A machine, computer program product, and method to enable scalable parallel reservoir simulations for a variety of simulation model sizes are described herein. Some embodiments of the disclosed invention include a machine, methods, and implemented software for performing parallel processing of a grid defining a reservoir or oil/gas field using a plurality of sub-domains for the reservoir simulation, a parallel process of re-ordering a local cell index for each of the plurality of cells using characteristics of the cell and location within the at least one sub-domain and a parallel process of simulating at least one production characteristic of the reservoir.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oil and gas reservoir simulation and more particularly related to a machine, computer program product, and method to enable scalable parallel processing of oil and gas reservoirs for a variety of simulation model sizes.
2. Description of Prior Art
A subterranean geologic body or formation contains multi-phase, multi-component fluids, and accordingly a petroleum reservoir may contain oil, natural gas, water and several constituent compounds, that may be modeled to predict the fluid flow from a reservoir, which is also known as reservoir simulation. Reservoir simulation models may be run before or after a well is drilled to determine production rate, etc. for the various methods.
Current reservoir modeling techniques create a numerical grid of the reservoir comprised of a plurality of grid cells, and process data in the finite volume of each grid cell. Because reservoirs can be very large and complex, and grid cells can number in the millions to over one billion, the simulation models can take several hours to days to run. The desirable runtime is in the minutes to a few hours maximum as hundreds of runs are usually required for history matching. Accordingly, Saudi Aramco's POWERS™ program was created to speed up data processing using parallel computing. Parallel computing, as performed by the POWERS™ program, divides the numerical grid into a plurality of domains, with each domain consisting of a plurality of grid cells. The numerical grid is a structured grid, meaning each grid cell can be described the same, i.e., each inner vertex is incident to a fixed number of cells and each cell is defined by a fixed number of faces and edges. Structured grids may use Cartesian coordinate (I, J, K), or some other similar mapping method to locate grid cells for data processing. To run the simulations, rock properties, described using geologic models (porosity, permeability, etc.) as well as the geometry of the rock formation and data related to the well bore, are read into each computer. Because the domain is sub-divided into several finite volumes, or grid cells, conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy are then constructed for each grid cell. These balance equations represent the discrete time rate of change of these quantities stored in the grid block due to the inter-block fluxes and sources and sinks of the quantities due to the physical and chemical processes being modeled, and are accordingly a set of discrete non-linear partial differential equations involving complex functions. Finally, using the mapping method for the grid, each computer can arrange for cross talk with other computers to simulate flow through the domains. FIG. 1 shows a prior art, two-dimensional structured grid of a reservoir with a multi-lateral well disposed therein. As can be seen, each grid cell is uniform, regardless of the geological feature or proximity of the grid cell to the well.
Unfortunately, reservoirs are of a sedimentary origin and have multiple layers that have thicknesses and depth variations throughout, which do not neatly follow the pattern of a structured grid. For example, a layer can disappear locally due to lack of deposition or subsequent erosion, which is known as a pinch-out. Also, uplifting (the raising of the earth's crust) and subsidence (the lowering of the earth's crust) over geologic time can lead to faulting and fracturing of the layers. In addition to the complexity of the reservoir layers, complex wells may be drilled into the reservoirs to extracts fluids from them or to inject fluids into them for pressure maintenance or enhance-oil-recovery operations, i.e., these wells may be multi-branched. Simply a structured grid does not produce accurate flow models in these circumstances. Better, unstructured grids, built to represent the geologic layers and well would represent faults, fractures, pinch-outs and well geometry, are required for accuracy.
To create unstructured grids, oil or gas reservoirs are subdivided into non-uniform elementary finite-volumes, i.e., grid cells or grid blocks. These grid cells can have variable numbers of faces and edges that are positioned to honor physical boundaries of geological structures and well geometry embedded within the reservoir. Accordingly, these maps may be very complex. Examples of unstructured gridding methods includes Voronoi diagrams, i.e., a grid where each cell has faces and edges that are closer to one Voronoi site or point than any other Voronoi site or point. FIG. 2 is an example of a two dimensional Voronoi grid. While unstructured grids more accurately reflect the geological features of the geological body, in order to perform unstructured grid simulation using parallel processing techniques, the global coordinate system, e.g., (I,J,K) Cartesian indexing, must be replaced with a global hash table, accessible by the computer processing each domain, to arrange for cell and domain cross-talk. Unfortunately, the global hash table for a model with, e.g., tens of millions to over a billion cells, can overwhelm the memory of for each of the parallel computers.
In addition to the problems with prior art reservoir grids, simulating reservoirs having multi-lateral wells require more data input and use more complex algorithms, and simulation models for this types of production methods can be very cumbersome—even using the POWERS™ system. The computational complexity of these equations is further complicated by geological model size is typically in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of grid cells. Since finding a solution to several million to a few billion nonlinear partial differential equations with multiphase discontinuities is computationally expensive, reservoir simulation models are usually built at a coarser scale than the geologic model via a process known as upscaling, i.e., the averaging of rock properties for a plurality of grid cells. While computationally more efficient, upscaling renders the simulation model inaccurate. It is very desirable to develop simulation system that can directly use the original geologic model without upscaling and can honor complex well geometries and geology at the same time.
Therefore, the machine, methods, and program products in this invention constitute the enabling technology to do scalable parallel reservoir simulation of a desired model sizes (from small models to over one-billion-cell models) using both unstructured grids for complex reservoirs and multi-lateral wells, and structured grids at seismic-scale geologic model without upscaling.

Machine, computer program product and method to generate unstructured grids and carry out parallel reservoir simulation


A headlight optical axis adjustment method where, on an imaged picture of a light distribution pattern of low beam illumination from a master headlight whose optical axis has been adjusted, a relative positional relationship between a horizontal and oblique line of a light/dark boundary line. A reference point is determined on the imaged picture to correspond to a bulb center. An acceptance frame is set based on an imaged position of an intersection of the horizontal and oblique line. On an imaged picture of a light distribution pattern of low beam illumination from a headlight to be adjusted, a horizontal and oblique line of a light/dark boundary line are detected based on a relative positional relationship with the reference point, and the optical axis of the headlight to be adjusted is adjusted so that an intersection of the detected horizontal and oblique lines is within the acceptance frame.

An arrangement in which a relative positional relationship between a reference brightest point and a horizontal line and an oblique line of a light/dark boundary line is determined on an imaged picture of low beam illumination from a master headlight whose optical axis has been adjusted, and when adjusting the optical axis of a headlight to be adjusted whose optical axis is to be adjusted, the horizontal line and the oblique line are detected on an imaged picture of low beam illumination from the headlight to be adjusted using the relative positional relationship determined for the master headlight, and the optical axis of the headlight to be adjusted is adjusted so that the intersection point of the horizontal line and the oblique line is present within an acceptance frame is known from, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-105212.
However, in this conventional arrangement, since the reference point for detecting the horizontal line and the oblique line of the light/dark boundary line on the imaged picture is defined as the brightest point on the imaged picture, the brightest point easily varies due to an error in bulb mounting position, an uneven reflector coating, etc. Because of this, even if the optical axis is adjusted so that the intersection point of the horizontal line and the oblique line of the light/dark boundary line is within the acceptance frame, the actual optical axis might deviate from an acceptance standard, and there is a possibility that the quality of the optical axis adjustment and automobile productivity might be affected.


Methods of and compositions for early diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of osteoarthritis using monoclonal antibodies which specifically recognize antigenic determinants on atypical chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate glycosaminoglycan chains in body tissues and fluids, which determinants are markers of osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative process in joints characterized by functional deterioration, abrasion of articular cartilage, and formation of new bone at and around the joint surfaces. It is estimated to affect approximately 40 million adults in the United States alone. The disease is particularly prevalent in individuals over the age of 55 and with the longevity of the population increasing, it has become a disease of major concern to the medical community.
In humans, osteoarthritis takes years to develop. As the disease progresses, the affected diseased cartilage literally wears away. At the present time, osteoarthritis cannot be diagnosed until quite late in the degenerative process. Current medical treatment therefore consists mainly of trying to reverse the later inflammatory stage of the disease. At this point, it is really too late to stop or reverse the degenerative process.
It has long been acknowledged in the literature that the events leading up to these late inflammatory stages are the most important. Many drug companies have for example given up the idea of treating osteoarthritis with anti-inflammatory drugs and are now trying to discover and develop drugs that will treat the primary lesion or the early stages of the disease. However, assays to monitor the effectiveness of these drugs on the early stages of osteoarthritis are not available. Moreover, diagnosis of the disease in its early stages has also not been possible. Therefore, in a clinical setting, it cannot be determined which patients are affected by the disease in its earliest stages and thus, are candidates for such drugs and therapies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,356 refers to a potential marker for diagnosing osteoarthritis. It employs a quantitative immunoassay for keratan sulfate, which is thought to be elevated in patients with osteoarthritis. This immunoassay is not satisfactory for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis. First, it detects an increased release of a normal tissue component without selectively identifying a pathological process. More importantly, there is still much controversy in the field over whether the initial stages of the degenerative process are associated with an abnormally high or an abnormally low level of keratan sulfate. Finally, the method of the '356 patent is useful only prospectively, i.e., to confirm the presence of osteoarthritis. It has not been used to diagnose or track the disease in its earliest stages.
As a result, clinical assessment of osteoarthritis is hampered by the lack of sound diagnostic criteria and the absence of means to detect and measure the active processes of joint damage. Because the disease is widespread, heterogeneous and slowly progressive, the need for definitive and reliable tests is paramount not only for diagnosis, but also for longitudinal assessment, epidemiology and drug development.

