the other hand, the quality of an image (S/N) is not necessarily proportional to the magnitude of the input signal but to the C/N (Carrier to Noise Ratio) of the input signal. That is, in the case of stronger noise components in the signal (a smaller C/N), the image quality becomes degraded even if the magnitude of the input signal is large, and on the contrary, in the case of weaker noise components in the signal (a larger C/N), the image quality becomes satisfactory even if the magnitude of the input signal is small.
Therefore, although the use of the AGC voltage for the detection of the input signal magnitude is effective, there is the possibility that images of an optimum quality may not be received by the automatic adjustment of an antenna direction using the AGC voltage since the image quality is not necessarily proportional to the magnitude of the input signal as described above.
Moreover, according to the conventional technique, when the antenna direction to receive the wave from another satellite adjoining an objective satellite exists in the range for the measurement of the AGC voltages and the signal received from the adjoining satellite is stronger than the one from the objective satellite, the antenna may be erroneously steered toward the adjoining satellite, since the direction of the antenna is controlled so as to maximize the level of the AGC voltage.

Antenna direction adjusting method and apparatus for satellite broadcasting receiving system


A method of fabricating a wiring board including at least one conductor layer and at least one resin insulating layer, the method including a wiring groove forming step of forming a wiring groove in the resin insulating layer by irradiating a surface of the resin insulating layer with a laser, and a wiring layer forming step of forming the conductor layer such that at least a portion of the conductor layer is embedded in the wiring groove to form a wiring layer in the wiring groove.

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a wiring board.
In recent years, the tendency toward increasing the number of wiring layers and promotion of a fine structure thereof has proceeded owing to the increasing integration and speed of LSIs. Particularly, in order to realize enhancement of transistor characteristics in logic devices, it is essential to reduce a minimum pitch of wiring in accordance with the gate length. Accordingly, the technology of forming fine wiring becomes essential.
As such a technology of forming fine wiring, a damascene process in which an etching process is not needed has been replaced with the conventional dry etching process used in Al wiring technology and becomes mainstream. The damascene process is classified into a single damascene process and a dual damascene process.
In the single damascene process, a groove in which wiring is to be formed is formed in an interlayer insulating film by etching. A barrier metal layer as a diffusion prevention layer is deposited on the interlayer insulating film, and then a Cu film is deposited on the barrier metal layer. Subsequently, the Cu film and the barrier metal layer which are disposed in an upper portion of the groove are removed by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or the like and planarization is performed to thereby form the wiring. In contrast, in the dual damascene process, via holes through which electrical contact between upper and lower wiring layers is made are formed simultaneously with the wiring groove. The wiring and via plugs are simultaneously formed by performing deposition of a barrier metal layer, deposition of a Cu film and CMP one time for each. These steps are repeatedly carried out until a necessary number of layers are obtained. As a result, multilayered wiring can be formed.
As explained above, in the damascene process, in any of these two damascene processes (the single and dual damascene processes), it is necessary to form the wiring groove. Conventionally, for instance, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 2006-49804, spot processing is conducted by spot irradiation with a laser such as a carbon dioxide laser and a YAG laser, and the spot processing is repeatedly carried out a plurality of times to thereby form the above-described wiring groove.
Japanese Patent No. 4127448 discloses a method of fabricating a wiring board. In this method, an opening is formed in an outermost resist layer on an upper surface side of the wiring board by surface irradiation with an excimer laser, and a larger diameter opening is formed in a resist layer on a lower surface side of the wiring board by irradiation with a carbon dioxide gas laser, so that an exposed area of a metal terminal pad disposed on the lower surface side of the wiring board is increased to thereby establish good connection between the wiring board and an external connecting terminal of another wiring board or the like.


Disclosed is an inducible promoter system in conjunction with a site-specific recombination system which allows (i) specific activation of transgenes at specific times or (ii) excision and removal of transgenes (e.g., antibiotic resistance markers) from transgenic plants. These xe2x80x9csuicidexe2x80x9d gene cassettes, including the recombination system itself, can be evicted from the plant genome once their function has been exerted. The system is based on the ability to temporally and spatially induce the expression of CRE recombinase which then binds to directly repeated lox sites flanking the transgene in question leading to the precise excision of the gene cassette. Also disclosed is a method to activate an inverted, and therefore silent, transgene by placing two lox sites in opposite orientations flanking the transgene. This results in inversion of the intervening DNA fragment in the presence of CRE recombinase. This activation can be timed by placing the CRE recombinase under the control of an inducible promoter.

Transgenic techniques have become a powerful tool to address important biological problems in multicellular organisms, and this is particularly true in the plant field. Many approaches that were impossible to implement by traditional genetics can now be realized by transgenic techniques, including the introduction of homologous or heterologous genes into plants, with modified functions and altered expression patterns. The success of such techniques often depends upon the use of markers to identify the transgenic plants and promoters to control the expression of the transgenes.
Selectable markers are widely used in plant transformation. Historically such markers have often been dominant genes encoding either antibiotic or herbicide resistance (Yoder and Goldsbrough, 1994). Although such markers are highly useful, they do have some drawbacks. The antibiotics and herbicides used to select for the transformed cells generally have negative effects on proliferation and differentiation and may retard differentiation of adventitious shoots during the transformation process (Ebinuma et al., 1997). Also, some plant species are insensitive to or tolerant of these selective agents, and therefore, it is difficult to separate the transformed and untransformed cells or tissues (Ebinuma et al., 1997). Further, these genes are constitutively expressed, and there are environmental and health concerns over inserting such constitutively expressed genes into plants which are grown outside of a laboratory setting (Bryant and Leather, 1992; Gressel, 1992; Flavell et al., 1992).
A system to silence or remove such marker genes or other genes or to express them at only desired times would be very useful. Placing such genes under the control of an inducible or tissue-specific promoter has been accomplished. For example, transgenic plants expressing the ipt gene under the control of heat shock- (Medford et al., 1989), light- (Redig et al., 1996), copper- (McKenzie et al., 1998), tetracycline- (Redig et al., 1996; Faiss et al., 1997; Gatz et al., 1992) or dexamethasone- (Kunkel et al., 1999) inducible promoters have been used to study the biological effects of cytokinins. Other inducible systems include the heat-inducible expression system (Lyznik et al., 1995), the ethanol inducible system (Caddick et al., 1998), the ecdysone system (Martinez et al., 1999), and the TGV dexamethasone/tetracycline system (Bohner et al., 1999).
Excision of a marker gene by using the transposable element Ac has been performed, although this occurs at a very low frequency and after a long period of cultivation (Ebinuma et al., 1997). Another method for excising a gene is to use the Cre/lox system. The bacteriophage P1 Cre/lox site-specific recombination system (Dale and Ow, 1990; Odell et al., 1994) consists of two components: (i) a recombinase (CRE) and (ii) recombination sites (lox) at which the recombinase acts. The CRE gene encodes a 38 kDa recombinase which is able, without any other additional factors, to catalyze the recombination between two lox sites. A lox site consists of two inverted 13 bp repeats separated by an asymmetric 8 bp spacer where each inverted repeat acts as a binding site for CRE. The asymmetric nature of the 8 bp spacer gives a directionality to the lox site and determines the type of recombination event. The presence of two inverted lox sites leads to an inversion of the intervening DNA sequence whereas the presence of two directly repeated lox sites results in the excision of the intervening DNA sequence.
There are several site-specific recombination systems that have been shown to work in plants in addition to the described bacteriophage P1 Cre/lox system and these include: (i) the FLP-FRT system from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (O""Gorman et al., 1991), (ii) the GIN/gix system from bacteriophage Mu (Maeser and Kahmann, 1991) and (iii) the R/RS system from Zygosaccharomyces rouxii (Onouchi et al., 1991).
The FLP-FRT recombination system from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is based on site specific recombination by FLP recombinase on FLP recombination target sites (FRT). FRT consists of two inverted 13 base pair repeats and an 8 base pair spacer on which FLP recombinase acts. By inserting two directionally repeated FRT sites flanking a target gene it is possible, by addition of FLP recombinase, to excise the intervening DNA fragment by site-specific eviction. FLP recombinase mediated excision has also been shown to be reversible providing means for the introduction of DNA into specific sites in mammalian chromosomes (O""Gorman et al., 1991).
The Gin invertase encoded by bacteriophage Mu catalyzes the site-specific inversion of the G segment in the bacteriophage. The recombination sites (gix) are 34 base pairs in length and the two sites consist of two inversely oriented half-sites separated by two crossover regions. GIN acts on the gix sites by binding to the two half-sites and mediates DNA exchange and hence DNA inversion.
The R gene from pSR1 from Zygosaccharomyces rouxii encodes a recombinase that mediates site-specific recombination between two recombination sites (RS). The RS sites on pSR1 comprise a pair of inverted repeat sequences of 959 base pairs which contain the recombination sites (58 base pairs). Depending on the directionality of the RS sites, the R recombinase can catalyze, without any other additional factors, the excision (directionally repeated) or inversion (opposite orientation) of large DNA fragments (xcx9c200 kilobase pairs).
The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention or provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference, and for convenience are respectively grouped in the appended List of References.
The invention is directed to the use of an inducible promoter system in conjunction with a site-specific recombination system in order to (i) specifically activate transgenes at specific times and (ii) to excise and remove transgenes (e.g., antibiotic resistance markers) from trarsgenic plants once used and no longer needed. These xe2x80x9csuicidexe2x80x9d gene cassettes, including the recombination system itself, can therefore be evicted from the plant genome once their function has been exerted.
The system is based on the ability to temporally and spatially induce the expression of CRE recombinase which then binds to directly repeated lox sites flanking the transgene in question leading to the precise excision of the gene cassette. In order to test this system a construct was designed that allows in planta monitoring of precise excision events using the firefly luciferase (LUC) reporter gene as a marker for recombination.

