Methods for driving an electro-optic display having a plurality of display pixels and each of the plurality of display pixels is associated with a display transistor, the method includes applying a first voltage to a transistor associated with a display pixel for a first duration of time to drain remnant voltages from the display pixel, applying a second voltage to the transistor for a second duration of time to stop the draining of remnant voltages from the display pixel, and applying a third voltage to the transistor for a third duration of time to drain remnant voltages from the display pixel.

Electro-optics displays driven by direct current (DC) imbalanced waveforms may produce a remnant voltage, this remnant voltage being ascertainable by measuring the open-circuit electrochemical potential of a display pixel. It has been found that remnant voltage is a more general phenomenon in electrophoretic and other impulse-driven electro-optic displays, both in cause(s) and effect(s). It has also been found that DC imbalances may cause long-term lifetime degradation of some electrophoretic displays.
The term "remnant voltage" is also sometimes used as a term of convenience referring to an overall phenomenon. However, the basis for the switching behavior of impulse-driven electro-optic displays is the application of a voltage impulse (the integral of voltage with respect to time) across the electro-optic medium. Remnant voltage may reach a peak value immediately after the application of a driving pulse, and thereafter may decay substantially exponentially. The persistence of the remnant voltage for a significant time period applies a "remnant impulse" to the electro-optic medium, and strictly speaking this remnant impulse, rather than the remnant voltage, may be responsible for the effects on the optical states of electro-optic displays normally considered as caused by remnant voltage.
In theory, the effect of remnant voltage should correspond directly to remnant impulse. In practice, however, the impulse switching model can lose accuracy at low voltages. Some electro-optic media have a threshold, such that a remnant voltage of about 1 V may not cause a noticeable change in the optical state of the medium after a drive pulse ends. However, other electro-optic media, including preferred electrophoretic media used in experiments described herein, a remnant voltage of about 0.5 V may cause a noticeable change in the optical state. Thus, two equivalent remnant impulses may differ in actual consequences, and it may be helpful to increase the threshold of the electro-optic medium to reduce the effect of remnant voltage. E Ink Corporation has produced electrophoretic media having a "small threshold" adequate to prevent remnant voltage experienced in some circumstances from immediately changing the display image after a drive pulse ends. If the threshold is inadequate or if the remnant voltage is too high, the display may present a kickback/self-erasing or self-improving phenomenon. Where the term "optical kickback" is used herein to describe a change in a pixel's optical state which occurs at least partially a response to the discharge of the pixel's remnant voltage.
Even when remnant voltages are below a small threshold, they may have a serious effect on image switching if they still persist when the next image update occurs. For example, suppose that during an image update of an electrophoretic display a +/−15 V drive voltage is applied to move the electrophoretic particles. If a +1 V remnant voltage persists from a prior update, the drive voltage would effectively be shifted from +15 V/−15 V to +16 V/−14 V. As a result, the pixel would be biased toward the dark or white state, depending on whether it has a positive or negative remnant voltage. Furthermore, this effect varies with elapsed time due to the decay rate of the remnant voltage. The electro-optic material in a pixel switched to white using a 15 V, 300 ms drive pulse immediately after a previous image update may actually experience a waveform closer to 16 V for 300 ms, whereas the material in a pixel switched to white one minute later using the exact same drive pulse (15 V, 300 ms) may actually experience a waveform closer to 15.2 V for 300 ms. Consequently the pixels may show noticeably different shades of white.
If the remnant voltage field has been created across multiple pixels by a prior image (say a dark line on a white background) then the remnant voltages may also be arrayed across the display in a similar pattern. In practical terms then, the most noticeable effect of remnant voltage on display performance may be ghosting. This problem is in addition to the problem previously noted, namely that DC imbalance (e.g. 16 V/14 V instead of 15 V/15 V) may be a cause of slow lifetime degradation of the electro-optic medium.
If a remnant voltage decays slowly and is nearly constant, then its effect in shifting the waveform does not vary from image update to update and may actually create less ghosting than a remnant voltage that decays quickly. Thus the ghosting experienced by updating one pixel after 10 minutes and another pixel after 11 minutes is much less than the ghosting experienced by updating one pixel immediately and another pixel after 1 minute. Conversely, a remnant voltage that decays so quickly that it approaches zero before the next update occurs may in practice cause no detectable ghosting.
There are multiple potential sources of remnant voltage. It is believed (although some embodiments are in no way limited by this belief), that one large cause of remnant voltage is ionic polarization within the materials of the various layers forming the display.
To summarize, remnant voltage as a phenomenon can present itself as image ghosting or visual artifacts in a variety of ways, with a degree of severity that can vary with the elapsed times between image updates. Remnant voltage can also create a DC imbalance and reduce ultimate display lifetime. The effects of remnant voltage therefore may be deleterious to the quality of the electrophoretic or other electro-optic device and it is desirable to minimize both the remnant voltage itself, and the sensitivity of the optical states of the device to the influence of the remnant voltage.
Thus, discharging a remnant voltage of an electro-optic display may improve the quality of the displayed image, even in circumstances where the remnant voltage is already low. The inventors have recognized and appreciated that conventional techniques for discharging a remnant voltage of an electro-optic display may not fully discharge the remnant voltage. That is, conventional techniques of discharging the remnant voltage may result in the electro-optic display retaining at least a low remnant voltage. Thus, techniques for better discharging remnant voltages from electro-optic displays are needed.

Methods for driving electro-optic displays


A method of manufacturing a vertical comb structure for a micro electromechanical (MEMS) device. Tooth structures are formed on a first wafer. A second wafer is then bonded to the tooth structures of the first wafer. The tooth structures are then released to form a comb structure. Forming the tooth structures on the first wafer includes using oxidation, photolithography, etching, epitaxy, and chemical and mechanical polishing to create the tooth structures on the first wafer.

