A method for reducing bit errors in an analog to digital converter having an array of comparators. The outputs of first and second comparators are received as in inputs to an Exclusive OR gate. The first and second comparators are separated in the array by a third comparator. The output of the Exclusive OR gate is used to determine if the third comparator is in a metastable condition. If the third comparator is in a metastable condition, the bias current of the latch circuit of the third comparator is increased to increase the rate at which the third comparator transitions to a steady state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to high speed, low power comparators.
2. Background Art
Commercialization of the Internet has proven to be a mainspring for incentives to improve network technologies. Development programs have pursued various approaches including strategies to leverage use of the existing Public Switched Telephone Network and plans to expand use of wireless technologies for networking applications. Both of these approaches (and others) entail the conversion of data between analog and digital formats. Therefore, it is expected that analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs) will continue to perform critical functions in many network applications.
Because ADCs find uses in a wide variety of applications, design of these circuits has evolved along many paths to yield several distinct architectures, including xe2x80x9cdelta sigma,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9csuccessive approximation,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cpipelined,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9csubranging,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cfolding,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cflash.xe2x80x9d Comparators are the basic building block in each of these designs, and some architecturesxe2x80x94such as pipelined, subranging, folding, and flashxe2x80x94use an array of comparators.
For example, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary conventional two-bit flash ADC 100. ADC 100 comprises a first comparator xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d 102, a second comparator xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d 104, a third comparator xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d 106, a priority encoder 108, a first resistor xe2x80x9cR1xe2x80x9d 110, a second resistor xe2x80x9cR2xe2x80x9d 112, a third resistor xe2x80x9cR3xe2x80x9d 114, and a fourth resistor xe2x80x9cR4xe2x80x9d 116. Each of R1 110, R2 112, R3 114, and R4 116 has the same measure of resistance. R1 110, R2 112, R3 114, and R4 116 are connected in series between an analog ground xe2x80x9cVAGxe2x80x9d 118 and a first supply voltage xe2x80x9cVDDxe2x80x9d 120. (Alternatively, analog ground VAG 118 can be replaced by a second supply voltage xe2x80x9cVSSxe2x80x9d.) R1 110 is connected between VAG 118 and a first node xe2x80x9cN1xe2x80x9d 122. R2 112 is connected between N1 122 and a second node xe2x80x9cN2xe2x80x9d 124. R3 114 is connected between N2 124 and a third node xe2x80x9cN3xe2x80x9d 126. R4 116 is connected between N3 126 and VDD 120. In this configuration, the voltage at N1 122 (the reference voltage of comparator A 102) is equal to VDD/4, the voltage at N2 124 (the reference voltage of comparator B 104) is equal to VDD/2, and the voltage at N3 126 (the reference voltage of comparator C 106) is equal to 3VDD/4.
The inverting terminals of comparators A 102, B 104, and C 106 are connected to, respectively, N1, 122, N2 124, and N3 126. An analog signal xe2x80x9cxxe2x80x9d 128 is received at an input 130, which is connected to the noninverting terminals of comparators A 102, B 104, and C 106. A quantized signal is produced at the output terminal of each comparator. Quantized signals xe2x80x9cw1xe2x80x9d 132, xe2x80x9cw2xe2x80x9d 134, and xe2x80x9cw3xe2x80x9d 136 are produced at the output terminals of, respectively, comparators A 102, B 104, and C 106. Each quantized signal has a voltage with a value xe2x80x9cLOWxe2x80x9d or a value xe2x80x9cHIGHxe2x80x9d depending upon whether a corresponding value of the voltage of analog signal x 128 is less than (or equal to) or greater than the voltage at the inverting terminal of the corresponding comparator (i.e., the reference voltage of the comparator). For example, when the value of the voltage of analog signal x 128 is less than or equal to VDD/4, the values of the voltages of w3 136, w2 134, and w1 132 are equal to, respectively, LOW, LOW, and LOW. When the value of the voltage of analog signal x 128 is less than or equal to VDD/2, but greater than VDD/4, the values of the voltages of w3 136, w2 134, and w1 132 are equal to, respectively, LOW, LOW, and HIGH. When the value of the voltage of analog signal x 128 is less than or equal to 3VDD/4, but greater than VDD/2, the values of the voltages of w3 136, w2 134, and w1 132 are equal to, respectively, LOW, HIGH, and HIGH. When the value of the voltage of analog signal x 128 is less than or equal to VDD, but greater than 3VDD/4, the values of the voltages of w3 136, w2 134, and w1 132 are equal to, respectively, HIGH, HIGH, and HIGH.
The output terminals of comparators A 102, B 104, and C 106 are connected to priority encoder 108. Quantized signals w1 132, w2 134, and w3 136 are received by priority encoder 108, which processes them to produce, at an output 138, a two-bit digital signal xe2x80x9cyxe2x80x9d comprising a least significant bit (LSB) signal xe2x80x9cy1xe2x80x9d 140 and a most significant bit (MSB) signal xe2x80x9cy2xe2x80x9d 142.
The skilled artisan will appreciate that, with additional comparators and resistors and by using a priority encoder capable of processing additional quantized signals, flash ADC 100 can be modified so that digital signal y comprises more than two bit signals. Alternatively, flash ADC 100 can be modified so that digital signal y comprises one bit signal.
Implementations of comparators A 102, B 104, and C 106 often use current-mode latch circuits. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary conventional current-mode latch circuit 200 that can be used in an implementation of any of comparators A 102, B 104, or C 106. Latch circuit 200 comprises a cross-connected pair of transistors 202 connected between a reset switch 204 and first supply voltage VAG 118. Preferably, cross-connected pair 202 comprises a first NMOSFET (n-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) xe2x80x9cM1xe2x80x9d 206 and a second NMOSFET xe2x80x9cM2xe2x80x9d 208. Ideally, M1 l 206 and M2 208 are matched transistors. Preferably, each of M1 206 and M2 208 has a gain greater than one. However, cross-connected pair 202 can function if the product of the individual gains of M1 206 and M2 208 (i.e., the loop gain) is greater than one. The gate terminal of M2 208 is connected to the drain terminal of M1 206 at a first port xe2x80x9cN4xe2x80x9d 210. The gate terminal of M1 206 is connected to the drain terminal of M2 208 at a second port xe2x80x9cN5xe2x80x9d 212. The source terminals of M1 206 and M2 208 are together connected to analog ground VAG 118. Preferably, reset switch 204 comprises a third NMOSFET xe2x80x9cM3xe2x80x9d 214. The source terminal of M3 214 is connected to the drain terminal of one of M1 206 or M2 208; the drain terminal of M3 214 is connected the drain terminal of the other of M1 206 or M2 208. A clock waveform xe2x80x9cCkxe2x80x9d 216 is applied to the gate terminal of M3 214. Ck 216 cycles between an xe2x80x9cUPxe2x80x9d voltage and an xe2x80x9cDOWNxe2x80x9d voltage at a sampling frequency.
The skilled artisan will appreciate that M1 206, M2 208, and M3 214 can also be realized in other field effect, junction, or combination transistor technologies. In general, reset switch 204 can be realized in a variety of switch technologies, including microelectromechanical embodiments. Latch circuit 200 can also be used for other applications.
For each latch circuit 200 in ADC 100, quantized signal xe2x80x9cwxe2x80x9d (e.g., w1 132, w2 134, or w3 136) is produced as an output voltage at N4 210 or N5 212. Latch circuit 200 is often preceded by an input stage (not shown) that includes a differential amplifier so that the voltage of analog signal x 128, applied at the noninverting terminal of the comparator, can be compared with the voltage at the inverting terminal of the comparator. For example, the voltage of analog signal x 128 is compared with VDD/4, for comparator A 102; VDD/2, for comparator B 104; and 3VDD/4, for comparator C 106.
For each latch circuit 200 in ADC 100, the input stage produces a differential current signal comprising a first current signal xe2x80x9ci1xe2x80x9d 218 and a second current signal xe2x80x9ci2xe2x80x9d 220. First and second current signals i1 218 and i2 220 each comprise a bias current xe2x80x9cibxe2x80x9d and a signal current xe2x80x9cisxe2x80x9d. The relationship between bias current ib and signal current is in first current signal i1 218 can be expressed as shown in Eq. (1):
il=ib+(1/2)(is),xe2x80x83xe2x80x83Eq. (1)
while the relationship between bias current ib and signal current is in second current signal i2 220 can be expressed as shown in Eq. (2):
i2=ibxe2x88x92(1/2)(is).xe2x80x83xe2x80x83Eq. (2)
The differential amplifier is configured so that first current signal i1 218 increases and decreases in response to, respectively, the rise and drop of the voltage of analog signal x 128, while second current signal i2 220 increases and decreases in response to, respectively, the drop and rise of the voltage of analog signal x 128. Thus, first and second current signals i1 218 and i2 220 always change currents in opposite directions, but the sum of first and second current signals i1 218 and i2 220 remains equal to twice the bias current ib.
For each latch circuit 200 in ADC 100, the differential amplifier is configured so that no signal current is is produced when the voltage of analog signal x 128, applied at the noninverting terminal of the comparator, equals the voltage at the inverting terminal of the comparator. For example, for comparator A 102, no signal current is is produced when the voltage of analog signal x 128 equals VDD/4; for comparator B 104, no signal current is is produced when the voltage of analog signal x 128 equals VDD/2; and for comparator C 106, no signal current is is produced when the voltage of analog signal x 128 equals 3VDD/4.