Inducible site-specific recombination for the activation and removal of transgenes in transgenic plants


A system for managing clouds of edge devices as an Infrastructure as a Service clouds includes an application server, a location based situational awareness subsystem and a cloud management subsystem. The cloud management subsystem includes a first API through which the application server makes request to the location based situational awareness subsystem and a conductor that searches for the optimal deployment of cloud resources that meet a set of constraints. A second API for managing and deploying applications on a selected set of the plurality of network connected devices. The system also includes a compute node that can interact with the selected set of the plurality of network connected devices to launch and manage containers on the selected set of the plurality of network connected devices.

The number of network connected devices is increasing at a drastic rate due in part to the internet of things (IoT), which connects small form factor devices, like vehicles, drones, set top boxes and other devices to the internet, often with substantial compute capabilities. One potential way to treat these resources is to organize them into a collection of edge clouds using traditional cloud tools to monitor and deploy applications. Despite the similarities to the traditional cloud infrastructure as a service model (IaaS model), such an approach presents many unique challenges. For starters, the edge devices in question often have very limited compute and memory, and in the case of drones, limited energy as well. Second, the network environment is dramatically different from the typical data center, complete with nodes that may be constantly moving and have intermittent connectivity with variable quality. Third, the ratio of compute to control nodes is dramatically different. With thousands to potentially millions of devices attaching to a small set of cloud controllers, the control plane must achieve very high levels of efficiency. Additionally, these devices often need mixed initiative management that is very distinct from the traditional cloud provider and the tenant separation. Specifically, in addition to the entity that manages the entire platform (e.g. cable or auto company), and the application providers that manage the applications, each edge device may also be co-managed by the end-user who actually owns it (e.g., the car or set-top box owner). The cloud platform must then not only be able to factor in the user's preferences and actions in any deployment decision making, but it also must be able to protect the overall platform from compromises of individual edge devices. Current cloud management platforms like OpenStack are designed to handle a maximum of a few thousand compute nodes, not the projected billions of IoT devices.
There is a need for cloud management tools that can efficiently handle a large number of IoT devices and overcome the mixed initiative management drawbacks of existing cloud management tools.

Systems and methods for allocating and managing resources in an internet of things environment using location based focus of attention


Techniques are described which simplify and/or automate many of the tasks associated with the configuration, deployment, and management of network resources to support cloud-based services.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for deploying network resources in heterogeneous network environments to support, for example, cloud-based services.
The term "cloud computing" refers to computing models for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). Cloud-based services are rapidly becoming the primary way in which services are provided to businesses and consumers over the Internet and the World Wide Web.
The predominant way in which such resources are configured, deployed, and managed today involves the manual configuration, deployment, and management of individual system resources. This may not present an issue when the number of resources is small, e.g., 5 or 10 servers. However, as a cloud-based service or suite of services scales to meet increased customer demand, e.g., hundreds or thousands of servers across multiple geographically distinct colocations, manual techniques become a serious bottleneck to the scalability and delivery of such services.
In addition, manual deployment of network resources requires a relatively high level of programming skill and a detailed knowledge of the current configuration of deployed resources and, due to the complexity of the tasks involved, often requires time consuming trial-and-error troubleshooting of resource components and parameters before deployment is successful. The level of professional skill and institutional knowledge required for such key activities also represents a single point of failure from a system perspective, e.g., when a key employee moves on. These are undesirable technical and economic barriers to the deployment of cloud-based services.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Network resource deployment for cloud-based services


The code system is realized by that a plurality of waveforms A and B each having duty ratios of 50% in which only any one of a rising edge and a falling edge is present are combined with each other, and xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d are allocated to the combined waveform. In accordance with the present invention, both a clock and data can be transmitted at the same time, and can be readily demodulated without using a complex PLL circuit. As a trial manufacture according to the present invention, the demodulator could be realized which could allow variations contained in an input frequency by more than 1 digit under operating voltage of 2 V. The effectiveness of this patent could be confirmed.

The present invention is related to a communication method of a contactless ID card and also to a circuit for realizing this communication method, and is to provide a communication method with employment of a code capable of readily separating data from a clock, and to provide a circuit for realizing this communication method, and further, to provide a transmitter, a receiver utilized in this communication method, and a communication system.
Very recently, a strong need is made to replace bar code systems by IC cards in view of information security, reliability, highly valuable services, and higher automatical operations. These bar code systems are utilized in magnetic cards such as cash cards and commuter passes, and also in logistic systems. These IC cards build an integrated circuits (ICs) therein. Among these cards, some cards are capable of transmitting/receiving data as well as capable of supplying electric power between data readers and these cards in the manner of electromagnetic waves, namely in the wireless manner without direct contact between them. These wireless cards are referred to as xe2x80x9ccontactless ID cardsxe2x80x9d.
The contactless ID cards are classified into a close coupling type ID card used, while being coupled to a sensor; a proximity type ID card used, while being separated from a sensor by approximately 20 cm; and a remote type ID card used, while being separated from a sensor by approximately 50 cm. The close coupling type ID cards are mainly applied to credit cards. The proximity type ID cards are applied to commuter passes and ID cards. The remote type ID cards are applied to TAGs of logistic systems. The close coupling type ID cards and the proximity type ID cards receive supplies of information and electric power by way of mainly magnetic fields. The remote type ID cards receive supplies of these information and electric power by way of electromagnetic waves. Among 3 sorts of these contactless ID cards, in particular, the remote type ID cards own the following development problems since the received electric power is very weak. That is, more specifically, the remote type ID cards are operable under low power consumption, and also the electric power is supplied in high efficiencies.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a remote type contactless ID card system. An IC card is arranged by an antenna, a diode for detection, a diode for a power supply voltage generator, a preamplifier, a clock generator, a decoding circuit, a logic control circuit, a memory, a driving FET for answering, and so on. An amplitude modulation signal containing information of a clock and data is transmitted from a reader/writer. When a signal is received, electric charges are stored into a power capacitor, and then the IC card is operated by using a voltage appearing across the capacitor as a power supply voltage. The signal detected by a detector is separated into the data and the clock by the clock generator and the decoding circuit, which are processed by the logic control circuit. When the IC card sends the answer to the reader/writer, an impedance of the antenna is modulated by the driving FET for answering.
In the conventional remote type contactless ID card systems, the Manchester code is applied so as to communicate the data between the ID cards and the data readers/writers, as described in xe2x80x9cA Low-Power CMOS Integrated Circuit for Field-Powered Radio Frequency Identification Tagsxe2x80x9d, by D. Friendman et.al., IEEE ISSCC97, SA.17.5, 1997. FIG. 3 indicates a modulation waveform by the Manchester code. In the Manchester code, a transition from xe2x80x9cH (high voltage)xe2x80x9d state to xe2x80x9cL (low voltage)xe2x80x9d state is allocated to 1, and a transition from xe2x80x9cL (low voltage)xe2x80x9d state to xe2x80x9cH (high voltage)xe2x80x9d state is allocated to 0. When time of xe2x80x9cHxe2x80x9d is not equal to time of xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d, namely a duty ratio is not equal to 50%, a DC offset is produced by data. When a level of a received signal is varied, or fluctuated, this fluctuation mainly causes reading errors. In accordance with the Manchester code, the time of xe2x80x9cHxe2x80x9d is set to be equal to the time of xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d so as to realize the signal having the duty ratio of 50%, and the code suitable for the communication is realized without the occurrence of the DC offset.
However, in order to decode the Manchester code corresponding to the above-described prior art, since xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d are determined based upon the appearing order of the H/L states, the respective H/L states are required to be detected. In other words, it is required to employ such a clock signal having a time period shorter than, or equal to a half time period of a single code. Also, as indicated in FIG. 3, since an interval between rising-edge transition timing and falling-edge transition timing is varied in accordance with data, the phase-locked loop and the oscillator are required so as to produce the clock signal, and convergence of clock requires lengthy time. The locking condition of the phase-locked loop is given by that the self-running frequency of the oscillator is defined within +50% and xe2x88x9250% of the frequency of the reference signal. To satisfy this condition, the temperature, the power supply voltage, and the process fluctuation of the device must be canceled, and a complex reference circuit is required, and thus, the consumed current is increased. In such a case that the communication is temporarily interrupted due to adverse influences caused by electromagnetic wave conditions, there is such a problem that the convergence of clocks is prolonged, and thus, lengthy locking time is required.
An object of the present invention is to provide a communication method, a circuit capable of realizing this communication method, and also to provide a transmitter, a receiver, and a communication system, which are used in this communication method, to reproduce a code without employing a complex phase-locked loop, to produce a reference clock of an integrated circuit provided on a card, and also capable of satisfying a duty ratio of 50%, and further, to provide a demodulating circuit for demodulating this code.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system.
The above-described objects are realized by that a plurality of waveform patterns each having a duty ratio of 50% are combined with such a waveform maintained in order not produce the same transition (rising edge, or falling edge) as that of a center of the waveform at a joint portion of the waveform, and by allocating xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. Either a rising edge or a falling edge appears at a near center of the waveform pattern.

