A software source code version control system for use during the development and maintenance of the software source code by multiple software developers in which historical version tracking is provided by maintaining the source code on a line-by-line basis in a source code storage, in which multiple versions of each source code line are stored in the source code storage, wherein each version has a corresponding version code and user code, thereby providing concurrent access to the software source code lines by multiple software developers for modification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a system for maintaining versions of software source code. More specifically, the present invention provides a system for use by software developers during the development and maintenance of the software source code of a software system, whereby modified versions of the software source code are tracked and stored on a line-by-line basis within a source code storage. Because modified versions of the software source code are tracked and stored on a line-by-line basis, it is possible for multiple software developers to work on the same software source code at the same time, while still providing historical version tracking of all modifications to each of the source code lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Development of a software system typically involves the authoring of a large number of lines of software source code which are typically arranged into one or more files wherein each file contains several source code lines. The source code files are compiled or translated from the programming language in which they were written into machine-language objects which are then linked together to form a cohesive executable program for execution on a computer.
Typically, the source code files that comprise a software system are stored within the memory of one or more computers or file servers during the development, maintenance and upgrade of the software system. Software developers using workstations in a networked environment edit the source code as needed during development to implement the objectives and design requirements for the software system, to fix errors (xe2x80x9cbugsxe2x80x9d), and to make upgrades or enhancements. The edited source code files are then used to re-build the software system, thereby incorporating the changes and modifications made by the software developers. Tracking of both edited and non-edited source code is therefore desirable in order to ensure that all changes and modifications are eventually completed, and to ensure that changes can be backed out if they introduce errors.
The tracking of software source code becomes much more critical during development of a large-scale, complex software system by multiple software developers in a distributed software development system comprising numerous computing devices within a network environment. Currently, several types of software management tools are available to assist software developers during the development of software systems. Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools are typically used in large-scale, complex software system development projects to provide configuration management and version control of the software source code that comprises the software system. Examples of current CASE tools that provide version control include, among others, Revision Control System (RCS) and Source Code Control System (SCCS) for use in UNIX-based computing environments, and Program Version Control System (PVCS) and Microsoft""s SourceSafe(trademark) for use in DOS- or Windows-based computer environments.
The typical prior art version control tool, such as those mentioned above, generally provides the ability to track the versions of software source code from its inception to its current state, including all versions in between. A new version of the source code is generally created after a set of modifications and/or additions have been made to the previously existing source code files. Known version control tools generally maintain and track modifications to software source code by establishing and tracking multiple versions of the individual software files that comprise the software source code during the development process.
Version control according to these known tools generally consists of four major functions. First, a software system library is maintained for storing a master copy of all software source code files that comprise the software system. Second, access to the individual source code files is controlled by allowing each particular source code file to be checked-out to only one software developer at a time for modifications, thereby providing a local copy of the source code file to the software developer""s workstation for editing as needed. While the source code file is checked-out to one of the software developers, other software developers are locked-out and prevented from making any changes to the source code file, although they are able to read the unedited master copy of the source code file from the software system library. This lock-out mechanism prevents subsequent problems that would arise during check-in of the source code file if more than one software developer had made changes to the same source code file at the same time. Third, modifications are introduced to the master copy of the source code file from the local copy of the source code file that was edited by the software developer who checked-out the source code file. Fourth, version tracking of each of the source code files is maintained pursuant to one of two methods. In the first method, an entire copy of the modified source code file is saved to the master copy in the library and is given a new version number. In the second method, only the modifications that were made from the prior master copy are saved, such that only those modifications that were made by the software developer to the checked-out source code file are saved in the software system library, along with a corresponding new version number. In this method, a particular version of a source code file is subsequently obtained by accessing the original master copy and then applying all of the changes corresponding to each version of the source code file that was created since the original master copy.
Although the known version control tools for file-based source code provide the capability for historical version tracking of modifications made to each source code file, several drawbacks and adverse consequences arise when developing a software system using such version control tools in a multiple software developer environment. First, the memory storage space that is needed to store multiple complete versions for each source code file grows unmanageably large when developing a large, complex software system in a multiple software developer environment.
Second, the lock-out mechanism utilized by traditional version control tools operates on a file-by-file basis, thereby preventing other software developers from working on a source code file that has been checked out, even though a single source code file may contain several routines, functions, and source code lines that are not being modified by the software developer who checked-out the source code file. Thus, all other software developers that have unrelated changes to make within the checked-out file must wait until the source code file is checked-in before proceeding to make their changes to the source code file. Development of a source code file under traditional version control is therefore performed in a sequential rather than concurrent manner, thereby resulting in the introduction of significant delays into the development process. In addition, since all other software developers have read-only access to the unedited master copy of the source code file while it is checked out, they cannot access the modifications that were incorporated in the checked-out source code file in order to determine if the modifications will adversely affect their respective development efforts.
Third, a file-based version control system does not provide functional version tracking for a set of related changes that are made by a software developer to certain sections of several source code files in order to implement a functional change or modification into the overall software system.
Fourth, a version control system which saves only the changes made to each source code file does not provide quick and transparent access to a specific version of a software file because it must first implement a source code file rebuild process which sequentially applies each interim version of saved modifications of the source code file to the original master copy of the source code file, thereby creating the requested specific version of the source code file.
The present invention addresses the foregoing problems by providing a software source code version control system for use during the development and maintenance of a software system by multiple software developers in which historical version tracking is maintained for all source code on a line-by-line basis without requiring excessive storage area, in which source code can be accessed and modified by more than one software developer at a time, in which historical version tracking of broad functional changes is provided, and in which quick and transparent access is provided to each version of the source code.
Specifically, a first embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method for version control of source code arranged into a plurality of source code lines. The plurality of source code lines are maintained within a computer device having a memory. The computer device is accessible to a plurality of software developers. The method includes accessing, in response to an access request, at least one of the plurality of source code lines, wherein the plurality of source code lines are stored within a source code storage which is located within the memory. The source code storage is arranged to store a plurality of versions of each of the plurality of source code lines. A copy of at least one of the plurality of versions of the accessed source code lines is generated in response to the access request, and at least one edited source code line is received. The method further includes storing, in the source code storage, a new version of source code line corresponding to each of the edited source code lines received.
Preferably, each version of each source code line is stored in a particular memory location of the source code storage. Version control is maintained by storing an initial version of each source code line and by creating a new version of a particular source code line every time the particular source code line is accessed and edited by a software developer. Specifically, each new version of a particular source code line has a corresponding pointer which points to the memory location of the previous version of the particular source code line from which the new version of the source code line was created. A linked pointer structure is thereby provided in the source code storage which continues to grow as the source code lines are continuously accessed and edited by the software developers. In this manner, the linked pointer structure provides historical version tracking of each of the source code lines.
In another aspect of the present embodiment, each version of each source code line has a corresponding version code, which is stored in the source code storage, that identifies the version of the source code line. Preferably, the version code identifies the version of the source code line to which the version corresponds as a successor version of a previous version of the same source code line or as an initial version of the source code line.
In another aspect, each version of each source code line has a corresponding user code, which is stored in the source code storage, that contains information describing at least one of the software developers. Preferably, the user code identifies those software developers that are allowed to access and edit the version of the source code line to which the user code corresponds. In the case that a new version of a source code line is created corresponding to a source code line that has been accessed and edited by a software developer, the information contained in the user code corresponding to the new version preferably describes the software developer that accessed and edited the source code line.
In a further aspect of the present embodiment, each version of each source code line is stored in the source code storage in a compressed, canonical and format independent form in order to reduce storage requirements for the source code storage. The source code lines are then subsequently expanded to an uncompressed and non-canonical form when they are accessed from the source code storage for editing by the software developers.
According to a further aspect, a plurality of virtual files are stored within the source code storage, wherein each virtual file contains a plurality of line references and each line reference corresponds to one of the plurality of source code lines. The source code storage is arranged to store a plurality of versions of each of the plurality of virtual files. Preferably, a requesting software developer can be sent a copy of a version of each source code line that corresponds to each line reference that is contained in a particular virtual file.
In yet another aspect of the present embodiment, when a software developer has completed and saved a set of modified source code lines and/or newly created source code lines, the software developer can request integration of those versions of source code lines that are saved in the source code storage. The integration of the versions of source code lines creates integrated, official versions of the source code lines for access by all software developers. The user code for each version of source code line that is selected for integration is modified to allow access by all software developers. In addition, the version code for each version of source code line that is selected for integration is also modified to indicate that the version is now an integrated, official version. Preferably, integration of a specific version of a source code line is not performed if more than one software developer has modified and saved a version of that same source code line since either the previous integrated version of the source code line or the initial version of the source code line, whichever is most recent. In such a situation, the software developers are notified of the situation so that they can resolve any differences between their respective modified versions of the same source code lines.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides for a method for editing source- code which is arranged into a plurality of source code lines which are stored in a source code storage. The source code storage is arranged to store a plurality of versions of each of the plurality of source code lines, and is accessible to a plurality of software developers. The method includes sending an access request to the source code storage. The access request contains a reference to at least one of the plurality of source code lines stored in the source code storage. A copy of at least one of the plurality of versions of each source code line referenced in the access request is received from the source code storage, in response to the access request. Each copied version is received in an uncompressed, non-canonical format. At least one of the copied versions of source code lines received from the source code storage is modified, thereby creating at least one edited source code line, and the at least one edited source code lines is sent to the source code storage.
In another aspect of this embodiment, the software developer receives the most recently integrated official version, or the initial version if no subsequent integrated version exists, of each requested source code line from the source code storage. In the alternative, the software developer may receive the most recent version of each requested source code line that was previously modified and saved by the requesting software developer.
According to another embodiment, a special editor is provided so that the software developer may send an access request containing a reference to a virtual file which contains references to source code lines. The software developer then transparently receives a copy of a version of each source code line that is referenced in the virtual file. Preferably, the version of each source code line which is copied and provided to the software developer is the most recently saved version that was modified by the requesting software programmer, or, if no such version exists, the most recently integrated version, or, if no such version exists, the initial version, in that respective order. It can therefore be appreciated that a second software developer may transparently receive a different set of copied source code line versions when using a copy request which references the same virtual file because the second software developer could be provided with the most recent version of the source code lines that were modified by the second software developer, instead of the version of the source code lines that were modified by the first software developer. Thus, multiple software developers can concurrently access and modify the same source code lines referenced in a virtual file, thereby preventing substantial delays during development that are otherwise encountered by a file-based lock-out mechanism that is utilized in traditional file-based version control systems.
In yet another aspect, the special editor allows a requesting software developer to view any version of any source code line, including prior versions that reflect modifications made either by the requesting software developer or by another software developer. In this manner, each of the software developers can see what the other software developers are currently doing in order to coordinate their development efforts and to ensure that modifications made by one particular software developer will not adversely impact the development efforts of other software developers. The special editor can also allow a software developer to access, modify, save and integrate versions of virtual files, virtual objects, and symbol tables in a manner similar to that described above regarding source code lines.
The version control system of the present invention therefore creates new versions for only those source code lines that have been modified or newly created, thereby saving memory space in comparison to traditional file-based version control systems in which a new version of an entire file is saved whenever there is a change to source code within the source code file, no matter how small the change. Furthermore, the version control system of the present invention allows software developers to work together in a coordinated fashion to access, modify and integrate, in a controlled fashion, the versions of source code lines that are stored in the source code storage. It should be noted that the version control system of the present invention is not limited to use in the development, maintenance and control of software source code, but also can be used for version control of other line-based computer data, such as text-based data in a large-scale, multi-author, distributed development environment like a newspaper publishing system, or other similar development environment.