The manufacture of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices is generally well-known, and there are numerous devices used in different applications and numerous methods of making those devices. An example of a method of manufacturing a MEMS device is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,710 titled "METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MICROELECTROMECHANICAL COMBDRIVE DEVICE" TO Scalf et al., herein incorporated by reference. An example of a MEMS device is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,166 titled "SMALL SIZE, HIGH CAPACITANCE READOUT SILICON BASED MEMS ACCELEROMETER" to Leonardson, herein incorporated by reference.
The Leonardson accelerometer provides an inexpensive force measurement device having high pick-off sensitivity in a high-G input range which can operate in a high-G shock environment by providing a capacitance pick-off force sensor having a proof mass with spaced-apart tooth-type electrodes (i.e., a comb structure) that is suspended by an annular suspension member.
One limitation of current methods of manufacturing the comb structure of the Leonardson accelerometer is the practice of manufacturing the proof mass and the cover plate separately, each including tooth-type electrodes, and then mechanically assembling the proof mass and the cover plate. This method requires mechanical alignment of the teeth of the proof mass with the recesses of the cover plate, and vice versa. Mechanical assembly in this way can achieve close tolerances between cover plate electrodes and adjacent proof mass electrodes, but not tolerance levels needed for comb drive devices. A need exists, therefore, for manufacturing methods that will allow smaller tolerances between adjacent electrodes than permitted by current manufacturing processes that use mechanical assembly.

Comb structure fabrication methods and systems


An arrangement with at least one superconductive cable (1) is indicated which is arranged in a cryostat (KR) serving for guiding a cooling agent, wherein the cryostat (KR) includes at least one thermally insulated metal pipe. To the outside of the cryostat (KR) is applied an electrically well conductive material that is composed of at least two strands (6, 7) which are wound one around the other with oppositely pitched direction around the cryostat (KR). The strands are connected fixedly and immovably to the cryostat (KR) at fixed points (8) mounted longitudinally spaced along an axial length of said cryostat.

1. Field of the Invention
Arrangement with at least one superconductive cable which is arranged in a cryostat serving for conducting a cooling agent, wherein the cryostat includes at least one thermally insulated metal pipe, wherein an electrically well insulated material is arranged on the outside on the cryostat, wherein the electrically well insulated material contacts the cryostat (EP2 071 589 A1).
2. Description of Related Art
A superconductive cable has at least one conductor of a special material which, at sufficiently low temperatures, changes over into the superconductive state. The direct current resistance of the conductor then equals 0. Suitable materials are, for example, YPCO (yttrium-barium-copper oxide) or BISCCO (bismuth-strontium-calcium-copper oxide). At sufficiently low temperatures for such a material are, for example, between 4 K and 110 K for reaching the superconductive state. Suitable cooling agents are, for example, nitrogen, helium, neon and hydrogen or mixtures of these materials, each in the gaseous or liquid state. Superconductive cables with cold dielectric and hot dielectric are known.
In a superconductive cable with cold dielectric, the superconductive conductor is surrounded by a dielectric consisting of layers of insulating material, wherein a liquid cooling agent is present as an impregnating agent in the dielectric (insulation). Such a cable is composed, for example, of the conductor as internal conductor and a screen or return conductor which is arranged concentrically which are separated from each other and kept at a distance from each other by the dielectric. An appropriate cable of this type is surrounded by a cryostat which conducts a cooling agent, wherein the cryostat consists of, for example, two concentrically arranged metal pipes which are insulated relative to each other by a thermal insulation.
Superconductive cables with hot dielectric include a conductor which is arranged directly in a cryostat conducting the cooling agent. In this case, dielectric and screen or return conductor are arranged outside of the cryostat while contacting the latter.
In all known arrangements with superconductive cables, no matter whether with cold or hot dielectric, the electrical conductors must be dimensioned in such a way that the energy input in the case of a short circuit does not lead to the destruction of the cable and/or to undo heating of the cable. This requires a sufficiently large electrically conductive cross-section of the conductor with appropriately large dimensions of the respective arrangement. In addition, there is the fact that such an arrangement composed of cryostat and enclosed superconductive cable must be pulled into the cable for its operation. For this purpose, on the outside of the cryostat is attached a pulling mechanism through which the dimensions of the arrangement are further increased. Moreover, the inside width must be adapted to these relatively large dimensions.


A method of forming an integrated circuit including forming a dielectric film is described. The forming of the dielectric film includes: providing a substrate, providing a carbon doped oxide film on the substrate, and treating the carbon doped oxide film with an electron beam. The carbon doped oxide film can be provided by chemical vapor deposition.

This application relates to electron beam treated carbon doped oxide (CDO) films.
One method to reduce interconnect signal transmission delays (RC delays) is to utilize low dielectric constant (k) materials in advanced microelectronics interlevel dielectric films (ILD). To achieve low dielectric constants, a material which inherently possesses a low dielectric constant can be used and/or porosity can be introduced into a film. By increasing the film void fraction or porosity, the thermal-mechanical properties of the material can be degraded. Because of the diminished mechanical properties, process integration of a highly porous ILD film in an interconnect structure can be a challenge. For instance, the application of chemical/mechanical polishing (CMP) used to produce copper (Cu) damascene structures can induce mechanical failures that result in delamination or tearing of the underlying ILD films. The control of the erosion/dishing of the Cu lines determines the amount of shear imposed to these weaker ILD materials. Similarly, packaging can subject interconnect layers to severe shear and normal forces.