Communication method of contactless ID card and integrated circuit used in communication method


An example system includes a valve assembly having: (i) a plurality of ports including an inlet port, an outlet port, and a vent port, (ii) a solenoid coil having a cavity therein, (iii) an armature slidably accommodated in the cavity of the solenoid coil, (iv) a magnet fixedly disposed within the solenoid coil, wherein the magnet applies a magnetic force on the armature in a distal direction, and (v) a spring applying a biasing force on the armature in a proximal direction; and a controller sending a signal having a particular polarity to the solenoid coil such that the signal is applied to the solenoid coil for a particular period of time, and resending the signal periodically every particular time interval.

A valve is a device that directs the flow of a fluid medium (e.g., air, gas, or hydraulic fluid) through a fluid system. The direction of the fluid flow is determined by the position of a movable element such as a spool, piston, or poppet.
An example valve may have a spool that is movable by an actuation mechanism (e.g., electric, hydraulic, pneumatic, or manual). Once the valve is actuated, the spool moves to allow fluid flow from a first port to a second port.
In some applications, it may be desirable to keep the valve operating in a given commanded state when an actuation signal is removed. This way, if there is a failure that causes the actuation signal to be cut off, the fluid system operates safely at the commanded state of the valve. It may also be desirable to reduce the potential that the environmental conditions of the valve disturb the valve and cause the valve state to change unintentionally. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Magnetic latching valve and method of control


This invention is generally directed to minimizing the disruption of subscriber selectable features during the transfer of subscriber lines from a first line unit equipment to a second line unit equipment associated with a telecommunications switch. A second data assignment table which is based on a first data assignment table is utilized in conjunction with a digital telecommunications switch to facilitate an improved service transition when subscriber lines are to be transferred from a first type of line unit equipment to a second type of line unit equipment. The data assignment tables contain for each telephone number an identification of a line unit address utilized to support that telephone number and corresponding parameters which identify which customer selectable features are active. The second data table duplicates the parameter defining features in existence in the first table as of the time of creation of the second table, but substitutes different line unit addresses corresponding to the new line unit equipment for each telephone number to be supported. Upon a physical transition to the new equipment, the second data table is activated so that upon a resumption of service customers will have access to previously defined features as defined in the second table.

This invention addresses service disruptions in a telecommunications switch when subscriber lines are transferred (cutover) from existing line support equipment to different line support equipment. More specifically, the invention minimizes the disruption of subscriber selectable features during the transfer of line support equipment.
The transfer of equipment providing service to subscriber lines typically occurs in two ways: a set of subscriber lines being served by an existing switch may be desired to be transferred to a new switch; or a set of subscriber lines which is served by a switch with existing line unit equipment is desired to be transferred so that the same set of subscriber lines will be served by different line support equipment associated with the same switch. Where a new switch is to replace an existing switch, conventional analog subscriber lines are temporarily connected in parallel to both switches. The connections between the subscriber lines and the two switches are normally verified line by line to minimize the possibility of service interruptions when the service transition is made from the old switch to the new switch. The line by line verification is utilized to confirm that the same telephone number in both the old and new switch accesses the same subscriber line.
Such known test methods involving parallel connections to a subscriber line are not suitable for testing subscriber lines served by digital subscriber loop carrier facilities, such as the AT&T SLC.RTM. systems. A method for the pre-cutover verification of subscriber lines served by digital carder facilities involving a transition from an existing switch to a new switch is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,043. When a transition of service for a set of subscriber lines from an existing switch to a new switch is required, the availability of two independently controllable switches provides flexibility with regard to implementing the transition.
Digital switches, such as the AT&T 5ESS.RTM. switch, are capable of supporting conventional analog subscriber lines through analog line unit equipment and are also capable of supporting subscriber lines via a multiplexed digital carrier line unit wherein communications with subscriber lines are provided by digital signaling within multiplexed time slots. A remote terminal, which includes multiplexing, A/D, and D/A functions, is used as an interface between the digital signaling carried by a multiplexed communications line and analog subscriber lines. Transition difficulties exist when subscriber lines are transferred from analog line units associated with the digital switch to digital carder line units associated with the same digital switch. One approach utilized for such a transition is to permit telephone numbers to remain associated with the subscriber lines coupled to the switch through existing analog line unit equipment and assign new telephone numbers for the same subscriber lines when service is transferred to the digital carrier line units. However, the assignment of new telephone numbers for subscribers is undesirable from a telephone customer perspective.
An alternative transition on the same digital switch from line unit equipment to digital carrier line unit equipment is to make a flash cut, i.e., simultaneous physical disconnection, of the line unit supported lines. A multiplexed T1 line is connected as quickly as possible between the digital carrier line unit equipment and a remote terminal which services the subscribers. This technique results in the subscribers losing the ability to use previously programmed customer selectable features until a substantial time period following the restoration of service. The data table which stored the selectable features must be updated following the cutover.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved method for making a service transition of existing subscriber lines from one type of line support equipment to a different type of line support equipment associated with the same telecommunication switch, such as from analog line unit equipment to digital carder line unit equipment.

Intraswitch transition to new line support equipment


A method for controlling a programmable source of a plurality of string of clock signals, a program is stored with a plurality of different indications of desired frequencies, each indication corresponding to one of the strings of clock signals. The frequency of each of a plurality of oscillator is controlled by the memory content of a separate memory for each oscillator. The content of each memory is adjusted in accordance with the actual frequency of each string, the frequency indicated by the corresponding indication of a desired frequency and a reference.