Version control system for software code


A rubber derivative comprises a coordination compound of a natural or syntheticrubber containing double bonds and/or epoxy or other groups containing an electronegative atom or atoms and preferably having a weight average molecular weight of from 20,000 to 90,000, more preferably, 20,000 to 85,000, especially about 80,000, with an alkali or alkaline earth metal. The derivatives may be made by dissolving a rubber containing double bonds and/or epoxy or other groups containing an electronegative atom or atoms and having at least a component with a weight average molecular weight in the range of from 20,000 to 90,000, more preferably, 20,000 to 85,000, especially about 80,000, in a polar solvent, adding to the solution an at least equivalent amount of powdered alkali metal and/or alkaline earth metal hydroxide and/or carbonate, optionally together with a desiccant, if the solvent is not water-free, stirring the mixture until a coordination compound between the rubber and the metal atoms had formed and separating the coordination compound from the solvent.

This invention relates to rubber derivatives, More particularly, the invention provides hydrophilic rubber derivatives that are wholly or partially soluble in water or will form very stable aqueous emulsions or colloidal solutions.
Many different natural and synthetic rubber derivatives are known.
For example, rubbers containing double bonds have been epoxidised to provide derivatives with active sites that can be utilized to introduce various other molecules to provide rubbers with desired modified properties.
Numerous attempts have been made to produce water-soluble rubber derivatives, which would be useful for a wide variety of purposes but to date all that has been achieved is derivatives that can be used to form aqueous suspensions of limited stability and from which the derivative settles out after a short period.
According to the invention, a rubber derivative comprises a coordination compound of a natural or synthetic rubber containing double bonds and/or epoxy or other groups containing an electronegative atom or atoms and preferably having a weight average molecular weight of from 20,000 to 90,000, more preferably, 20,000 to 85,000, especially about 80,000, with an alkali or alkaline earth metal.
Typical of the rubbers that can be used to form the coordination compound derivatives of the invention are natural rubber (cis-polyisoprene), preferably liquid natural rubber, trans-polyisoprene, neoprene, nitrile rubber, polybutadienes and epoxidised rubbers, especially liquid epoxidised polyisoprenes or blends of such rubbers.
Although the coordination compounds of the invention are preferably formed using rubbers of relatively low average molecular weight, the compounds will also form in the presence of larger rubber molecules so it is possible to form the coordination compounds from the lower molecular weight component of any rubber but at lower yield.
The metal component of the coordination compound is preferably an alkali metal, more preferably potassium or sodium, but alkaline earth metals, preferably calcium, can also be used to form coordination compounds. Mixtures of metals, for example of potassium and sodium or lithium or potassium and calcium can also be used.
Since, in order that strong intra-coordinated bonds are formed, the rubber molecules must wrap round the metal atoms so that bonds can form at a plurality of sites, the size of the metal atoms must be taken into consideration. If they are too small the rubber molecules may not be sufficiently flexible to wrap closely around the metal atom so that the active sites on the rubber molecules will be too far from the metal atoms for a number of bonds to form and if they are too big the metal atoms may not be able to enter the spaces available in the rubber molecules However it is believed that both intra- and inter-coordinated bonds are formed and that inter coordinated bonds may be formed between the rubber and larger or smaller metal atoms.
The rubber derivatives of the invention are hydrophilic and can be dissolved in water to form clear, brownish solutions. Where the derivatives are made from rubbers with higher molecular weight components, any coordination compounds formed from such components may not be wholly water soluble but the derivatives will still form suspensions of the insoluble portion in a solution of the soluble portion that remain stable for a number of years.
The derivatives of the invention may be made by dissolving a rubber containing double bonds and/or epoxy or other groups containing an electronegative atom or atoms and having at least a component with a weight average molecular weight in the range of from 20,000 to 90,000, more preferably, 20,000 to 85,000, especially about 80,000, in a polar solvent, adding to the solution an at least equivalent amount of powdered alkali metal and/or alkaline earth metal hydroxide and/or carbonate, optionally together with a desiccant, if the solvent is not water-free, stirring the mixture until a coordination compound between the rubber and the metal atoms has formed and separating the coordination compound from the solvent.
The polar solvent is preferably 1,4-dioxane or tetrahydrofuran.
The mixture of rubber solution and metal is preferably heated under reflux with continuous stirring, preferably for a period of from three to twenty four hours. The solution is preferably evaporated to dryness and then the residue is further dried under vacuum.
When a rubber having a high average molecular weight is to be used in the preparation of the derivatives, prior to addition of the base, the rubber is preferably heated under reflux in a polar solvent for sufficient time to break at least some of the molecular chains to reduce the molecular weight, whereby the yield of derivative will be increased.
The residue can then be taken up in water and, provided that the pH of the solution or suspension remains above 7, the solution or suspension is stable indefinitely. However, when the solution or suspension is acidified, for example by the addition of dilute hydrochloric or other acid, the coordinated bonds break and the rubber is precipitated.
This surprising phenomenon gives rise to some very special uses of the rubber derivatives of the invention in that they can be used very effectively as water treatment agents.
If even a small amount of a dilute solution or suspension is added to water containing suspended or dispersed pollutants and then acid is added the precipitated rubber gathers up the pollutant and forms an easily separable matrix containing the pollutant. If the density of the pollutant is lower than that of water the precipated rubber carries the pollutant with it to the surface of the water where it can be readily separated from the water, for example, by skimming.
Thus, the derivatives can be used for cleaning water containing very fine, unfilterable particulate material, such as smoke residue, carbon or wood dust, or finely dispersed liquid material, such as oil droplets, in a very simple and cost effective manner.
The derivatives can be used alone or together with conventional flocculants or coagulants, for example, salts or oligomeric or polymeric materials, such as chitin or chitosan and various acrylic polymers.
Moreover, the derivatives can be used to extract or remove ions, particularly metal ions, such as, for example, copper, nickel, iron, tin, platinum, gold, chromium, mercury and lead, from water or to clear water from pungent odours or undesired pigmentation. The derivatives can be used either as the sole treatment agent or in conjunction with another ion removing material, by adding to the water the ion removing material for example activated charcoal or an ion exchange resin or a zeolite or chitin or chitosan, to trap the ions and then adding the derivative and acidifying. Minute particles of the ion removing material that would otherwise be difficult to remove after a conventional treatment can therefore be easily removed. In this application, the derivatives may be used to reclaim useful metals from water.
The derivatives can also be used to produce water-based rubberized adhesives, paints and coatings, which has never previously been possible.
They may also be used as a slow-release binding matrix for fertilisers and pesticides. To produce such products, the active principle is dissolved or suspended in water, the derivative solution is added followed by acid and the rubber matrix containing the active principle which forms is collected. Fertilisers and pesticides in this form have the advantage that they are not washed away so readily in a heavy downpour.