This invention relates to a method for allocating a resource in a periodic frame of an asynchronous digital satellite network, to each of cell bursts of sporadic connections which are transmitted by earth stations. Allocation requests for resources, such as a time intervals in a data sub-frame of a frame, are respectively transmitted by an earth station to a central network management station, from beginnings of reception of the bursts and therefore well before the earth station has completely received said bursts coming from an user station. Each of the resource allocation requests relating to the bursts of a connection is satisfied since the request does not comprise any information on lengths of bursts. Thus, during a connection phase, acceptance or refusal of a connection request is decided as a function of an algorithm avoiding overloading of the network and slumping of its performances.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in a general manner to the resource control for satellite telecommunication networks using the asynchronous time-division technique ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode).
2. Description of the Prior Art
After the introduction of the services offered by the "narrow-band" integrated service digital networks, the network designers sensed the need to produce a more efficient network in the medium-term. This need was based on the following considerations: a "narrow-band" digital network does not enable complete integration of the existing or "futuristic" telecommunication services. The existing digital networks do not fully satisfy needs as regards data communications with very high bit rate, services generating a traffic flow of a highly sporadical nature, or in the long-term, video communications. The asynchronous time-division technique ATM was thus advocated to meet three requirements: digital technology, high bit rate, and flexibility in the routing of the different types of communications.
An international strategy for the development of "wide-band" integrated service digital networks (WB-ISDN), defined by the CCITT, is based on three fundamental principles:
an information transfer unit, called "cell", or also "packet", which is the basic element processed by all means constituting the network: terminals, multiplexers and switches. An ATM cell typically comprises 53 bytes, 48 being allocated to the transmission of information and 5 to the routing of the cell in the network, PA1 an asynchronous processing of the cells by the various means in the network, and PA1 a connection-oriented technique: a communication must be set up prior to all transfers of information. The mode selected is the "virtual-circuit" mode for the transmission of the cells throught the nodes of the network, of a type comparable to X.25 networks. PA1 the random technique aimed at generalizing the resources but consequently entailing fluctuations in the cell transmission delay far in excess of the limits specified for conversational services such as the telephone service, and PA1 the access-by-reservation technique. PA1 the decision to accept or refuse a given sporadic connection to be set up subsequent to a sporadic connection request in the signalling sub-frame by an earth station, the decision being determined as a function of an algorithm in which the average lengths of the bursts and sporadicnesses are considered as predetermined constants and which depends on maximum bit rates and average bit rates of the connections in process and of said given connection, the maximum bit rate and said average bit rate relating to said given sporadic connection being included in the connection request, PA1 subsequent to acceptance of the sporadic connection request, the transmission of a resource allocation request in the signalling sub-frame from the earth station to the central station in response to the beginning of the reception and storing of each of the bursts of the given connection in the earth station, and PA1 the anticipated reservation of a resource in the form of a time interval in the data sub-frame for the burst by the central station as soon as a time interval of the data sub-frame is released so that the earth station can begin transmitting the burst while continuing to store the burst.
The conventional networks using the circuit mode, which is the main component of the "narrow-band" integrated service digital network, solve all of their resource control problems at admission of calls in the network: once a call has been set up, a fixed bit rate resource is reserved for a user. The circuit mode would not of course suit the WB-ISDN network for obvious reasons of under-utilization of the transmission means due to the highly sporadic nature of certain communications.
Conversely, the ATM technique is based upon packet mode communications and therefore on operation in queues. Nevertheless, contrary to the techniques usually used for congestion control in conventional packet networks, an oversizing of the network or a step-by-step control of the traffic between nodes of the network is inconceivable for a wide-band network in which the bit rates can reach a hundred Mb/s. The control mechanisms substantially penalize the transmission times and prove inefficient. A solution consists in posing the problem backwards: if the congestion of the network cannot be controlled (deterioration of transmission times), it must be avoided by means of resource allocating mechanisms when accesses to the network are requested. But this prior condition imposes evaluation of the resource to be reserved as a function of the service: it is as easy to determine a resource to be reserved for a request for a constant or variable bit rate service, as it is difficult to define a resource to be reserved for highly-sporadicalness services.
When a source-user transmits a connection request, the request must contain the address of the destination but also the capacity required to route a traffic associated with the request. This request is routed within the network, from one node to another, according to routes determined by a routing algorithm. The call is accepted if there exists at least one route between the source-user and the destination such that each internodal link of said route has sufficient capacity to satisfy the transmission capacity required by the user. The problem has been stated: what bit rate capacity has to be required to route traffics having highly sporadic flows?
The complete generalization of the capacity of the network makes it difficult to provide an answer, insofar as the connections interact with one another.
Modification of the existing telephone network infrastructure to produce a wide-band digital network cannot be envisaged in the medium-term. These reasons are notably based on financial considerations, the means to be implemented to install a terrestrial wide-band digital network being considerable. In order to get around this limitation, a more flexible and less costly natural solution consists in using satellite wide-band networks. Nevertheless, the problem of resource control remains set in equivalent terms, in this case for access to a satellite channel.
The time-division share of a satellite channel between plural stations has been mainly envisaged according to two techniques:
According to the latter technique, contrary to the random access technique in which a connection implicitly entails a "creation" of a time interval by synchronization, frames are periodically allocated to the communications. A frame format based on the TDMA principle and used in the TDMA-reservation protocol is shown in FIG. 2. A frame T.sub.r is divided into a data sub-frame STD.sub.r and a signalling sub-frame STS.sub.r. The sub-frames STD.sub.r and STS.sub.r are respectively allocated to the transmission of data and the transmission of resource allocation request/response messages.
According to certain embodiments, the sub-frame STS.sub.r has a length that is variable as a function of the bit rate. For an earth station ST.sub.i sending a resource allocation request, the TDMA reservation protocol consist in the transmission of a reservation message in an assigned interval ITS.sub.i of a signalling sub-frame STS.sub.r after complete reception of a burst of cells generated by a service of a sporadic nature of a user station. A central station SC, receiving all the reservation messages coming from earth stations, allocates the required capacity to the earth station ST.sub.i when sufficient transmission capacity is available. This TDMA-reservation protocol advantageously informs the central station SC by means of the signalling sub-frame STS.sub.r with regard to a precise allocation request since the earth station only forwards its request after complete reception of the burst, and therefore after taking the length of the latter into account. Nevertheless, this "store and forward" management which consists in storing the whole burst of cells before processing an allocation request, is not satisfactory for services introducing very long bursts since such a management induces transmission delays which are unacceptable for certain services (interrogation of image data bases).