Electronic equipment, particularly computer equipment, frequently depends on clock pulses of a stable frequency to control various functions. However, with increasing component density and multiple functions on one board there is a need for multiple clock frequencies. For example, new hard and floppy disk drive controllers with serial and parallel I/O ports on one board for use with a microcomputer may require five or more different clock frequencies, none of which may be available from the central processing unit or its peripherals.
Multiple clocks with different frequencies must normally be generated by different oscillators, each with a crystal as a reference. Crystal oscillators are expensive and large, and therefore, consume large amounts of board area. Phase lock loops can also generate multiple clocks of different frequencies from a single reference source such as a crystal oscillator and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). Although these circuits are also generally quite large, they can be formed and reduced in size in an integrated circuit (IC) with other circuity. However, typical VCOs require a control circuit with pads to external resistors, capacitors, individual oscillator components, and a reference oscillator. Such control circuitry and pads require space, as do the external components. In addition, VCOs generate frequency modulated noise which can disturb other computer functions and contribute to electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems.
Control circuits are also known which compare the frequency of a VCO to a desired frequency and transmit the difference in digital form to a digital to analog converter to control the VCO. However, these circuits generally are not flexible and require a large number of parts for a single VCO. Other clock circuits are known which are generally inflexible.

Programmable multiple oscillator circuit


An image processing device includes: an analysis unit to analyze vector image data including line information and area color information; a detection unit to detect a boundary pixel through which an outline passes; a determination unit to determine whether the outline passes longitudinally through the boundary pixel; and a coloring unit to sequentially fill each pixel on a scan line. A color of a target pixel is calculated based on the area color information and the target pixel is filled with the calculated color when the target pixel is a boundary pixel. A reference filling color is changed from the first color to the second color defined for a target pixel when the target pixel is a boundary pixel through which an outline passes longitudinally. A target pixel is filled with the reference filling color when the target pixel is not a boundary pixel.

As a method for drawing or expressing an image at a desired size, vector graphics is known. Vector graphics is one of the image formats used for computer graphics, and defines an image by utilizing outline information and plane information. Outline information defines the position of the starting point, the position of the ending point, and the attributes of lines. Plane information defines the attributes (colors and the like) of the plane enclosed by the outline. As has been described, according to vector graphics, since an image is defined in the form of numerical data, the data amount of an image is reduced compared with raster graphics. Also, vector graphics images do not deteriorate as easily in quality as compared to raster graphics images, when the size is changed.
When a vector image is to be drawn, a process of calculating coordinates through which the outline passes, a process of calculating an area to be filled in with color, and calculations of the color of the outline (anti-aliasing, for example) are executed. Accordingly, a vector image requires a greater amount of computation for generating image data than a raster image requires, and it takes long period of time to draw a vector image on a display device. Accordingly, techniques to reduce the period of time required to draw a vector image have been proposed.
In a method for processing figures according to a related art, to each pixel, control information indicating whether that pixel is a "left side edge point", a "right side edge point" or "not an edge point" of a colored area is added. Thereafter, the control information of each pixel is referred to in horizontal scanning, and pixels located between the left side edge point and the right side edge point are colored in with a specified color. Thereby, a filling process is executed at a higher speed (Japanese Patent No. 2681367, for example).
As another related art, a method related to a speeding up of a filling processes is proposed (Japanese Patent No. 3249096). Also, a technique of drawing an anti-aliased outline at high speed is described (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-56395, for example). Further, related techniques are described also in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-209654, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 5-35879, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 60-163164, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 6-4679.
However, when a multicolor vector image is to be drawn according to conventional techniques, a plane is necessary for each color and a scan conversion process for each plane is also necessary. In other words, a great amount of processing is required to process a multicolor vector image. Accordingly, in an information processing device with poor resources such as a mobile phone terminal, drawing a multicolor vector image requires a long period of time.

Device and method for multicolor vector image processing


The present disclosure provides detecting change of variance points of a target time series based on baseline assumptions of statistical stationarity. A target time series signal is modeled as including a trend component signal and a residual component signal. A signal cost function including at least a difference penalty function and at least one regularization term is optimized for the target signal to output a trend component signal thereof. A signal cost function including at least a difference penalty function and at least one regularization term is optimized for the residual component signal to output estimated variance thereof. Both of these cost functions may be optimized by applying an augmented Lagrangian operator. A centered cumulative sum is computed based on a cumulative sum of the estimated variance. The centered cumulative sum is segmented to yield change of variance points thereof. Such methods may provide improved performance over existing methods.

Change point detection is an aspect of the statistical analysis of time series data. Time series data pertaining to events, phenomena, measurements, and the like may be observed over time. Variables observed from time series data may change in value over time; however, such changes may indicate a change in a trend over time, or may merely indicate an outlier value. Various probability distributions as known to persons skilled in the art describe how values of variables in time series data are expected to be distributed as time passes. By observing changes in these probability distributions, change points in the time series data may be more easily identified.
Measures of statistical confidence, such as standard deviation, may also be computed and observed over time in approaches to change point detection. Change of variance detection is an approach of change point detection wherein variance, computed based on standard deviation, is observed over time. Such approaches seek to observe changes in variance, a measure of statistical confidence, over time as an indicator of the occurrence of a change point in trends observed over time. Given a trend of time series data having random values which are expected to fall along a particular probability distribution (such a distribution being generally referred to as a "prior"), variance of the variable over time may be computed from standard deviation based on the probability distribution by established statistical analysis methods. For example, a prior may be a Gaussian distribution (a "Gaussian prior").
Increasingly, time series data and trends thereof are observed from contexts which generate massive quantities of data, such as distributed computing, cloud computing, machine learning, data centers, financial systems, e-commerce transactions, and the like. Time series data and trends thereof may, furthermore, be time-sensitive, meaning that statistical analysis of time-sensitive trends may need to be sufficiently fast to generate actions or actionable outputs on a prompt basis. Thus, there is a need to provide improved change point detection such that change points may be detected promptly as they occur over time, enabling prompt action and responsiveness to the change points.

Change of variance detection in time series data


An aircraft is provided and includes a rotor, which is rotatable relative to an airframe, a rotor, which is rotatable relative to the airframe and which generates a rotor induced vibration, an engine to generate rotational energy, a drive portion to transfer the rotational energy from the engine, a gearbox disposed to transmit the rotational energy from the drive portion to the rotor to drive rotor rotation, support members connecting the gearbox to the airframe and an actuation system configured to generate an anti-vibration load applicable to the gearbox via an actuator comprising an actuator element disposed along one of the support members and a stinger element extending from the actuator element to a connection point of the support member and the gearbox to transmit a portion of the anti-vibration load from the actuator element to the connection point to counter the rotor induced vibration at the gearbox.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an anti-vibration load generating aircraft actuation system and, more particularly, to an aircraft actuation system including single-point actuators configured to generate an anti-vibration load applicable to a gearbox to counter rotor induced vibration.
An aircraft, such as a helicopter, typically includes an airframe with a top portion at which a main rotor apparatus is rotatably supported and a tail portion at which a tail rotor apparatus is rotatably supported. The aircraft may further include a drive portion that drives rotation of main and tail rotors for flight operations. This rotation generates vibratory loads that are transmitted to the airframe and can cause discomfort to pilots, crewmen and passengers as well as damage.

Anti-vibration load generating aircraft actuation system


A radar apparatus includes a plurality of transmission antennae and a radar transmitter that transmits transmission signals by using the plurality of transmission antennae. In a virtual reception array including a plurality of virtual antennae formed of a plurality of reception antennae and the plurality of transmission antennae, disposition positions of at least two of the virtual antennae are the same as each other, and, transmission intervals of the transmission signals that are sequentially transmitted from transmission antennae corresponding to the at least two virtual antennae among the plurality of transmission antennae are an equal interval.

In recent years, a radar apparatus using a radar transmission signal of which a wavelength is short, including a radio wave such as a microwave or a millimeter wave enabling a high resolution to be obtained has been examined. In order to improve the safety outdoors, there is the need for development of a radar apparatus (wide-angle radar apparatus) that detects a small object such as a pedestrian or a falling object in a wide angle range other than a vehicle.
Regarding a configuration of a wide-angle radar apparatus, there is a configuration using a method (an arrival angle estimation method or direction of arrival (DOA) estimation) in which a reflected wave is received by a plurality of antennae (array antennae), and an arrival direction (arrival angle) of the reflected wave from a target is estimated on the basis of a reception phase difference for an antenna interval. For example, as the arrival angle estimation method, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) method is used. As the arrival angle estimation method, a method enabling a high resolution to be obtained may include a Capon method, multiple signal classification (MUSIC), and estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT).
There has been proposed a configuration (MIMO radar) in which a plurality of transmission antennae (array antennae) are also provided on a transmission side in addition to a reception side, and beam scanning is performed through signal processes using the transmission and reception arrays (for example, refer to NPL 1).