In latch circuit 200, first current signal i1 218 and second current signal i2 220 are received as input current signals at, respectively, N4 210 and N5 212. When the voltage of Ck 216 is UP (i.e, the reset phase), M3 214 connects N4 210 with N5 212, so that the steady state voltages at both nodes are equal, and bias current ib flows through each of M1 206 and M2 208. Parasitic capacitances at each of nodes N4 210 and N5 212 are charged by bias current ib that flows through each of M1 206 and M2 208. The skilled artisan will appreciate that the parasitic capacitance at, for example, N4 210, includes the gate-to-source capacitance of M2 208, the drain-to-substrate capacitance of M1 206, the drain-to-substrate capacitance of M3 214, and the capacitance of the wiring connecting circuit devices. Bias current ib charges the parasitic capacitances at each of nodes N4 210 and N5 212 so that the voltages at N4 210 and N5 212 are at a metastable xe2x80x9cMIDxe2x80x9d value that is between LOW and HIGH. The gate and drain terminals of M1 206 and M2 208 are connected together. M1 206 and M2 208 are sized so that, under these conditions, they operate in xe2x80x9cONxe2x80x9d states.
When the voltage of Ck 216 is DOWN (i.e., the sampling phase), the states of M1 206 and M2 208 are controlled by first and second current signals i1 218 and i2 220. For example, when first current signal i1 218 is greater than bias current ib and second current signal i2 220 is less than bias current ib, a transient is initiated to force M1 206 to operate in an xe2x80x9cOFFxe2x80x9d state, while M2 208 remains operating in an ON state. The course of this transient depends on how first and second current signals i1 218 and i2 220 change during the sampling phase. If M1 206 is turned OFF and the parasitic capacitances at N4 210 are fully charged by first current signal i1 218 (i.e., at a new steady state), the voltage at N4 210 is HIGH and the voltage at N5 212 is LOW.
It is a characteristic of latch circuit 200 that the port (i.e., N4 210 or N5 212) receiving the current signal (i.e., i1 218 or i2 220) that is greater than bias current ib requires more time to reach its new steady state voltage than the port receiving the current signal that is less than bias current ib. However, if first and second current signals i1 218 and i2 220 both have values near to that of bias current ib (i.e., small signal current is), it is possible that the output voltage (at N4 210 or N5 212) may not reach LOW or HIGH before the end of the sampling phase, but remain in a metastable condition. Such a situation is more likely to occur if Ck 216 cycles at a high sampling frequency. In this situation, the quantized signal (i.e., w1 132, w2 134, or w3 136) produced by the comparator associated with latch circuit 200 (i.e., comparator A 102, B 104, or C 106) does not get registered as a digital input to priority encoder 108. Consequently, ADC 100 does not produce a digital signal y. Such a xe2x80x9cnon-decisionxe2x80x9d is referred to as a xe2x80x9cbit errorxe2x80x9d. Bit errors can adversely effect the performance of a system that uses the digital output of ADC 100.
Bit errors can be reduced by increasing bias current ib so that only a small signal current is is needed to force the port (i.e., N4 210 or N5 212) receiving the current signal (i.e., i1 218 or i2 220) that is greater than bias current ib to reach its new steady state voltage. This increases the overall speed of latch circuit 200. However, increasing bias current ib can decrease the signal-to-noise ratio of ADC 100. Moreover, increasing bias current ib in all of the comparators of ADC 100 causes ADC 100 to dissipate more power, particularly because each comparator draws twice the bias current ib during both the sampling and the reset phases. Such a situation is undesirable where ADC 100 is employed in a system that demands low power consumption, such as a portable wireless application. What is needed is a technique to identify which comparator, in the array of comparators, is in a metastable condition, and to increase the rate at which the identified comparator transitions to a steady state.
The present invention relates to high speed, low power comparators. In an array of comparators, the present invention provides a technique to identify which comparator is in a metastable condition, and to increase the rate at which the identified comparator transitions to a steady state. A bias current is provided to the identified comparator in the metastable condition, such that the rate at which the comparator in the metastable condition transitions to the steady state is increased.
In an embodiment, the bias current is provided by controlling a current output from a variable current source that provides the bias current for a latch circuit of the identified comparator in the metastable condition.
In another embodiment, the comparator in the metastable condition is identified by comparing a characteristic of a first comparator of the array of comparators with a characteristic of a second comparator of the array of comparators. The first comparator and the second comparator are separated in the array of comparators by a third comparator in the array of comparators. It is determined if the third comparator is the comparator in the metastable condition based on the compared characteristics. Preferably, the characteristics are compared by receiving the first and second characteristics as inputs to an Exclusive OR gate.
In yet another embodiment, the bias current is provided by controlling a current output from a variable current source that provides the bias current for a latch circuit of the identified comparator in the metastable condition with an output of an Exclusive OR gate.
In still another embodiment, the bias current is provided by connecting a first current source in parallel with a second current source to increase the bias current for a latch circuit of the identified comparator in the metastable condition. Preferably, a switch that connects the first current source in parallel with the second current source is controlled by an output of an Exclusive OR gate.
The present invention also provides a method to increase, in an array of comparators that includes a first, a second, and a third comparator, a rate at which the third comparator transitions to a steady state. An output of the first comparator is compared with an output of the second comparator, and a bias current is provided to the third comparator based on the compared first and second outputs.
In an embodiment, the outputs are compared by receiving the first and second outputs as inputs to an Exclusive OR gate. Preferably, a variable current source that provides the bias current for a latch circuit of the third comparator is controlled based on an output of an Exclusive OR gate.
In another embodiment, the bias current is provided to the third comparator by connecting a first current source in parallel with a second current source to increase the bias current for a latch circuit of the third comparator. Preferably, a switch that connects the first current source in parallel with the second current source is controlled based on an output of an Exclusive OR gate.
The present invention also comprises an array of comparators comprising a first, a second, and a third comparator, an Exclusive OR gate having a first input connected to an output of the first comparator and a second input connected to an output of the second comparator, and a variable current source connected to an output of the Exclusive OR gate. The variable current source supplies a bias current to the third comparator. Preferably, the output of the Exclusive OR gate produces a signal that controls the variable current source. Preferably, the third comparator is arranged in the array of comparators between the first comparator and the second comparator.
In an embodiment, the third compararator comprises a latch circuit configured to receive the bias current. Preferably, the latch circuit comprises a cross connected pair of transistors connected between a reset switch and a supply voltage. The latch circuit has a first port capable of receiving a first current signal and producing a first output voltage, and a second port capable of receiving a second current signal and producing a second output voltage. In an embodiment, the cross connected pair of transistors comprises a first MOSFET and a second MOSFET configured so that the gate terminal of the first MOSFET is connected to the drain terminal of the second MOSFET, the gate terminal of the second MOSFET is connected to the drain terminal of said the MOSFET, and the source terminals of the first and the second MOSFETs are connected to the supply voltage. Preferably, the reset switch comprises a MOSFET connected between the first port and the second port.
In another embodiment, the array of comparators further comprises a second Exclusive OR gate having an input connected to an output of the third comparator, and a second variable current source connected to an output of the second Exclusive OR gate. The second variable current source supplies a second bias current to the second comparator.
The present invention also comprises an analog to digital converter. The analog to digital comparator comprises an array of comparators, a priority encoder, an array of Exclusive OR gates, and an array of variable current sources. The array of comparators has respective inputs configured to receive an analog signal, and respective outputs configured to produce quantized signals responsive to the analog signal. The priority encoder is connected to the array of comparators, and is configured to produce a digital signal at an output responsive to the quantized signals. Each Exclusive OR gate of the array of Exclusive OR gates is configured to receive two of the quantized signals. Each variable current source of the array of variable current sources is configured to provide a bias current to a corresponding comparator of the array of comparators, and is controlled by an output of a corresponding Exclusive OR gate of the array of Exclusive OR gates.
In an embodiment, each Exclusive OR gate of the array of Exclusive OR gates produces a logic signal that controls a corresponding variable current source of the array of variable current sources. Preferably, each comparator of the array of comparators includes a latch circuit configured to receive a corresponding bias current. In another embodiment, the corresponding bias current is capable of being increased by a corresponding variable current source of the array of variable current sources.
Further embodiments, features, and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of the various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying figures.