Rubber derivatives and method for their preparation


Generally, a photoacoustic signal has a wavelength longer than a general ultrasonic signal. That is, it does not matter even if at the time of acquisition of the photoacoustic signal, an element pitch of a probe is several times as large as at the time of acquisition of the ultrasonic signal. Thus, at the time of acquisition of the photoacoustic signal, a plurality of neighboring elements in a receiving element array are collectively considered as one element, and a phasing process is performed. As a result, the same effect as a plurality of phasing addition circuits are disposed in parallel is obtained, and not only a phasing addition process of the photoacoustic signal but also image reconstruction can be performed in real time at a high speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a subject information processing apparatus that uses a photoacoustic tomography and an ultrasonic wave echo.
2. Description of the Related Art
From the past, there has been known a photoacoustic effect in which if an electromagnetic wave is irradiated onto a biological object, a photoacoustic wave is generated from the biological object due to a temperature increase and thermal expansion of body tissues of the biological object that are attributable to electromagnetic wave absorption. The photoacoustic wave is a typical ultrasonic wave, but in the following description, an ultrasonic wave generated due to the photoacoustic effect is referred to, particularly, as a photoacoustic wave or a photoacoustic signal. Meanwhile, an ultrasonic wave generated by an ultrasonic wave echo is referred to simply as an ultrasonic wave or an ultrasonic signal for discrimination. A technique called a photoacoustic tomography (PAT) has recently been spotlighted which makes the inside of the biological object visible in a noninvasive manner. There is also an attempt to apply this technique to clinical practice. Further, it is expected that a degree of accuracy of diagnosis will be greatly improved in clinical practice by combining a photoacoustic image obtained in real time with an ultrasonic image obtained by a general ultrasonic wave echo technique.
In a photoacoustic tomography device, light is irradiated onto a target subject, and a photoacoustic wave generated thereby is received by a probe that includes a one-dimensional or two-dimensional receiving element array in which a plurality of receiving elements are disposed. As the receiving element array, one similar to a probe typically used in an ultrasonic wave echo device is widely used. Further, in image reconstruction of the photoacoustic tomography, an attempt to apply various algorithms has been made, but a technique called phasing addition generally used in image data generation of the ultrasonic wave echo device can also be applied. Therefore, an attempt to combine the photoacoustic tomography device with the ultrasonic wave echo device, share a signal processor and an image processor, and form both a photoacoustic image and an ultrasonic image has been made (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-21380).

Subject information processing apparatus


An error diffusion circuit and method for adoptively compensating for the distortion of brightness and color with respect to neighboring pixels. An error diffusion circuit of a color image printer having a circuit for scanning color documents and generating C-M-Y (cyan-magenta-yellow) signals from an input pixel includes a color determining portion for adding the C-M-Y signals to a diffusion error to generate a current pixel value, comparing the current pixel value with sequentially supplied error look-up data to determine an address of error look-up data having the smallest error as output pixel color information, and applying the output pixel color information to the printer; an error storage portion for storing the smallest error out of errors calculated from the color determining portion as an error for a current pixel, reading out the stored error when a next pixel is processed, and providing the read error as neighboring pixel error information to the color determining portion so as to generate the diffusion error; a neighboring pixel color information storage portion for storing the output pixel color information as neighboring pixel color information of the next pixel; and an error look-up table storage portion for storing error values generated when printing the input pixel according to the output pixel color information and providing the error values as the error look-up data to the color determining portion.

The present invention relates to color printing generally and, more particularly, to adaptive error diffusion circuits and methods in a color image processor.
Generally, when a color image is reproduced in an image processor such as a color printer, brightness and color distortion occur according to the color image processing type and the characteristics of the color printer to which the adopted type of image processing is applied. Since human eyes are very sensitive to the brightness of an image and the variation of color, distortion of brightness and color must be appropriately compensated to obtain good color printing and reproduction quality.
An error diffusion process is a known method for processing brightness and color. This process is widely used in color image printers having limited primary colors of red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow, since their image reproducing capability is excellent. When a continuous gray scale image is binarized, an error is generated. The error diffusion process is a technique used to distribute the error to neighboring pixels. In consideration of this error, binarization is executed when the next pixel is processed. Consequently, spatial resolution is improved as compared with an ordered dithering process. Examples of error diffusion processes are described in further detail in an article written by Robert Ulichney entitled Digital Halftoning (see Chapter 8, Dithering with blue noise) published by MIT press, as well as in the Method And System For Reproducing Monochromatic And Color Images Using Ordered Dither And Error Diffusion of U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,050 and Method And System For Printing In One Or More Color Planes With Improved Control Of Eorror Diffusion, U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,432 issued to Chan.
In typical conventional error diffusion circuits, a video signal applied to the input terminal line is added to the output of an error diffusion filter to obtain a first value. The first value generated is applied to a threshold circuit. The output of the threshold circuit and the first value are added to generate a second value. The second value generated is the error value, this error value is applied to the error diffusion filter.
A conventional error diffusion circuit exhibits good intermediate tones in a monochromatic image. I have noticed however, that it is difficult to reproduce an original color image in an ink jet or electrophotographic type color printer because the characteristics of the printer are not considered by conventional error diffusion circuits. Consequently, I have found that with conventional circuits, the color image may be dark and discolored as a result of ink bleed and color overlap between a current pixel and one of its neighboring pixels.
Various attempts have been made to improve the error diffusion process and the overall quality of printer image reproduction. It has been my observation however, that previous attempts do not address absorption error with respect to the color of the neighboring pixels and the current pixel being printed, nor do they take into account the characteristics of different printers in calculating the absorption error.
Other examples include the Method And System for Enhancing The Quality Of Both Color And Black And White Images Produced By Ink Jet And Electrophotographic Printers of Chan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,302) has a system for reducing undesirable color contrast or "graininess" in ink jet and electrophotographic printers by assigning differing loading variations, addressed from a grey table, to a pixel to be printed according to pixel values of an image.
The Method And Apparatus For Imbedding Controlled Structure For Gray Scale Rendering of Tai (U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,807) discloses an apparatus for providing stable dots and spreading out information over a cell for better resolution and reproduction of gray scales. The apparatus uses a full dot process to form dots to their maximum allowable dot size at high priority pixels before beginning formation of dots for the next highest priority pixels, a partial dot process for providing a dot of the same size for each pixel in a cell before building a dot at any particular pixel to the next larger size, or a mixed dot process which combines the full and partial dot processes.
The High Speed Digital Error Diffusion Process For Continuous Tone Image-To-Binary Image Conversion of Ghaderi (U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,247) discloses an error diffusion process which utilizes a look-up table to reduce the amount of time required to perform calculations for the error diffusion process.
Each of these references endeavors to improve the error diffusion process. I have noticed however, that none of these endeavors adequately addresses the problem of absorption error with respect to the color of the current pixel being printed relative to its neighboring pixels, nor do they take into account the characteristics of different printers in calculating absorption error.
It also seems to me that in conventional ink jet printers, every pixel is printed in a larger size than is ideal, and that this causes overlap between a current pixel and one or more of its neighboring pixels. Therefore, when a picture image is printed, the brightness becomes darker and color variation partially occurs. Ideally, the absorption of a printed pixel is 255, while the absorption of a pixel that is not printed is zero. When brightness and color vary however, the absorption of a printed pixel is between 50-1200 (with the actual value differing according to the color of the current pixel and its neighboring pixel), and the absorption of a pixel that is not printed is zero. It is my opinion that since the errors are very large in comparison with an ideally printed picture image and the errors differ according to the color of the neighboring pixel, these errors should be considered when a pixel is processed. I have also observed that the calculated result may vary with the printer type and resolution; nevertheless, the aforementioned disadvantages occur in conventional ink jet printers because pixels are processed on the basis of an ideal picture image without consideration of diversity between printer characteristics.