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method for forming an anti-reflection coating (ARC) with no hole over an overlay mark is described, which applies a fluid material of the ARC onto a substrate and then conducts at least two curing steps to convert the fluid material into the ARC. Such a bottom anti-reflection coating with no hole over the overlay mark can improve accuracy of the overlay measurement of lithography, thereby improving the alignment accuracy of the lithography process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lithography technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for forming an anti-reflection coating (ARC), a method for improving accuracy of overlay measurement based on the process, and a method for implementing alignment in lithography that includes the same process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In any semiconductor process, the alignment accuracy between the exposure system and wafers is a very important factor for correct connection between layers of different levels. Therefore, overlay marks are usually formed on a wafer, so that after a lithography process, overlay errors can be derived by measuring the relative displacement between the patterned photoresist layer and the overlay marks. The exposure system can be calibrated according to the overlay errors, so as to improve the alignment accuracy of subsequent wafers exposed with the same exposure system.
Moreover, to reduce the reflecting light from the surface of the layer to be patterned and thereby improve the profile of the photoresist pattern, a bottom anti-reflection coating (BARC) is usually formed on the layer before the photoresist material is applied. In the prior art, the BARC is formed through a single curing step.
FIG. 1A is a photograph of a substrate having an overlay mark, a BARC formed through a single curing step and a patterned photoresist layer thereon, and FIG. 1B illustrates a simplified cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 1A along line I-I′. The overlay mark 110 on the substrate 100 is constituted of four trenches 110a arranged in an unclosed square and a thin polysilicon layer 120 as a reflective layer that is formed conformally on the substrate 100 before the BARC 130. The portion of the patterned photoresist layer formed over the overlay mark 110 includes four rectangular patterns 140 arranged in a smaller unclosed square.
However, in the prior art, the portions of the BARC 130 in the trenches 110a is easily separated from the other portions outside the trenches 110a because of rapid curing in the single curing step, so that a hole 132 is formed around each trench 110a with a boundary 130a. The boundaries 130a will interfere with measurement of the overlay errors between the overlay mark 110 and the photoresist patterns 140, so that the overlay errors cannot be measured accurately. Since parameters of a lithography process cannot be adjusted accurately based on inaccurate overlay measurement, the alignment accuracy of subsequent wafers subject to the same lithography process cannot be improved effectively.

Process for forming anti-reflection coating and method for improving accuracy of overlay measurement and alignment


Wellbore plungers with non-metallic tubing-contacting surfaces and wells including the wellbore plungers. The wellbore plungers are configured to be utilized within a tubing conduit of the downhole tubing. The downhole tubing includes a non-metallic tubing material that defines a non-metallic tubing surface. The non-metallic tubing surface at least partially defines the tubing conduit. The wellbore plungers include an uphole region, which defines an uphole bumper-contacting surface, a downhole region, which defines a downhole bumper-contacting surface, and a plunger body. The plunger body extends between the uphole region and the downhole region and defines a downhole tubing-contacting surface. The downhole tubing-contacting surface is configured for sliding contact with the non-metallic tubing surface, defines a sealing structure configured to form an at least partial fluid seal with the downhole tubing, and is at least partially defined by a non-metallic tubing-contacting material.

Wells may include downhole tubing that defines a tubing conduit and extends within a wellbore. Wellbore plungers may be conveyed within the tubing conduit, such as to provide artificial lift for the well, to clean the tubing conduit, and/or to remove corrosion and/or deposits from a region of the downhole tubing that defines the tubing conduit.
Downhole tubing generally is metallic and conventional wellbore plungers generally are metallic and have cylindrical forms. In some applications, fluids present within the wellbore may corrode metallic downhole tubing, which may result in fluid leaks and/or in loss of integrity of the metallic downhole tubing. To mitigate this issue, internal plastic coated (IPC) downhole tubing has been utilized. IPC downhole tubing includes a metallic tube that is internally coated with a layer of polymer, or plastic. The presence of the coating decreases a potential for corrosion of the IPC downhole tubing, thereby increasing a service life of a well that includes the IPC downhole tubing and/or decreasing a need for, or a frequency of, workovers that might be utilized to repair and/or replace corroded downhole tubing.
While IPC downhole tubing may be more resistant to corrosion when compared to metallic downhole tubing that does not include the internal polymer coating, conventional wellbore plungers may wear and/or damage the internal polymer coating, thereby decreasing a service life of the IPC downhole tubing. Because of this fact, wellbore operations that utilize conventional wellbore plungers, such as artificial lift operations and/or cleaning operations, may not be performed, or may be performed with limited frequency, in IPC downhole tubing.
It may be desirable to perform artificial lift and/or cleaning operations in wells that include IPC downhole tubing and/or to perform such operations at frequencies that are incompatible with conventional wellbore plungers due to coating wear and/or damage effects. Thus, there exists a need for wellbore plungers with non-metallic tubing-contacting surfaces and/or for wells that include the wellbore plungers.


A linear actuator includes a plurality of sub-modules disposed in adjacent array and adapted to translate reciprocally parallel to a common axis. A plurality of shape memory alloy wires extend generally linearly and parallel to the axis, and are each connected from one end of a sub-module to the opposed end of an adjacent sub-module. The SMA wires are connected in a circuit for ohmic heating that contracts the SMA wires between the sub-modules. The sub-modules are linked by the SMA wires in a serial mechanical connection that combines the constriction stroke displacement of the SMA wires in additive fashion to achieve a long output stroke. Moreover, the sub-modules are assembled in a small volume, resulting in an actuator of minimal size and maximum stroke displacement. The sub-modules may be rods or bars disposed in closely spaced adjacent relationship, or concentric motive elements, with the serial mechanical connection extending from each motive element to the radially inwardly adjacent motive element, whereby the innermost motive element receives the sum of the translational excursions of all the motive elements concentric to the innermost element. The SMA linear actuator includes a restoring spring assembly having a restoring force that decreases with increasing displacement to minimize residual strain in the SMA components. The SMA wires are connected for ohmic heating in various series and parallel circuit arrangements that optimize force output, cycle time, current flow, and ease of connection.