Provided is a magnetic resonance imaging system in which the posture of a magnet can be easily adjusted and the adverse effect on images can be suppressed. The magnetic resonance imaging system comprises a magnet that induces a static magnetic field, and legs that support the magnet and stand on a placement surface. The leg includes a posture adjustment mechanism that adjusts the posture of the magnet and an attenuation pad that attenuates a vibration applied through the placement surface into a vibration whose frequency is different from the resonant frequency of the magnet.

The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging system utilizing magnetic resonance.
As described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-159465, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system is a modality for imaging a region to be examined of a subject lying down in a static magnetic field space by utilizing magnetic resonance.
A magnet such as a permanent magnet is used to induce a static magnetic field. The magnet is borne by legs that are used to adjust the posture of the magnet and disposed on the floor in an installation site of an MRI system. For example, when the magnet is disposed in the installation site or if a gap is created between the floor and any of the legs because the floor has deformed time-sequentially, the posture of the magnet must be adjusted in order to correct the direction of the static magnetic field so that the direction of the static magnetic field will be aligned with a predetermined direction.
Conventionally, an adjustment sheet having a predetermined thickness is sandwiched between the floor and the leg in order to adjust the posture of the magnet. For the adjustment of the posture of the magnet, for example, a jack is used to cause the magnet and leg to float above the floor. The adjustment sheet is then sandwiched between the floor and the leg. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-159465.
However, it is time-consuming to adjust the posture of the magnet using a special tool such as the jack. If the jack is made of a magnetic material such as iron, the jack is attracted to the magnet. This hinders the adjustment work. Furthermore, when the adjustment sheet is merely sandwiched between the floor and the leg, the vibration of the floor is propagated to the magnet through the portion of the placement surface of the floor under the leg. The vibration may adversely affect images resulting from magnetic resonance imaging.

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


Implementations of dynamic shape approximation are described. In one technique described herein, a feature of interest in a first coordinate reference system is accessed and at least a portion of the feature is identified and converted to a second coordinate reference system. In one implementation, the size of the portion is chosen such that the portion can be represented in the second coordinate reference system with an acceptable amount of error.

Three dimensional seismic data from a hydrocarbon reservoir is often binned into a latticed binning grid. A binning grid can be a three dimensional representation of an earth volume and include a flat approximation of the earth's surface formed by a series of orthogonal crossing lines projected on the earth's surface.
Often, different portions of the earth are associated with their own distinct binning grids in unique projected coordinate reference systems. Use of such unique projected coordinate reference systems can often be problematic when integration of data associated with binning grids from various portions of the earth is desired.


A toy assembly includes a projectile that includes a linear portion and an engagement portion. The toy assembly also includes a base that includes a pivot point and defines an opening that receives the linear portion of the projectile, and the base retains the projectile in a frictional engagement. The assembly also includes an actuator that includes a trigger portion. The actuator is coupled to the base at the pivot point. Applying force to the trigger portion of the actuator in a first direction causes movement of the engagement portion of the projectile in a second direction, distinct from the first direction, and releases the projectile from the frictional engagement.

Children enjoy playing and interacting with toys that move. Typically, movement or animation in toys can be produced using a set of gears and springs mechanically coupled to the toy.
Toy construction sets are made up of a plurality of building elements, which include coupling mechanisms such as studs or recesses of specific heights and placement to enable interconnection with other building elements.


The semiconductor device includes a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, and first transistors fewer than the number of the plurality of pixels. The plurality of pixels each includes a photodiode and an amplifier circuit. The amplifier circuit holds the accumulated charge and includes at least a second transistor electrically connected to a cathode of the photodiode. The cathode of the photodiode in the pixel in an n-th row and the cathode of the photodiode in the pixel in an (n+1)-th row are electrically connected to the first transistor. The number n is a natural number. The pixel in the n-th row and the pixel in the (n+1)-th row are in an identical column.

A photosensor utilizing an amplifying function of a MOS transistor, called a CMOS sensor, can be manufactured by a general CMOS process. Thus, manufacturing cost of a solid-state imaging device including a CMOS sensor in each pixel can be low, and a semiconductor device having a photosensor and a display element formed over one substrate can be realized. In addition, a CMOS sensor requires lower driving voltage than a CCD sensor; therefore, power consumption of the solid-state imaging device can be suppressed.
A solid-state imaging device including a CMOS sensor generally employs, for imaging, a rolling shutter method in which an operation to accumulate charge in a photodiode and an operation to read the charge are sequentially performed row by row (see Patent Document 1). In some cases, such a solid-state imaging device employs a global shutter method in which all the pixels are subjected to an operation to accumulate charge at a time, instead of the rolling shutter method.