Methods of and compositions for diagnosis, monitoring and treating the early stages of osteoarthritis

Apt. J2, Carolina Apts., 401 Hwy. 54 Bypass


A unified messaging system, method and user interface is provided for a handheld mobile communication device. The method may include the following steps: (a) providing a unified event listing display comprising: a plurality of summary descriptors, each summary descriptor having one or more information elements to identify the event associated with the summary descriptor; (b) selecting one of the plurality of summary descriptors; (c) displaying a voice mail interface associated with the selected summary descriptor, wherein a plurality of voice mail actions are displayed on the interface; (d) selecting one of the plurality of voice mail actions; (e) communicating a voice mail command associated with the selected voice mail action to a unified messaging server via a wireless data communication network; (f) receiving the voice mail command at the unified messaging server; (g) executing an action associated with the received voice mail command at the unified messaging server; (h) establishing a circuit-switched communication connection to the mobile device from a PBX system associated with the unified messaging server; and (i) performing an action corresponding to the received voice mail command through the established circuit-switched communication connection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward remote control of a host system with a dual-mode mobile communications device (mobile device). Specifically a method is disclosed for seamlessly integrating PBX services, including voice mail services, into a mobile device for control by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are very few systems that allow remote control of host systems from mobile devices. There are no known solutions that use a dual-mode mobile device to remotely control PBX and voice mail systems. In the area of related art the closest solution known to the author uses a browser-like method for controlling file viewing, file printing and file re-routing like to a fax machine. Some of these solutions can also act like a terminal emulator and thus allow the user to login to the company network and act like any other terminal user. These types of solutions are very far from what is described in this patent. In the field of phone technology there are also methods to call a service provider and turn call forwarding on or off, and change the call forwarding number. In this area an individual home phone, office phone, or cell phone can adjust some of the operating parameters but this has no multi-discipline effect on both voice and data information.
It is naturally possible to use two devices to perform some of the actions described in this patent, but these solutions have lots of problems and are prone to errors. For example one device is inevitably turned off, or has out of battery, or is out of reach in a suitcase or a travel bag. The elegance of having full control over the PBX and voice system is the ideal solution. There is also the problem of costs for all these devices to solve problems of data and voice notifications. By adding costs and requiring multiple devices to solve simple problems the number of users will to purchase such a solution goes down very quickly. Finally, there is a complete lack of elegance when two devices are required to deal with both voice and data to proper control over the host system. The mobile user expects simplicity and ease of use when deal with notifications, and acting upon notifications.
Therefore, there remains an important area of remote control of a host system, from a dual-mode mobile communication device, that has not been satisfied.

System, method and mobile device for remote control of a voice mail system


An entrained-flow gasifier reactor includes a vessel and a first liner within the vessel. The first liner extends around a reaction zone in the vessel and has an inlet end and an exit end with respect to the reaction zone. The first liner includes a drip lip at the exit end. An isolator is arranged near the drip lip. The isolator is operable to thermally isolate the drip lip from a quench zone downstream from the reaction zone such that molten slag at the drip lip remains molten.

This disclosure relates to reactor vessels that produce molten byproducts.
Carbonaceous fuel gasifiers are used to react oxygen, steam and carbonaceous material to produce a gaseous reaction product of synthesis gas (predominantly carbon monoxide and hydrogen). The reaction also produces a slag byproduct from inert constituents in the carbonaceous fuel. The slag is typically discharged from the reactor with the gaseous reaction products.

Entrained-flow gasifier and method for removing molten slag


In-program content targeting is described. A default data stream containing default content associated with multiple segments of a particular program is generated and transmitted. An alternate data stream containing alternate content for one or more of the multiple segments is also generated and transmitted. A client device receiving the default content via the default data stream detects the availability of alternate content via the data stream. Based on profile data associated with the client device (or a user of the client device) and profile data associated with the alternate content, the client device may access the alternate data stream for one or more segments of the particular program.

Diffusion of audience is a big problem facing major television networks, including both broadcast and cable networks. Market share and ratings points are leaving the major networks, particularly during Prime Time, as viewers migrate to content that's more relevant to them. It is expected that this trend will continue, and even increase, as technology advances and IP-based networks enable the availability of large numbers of new channels. As a result, because the large networks will have fewer viewers, advertisers will be less interested in advertising via the large networks. However, if networks could increase the relevancy of their programs to a large population, advertisers would be more willing to continue advertising via the large networks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Methods and apparatus for optical characterization based on symmetry-reduced 2-D RCWA calculations are provided. The invention is applicable to gratings having a grating reflection symmetry plane. A sample can be illuminated at normal incidence or at a non-zero angle of incidence such that the plane of incidence is parallel to or identical with the symmetry plane. The diffracted field components are either symmetric or anti-symmetric with respect to the grating symmetry plane. This symmetry is exploited to provide a symmetry-reduced 2-D RCWA having reduced matrix dimension (by about a factor of two) that is mathematically equivalent to a conventional 2-D RCWA. For normal incidence on a grating having two reflection symmetry planes, a symmetry-reduced 2-D RCWA having reduced matrix dimension (by about a factor of four) is provided. This normal incidence RCWA can be used to approximately characterize a sample illuminated at non-normal incidence. Approximation accuracy can be improved by modifying either the grating depth or the grating refractive index.

Manufacturing processes for producing products usually rely on quantitative measurements to provide information required for process control. Such measurements can be made on the final product, and/or on intermediate stages of the product within the manufacturing process, and/or on tools/fixtures used in the manufacturing process. For example, in semiconductor chip fabrication, measurements can be performed on finished chips (i.e., final product), on a wafer patterned with a photoresist (i.e., intermediate stage), or on a mask (i.e., a tool or fixture). Frequently, as in the case of semiconductor chip fabrication, these measurements are performed on structures having small dimensions. Furthermore, it is highly desirable to perform process control measurements quickly and non-destructively, in order to ensure a minimal impact on the process being controlled. Since optical measurements can be performed quickly, tend to be non-destructive, and can be sensitive to small features, various optical process control measurements have been developed.
Optical process control measurements can often be regarded as methods for measuring parameters of a pattern. For example, a pattern can be a periodic one-dimensional or two-dimensional grating on the surface of a wafer, and the parameters to measure can include feature dimensions, feature spacings and depth of the grating. To measure these parameters, an optical response of the pattern is measured. For example, reflectance as a function of wavelength can be measured. Typically, the optical response will depend on the parameter (or parameters) of interest in a complicated way such that direct parameter extraction from measured data is impractical. Instead, a mathematical model is typically constructed for the pattern, having the parameters of interest as variables. Within the model, a modeled optical response is calculated corresponding to the measured optical response. The parameters of interest are then determined by adjusting the variables to fit the modeled response to the measured response. Various optical process control measurements differ depending on the measured response(s), and on the kind of mathematical model employed.
A commonly-employed modeling approach for grating diffraction, known as the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA), is described by Moharam et al. in Journal of the Optical Society of America (JOSA), A12, n5, p 1068-1076, 1995. The RCWA was first introduced by K. Knop in JOSA, v68, p 1206, 1978, and was later greatly improved by Moharam et al. in the above-referenced article. Some implementations of the RCWA for 1-D gratings are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,590,656, U.S. 6,483,580, U.S. 5,963,329, and U.S. 5,867,276. The RCWA has been extended to 2-D gratings e.g., as considered by Han et al., Applied Optics 31(13), pp 2343-2352, 1992; and by Lalanne in JOSA A 14(7), pp 1592-1598, 1997. The use of RCWA modeling for characterizing 2-D gratings is also considered in U.S. 2004/007173.
Since a grating is periodic, grating-diffracted optical fields can be expressed as a superposition of space harmonics, each space harmonic having a different spatial period. The RCWA proceeds by including a finite number of space harmonics in the analysis (e.g., M for a 1-D grating and MN for a 2-D grating). Increasing M or MN increases accuracy, but requires more computation time, while decreasing M or MN decreases computation time, but provides reduced accuracy. The space harmonics each correspond to a diffraction order, so in a typical 2-D case where positive diffraction orders 1 through Nx, negative diffraction orders −1 through −Nx, and zero order diffraction are to be included for the x-direction in a calculation, we have M=2Nx+1. Similarly N=2Ny+1 if Ny positive and negative orders are included for the y direction.
The time required to perform numerical RCWA calculations is dominated by matrix operations having a calculation time on the order of M3 for a 1-D grating or (MN)3 for a 2-D grating. Accordingly, various special cases have been considered in the literature where calculation time can be reduced compared to a more general case without reducing accuracy.
For example, in the above-referenced article by Moharam et al., 1-D planar diffraction is identified as a special case of 1-D conical diffraction. In 1-D planar diffraction, the plane of incidence of the light on the grating is perpendicular to the grating lines, while in 1-D conical diffraction, the plane of incidence makes an arbitrary angle with respect to the grating lines. Moharam et al. show that a 1-D planar diffraction calculation for N orders requires less than half the computation time of a 1-D conical diffraction calculation for N orders. Moharam et al. also indicate that for 1-D planar diffraction from a symmetric 1-D grating, the matrices to be processed take on special forms (i.e., symmetric for lossless gratings and Hermitian for lossy gratings), which can reduce computation time. Thus, a 1-D planar diffraction geometry has typically been used for grating characterization based on RCWA calculations.
Another special case for characterization with RCWA calculations which has been considered is normal incident angle illumination of a symmetric 1-D grating, e.g., as considered in U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,537. This case is especially simple, since illumination with normal incident angle is a special case of planar diffraction (i.e., the polarization coupling of conical diffraction does not occur), and illumination with normal incident angle on a symmetric grating leads to symmetric positive and negative diffraction orders. Thus N positive orders, N negative orders and the zero order can be accounted for in this case with only M=N+1 space harmonics. To accomplish this, a specialized RCWA assuming normal incident angle with a symmetric grating is derived from the standard RCWA.
However, the approach of U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,537 requires illumination with normal incident angle on the grating, which leads to practical difficulties. For example, in the common case where the response of interest is a zero order reflection, normal incident angle illumination requires separation of the incident light from the zero order reflected light. Providing such separation (e.g., with a beam splitter) requires additional optical element(s), which undesirably increases system complexity.
A symmetry-reduced RCWA for a 1-D grating illuminated at off-normal incidence such that the plane of incidence is parallel to the grating lines is described by the present inventors in the above-referenced application Ser. No. 10/940,243. In this method, symmetry is exploited to account for N positive and N negative diffraction orders (and zero order diffraction) with N+1 space harmonics.
Since 2-D RCWA calculations tend to be more time consuming than 1-D RCWA calculations, methods of reducing calculation time are of special interest for the 2-D case. For example, the above-referenced U.S. 2004/0078173 application considers the use of a library for storing intermediate results for improving efficiency. However, exploiting symmetry to reduce 2-D RCWA calculation time does not appear to be considered in the prior art. Thus it would be an advance in the art to provide characterization of 2-D gratings with a symmetry-reduced RCWA having decreased calculation time compared to a conventional 2-D RCWA.