Method for allocating resources by anticipated reservation in an integrated service satellite network


For use on automobiles, the invention provides a compact device for measuring the concentration of a nitrogen oxide in a combustion gas such as an exhaust gas of an internal combustion gas. The device has an ion pumping cell using an oxygen ion conductive solid electrolyte to adjust the partial pressure of oxygen in a gas diffusion chamber and a sensor such as an oxygen concentration cell using a solid electrolyte to detect the partial pressure of oxygen in the chamber. The pumping cell or the concentration cell is provided with a catalyst which decomposes the nitrogen oxide in the diffusion chamber only when the partial pressure of coexisting oxygen is sufficiently low. In the device the current supplied to the pumping cell is measured when the partial pressure of oxygen in the diffusion chamber is low enough for the activity of the catalyst and also when the oxygen partial pressure is made too high, and the concentration of the nitrogen oxide in the gas is computed from the two values of the current and the known relationship between the concentration of oxygen in the gas and the current necessary for keeping each of the high and low partial pressures of oxygen. It is convenient to use a pair of combinations of the pumping cell and the concentration cell to keep the high partial pressure of oxygen in one combination and the low partial pressure of oxygen in the other.

This invention relates to a device for measuring the concentration of a nitrogen oxide in a combustion gas such as an exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine. A probe part of the device has an ion pumping cell using an oxygen ion conductive solid electrolyte, a catalyst for decomposing the nitrogen oxide and an oxygen partial pressure detector such as a concentration cell using an oxygen ion conductive solid electrolyte.
A chemiluminescence analyzer has been used for measuring the concentrations of nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases of automotive internal combustion engines. The analyzer includes a reaction chamber for reacting nitrogen monoxide with ozone to form nitrogen dioxide by the process represented by the reaction formulas (i), (ii) and (iii). EQU NO+O.sub.3 .fwdarw.NO.sub.2 (or NO.sub.2 *)+O.sub.2 (i) EQU NO.sub.2 *.fwdarw.NO.sub.2 +h.nu. (ii) EQU NO.sub.2 *+M.fwdarw.NO.sub.2 +M* (iii)
where NO.sub.2 * represents NO.sub.2 in excited state, h.nu. is luminous energy, and M represents the molecule of a coexisting gas.
That is, a portion of nitrogen monoxide turns into nitrogen dioxide in an excited state which is unstable in respect of energy, and the resuming of the normal state of nitrogen dioxide is accompanied by emission of light of wavelengths (0.6-3.0 .mu.m) in the near-infrared region. This phenomenon is utilized since the intensity of the emitted light is approximately proportional to the concentraion of NO (number of NO molecules) in the gas. In the analyzer, the emitted light is amplified and transformed into an electrical signal by a photomultiplier tube to thereby measure the NO concentration in the sample gas.
Since only the concentration of NO can be determined by this method, usually it is necessary to pass the sample gas first through a converter for reduction (or thermal decomposition) of NO.sub.2 to NO. The existence of other substances (in particular carbon dioxide) is obstructive to the emission of light by reason of absorption of a portion of the luminous energy and resultant decrease in the intensity of the emitted light. Since such an unfavorable influence can be reduced by carrying out the aforementioned reaction under very low pressure, the analyzer includes a vacuum pump to maintain a sufficiently low pressure in the reaction chamber.
It is inevitable that the chemiluminescence analyzer including the above described components occupies a large space, and a large amount of electric power is needed to operate those components. Therefore, the analyzer is unsuitable for installation on automobiles or other vehicles though it is useful in bench test.

Device for measuring concentration of nitrogen oxide in combustion gas


Examples of cognitive procurement and proactive continuous sourcing are defined. In an example, the system receives a procurement request. The system implements an artificial intelligence component to sort the supplier data into a plurality of domains. The system modifies a domain from the plurality of data domains based on new supplier data being received. The system generates user procurement behavior data based on the procurement interaction and a domain from the plurality of data domains. The system establishes a user procurement behavior model corresponding to a guideline associated with the procurement interaction. The system determines whether the user procurement behavior model should be updated based on modification in the plurality of data domains and updates the same. The system notifies the user regarding change in the user procurement behavior model due to change in a domain of the received supplier data selected by the user.

Procurement's importance as a key business process has increased significantly in recent times. Originally, procurement started as a way to integrate purchasing into supply chain management at a time when most large companies were struggling to manage their operational costs. Currently procurement process starts with a buyer making a procurement request, and the procurement agent consulting with the market intelligence reports. These reports may be, for example, a supplier or category intelligence report, and may help a reader use the market intelligence to make the supplier selection for the specific category. In many cases, the available report is simply out of date. On demand report generation is becoming feasible with the assistance of automation and various information retrieval and information extraction capabilities.
The business environment has been becoming an "always on" environment. Further, reactive synthesis of market intelligence based on the request of the buyer or procurement agent may not be consistent with the expectation of the business. Corporate procurement processes frequently use contract management and sourcing software applications to increase procurement efficiency and to create cost savings. However, most of these applications are demand driven, which may constrain the efficiency of the corporate procurement processes because such corporate procurement processes may be not be optimized in the world of "always on" where the market landscape, technology disruption, and supplier situation constantly evolve.
Accordingly, a technical problem with the currently available procurement processes is that they may be inefficient, inaccurate, and/or not scalable. There is a need for an optimized procurement model that is capable of continuous sourcing paradigm, which includes the constant sensing of emerging risks and opportunities, the evaluation of recommendations, and the rapid action/engagement with suppliers to negotiate best outcomes.