Semiconductor device and method for driving the same

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An electrical lead for sensing electrical activity with the body of the patient and for applying electrical energization to selected body tissue comprises an elongated, flexible polymeric lead body having one or more conductors extending the length thereof, the conductors being connected at their distal end to electrode pads where the pads each comprise a multilayer thin metallic film structure formed on the surface of the lead body where the overall thickness of the composite electrodes are less than about 5 microns. As such, the electrodes do not adversely impact the ability of the distal end portion of the catheter to flex and conform to tissue structures where sensing is to be taken and therapy delivered via the lead.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to catheters used in sensing electrical activity within a patient and administering therapy, and more particularly to such catheters incorporating deposited thin film electrodes thereon for improved flexibility and trackability within the body.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
A recognized procedure used in treating various cardiac arrhythmias involves ablating cardiac tissue at an appropriate site to block aberrant re-entrant paths. In a normal heart, the sino-atrial node located in right atrium depolarizes on a cyclic basis and a resulting electrical wave propagates to the AV node causing it to fire and send a further electrical wave down the bundle of His and there along the left and right bundle branches to produce a coordinated contraction of the ventricles. Arrhythmia, including atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter and tachycardia often results when the heart's normal conduction system includes a re-entrant path from the ventricles to the atrium, resulting in the feedback of electrical impulses that mix with depolarizations of the S-A node to deliver erratic signals to the A-V node.
In addressing these arrhythmias, procedures referred to as electrophysiology mapping and ablation electrophysiological therapy are used. In carrying out such therapy, a physician will first steer a catheter having sensing/ablation electrodes on the distal end thereof through the patient's vascular system and into a predetermined chamber of the heart where the treatment is to be carried out. The catheter is manipulated so as to place the electrodes into direct contact with the myocardial tissue that is sensed and/or to be ablated. Sensing and/or ablation can be performed on the endocardial surface or via coronary veins and arteries. The aberrant path and/or ectopic foci is first located using a "mapping" technique in which cardiac depolarization signals picked up by the electrodes are transmitted over electrical conductors in the lead to a suitable monitor/analyzer. When an aberrant conductive pathway or an ectopic foci is located, the physician positions the electrodes so that predetermined ones are in direct contact with the myocardial tissue to be ablated. The physician then activates a voltage generator, usually a source of RF voltage connected across a pair of electrodes, to effectively ablate and form a line of scar tissue interrupting the aberrant conductive pathway or to eliminate the ectopic foci.
Those desiring additional information relating to the use of ablation/mapping catheters for treating cardiac arrhythmias are referred to "Catheter Ablation of the Atrioventricular Junction with Radiofrequency Energy" by Landberg et al., Circulation, Vol. 80, No. 6, December 1989, "Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Atrial Arrhythmias" , by Lesh et al., Circulation, Vol. 89, No. 3, March 1994, and "Efficacy of Radiofrequency Ablation of Atrial Tissue in Common Atrial Flutter", by Kirkorian et al., NASPE, May 1993. The use of electrode carrying catheters for ablating locations within a heart chamber is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,641,649; 4,892,102; and 5,025,786.
The prior art further discloses a number of different electrode configurations. In the Fleischhacker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,662, a conductive wire helix is wrapped about an elongated polymer catheter body where certain portions of the turns of the helix are uncoated so as to expose bare metal that forms the electrode surfaces. In the Swanson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,609 discrete helical windings are disposed near the distal end of an elongated flexible plastic catheter. The helical winding is intended to provide increased flexibility for allowing the catheter to better conform to the surface of the tissue to be ablated. In the Pomeranz et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,073, the electrodes each comprise a metallic ring disposed about the circumference of the catheter body. A plurality of electrical conductors extend through a lumen of the catheter body to connect the metallic rings to terminals at the proximal end of the catheter body. Such ring electrodes are also shown in the Truckai et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,757. In the prior art arrangements, the ring electrodes are typically preformed bands of metal that are adhesively bonded, crimped or otherwise attached to the exterior surface of the catheter body, and which are connected by electrical conductors that extend through one or more lumens in the catheter body to connectors at its proximal end. These rings tend to be relatively thick and are therefor rigid. When it is considered that up to ten such ring electrodes are typically spaced about one centimeter apart along the distal end portion of the catheter body, they impact the ability of the distal end portion of the catheter to flex and conform to tissue structures to be mapped/ablated.
Leads constructed in accordance with the present invention can find use not only in mapping the endocardium and ablating tissue to treat cardiac arrhythmias, but also can be used in fabricating pacing and defibrillating leads as well as neurologic leads placed along the spinal column by which electrical stimulation can be applied to the body for treating chronic pain.
It is a principal purpose of the present invention to provide an improved electrophysiology catheter that exhibits improved flexibility when contrasted with known prior art mapping and ablation catheters. Rather than using a plurality of solid, preformed, tubular, metal ring electrodes, we instead deposit multiple layers of different metals as thin films so that the resulting multilayer structure may have a thickness between 5 and 250 microns, but with between 5 and 20 microns being preferred. With such thin electrodes, they are able to readily flex and do not detract from the overall flexibility of the distal end portion of the catheter. Moreover, they can be configured in various shapes and patterns to optimize tissue contact.
Historically, thin metallic films have not been suitable for use as conductive electrodes on flexible polymers, although efforts to do so have been attempted. Past efforts have been plagued with a number of problems including: (1) being able to adhere the thin metal film coating to the polymer substrate, especially on flexure thereof; (2) lack of adhesion of the coating to itself (internal adhesion) as the coating is oxidized by air; (3) formation of cracks emanating in the film which lead to either loss of conductivity or undesirable "spark gaps"; (4) temperature build-up in the film resulting from internal micro-cracks which overwhelm the minimal heat capacity of a metal that is less than 1 mil thick; and (5) inherent stresses that exist in a columnar structured film as it is longitudinally stretched. Because of the aforementioned problems, persons skilled in the art of designing and producing electrical leads/catheters have stayed away from the use of thin films even though such thin film electrodes offer significant advantages, especially enhanced flexibility and improved configuration to optimize contact along an interior surface of a body cavity, and greater energy transfer because such films have no thermal capacity and, hence, no heating occurs of the film itself. As such, there is no loss of energy in the thermal heating of the thin film ring electrode.

Catheter with thin film electrodes and method for making same


Methods, systems, and computer readable media for recognizing one or more hand gestures of a hand-based signal or conversation are described. Some implementations include obtaining one or more unprocessed images of the hand-based signal or conversation including images of at least one of the one or more hand gestures extracting one or more spectral features from the one or more unprocessed images using a Gabor filter bank, receiving the one or more unprocessed images of the one or more hand gestures and the extracted one or more spectral features by a Convolution Neural Network (CNN), and outputting a classification for the at least one of the one or more hand gestures using the Convolution Neural Network (CNN). In some implementations, at least one of the extracted one or more spectral features and at least one of the one or more unprocessed images of the one or more hand gestures are concatenated and input to the Convolution Neural Network (CNN).