Efficient characterization of symmetrically illuminated symmetric 2-D gratings


A binarily programmable IC output pad driver includes a pair of FET drivers, one of which is always drivingly connected to the chip output pad. A second driver is selectively connected to the pad for driving the same in concert with the first driver in order to increase signal transition speed on the output pad. With both drivers driving, noise on the output pad increases and, if the particular application is effected by the increased noise level, signals applied to input pads on the chip disconnect the second driver to reduce pad noise.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for driving an integrated-circuit (IC) output pad and more particularly to such methods and apparatus which include logic circuit controls.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated logic circuits such as microprocessors and memories generate output signals comprising either a high logic state, referred to as a "1," or a low logic state, referred to as a "0." Such integrated logic circuits are commonly referred to as chips. Typically FET transistors connected in series form the output stage for a selected output terminal of the chip. The juncture of the transistors is tied to the terminal, which is referred to as a pad. The logic signal generated by the integrated circuit on the chip is applied to the gates of the FETs thereby driving the output pad.
The drivers are necessary because of capacitance or current loads which appear on the pad when the chip is interconnected with other components. When there are a large number of pads on the chip, there can be a large inductance in the chip's ground line. When the signal on a number of pads switches states simultaneously, which is not unusual for a chip of the type described, a large noise spike in the ground line occurs.
The problem of noise on chip pads is recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,553 to Van Lehn et al. In Van Lehn et al., a pair of output drivers are provided, one of which drives a logic level low-to-high transition with the other driver operating in the high logic level steady-state stage. Each driver is connected to a separate power supply with the object being to isolate power supply nodes of those pad drivers which remain in a given output state from noise created by other pad drivers which are making a logic transition.
While Van Lehn et al. may achieve this end, it does so at the expense of adding a time delay circuit and a number of logic gates for each pad, as well as a separate power supply, to the chip. As noted in Van Lehn et al., as the desired speed of operation of a logic circuit increases, noise also increases. In designing logic circuits, selecting the speed of operation of the circuit is a function of the amount of noise which can be tolerated in a particular application. The faster the logic circuit output pads are driven, the more noise is generated.

Method and apparatus for driving an integrated-circuit output pad


Provided are a liquid crystal compound represented by formula 1, a liquid crystal composition including the same, and a liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal composition:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diphenyl based liquid crystal compound, a liquid crystal composition including the same, and a liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal composition, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal compound having high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy, a liquid crystal composition including the same, and a liquid crystal display employing the liquid crystal composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the modern industrial society steps into the high information era, electronic displays are regarded as being more and more important for mass distribution of a variety of information. In particular, flat panel displays are highlighted by their advantages of lightweight, thin design, and their application to large size. As a result, flat panel displays are widely used in many fields such as monitors for laptop computers, aircraft controlling equipment, medical instruments, navigators, and measuring instruments. Types of flat panel displays include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), field emission displays (FEDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and electro luminescent displays (ELDs). In particular, LCDs have been leading the market for the flat panel displays due to their advantages of portability and low power consumption.
The liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are divided into projection LDCs and direct-view LCDs, and the direct-view LCDs are divided into transmissive displays and reflective displays. In transmissive LCDs, the intensity of light emitted from backlight is controlled by LCD panels. In reflective LCDs, images are formed by reflection of natural light and surrounding light onto LCD panels. Among the reflective LCDs, liquid crystals on silicon microdisplays (LCoS) have recently drawn a lot of attentions.
Generally, a LCoS display includes a liquid crystal layer including a liquid crystal material interposed between a silicon substrate and a glass cover. The silicon substrate includes an array of pixels and each of them is conductive and reflective. Although the LCoS display has a screen size of smaller than 1 inch when measured diagonally, it can display a high resolution image. LCoS displays have a small pixel size. Therefore, in general, cell thickness is very small, even smaller than 1 micrometer. Therefore, a liquid crystal composition used in the LCoS display must have a very high optical anisotropy, as opposed to other LCDs in which a low optical anisotropy is usually sufficient.
Liquid crystal compounds used in VA mode LCDs, which use a Vertical Alignment (VA) technique should have high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy. The liquid crystal compound must have a low K33/K11 (ratio of elastic constants) and rotation viscosity, and high chemical stability against external influences such as UV, heat, infrared light, air and electric fields. Also the liquid crystal compound must have a liquid crystal phase having a wide temperature range and rapid response speed.
Korean Patent Application No. 99-3372 discloses a liquid crystal composition including a liquid crystal compound, which is a cyclohexene derivative. The liquid crystal composition provides good optical anisotropy and positive dielectric anisotropy. In addition, Korean Patent Application No. 99-3373 also discloses a liquid crystal composition providing good optical anisotropy and positive dielectric anisotropy.
However, a single compound having high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy is not well known. Attempts have been made to obtain both high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy in a liquid crystal composition by mixing about 5-25 liquid crystal compounds. However, the attempts to manufacture an ideal liquid crystal phase having high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy have failed. Accordingly, there is a need to develop a liquid crystal compound having high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy and a liquid crystal composition including the compound.

Liquid crystal compound having high optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy, liquid crystal composition including the same and liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal composition

Abstract: wherein X1, X2, R1, R2, L and

Abstract: are the same as described in specification. High optical anisotropy and negative dielectric anisotropy can be achieved by the use of the liquid crystal composition including the liquid crystal compound.


Oil soluble copolymers comprised of an addition-type polymeric main chain and a plurality of addition-type polymeric side branches which contain basic amine groups are disclosed which stabilize distillate fuel and lubricating oil compositions against deterioration during storage.

Fuel oil such as home heating fuels, automotive fuel oils, gas turbine fuels, and heavy fuels used for industrial heating and for slow and medium speed diesel engines, as well as lubricating oils for engines and other uses, are susceptible to deterioration during storage, resulting in the formation of insoluble sludge, sediment and discoloration. A wide variety of additives, especially various amine compounds have been proposed and used to prevent discoloration and sediment formation by retarding the formation of discolorants or insoluble materials during storage or when thermally stressed. One example is N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,882. Other additives such as copolymers characterized by having basic amino groups appended to the main polymer chain are known as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,186,810 and 2,737,452 for use in fuel oils and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,496 for use in lubricating oils. Such copolymers have been comprised of such monomers as lauryl methacrylate, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, styrene and other alkyl methacrylates and amino methacrylates. Although useful, such additives do not provide a complete solution to the problems and the need for improved additives remains.
This invention is concerned with improved additives for stabilizing fuel and lubricating oil compositions against deterioration during storage and stabilized oil compositions containing the additives.
Also U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,226 discloses certain block copolymer dispersants containing methacrylate and acrylate monomeric units wherein a polymer block may contain certain polar groups, among which are mentioned primary, secondary and tertiary aliphatic amines, as substituents which are bonded to the polymer block. A general disclosure is included that such dispersants can be used as additives for oil and fuel.
An object of this invention is to improve the stability of petroleum distillate oils against deterioration such as the formation of insoluble sludge, sediment, gum and discoloration. A further object is to provide a novel improved additive for stabilizing distillate hydrocarbon fuel oils.