The present invention relates to an optical disk, an optical disk device, and an optical disk recording method. When it is applied to, for example, a compact disk. It attempts to reduce a jitter at the time of reproduction, and reproduce surely the recorded data. A change pattern of a modulation signal (S2) is detected, and the timing of a modulation signal (S1) is corrected according to this change pattern, to irradiate a laser beam L.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk, an optical disk device, and an optical disk recording method. The present invention is applied to, for example, a compact disk. By correcting the timing of a modulation signal according to a change pattern of a modulation signal, a jitter at the time of reproduction is reduced and recorded data can be surely reproduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional compact disk, data to be recorded are subjected to data processing and thereafter subjected to an EFM (Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation) modulation. For a predetermined fundamental period T, a pit sequence having a period in the range of 3T to 11T is thereby formed. Thereby, audio data or the like, for example, are recorded.
Corresponding to this, a compact disk player irradiates a laser beam on the compact disk and receives a returned light therefrom. The compact disk player thus obtains a reproduced signal having a signal level changed according to the light quantity of the returned light, converts this reproduced signal to a binary value by using a predetermined slice level, and thus generates a binary signal. Furthermore, the compact disk player drives a PLL circuit in response to this binary signal to generate a reproduction clock and latches binary signals successively by using the reproduction clock. Thereby, the compact disk player generates reproduced data having a period in the range of 3T to 11T and corresponding to the pit sequence formed on the compact disk.
The compact disk player conducts data processing corresponding to the data processing conducted at the time of recording, on the reproduced data thus generated. In this way, the compact disk player reproduces audio data or the like recorded on the compact disk.
By the way, in the conventional compact disk player, a jitter is contained in the reproduced signal. It may be considered that this jitter occurs by various causes such as a noise of a laser beam used for readout, a thermal noise of an electric system, a disk noise or the like. The jitter reduces the phase margin of the reproduced signal. In an extreme case, the jitter makes it difficult to reproduce data correctly.
However, this jitter is essentially due to an inter-symbol interference caused by preceding and succeeding pits (Shigeo Kubota, "Aplanatic condition required to reproduce jitter-free signals in an optical digital disk system", App. Optics 1987, Vol. 26, No. 18, pp. 3961-3970). The jitter changes according to the land and pit located before and behind the laser beam radiation position.

Optical disk, optical disk device, and optical disk recording method


In a time-space-time switching network that provides connections at a hierarchy of data rates, a path-hunt arrangement effects establishment of a switched connection of a given bandwidth as a collection of a plurality of connections of smaller bandwidths of different sizes. Connections are first found at the highest rate of the hierarchy to satisfy as much of the given bandwidth as possible. Then, connections are found at the lower rates to satisfy any remaining unsatisfied bandwidth. The path-hunt uses a hierarchy of status tables, corresponding to the hierarchy of rates, for each time-switching element of the network. The tables have entries that define availability of time slots--representing bandwidth of the tables' corresponding rates--between that time-switching element and a space-switching stage of the network. Connections are provided at the highest rate by finding matching idle time-slot entries in the high rate status tables for the two time-switching elements involved in the connection. Connections are provided at a lower rate by finding matching partially-full time-slot entries in the highest rate status tables for the two time-switching elements and then finding matching idle time-slot entries in the corresponding lower-rate status tables. To maximize path-hunt efficiency while maintaining non-blocking performance, the path-hunt follows a search hierarchy for lower-rate connections that first searches for matching partially-full time-slot entries in higher-rate status tables, and uses idle time-slot entries in higher-rate status tables only as a last resort.