A network unit for use in a distributed bridging fabric has a multiplicity of user ports for the transmission of data frames to and from an external network and at least one fabric port for the transmission of frames between the network unit and another unit in the fabric. The network unit has a forwarding database for containing entries each including a media access control address, and a lookup engine organized for the insertion of an entry into the forwarding database when the network unit receives a data packet at a user port. The unit broadcasts via each fabric port of an “address added” message identifying a respective media access control address. The lookup engine also responds to such an “address added” message received from another unit to make a corresponding entry in the database and to annotate an entry to indicate activity of an address in response to an address which is already in the database. The network unit has an aging engine organized for the polling of entries in the database. The aging engine refreshes an entry for which the respective media access control address is annotated as active and is organized for the selective removal of inactive entries from the database.

It is known, particularly for network switches, to interconnect a multiplicity of network units into a switching 'fabric' so that in effect, and particularly in relation to the external network, the units act as a single network entity. One of the purposes of a fabric of network units is the provision of 'resiliency' that is to say the ability of the switching fabric to continue operation, so far as is feasible, notwithstanding a fault in or removal of one of the units of the fabric or one of the links connecting the units of the fabric. Early forms of such a fabric were in the form of a daisy chain or ring although more recently mesh forms of a fabric have been developed; and the invention is applicable in all such forms.
Where several individual data-switching units are connected to form a single distributed fabric, the bridging functionality may be distributed amongst the individual units within the fabric. Preferably the entire fabric appears to other network entities as if it were a single bridge. It is desirable to share the workload between the units as much as possible, to maximize the data forwarding performance, and to minimize the dependence on any single unit or connection within the fabric.
The functionalities required of a bridge may be divided into two broad categories; data plane, and control plane. The data plane functionalities relate directly to the forwarding of the data traffic, and the control plane functionalities relate to the overhead activities of establishing the topology of the LAN (Local Area Network) in which the bridge is deployed. More specifically, the data plane includes the VBridges, the fabric ports, the user ports, and the forwarding databases. The control plane includes the protocol entities, which may include in practice, for bridges, LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol), and STAP (Spanning Tree Algorithm and Protocol).
'VBridge' is a term used herein to mean a bridge which can forward data traffic only within one VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network). If a network is not partitioned into virtual local area networks the term VBridge is synonymous with 'bridge'.
There must appear to be only one forwarding database for each VBridge throughout the fabric, and the entire fabric must appear to be a single entity to the protocols so that the fabric will be a single node in the LAN topology.
In order to be able to function as a bridge, a single unit must include at least one VBridge incorporating a forwarding database that has entries each relating a MAC (media access control) address to forwarding data, e.g. an identification of a port from which a frame having that MAC address as a destination address should be sent, and at least two user ports, i.e. physical ports which are not fabric ports, User ports are the unit's physical data interface to entities outside the fabric. In order to form part of a distributed fabric with bridge functionality, a single unit must include at least one 'fabric port'. A fabric port, which may be either dedicated or configured as such, is a physical port that is used only to connect a unit to another unit within the fabric. Fabric ports and the links between them are always within the fabric so they neither receive frames from nor transmit frames to the external network and are not 'visible' to entities outside the fabric.
In practice, a product specified to be able to form part of a fabric with bridging functionality would typically include multiple VBridges (as many VBridges as there is VLAN connectivity specified for the unit), multiple forwarding databases (one per VBridge), multiple user ports, and one or more fabric ports.
Multiple single bridge units may be connected through their fabric ports to form a distributed fabric, the maximum number of units in the fabric and the topology of the fabric being dependent on the product itself.
The bridging of data traffic through a distributed fabric must appear to be identical to the bridging of data traffic through a single unit. Traffic must be forwarded from an ingress user port to an egress user port identically regardless of whether the user ports are on the same unit or are on different units within the fabric. Traffic should also be filtered identically regardless of which unit has the user ports. If a single unit bridge is able to control the forwarding of a particular frame directly to the egress user port with no flooding of the frame to other user ports, then a distributed fabric's bridge should likewise not flood the traffic to other user ports.

Distributed bridging with synchronization forwarding databases


An integrated circuit containing a resistor and the resistor per se. The circuit includes a substrate (2), a semiconductor resistor (3) on the substrate and a layer of electrically insulating material (5) disposed over the substrate and the semiconductor resistor having at least one contact (11, 13, 15) extending therethrough to the semiconductor resistor, the contact having an electrical path therein extending to and forming an interface with an end portion of the semiconductor resistor. The semiconductor resistor has a semiconductor resistor body, preferably of doped polysilicon, having one of a positive or negative temperature coefficient of resistance and a resistor head. The resistor head consists essentially of the electrical path which is metal interconnect, the contacts and then interface to and from the resistor body and in contact with the resistor body, the resistor head having the other of a positive or negative temperature coefficient of resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for fabricating passive resistors in integrated circuits that display minimal change in resistance over a wide range of operating temperatures.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Integrated circuits are generally fabricated with polysilicon resistors that are formed on the semiconductor substrate. Such resistors generally have a resistor body, generally formed of doped polysilicon and generally having metallic leads coupled to opposing ends of the resistor body, generally through contacts in field oxide. The contacts are connected to metal interconnect. The resistor body can be formed concurrently with polysilicon transistor gate electrodes, such resistor body generally doped and generally resting on the field oxide.
Integrated circuits that require passive resistors often have tight tolerances on the resistance value of these resistors. However, these prior art semiconductor resistors are subject to variations in resistance value. Sources of variation in the resistance value of these resistors include process fluctuations that result in physical changes to the resistor properties such as physical dimension or resistivity and changes in temperature. The sources of change in temperature can be either external to the resistor itself or internal due to the self-heating effects associated with power dissipation. As the resistor temperature changes, the value of resistance of the resistor also changes.
The general prior art method utilized for minimizing the resistance alteration effects due to the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of a semiconducting resistor (a resistor formed of semiconductor material) is to increase the doping concentration in the resistor body to a sufficiently high level such that the TCR of the resistor body is at a minimum. Then the resistors are built with dimensions that make the resistor head resistance a small percentage of the resistor body resistance. As a result, the resistor head TCR has little effect on the overall resistor temperature characteristics.
To reach sufficiently low TCR conditions in the resistor body alone, the impurity or doping concentration must be very high, about 3.times.10.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3 for polysilicon resistors. Extra processing steps are often required to reach this level of impurity concentration. These steps add cost to the production of the circuit and limit the range of resistance values obtainable in that the sheet resistance (R.sub.s) is low (about 70 to about 100 ohms/square). The simple expression for resistance is R=R.sub.s (L/W), where L is length and W is width of the resistor body. This equation shows that to achieve the desired value of R when R.sub.s is low, W must be minimized (which increases the head component of resistance and increases process variability) and/or L must be increased, the latter increasing capacitance and area consumed on the chip. The increase in length is also detrimental at high frequency where these resistors are sometimes used.

System to minimize the temperature coefficient of resistance of passive resistors in an integrated circuit process flow


A protective floor mat system which includes a surgical mat designed for use in an operating room environment and which system includes a disposable cover for the floor mat, the disposable cover comprising an envelope enclosure to enclose the floor mat during its use and which envelope comprises a disposable sheet material, which sheet material is impervious to the penetration of liquids, such as blood, urine, disinfectants and body fluids, thereby preventing the contamination of the floor mat during use and permitting the outer, disposable envelope to be discarded after use.