In this invention, a novel technique is introduced to measure chromatic dispersion (CD) in optical fibers. This technique is based on a relatively low-frequency optoelectronic oscillation (OEO) to provide fast, precise and low-cost method for CD measurement that can be implemented easily in commercial instruments. The proposed setup is implemented to measure the CD in normal single mode fibers with lengths of 40 km, 10 km, 1 km. Moreover, it is implemented to measure CD in 400 in of nonzero dispersion shifted fiber to test the system ability to resolve small chromatic delays. The proposed setup can resolve delays less than 0.1 ps/nm (which can be further improved by increasing the oscillation frequency) and measure CD with precision as low as 0.005 ps/nm.km as low as 20 seconds over a wavelength range from 1500 to 1630 nm. Further improvements may be possible by slightly better system design.

Nowadays, transmission bandwidth has been increased in long-haul optical transmission systems from 2.5 Gbit/second to 10 Gbit/second and soon to 40 Gbit/second. Higher bandwidth means that the transmitted optical pulses become near to each other and can overlap if they experience sufficient chromatic dispersion. Therefore, chromatic dispersion measurement of long-haul network is of a great importance to ensure proper operation of such networks.
Tremendous efforts have been spent to find suitable method for chromatic dispersion measurement. Among those methods the Time-of-Flight, the Modulation Phase Shift, and the Interferometric method are recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T G.650) and by the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC 60793-1-42:2013).
Although the time-of-flight technique (U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,125 by Schicketanz) is simple to implement, it has low accuracy and is not suitable to resolve small chromatic dispersions.
The modulation phase shift technique became an industry standard and covered by several patents (references: U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,846 by Hernday et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,368 by Horiuci et al.). This technique has better accuracy than the time-of-flight technique, however, it is time consuming and expensive to implement since it needs an expensive network analyzer. An example of a commercial device that implements this technique is the Agilent 86038C.
The best chromatic dispersion measurement accuracy can be obtained from the Interferometric technique (U.S. Pat. No. 7,787,12 by Michael Galle); however, it can only measure short fibers of lengths in the order of one meter.
Further techniques have been investigated to provide fast operation and higher accuracies with less complex system. A ring-type Sagnac interferometer has been proposed to measure chromatic dispersion cost-effectively (K. S. Abedin et al. Opt. Lett., (2000)); however, this technique is time-consuming due to the time required for the analysis of the acquired fringes at every wavelength. Although further improvement has been made to this technique to make the measurement time considerably smaller (K. S. Abedin, Electronics Letters, (2005)), the chromatic dispersion measurement through voltage change degrades its accuracy and makes the traceability to the SI unit of time not easily possible.
Therefore, a need still exists for a technique that is: precise, fast, low-cost and traceable to the SI unit of time for chromatic dispersion measurement.

Method and apparatus for chromatic dispersion measurement based on optoelectronic oscillations


An embodiment power converter package comprises a semiconductor die, an output inductor, a plurality of input capacitors and output capacitors. The semiconductor die, the output inductor and the plurality of capacitors are mounted on a lead frame and connected one to another through various pads on the lead frame. The semiconductor die comprises a high side switch, a low side switch and a driver. The power converter package is electrically coupled to an external pulse width modulation controller through a variety of input and output pads.

A telecommunication network power system usually includes an ac-dc stage converting the power from the ac utility line to a 48V dc distribution bus and a dc-dc stage converting the 48V dc distribution bus to a plurality of voltage levels for all types of telecommunication loads. Alternatively, the 48V dc distribution bus may be converted into a low voltage bus through an isolated dc-dc converter. Furthermore, a plurality of downstream non-isolated dc-dc converters with inputs coupled to the low voltage bus may generate a variety of voltage levels in accordance with the needs of the telecommunication network power system.
Non-isolated dc-dc converters can be implemented by using different power topologies, such as buck converters, boost converters, buck-boost converters, linear regulators and/or the like. As known in the art, buck converters are widely employed to convert the intermediate bus to various voltage levels required by down stream circuits in a telecommunication system.

Power converter package structure and method


A conductive layer may be fabricated on a semiconductor substrate by loading a silicon substrate in to a chamber whose inside temperature is at a loading temperature in the range of approximately 250° C. to approximately 300° C., increasing the inside temperature of the chamber from the loading temperature to a process temperature, and sequentially stacking a single crystalline silicon layer and a polycrystalline silicon layer over the silicon substrate by supplying a silicon source gas and an impurity source gas in to the chamber, where the chamber may be, for example, a CVD chamber or a LPCVD chamber.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to fabricating a conductive layer in a semiconductor device, and more particularly to fabricating a conductive layer having a low contact resistance in a semiconductor device using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.
In a semiconductor device, active elements are disposed over a silicon substrate, and, if necessary, passive elements such as capacitors are also disposed over the silicon substrate together with the active elements. Electric connection paths for signal transfers may be required between two elements where each element may be active or passive. Typically, the electrical connection paths are formed by disposing conductive layers between the elements in a contact structure.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of landing plug contacts in a semiconductor device. Referring to FIG. 1, device isolation layers 102 define an active region in a silicon substrate 100, and impurity regions 112 and 114 are disposed within the active region. Each area between the impurity regions 112 and 114 defines a channel region where a channel is formed under a predetermined condition. A gate stack 120 is disposed over each channel region. The gate stack 120 includes a gate dielectric layer 121, a gate conductive layer 122, and a gate hard mask layer 123. A gate spacer layer 130 is formed at each sidewall of the gate stack 120. Landing plug contacts 142 and 144 are formed over the impurity regions 112 and 114 which are exposed by the gate stack 120 and the gate spacer layers 130. The landing plug contacts 142 and 144 are conductive layers that are coupled to a storage node contact and a bit line contact in order that the landing plug contacts 142 and 144 are coupled to a capacitor and a bit line, respectively. In FIG. 1, the landing plug contact 142 is coupled to the bit line contact, and the land plug contact 144 is coupled to the storage node contact.
The landing plug contacts 142 and 144 are usually formed using polycrystalline silicon because of its sufficient conductivity. A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, and in particular, a low pressure CVD (LPCVD) process is commonly used to form the landing plug contacts 142 and 144.
FIG. 2 is a graph of temperature inside a chamber during a LPCVD process of forming a conductive polycrystalline silicon layer. In FIG. 2, line 210 shows an inside temperature of an LPCVD chamber. A silicon substrate 100 is loaded in to an LPCVD chamber during a loading period t1 when a loading temperature A1 is maintained. The loading temperature A1 may be, for example, approximately 400° C.
The inside temperature of the chamber is increased to a process temperature A2 during a temperature rise period t2. After the inside temperature of the chamber is increased to the process temperature A2, the chamber temperature is maintained at temperature A2 during a temperature stabilization period t3. After the temperature stabilization period t3, a source gas such as, for example, silane (SiH4), is supplied in to the chamber together with an impurity source gas such as, for example, phosphine (PH3). When these source gases are supplied into the chamber, silicon nuclei may form on the silicon substrate, and coalescing may occur around the silicon nuclei to thereby form a polycrystalline silicon layer.
In the above conventional process, the loading temperature A1 of the chamber is set to a temperature of approximately 400° C. However, during the loading period t1, an undesirable natural oxide layer may form on the surface of the silicon substrate to a thickness, for example, of approximately 1 Å. The natural oxide layer may increase the resistance of the landing plug contacts 142 and 144 formed by deposition of the polycrystalline silicon layer.

Fabricating low contact resistance conductive layer in semiconductor device


An image capture apparatus includes: a light irradiation unit that irradiates an object with light; a reading unit that reads an image in accordance with reflected light of the light irradiated to the object; and an enhancement unit that enhances a predetermined spatial-frequency component of the image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capture apparatus, an image capture system, and an image capture method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method has been known in which a document placed on an exposure glass is irradiated with scanning light emitted from a light source disposed inside a scanning head moving under the exposure glass and reflected light from a surface of the document is read by a line charge-coupled device (CCD) and thereafter, digital image data is output.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 4348315 discloses a multi-angle scanner configured to enable adjustment of an angle of an optical axis of a reading optical system with respect to a surface of an object to be scanned to a desired angle.
Japanese Patent No. 4385925 discloses an image forming method in which an image of a translucent object is acquired and a point spread function (PSF) of the object is acquired by measuring optical property of the object, and the image in which ridges and valleys on a surface are controlled, is formed by performing a deconvolution operation or a convolution operation on the image on the basis of the acquired PSF.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2010-26937 discloses an image capture apparatus that includes a plurality of wavelength limiting units that limit a wavelength of an optical flux emitted from a light source and captures the images of an image capture target in a plurality of wavelength bands by scanning the image capture target as many as times corresponding to the number of wavelength limiting units.
A problem, however, arises in that image data is not obtained that completely reproduces a texture and a relief appearance of an image capture target having the relief (ridges and valleys).
In view of the above, there is a need to provide an image capture apparatus, an image capture system, and an image capture method that can acquire image data completely reproducing a texture and a relief appearance of an image capture target having the relief.