In recent years, standards have been developed for the transport of broadband communications. Among these are the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and the similar Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). The expected growth in synchronous transport facilities based on SONET and SDH supports a need for more efficient synchronous switch fabric architectures. The modular byte-interleaved structure of SONET is based on Synchronous Transport Signal level 1, or STS-1, format, in which overhead plus payload results in a rate of 51.840 Mb/s. The STS-1 frame consists of 90 columns by 9 rows of bytes, or 810 bytes, with a frame rate of 125 .mu.s. The first three columns in the frame are devoted to transport overhead (TOH), while the remaining 87 columns carry the payload, including one column devoted to path overhead (POH). 87 columns of payload constitute a Synchronous Payload Envelope (SPE). However, an SPE can cross frame boundaries, and is allowed to float anywhere within the payload-carrying portion of one or more contiguous frames to accommodate the semi-synchronous nature of the transport facilities. For switching of rates below the STS-1 rate, a switch assumes that the path overhead has been aligned with the first column following transport overhead.
Super STS-1 signals (STS-N) are formed by byte-multiplexing the N constituent STS-1 signals, with the resultant bandwidth being N times that of the STS-1 rate. Conversely, sub STS-1 signals are transported in Virtual Tributaries (VTs), of which four sizes are defined at present, namely VT1.5 (1.728 Mb/s), VT2 (2.304 Mb/s), VT3 (3.456 Mb/s) and VT6 (6.912 M/b/s). To accommodate mixes of VTs, the VT-structured STS-1 SPE is divided into 7 VT groups, with each group occupying 12 columns of the 9-row frame structure; 2 columns remain unused and are referred to as STUFF columns. A VT group may contain 4 VT1.5s, 3 VT2s, 2 VT3s, or 1 VT 6. Both the super STS and sub STS signals retain the frame rate of 125 .mu.s.
FIG. 2 shows a 3-dimensional representation of an STS-12 frame as an illustrative example. There are 12 vertical planes which represent the 12 STS-1s, each composed of 90 columns and 9 rows, for a total of 9720 bytes. Vertical columns may be grouped to form Virtual Tributaries (VTs), as shown by the four regularly-spaced columns representing a VT2 in position #3. While a VT2 requires 4 regularly-spaced columns, as shown, a VT1.5 requires 3 regularly-spaced columns, a VT3 requires 6 regularly-spaced columns, and a VT6 requires 12 regularly-spaced columns. Finally, a DS-0, corresponding to a 64 kilobits-per-second rate, appears as a single byte within one row and column. There are a maximum of 774 DS-0s per STS-1, some of which may be used for additional overhead functions; 756 DS-0s are available for traffic transport.
The three component sub-rates of an STS-N frame--STS-1, VT, and DS-0--may be switched independently by three separate switching fabrics, each dedicated to switching one of the sub-rates. But this is inefficient in the amount of equipment used: it requires demultiplexers at the inputs to the switching fabrics to separate the sub-rates, a separate switching fabric for each sub-rate, and multiplexers at the outputs from the switching fabrics to combine the switched sub-rates back into STS-N frames. The use of a single switching fabric for all sub-rates is therefore preferable.
Given a switching fabric capable of switching multiple rates within an STS-N format, one is faced with the problem of efficiently setting up multirate calls through such a fabric. One approach is to treat a call of any given bandwidth as multiple DS-0 calls. Although this is a flexible approach, the disadvantage is that a path-hunt and a path-setup must be performed individually for each DS-0 call. For example, a single STS-1 call would require as many as 810 individual path hunts and control-memory-setups. This is inefficient both in terms of the amount of time required for the path hunting and the number of control communications required to set up the individual paths.
Solution
The above problem is solved and a technical advance is achieved in accordance with the principles of the invention in a method of providing a switched connection of a given bandwidth through such a multiple-rate network where connections are provided at a high rate of a hierarchy of data rates to satisfy some of the given bandwidth--preferably as much of the given bandwidth as possible--thereby minimizing the number of path hunts and control communications required. Connections are then also provided at lower rates of the hierarchy to satisfy other, e.g., any remaining unsatisfied, of the given bandwidth. Hence, the connection of the given bandwidth is provided as a collection of a plurality of connections of smaller bandwidths of different sizes. Illustratively, the given bandwidth is divided into connections at the high rate, and any remainder of that bandwidth is divided into connections at the lower rate. An attempt is then made to provide the connections at the high rate. The bandwidth of any of the high-rate connections that fail to be made, e.g., because of unavailability of idle connections of this rate, is divided into additional connections at the lower rates. An attempt is then made to provide the lower-rate connections.
In an illustrative embodiment disclosed herein, the switching network is a three-stage network, such as a time-space-time network, and a hierarchy of status tables are stored for each input and each output switching element of the network. The tables have entries defining availability of time slots--representing bandwidth of the tables' corresponding rates--between the corresponding input or output switching element and an intermediate stage of the network. The hierarchy of status tables correspond to the hierarchy of data rates, and define availability as full (non-available), partial, or idle (fully available). Connections are provided at the high rate by finding matching idle entries in the high rate status tables across the intermediate stage, i.e., for the interface between the intermediate stage and the input and the output switching elements involved in the connection--referred to herein as status tables for the input and the output switching elements, for short. Connections are provided at a lower rate by finding matching entries that define at least partial availability in the high rate status tables for the input and the output switching elements and then finding matching idle entries in the corresponding lower-rate status tables. To maximize non-blocking performance, the path-hunt follows a search hierarchy for the lower-rate connections by first finding any matching partial entries in the high rate status tables for the input and the output switching elements. If sufficient partial entries cannot be found in the high rate status tables, or if sufficient idle entries cannot be found in the corresponding lower-rate status tables, further lower-rate connections are provided by finding corresponding partial/idle and idle/partial entries in the high data-rate status tables for the input and the output switching elements, and again finding matching idle entries in the corresponding lower-rate status tables. Finally, any remaining lower-rate connections are provided by finding corresponding idle entries in the high data-rate status tables for the input and the output switching elements, and finding matching idle entries in the corresponding lower-rate status tables. Thus, idle entries at the high data-rate are made unavailable for other connections at that rate only as a last resort, to prevent blocking. If the hierarchy of data rates comprises intermediate data rates, this search hierarchy is followed at every level of the hierarchy of status tables so as to preserve idle blocks of bandwidth at every level for use by connections of the highest possible data rate, whenever possible. Fragmenting of the idle bandwidth, into small fragments that would necessitate the making of connections of a given bandwidth as a collection of a larger-than-optimum number of smaller-than-optimum-size connections, is thereby minimized.
In a specific illustrative embodiment, the three-stage switching network provides connections at three types of rates: STS-1, VT, and DS-0. In addition, the intermediate rate type can be one or more of the VT1.5, VT2, VT3, or VT6 rates. The tables of the hierarchy of status tables correspond to the STS-1, VT and DS-0 data rates, and define availability as full, partial, or idle for the STS-1 and VT rates and define availability as busy or idle for the DS-0 data rate.
When an STS-1 connection is requested, matching idle entries are found in the STS-1 status tables for the input and the output switching elements to be used for the STS-1 connection. The time slots represented by the matching idle entries are assigned to the STS-1 connection. When matching idle entries are not found, an attempt is made to complete the STS-1 connection as a plurality of VT connections.
When a VT connection of an individual rate is requested, matching idle entries for the individual rate are found in the VT status tables for the input and the output switching elements. The time slots represented by the matching idle VT entries are assigned to the VT connection but only when the result of the assignment does not result in a previously-idle STS-1 entry no longer being available for STS-1 connections, unless such assignment is necessary to prevent blocking of the VT connection. When no time slots are assigned to the VT connection, an attempt is made to complete the VT connection as a plurality of DS-0 connections.
When a DS-0 connection is requested, matching idle entries are found in the DS-0 status tables for the input and the output switching elements. The time slots represented by the matching idle DS-0 entries are assigned to the DS-0 connection, but only when the result of the assignment does not result in a previously-idle VT entry no longer being available for VT connections, unless such assignment is necessary to prevent blocking of the DS-0 connection.
The invention minimizes the number of path-hunts that must be performed and the number of connections that must be set up to create a desired connection of a given bandwidth, yet does so without wasting bandwidth available for carrying other connections. It allows desired connections of substantially any bandwidth to be made, without sacrificing efficiency of path-hunting and connection-establishment and without sacrificing conservation of bandwidth. Furthermore, the invention utilizes available bandwidth in a most efficient manner, avoiding idle bandwidth fragmentation so as to minimize instances when a desired connection must be made as a collection of a greater-than-optimum number of smaller-than-optimum-size connections. Yet, at the same time, it provides flexibility in the composition of a desired connection so that the desired connection may be established as long as the given bandwidth is available, irrespective of the size and number of blocks into which that available bandwidth is fragmented.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention taken together with the drawing.

Hierarchical path hunt for multirate connections


A method and apparatus for incorporating voice recognition into a search engine is provided. The phonetic voice recognition system lacking grammar and spell checking is used. The output of the phonetic voice recognition system is forwarded to a search engine. The search engine performs disambiguation and relevancy analysis based on past similar queries. Search engine user behavior is recorded to improve the accuracy. Recorded statistics are used to rank results pages.