Floor mats or runners are commonly employed to provide for cushioning and shock-absorbing covering surfaces for objects or people and in particular, floor mats have been employed as anti-fatigue mats in medical operating room environments. In particular, vinyl chloride floor mats composed of a vinyl chloride foam or solid layers or combinations thereof are often used as floor and surface coverings. Such floor mats, if desired, may include anti-static additives so that the mats may be employed in areas containing sensitive electronic equipment and to prevent the accumulation of static charges in medical environments. Such floor mats may also contain various anti-microbial agents to reduce or prevent the growth of bacteria. Floor mats have been proposed and used in medical environments, such as operating rooms, to provide a reduction, for example, up to 50% reduction, in the typical operating room floor hardness. Such floor mats have been provided as both non-disposable and disposable floor mats. Some floor mats are foam polyvinyl chloride floor mats which are constructed to lie flat and not to curl and to provide the same traction as a typical operating room floor. While such floor mats may be designed to be disposable, the floor mats do in effect increase hospital costs and particularly where such floor mats have a friction-type top surface, such as an embossed, granular or striated surface, which is difficult to clean with disinfectant solutions after becoming stained with blood, urine, disinfectant and body fluids from the operating room environment.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a more effective and disposable surgical mat system particularly for use in an operating room environment.


A digital level shifter for driving the input of a scaled P-channel driver device within a voltage shifted range to preclude gate-oxide breakdown of the scaled driver device. The scaled driver device has an output operative within an elevated voltage range, so that the voltage shifted range biases the voltage associated with a logic signal from a lower voltage level to an intermediate level to preclude gate-oxide breakdown and protect the scaled driver device. The digital level shifter is implemented using digital devices thereby avoiding analog bias devices. The digital level shifter and the scaled driver device may be implemented on the same integrated circuit (IC) and fabricated using the same process as core circuitry so that the IC may directly interface external devices operating at elevated voltage levels without damaging the core circuitry or the scaled driver device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to voltage shifter circuits, and more particularly to a digital level shifter for maintaining gate oxide integrity of driver devices provided to interface external devices operating at elevated voltage levels, where the driver devices have been scaled to the extent that they cannot tolerate elevated-voltage inputs.
2. Description of the Related Art
As integrated circuit design and fabrication techniques have evolved over the years, the trend is that operating voltages have scaled downward along with device size. Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits, particularly microprocessors, tend to lead in the area, of size and voltage scaling. As a result, VLSI devices which operate at lower voltages are required to interface to external devices, such as input/output (I/O) devices or the like, that have not been scaled to the same extent as the VLSI devices. Nonetheless, the external devices must be driven to voltage levels much higher than those of the VLSI device cores. As a result, many existing scaled VLSI devices provide voltage conversion circuits to increase the voltage swing of I/O signals so that they can properly interface to the elevated voltage external devices.
In more recent years, however, VLSI device sizes and operating voltages have decreased to the extent that, in some cases, scaled P-channel devices that provide an interface to elevated voltage external devices experience gate oxide breakdown if those same elevated voltage levels are used to drive their inputs. Because these P-channel devices have been significantly scaled, their gate oxide thickness is so thin that, if their gate is taken to the lowest voltage in the digital voltage range (e.g., 0 volts) while their source is tied to the elevated voltage (e.g., 3.3 volts), then the source-to-gate voltage VSG, the channel-to-gate voltage VCG, and the drain-to-gate voltage VDG, all exceed the breakdown voltage of the gate oxide, referred to as VBROX.
Voltage conversion circuits have heretofore been very simple because their only requirement has been to increase the level of a logic 1 (say, from 3.3 volts to 5 volts) while maintaining zero (0) volts as a logic zero level. However, conventional level shifting techniques are becoming clearly disadvantageous as silicon devices. continue to scale downward. For example, VLSI devices. today are fabricated using a 0.18 micron process that results in a gate oxide thickness of approximately 40 angstroms (xc3x85) on a typical device. Skilled artisans will appreciate that the breakdown voltage for silicon dioxide (SiO2) is roughly 107 volts per centimeter (V/cm), and they also appreciate that it is prudent to restrict gate voltages to approximately 60 percent of the breakdown value. Hence, a prudent breakdown threshold, VBROX, for a 0.18 micron device is approximately 2.4 volts. The 0.18 micron devices are typically operated at VDD=1.8 volts referenced to ground at 0 volts, so that they generate a logic one (1) at 1.8 volts and a logic 0 at 0 volts. Thus, gate oxide breakdown at core voltage levels is not a problem. These devices, however, are typically required to interface to external Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices that operate at higher voltage levels, such as 3.3 volts. As a result, pulling a 0.18 micron P-channel output device up to 3.3 volts, while holding its gate at zero volts will very likely damage the gate oxide of the P-channel device. Consequently, a traditional voltage conversion circuit will not work under these circumstances.
More recent techniques for output voltage scaling utilize both digital and analog circuits to shift a logic 1 at a core voltage level up to the elevated level of the external devices, and to shift a logic 0 from 0 volts up to an intermediate voltage level. The intermediate voltage level is chosen low enough to turn on a P-channel device, yet high enough to avoid breakdown of the gate oxide. The analog circuitry is employed to create a logic 0 bias for the digital circuits so that a logic 0 is established at the intermediate voltage level as opposed to 0 volts. Analog devices, however, tend to be physically large and power hungry, and these attributes make analog devices ill-suited for VLSI device applications.
Therefore, what is needed is to provide for control of scaled P-channel output driver devices which are subject to gate oxide breakdown because they have been scaled to the extent that their gate oxide layers are too thin to tolerate input signal levels at the same elevated levels which they are required to provide at their outputs.
A digital level shifter according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided to drive the input of a scaled driver device within a voltage shifted range to preclude gate-oxide breakdown of the scaled driver device. The scaled driver device has an output operative within an elevated voltage range, so that the voltage shifted range biases the voltage associated with a logic signal from a lower voltage level to an intermediate level to maintain the breakdown threshold and protect the scaled driver device. The digital level shifter is implemented using digital devices thereby avoiding analog bias devices. The digital level shifter and the scaled driver device may be implemented on the same integrated circuit (IC) and fabricated using the same process as core circuitry so that the IC may directly interface external devices operating at elevated voltage levels without damaging the core circuitry or the scaled driver device.
A digital level shifter according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a digital voltage limiter and a digital level-shifted switch. The digital voltage limiter is coupled to first and second source voltages having first and second voltage levels, respectively, defining a first voltage range. The digital voltage limiter receives a digital input signal operative within the first voltage range and provides a corresponding voltage limited signal operative within a limited voltage range between the second voltage level and an intermediate voltage level that has a magnitude between the first and second voltage levels. The intermediate voltage level is selected to prevent excessive input voltage to the scaled driver device. The digital level-shifted switch is coupled to a third source voltage and the first source voltage, where the third source voltage has a third voltage level magnitude that is greater than the second voltage level. The digital level-shifted switch receives the voltage limited signal and correspondingly switches a voltage shifted digital signal within a voltage shifted range defined between the intermediate and third voltage levels in response to switching of the voltage limited signal.
A digital level shifter according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a digital voltage divider and a digital level-shifted switch. The digital voltage divider includes P-channel devices coupled between a reference voltage and a first source voltage. The digital voltage divider receives a digital input signal operative within a first voltage range between the reference and first source voltages and has a junction that develops a voltage limited signal. The voltage limited signal is operative within a limited voltage range between the first source voltage and an intermediate voltage and has a voltage level between the reference voltage and the first source voltage. The digital level-shifted switch includes P-channel and N-channel devices coupled in a complementary configuration between the reference voltage and a second source voltage. The second source voltage has a voltage level that is greater than the first source voltage. The digital switch has an input that receives the voltage limited signal and an output that provides a shifted digital signal operative within a voltage shifted range between the intermediate and second source voltages.
An integrated circuit (IC) according to an embodiment of the present invention includes core circuitry, a digital level shifter and a scaled driver device. The core circuitry is coupled to a reference voltage and a first source voltage and generates a first digital signal operative within a lower voltage range defined by the reference and first source voltages. The digital level shifter is coupled to the reference and first source voltages and to a second source voltage. The second source voltage is greater than the first source voltage. The digital level shifter receives the first digital signal and provides a shifted digital signal indicative of the first digital signal. The shifted digital signal is operable between the second source voltage and an intermediate voltage, where the intermediate voltage is between the reference and first source voltages. The scaled driver device receives the shifted digital signal and provides a second digital signal indicative of the first digital signal. The second digital signal is operable in an elevated voltage range defined by the reference and second source voltages. Operation of the shifted digital signal at the intermediate voltage precludes oxide breakdown of the scaled driver device.