Image capture apparatus, image capture system, and image capture method


Technologies for high-performance single-stream data compression include a computing device that updates an index data structure based on an input data stream. The input data stream is divided into multiple chunks. Each chunk has a predetermined length, such as 136 bytes, and overlaps the previous chunk by a predetermine amount, such as eight bytes. The computing device processes multiple chunks in parallel using the index data to generate multiple token streams. The tokens include literal tokens and reference tokens that refer to matching data from earlier in the input data stream. The computing device thus searches for matching data in parallel. The computing device merges the token streams to generate a single output token stream. The computing device may merge a pair of tokens from two different chunks to generate one or more synchronized tokens that are output to the output token stream. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Data compression is an important computer operation used in many computing applications, including both server and client applications. For example, data compression may be used to reduce network bandwidth requirements and/or storage requirements for cloud computing applications.
Many common lossless compression formats are based on the LZ77 compression algorithm Data compressed using LZ77-based algorithms typically include a stream of symbols (or "tokens"). Each symbol may include literal data that is to be copied to the output or a reference to repeat data that has already been decompressed. The DEFLATE algorithm uses LZ77 compression in combination with Huffman encoding to generate compressed output. Typical compression algorithms such as DEFLATE may support higher compression ratios (e.g., Level 9 or L9 ratios) by performing additional computations.

Technologies for high-performance single-stream LZ77 compression


A fabrication of natural cellulose fiber with flame-retarding capability comprises following steps. Blend pulp and solvent of N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) to form slurry. Evaporate extra water content from slurry by a Thin Film Evaporator (TFE) to form dope. By Dry-Jet Wet Spinning, spin and extrude dope for coagulating and regenerating. Water-rinse and dry to form natural cellulose fiber. Soaking roll natural cellulose fiber by flame retardant of N-(hydroxymethyl)-3-(methoxy phosphorus acyl). Orderly dry, bake, neutralize, soaping clean, water rinse, baking dry, soaking rolled, alkaline clean, water rinse, dry and oil the natural cellulose fiber to produce natural cellulose fiber of flame retarding capacity. Because of cross-linking reaction for the flame retardant of N-(hydroxymethyl)-3-(methoxy phosphorus acyl) with natural cellulose fiber, the flame-retarding capability thereof meet requirements of testing standards in American ASTM D6413-1999 and ASTM D2863-1995. Moreover, the wastes thereof meet the requirements of environment protections without harm.

Currently, most fiber fabricating raw materials used in the fireproof or flame retarding fabrics are mixtures of polyacrylonitrile fiber family and Polyacrylonitrile fiber family evenly blended by mechanical means such as that shown in the Taiwan Patent Certificated No. I24848, or multi-bundled Polyacrylonitrile fiber via directly rolling traction in rolling stage by thermal means such as that shown in the Taiwan Patent Certificated No. 182661, or Polyolefin added with flame retardant by chemically copolymerization such as that shown in the Taiwan Patent Certificated No. 191223. Besides, there are some inferior fireproof or flame retarding fabrics, which are sparingly processed by only directly coating flame retarding agent on the surface of those raw materials mentioned above for scanting manufacturing cost.
However, all the fireproof or flame retarding fibers mentioned above belong to non-biodegradable fiber, whose wastes are harmful to natural environment due to unable to be naturally degraded. Accordingly, most countries stipulate relevant technical regulations about flammability for textile products in succession so that importing and marketing of such textile products against these technical regulations is prohibited Nevertheless, demand of the fireproof or flame retarding textile products is constantly increasing with result in substantial increasing of non-biodegradable fiber wastes, which lead to significantly unfavorable burden for natural environment. Moreover, for those textile products employed frugal process by adding or only directly coating flame retarding agent on those raw materials mentioned above, they may be reducing related manufacturing cost but at the sacrifice of flame retarding effect, which contrarily incurs invisible worry for household safety and human security.
In view of these foregoing facts, how to produce expected natural cellulose fibers, namely solvent-spun fiber, with long-acting flame retarding capability via special cross-linking reaction under preset process conditions becomes a critical and urgent demand.

Fabrication of natural cellulose fiber with flame-retarding capability


Integral structures that block the current conduction of the built-in PiN diode in a junction barrier Schottky (JBS) structure are provided. A Schottky diode may be incorporated in series with the PiN diode, where the Schottky diode is of opposite direction to that of the PiN diode. A series resistance or and insulating layer may be provided between the PiN diode and a Schottky contact. Silicon carbide Schottky diodes and methods of fabricating silicon carbide Schottky diodes that include a silicon carbide junction barrier region disposed within a drift region of the diode are also provided. The junction barrier region includes a first region of silicon carbide having a first doping concentration in the drift region of the diode and a second region of silicon carbide in the drift region and disposed between the first region of silicon carbide and a Schottky contact of the Schottky diode. The second region is in contact with the first region of silicon carbide and the Schottky contact. The second region of silicon carbide has a second doping concentration that is less than the first doping concentration.

High voltage silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes, which can handle voltages between, for example, about 600V and about 2.5 kV may handle as much as about 100 amps or more of current, depending on their active area. High voltage Schottky diodes have a number of important applications, particularly in the field of power conditioning, distribution and control.
An important characteristic of a SiC Schottky diode in such applications is its switching speed. Silicon-based PIN devices typically exhibit relatively poor switching speeds. A silicon PIN diode may have a maximum switching speed of approximately 20 kHz, depending on its voltage rating. In contrast, silicon carbide-based Schottky devices are theoretically capable of much higher switching speeds, for example, in excess of about 100 times better than silicon. In addition, silicon carbide devices may be capable of handling a higher current density than silicon devices.
Schottky barrier diodes in 4H-SiC may have a very low specific on-resistance and very fast turn-off characteristics. Attempts to improve device performance have included integrating a p+n junction grid within the Schottky diode, forming a Junction-Barrier Schottky (JBS) structure. When a forward bias is applied, Schottky regions of the diode conduct. As long as the applied forward bias is less than the built-in junction potential of the p+n junction, only majority carrier current flows and no minority carriers are injected into the drift layer, resulting in negligible reverse recovery time due to stored minority carrier charge. When a reverse bias is applied, depletion regions of the p+ regions shield the Schottky regions, resulting in lower electric field at the Schottky metal-SiC interface. This effect may reduce or minimize the reverse bias leakage current from the Schottky areas of the diode and may allow fabrication of high voltage, low leakage and high temperature diodes. The on-state voltage drop of the device is determined by the metal-SiC barrier height, resistance of the drift region and the relative area of the Schottky and the p+ implanted regions.
When a forward bias greater than the built-in potential of the p+n junction is applied, which is 2.6 V in 4H-SiC, the built-in pn junction turns on. Holes are injected from the p+ implanted regions and electrons are injected from the n+ regions. An exemplary I-V curve illustrating the possible I-V characteristics of a conventional JBS diode is provided in FIG. 1. For example, a 4H-SiC JBS diode with Ti Schottky metal will show majority carrier conduction at approximately 1V. Thus, the Schottky turn-on point in FIG. 1 may be at about 1V of forward bias. If the contact to the junction barrier grid is sufficiently ohmic, when the majority carrier current increases with forward bias the pn junction may turn on at about 2.6 V. From this point, the minority carrier current dominates the forward conduction of the diode. Since the drift layer of the diode is flooded with carriers, the device may show significant reverse recovery charge and reverse recovery time. Thus, when such a device is switched from the forward bias (conducting) state to the reverse bias (blocking) state, it would undesirably continue to conduct current until all injected minority carriers have recombined. In addition, carrier recombination can cause propagation of stacking faults, which may result in severe degradation of the I-V characteristics.
A conventional SiC Schottky diode with an implanted junction barrier grid is illustrated in FIG. 2. In the conventional device, floating field rings surround the junction barrier grid. A non-scale simplified illustration of the cross-section structure of the conventional device is seen below in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the number of implant regions in the junction barrier region have been reduced for clarity. Furthermore, the relative dimensions of regions have also been altered for clarity.
As seen in FIG. 2, the conventional device includes a relatively thin (about 0.5 μm) n+ SiC epitaxial layer 12 on an n+ SiC substrate 10. An n− SiC epitaxial layer 14 is provided on the n+ SiC epitaxial layer 12. The n− SiC epitaxial layer 14 is about 5 μm thick for 600V products and about 13 μm thick for 1200V products. Implanted regions of p-type SiC 16 are provided in the n− SiC epitaxial layer 14 and extend to a depth of about 0.5 μm. The p-type implants 16 provide the junction barrier grid and the floating field rings. An oxide layer that includes a first thermal oxide layer 18 and a second deposited oxide layer 20 is provided on the floating field rings and on the outer portion of the junction barrier grid. A Schottky contact 22 is provided on the junction barrier grid and extends onto the oxide layer. An ohmic contact 24 is provided on the SiC substrate 10.
All of the p-type implants (the junction barrier grid and the field rings) of the conventional devices are implanted with the same dose so as to result in a carrier concentration of greater than 1×1018 cm−3 after activation. The junction barrier grid includes a grid of p-type implanted regions that are about 1.5 μm wide and spaced apart about 4 μm. This portion of the junction barrier grid includes uniform sized and spaced implants and is surrounded by the periphery p-type implanted region that is about 15 μm wide and connects the uniformly sized implant regions to each other. This periphery region of the junction barrier grid is made wider than the other portions to allow for manufacturing variation so as to assure that the Schottky contact will contact the grid around the entire periphery of the grid. The p-type implanted floating field rings are about 2.75 μm wide and are spaced apart about 1.75 μm.
In manufacturing the conventional devices, an n+ SiC substrate 10 is provided. Two n-type SiC epitaxial layers (an n+ SiC epitaxial layer 12 and an n− SiC epitaxial layer 14) are formed on the substrate 10 as described above with reference to FIG. 2. The SiC epitaxial layers and the SiC substrate are thermally oxidized to provide a sacrificial layer of silicon dioxide on the SiC substrate and the epitaxial layers. Each of these sacrificial layers of silicon dioxide is removed by etching. P-type dopants (Al) are implanted into the n− SiC epitaxial layer at a dose of 4×1014 cm−2 to provide the floating guard rings and the junction barrier grid as illustrated in FIG. 2. The implanted p-type dopants are then activated utilizing a high temperature anneal (i.e. 1600° C.). The high temperature anneal incorporates the dopants into the crystal structure of the SiC and removes most (e.g. ≧90%) if not all of the crystal defects that resulted from the implantation process.
A sacrificial oxide is then thermally grown on the n− SiC epitaxial layer, including the implanted regions, and removed by etching. A thermal oxide is then grown on the n− SiC epitaxial layer and a deposited oxide is formed and densified on the thermal oxide. The oxides on the n− SiC epitaxial layer are then patterned to provide an opening to the n− SiC epitaxial layer for a Schottky contact and the Schottky contact is formed in the opening to contact the n− SiC epitaxial layer and the implanted junction barrier grid. The Schottky contact also extends onto the oxide layer as shown in FIG. 2.
Additional conventional terminations of SiC Schottky diodes are described in "Planar Terminations in 4H-SiC Schottky Diodes With Low Leakage And High Yields" by Singh et al., ISPSD '97, pp. 157-160. A p-type epitaxy guard ring termination for a SiC Schottky Barrier Diode is described in "The Guard-Ring Termination for High-Voltage SiC Schottky Barrier Diodes" by Ueno et al., IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 16, No. 7, July, 1995, pp. 331-332. Additionally, other termination techniques are described in published PCT Application No. WO 97/08754 entitled "SiC Semiconductor Device Comprising A PN Junction With A Voltage Absorbing Edge."