Linear actuators find widespread applications in industrial, commercial, vehicular, and domestic settings, in uses ranging widely from electric door locks and windshield wipers in automobiles to pin pullers and shutter controllers in mechanical designs. Generally speaking, linear actuators comprise solenoid devices in which an electromagnet is used to translate an armature, and the retraction or extension of the armature is operatively connected in a mechanism to perform useful work. Such devices are commodity items that are manufactured in many sizes, force/stroke outputs, and AC or DC operation.
Despite their widespread adoption, electromagnetic linear actuators have several important drawbacks that require design accommodations in mechanical systems. Due to the use of electromagnetism as the motive force, these devices necessarily require ferromagnetic materials to define the armature as well as a magnetic flux circuit to maximize the stroke force. Such materials are typically dense, and their use results in devices that are rather large and heavy, particularly in comparison to their stroke/force output characteristics. Moreover, the multiple turns of wire that comprise an electromagnet, typically hundreds or thousands, add another substantial mass to the device.
Another drawback of electromagnetic linear actuators is also due to the use of electromagnetism as the driving force. Typically, as the armature is extended from the electromagnetic, increasing portions of the armature are removed from the influence of the electromagnetic field, and the driving force is concomitantly reduced. As a result, the force versus stroke displacement characteristics of these devices generally exhibit high initial force values that decline rapidly with increase in stroke displacement. In many mechanisms it is desirable to deliver a constant force linear stroke, and it is necessary to design additional mechanisms to make use of the negatively sloped force/displacement characteristic.
In recent years much interest has been directed toward shape memory alloy (hereinafter, SMA) materials and their potential use in linear actuators. The most promising material is nickel titanium alloy, known as Nitinol, which, in the form of a wire or bar, delivers a strong contraction force upon heating above a well-defined transition temperature, and which relaxes when cooled. Assuming the Nitinol wire is heated ohmically or by extrinsic means, there is no need for the ferromagnetic materials and numerous windings of the prior art electromagnetic linear actuators, and there is the promise of a lightweight linear actuator that delivers a strong actuation force. Moreover, the force versus displacement characteristic of SMA is much closer to the ideal constant than comparable electromagnetic devices.
Despite the great interest in SMA actuators and many forms of SMA actuators known in the prior art, no practical SMA actuator mechanism has proven to be reliable over a large number of operating cycles. It has been found that Nitinol wire requires a restoring force to assist the material in resuming its quiescent length when its temperature falls below the material""s transition temperature. Many prior art SMA actuator designs have made use of common spring assemblies, such as helical or leaf springs, to exert the required restoring force. These spring assemblies typically deliver a spring force that varies linearly with displacement, (F=kx), and the restoring force in most cases is a maximum at maximum stroke. It has been found that the SMA component responds poorly to this force/displacement characteristic, and the useful life of the SMA actuator is severely limited by such a restoring force. To overcome this problem, prior art designers have attempted to use simple weights depending from pulleys to exert a constant restoring force on the SMA component. Although more effective, this expedient results in a mechanism that is not easily realized in a small, widely adaptive package.
Another drawback inherent in known SMA materials is the relatively small amount of contraction that is exerted upon heating past the transition temperature. The maximum contraction is about 8%, and the useful contraction for repeated use is about 6%. Thus, to achieve a direct displacement stroke from the SMA component of about one inch, the SMA component must be over sixteen inches long. This material limitation results in a minimum size that is too large for many applications. Some prior art designs overcome this problem by wrapping the SMA wire about one or more pulleys to contain the necessary length within a shorter space. However, the SMA wire tends to acquire some of the curvature of the pulleys as it is repeatedly heated and cooled, and loses too much of its ability to contract longitudinally. The result is failure after a few number of operating cycles. Other prior art designs employ lever arrangements or the like to amplify the SMA displacement, with a concomitant reduction in output force.
It is evident that the prior art has failed to fully exploit the full potential of shape memory alloy, due to the lack of a mechanism that capitalizes on the useful material characteristics of SMA.
The present invention generally comprises a linear actuator that employs a shape memory alloy component to deliver a relatively long stroke displacement and reiterative operation over a large number of cycles.
In one aspect, the invention provides a plurality of SMA sub-modules, each capable of displacement upon heating of the respective SMA component. The sub-modules are linked in a serial mechanical connection that combines the stroke displacement of the sub-modules in additive fashion to achieve a relatively long output stroke. Moreover, the sub-modules may be assembled in a small volume, resulting in an actuator of minimal size and maximum stroke displacement.
The sub-modules may be fabricated as rods or bars adapted to be disposed in closely spaced adjacent relationship, each rod or bar linked in serial mechanical connection to the adjacent rod or bar. Alternatively, the sub-modules may comprise concentric motive elements, with the serial mechanical connection extending from each motive element to the radially inwardly adjacent motive element, whereby the innermost motive element receives the sum of the translational excursions of all the motive elements concentric to the innermost element. For all the sub-module embodiments, the serial links therebetween are provided by one or more shape memory alloy wires, each wire connected at opposed ends of adjacent sub-modules to apply contractile force therebetween.
In another aspect, the invention provides an SMA linear actuator assembly employing a spring assembly that is designed to apply a restoring force tailored to optimize the longevity of the SMA component. In one embodiment of the spring assembly, a roller/band spring (hereinafter, rolamite) is connected to the output shaft of the linear actuator assembly. The rolamite spring exerts a restoring force characterized by a decrease in force with increasing displacement, so that the SMA components are returned to their quiescent form with a minimum of residual strain. In a further embodiment, the spring assembly is comprised of a bar or rod connected to the output shaft of the SMA actuator assembly and confined in a channel for longitudinal translation therein. The bar includes shaped cam surfaces extending longitudinally therealong, and a cam follower extends from the channel and is resiliently biased to engage the cam surfaces. As the bar is translated by actuation of the SMA linear actuator assembly, the cam follower exerts a restoring force that is a function of the slope of the cam surface and the magnitude of the resilient force on the cam follower. By appropriate shaping of the cam surface, the assembly exerts on the SMA linear actuator assembly a restoring force characterized by a decrease in force with increasing displacement, whereby the number of cycles of operation is maximized.
In a further aspect, the invention includes a housing in which a plurality of drive rods are arrayed in generally parallel, adjacent relationship and supported to translate freely in their longitudinal directions. One end of each drive rod is connected to the opposed end of an adjacent drive rod by an SMA wire, defining a series of drive assemblies connected in additive, serially linked chain fashion. At one end of the chain, the drive assembly is joined by an SMA wire to the housing, and at the other end of the chain, the housing is provided with an opening through which an actuating rod may extend. Also secured in the housing is a spring, such as a rolamite roller/band spring, having one end connected to the housing and the other end connected to the actuator rod. The spring is designed to exert a restoring force having a constant or negative force versus displacement relationship.
Each SMA wire is connected in an electrical circuit, in one of several arrangements of series or parallel connections, so that ohmic heating may be employed to heat the SMA wires beyond their phase transition temperature. In the chain-connected series of SMA drive assemblies, the resulting contraction of the SMA wires is cumulative and additive, and the actuating rod is driven to extend from the housing with a high force output. When the current in the circuit is terminated, the SMA wires cool below the transition temperature, and the spring restores the SMA wires to their quiescent length by urging the actuating rod to translate retrograde and (through the chained connection of assemblies) to apply sufficient tension to re-extend all the SMA wires.
It may be appreciated that the SMA wires remain in substantially linear dispositions throughout the contraction/extension cycle, so that flex-induced stresses are avoided. To assist in heat removal for high power applications, the housing may be filled with oil or other thermal absorber, which may be cooled passively or actively. To deliver additional force, two or more SMA wires may be connected between the drive assemblies, rather than one wire. To provide enhanced actuation and retraction times, the SMA wires may be thinner.
Although the invention is described with reference to the shape memory component comprising a wire formed of Nitinol, it is intended to encompass any shape memory material in any form that is consonant with the structure and concept of the invention.


Described herein are compositions of an linoleic phospholipid for inhibiting inflammatory pathways or neurodegenerative processes. Also provided are uses of such compositions and methods of inhibiting inflammatory or neurodegenerative processes by administering a composition that includes an linoleic phospholipid and optionally a carrier to a cell, cell culture or subject in need of such treatment.

Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the accumulation of extracellular plaques of small peptides, called amyloid-β (Aβ), and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, comprising aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein (1). Evidence suggests that inflammatory events are involved in the pathogenesis of AD. Pro-inflammatory molecules are present at sites of Aβ plaques and anti-inflammatory drugs slow the progression of the disease (2-4).
Cells of the brain respond to ischemia and increased concentrations of Aβ by generating pro-inflammatory mediators, such as TNFα, 1β, and prostanglandins. The production of these inflammatory factors is regulated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a transcription factor that is widely expressed in the nervous system. NF-κB immunoreactivity is elevated in regions of neuronal plaques in AD patients, suggesting that NF-κB pathways may be activated in AD brains (5). Aβ peptides have been shown to activate NF-κB in primary neurons and astrocytes (6). Studies have shown that anti-inflammatory drugs, such as indomethacin, can reduce the level of Aβ peptides and NF-κB in the brains of the transgenic mouse model of AD (TG2576) (7). Cell culture systems further suggest that a wide array of NF-κB inhibitors may be able to block the formation of Aβ(5). NF-κB inhibitors are therefore believed to have therapeutic importance in the treatment of AD patients, by both blocking inflammatory processes and the formation of Aβ.
Linoleic acid phospholipids, such as dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC), have been shown to regulate the hepatic production of HDL, through effects on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and PPARα(8,9). An inverse relationship between inflammation and plasma HDL levels has long been recognized (10,11) and studies suggest that some HDL therapeutics may directly act as anti-inflammatory compounds (12,13). DLPC directly reduces alcohol-induced hepatic inflammatory cascades in experimental animal and cellular models (14-16) and studies show that PC can also inhibit TNF-α-induced inflammatory responses in model human intestinal cells, CaCO-2 (17).
Phospholipids (PL) are important components of the human body and constituents of the circulating plasma lipoproteins. PL have been suggested to have therapeutic value in treating inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases (18,19,26,27). PL have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in both the liver and intestinal track (17,28). PL protect against alcoholic liver injury (14,27,28) and have also been shown to be effective at alleviating gastrointestinal inflammation caused by ulcerative colitis (29). Other studies have shown therapeutic value of PL for both Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other neurological diseases (18,19). PL have shown the potential to improve memory and cognitive function in rodents (30-32) and PL have also been used for treating senile dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders in humans (20-24).
The inventors have previously shown that the acyl chain composition of PL directly impact cellular signaling and transcriptional processes (8,9). Soy PL are enriched in the linoleic fatty acid, linoleic acid, an 18 carbon acyl chain with 2 unsaturations (18:2). Linoleic PL act through MAPK and PPARα pathways to stimulate hepatic HDL/apoA-I secretion and raise plasma HDL levels (8,9,33). Decreased plasma HDL and apoA-I levels are highly correlated with the severity of AD (34,35). Niacin also acts through MAPK and PPARα and has been shown to have both HDL raising therapeutic value as well as anti-inflammatory properties (12,13). Dietary niacin may also directly protect against AD and age related cognitive decline (36).
There is a need in the art for novel anti-inflammatory compositions. Further, there is a need in the art for novel compositions comprising linoleic phospholipids. Also, there is a need in the art for novel methods and for inhibiting inflammatory pathways and/or neurodegenerative processes.