Search engines are very robust in dealing with misspelled queries. Large search engines contain components dedicated to analyzing history of user behavior in order to improve accuracy in handling misspelled query terms. Search engines can use previous queries to handle spelling mistakes. For example if a user misspells a query "Sun Francisco," a typical search engine would recognize "Sun Francisco" as "San Francisco" because the mistake has likely been made before by a number of past users. The search engine creates associations between query terms and a page that the user deems most relevant by recording which link the user clicked on. Alternatively the search engine attempts to explicitly correct the user's mistake by providing explicit suggestions in the "Did you mean:" format. Clicking on a "Did you mean: . . . " link results in a new search with a suggested alternate spelling.
Search engines are also capable of "disambiguating" or parsing queries to provide results of higher relevance. An indication that a result is relevant is occurs when a user clicks on the result in a search page, and then does not come back to the search page. Search engines are capable of providing relevant results by extracting logical meaning from queries. For example, an input query of the form "best city street restaurant cuisine" can actually be interpreted by the search engine as "What is the best cuisine restaurant in city on street." More specifically, an unstructured query "best Indian restaurant Potrero Hill", results in a search engine constructing a complex logical statement. The query is interpreted as a search for "Indian restaurants" within the "Potrero Hill" neighborhood in San Francisco. The query is run against business listings within the "Potrero Hill" neighborhood and the results are returned to the user. Moreover, it is possible to misspell every word in the query, because the search engine is capable of recognizing and correcting the misspellings. The search engine does not use spell checking to correct the misspellings, where instead search engines look at past user behavior, i.e. relevant links are obtained by looking at previously established relevant pages for previous queries of similar types.
Voice recognition systems (VRS) are faced with the same set of challenges as search engines. At a high level, voice recognition systems attempt to map differing user word pronunciations to a "dictionary" or a "grammar." Voice recognition accuracy is directly proportional to the size of the grammar (i.e. the number of distinct utterances that the voice recognition system is supposed to recognize). Specifically, the more limited the grammar, the more accurate the voice recognition system is.
Typically, a voice recognition system would handle a query such as the one given in the previous example (searching for a restaurant) by limiting a grammar through the use of a decision tree. When using a decision tree, a VRS uses a hierarchy to reduce both grammar and vocabulary. At every level of the hierarchy, the grammar used to recognize speech is limited, and therefore the vocabulary is limited.
For example, a voice recognition system dialogue may proceed as follows. The voice recognition system initially asks a user "What can I do for you?". The user may reply, "I want to find a restaurant." The VRS may process this answer against a grammar that is limited to a selected set of "top-level" terms. In this example, the grammar against which the first response is processed may include the word "restaurant". In response to recognizing the word "restaurant", the VRS may respond: "I hear a restaurant", and then ask "In what city?" The user may respond "San Francisco". The VRS then attempts to identify "San Francisco" using a grammar that is limited to names of cities. The VRS may then ask: "In what neighborhood?" When the user responds, the VRS then may attempt to identify the neighborhood specified in the user's answer using a grammar that is limited to names of neighborhoods within San Francisco. This process may be repeated until the VRS has enough information about the question to finally provide an answer.
As illustrated by the preceding dialog, a VRS that uses a decision tree forces the user to answer multiple questions to traverse the decision tree until finally arriving at an answer. Such an interface is frustrating because users have to wait for the correct dialog instead of speaking the query naturally. Users find it easier to give all of the pertinent information in one complex statement.
Another way a VRS system may improve accuracy is by reducing the number of responses a user may give, effectively reducing the size of the dictionary. A VRS where there are three possible responses "Yes", "No", and "I don't know", is far more accurate than a VRS where the number of options is infinite. Limiting the number of responses a user may give naturally creates hierarchical application structures that continuously reduce the "grammars". Such limitations are awkward for the user, because rigid structures are not normally used and therefore seem inefficient.
Accurate voice recognition requires large computational resources, and therefore current voice recognition implementations are very costly. In phone-based systems, every step in traversing a decision tree may cost 1 to 1.5 cents. Computational resources are expended on comparing previously-recorded waveform samples to the waveform that was captured. Further, input samples of a VRS are more variable, for example, than the input of text-based search engines.
General purpose voice recognition systems are fairly accurate, but at times VRS can make major errors. The source of the errors stems from the fact that the VRS performs relevance analysis based on which words belong next to each other. For example, if one were to say "I'm better", a typical VRS would look for words that follow such as "than" or "with" So the voice recognition attempts to simplify the recognition computation by using the vocabulary that is typically used around a specific keyword. On the other hand, search engines cannot rely on such logic because a lot of the queries are seemingly random. For example consider the query "What did ayatollah do?" A voice recognition system most likely will not have the word "ayatollah" in its vocabulary, and therefore will not recognize the word. However a search engine would have been able to recall relevant pages, even if the word "ayatollah" is misspelled.
Previous attempts to improve the accuracy of a voice recognition system focused on a combination of approaches such as augmenting the structure of the voice recognition application to reduce the vocabulary of the user, or restricting the grammar of the user, or on expanding the number of words the voice recognition is able to recognize. Such approaches are limited because the voice recognition system once compiled is fixed and is unable to update dynamically, only to tailor itself to a particular speaker.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Navigation using a search engine and phonetic voice recognition


An information processing device includes a processor to execute a process including: blocking, owing to remote control through a network, at least one of communication of a request transmitted by a first device and addressed to a second device, the communication being performed from a network device, disposed on a communication path between the first device and the second device, to the second device, and communication of a response transmitted by the second device and addressed to the first device; acquiring, from the network device, the request transmitted by the first device and addressed to the second device; and transmitting to the first device, an instruction for switching a transmission destination of the request to a third device.