Silicon carbide junction barrier Schottky diodes with suppressed minority carrier injection


An apparatus including a trolling motor having at least one operational subsystem and the trolling motor also having an integral electronic controller for controlling the operational subsystem wherein the improvement comprises an integral electronic diagnostic system which will receive diagnostic information from the operational subsystem and will transmit the diagnostic information for reception externally of the trolling motor.

Trolling motors are commonly used on bass boats, pontoon boats, and other watercraft for fishing or other operations which require a relatively high degree of manueverability along shorelines or in other tight locations. Various types of trolling motor assemblies are known in the art. One common type of trolling motor is a single tube assembly comprising: an electric motor and propeller assembly secured on the lower end of an elongate tube or other column; a control head or housing structure attached in fixed position on the upper end of the column; and an electrical cable extending through the column from the control head to the motor and propeller assembly for operating the motor. The single tube trolling motor will typically be either manually rotated or rotated by external mechanical means for steering the watercraft.
An example of another common type of trolling motor is a rotating tube assembly comprising: a control head or other housing structure having a fixed tube extending from the bottom thereof; a rotatable tube or other rotatable column having an upper end which is received in the control head and a lower end which projects from the lower end of the fixed column; an electric motor and propeller assembly secured on the lower end of the rotatable column; an electrical cable extending through the rotatable column from the control head to the propulsion motor for operating the motor; and a steering motor and gear assembly provided in the control head for rotating the rotatable column in order to turn the motor and propeller assembly for steering the watercraft.
A typical trolling motor presently available in the market will include an integral electronic controller having a central processing unit for controlling and/or monitoring one or more, typically a plurality of, operational subsystems within the motor. Examples of functions typically performed by these subsystems include: steering; propulsion (e.g., motor and propeller speed, forward and reverse, etc.); monitoring and indicating battery status; receiving and decoding control signals from the user interface; and monitoring temperature, current, voltage, and/or other conditions at desired locations. In addition, if the trolling motor is of a type having a depth tracking system incorporated therein for fishing, the central processing unit can also include circuitry linked to the depth tracking system for automatically controlling and displaying steering position and speed. The integral electronic controller can communicate with the operator interface via a cable connection or by radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), or other wireless communication. Examples of typical user interfaces include, but are not limited to, operator consoles, foot pedals, and key fobs.
Examples of trolling motors having integral electronic controls systems incorporated therein are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,338, U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,831, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,446. The entire disclosure of each of these patents is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,338 discloses a trolling motor having a receiver circuit included on a control circuit board in the trolling motor control head. The receiver circuit receives user commands, preferably by RF transmission, from a foot pedal transmitter circuit. The control circuit board also includes a control circuit which controls the operation of a steering subsystem and a thrust subsystem based upon the radio frequency commands.
In the trolling motor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,338, the RF receiver circuit is preferably an integrated circuit which receives the user's RF signal commands and develops appropriate digital signals which are then transferred to a receiver microcontroller. The receiver microcontroller in turn develops individual output signals which correspond to the foot pedal signals. The control circuit also utilizes an integrated circuit microcontroller which receives the command signals from the receiver microcontroller and develops appropriate signals for controlling the steering and propulsion subsystems. The control system also includes low battery indicators which provide a flashing signal in the event that there is a problem with the batteries or with the boat wiring system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,446 discloses a DC-powered trolling motor which incorporates an integral pulse width modulation (PWM) controller to control the voltage applied to the motor, and, hence, to control the speed of the motor. The PWM controller is contained in the motor and propeller housing and is therefore submerged during operation. The PWM controller comprises: a microprocessor having analog inputs, a pulse width modulator output, a digital output, and a serial input for receiving motor speed commands from a foot pedal; a reversing relay for changing the polarity of the power applied to the motor; a relay driver for energizing the reversing relay; a solid state switch for energizing the motor; and a current sensor and amplifier for measuring the current flowing through the motor. The controller also includes a temperature sensing device which allows the microprocessor to monitor the temperature of the motor and to adjust the electrical drive to the motor to prevent overheating.
A need exists for a trolling motor diagnostic system that is simple to operate, is highly effective and fast, and requires minimal training and equipment. As the use of electronic controls and systems within trolling motors has become more sophisticated and complex, it has become increasing difficult for assembly line and service technicians to diagnose problems within the trolling motor. To diagnose and address problems effectively, it has been necessary for the technician to possess a thorough understanding of the trolling motor hardware and software and to be versed in the use of sophisticated instruments such as oscilloscopes and digital multimeters. In addition, the equipment necessary for performing diagnostics becomes even more specialized if the trolling motor uses an RF command system. Further, if the integral electronic control system is potted (i.e., sealed in or under a protective covering), only certain select signals are available for external analysis.
Heretofore, integral diagnostic systems capable of being used in trolling motors or other watercraft systems have not been available. Although diagnostic data systems have been used in automobiles, diagnostic systems of this type are not adaptable for use in RF controlled or other types of trolling motors and are incompatible with the open environmental and operational conditions encountered with watercraft systems.


A turbine blade with small diffusers in the cooling channels and trip strips on the channel walls to produce a very high internal convection. A trailing edge cooling channel includes a diffuser on a lower end of the channel formed by ribs with decreasing width. A forward flowing serpentine flow cooling circuit includes a tip turn and a root turn with a small diffuser formed by the tip turn and a small diffuser formed on a lower end of the third leg of the serpentine formed by ribs with decreasing width.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to gas turbine engine, and more specifically to a turbine rotor blade with serpentine flow cooling channels.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
In a gas turbine engine, such as a large frame heavy-duty industrial gas turbine (IGT) engine, a hot gas stream generated in a combustor is passed through a turbine to produce mechanical work. The turbine includes one or more rows or stages of stator vanes and rotor blades that react with the hot gas stream in a progressively decreasing temperature. The efficiency of the turbine—and therefore the engine—can be increased by passing a higher temperature gas stream into the turbine. However, the turbine inlet temperature is limited to the material properties of the turbine, especially the first stage vanes and blades, and an amount of cooling capability for these first stage airfoils.
The first stage rotor blade and stator vanes are exposed to the highest gas stream temperatures, with the temperature gradually decreasing as the gas stream passes through the turbine stages. The first and second stage airfoils (blades and vanes) must be cooled by passing cooling air through internal cooling passages and discharging the cooling air through film cooling holes to provide a blanket layer of cooling air to protect the hot metal surface from the hot gas stream.
To provide higher efficiency, a blade must have higher cooling capability as well as using less cooling air flow. In future industrial gas turbine engines, the turbine blades will be longer and require less cooling air flow to improve control of metal temperature so that longer life for the blade occurs. Modern turbine blades use a combination of convection cooling, impingement cooling and film cooling.