Sign language facilitates communication with people who are deaf or have auditory impairments (ranging from mild to severe). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 466 million individuals worldwide, i.e., about 6% of the world's population, have disabling hearing loss; and this number is estimated to double by 2050. (See, Hearing loss statistics. URL: https://wwwwhoint/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearingloss, which is incorporated herein by reference). Hearing-impaired people depend greatly on sign language for day-to-day activities and to engage with their society, e.g., to communicate with other people, to access information on television, and to learn in schools.
Sign languages are geography specific, i.e., several sign languages may exist around the world and sometimes within the same country. (See, Sidig A A I, Lugman H, Mahmoud S A (2017) Transform-based Arabic sign language recognition. Procedia Computer Science 117:2-9, DOI 10.1016/j.procs.2017.10.087, which is incorporated herein by reference). Even countries with the same spoken language, for example, English, may have di□erent sign languages, as exemplified by the American Sign Language (ASL) and the British Sign Language (BSL).
Sign language is one form of visual gesture communication that simultaneously employs hand gestures, facial expressions, and other body-part postures to convey meaning. (See, Nair A V, Bindu V (2013) A Review on Indian Sign Language Recognition. International Journal of Computer Applications 73(22):33-38, which is incorporated herein by reference). Hand gestures are the primary component of sign languages that are utilized by individuals to express motion and thoughts. (See, Cheok M J, Omar Z, Jaward M H (2019) A review of hand gesture and sign language recognition techniques. International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics 10(1):131-153, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Hand gestures in sign language can be classified into static and dynamic gestures, depending on whether the motion of the hand is part of sign expression and interpretation. Static gestures complement dynamic gestures and mainly depend on the shape and orientation of the hand and the fingers. (See, Pisharady P K, Saerbeck M (2015) Recent methods and databases in vision-based hand gesture recognition: A review. Computer Vision and Image Understanding 141:152-165, which is incorporated herein by reference). Static gestures in sign languages are typically used for finger-spelling of alphabets and digits whereas dynamic gestures are typically used in word expression and interpretation. (See, Luqman H, Mahmoud S A (2018) Automatic translation of arabic text-to-arabic sign language. Universal Access in the Information Society pp 1-13, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Automatically interpreting hand gestures is gaining importance in the field of human-machine communication and interaction. A number of approaches have been proposed for automatic sign language recognition during the last decade. These techniques can be classified into three broad categories based on the data acquisition method employed: (a) sensor based, (b) vision-based, and (c) a hybrid of both of these. ((See, Ahmed M A, Zaidan B B, Zaidan A A, Salih M M, Lakulu M Mb (2018) A review on systems-based sensory gloves for sign language recognition state of the art between 2007 and 2017. Sensors 18(7):2208, which is incorporated herein by reference), (See, Shivashankara S, Srinath S (2017) A comparative study of various techniques and outcomes of recognizing american sign language: A review. International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET) 6(9):1013-1023, which is incorporated herein by reference)). Sensor-based techniques employ a set of sensors to detect and track hands and fingers. These sensors/devices may come in various forms, such as leap motion, Microsoft Kinect, and electronic gloves. Some examples of data acquisition devices, including sensors, are shown in FIG. 1.
Signers may find this approach expensive, uncomfortable, or impractical due to the requirement of installing or wearing cumbersome instruments while signing. (See, Nair A V, Bindu V (2013) A Review on Indian Sign Language Recognition. International Journal of Computer Applications 73(22):33-38, which is incorporated herein by reference). Moreover, signs with complex gestures may be di□cult or impossible to perform. In contrast, vision-based approaches use a single video camera or multiple cameras to capture the signs and store them as a sequence of images for processing. Unlike sensor-based techniques, vision-based techniques exhibit different challenges such as challenges related to hand detection, segmentation, and tracking. (See, Mohandes M, Deriche M, Liu J (2014) Image-based and sensor-based approaches to arabic sign language recognition. IEEE transactions on human-machine systems 44(4):551-557, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Deep learning has recently become a major feature in computer vision and has been explored for sign language recognition. (See, Rastgoo R, Kiani K, Escalera S (2018) Multi-modal deep hand sign language recognition in still images using restricted boltzmann machine. Entropy 20(11):809, which is incorporated herein by reference). This technique requires a large amount of data to learn and configure a vast parameter set. Unfortunately, sign languages are low-resourced languages, especially for non-western languages such as Arabic Sign Language (ArSL), where the lack of reliable data is a common problem.
On the other hand, Gabor filtering is an e□cient technique for extracting spatial information such as texture and edges. (See, Chen Y, Zhu L, Ghamisi P, Jia X, Li G, Tang L (2017) Hyperspectral images classification with gabor filtering and convolutional neural network. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 14(12):2355-2359, which is incorporated herein by reference). Gabor filters were studied thoroughly and were found to be e□ective in extracting discriminative features compared to other filtering techniques. (See, Mehri M, Héroux P, Gomez-Krämer P, Mullot R (2017) Texture feature benchmarking and evaluation for historical document image analysis. International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) 20(1):1-35, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Combining both approaches can lead to improvement in the e□ectiveness of a sign-language recognition system. Gabor based features can be used as input to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to reduce the need for feature extraction in traditional machine learning approaches. A number of techniques have been proposed in the literature, with a focus on the recognition of sign language alphabets using traditional and deep learning approaches. In 2007, a system was proposed to recognize 20 alphabets of ASL using Hough transform for feature extraction and a neural network for classification. (See, Munib Q, Habeeb M, Takruri B, Al-Malik H A (2007) American sign language (asl) recognition based on hough transform and neural networks. Expert systems with Applications 32(1):24-37, which is incorporated herein by reference). Using a dataset consisting of 300 images performed by 15 signers, an accuracy of 92.3% was reported.
More recently, some researchers have used CNN to recognize 24 gestures of ASL database. (See, Ranga V, Yadav N, Garg P (2018) American sign language fingerspelling using hybrid discrete wavelet transform-gabor filter and convolutional neural network. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology 13(9):2655-2669; and Barczak A, Reyes N, Abastillas M, Piccio A, Susnjak T (2011) A new 2d static hand gesture colour image dataset for asl gestures, which are incorporated herein by reference). This database is divided into training and testing in two di□erent ways: signer-dependent and signer-independent. The signer-dependent dataset has signer images shu□ed and further divided into training and testing sets whereas the signer-independent dataset uses four signers for training and the fifth signer for testing. Using these two datasets, the best reported accuracies were 97.01% and 76.25% on signer-dependent and signer-independent datasets respectively. Using 26 alphabets of the same database, an accuracy of 82.5% has been reported employing another model of CNN. (See, Bheda V, Radpour D (2017) Using deep convolutional networks for gesture recognition in american sign language. arXiv preprint arXiv:171006836, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Other researchers have proposed a system to recognize the digits and alphabets of ASL using saliency detection, which is a popular method in computer vision to automatically locate important (or salient) parts of an image. (See, Zamani M, Kanan H R (2014) Saliency based alphabet and numbers of american sign language recognition using linear feature extraction. In: 20144th International Conference on Computer and Knowledge Engineering (ICCKE), IEEE, pp 398-403, which is incorporated herein by reference). This approach used principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA), followed by neural network classification. Using a database consisting of 36 gestures, the researchers demonstrated an accuracy of 99.88% with a 4-fold cross validation technique. (See, Barczak A, Reyes N, Abastillas M, Piccio A, Susnjak T (2011) A new 2d static hand gesture colour image dataset for asl gestures, which is incorporated herein by reference).
A hierarchical classification method has been proposed that includes integrating PCA, LDA, and Support Vector Machine (SVM) techniques to classify combined features that were extracted using Bag-of-Words, Hu Moments, and Fourier Descriptors (FDs). (See, Pan T Y, Lo L Y, Yeh C W, Li J W, Liu H T, Hu M C (2016) Real-time sign language recognition in complex background scene based on a hierarchical clustering classification method. In: 2016 IEEE Second International Conference on Multimedia Big Data (BigMM), IEEE, pp 64-67, which is incorporated herein by reference). This technique achieved an accuracy of 99.8% and 94% on the Chinese Sign Language (CSL) dataset and the ASL dataset respectively.
Two-dimensional Zernike moments (2D-ZMs) were compared with PCA and FDs to classify 10 alphabets of ASL, and they achieved an accuracy of 98.51%. (See, Aowal M A, Zaman A S, Rahman S M, Hatzinakos D (2014) Static hand gesture recognition using discriminative 2d zernike moments. In: TENCON 2014-2014 IEEE Region 10 Conference, IEEE, pp 1-5, which is incorporated herein by reference). The same features, i.e., Zernike moments, were concatenated with Gabor features in one study, but the accuracy then decreased to 97.63% over 36 gestures of ASL. (See, Chevtchenko S F, Vale R F, Macario V (2018) Multi-objective optimization for hand posture recognition. Expert Systems with Applications 92:170-181, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Other techniques include temporal prediction and accumulated di□erences to represent the motion in ArSL video streams using a single image. (See, Shanableh T, Assaleh K (2007) Arabic sign language recognition in user-independent mode. 2007 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems pp 597-600, which is incorporated herein by reference). This image was then transformed into a frequency domain using discrete cosine transform followed by zonal coding to extract spatial features, which were then classified by k-nearest neighbors (KNN), Bayesian, and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) classifiers. The reported accuracy on a dataset of 23 signs revealed that KNN and Bayesian achieve results comparable to HMM. Nevertheless, the performance of this technology is sensitive to the environment in which it is used, and is based on factors such as background texture, color, and lighting conditions of the environment. (See, Zhang X, Chen X, Li Y, Lantz V, Wang K, Yang J (2011) A framework for hand gesture recognition based on accelerometer and emg sensors. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybemetics-Part A: Systems and Humans 41(6):1064-1076, which is incorporated herein by reference).
Other techniques have used an ASL recognition system based on depth images of American sign alphabets using multi-view augmentation fusion and CNN. (See, Tao W, Leu M C, Yin Z (2018) American sign language alphabet recognition using convolutional neural networks with multiview augmentation and inference fusion. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 76:202-213, which is incorporated herein by reference). This method addressed partial occlusions and minimized the e□ect of perspective variations by generating several views from di□erent perspectives and fused their predictions in order to determine the final sign classification. The method extracted deep features by passing the processed (32×32) sign images through three convolution layers. This maximum pooling method reduced output of the convolution layers to half the size. A fully connected layer was then implemented to classify the resulting feature map of a given sign image into the proper image sign class.
Other techniques have used two datasets, the American Sign language (depth color) and the NTU digit dataset, for validation. (See, Pugeault N, Bowden R (2011) Spelling it out: Real-time asl fingerspelling recognition. In: 2011 IEEE International conference on computer vision workshops (ICCV workshops), IEEE, pp 1114-1119; and Ren Z, Yuan J, Zhang Z (2011) Robust hand gesture recognition based on finger-earth mover's distance with a commodity depth camera. In: Proceedings of the 19th ACM international conference on Multimedia, ACM, pp 1093-1096, which are incorporated herein by reference).
Other techniques include a low-cost hand gesture recognition system using CNN and SVM. (See, Islam M R, Mitu U K, Bhuiyan R A, Shin J (2018) Hand gesture feature extraction using deep convolutional neural network for recognizing american sign language. In: 2018 4th International Conference on Frontiers of Signal Processing (ICFSP), IEEE, pp 115-119, which is incorporated herein by reference). The CNN was designed to extract features from video frames of hand signs whereas SVM was used to classify these images into one of the American alphabet signs. The highest reported result was 94.57% accuracy for the proposed system.
Still other techniques have used a Bayesian model of visual attention for hand segmentation. (See, Pisharady P K, Vadakkepat P, Loh A P (2013) Attention based detection and recognition of hand postures against complex backgrounds. International Journal of Computer Vision 101(3):403-419, which is incorporated herein by reference). Shape and texture features were used to classify the hand(s) using an SVM classifier and an accuracy of 94.36% was reported using 2750 hand postures.
A hybrid feature fusion of finger angle count, Hu moment invariant, and skin and non-skin color angles have been used. (See, Yun L, Lifeng Z, Shujun Z (2012) A hand gesture recognition method based on multi-feature fusion and template matching. Procedia Engineering 29:1678-1684, which is incorporated herein by reference). This method was evaluated on a dataset consisting of 10 gestures and achieved an accuracy of 91%. Local Binary Pattern (LBP) texture operator was used by some researchers for recognizing static gestures of some sign languages, including American, Arabic, Bangladeshi, and Chinese sign languages. (See, Ding Y, Pang H, Wu X, Lan J (2011) Recognition of hand-gestures using improved local binary pattern. In: 2011 International Conference on Multimedia Technology, IEEE, pp 3171-3174; Sidig A A I, Luqman H, Mahmoud S A (2017) Arabic sign language recognition using optical flow-based features and hmm. In: International Conference of Reliable Information and Communication Technology, Springer, pp 297-305; and Jasim M, Hasanuzzaman M (2014) Sign language interpretation using linear discriminant analysis and local binary patterns. In: 2014 International Conference on Informatics, Electronics & Vision (ICIEV), IEEE, pp 1-5, which are incorporated herein by reference).
Some techniques include a Gaussian skin color model to detect the signer's face and used this as a reference to track hand(s) motion of ArSL. (See, Mohandes M, Deriche M (2005) Image based arabic sign language recognition. In: Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Signal Processing and Its Applications, 2005, IEEE, vol 1, pp 86-89, which is incorporated herein by reference). A number of geometric features were extracted from hand regions across a sequence of images and entered into HMM. This technique was evaluated on 50 signs and achieved 92% accuracy.
Some implementations of the present disclosure were conceived in light of the above-mentioned problems and limitations of computerized methods and systems for recognizing hand gestures of a sign language.

