In a wireless network system which adopts a multi-layer data transmission structure, a wireless channel is established between a user equipment and a base station. When a first layer operates using an initial TCP/IP window size, a signal transmission status and a current signal transmission parameter of a second layer are measured. If the signal transmission status does not meet a predetermined standard, the first layer is configured to operate according to an adjusted TCP/IP window size which is associated with the current signal transmission parameter. The first layer is hierarchically higher than the second layer in the multi-layer data transmission structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method of data transmission in a wireless network system, and more particularly, to a method of data transmission in a wireless network system by optimizing window size scaling of communication protocol.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With rapid development in technology, a user may easily connect to a network using desktop computers, notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or smart phones. In order for electronic equipment having varying specifications to be able to communicate with the same network, an OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) network model has been provided by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) for managing the network intercommunication between two systems. Meanwhile, transmission control protocol (TCP)/Internet protocol (IP), developed by IETF (Internet engineer task force) according to DoD (department of defense) model, is the most common standard network protocol.
The OSI model and the TCP/IP define various layers for network transmission. In a network environment, each layer of a receiving device or a transmitting device is configured to recognize data from the same layer. Data packets are sequentially transmitted from the top layer to the bottom layer of a transmitting network device and then to a receiving network device using application programs. After receiving data packages, the receiving network device sequentially unpacks each data package, which is then distributed to a corresponding layer of the receiving network device. Assigned for different tasks, each layer may have varying transmission parameters and buffer sizes. Data stall may happen when transmitting data from a fast higher layer to a slow lower layer. Also, a fast lower layer may not be able to improve data throughput if a higher layer encounters insufficient data buffer or transmission blockages.

Method of data transmission in a wireless network system by optimizing window size scaling of communication protocol


An inspection system (9) includes an idler wheel (61) that is coupled to a fabrication system (8) and is in contact with a backing layer (65) of an applied material (64), A rotation sensor (63) monitors the idler wheel (61) and generates a rotational signal. A controller (24) is coupled to the rotation sensor (63) and determines a characteristic of one or more flaws and FOD (19) on a composite structure (12) in response to the rotation signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the fabrication of composite structures and to material placement machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods of detecting flaws and foreign object debris (FOD) and characteristics thereof during the fabrication of a composite structure.
2. Background of the Invention
Composite structures have been known in the art for many years. Although composite structures can be formed in many different manners, one advantageous technique for forming composite structures is a fiber placement or automated collation process. According to conventional automated collation techniques, one or more ribbons of composite material, known as composite strands or tows, are laid down on a substrate. The substrate may be a tool or mandrel, but more conventionally, is formed of one or more underlying layers of composite material that have been previously laid down and compacted.
Conventional fiber placement processes in the formation of a part utilize a heat source to assist in the compaction of the plies of composite material at a localized nip point. In particular, the ribbons or tows of the composite material and the underlying substrate are heated at the nip point to increase resin tack while being subjected to compressive forces to ensure adhesion to the substrate. To complete the part, additional strips of composite material can be applied in a side-by-side manner to each layer and can be subjected to localized heat and pressure during the consolidation process.
Unfortunately, defects can occur during the placement of the composite strips onto the underlying composite structure. Such defects can include tow gaps, overlaps, dropped tows, puckers, and twists. Additionally, foreign objects and debris (FOD), such as resin balls and fuzz balls, can accumulate on a surface of the composite structure. Resin balls are small pieces of neat resin that build up on the surfaces of the fiber placement head as the pre-impregnated tows pass through the guides and cutters. The resin balls become dislodged due to the motion and vibration of the fiber placement machine, and drop on to the surface of the ply. Subsequent courses of applied layers cover the resin ball and a resultant bump is created in the laminate whereat there may be no compaction of the tows. The fuzz balls are formed when fibers at the edges of the tows fray and break off as the tows are passed through the cutter assembly. The broken fibers collect in small clumps that fall onto the laminate and are covered by a subsequent layer.
Composite structures fabricated by automated material placement methods typically have specific maximum allowable size requirements for each flaw, with these requirements being established by the production program. Production programs also typically set well-defined accept/reject criteria for maximum allowable cumulative defect width-per-unit-area.
Composite laminates fabricated by fiber placement processes are typically subjected to a 100% ply-by-ply visual inspection for both defects and FOD. Typically, these inspections are performed manually during which time the fiber placement machine is stopped and the process of laying materials halted until the inspection and subsequent repairs, if any, are completed. In the meantime, the fabrication process has been disadvantageously slowed by the manual inspection process and machine downtime associated therewith.
Current inspection systems are capable of identifying defects in a composite structure during the fabrication process without requiring machine stoppage for manual inspections. The inspection systems are capable of detecting, measuring, marking, and identifying FOD "in-process" or during the fabrication of a composite structure. This, in turn, eliminates the need for manual FOD inspections and the machine downtime associated therewith.
It is desirable that an inspection system be capable of determining characteristics of flaws and FOD, including size, location, type, density-per-unit area, and cumulative defect width-per-unit area. Thus, there exists a need for an improved inspection system and method of detecting, identifying, and determining characteristics of flaws and FOD within and during the fabrication of a composite structure.

In-process vision detection of flaw and FOD characteristics


Towards mining closed frequent itemsets over a sliding window using limited memory space, a synopsis data structure to monitor transactions in the sliding window so that one can output the current closed frequent itemsets at any time. Due to time and memory constraints, the synopsis data structure cannot monitor all possible itemsets, but monitoring only frequent itemsets makes it difficult to detect new itemsets when they become frequent. Herein, there is introduced a compact data structure, the closed enumeration tree (CET), to maintain a dynamically selected set of itemsets over a sliding-window. The selected itemsets include a boundary between closed frequent itemsets and the rest of the itemsets Because the boundary is relatively stable, the cost of mining closed frequent itemsets over a sliding window is dramatically reduced to that of mining transactions that can possibly cause boundary movements in the CET.

Numerals appearing in square brackets herebelow—[ ]—are keyed to the list of references found at the end of the disclosure.
Data streams arise with the introduction of new application areas, including ubiquitous computing and electronic commerce. Mining data streams for knowledge discovery is important to many applications, such as fraud detection, intrusion detection, trend learning, etc. One problem that has long been considered is that of mining closed frequent itemsets on data streams.
Mining frequent itemsets on static datasets has been studied extensively. However, data streams have posed new challenges. First, data streams tend to be continuous, high-speed, and unbounded. Archiving everything from streams is virtually impossible, not to mention mining association rules from them using algorithms that require multiple scans. Second, the data is not stationary, that is, the data distribution in streams are usually changing with time, and very often people are interested in the most recent patterns.
It is thus of great interest to mine itemsets that are currently frequent. One approach is to always focus on frequent itemsets in the most recent window. A similar effect can be achieved by exponentially discounting old itemsets. For the window-based approach, one can immediately come up with two "naïve" methods:                1. Regenerate frequent itemsets from the entire window whenever a new transaction comes into or an old transaction leaves the window.        2. Store every itemset, frequent or not, in a traditional data structure such as the prefix tree, and update its support whenever a new transaction comes into or an old transaction leaves the window.
Clearly, method 1 above is not efficient. In fact, as long as the window size is reasonable, and the conceptual drifts in the stream is not too dramatic, most itemsets do not change their status (from frequent to non-frequent or from non-frequent to frequent) often. Thus, instead of regenerating all frequent itemsets every time from the entire window, it may well be reasonable to adopt an incremental approach.
Method 2, as such, is incremental. However, its space requirement makes it infeasible in practice. The prefix tree is often used for mining association rules on static data sets. In a prefix tree, each node nI represents an itemset I and each child node of nIrepresents an itemset obtained by adding a new item to I. The total number of possible nodes is exponential. Due to memory constraints, it is difficult to keep a prefix tree in memory, and disk-based structures will make real time update costly.
In view of these challenges, one may wish to focus on a dynamically selected set of itemsets that are i) informative enough to answer at any time queries such as "what are the (closed) frequent itemsets in the current window", and at the same time, ii) small enough so that they can be easily maintained in memory and updated in real time.
A key problem is, of course, what itemsets shall be selected for this purpose? To reduce memory usage, one may be tempted to select, for example, nothing but frequent (or even closed frequent) itemsets. However, if the frequency counts of a non-frequent itemset is not monitored, one will never know when it becomes frequent. A naive approach is to monitor all itemsets whose support is above a reduced threshold minsup−ε, so that one will not miss itemsets whose current support is within ε of minsup when they become frequent. This approach is apparently not general enough.
In view of the foregoing, a need has been recognized in connection with improving upon the inadequacies and shortcomings of prior efforts.