Linoleic phospholipids and uses thereof for inhibiting inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes


A method and apparatus for integrating event monitoring and management information from a plurality of different event monitoring and management systems are provided. With the method and apparatus, an event management system (EMS) portal is provided which performs the operations for integrating the event information from a plurality of different event management systems in a network. A human user, such as a system administrator, may send a request for event information to the EMS portal. The request may include selections of event management systems, event management tables, and/or fields in the event management tables that are of interest to the user. The EMS portal then uses database clients to query the databases for selected event management systems on the network. The queries request the event information corresponding to the selections in the request submitted by the user to the EMS portal. The event information is then sent to the EMS portal clients which store the event information in a portal database. The EMS portal then generates one or more event information reports and transmits them to the user.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to an improved data processing system and, in particular, an improved mechanism for event monitoring. More specifically, the present invention provides a mechanism through which event monitoring in a plurality of different event monitoring systems may be integrated.
2. Description of Related Art
An event management system is software that monitors servers, workstations and network devices for routine and non-routine events. For example, routine events such as log-ons help determine network usage, while unsuccessful log-ons are warnings that hackers may be at work or that the network access system is failing. Event managers provide realtime information for immediate use and log events for summary reporting used to analyze network performance.
An event management system is typically made up of client agents that reside in the remote devices, a central component for gathering the events, an event database and a reporting system to deliver the results. A human user, such as a system administrator, may make use of the reports provided by the reporting system to determine where possible repair or correction of the operation of the network may be required.
As networks become larger, more often the network may make use of event management software that is supplied by a plurality of different vendors. For example, a company may have Tivoli Enterprises Console monitoring events in one section of its network and may have another event management system, such as Unicenter from Computer Associates Incorporated, handling events in another area of the network. Thus, a system administrator must himself/herself make separate queries to the event database and reporting systems of each event management system in order to obtain an indication of where there are trouble spots in each area of the network. It is easy to see that this problem becomes cumbersome in large networks in which there are numerous different event management systems in use.
Thus, it would be beneficial to have a method and apparatus for integrating different event management systems such that a single reporting system may be used to report events from each of the event management systems.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for integrating event monitoring and management information from a plurality of different event monitoring and management systems. With the present invention, an event management system (EMS) portal is provided which performs the operations for integrating the event information from a plurality of different event management systems in a network. A human user, such as a system administrator, may send a request for event information to the EMS portal. The request may include selections of event management systems, event management tables, and/or fields in the event management tables that are of interest to the user.
The EMS portal then uses database clients to query the databases for selected event management systems on the network. The queries request the event information corresponding to the selections in the request submitted by the user to the EMS portal. The event information is then sent to the EMS portal clients which store the event information in a portal database. The EMS portal then generates one or more event information reports and transmits them to the user.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in, or will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of, the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

Method and apparatus for integration of event monitoring systems

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for drilling a hole in a workpiece such as, for example, a printed circuit board wherein a pressure foot, associated with a drill, is moved into a position to exert a pressure on the workpiece. A drill bit associated with the drill is moved with respect to the workpiece, and an arrangement is provided for controlling the operations of the pressure foot and the drill bit in such a manner so as to move the drill bit from a drill starting position into the workpiece, then toward the drill starting position and again into the workpiece while maintaining the pressure exerted on the workpiece by the pressure foot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for drilling a printed circuit board using a drill.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the drilling of printed circuit boards to form through-holes, printed circuit boards 1 are generally stacked between an entry board 2 and a back up board 3 as shown in FIG. 5. A drill 4 rotated at a predetermined speed is disposed above this stack and fed until the bit thereof reaches the back up board 3.
With this drilling method, if three 1.6 mm thick printed circuit boards 1 are stacked on top of each other, if the entry and back-up boards 2, 3 placed above and below this stack have thicknesses of 1 mm and 3 mm, respectively, and if the drilled hole is to drill the back up board 3 by 1 mm, the depth Lh of the hole is 6.8 mm.
If the diameter of the hole is 1.2 mm, the ratio (Lh/D) of the hole depth Lh to the hole diameter D is 5.8.
When the aspect ratio of the hole depth Lh to the hole diameter D is relatively small (6 or less) as in the above example, it is possible to drill a good-quality, accurately-located hole by feeding the drill 4 from a drill resting position or drill start position A to a hole bottom position or drill end position B at a predetermined drilling feed rate then feeding it back from the hole bottom position B to the drill start position A at a predetermined rapid feed rate.
On the other hand, if the hole diameter D is 1 mm or less, e.g., 0.8 mm, the ratio of the hole depth Lh to the hole diameter D is 8.5.
If a hole of such a large ratio of Lh to D is drilled by feeding the drill 4 from the drill start position A to the hole bottom position B is one stage process, hole is often choked with debris. This increases the surface roughness of the inner wall of the drilled hole, and may also cause smears. Further, the thrust load on the drill 4 increases during drilling, rises drill temperature. This in turn increases the wear of the drill bit.
Accordingly, a proposal has been made to make a hole by drilling it in several stages, as shown in FIG. 6.
For example, the distance between the drill start position A and the hole bottom position B is divided into three stages with intermediate positions M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 set partway down the hole. The drill is fed from the drill start position A to the intermediate position M.sub.1 at a drilling feed rate V.sub.F, then back to the drill start position A at a rapid feed rate V.sub.R. Subsequently, the drill is fed from the drill start position A at the rapid feed rate V.sub.R to the intermediate position M.sub.1, at which the drill feed rate is switched over to the drilling feed rate V.sub.F, is fed further down at the drilling feed rate V.sub.F to the intermediate position M.sub.2, and is then fed back at the rapid feed rate V.sub.R to the drill start position A from the intermediate position M.sub.2. Thereafter, the drill is fed from the drill start position A at the rapid feed rate V.sub.R to the intermediate position M.sub.2, at which the drill feed rate is switched over to the drilling feed rate V.sub.F, is fed further at the drilling feed rate V.sub.F to the hole bottom position B, and is fed back at the rapid feed rate V.sub.R to the drill start position A.
In the above-described method, since the drill is fed retracted between the drill start position A and the intermediate positions M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 to make the hole, chips filling the drill flute are shaken off and discharged while the drill is retracting to the drill start position A after coming out of the entry board. Therefore, the problems caused by chip clogging are eliminated, and the drilling of a good quality hole is enabled. In addition, drill bit wear can be reduced.
If the diameter of a hole to be drilled is even smaller and so the diameter of the drill to be used is even smaller, the rigidity of the drill is reduced. In such a case, the above-described method has a disadvantage in that, when the drill bit makes contact with the entry board or the printed circuit board, it may not enter the desired part of the entry board or printed circuit board; the top end of the drill bit may slip sideways from a desired location where the board is to be drilled. This results in a reduction in hole positioning accuracy, or breakage of the drill.
Furthermore, since the drill is fed and retracted between the drill start position and the intermediate positions to drill, the time required for drilling is extended, thereby reducing the output. More specifically, a type of printed circuit board may require several thousands or several tens of thousands of holes. Therefore, if the time required to drill one hole increases by 0.1 second, it means that it will take between several minutes to several hours longer to complete the drilling of the printed circuit board.