Methods and systems for computerized recognition of hand gestures

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals


A substrate processing apparatus having a processing chamber for processing a substrate; a processing gas feeding line for feeding a processing gas into the processing chamber; an inert gas feeding line for feeding an inert gas into the processing chamber; an inert gas vent line provided in the inert gas feeding line, for exhausting the inert gas fed into the inert gas feeding line without feeding the inert gas into the processing chamber; a first valve provided in the inert gas feeding line, on a downstream side of a part where the inert gas vent line is provided in the inert gas feeding line; a second valve provided in the inert gas vent line; and an exhaust line that exhausts an inside of the processing chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A case such as executing a substrate processing step of forming a thin film on a processed substrate such as a silicon wafer, is given as an example, as a step of the manufacturing step of the semiconductor device such as an LSI. Such physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods as sputtering and the like, or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using a chemical reaction, for example, are sometimes performed in the substrate processing step of forming the thin film on the substrate. Since the CVD method generally possess advantages not had by the PVD method, such as step coverage characteristics, the CVD method is widely employed as a film formation method.
The substrate processing step described above is executed by a substrate processing apparatus provided with a processing chamber for processing the substrate, for example. A particularly stringent level of cleanness has come to be required in the substrate processing apparatus in conjunction with recent miniaturization of wiring formed in semiconductor devices, and reduction of the dimensions of semiconductor devices as such.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. 2004-296820

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device and method for processing substrate


A non-volatile memory cell structure that is capable of holding two data bits. The structure includes a trench in a substrate with two sides of the trench being lined with a trapping material. The trench is filled with an oxide dielectric material and a control gate is formed over the oxide-filled trench. Source/drain regions are adjacent the trench sides with the trapping material. An energy barrier between the drain and source regions has two local high points that correspond to the trench corners. To read the device, sufficient gate voltage is applied to invert the channel and a sufficient drain voltage is applied to pull down the drain-side barrier. If charges of opposite polarity are trapped in the source-side trench corner, the source barrier will be significantly lowered so that current flows between source and drain under read conditions.

In order for memory manufacturers to remain competitive, memory designers must constantly increase the density of flash memory devices. Increasing the density of a flash memory device generally requires reducing spacing between memory cells. It is becoming increasingly difficult to further reduce spacing between memory cells. Closer packing also generally requires smaller dimensions of device elements.
Smaller dimensions of many device elements may cause operational problems with the cell. For example, the channel between the source/drain regions becomes shorter possibly causing severe short channel effects. Additionally, smaller size cells with a continuous layer of oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) may have a problem with charge migrating from one bit-storage point to the other.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for smaller non-volatile memory cells without the disadvantages inherent in the smaller cells.