Systems and methods for maintaining closed frequent itemsets over a data stream sliding window

International Business Machines Corporation


A layout design methodology is provided for a device that includes two or more identical structures. Each device can have a first die, a second die stacked over the first die and a third die stacked over the second die. The second die can include a first through-silicon via (TSV) and a first circuit, and the third die can include a second TSV and a second circuit. The first TSV and the second TSV can be linearly coextensive. The first and second circuit can each be a logic circuit having a comparator and counter used to generate die identifiers. The counters of respective device die can be connected in series between the dice. Each die can be manufactured using the same masks but retain unique logical identifiers. A given die in a stack of dice can thereby be addressed by a single path in a same die layout.

The fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs) require mask techniques, such as the use of photomasks to etch and process circuit designs. However, due to increasingly smaller and complicated IC requirements, device design is more challenging than ever. The number of circuit elements required in a given IC space is increasingly more complex. As a result, the cost of photomask sets for advanced IC processes has increased substantially, particularly as IC designs shrink. With ever-rising mask generation costs being an increasing factor in the expense of an IC chip, economizing mask cost is a significant focus of IC design.
Likewise, when a new IC design requires an engineering change order (ECO), mask cost can contribute substantially. To make incremental changes at a chip level, a design may incorporate spare or dummy cells, including unused wires and metals to minimize the requirement of new masks in metal-only ECOs. However, redundancy involved in the use of dummy wires and the like does not reduce mask costs at the packaging level.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form part of the specification, illustrate the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the relevant art to make and use the disclosure.

Layout design methodology for stacked devices

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


In some examples, an optical fiber may include a clad portion and an exposed fiber core that extends from the clad portion. Multiple such optical fibers may be included in a fiber bundle having a condensed region of fiber cores spaced at a first center-to-center spacing and a non-condensed region of clad portions spaced at a second center-to-center spacing greater than the first center-to-center spacing. Such optical fibers may be formed with exposed fiber cores ab initio.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described herein are not prior art to the claims in the present application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Many applications for transducers, such as vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and photodiodes, include arrays of transducers formed on a common substrate, each of the transducers optically aligned with a corresponding one of multiple optical fibers in a fiber bundle. Improved technologies for aligning optical fibers to e.g. transducer arrays would be very valuable.


An image forming apparatus includes: a reading mechanism having an original placement portion on which an original document is placed for reading an image; a recording mechanism having a medium supply tray on which a recording medium is set, the recording mechanism being disposed in such a manner that a longitudinal direction of the medium supply tray is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the original placement portion; an angular casing that houses the reading mechanism and the recording mechanism while stacking the reading mechanism and the recording mechanism vertically; and a cartridge holder that houses an ink cartridge and is disposed in a space located at a corner position of the casing below the reading mechanism and surrounded by a circumferential wall of the casing and a side wall of the medium supply tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-8-186678 discloses an image forming apparatus that can be used as a scanner, a printer, a copier, etc., in a state of being connected to a personal computer or the like. This image forming apparatus is equipped with a printer for printing and a scanner for reading of an image.
Both of the printer and the scanner should be wide and long enough to deal with a printing sheet or original document sheet of about the A4 size and hence occupy large spaces. Therefore, a measure is taken to minimize the area occupied by the entire apparatus; more specifically, a two-stage structure is employed in which the printer is disposed below and the scanner is disposed above the printer.


An introducer sheath is provided for inserting at least one medical instrument directly toward a target patient tissue site. A plurality of lumens extend longitudinally between sheath proximal and distal ends of the introducer sheath. A septum extends between the sheath proximal and distal ends and selectively laterally separates each of the sheath lumens from one another. The septum is at least partially formed from a deformable and elastomeric material. The septum has a biased condition in which the plurality of sheath lumens are at least partially isolated from one another. The septum is selectively deflectable from the biased condition to at least partially place at least one of the plurality of sheath lumens in fluid communication with at least one other of the plurality of sheath lumens.

Certain medical procedures include inserting multiple medical instruments into patient tissue, either sequentially (one after another) or simultaneously. An example procedure for a sequential usage of medical instruments may include, but is not limited to, dilating a diseased patient lumen using a balloon dilation device followed by a stent deployed in the same lumen. A few examples of procedures for the simultaneous usage of multiple medical instruments in different sites include, but are not limited to, a procedure requiring delivering therapy to two or more patient sites simultaneously, such as thrombolysis infusion catheters to break down clots in two or more sites, or embolization catheters to block flow in two or more sites. A few examples of procedures for the simultaneous usage of multiple medical instruments at or near one disease site may include, but are not limited to, using a diagnostic instrument such as an intravascular ultrasound catheter, and using an interventional instrument such as implant delivery catheter. Procedures that involve simultaneous usage of multiple medical instruments may include creating multiple puncture points for inserting the medical instruments. Multiple puncture points may lead to an increase in patient discomfort, complications, cost, radiation exposure, and/or procedure time. Procedures that may include the sequential operation of multiple medical instruments through a single puncture point may require the complete removal of one instrument from the patient before another instrument can be advanced. This may lead to prolonged patient discomfort, increased radiation exposure, and/or increased procedure time.

Methods and apparatuses for accessing a target patient tissue site


A small diameter crossbow bolt includes a small diameter shaft having a leading end with an insert to receive a point. The trailing end of shaft has a nock and adjacent fletching. The insert receives a point, such as a target point, broad head, or other point known in the industry. A circumferential spacer is positioned along the shaft between the insert and nock and moved along the shaft as needed to locate the insert for a particular weight distribution, center of gravity positioning, or to separate the spacer from nock. The insert, nock, and spacer each have a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of a prior art bolt. When the diameters of the nock and spacer are equal to the diameter of a prior art bolt, the small diameter crossbow bolt of the present invention can be used interchangeably with prior art bolts without modification to the crossbow.