Digital level shifter for maintaining gate oxide integrity of scaled driver devices


A method comprising: obtaining a service point location, the service point location being associated with a logical identifier assigned to end-user equipment used in an attempt to make an online transaction; obtaining at least one authorized transaction point location, the at least one authorized transaction point location being associated with transaction object information provided via the end-user equipment; comparing the service point location to each of the at least one authorized transaction point location; and performing an action related to validation of the online transaction based on a result of the comparing. Also provided is an apparatus for implementing this method.

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) and online transactions are now widely used. One common type of online transaction involves an electronic payment by a first party to a second party, for example, to purchase goods or services. This electronic payment is typically effected by the first party entering payment card information (e.g., credit card information or debit card information) at his/her computer. Information pertaining to the online transaction attempted to be made, including the entered payment card information, is normally encrypted and transmitted over a public computer network (e.g., the Internet) and a financial network to different computers (e.g., a payment gateway, an acquiring bank's processor, a card issuing bank's server) which process this information in order to approve or deny the online transaction. Approval or denial of the online transaction is communicated to the first party via his/her computer and, if approved, settlement of the online transaction takes place between the first party's card issuing bank and the second party's acquiring bank. While computer networking makes online transactions convenient and efficient, it also creates potential for fraud and thus one major area of interest with online transactions is fraud prevention. Accordingly, various security measures have been implemented to counter fraudulent online transactions. Examples of such security measures include data encryption, card security code (CSC) verification where an individual attempting to make an online transaction using a payment card is asked to enter the payment card's CSC, and address verification systems (AVS) where an address entered by an individual attempting to make an online transaction using a payment card is compared to a billing address known to the payment card's issuing bank.
Although these and other security measures help to reduce the potential for fraud, they do not entirely remove it due to factors such as identify theft, stolen or lost cards, etc. There thus exists a need for improvements directed to validating online transactions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for validating online transactions using location


A semiconductor device in related art has a problem that security on confidential information stored is insufficient. A semiconductor device of the present invention has a unique code which is unique to a device and generates unique code corresponding information from the unique code. The semiconductor device has a memory region in which specific information obtained by encrypting confidential information is stored in a region associated with the unique code corresponding information. The specific information read from the memory region is encrypted with the unique code corresponding information to generate the confidential information.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device in which security measures are implemented on information held in an internal memory or the like.
In recent years, many security techniques using encryption technology for improvement in resistance to an unauthorized access to a semiconductor device or prevention of imitation are proposed. In the encryption technology, an encryption key is used. Patent documents 1 and 2 disclose techniques of security measures using the encryption key.
Patent document 1 discloses a technique that, at the time of writing data to a recording medium, by writing dummy data in a dummy address generated on the basis of an encryption key, regular data and the dummy data are recorded in a merged state in the recording medium. The technique of Patent document 1 prevents illegality such as data copy. Patent document 2 discloses a technique of generating an encryption value by encrypting an invariant information piece by using a digest table, applying a hash function to the encryption value to obtain a hash value, and using it as a recording address which corresponds to the invariant information piece on a one-to-one basis. In Patent document 2, there are a plurality of encryption keys in the digest table, and a recording address is varied among the encryption keys. Consequently, in Patent document 2, resistance to an attack such as an attack attempted using an invariant information piece generating the same hash value can be improved.


A method, apparatus, and/or computer program product generates a predictive data structure for an application when operating offline in a network connected data processing system, the application comprising source code having an execution path. The method comprises: determining an exit point within the source code of the application; determining, from the exit point, an execution path comprising at least one conditional statement; identifying one or more branches of the at least one identified conditional statement and for each identified branch determining an expected response; for each determined expected response, generating a data structure from the response; continuing along the execution path of the source code from the exit point and replacing each request for a resource in the source code with a pointer to the generated data structure; and executing the source code with the pointer to the generated data structure from the determined exit point.

The invention relates to the field of networked data processing systems. In particular, the invention relates to a method and an apparatus for generating a predictive data structure for an application when the application is operating offline.
Internet users access services provided by internet service providers for performing interactions such as personal banking, purchasing goods online, information retrieval or for launching other services from within a service provider's online environment.
In order to access online services users operate client devices for sending requests to a server in order to request access to resources provided by one or more applications.
A server receives requests for resources and returns the requested resources to the requesting client device. Typically, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is deployed which defines the means in which a client device interacts with one or more servers across the internet. HTTP is a 'request-reply' protocol in which the client sends a request message to the server containing the URL of the required resource. The server looks up a pathname and, if it exists, sends back the resource in a reply to the client. HTTP allows for content negotiation and authentication.
The above type of interaction works well as long as the client and the server can continually communicate with each other i.e. sending requests for resources and receiving back from the server the requested resource. This request reply interaction relies on an open and continual communication path across the network.
A problem arises when the network, for whatever reason, is temporarily unavailable. The consequence of the network being unavailable is that a transaction is unable to complete. Often, at this point, the application which is used to request the one or more resources, typically a web browser, moves in to an operational state termed 'working offline'. When working in 'offline' mode scripts and/or HTML embedded in a web page are unable to execute because the software needs to make a call to a server in order to load further data.
A typical solution to the above problem is to cache the requested resource i.e. the web page. However, a drawback with this approach is that the cached copy of the resource may comprise 'out of date' data and thus produce incorrect results, or there may be no cached version because of security or privacy reasons.

International Business Machines Corporation


A server system includes a chassis, a first cover, and a second cover. The chassis defines an opening. The first cover is secured to the chassis and defines a recess for receiving a disk drive. The second cover is secured to the chassis. The first cover is rotatable between a first position, where the first and second covers cover the opening, and a second position, where the first cover is rotated away from the second cover. The recess is located outside the chassis when the first cover is in the first position.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a server system for conveniently checking, maintaining, or replacing electronic elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Usually, a plurality of electronic elements is secured in a server system. So, a server system which is convenient to check, maintain, or replace electronic elements is required.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


Watermarks for patterned magnetic media. The watermarks are used to demonstrate the unauthorized replication of a patterned magnetic media. The watermarks include a dibit, a pattern in an open region, shifting of data, shifting of a sync mark and large length scale perturbations. Also described are methods to determine if a watermark appears on a patterned media.

The heart of a computer's long term memory is an assembly that is referred to as a magnetic disk drive. The magnetic disk drive includes a rotating magnetic media (disk), write and read heads that are suspended by a suspension arm adjacent to a surface of the rotating magnetic disk and an actuator that swings the suspension arm to place the read and write heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk. The read and write heads are directly located on a slider that has an air bearing surface (ABS). The suspension arm biases the slider into contact with the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing, the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic impressions to and reading magnetic impressions from the rotating disk. The read and write heads are connected to processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
Patterned magnetic recording media have been proposed to increase the bit density in magnetic recording data storage, such as hard disk drives. In magnetic patterned media, the magnetic material is patterned into small magnetically isolated blocks or islands such that there is a single magnetic domain in each island or "bit". The single magnetic domains can be a single grain or consist of a few strongly coupled grains that switch magnetic states in concert as a single magnetic volume. This is in contrast to conventional continuous media wherein a single "bit" may have multiple magnetic domains separated by domain walls. U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,769 is representative of various types of patterned media and their methods of fabrication. A description of magnetic recording systems with patterned media and their associated challenges is presented by R. L. White et al., "Patterned Media: A Viable Route to 50 Gbit/in2 and Up for Magnetic Recording", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 33, No. 1, Jan. 1997, 990-995.
Current plans for production of patterned media include creating a "gold" master disk at high cost and expense. From the "gold" master disk, several "silver" production masters are created. Lastly, production disks that are used in hard disk drives are created from the "silver" disks. However, the production disks in turn could also be used in a process to create additional production disks. What is needed is a method of watermarking the pattern on the patterned media to alert a producer when their production disks are used to create unauthorized additional production disks.