Trench corner effect bidirectional flash memory cell


A motor control circuit 1 for controlling driving of a plurality of motors is provided with a plurality of motor driver circuits 7 and 8 for controlling driving of the plurality of motors 3 and 4, a plurality of excess current detection circuits 39 and 40 each for detecting an excess current flowing through corresponding one of the plurality of motors 3 and 4 to determine which motor driver circuit among the plurality of motor driver circuits 7 and 7 caused the excess current. The motor control circuit further includes a nonvolatile memory 46 configured to receive detection results from the plurality of excess current detection circuits 39 and 40 and store information on which motor driver circuit among the plurality of motor driver circuits 7 and 8 caused the excess current.

1. Field of the Invention
The preferred embodiments of the present invention relate to a motor control circuit for controlling revolutions of motors when driving the motors. More specifically, they relate to a motor driving controlling technology capable of storing information on abnormal conditions, such as, e.g., excess currents and/or overheating for the latter analysis, even after shutting off the power supply.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventors' knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
When excess currents continuously flow through a motor for a long period of time, the coils may be burned off, or smoke and/or flames may be generated from the circuit.
In order to prevent these problems, in some conventional technologies, it was configured to shut down the operation of the motor when the electric current of the inverter circuit exceeded a predetermined value (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. H4-108491 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1")). In another attempt to prevent the problems, it was configured to provide a storage means for storing information on specific abnormal conditions and stop the operation of the motor to prevent repeated operations in the abnormal conditions when the number of occurrences of the specific abnormal conditions exceeded a predetermined number of times (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-327175 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 2")).
The aforementioned Patent Document 1, however, was a technology configured to merely stop the operation of the motor when a specific abnormality occurred, and the Patent Document 2 was also a technology configured to merely stop the operation of the motor when the number of occurrences of specific abnormalities exceeded a predetermined number of times. Both of the aforementioned technologies merely focus on stopping the operations. In other words, they could stop the abnormal operation of the motor due to, e.g., excess currents, but could not determine causes of the abnormal operation.
Conventionally, the number of built-in motor drivers was one, and therefore it was possible to identify the abnormal driver which caused the abnormal operation when the abnormality occurred. In cases where there are a plurality of motor drivers, however, it was very difficult to identify the motor driver caused the abnormality. Furthermore, according the structure in which the electric power supply is shut down when abnormalities occurred, there was a drawback that the detailed information on the abnormalities could not be saved for the latter analysis.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the preferred embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC.


After mount judging unit (110) transits from a state wherein it decides that earphone (200) is not mounted in an ear to a state wherein it decides that earphone (200) is mounted in the ear, if operating unit (120) accepts a preset unlocking operation, then valid/invalid setter (130) makes a setting for validating operations which will subsequently be accepted by operating unit (120). Valid/invalid setter (130) will keep the setting until mount judging unit (110) decides that earphone (200) is not mounted in the ear. If valid/invalid setter (130) makes the validating setting, controller (140) controls mobile device (100) depending on operations accepted by operating unit (120).

In recent years, some mobile devices incorporate a function referred to as "security lock function". The "security lock function" is a function to automatically set a mobile device to a mode for rejecting inputting operations from button keys and a touch panel on the mobile device, i.e., a mode for invalidating inputting operations (keeping the mobile device locked), if the mobile device has not been operated for a given period of time. The security lock function has been developed for protecting many items of private information stored in recent mobile devices from third parties.
A mobile device with the security lock function is set to a locked state if it has not been operated for a certain period of time even when the user (other than the third parties) is using the mobile device.
For example, while the user is listening to music on the mobile device, the mobile device is set to a locked state when a certain period of time elapses. In order for the user to validate an inputting operation to fast-forward the content or change the sound volume subsequently, the user needs to make an operation to unlock the mobile device, which is a rather troublesome task.
There has been developed a technology for solving the above problem (see Patent Literature 1, for example). According to the technology, if the user wants to listen to music using a terminal device and a unit device (e.g., a headset with a near-range wireless communication capability), then while music data are being sent from the terminal device to the unit device, the terminal device is set to an unlocked state. When the terminal device and the unit device have not been connected continuously for a certain period of time, or when music data have not been sent from the terminal device to the unit device for a certain period of time, the terminal device is set to a locked state.


Process and apparatus for protecting or preserving stored commodities, in particular bulk commodities such as agricultural produce, e.g. grain, against deterioration by pest action, comprising the introduction into and maintenance in the commodity in a substantially gas-tight enclosure of a pesticidal atmosphere comprising carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is admitted to the bottom of the storage space so slowly that it spreads out as evenly as possible in the bottom region, being mixed as little as possible with the air or like gas originally contained in the storage space and then displacing that air or gas progressively in an upward direction, to be vented to the atmosphere from the top of the space until the space is filled entirely with carbon dioxide in a predetermined concentration range. This range can be monitored and regulated automatically. Excess gas is vented through vent pipes, a slight back pressure being created by non-return flaps or throttles.

The present invention relates to a process for eradicating or controlling pests, respectively for protecting or preserving stored commodities, in particular bulk commodities such as agricultural produce, e.g. grain, against deterioration by pest action, comprising the introduction into and maintenance in the commodity in a substantially gas-tight enclosure of a pesticidal atmosphere comprising carbon dioxide.
It is known hat carbon dioxide above certain concentrations is toxic to pests, e.g. insects such as occur in agricultural commodities, e.g. grain. Experiments to eradicate or control pests or for protecting or preserving stored commodities, in particular bulk commodities such as agricultural produce and processed or semi-processed foodstuffs or animal feeds against deterioration by a pest action using carbon dioxide or mixtures of carbon dioxide with other either inert or pesticidal gases have been conducted in various countries. These experiments have been successful to some extent on a laboratory scale, however, various difficulties have been experienced in attempts to apply such procedures economically on a large scale.
Bulk commodities in which pests are traditionally controlled by fumigation include all kinds of grain and grain products, legumes, e.g. beans, soya beans and peas, nuts, ground nuts, cocoa beans, coffee, tobacco, but also non-edible commodities such as cotton, wool, sisal. The pests which one wishes to eradicate to control, besides higher animals such as rodents, e.g. rats and mice, include in particular a variety of insects such as bugs, weevils, moths, cockroaches as well as their eggs and larvae. The pest control procedures are applied to the commodities, when packed in bags, bales or in like containers, but also when in loose bulk form in various kinds of storage or transport facilities, including bulk storage sheds, silos, open-air plastic lined and covered dumps, railway trucks, containers and shipholds.
Traditional fumigants included methyl bromide, hydrogen cyanide, ethylene dibromide and ethylene oxide which are highly toxic and very dangerous to humans. Accordingly, alternative fumigants, in particular hydrogen phosphide, normally released at or inside the fumigation site from hydrolysable metal phosphide compositions have become far more acceptable. Phosphine leaves no residues and does not accumulate in the environment or in any parts of the biological food chain. Nevertheless, for short term environmental reasons, e.g. smell, or where there is a risk of leakage of gas into spaces occupied by humans, or where it is necessary to handle commodities immediately after treatment and before the phosphine gas has had time to dissipate, it is sometimes desirable to employ a fumigant having less toxicity than hydrogen phosphide. In such conditions particularly, the use of carbon dioxide as a fumigant would be highly desirable. To date the variations existing in the construction of commodity stores and their frequent lack of gas tightness which often can be overcome only at great cost, have militated against the commercially successful fumigation with carbon dioxide on a large scale. The technical success of carbon dioxide fumigation is dependent on the concentration of carbon dioxide maintained in the space to be fumigated and the ability to maintain such concentrations (which are very high) for the required length of time. It has been previously known (DE-OS 25 56 999) to fumigate bulk commodities, separated from the atmosphere by being covered and sealed off by a gas-tight foil. According to that prior art, relatively small containers filled with a gas or liquefied gas were set up underneath the foil and opened by special devices in order to release the required small volumes of highly poisonous gas to the enclosed space. That procedure is not suitable for the employment of carbon dioxide as a fumigating gas, because of the high concentration in which such carbon dioxides has to be employed, involving the application of large volumes to achieve the required concentration at which carbon dioxide is reliably pesticidal. It is also known (DE-PS 869 135) to introduce highly toxic fumigation gases such as cyanic acid or ethylene oxide through pipe systems equipped with nozzles and valve from the outside into spaces to be fumigated. That process as well is suitable only for the fumigation of closed spaces with gases of high toxicity which are introduced into the space in relatively small quantities. In order to be able to monitor in that context the maintenance of the desired, relatively low concentration of such highly toxic gases in a space to be fumigated and to automatically maintain the desired concentrations a monitoring and control system is disclosed in DE-PS 32 25 515.