Apparatus for drilling a hole in a printed circuit board


A flame tube having a tubular body with an inner side surface, extending around an axis (A), an inlet section and an outlet section, a plurality of fins leaning out, substantially in the radial direction (R), from the inner side surface towards the axis (A) is provided. The fins have an extended surface whose tangent (T), in a point (C) normal to the radial direction (R), is skew with respect to the axis (A), a first and a second fin forming an interspace between the respective extended surfaces facing one another and whose ideal extension (P) in the direction of the tangent (T) encounters a third fin.

Fire tubes usually have finning arranged on the inner surface of the tube, in order to increase the heat exchange efficiency.
Such fire tubes can be used in different types of plants such as for example heat exchangers or boilers.
Hot fumes produced by combustion pass through a fire tube. The combustion can also occur in the first length of the fire tube. The fire tube should internally withstand temperatures ranging from 1200° C. in the inlet section (base) to 40° C. in the outlet section (head), where the fumes have cooled.
In the absorption air-conditioning systems such fire tubes are used to release heat to an admixture of water and ammonia, in order to separate ammonia from water, thus obtaining ammonia vapor at the head and a liquid solution poor in ammonia at the base.
In such plants a fire tube is subjected to high external pressure, usually up to 35 bars, that tends to make it collapse. The standards set out that the fire tube in such plants should withstand an external pressure of four times the design pressure. For this reason, the side wall of the fire tube must have thickness adequate to withstand the difference of pressure between the outside and inside.
Also the difference of temperature among the various parts of the fire tube causes different thermal expansion and consequent structural stress or thermal stress.
Fire tubes must therefore ensure good heat exchange coefficient, high resistance to temperatures, high structural resistance to external pressure and thermal stresses.
Different fire tubes are known in the field of art.
In US 2010/0307729 A1 a fire tube is described, having longitudinal fins arranged on the inner surface. Such fins are made with U-shaped profiles for an easier connection to the inner surface of the tube. Furthermore, the height of the fins increases moving closer to the outlet section and are arranged on rings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,289 a fire tube is described having a corrugated metal sheet applied on the inner surface, in order to improve the heat exchange. Such a metal sheet is however subjected to significant thermal stress.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,746 B2 the fins on the inner surface of the fire tube are formed by pins, in order to improve the resistance to thermal stress.
A problem with the fire tubes is the reduced efficacy of the heat exchange.
Another problem is related to pressure drop, specifically due to the narrowing of the passage section, such as for example in US 2010/0307729 A1 when fumes pass from a fin ring to the following one.
Another problem is to obtain uniform temperature distribution, or a desired temperature profile, on the outer surface of the fire tube.
Another problem is to improve the structural resistance of the tube against both the pressure difference between outside and inside, and thermal stresses.


A method of constructing opto-electronic integrated circuit packages passively aligns optical fibers inserted through holes in a package lid which are arranged in a pattern which corresponds with the pattern of emitters and receivers on a circuit die. When the lid is aligned with a package base to which the die is attached at a predetermined location, the fibers simultaneously couple to the emitters and receivers. The package components are each formed with alignment indicators. To assemble the packages, the alignment indicators are optically aligned to orient the components properly and the components are positioned such that centers of particular indicators are in predetermined positions relative to the centers other indicators. The components are then held in position while an affixation process secures them in place. Before the lid is secured to the base, a laser drills optic fiber holes to precise sizes in an array which corresponds with the locations of emitters and receivers on the die. The holes are sized differently for fibers associated with emitters and fibers associated with receivers. The fibers associated with emitters have core diameters which are a predetermined number of microns larger than the emitters, to compensate for beam divergence and package component alignment errors. The fibers associated with the receivers have core diameters which are a predetermined number of microns larger than optical waveguide taps on an associated circuit board.

The advantages of transmitting signals optically, as opposed to transmitting them electrically, are well documented. Optical signal transmission reduces inductance, capacitance, resistance, and electro-magnetic interference, or EMI, encountered in electrical signal transmission. The reduction of inductance, capacitance resistance and EMI means that signals transmitted optically do not degrade as readily, and thus, that the signals can be transmitted at higher frequencies.
Prototype opto-electronic integrated circuits (OEICs), which are used to process optical signals, are now being built. These OEICs and their interconnections do not subject signals to the relatively high inductance, capacitance and resistance associated with electrical integrated circuits (ICs) and, in particular, associated with the transmission of signals to and from the ICs over wire leads. The OEICs, which receive and transmit signals over optical fibers, can thus receive and process signals at the higher frequencies.
The production and deployment of OEICs has not progressed nearly as much as has the production and deployment of ICs. One of the reasons for this is that the proper alignment of fibers or optical waveguides to OEIC emitters and receivers, which is critical to the successful transmission of optical signals, requires a degree of precision beyond that currently available for the assembly of IC chips into packages. Known OEIC systems currently actively align each optical fiber with an individual associated emitter or receiver, since they are not configured, nor are they configurable to align simultaneously large arrays of optical fibers or optical waveguides to large arrays of emitters and receivers on an OEIC. The known systems thus attach a fiber to a die on which the circuit is fabricated by (i) placing the fiber proximate to an emitter or receiver, (ii) moving or angling the fiber to a position which maximizes the light transmission over the fiber, and (iii) attaching the fiber to the die with an adhesive. While this technique produces chips with properly aligned input and output fibers, it is time consuming and thus expensive, and it does not lend itself to manufacture in quantity.

Method of packaging and assembling opto-electronic integrated circuits


A pixel includes four sub-pixels. The pixel is used to receive a plurality of signal values to display an image. The signal values are N-bit signal values, and the largest value of the signal values is (2N−1). The method of displaying the image with the pixel includes providing three color signals, generating four transformation signals corresponding to the four sub-pixels according to the values of the three color signals, and using four output signals to display the image of the pixel when the color saturation value is not larger than a first predetermined value and a fourth transformation signal of the four transformation signals is larger than other three transformation signals of the four transformation signals.

1. Technical Field
The document relates to a display device and a method of displaying an image of a pixel, especially a method of transforming image data of the signal values corresponding to the three primary colors into image data of the signal values corresponding to the three primary colors and the white color.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and light emitting diode (LED) displays are widely used nowadays. Because liquid crystal displays and LED displays have slim shapes, low power dissipation and low radiation, liquid crystal displays and LED displays gradually replace traditional CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors and are widely used in mobile electronic devices such as notebooks and PDAs (personal digital assistants).
Compared to LCDs, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays are capable of self-emitting light and have wider viewing angles, higher contrast, lower operating voltages, faster dynamic response, brighter colors, simpler manufacturing processes and thinner thickness, thus they are gradually replacing LCDs. In OLED display manufacturing procedures, a bias voltage is applied to an OLED, to make the inner electrons and electric holes pass through the hole transport layer and the electron transport layer, then an organic material capable of emitting light is added to the OLED. Afterwards excitons will be formed, energy will be released and excitons will return to the ground state. The energy can be released in various colored light, and the color is determined by the characteristic of selected organic materials.
The prior OLED displays are usually equipped with light emitting elements of red, green and blue colors to display high luminance and high chrominance images. However, the lifespan of red, green and blue light emitting elements is different, causing the displays to display incorrect colors due to the attenuation of the light emitting elements.
To solve the above issue, white OLEDs formed with RGB color filters have been developed. However, the RGB color filters will reduce the penetration rate of the display. To solve this problem, four color OLEDs with color filters of red, green, blue and white have been proposed. The prior four color OLEDs utilize the high penetration rate of white color to enhance the luminance of the display. But images displayed by the four color OLEDs still have color distortion, and power dissipation can not be effectively reduced.

Display and method of displaying an image with a pixel