Encryption methods for patterned media watermarking

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A dual purpose atomic device (DAD) for realizing atomic frequency standard and/or magnetic field measurement based on a hybrid technique comprising of enhanced transmission and polarization rotation by the CPT states is invented. The dual purpose atomic device for realizing atomic frequency standard and/or magnetic field measurement basically involving means for generating bi-chromatic field to facilitate the creation of CPT state in an atomic cell and stabilizing the frequency difference among the said bi-chromatic field to the center of the CPT resonance and thereby realizing atomic frequency standard and/or means for monitoring and analyzing transmitted polarization rotation signal from the CPT enabled atomic gas in a sample cell for measuring magnetic field without scanning the radiofrequency oscillator.

Presently atomic frequency standard based timekeeping devices like atomic clocks are essential component for precise and accurate scaling and measurement of time in different applications like global positioning system, high speed networking, telecommunication industry or in advance physics experiment. The magnetometer has also become increasingly important in different space, bio-medical and geophysical mapping applications for the measurement of magnetic field. Thus, it is apparent that, atomic timekeeping device and magnetometer both are required in any unique application where atomic frequency standard and high sensitive measurement of magnetic field are simultaneously required.
One of the leading techniques for precise time keeping relies on ultra narrow resonance spectral profile generated by CPT in atomic ensemble by using quantum interference phenomena. Such technique offers unique advantage of miniaturizing the whole device to chip scale as has been demonstrated by S. Knappe, V. Shah, P. D. D. Schwindt, L. Hollberg, J. Kitching, L Liew and J. Moreland, App. Phys. Lett., 85, 1460 (2004). The quantum interference phenomena also provide the physics basis for development of high sensitive chip scale atomic magnetometers as illustrated in P. D. D. Schwindt, S. Knappe, V. Shah, L. Hollberg, and J. Kitching, Appl. Phys. Lett., 85, 6409 (2004).
The CPT in such atomic system is realized by simultaneously coupling two excitation pathways with a common energy level. Here, the ultra narrow spectral profile is generated without using microwave cavity, thereby offering miniaturization of the atomic sensors. The field insensitive transition is used as the atomic frequency reference. The separation between the field insensitive transition and field sensitive transition, measured by scanning the radiofrequency oscillator, gives the value of magnetic field.
The intriguing aspects of polarization rotation of the CPT state in the low field regime, where Larmor's frequency is smaller than the spectral width illustrated interesting features as has been studied by S. Pradhan et al. in App. Phys. Lett., 100, 173502 (2012). According to the said prior art the CPT signal and the polarization rotation signal are significantly enhanced for a Zeeman degenerate system and it has been pointed out in the art that the zero crossing of the CPT profile is insensitive to the applied magnetic field, where as the zero crossing of the polarization rotation signal varies linearly with the field amplitude. Here also measurement of magnetic field requires the scanning of radiofrequency oscillator across the absorptive and dispersive profile of the CPT states.
There are some patent documents exists dealing with such atomic system or device for realizing atomic frequency standard or measuring magnetic field.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,472 B1 discloses an atomic frequency standard based on the ground state hyperfine resonance line observed by means of coherent radiation fields creating CPT in an alkali metal atomic ensemble contained in a cell. The CPT state created by a bi-chromatic field is used to stabilize the radiofrequency oscillator, which constitute the atomic clock. This method can only provide atomic frequency standard.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,945 B1 also discloses an atomic frequency standard based upon coherent population trapping but similar to the previous system method for operation of the atomic frequency standard of US '945 is not suitable for simultaneous magnetic field measurement.
US 2010/0188081 reports a method and device for measuring magnetic field which makes use of the Zeeman effect for measuring magnetic fields, by way of CPT resonances. The method describes measurement of magnetic field by monitoring the frequency separation between the CPT resonances, thus this technique requires scanning of the radiofrequency oscillator for measurement of magnetic field. This not only become cumbersome, but the device no longer function as an atomic frequency standard.
EP/I029540/1 involves a proposal for development of atomic frequency standard and atomic magnetometer based of coherent population trapping effect in atomic vapour such as Rubidium and Cesium atomic vapour loaded into hallow core optical fibre. This proposal envisaged use of hallow core optical fibre for confining the atomic vapour instead of conventional glass cell. Like conventional CPT based device it cannot simultaneously provide atomic frequency standard and measure magnetic field. It also requires scanning of the radiofrequency oscillator for measurement of magnetic field.
Thus there has been always a need for single atomic device which can provide atomic frequency standard and/or measure magnetic field simultaneously without involving any scanning operation and thus the device should be adapted to be used in any type applications where atomic frequency standard and high sensitive measurement of magnetic field are simultaneously or independently required.

Dual purpose atomic device for realizing atomic frequency standard and magnetic field measurement

GOVT. OF INDIA ANUSHAKTI BHAVAN, CHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ MARG


The present disclosure relates to extrusion coating systems, extrusion coated substrates, and processes for making the same. In some aspects, extrusion coating systems as described herein may include an at least partially insulated outlet wall, which may facilitate production of coated substrates exhibiting a very desirable surface texture and appearance. Coated substrates of the present invention may be utilized in a variety of end applications, including, but not limited to, interior and exterior construction materials for homes, buildings, and furniture.

Various methods for applying coatings to a substrate are known in the art. One method of coating a substrate includes extrusion coating a substrate with a thermoplastic coating material. Such extrusion coated articles can be useful in a wide variety of applications, including, for example, as interior and exterior construction materials for homes, buildings, and furniture. According to this coating method, a substrate comprising wood, plastic, metal, or other desirable material, is passed through an extruder and a coating material is applied to at least a portion of the surface of the substrate. Once coated, the article is allowed to cool and the final coated substrate preferably exhibits enhanced aesthetic (e.g., gloss and surface smoothness) characteristics.
As the coated substrate exits the coating die and enters the cooling zone, water and other volatile material within the substrate may vaporize, thereby causing undesirable bubbles or blisters in the coating along the surface of the finished product. While at least partially submerging the coated substrate in a quench liquid has been found to help minimize this type of bubbling, quench cooling has also been observed to create a certain surface roughness that degrades the visual acceptability of the final product. Even substrates that show little or no blistering without a quench bath tend to exhibit undesirable surface texture when exposed to a quench liquid cooling bath.
Thus, a need exists for an extrusion coating process and system capable of producing coated substrates that exhibit an acceptable surface texture and appearance. It is also desirable that such a process and system could be economically implemented to existing extrusion coating systems, while minimizing process time and maximizing production rate.

Extrusion coating of elongated substrates


A vibration type motor includes a vibrator, a friction member extending in a predetermined direction and including a first surface in pressed contact with the vibrator and a second surface positioned on a side opposed to the first surface and a holding member holding the friction member. The first surface forms with a surface adjacent thereto a first corner portion extending in a direction parallel with the predetermined direction, the second surface forms with a surface adjacent thereto a second corner portion, the first corner portion is different in radius of curvature from the second corner portion, either one of the first surface and the second surface is in contact with the holding member, either one of the first corner portion and the second corner portion has a radius of curvature smaller than the other.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration type motor using a vibrator that vibrates by application of an AC voltage, and a lens driving apparatus, a lens unit and an image pickup apparatus, using the vibration type motor.
Description of the Related Art
A vibration type motor using ultrasonic vibration of a piezoelectric element has characteristics of compactness, attainment of a high drive force, operativeness in a wide speed range, low vibration and low noise. Because of these characteristics, the vibration type motor is used for linear drive of a focus lens and for rotational drive of a cam cylinder in, for example, a lens barrel of a camera that needs compactness and high-output drive.
As a drive principle of the vibration type motor, there has been known that a vibrator vibrates using expansion and constriction of a piezoelectric element by piezoelectric effect and the vibration is transmitted to a friction member that is brought into pressed contact with the vibrator so as to relatively move the friction member. An apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-304887 is an example of the vibration type motor.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-304887 is a vibration type motor in which a flat plate-shaped vibrator provided with a projection generates a plurality of vibration modes and causes the projection to generate elliptical movement by a combination of the vibrations modes. The projection is in pressed contact with the friction member, and when the projection is caused to generate the elliptical movement, the projection feeds out the fiction member while repeatedly contacting with and separating from the friction member. Accordingly, the friction member is driven relatively to the vibrator.
On this occasion, if a resonance frequency of the friction member overlaps with a drive frequency band for vibrating the vibrator, resonance of the friction member is induced to cause unnecessary vibration, thereby decreasing drive force and generating noise. To address the problems, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-215348 has proposed to design a structure in which a resonance frequency of the friction member is set within a predetermined range in such a manner that a drive frequency band of the vibrator and the resonance frequency of the friction member do not overlap with each other.
Even in the case where the resonance frequency of the friction member designed to be set within the predetermined range, due to slight variations in dimension of components and in fixing method, the resonance frequency of the friction member is changed. Accordingly, even in the case where the resonance frequency of the friction member is designed to be set within the predetermined range so as not to overlap with the drive frequency band, it has happened that the resonance frequency of the friction member has overlapped with the drive frequency band for vibrating the vibrator in manufactured products, thereby reducing drive force and generating noise.
Specifically, in a case where the friction member is manufactured by a manufacturing method that is inexpensive in costs such as press forming, it is difficult to form a corner portion of the friction member stably so that the resonance frequency cannot be set within the predetermined range and the driving force is decreased and noise occurs easily.