The use of the bow and arrow dates back to ancient civilizations. In such times, primitive bows were made from elastic wooden limbs, and arrows were made from wooden shafts with points made from flint on the leading edge of the arrow, and feathers attached to the trailing edge. For many centuries, the bow and arrow was an essential weapon during wartime, and a necessary tool for hunting. However, with the development of firearms, archery had become nearly obsolete.
In the 1920s, professional engineers took an interest in archery and led the commercial development of new forms of the traditional bow, including the modern recurve and compound bow. These modern bow forms are now dominant in modern Western archery. Of the two, the compound bow has become the most widely used type of bow for all forms of hunting in North America.
One form of compound bow commonly in use today is the crossbow. A crossbow consists of a typical bow, either recurve or compound, that is attached to a stock which holds the drawn string. Crossbows have a much smaller draw length than standard bows. As a result, for the same energy to be imparted to the arrow (or bolt) the crossbow has to have a much higher draw weight. Indeed, the draw weight of modern crossbows is several times greater than traditional bows. The draw used to load the crossbow stored in the bow as elastic potential energy, and when the bowstring is released, this stored energy is imparted to the arrow very quickly. The higher draw weight on the bowstring translates to a greater launching force being applied to the crossbow arrow, or bolt, and a higher initial velocity.
Modern arrows are made to a specified 'spine', or stiffness rating. Typically, in order to maintain accuracy during use, a bolt was necessarily very rigid and capable of withstanding the excessive forces from a crossbow. This mandated a bolt having a large shaft cross section that provided the strength that was required. As a result of this large shaft cross-section, a bolt is typically significantly heavier than a standard arrow.
Nearly all crossbows are manufactured to receive a commonly sized bolt. Specifically, bolts are typically 20″ to 22″, have an outside diameter of 0.344 inches, and have a mass of roughly 15 grains per inch, including vanes, nock, and inserts. There has traditionally been very little variation in the bolts available on the market. While they may vary slightly in length, the overall shaft diameter and weight-per-inch of the shaft remain relatively constant. As a result, there are very few options for the crossbow hunter when considering bolts.
One challenge facing crossbow hunters is the instability that develops shortly after shooting a crossbow bolt. Specifically, in use, a fletching vane of the crossbow bolt is inserted into a channel formed in the crossbow rail. This channel runs the length of the crossbow, and maintains the position of the bolt on the rail as it is shot from the crossbow. However, due to the positioning of the vane within the channel, and the narrowness of the channel, the vane cannot be attached to the shaft in a helical or offset position. Instead, the vane must be straight, or substantially in alignment with the arrow shaft and channel. This results in a bolt that has insufficient rotation during flight to maintain accuracy past fifty yards.
Helical and offset vane arrangements impart a rolling moment on the bolt in flight, increasing accuracy. This principle is akin to the rifling of a bullet or spiral of a football. Where an offset vane is straight back as it is attached the vane axis is offset from the bolt shaft axis. Helical vanes have a similar offset position but are also curved in a helical manner.
Another challenge facing crossbow hunters is the standardization of crossbow bolt weights. Typically, a crossbow bolt is designed to weigh 425 grains including the vanes, nock, insert, and broad head. While this standardization is intended to facilitate use of the bolts on crossbows designed to shoot 425 grain bolts, it nevertheless minimizes the options available to crossbow hunters to optimize the flight characteristics, accuracy and effectiveness of the bolt.
In light of the above, it would be advantageous to provide a crossbow bolt that is lighter weight than traditional crossbow bolts. It would also be advantageous to provide a crossbow bolt that travels faster than traditional crossbow bolts. It would also be advantageous to provide a crossbow bolt that delivers greater kinetic energy to a target. It is further advantageous to provide a crossbow bolt that is relatively easy to manufacture and comparatively cost effective. It is also advantageous to provide a method of retrofitting traditional arrows for use in a standard crossbow.


An apparatus includes: a commercial kitchen sink having a drain; a trough below the sink for transporting effluent positioned such that there is an air gap between it and the drain; and a plurality of selectively positionable markers on the trough for indicating positions for strainers to collect solids in effluent discharging form the drain. A method of removing solids from an effluent flow from a kitchen sink having a drain hole is also disclosed.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to commercial kitchen systems and, more particularly, to an apparatus for draining at least one sink. The apparatus includes a commercial kitchen sink having a drain; a trough below the sink for transporting effluent, the trough positioned such that there is an air gap between it and drain; a plurality of selectively positionable markers on the trough; and removable solids strainers configured to be positioned at a marker to locate the strainer below a drain.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In order to maintain sanitary conditions, plumbing and health code regulations require device drains to be individually drained with a flow passing through a minimum air space to preclude potential cross-contamination caused by fluids migrating upstream due to a downstream blockage. Traditional air-gap connection methods have commonly used a pipe-and-cup arrangement. Effluent flows through a drain, passes through a mandated air-gap into a cup, and then passes through a pipe to a remote location. This conventional set-up requires an adequate vertical distance to be available. However, in many modern commercial kitchens, devices discharge low to the floor and preclude such a pipe-and-cup design, particularly if other equipment needs to be installed under the sink downstream of the drain.
A particular item of equipment that may need to be installed downstream of the drain is the Big Dipper® grease separator sold by Thermaco, Inc. of Asheboro, N.C. Grease separators remove oil and grease from kitchen sink effluent so that the remaining effluent is easier to process and clogging of pipes is reduced, in compliance with many sewage district codes. The oil/grease separators have tanks with quiescent zones to permit the oil and grease to float on top of the water and be susceptible to removal.
When using these and other grease separators, it may be desirable to remove solids from the effluent flow prior to flow into the separator. One method of removing solids includes placing a strainer in the effluent flow below the sink drain. However, to effectively remove solids from the flow, the strainer must be placed such that the effluent stream including the solids passes through the strainer. Therefore, an inexpensive device for eliminating activities such as determining where the strainer should be placed along a trough and monitoring the strainer to determine whether it is indeed aligned with effluent flow from an outlet of a sink drain may increase the operating efficiency of such kitchens. There remains, therefore, a need in the art for an apparatus for draining at least one kitchen sink that provides a trough below the sink for transporting effluent, the trough positioned such that there is an air gap between it and the drain; and a plurality of selectively positionable markers on the trough to guide strainer placement.

Apparatus for draining at least one sink


Flow control assemblies comprise a housing that includes a housing body that defines a housing conduit, an injection conduit that extends through the housing body, and a ball sealer seat. The ball sealer seat defines a portion of the injection conduit, is defined on an inner surface of the housing, and is sized to receive a ball sealer to restrict fluid flow from the casing conduit through the injection conduit. The flow control assemblies further include a sliding sleeve that is located within the housing conduit and defines an isolation ball seat. The flow control assemblies also include a retention structure that is configured to retain the sliding sleeve in a first configuration and to selectively permit the sliding sleeve to transition from the first configuration to a second configuration.

Wells, such as hydrocarbon wells and/or oil wells, may include a casing string that defines a casing conduit and extends between a surface region and a subterranean formation. During construction and/or operation of the well, it may be desirable to perform any one of a number of downhole operations. Illustrative, non-exclusive examples of these downhole operations include locating one or more downhole tools within the casing conduit, stimulating at least a portion of the subterranean formation, fluidly isolating an uphole portion of the casing conduit from a downhole portion of the casing conduit, and/or fluidly isolating the casing conduit from the subterranean formation.
These downhole operations may utilize one or more flow control assemblies to control fluid flows within the casing conduit and/or between the casing conduit and the subterranean formation. However, current flow control assemblies may not provide a desired level of operational flexibility and/or may be costly to install, utilize, and/or remove from the casing conduit. Thus, there exists a need for improved flow control assemblies for downhole operations.

Flow control assemblies for downhole operations and systems and methods including the same


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. A user equipment (UE) or a base station may identify a timing advance parameter and a processing parameter for the UE, and one or both may determine a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) timing based on the identified parameters. For example, if the UE has a large timing advance or reduced processing capacity, a longer HARQ timing may be chosen. When the UE receives downlink (DL) transmissions from the base station, the UE may send an acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) based on the chosen HARQ timing. The base station may send a retransmission (in the case of a NACK) based on the HARQ timing. In some cases, the UE may request a specific HARQ timing, or request an updated timing advance. If HARQ synchronization is lost, the UE and the base station may default to a preconfigured HARQ timing.

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to low latency operation with different hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) timing.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
In some cases, a base station and a UE may operate based on a low latency physical (PHY) layer timing structure. Low latency operations (for example, operations based on a reduced transmission time interval (TTI)) may enable a reduction in the delay between a transmission and a HARQ response. However, the reduced delay may also reduce the time available for a UE to process a transmission and determine a response. For UEs with a large propagation delay (and hence, a large timing advance) this reduced processing time may not be sufficient.