Turbine blade with diffuser cooling channel


An image processing apparatus includes: a luminance extraction means to extract luminance components of an input image; a contrast extraction means to extract contrast components of the input image based on the luminance components of the input image extracted by the luminance extraction means; a storage means to store a performance function indicating relation between the contrast components of the input image and depth amounts subjectively perceived, which is determined based at least in part on visual sense characteristics of human beings; and a contrast adjustment means to calculate present depth amounts of the input image from the contrast components of the input image extracted by the contrast extraction means based at least in part on the performance function with respect to region of the input image which are determined from depth information of the input image and adjusting contrast components of the input image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and a program, and particularly relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and a program capable of providing 3D images with less sense of discomfort and uncomfortable feeling for human beings by adjusting parameters of monocular 3D information based on visual sense characteristics of human beings.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of displaying a 2D image on a 2D display and allowing a viewer to perceive the 2D image as a 3D image, there exists a method of presenting a 2D image for a left eye and a 2D image for a right eye in which binocular parallax (parallax between the left eye and the right eye) to the left and right eyes of the viewer respectively.
As information for allowing a human to perceive stereoscopic effect and depth of an object, there are binocular 3D information by both eyes and monocular 3D information by a single eye. A human perceives stereoscopic effect and depth of the object or space by combining the monocular 3D information and the binocular 3D information. As the binocular 3D information, for example, binocular parallax, horizontal convergence and the like can be cited. As the monocular 3D information, for example, shading, contrast, color, a spatial frequency, shielding relation and the like can be cited.
When stereoscopic effect and depth are desired to be enhanced in the case of displaying the 2D image on the 2D display and allowing the viewer to perceive the 2D image as the 3D image, for example, a method of increasing binocular parallax which is one of the binocular 3D information can be considered.
However, to increase the binocular parallax has the following problems in the light of an ocular structure and visual sense characteristics of human beings. That is, human eyeballs are normally in a parallel or a rather inward convergence state, therefore, when the binocular parallax is increased more than the distance between pupils, the eyeballs are in a divergence state in which both eyes are directed to the outside. The distance between pupils differs depending on the age or sex, therefore, a person having distance between pupils which is smaller than the normal distance is liable to be in the divergence state.
In the real world, sight lines of both eyes are directed to a gaze point as well as the focus of eyes is achieved on the point, therefore, distance of convergence of eyeballs corresponds to distance of adjustment thereof. However, when allowing the viewer to perceive the 3D image by the 2D image for the left eye and the 2D image for the right eye, the convergence can be adjusted on a position perceived as the 3D image, while the adjustment is focused on an image display surface, therefore, the distance by convergence of eyeballs does not corresponds to the distance by adjustment thereof. Accordingly, to emphasis stereoscopic effect and depth by increasing binocular parallax changes the distance by the convergence of eyeballs and the distance by the adjustment to a direction not correspond to each other, which may allow the viewer to perceive artificiality or to feel discomfort and visual fatigue.
In order to reduce uncomfortable feeling and visual fatigue, a method of adjusting the binocular parallax is proposed. For example, in a method proposed in Japanese Patent No. 3749227 (Patent Document 1), plural sample images in which binocular parallax is set to different values are presented and whether the presented images are permitted or not is allowed to be responded to adjust the binocular parallax.
However, when uncomfortable feeling and visual fatigue of the viewer are intended to be reduced, the binocular parallax is basically adjusted to a direction of reducing the stereoscopic effect and depth, therefore, realistic sensation and reality are reduced. Additionally, when stereoscopic effect and depth perceived by binocular 3D information are different from stereoscopic effect and depth perceived from monocular 3D information, the viewer may feel artificiality.
Therefore, it is not preferable that stereoscopic effect and depth sense of the 3D image are enhanced by increasing the binocular parallax.
On the other hand, a method of enhancing stereoscopic effect and depth sense by using monocular 3D information is also proposed. For example, in JP-A-2001-238231 (Patent Document 2), a method of changing characteristics of shading, shielding relation and a blurring state according to a depth position of an object in an image to enhance the depth sense is proposed.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method and program


A local area network tracking system and method of use is described herein. An exemplary embodiment of the system comprises a central tracker server that registers and tracks third-party vendor kiosks when the kiosks connect to a retail store local area network. The unique tracker server system is configured to efficiently route web application traffic on the same retail store local area network. The tracker server stores a local IP address and a unique identifier for each vendor kiosk connected to a particular retail store network. Customers connected to the network are routed to the tracker server to obtain the IP address for a suitable vendor kiosk, with which the customer can establish a direct wireless connection to that kiosk over the retail store network. The system described herein can be implemented without modifying any aspect of the retail store LAN infrastructure.

In commercial environments, clients (otherwise referred to herein as users or consumers) frequently seek to wirelessly connect to local area networks ("LANs"), including via Wi-Fi. Such environments can include retail stores, restaurants, airports, and the like. Third-party vendors often implement devices, products, kiosks, etc. to interact with consumers, to solicit such products to consumers, or to utilize such products to facilitate consumer interaction and sales of other products. By way of example only, certain retail stores include third-party photo kiosks, which consumers can use and interact with to place and retrieve photo product orders. (For ease of reference, the third-party photo kiosk example will be referenced predominately herein, but such reference should be understood as non-limiting.) Many third-party vendor products are capable of broadcasting their own wireless LAN or Wi-Fi signal to which consumers may connect. It is common for consumers to use wireless applications on their personal devices, such as their smartphones, to interact with these third-party vendor products or kiosks. In particular circumstances, the interaction occurs based on a direct connection of the consumer's device to the kiosk's Wi-Fi.
Directly connecting with a third-party kiosk's Wi-Fi signal in a retail store has drawbacks, however. For example, third-party vendor products and kiosks that broadcast their own Wi-Fi signal have limited range. Consumers therefore must remain in close proximity to the particular kiosk to remain connected. In many commercial environments, this is disadvantageous because it does not allow the consumer to move freely within the store or restaurant without risking disconnection. In addition to third-party kiosks having the capability of broadcasting their own Wi-Fi signal, most of the commercial environments in which third-party vendor products are located also broadcast their own Wi-Fi signal. And, often, this Wi-Fi signal is much stronger and has a larger range, typically providing coverage for the entire store. Consumers, therefore, are generally more inclined to connect to store Wi-Fi, as opposed to the third-party vendor product's Wi-Fi.
This situation presents yet another issue: if a consumer connects to the store Wi-Fi, then she must disconnect from the third-party vendor kiosk Wi-Fi. (This situation assumes that the consumer is unable to, or chooses not to, use some other wireless internet connection, like a cellular connection.) When connected to just the store Wi-Fi, the consumer is not able to connect with the third-party vendor kiosk. Retailers are reluctant to allow third-party vendors to tap into their Wi-Fi networks, or otherwise tie the third-party vendor kiosks into the broader store network. Doing so presents security risks and requires modifications to the network and hardware infrastructure.
One unique aspect of retail photo kiosks, in particular, is that users are required to provide digital image files to the kiosk for printing, or fulfillment of other photo product requests. With smartphones now as the primary means for consumer photography, users can wirelessly transfer images to interact with the photo kiosk. Current approaches route all such traffic destined for the kiosk over slower, less efficient internet or external networks. Accordingly, a need exists for a way to enable third-party vendor products to integrate into, or "piggyback" on, retailers' LANs without requiring retailers to modify the network or hardware infrastructure. A further need exists for a way to register and track the third-party products connected to retailers' LANs. Finally, a need exists for a way to enable consumers to connect to a retailer's LAN and utilize that connection to connect with a third-party-vendor kiosk located within the retailer store.

Vendor kiosk tracking and routing system over local area network and method of use


A method for displaying an animation by a display chip of an electronic device, which includes a non-volatile memory and a random-access memory. The display chip includes a video output register and a display register. The method includes a first static programming phase including configuring the video output register; writing n images in the memory, n being an integer higher than or equal to two; writing into the memory of a plurality of nodes, such that each node includes the address in the memory of at least one portion of an image, as well as the address of the following node in the memory, the last node including the address in the random-access memory of the first node; and configuring the display register. The method also includes a second phase in which the n images are read by the display chip by the display register, to display the animation.