A basketball training system includes a server computer and a basketball training machine. The server computer executes a workout module that manages operation of a graphical user interface that presents a graphical representation of a portion of a basketball court and receives user inputs that define a workout program that includes selected ball delivery locations relative to the visual representation. The basketball training machine receives the workout program and delivers basketballs to the selected ball delivery locations.

This disclosure relates generally to sports training, and in particular to basketball return systems with a user interface.
Training in sports involves the development of skills as well as physical conditioning. The game of basketball requires physical strength and conditioning, and also requires special skills. Successful development of those skills requires repetition during practice.
Although it is a team sport, basketball presents opportunities for an individual player to practice and improve his or her game without the need for other players to be present. A player can develop ball handling skills and shooting skills through individual practice.
Basketball players develop their shooting skills by shooting the basketball from various locations on the court. If a second player is not present to rebound, the shooter must rebound his or her own shots. The rebounding process can waste time that could otherwise be used in taking more shots. Over the past several decades, a number of ball collecting devices have been developed to collect basketballs shot at the basketball goal (i.e. the backboard and the attached hoop). The ball collecting devices generally include netting and a frame for supporting the netting around the basketball goal. The ball collecting devices are often used with a ball delivery device, which directs the ball back to the player.
Motorized ball delivery devices can return basketballs to a shooter at various locations on a basketball court. The ball delivery device can have programs that determine which direction to return balls to the player, how many times to return the ball, etc.
Successful shooting of a basketball can be affected by a number of factors, including a player's form or technique in shooting. In some cases, poor form or technique may have less effect when the player is taking uncontested shots from similar distances, but may limit the player's ability to score in game conditions when the player is guarded by another player and often must attempt shots from varying positions on the court having varying distances from the basketball goal.
As players advance in skill and experience, they are often confronted with the realization that the speed of the game gets "faster," and that he or she will need to consistently score under increasing pressure and from various positions on the court. Continuing to practice under conditions that do not effectively simulate the level of movement required of the shooter and the variety of shot locations frequently encountered in game conditions can result in some improvement in the player's shooting, but may ultimately limit the player's success as the player rises through the levels of play from, e.g., junior varsity to varsity, from high school varsity to college, and from college to professional basketball.


The invention provides a detection device for determining position information from an object to the detection device, wherein the position information includes at least a distance from that object to the detection device. The detection device includes: a light source arranged to emit light; a control device arranged to control the light source; a light measuring device comprising a 2D classification of light sensitive elements and arranged to measure reflected light and to generate a corresponding measuring signal; a signal processing device arranged to process the measuring signal to position information, including distance information, of the object with respect to the detection device, wherein the signal processing device includes an object recognition device is configured to recognize at least one of: an udder, a teat, a and respective parts thereof, and wherein at least one of the light measuring device has an absolute sensitivity maximum with a wavelength between 400 and 570 nm, and the light source has an absolute emission maximum with a wavelength between 400 and 570 nm.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a detection device and more particularly to a device and method of determining position information of an object in an animal related treating device using a detection device that has an absolute sensitivity maximum with a wavelength between 400 and 570 nm, and/or that the light source has an absolute emission maximum with a wavelength between 400 and 570 nm.
2. Description of the Related Art
WO2008/030086, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a device for automatically milking a dairy animal, wherein a light source emits modulated light which is received in a 2D classification of light receivers. From measured phase differences between received and emitted light a 3D image of for example the udder can be obtained.
A drawback of the known devices is that they are often unable to determine a sufficiently accurate distance in practice. This is often undesirable, for example if the detection device is used to determine the position of, or the distance to, an udder or a teat of a dairy animal.
Therefore, the invention aims at providing a detection device which has an improved accuracy, in particular with respect to the distance information to be obtained.

Teat detection device and method therewith in a milking device


A communication network comprises a communication medium and a plurality of nodes. Each node is configured to communicate with the other nodes using a protocol that has at least one of an idle period or a preamble period. The at least one node of the plurality of nodes is configured to transmit an out-of-band signal during at least one of the idle period or the preamble period and is configured to modify at least a portion of the out-of-band signal to communicate data to at least one other node. The at least one other node is configured to interpret the modified portion of the out-of-band signal to identify the data communicated in the modified out-of-band signal. The modified out-of-band signal complies with the protocol's encoding rules such that any node not configured to interpret the modified portion of the out-of-band signal processes the modified out-of-band signal according to the protocol.

Nodes in a communication network communicate with one another using a communication protocol. For example, the Ethernet family of technologies is a common protocol for Local Area Networks (LANs). These protocols set forth standards or requirements for the data format, such as the length of the transmitted frame or message, the length of any preamble, and minimum time required between frames. The time between frames is often referred to as an idle period.

System and method for out-of-band signaling


According to a control for a continuously variable transmission for a motor vehicle, in order to avoid a rapid increase in engine revolution speed upon selecting a power mode from an ordinary mode, the reduction ratio of the continuously variable transmission is varied along a third schedule which connects an ordinary shift schedule for the ordinary mode with a power shift schedule for the power mode. The third schedule is expressed as a funtion of time that has pressed since the instant when the power mode has been selected.

The present invention relates to a continuously variable transmission for a motor vehicle including an engine which the transmission is drivingly connected to, and more particularly to a control apparatus and a control method for such continuously variable transmission.
The conventional continuously variable transmission is shiftable in reduction ratio in accordance with one of a plurality of patterns or schedules. Upon making a change from one to another schedule among the plurality of schedules, a target value of a predetermined control variable such as a target engine revolution speed is subject to a step-like change. This causes the transmission to shift quickly in such a direction as to bring an actual value of the predetermined control variable into agreement with the target value. Thus, the engine revolution speed is subject to a rapid change.
When a change is made from one schedule to another in order to produce more power for acceleration, the continuously variable transmission shifts down rapidly to force the engine to increase its speed rapidly. The inertia torque induced by this rapid engine speed increase absorbs torque produced by the engine, resulting in a temporary reduction in driving power for accelerating the vehicle, thus degrading ride feel for acceleration.
An object of the present invention is to control a continuously variable transmission such that the above-mentioned power interruption is eliminated to give an improved ride feel for acceleration.

Transient reduction ratio control during shift between two mode operations