Low latency operation with different hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) timing options


Disclosed is a polyurethane elastic yarn which is excellent in elongation, resilience, heat resistance, alkali resistance, chemical resistance, and capability of being dyed with a cationic dye and which is suitable for use in a stretch cloth, a wearing apparel or the like. The polyurethane elastic yarn comprises: an elastic yarn comprising a polyurethane mainly composed of a polymer diol and a diisocyanate; and a polymer of a compound having a sulfonate group contained in the elastic yarn.

Elastic fiber finds broad application as an industrial material and stretchable fabric material, which, due to its excellent stretch characteristics, is used in leg wear, inner wear, sportswear, etc.
High strength stretch, high resilience, high chemical resistance, high heat resistance and dye colorfastness are required of such elastic fibers, especially polyurethane elastic yarns. In particular, in the area of chemical resistance, fabric blends using combinations with polyester yarn have seen strong demand, and processing such polyesters to make them lighter in weight and stain resistant requires resistance to chemicals such as alkalis, quaternary ammonium salts, unsaturated fatty acids, etc.
Conventional technology that has been used to impart such chemical resistance involves including polyvinylidine fluoride in the polyurethane spinning solution. See Japanese Patent No. Sho 60-44406.
However, such polyurethane elastic yarn which includes polyvinylidine fluoride exhibits inadequate resilience and heat resistance, and especially, when used in blended fabrics with polyester yarn that undergo weight reduction or stain proofing processing, the chemical resistance of the resulting fabric is insufficient, which can limit its use.
Other such technology involves including modified polyvinyl alcohol sulfonate or synthetic tannins of sulfone compounds in the polyurethane spinning solution. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,347 and Japanese Patent No. Hei 7-68657. However, even when compounds containing sulfonate groups are included, their low content ratio also causes unsatisfactory levels of chemical resistance, especially in polyester blended fabrics that require stain proofing processing. Further, in the case of the latter, the compounds themselves exhibit a dark brown color, which strongly adheres to the resulting yarn, thereby limiting its use.
Furthermore, polyurethane elastic yarn is made from a wide variety of raw materials, and it is used in an increasingly broad range of blends, not just with synthetic fibers such as nylon or polyester, but also with natural fibers such as cotton, wool, and semi-synthetic fibers. Accordingly, when stretchable products are dyed, good colorfastness may also be required depending upon the application.
In conventional stretchable products, each of the raw materials is dyed independently which leads to good colorfastness, but since such good colorfastness cannot be achieved in polyurethane fibers, they are usually left undyed. The reasons for this lie in the chemical structure, in that the polyurethane polymer does not have sufficient functional groups for dye adsorption, and further, due to its low degree of crystallization, once dyed, it cannot retain the dye in a colorfast manner. Accordingly, in fabrics containing polyurethane elastic yarn, the only way to achieve a practical degree of colorfastness is through the repeated washing of the fabric to remove the dye that has not been chemically adsorbed. However, not only does the repeated washing out of dye that was initially adsorbed into the fabric entail the wasteful use of large quantities of water and energy, but it results in poor color reproducibility among different dyed lots.
However, if the polyurethane elastic yarn left undyed, when the fabric is stretched, the internal polyurethane elastic yarn is brought to the surface, which detracts from the aesthetics and the color depth of the fabric, thereby leaving a demand for combinations of fiber raw materials that can be dyed to the same color, and this demand is especially strong for dark colors such as black used in fiber products. Furthermore, an additional demand exists for ways to change the color of fiber products, such as to dye the raw materials in blends using polyurethane elastic yarn to different colors.
One technology known to the prior art for dyeing elastic fibers involves adding pigments to the polyurethane spinning solution to produce spun-dyed yarn. See Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2000-73233. Although such polyurethane elastic yarn containing pigments exhibits excellent colorfastness, the number of colors that can be used is limited and very costly, which limits its applications.
Another conventional dyeing technology involves the addition of an amine to elastic yarns such as polyurethane, and using the adsorption of acidic dyes or metal-containing dyes. However, in cases where their terminal group radical weight is low, adequate color density cannot be achieved, and conversely, when the amine terminal group radical weight is increased, due to the differing dye adsorption properties with the other fibers such as nylon that are in the blend, when dyeing with formulations of the three primary colors, different colors are produced, which makes color matching very difficult.
Yet another conventional dyeing technology involves the use of dye dispersions. Although the dispersed dyes produce good absorption in the polyurethane elastic yarn, the adsorptive strength of the dye remains weak, and it is impossible to obtain highly dense colors, or for the mid-density colors to remain colorfast during use. See Japanese Patent No. 3826377.
Further, another fiber structure involves the use of polyether-polyester block copolymer elastic fiber, which can be dyed with cationic dyes. However, because polyether-polyester block copolymer elastic fiber has a lower degree of elongation and inferior heat resistance compared with polyurethane elastic fiber, it is only rarely used. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-140167.

Cationic dyeable polyurethane elastic yarn and method of production


An example apparatus includes an optical fiber including a core and cladding, the core being situated to propagate an optical beam along a propagation axis associated with the core, and at least one fiber Bragg grating (FBG) situated in the core of the optical fiber, the fiber Bragg grating including a plurality of periodically spaced grating portions situated with respect to the propagation axis so that light associated with Raman scattering is directed out of the core so as to reduce the generation of optical gain associated with stimulated Raman scattering (SRS).

The maximum power of a CW or pulsed fiber source is ultimately limited by the onset of nonlinear processes in the optical fiber, such as Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS), Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS), self-phase modulation (SPM), four-wave mixing (4WM), etc. Such non-linear processes generally set a power ceiling for conventional continuous-wave lasers producing multiple kW of output power and pulsed laser sources in beams having high beam quality (e.g., single-mode, few-mode). As optical powers increase, Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is one of the most significant nonlinear processes establishing this ceiling. Suppression of SRS is thus desirable for power scaling of fiber lasers and amplifiers.


A protruding portion that is exposed from the outer peripheries of upper base cloths and a lower base cloth and provided with an insertion hole for inserting an inflator is provided on a portion of a tube base cloth. The inflator is inserted into the side air bag through the insertion hole. The peripheral edge portion of the insertion hole is fixed to the inflator by a clamp. The upper base cloths are not sewn to together in an area where the outer peripheries of the upper base cloths overlap with the tube base cloth, and the lower base cloth is not sewn to itself in an area where the outer periphery of the lower base cloth overlaps with the tube base cloth.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a side air bag apparatus and a manufacturing method of a side air bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-120207 (JP-A-2008-120207) describes a side air bag apparatus in which an inflator is inserted through an insertion hole in a protruding portion (i.e., mounting portion) formed protruding below a side air bag, and the inflator is fastened airtight to the side air bag by fitting and crimping a ring clamp around the outside of the protruding portion.
However, with a structure in which the protruding portion of the side air bag is simply crimped to the inflator using a ring clamp as in the side air bag apparatus described above, the outer periphery of the bag near the crimped portion is constricted and thus will not easily inflate. As a result, when the side air bag receives a supply of gas from the inflator and consequently inflates and deploys, the pressure of the gas may tend to concentrate near the crimped portion.
One way to combat this is to increase the curvature radius of the contour of the outer periphery of the bag so that bag is not as restricted near the crimped portion. The problem with this approach, however, is that the restraining area of the side air bag ends up being decreased by a corresponding amount.

Side air bag apparatus and manufacturing method of a side air bag


A method of operating a three-dimensional object printer to form printed images on a surface of an object with increased color resolution includes generating a plurality of low-precision tone reproduction curves (TRCs) from a plurality of high-precision color conversion entries that are modified by a plurality of values in a one-to-one correspondence to the TRCs. The method further comprises generating modified contone image and halftone image data for each plane using one of the low-precision TRCs and forming the image from multiple printed layers of ink corresponding to the plurality of planes.