The starting of an electronic device is achieved in several steps. First of all the elementary input/output system initialises the random-access memory. Once the initialisation step has finished, the elementary input/output system loads a starting program or boot program into the random access memory. The role of this boot program is to initialise the peripheral devices, such as a display chip, and to load the operating system into the random access-memory. However, the operating system which operates the device is not immediately operational. Consequently during the first moments following starting of the device, the operating system does not yet have access to the display chip drivers and therefore cannot control the display chip to provide information, for example, on the progress of the starting phase. During these first moments, however, the boot program may be programmed to configure the video output registers statically in order to display an image which shows that the device is starting.
In order to produce an image, a display chip generally has two registers: a video output register and a display register. The video output register can be configured to carry out a progressive display or an interlaced display. When the video output register is configured for a progressive display, the display of an image is performed line by line. When the video output register is configured for an interlaced video, the image is divided into a first frame called the odd frame which comprises the odd lines of the image and a second frame called the even frame which comprises the even lines of the image, and display of the image is achieved first of all by displaying the odd frame then by displaying the even frame. The display register contains a chained configuration table, otherwise known as a node, this node comprising in particular the memory address of the image (in the case of a display using progressive mode) or of the frame to be displayed (in the case of an interlaced mode), where the configuration of the display register is conditional upon the choice of display mode through the video output register.
In the context of a progressive display, the node contained in the display register comprises not only the memory address of the image to be displayed, but also its own address, or in other words the node points to itself. The display is therefore carried out by continuously scanning the node.
In the context of an interlaced display, the display register contains a first node comprising the address of the odd frame of the image to be displayed and allows the odd lines of this image to be displayed. This first node also comprises the memory address of the second node. The second node contains the address of the even frame of the image to be displayed and allows the even lines of this image to be displayed. This second node also comprises the memory address of the first node. The display is therefore achieved by scanning the first node then scanning the second node, leading to the display of the odd lines and then of the even lines of the image to be displayed. Thus, in contrast to progressive display, the display alternates between the display of the odd lines (or odd frame) and the display of the even lines (or even frame) of the same image.
However, since the programming of the registers static, it is not possible to display an animation, since an animation requires at least two images. A known technique is therefore to display a static image during the starting phase, where the display of this image can occur either by means of a display in interlaced mode, or by means of a display in progressive mode. The animation can therefore only appear on the display device when the operating system has access to the display chip drivers. Depending on the operating system and on the security measures used, this animation only appears 5 to 15 seconds after actual start-up of the electronic device. During this interval, users frequently take the fixed image for a malfunction of the electronics package and disconnect the latter during the starting sequence.
A need therefore exists which is associated with the display of an animation during the very first moments of the starting phase of an electronic device; that is, before the operating system takes control of the display, indicating that said starting is proceeding correctly.

Method for displaying an animation during the starting phase of an electronic device and associated electronic device


A seed firmer for firming seeds deposited in the seed trench to ensure good seed-to-soil contact. A bracket mounts the seed firmer to the row unit frame such that the seed firmer is aligned with the seed trench. The seed firmer includes a resilient insert positioned in the firmer body to stiffen the seed firmer to more resiliently firm the seed into the soil.

In recent years, farmers have recognized the need to enhance seed-to-soil contact in order to create the proper environment for seed germination and emergence after planting. Seed firmers have thus been developed for pressing the seed into the soil subsequent to placement in the seed trench. However, existing firmers have varying effectiveness in certain soil conditions and soil types. Additionally, the increased pressure to perform planting operations at high speeds have in some cases limited the effectiveness of existing firmer designs. Thus, there is a need for a seed firmer for an agricultural planter row unit providing for more effective firming of the seed resulting in improved seed-to-soil contact.


Provided is a cell culture instrument which has excellent operability while including a plurality of wells capable of holding cells. The cell culture instrument according to the present invention includes a base portion in which a well group including a plurality of first wells capable of holding cells is formed, and a frame portion vertically arranged around the well group of the base portion to form a second well being capable of holding a solution.

Conventionally, for example, a 96-well plate with 96 wells of approximately 3 mm in diameter has been present as a general-purpose cell culture instrument in which a large number of wells capable of holding cells therein are formed (see, for example, Non-patent Document 1, Non-patent Document 2, and Non-patent Document 3). In addition, a 384-well plate with 384 smaller wells and a 1536-well plate with 1536 much smaller wells have been present.
Non-patent Document 1: Hiroshi Kurosawa, Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Vol. 103, No. 5, 389-398, 2007
Non-patent Document 2: Celeste H. Campbell et al., The FASEB Journal Vol. 16 1917-1927, 2002
Non-patent. Document 3: Scott W. Allen et al., DRUG METABOLISM AND DISPOSITION Vol. 29, No. 8, 1074-1079, 2001

Cell culture instrument and cell culture method using the same

KITAKYUSHU FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A fabricating apparatus and a method of a flat plate display are disclosed. A fabricating apparatus of a flat plate display includes a stage on which a substrate having liquid resin formed thereon is seated, a imprinting mold bonded with the liquid resin of the substrate to form a thin film pattern on the substrate, the imprinting mold comprises projections and grooves, and a planarization layer formed between the stage and the substrate to planarize a surface of the stage.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to a fabricating apparatus and method of a flat plate display which can prevent spots generated on a non-uniform surface of a stage.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Various kinds of flat plate displays capable of reducing a weight and volume which are disadvantages of a cathode ray tube (CRT) haven been emerging recently. Such a flat plate display includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), a field emission display, a plasma display panel and an electro-luminescence (EL) display.
This flat plate display is configured of a plurality of thin films formed by a mask process including depositing (coating), exposing, developing and etching. However, the mask process has complicated fabricating assembly process and it has a disadvantage of high production cost. As a result, research and study haven been under progress to form thin films via a patterning process using an imprinting mold in recent.
According to this patterning process, when a liquid polymeric precursor contacts with a mould for imprinting which has a groove and a projection after liquid resin is painted on a substrate, the groove and the projection of the imprinting mold are reverse-transferred to the liquid polymeric precursor and the reverse-transferred liquid polymeric precursor is hardened in a hardening process to form a desired thin film pattern on the substrate.
Here, a related art substrate having liquid resin coated thereon for a hardening process is seated on a stage 2 shown in FIG. 1.
A stage 2 having a stone surface is typically used for such the stage 2 because of excellent flatness without no distorted flatness. However, in spite of good flatness, the surface of the stage 2 has difference (D) between the lowest part and the highest part, for example, approximately 10˜30 μm. This non-uniform flatness would generate spots in a thin film pattern and the non-uniform flatness of the stone surface stage 2 would be severe in case of an enlarged stage.
When the substrate 4 seated on the stage 2 having a non-uniform surface contacts with a imprinting mold 8, the pressure applied to a front surface of liquid resin 6 will generate pressure-non-uniform because of contact area between the stage 2 and the substrate 4. This kind of pressure non-uniform makes the thickness of the liquid resin 6 formed on the substrate 4 non-uniform which can look like spots.

Apparatus and method of fabricating flat plate display


An in-line valve includes an in-line plunger having angled tooth cam surfaces mounted for non-rotational sliding along a conduit, and an in-line ported piston having angled tooth cam surfaces mounted to slide and rotate along the conduit. The angled tooth cam surfaces on the piston and plunger are resiliently biased in opposed facing relation so as to engage in rotationally sliding engagement over one another. This selectively indexes the piston into valve open and valve closed positions. The plunger is driven against the resilient return biasing of the piston by a modulated fluid pressure pulse from the fluid line attached to the valve. In the valve open position, a port in the piston passes the fluid through the piston and the plunger and along the fluid line. In the valve closed position, the port is closed off and the piston seals off the fluid flow through the piston and plunger.

There exists a need for controlling two way pressure in a vessel such as a tire through a single air or other fluid line. Consequently, the present disclosure provides for a fluid pressure activated, two-way, two position in-line valve for applications where pressure is to be controlled as close to the vessel as possible and where space limitations prevent the use of prior art valves where the applications will only allow for one air or fluid line requiring air or fluid flow in both directions along the line such as in tire inflation and deflation through a single air line.
Both solenoid valves and electric valves are known in the prior art. Solenoid valves are operated electromagnetically. Solenoids create a magnetic field from electric current which in turn opens or closes the valve mechanically. Electric valves are driven by electric motors to produce valve action. Both solenoid and electric valves depend on electric current.
The in-line valve according to the present disclosure is pressure actuated and does not require energy usage other than the energy present in the form of fluid pressure in the line. The in-line valve is advantageous where there is no electricity readily available in proximity to the line so as to operate prior art electric valves or where the operation of such valves would be cost prohibitive or require unreliable rotating electrical contacts. Solenoid and electric valves generally include several structural components, may be large in size, and are usually not suitable for confined spaces.
The present disclosure is directed to in-line valves where reduced weight is important and wherein, in some applications, the in-line valve may be used in somewhat harsh environments which may cause the fluid line to fail thereby causing subsequent fluid leakage, and where pressure in the line may not always be maintained. For example, the valve according to the present disclosure may be used in place of rotating seals where expected leakage through such rotating seals may exceed design requirements or in situations where reliance on such rotating seals may cause safety concerns or for example reliability problems due to heat build-up and wear in the rotating seals.