Vibration type motor, and lens drive apparatus, lens unit and image pickup apparatus using vibration type motor


A method for transmitting information in a communication system, a base station and a user equipment. The method includes mapping a synchronous signal and a broadcast channel to be transmitted to preset one or more time-frequency resource blocks in a target carrier, where a numerology used by the target carrier is a first numerology group, and the first numerology group includes any one or more numerologies that are allowed to be used by the target carrier; the one or more time-frequency resource blocks are located within an initial access subband of the target carrier and uses a second numerology, where the second numerology is a fixed numerology; the broadcast channel carries at least configuration information of the initial access subband; and the initial access subband is a subband corresponding to a numerology in the first numerology group; and transmitting the one or more time-frequency resource blocks to a user equipment.

In a Fifth Generation mobile communication network New Radio (5GNR) system, a carrier may be corresponding to a plurality of numerologies. Each numerology may include a Sub-Carrier Spacing (SCS) and Cyclic Prefix (CP) length. Therefore, in the 5GNR system, the carrier has a flexible configuration, which allows different application scenarios to be applied within the carrier, such as Enhanced Mobile Broad Band (EMBB) and Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC), and the carrier is especially adapted for application in network slicing. However, this also brings challenge in transmission of a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel (referred to as a broadcast channel hereinafter).
When initially accessing a network, a user equipment (UE) needs to detect the synchronization signal and the downlink control channel, since there is no priori information on a numerology of the synchronization signal and a numerology of the downlink control channel, a blind detection is required potentially. In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the UE needs to blindly detect whether a Normal Cyclic Prefix (NCP) or an Extended Cyclic Prefix (ECP) is used at the initial access. However, in the 5GNR system, there are plenty of possibilities of subcarrier spacing and CP length in the numerologies so as to support flexibility, therefore the blind detection is of high complexity.
Take the synchronization signal for example, in order to reduce the complexity of blind detection, one approach is to preset an SCS of the synchronization signal, and then send a synchronization signal with a fixed numerology on the carrier.
However, when information is transmitted to the UE as described above, the carrier applied to mapping is confined to a carrier using a same numerology as the synchronization signal with the fixed numerology. How to transmit the synchronization signal and the broadcast channel to the UE using a carrier of a non-fixed numerology has become a key problem to be solved.

Method for transmitting information in communication system, base station and user equipment

SPREADTRUM COMMUNICATIONS (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD.


An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet, a fixing unit configured to fix the image formed by the image forming unit on the sheet, a cooling unit configured to cool the sheet having the image fixed thereon by the fixing unit, a curl amount changing unit configured to change an amount of curl of the sheet by bending the sheet having the image fixed thereon, and a path configured to guide the sheet having the image fixed thereon to the image forming unit, after the sheet is conveyed through the curl amount changing unit and the curl amount changing unit. The curl amount changing unit changes an amount of bending the sheet according to whether the sheet is stopped at the cooling unit or not.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a fixing unit configured to fix a toner image on a sheet and a cooling unit configured to cool the sheet having the image fixed thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electrophotographic type image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile apparatus, transfers a toner image on a sheet, applies heat and pressure on the sheet having the toner image transferred thereon to fix the toner image by using a fixing device, and after that, discharges the sheet having the fixed image to the outside of the apparatus. A sheet may be curled during an operation for fixing a toner image. Degree of a curl of a sheet may differ according to a sheet type, temperature, humidity, and density of an image formed on the sheet.
If a large curl may occur on a sheet during fixing, the sheet may catch in a joint or a hole of a conveyance guide, which may cause a jam. In addition, if a very large curl has occurred on a sheet, a sheet alignment failure may occur during post-processing, such as stapling or folding. In this case, the resulting post-processed product may not have a sufficiently good appearance. In order to solve the above described problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-198080 discusses the following method. More specifically, in an image forming apparatus according to this conventional method, a curl amount changing unit, which is provided downstream of a fixing device and configured to change the amount of curl of the sheet, is calibrated according to the type of the sheet and the image density to reduce the amount of the curl.
Conventionally, the orientation and the amount of a curl that may occur at a fixing device according to a predetermined parameter, such as the sheet type or the image density, is changed so that the degree of the sheet curl is reduced by calibrating a curl amount changing unit according to a predicted value or an experimental value obtained by a previously executed experiment. However, the following problems may arise in the conventional method for calibrating a curl amount changing unit.
More specifically, in the conventional method, if image forming is executed at a delayed timing due to delayed image processing on data that has been externally input, the conveyance of a sheet is suspended. In this case, if a sheet having a fixed image is stopped in a conveyance path and if a cooling fan, which is a cooling unit, for fixing a toner image transferred on a sheet exists at a location at which the sheet has been stopped, the degree of the curl may vary. In other words, the degree of a curl may differ according to whether the sheet has been stopped at the cooling unit or not.
To paraphrase this, in the conventional image forming apparatus, a setting value, which is set to the curl amount changing unit, is not set based on a premise that the amount of curl may vary due to suspension of sheet conveyance. Accordingly, if a sheet is stopped at the cooling unit, the curl that has occurred on the sheet may not be set off by the curl amount changing unit to a sufficiently small dimension. Further, in this case, the curl amount changing unit may adversely cause the sheet to curl or increase the curl on the sheet.
If the sheet curl amount cannot be appropriately controlled or changed, a transfer failure may occur when a sheet enters a transfer unit, which transfers a toner image on the sheet, to execute image formation on a second side of the sheet after forming an image on a first side of the sheet. More specifically, if the amount of curl has not been appropriately changed when it is required for the curl amount changing unit to change the curl amount small enough for the sheet to enter the transfer unit in a downward-bent curl state (i.e., in a state where the sheet has a curl having an upward convex shape), the sheet may enter the transfer unit in an upward-bent curl state due to the failure of appropriately changing the curl amount.


Operating a bi-directional double-base bipolar junction transistor (B-TRAN). One example is a method comprising: conducting a first load current from an upper terminal of the power module to an upper collector-emitter of the transistor, through the transistor, and from a lower collector-emitter to a lower terminal of the power module; and then responsive assertion of a first interrupt signal, interrupting the first load current from the lower collector-emitter to the lower terminal by opening a lower-main FET and thereby commutating a first shutoff current through a lower base of the transistor to the lower terminal; and blocking current from the upper terminal to the lower terminal by the transistor.

A bi-directional double-base bipolar junction transistor (hereafter B-TRAN) is junction transistor constructed with a base and collector-emitter on a first side of the bulk region, and a distinct and separate base and collector-emitter on a second side of the bulk region opposite the first side. When properly configured by an external driver, electrical current may selectively flow through a B-TRAN in either direction, and thus B-TRAN devices are considered bi-directional devices. Based on the bi-directionality, whether a collector-emitter is considered a collector (e.g., current flow into the B-TRAN) or an emitter (e.g., current flow out of the B-TRAN) depends on the polarity of the applied external voltage and thus the direction of current flow through the B-TRAN. Consider, as an example, current flow through a B-TRAN device in a particular direction, such as from an upper collector-emitter to a lower collector-emitter. In such a situation, the upper collector-emitter acts a collector, and the lower collector-emitter acts as an emitter.

Method and system of operating a bi-directional double-base bipolar junction transistor (B-TRAN)