Halftone printers emit a combination of colorants to form both single color and multicolor printed images using a comparatively small number of primary colors. Inkjet printers and three-dimensional object inkjet printers eject patterns of ink drops to form both single and multicolor printed images. In a three-dimensional object inkjet printer, one or more printheads eject drops of ink onto a surface of an object that is formed from a build material. In many embodiments, the printer forms the printed image in a multi-pass printing process where the inkjets in the printheads apply multiple layers of ink to the form the printed image on the surface of the object. The printer applies multiple layers of ink using a single halftone pattern of ink drops to build up a sufficient amount of ink for the printed image to be clearly visible on the surface of the object. Combinations of multiple ink colors, such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) inks, form images with a wide range of perceptible colors on the surface of the object.
Many modern inkjet printers receive digital data corresponding to a printed image. The digital data for a printed image often include data corresponding to printed colors that are encoded in a continuous tone (contone) format. In a contone format, a single two-dimensional location in the image, which is referred to as a contone pixel, can have a wide range of colors that are formed from different intensity levels of basic colors such as red, green, blue (RGB) colors. In other embodiments, the colors of contone pixels are encoded in a device independent color space such as the L*a*b* color space or other color spaces known to the art. Halftone printers, however, produce images from patterns of colorants using the limited number of ink or toner colors in a halftone output that includes a pattern of the colorant, such as a pattern of ink drops or toner. For example, the color of a single pixel of contone image data may be reproduced using a pattern of multiple separate ink drops that reproduce the contone color on a physical print medium. The physical properties of the ink drops affect the perceptible intensity of printed ink colors since the ink drops spread on the image receiving surface and generally have circular shapes instead of the square shapes associated with contone pixels.
Three-dimensional inkjet printers employ tone reproduction curves (TRCs) to convert image data that are provided in the contone formats to values such that when the values are halftoned, the printed ink patterns provide an accurate reproductions of the original contone images. For example, a set of gray contone pixels with a relative level of 50% between pure-black (100% level) and pure-white (0% level) generates a halftone pattern with half of the pixels being assigned a black ink drop and the other half of the pixels being left blank, which corresponds to a background material under the printed image. In some instances the background material has a white or light gray color to provide a neutral background for a printed image. Because the ink drops spread on the surface of the object, however, printing the direct halftone pattern produces a printed image that is darker than the intended 50% level in one printer configuration. A digital controller in the printer uses the TRC to generate modified contone image data that includes adjustments for the intensity levels of some or all of the contone pixels in the original digital image data. For example, in one configuration a TRC reduces a contone pixel levels from 50% to 40%. The printer then uses halftone processes that are known to the art to convert the modified contone image data into patterns of image data corresponding to printed colorant patterns in a printed image.
In modern printing systems, the TRCs are typically embodied as digital data structures that have a predetermined number of potential input and output values based on the number of discrete levels that can be represented using digital data. For example, an 8-bit TRC generates a single component value in a range of 0-255 (28). Since the number of perceptible color levels in a printed image is often much greater than the number of discrete levels represented in a TRC, modern printers often employ complex techniques such as spatial adjustments to halftone pixels to produce an apparent increase in the color resolution of printed images. In a spatial adjustment process, a digital processor in a printer introduces randomized errors into halftoned image data based on the location of pixels in a two-dimensional image to increase the apparent number of color levels in the image. Of course, another solution is to increase the number of digital bits used in the TRCs (e.g. 12 or 16 bits) to increase color resolution, but such changes require both extensive hardware and software modifications to printers and image processing software to produce an entire image process pipeline with the increase resolution, which is often impractical. Consequently, improved systems and methods for controlling halftone printing, including halftone printed images in three-dimensional object printers to increase the effective color resolution of printed images would be beneficial.

System and method for tone reproduction curve color resolution enhancement in a three-dimensional object printer


A line roller includes a cylindrical guide member including a guide surface on an outer perimeter for guiding a fishing line, an axle bearing member rotatably supporting an inner perimeter surface of the guide member, and a support member supporting the axle bearing member. The axle bearing member includes an inner ring supported by the support member, an outer ring integrally rotatable with the guide member, a rolling body disposed between the inner ring and the outer ring, and a grease holding unit holding water-repellent grease between the inner ring and the outer ring.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a line roller of a spinning reel for fishing.
Background Information
A spinning reel for fishing comprises a spool, a rotor comprising a pair of rotor arms, and a fishing line guiding mechanism (the so-called "bail arm") pivotably mounted to the distal end of the pair of rotor arms (for example, see Japanese Published Unexamined Application. No. 2006-101704). The fishing line guiding mechanism is a mechanism for guiding the fishing line to the spool. The fishing line guiding mechanism comprises a bail, a pair of bail support members that support two ends of the bail, and a line roller.
A line roller, in general, comprises a guide member and an axle bearing member, such as a bearing. The guide member is rotatably mounted to the axle bearing member. Since the line, roller is used in an environment that easily comes into contact with seawater and the like, seawater, etc., is likely to enter the inside of the axle bearing member. When seawater, etc., enters inside the axle be member, solidification of the salt and rust can occur, which reduces the function of the axle bearing member. Therefore, there are inventions in which water-repellent grease is included inside the axle bearing in order to prevent seawater, etc., from entering inside the rolling bearing of the fishing reel (for example, see Japanese Published Unexamined Application No. 2004-290153). Further, there are inventions in which a contact or non-contact sealing structure is disposed on the rolling bearing, in which is included the lubricating grease (for example, see Japanese Published Unexamined Application No. 2003-148497).


A hitch assembly is provided that includes a body and a latch member that is movable relative to the body between an open position and a closed position for securing a hitch pin to the body. A locking pin is movable between a disengaged position and an engaged position for retaining the latch member in the closed position. An unlocking member is mounted to the latch member for movement between a retracted position and an extending position for preventing the locking pin from moving from the disengaged position to the engaged position.

This invention relates in general to hitch assemblies, such as can be used for coupling a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle. In particular, this invention relates to an automatic engaging and disengaging hitch assembly.
Hitch assemblies are known devices that can be used for coupling a towing vehicle and a towed vehicle. In general, a hitch assembly is typically mounted to the towing vehicle and adapted to engage and disengage a hitch pin, which is provided on the towed vehicle. For example, a known hitch assembly includes a housing that defines an open ended slot adapted to align and receive the hitch pin therein. The hitch assembly further includes a latch member that is pivotally mounted to the housing so as to engage and disengage the hitch pin.
Other known hitch assemblies are configured to automatically engage the hitch pin. To accomplish this, the latch member is initially biased in a closed position. When the hitch assembly is brought into contact with the hitch pin, the hitch pin exerts a force on a cam surface of the latch member. The cam surface is configured to pivot the latch member from the closed position to an open position thereby allowing the hitch pin to be received within the slot. Once the hitch pin is fully received within the slot, the latch member returns to the closed position for securing the hitch pin within the hitch assembly. To disengage the hitch assembly, however, the latch member must be manually rotated to the open position while the hitch pin is simultaneously removed from the hitch assembly.
It is also known to provide hitch assemblies with an automatic locking mechanism for locking the latch member in the closed position. For example, a known locking mechanism includes a spring-loaded locking pin that is configured to automatically engage the latch member and prevent rotation thereof when the latch member reaches the closed position. To disengage the hitch assembly, however, the locking pin needs to be manually released from the latch member while the hitch pin is simultaneously removed from the hitch assembly. To overcome this, it is also known to provide such hitch assemblies with an unlocking mechanism that is adapted to prevent engagement of the locking pin with the latch member until the hitch pin has been removed from the hitch assembly. However, known locking mechanisms need to be actuated before disengaging the hitch assembly and also before engaging the hitch assembly.
Although known hitch assemblies function in an acceptable manner, it is desirable to provide an automatic engaging and disengaging hitch assembly.

Automatic engaging and disengaging hitch assembly


A super-junction semiconductor substrate is configured in such a manner that an n-type semiconductor layer of a parallel pn structure is opposed to a boundary region between an active area and a peripheral breakdown-resistant structure area. A high-concentration region is formed at the center between p-type semiconductor layers that are located on both sides of the above n-type semiconductor layer. A region where a source electrode is in contact with a channel layer is formed over the n-type semiconductor layer. A portion where the high-concentration region is in contact with the channel layer functions as a diode. The breakdown voltage of the diode is set lower than that of the device.

The present invention relates to a high-power vertical semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a super-junction layer as part of a semiconductor substrate.
To miniaturize and enhance the performance of power source apparatus in the power electronics field, power semiconductor devices are required to be reduced in loss and increased in breakdown resistance and operation speed as well as increased in breakdown voltage and current capacity. To satisfy these requirements, the super-junction substrate has been proposed as a substrate structure of a semiconductor device and the vertical MOS power device structure has been proposed as a surface structure.
For purposes of this discussion, the terms "n-type semiconductor" and "p-type semiconductor" mean semiconductors having electrons and holes, respectively, as majority carriers. The marks "+" and "−" of n+, n−, etc. will refer to the impurity concentration of the semiconductor concerned is higher and lower, respectively, than that of a semiconductor that is not given either of those marks.
The semiconductor substrate having a single conductivity type and the super-junction substrate are commonly known substrate structures of a semiconductor device. The super-junction substrate has, between a first conductivity type semiconductor substrate and a second conductivity type semiconductor layer, a super-junction layer in which first conductivity type semiconductor layers and second conductivity type semiconductor layers are formed alternately in the direction that is perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,063 (JP-A-9-266311) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,888,195 B2 (JP-A-2004-119611), for example). In the super-junction substrate, a space charge region can develop to occupy the super-junction layer in an off period even in the case where concentration of each of the layers constituting the super-junction layer is high. Therefore, the on-resistance of a high-breakdown-voltage semiconductor device, in particular, can be reduced.
The planar structure in which a gate electrode is formed on a semiconductor substrate and the trench structure in which gate electrodes are buried in trenches of a semiconductor substrate are commonly known surface structures of a semiconductor device. Trench MOS devices have a trench gate structure in which many trench MOS cells having trench side walls as channel regions are provided in a semiconductor substrate. In general, trench MOS devices are easier to improve in performance than planar MOS devices by reducing the channel resistance. In recent years, as for vertical devices, vertical MOS devices having the trench structure have been proposed because they are easier to attain a low-on-resistance characteristic by virtue of their structure (refer to JP-A-4-233765, U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,821 A (JP-A-146674), and JP-A-5-335582, for example).
An example of such vertical MOS devices will be described below. FIG. 25 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional vertical MOS device. As shown in FIG. 25, this conventional vertical MOS device is manufactured by using a semiconductor substrate in which an n+ drain layer 30, an n− drain layer 31, and a p− channel region 32 are laid one on another in this order. Many trenches 33 penetrate through the p− channel region 32 so as to reach the n− drain layer 31. Gate electrodes 35 made of polysilicon or the like are formed on the surfaces of the trenches 33 with gate oxide films 34 interposed in between, respectively. P+ body regions 37 are formed on the surface of the p− channel region 32 approximately at the centers between the trenches 33. And n++ source regions 36 are formed so as to be in contact with the p+ body regions 37 and the trenches 33. A metal electrode 39 made of aluminum or the like is formed on the gate electrodes 35 with an insulating layer 38 interposed in between. The metal electrode 39 is in ohmic contact with the p+ body regions 37 and the n++ source regions 36.
In this vertical MOSFET, when a voltage that is higher than a prescribed threshold voltage is applied to the gate electrodes 35, n-type inversion layers are formed in the p− channel region 32 parallel with the trenches 33 and current paths are formed between the n++ source regions 36 and the drain layers 31 and 30. As a result, a conductive state is established between the source and the drain of the vertical MOSFET. When the voltage of the gate electrodes 35 is made lower than the threshold voltage, the n-type inversion layers in the p− channel region 32 disappear and a cutoff state is established between the source and the drain of the vertical MOSFET. In vertical MOSFETs, since as described above vertical current paths are formed parallel with the trenches 33, the current path length (in the n− drain layer 31) can be made much shorter and hence the on-resistance can be made lower than in planar MOSFETs.
Vertical MOSFETs, however, have a problem that the device is destroyed if a high voltage is applied between the source and the drain in a gate off state and avalanche current starts to flow. As a result, the device is prone to be destroyed also when it is turned off from a current conduction state. This is a major obstruction to expansion of uses.
FIG. 26 is a sectional view of part of a conventional super-junction substrate and shows its structure. That is, FIG. 26 shows part of a super-junction substrate that is cut out along lines C-C′ and D-D′ and the super-junction substrate is such that the structures each shown in FIG. 26 are arranged in the right-left direction. FIG. 27 is a graph showing an electric field profile along the cutting line C-C′ in FIG. 26. In a vertical MOSFET using this super-junction substrate, when a high voltage is applied between the source and the drain, a depletion layer develops over the entire super-junction region and a voltage is held there. In this case, an approximately rectangular electric field profile is obtained as indicated by a solid line in FIG. 27. When avalanche current starts to flow, the current profile changes to one indicated by a broken line. It is seen that the voltage held which is an electric field integration value is made smaller. This is a negative resistance characteristic and is considered due to the structure of the super-junction substrate. As a result, current is concentrated in part of the device and the device is destroyed.
A semiconductor device capable of securing a high device breakdown voltage has been proposed in which the pn repetition pitch of a parallel pn structure in an inactive area is set smaller than that of a parallel pn structure in an active area on a first major surface side in which a device surface structure is formed and is set the same as that of the latter on a second major surface side (refer to JP-A-2005-51190, for example). In this semiconductor device, a depletion layer is apt to develop and reduction in breakdown voltage due to charge imbalance can be suppressed. As a result, a sufficiently high breakdown voltage can be secured in a well-balanced manner in the entire device.
In the technique disclosed in JP-A-2005-51190, however, a problem remains that the device is destroyed when large current such as avalanche current flows. The complex structure that the pn repetition pitch of the parallel pn structure in the inactive region on the first major surface side needs to be set different from that on the second major surface side leads to another problem that manufacture of a super-junction substrate takes extra time and work.


An electrocardiogram information dynamic monitoring method and dynamic monitoring system. The method includes a dynamic monitoring device receiving monitoring reference data input by a user or issued by a server; the data collection on a tested object so as to obtain electrocardiogram data of the tested object; the characteristic identification on the electrocardiogram data so as to obtain characteristic signals of the electrocardiogram data, implementing cardiac activity classification on the electrocardiogram data according to the characteristic signals, obtaining cardiac activity classification information according to electrocardiogram basic rule reference data, and generating electrocardiogram event data, wherein the electrocardiogram event data comprises device ID information of the dynamic monitoring device; the dynamic monitoring device determining corresponding electrocardiogram event information according to the electrocardiogram event data, and determining whether the electrocardiogram event information is electrocardiogram abnormality event information; and outputting alarm information when the electrocardiogram event information is electrocardiogram abnormality event information.

Electrocardiogram monitoring is a common clinical medical monitoring method. The monitored electrocardiogram signals are weak currents reflected by electrical activities of myocardial cells on the body surface, and are recorded by electrodes on the body surface and an amplification recording system.
Comparing with the bedside electrocardiogram monitoring, requirements for non-bedside electrocardiogram monitoring are higher, and it is often easily interfered with by various signals. During the procedure for recording the electrocardiogram signals, other non-cardiac electrical signals, such as myoelectric signal interference caused by skeletal muscle activities, are also recorded. These signals will lead to output of incorrect detection results of heartbeat signals.
The real-time performance of the non-bedside monitoring is also a factor to be considered. Holter, the most commonly used ambulatory electrocardiogram detector, may continuously record the whole process of electrocardiogram activities for 24 hours, including electrocardiogram data under different conditions such as rest, activities, meals, work, study and sleep. However, data analysis and processing are delayed, and may only be known after the monitored person returns Holter to the hospital, which obviously greatly limits the significance and value of the non-bedside monitoring. Holter cannot reflect changes of the electrocardiogram signals of the monitored person in real time like the bedside monitoring, and correspondingly responses in time, especially if the monitored person occurs abnormal and needs medication intervention or rescues.
In addition, the electrocardiogram signals are an embodiment of a process of myocardial electrical activities, which may reflect a large amount of information about a state of the heart. When there is a problem with the state of the heart, the electrocardiogram signals will change accordingly. At present, the accuracy of automatic analysis is far from enough, resulting in that an output electrocardiogram test report does not have a significant reference, and still depends on subjective judgments from doctors.
In order that monitoring has greater significance and plays a greater role, how to effectively improve the level for analyzing the electrocardiogram automatically and realize real-time non-bedside monitoring becomes the difficulty and challenge to be solved by the present disclosure.

Electrocardiogram information dynamic monitoring method and dynamic monitoring system


The present invention relates to a Siphoviridae bacteriophage Esc-COP-9 (Accession number: KCTC 13131BP) isolated from nature, which has the ability to specifically kill Escherichia coli and which includes a genome expressed by SEQ. ID. NO: 1, and to a method of preventing and treating a pathogenic Escherichia coli infection using a composition including the same as an active ingredient.

Escherichia coli belongs to the intestinal microflora, is a gram-negative bacillus and a catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, and facultative anaerobic bacterium, and most examples thereof degrade lactose. Escherichia coli is serologically subdivided according to whether it contains a somatic (O), flagellar (H) or capsular (K) antigen, and these antigens are known to be associated with the pathogenicity of Escherichia coli. Pathogenic Escherichia coli refers to Escherichia coli that has acquired a small number of the virulence factors capable of being expressed in Escherichia coli, and, depending on the onset characteristics and the kind of toxin, there are five types of Escherichia coli, namely enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, enteroinvasive Escherichia coli, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli. Pathogenic Escherichia coli in livestock infects various ages thereof to thus cause disease, and the main symptom thereof is diarrhea, and mortality due to extreme dehydration is very high. Diarrhea caused by pathogenic Escherichia coli is known to be the main disease that afflicts almost all livestock farming in Korea, and the damage to the livestock industry is regarded as significant.
Generally, vaccines and antibiotics are used for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases of pathogenic Escherichia coli. Here, the effectiveness of antibiotics has been continuously decreasing due to the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the development of effective methods other than antibiotics is required due to the increased number of regulations on the use of antibiotics in animals.
Recently, the use of bacteriophages as a countermeasure against bacterial diseases has attracted considerable attention. In particular, interest in bacteriophages is higher than ever due to the preference for environmentally friendly methods. Bacteriophages are very small microorganisms infecting bacteria, and are usually simply called "phages". Once a bacteriophage infects bacteria, the bacteriophage is proliferated inside the bacterial cell. After proliferation, the progeny of the bacteriophage destroy the bacterial cell wall and escapes from the host bacteria, suggesting that the bacteriophage has the ability to kill bacteria. The manner in which the bacteriophage infects bacteria is characterized by the very high specificity thereof, and thus the number of types of bacteriophages infecting a specific bacterium is limited. That is, a certain bacteriophage can infect only a specific bacterium, suggesting that a certain bacteriophage can kill only a specific bacterium and cannot harm other bacteria. Due to this bacteria specificity of bacteriophages, the bacteriophage confers antibacterial effects only upon target bacteria, but does not affect commensal bacteria in the environment or in animals. Conventional antibiotics, which have been widely used for bacterial treatment, incidentally influence many kinds of bacteria. This causes problems such as environmental pollution and the disturbance of normal flora in animals. On the other hand, the use of bacteriophages does not disturb normal flora in animals, because the target bacterium is selectively killed. Hence, the bacteriophage may be utilized safely, which thus greatly lessens the probability of adverse actions in use compared to any other antibiotics.
Bacteriophages were first discovered by the English bacteriologist Twort in 1915 when he noticed that Micrococcus colonies melted and became transparent by something unknown. In 1917, the French bacteriologist d'Herelle discovered that Shigella dysenteriae in the filtrate of dysentery patient feces was melted by something, and further studied this phenomenon. As a result, he independently identified bacteriophages, and named them bacteriophages, which means "eater of bacteria". Since then, various bacteriophages acting against such pathogenic bacteria as Shigella, Salmonella Typhi, and Vibrio cholerae have been continuously identified.
Owing to the unique ability of bacteriophages to kill bacteria, bacteriophages have attracted anticipation as a potentially effective countermeasure against bacterial infection since their discovery, and there has been a lot of research related thereto. However, since penicillin was discovered by Fleming, studies on bacteriophages have continued only in some Eastern European countries and the former Soviet Union, because the spread of antibiotics was generalized. Since 2000, the limitations of conventional antibiotics have appeared due to the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the possibility of developing bacteriophages as a substitute for conventional antibiotics has been highlighted, so that bacteriophages are again attracting attention as antibacterial agents. In particular, recently, government regulations for the use of antibiotics have become more stringent around the world, and thus interest in bacteriophages is increasing and the range of industrial applications therefore is continually broadening.
As demonstrated above, bacteriophages tend to be highly specific for bacteria. Because of this specificity, bacteriophages frequently exhibit an antibacterial effect only for certain strains of bacteria, even though the bacteria belong to the same species. In addition, the antibacterial strength of bacteriophages may depend on the type of target bacterial strain. Therefore, it is necessary to collect many kinds of bacteriophages that are useful in order to get effective control of specific bacteria. Hence, in order to develop the effective bacteriophage utilization method in response to pathogenic Escherichia coli, many kinds of bacteriophages that exhibit antibacterial action against Escherichia coli must be acquired. Furthermore, the resulting bacteriophages need to be screened as to whether or not they are superior to others from the aspect of antibacterial strength and spectrum.


A recording/reproducing apparatus for recording in a recording medium the interleaved data with an error correcting code added thereto and reproducing the recorded data from the recording medium, wherein the error correcting coding process is performed using an elliptic code on a finite field GF(2m) where m is a positive integer.

The present invention relates to an error correcting coding method used with the recording/reproducing apparatus.
The Reed-Solomon code is used for the recording/reproducing apparatus such as the magnetic disk device, the magneto-optic disk device and the compact disk device. The magnetic disk device uses the Reed-Solomon code on the finite field GF(28) including 28 elements which is a set wherein the four rules of arithmetic are defined (except for xe2x80x9cdivision by 0xe2x80x9d) mutually by the elements, where GF is an abbreviation of Galois Field. The error correcting coding and the error correcting process for the recording/reproducing apparatus are performed with eight bits of the Reed-Solomon code as one symbol providing a unit for calculation.
In the Reed-Solomon code, it is known that the code having the maximum number t of correction symbols can be configured by setting the number of redundant symbols to 2t. The length of the sector providing a unit for performing each recording/reproducing operation is 512 symbols. In view of the fact that the length of the Reed-Solomon code that can be configured on GF(28) is 255 (=28xe2x88x921) symbols or less, data are divided (interleaved) into three or more blocks and then an error correcting code is provided for each block.
One of the advantages of the Reed-Solomon code is that the symbol positions for calculation are arranged, from the most significant place of the code, as xcex1n-1, xcex1n-2, . . . , xcex12, xcex11, xcex10 (xcex1: primitive root of finite field), so that the symbol position for calculation can be regularly calculated by the multiplier alone at the time of the Chien search for the error position for decoding. The Chien search is a method for searching for a solution of an equation by substituting the elements into the equation sequentially.
Consider the case in which the Reed-Solomon code on GF(28) is used for a recording system of 512 symbols per sector. In view of the fact that the code length is not more than 28xe2x88x921=255 symbols and the relation holds that 512/255 greater than 2, the problem is that the number of interleaves cannot be reduced below 3.
As long as the maximum number of correction symbols per sector is constant, the smaller the number of interleaves, the higher the error correcting ability of the code.
With the error correcting coding method according to this invention, an elliptic code on GF(2m) is used to configure a code longer than 2mxe2x88x921 and therefore the number of interleaves can be reduced.
For configuring the code having the maximum number t of correction symbols by the elliptic code, the number of redundant symbols is set to 2t+1. The number of redundant symbols for this code is 287xe2x88x92256=31, and therefore the maximum number of correction symbols is given as 15 (15xc3x972+1=31). The use of this code makes it possible to configure 512 bytes per sector in two interleaves. The principle of the error correcting coding method according to this invention will be explained below.
Assume that E(C, GF(2m)) for the elliptic curve C: y2+a1xy+a3y+a0x3+a2x2+a4x+a6=0 on GF(2m) indicates the following set, xcex5 is the number of elements of E (C, GF (2m)) and a0, a1, a2, a3, a4, a6 are constants.
E(C, GF(2m))={(xcex1, xcex2)xcex5GF(2m)2|xcex22+a1xcex1xcex2+a3xcex2+a0xcex13+a2xcex12+a4xcex1+a6=0}xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
∪{o: point at infinity}
where if the points associated with E(C, GF(2m)) {o} are assigned the numbers p(1), p(2), . . . , p(xcex5xe2x88x921), the code word of the elliptic code is defined as a column vector w satisfying Hw=0 for the matrix H of equation (2).                               H          =                                    (                              h                                  i                  ,                  j                                            )                                                      1                ≤                i                ≤                                  n                  -                  k                                                            1                ≤                j                ≤                n                                                    ,                              h                          i              ,              j                                =                                    v                              i                -                1                                                                (                              P                                  (                  j                  )                                            )                                      ,
                                  (                                                                                v                        0                                                                                (                                                  x                          ,                          y                                                )                                                              =                    1                                    ,                                                                                v                        1                                                                                (                                                  x                          ,                          y                                                )                                                              =                    x                                    ,                                                                                v                        2                                                                                (                                                  x                          ,                          y                                                )                                                              =                    y                                    ,                                                                                v                                          j                      +                      2                                                        =                                                                                v                          1                                                                                (                                                      x                            ,                            y                                                    )                                                                                v                          j                                                                                (                                                      x                            ,                            y                                                    )                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                  for                                                                    xe2x80x83                                                                  j                                        ≥                    1                                                                                )                                    (        2        )
Especially, the code length n coincides with xcex5xe2x88x921. The elliptic curve C which satisfies the relation n greater than 2mxe2x88x921 can be found by total search of the values of the coefficient aj.
With the definition of equation (2), however, the code word cannot be calculated by other than the method of solving an equation, and therefore the process is very complicated. The calculation can be facilitated by regular matrix operation of the code word by rewriting the equation (2) as follows.
Specifically, assume that the vector with k symbols arranged in column before coding is w0. When H satisfies equation (3), Gw0 constitutes a code word for the matrix G of equation (4). As a matter of fact, the relation is obtained that H(Gw0)=Mxe2x88x921(MH) (Gw0)=Mxe2x88x921((MH)G)w0=0.
∃M: square matrix s.t. MH=(H1|I)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)                     G        =                  [                      I                          H              1                                ]                                    (        4        )
, where I represents an identity matrix. If H1 can be calculated from equation (5), the redundant symbol of the corresponding code word Gw0 can be calculated from w0.                               Gw          0                =                                            [                              I                                  H                  1                                            ]                                                  w              0                                =                      [                                          w                0                                                              H                  1                                                                  w                  0                                                      ]                                              (        5        )
Equation (6) can be obtained from equation (3). As long as M is calculated and stored in advance, therefore, H1 can be calculated. Thus, the redundant symbol of the code word Gw0 can also be calculated from w0.                                           H            1                    =                                    (                              h                                  i                  ,                  j                                *                            )                                                                        1                  ≤                  i                  ≤                                      n                    -                    k                                                  ,                                            1                ≤                j                ≤                k                                                    ,                              h                          i              ,              j                        *                    =                                    v                              i                -                1                                                                (                              P                                  (                  j                  )                                            )                                      ,
                                              (                                                                                V                      0                                                                                (                                              x                        ,                        y                                            )                                                                                V                      1                                                                                (                                              x                        ,                        y                                            )                                                                                ⋮                                                                                V                                              n                        -                        k                        -                        1                                                                                (                                              x                        ,                        y                                            )                                                                                )                    =                      M                                      (                                                                                v                        0                                                                                (                                                  x                          ,                          y                                                )                                                                                v                        1                                                                                (                                                  x                          ,                          y                                                )                                                                                ⋮                                                                                v                                                  n                          -                          k                          -                          1                                                                                (                                                  x                          ,                          y                                                )                                                                                )                                                          (        6        )
In order to give the regularity to E(C, GF(2m)) {o}, an arithmetic circuit for realizing the calculation +0 as defined in equation (7) is built in and used.
O+oP=P+oO=P for Pxcex5E(C,GF(2m)),
(x1,y1)+o(x1,y1+a1x1+a3)=0,
(x1,y1)+o(x2,y2)=(x3,y3) (x1xe2x89xa0x2 or y2xe2x89xa0y1+a1x1+a3)
                    {                                                                                x                    3                                    =                                                            λ                      2                                        +                                                                  a                        1                                                                  λ                                        +                                          a                      2                                        +                                          x                      1                                        +                                          x                      2                                                                      ,                                                                                y                    3                                    =                                                                                (                                                  λ                          +                                                      a                            1                                                                          )                                                                                x                        3                                                                                "LeftBracketingBar"                        ν                        "RightBracketingBar"                                                              -                                          a                      3                                                                      ,                                                                                {                                                                                λ                          =                                                                                x                                1                                2                                                            +                                                              a                                4                                                            +                                                                                a                                  1                                                                                y                                  1                                                                                a                                  1                                                                                x                                  1                                                                                +                                                              a                                3                                                                                ,                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                                ν                        =                                                                                x                              1                              3                                                        +                                                                                a                                1                                                                                x                                1                                                                                +                                                                                a                                3                                                                                y                                1                                                                                a                                1                                                                                x                                1                                                                                +                                                          a                              3                                                                                (                                                                              x                            1                                                    =                                                                                x                                2                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                                and                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                                y                                2                                                                                ≠                                                                                y                                1                                                            +                                                                                a                                  1                                                                                x                                  1                                                                                +                                                              a                                3                                                                                )                                                                                {                                                                                λ                          =                                                                                x                                1                                3                                                            +                                                              a                                4                                                            +                                                                                a                                  1                                                                                y                                  1                                                                                a                                  1                                                                                x                                  1                                                                                +                                                              a                                3                                                                                ,                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                                ν                        =                                                                                x                              1                              3                                                        +                                                                                a                                4                                                                                x                                1                                                                                +                                                                                a                                3                                                                                y                                1                                                                                a                                1                                                                                x                                1                                                                                +                                                          a                              3                                                                                (                                                                              x                            1                                                    ≠                                                      x                            2                                                                          )                                                                                (        7        )
For the element P of E(C, GF (2m)), P +0, . . . , +0P (involving Ps in the number of m) is expressed as [m] P.
The recording/reproducing apparatus according to this invention based on the aforementioned principle is for recording in a recording medium the interleaved data with an error correcting code added thereto and reproducing the recorded data from the recording medium, the apparatus comprising an error correcting decoding circuit for generating an error correcting code using an elliptic code on a finite field GF(2m) (m: positive integer).

Recording/reproducing apparatus, error correcting coding method and information recording method