In a plurality of data centers deployed through a wide area and a network connecting those data centers, a case occasionally occurs where a load on a network or a server within a data center increases and a response from the server to a terminal device used by a user is delayed. In such a case, it is important to swiftly switch an access destination of the terminal device to another server or another data center and improve a response to the terminal device.
For example, as a technique for causing an access destination to be switched with respect to the terminal device, a technique has been considered where, in a load balancer, a data center is preferentially selected as the recommended center of a client, the data center being capable of providing service to the client with a small delay time. In this technique, in reply to a request from the client, the load balancer responds with a redirect message instructing to re-access the recommended center and hence, causes the client to access the recommended center.
As related art, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-332825 or the like has been disclosed.

Information processing device, computer-readable recording medium, and control method


It has been found that CBP and p300 are in the relationship of synthetic lethality, and treatment inhibiting p300 is a promising approach for the treatment of CBP-mutated cancer. It has also been revealed that this therapeutic strategy achieves efficient treatment based on companion diagnostics because a p300 inhibitor can be administered to a cancer patient selected with functional suppression of CBP as an index.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are effective against solid tumors with activating mutations in tyrosine kinase gene, such as EGFR mutations or ALK fusion found in lung adenocarcinoma (NPL 1). We and other researchers have recently identified RET oncogene fusions in lung adenocarcinoma (NPL 2). This supports the importance of tyrosine kinase gene as a therapeutic target.
Meanwhile, inactivating somatic mutations in genes encoding chromatin-regulating protein subunits (e.g., histone acetyltransferases CBP/CREBBP and p300/EP300, histone methyltransferases MLL2 and SETD2, histone demethylases JARID1C and UTX, and chromatin remodeling factors BRG1, ARID1A, ARID2, PBRM1, and SNF5) have been largely attractive since they were first identified by the genome-wide sequencing analysis of cancer cells. These mutations are considered to inhibit functions in transcription or DNA double-strand break repair and thought to be crucial to the development and/or progression of cancer.
Unfortunately, therapeutic strategies for specifically targeting cancer cells having these mutations have not yet been developed.

Method for predicting responsiveness to cancer treatment using p300-inhibiting compound


A battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus uses a battery with a reduced capacity as a power source. The x-ray imaging apparatus includes a DC-AC converting part for converting a direct current of a battery to an alternating current, a high-voltage transformer for increasing a magnitude of the alternating current to output a high-voltage alternating current, an AC-DC converting part for converting the high-voltage alternating current to a high-voltage direct current, and an x-ray tube having an anode terminal and a cathode terminal electrically connected to the AC-DC converting part. The x-ray tube is designed to generate x-rays by allowing electrons emitted from the cathode terminal to impinge on the anode terminal. The DC-AC converting part, the high-voltage transformer, the AC-DC converting part and the x-ray tube are sealingly received within the housing part filled with oil.

An x-ray imaging apparatus refers to an instrument that diagnoses a health condition by passing x-rays generated in an x-ray tube through a body of a human patient or an animal. The x-ray tube is provided with cathode and anode terminals and designed to generate the x-rays by allowing thermal electrons emitted from the cathode terminal to strongly impinge on the anode terminal. A high voltage needs to be developed between the anode terminal and the cathode terminal in order to ensure that the thermal electrons emitted from the cathode terminal strongly impinge on the anode terminal.
Shown in FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a portable x-ray imaging apparatus 1. Referring to FIG. 1, an AC-DC converting part 2 receives a commercial alternating current and then converts the same to a direct current. A DC-AC converting part 3 serves to convert the direct current to a high-frequency alternating current. A high-voltage transformer 4 transduces the high-frequency alternating current to a high-voltage alternating current. An AC-DC converting part 5 reconverts the high-voltage alternating current to a direct current which in turn is supplied to an x-ray tube 6 for generating x-rays.
A sensor part 7 senses the magnitude of a voltage applied to the x-ray tube 6 and supplies a signal indicative of the sensed voltage magnitude to a voltage control part 8. Furthermore, the sensor part 7 senses the magnitude of a current flowing through the x-ray tube 6 and supplies a signal indicative of the sensed current magnitude to a current control part 9. Based on the sensed voltage magnitude, the voltage control part 8 controls the magnitude of the voltage applied to the x-ray tube 6. The voltage control part 8 generates a pulse signal to control a switching-on and switching-off cycle of the DC-AC converting part 3, thereby controlling the magnitude of the voltage applied to the x-ray tube 6. Based on the sensed current magnitude, the current control part 9 controls the magnitude of the current applied to a filament transformer 10 to eventually control the magnitude of the current flowing through the x-ray tube 6.
With the conventional portable x-ray imaging apparatus 1, a large quantity of heat is generated during an operation process of the high-voltage transformer 4, the AC-DC converting part 5, the x-ray tube 6 and the filament transformer 10. In an effort to easily and rapidly dissipate the heat thus generated, the respective elements 4, 5, 6 and 10 of the portable x-ray imaging apparatus 1 are hermetically sealed within a housing part 12 filled with oil.
Due to the fact that the portable x-ray imaging apparatus 1 described above uses a commercial alternating current as a drive power source, it has a limit in that it can be used only in a place where an electric outlet is provided.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a conventional battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus 1′ in which a battery is used as a drive power source. This battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus 1′ uses a battery as its drive power source to overcome the limit of the portable x-ray imaging apparatus 1 noted above.
The battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus 1′ includes a rechargeable battery 11, the electric power of which is supplied to an x-ray tube 6. In the battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus 1′, a large number of dry cells are arranged in series to provide a high voltage corresponding to that of the commercial alternating current. This increases the weight and volume of the battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus 1′, thereby reducing the portability thereof.
In recent years, a great deal of research efforts and capitals are invested in development of a battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus which is light in weight and small in size. In particular, such an investment is concentrated on development of a small-sized and lightweight battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus operable at a low voltage.
If a high-voltage battery is used in a battery-powered x-ray imaging apparatus that requires a constant level of electric power, the battery applies a relatively small current to a DC-AC converting part. In contrast, if use is made of a low-voltage battery, a large current flows through a current flow path extending from the battery to the DC-AC converting part. For this reason, a great loss of electric power occurs in the current flow path and a large quantity of heat is generated in the DC-AC converting part that performs a switching operation at a high speed.

Battery-powered portable x-ray imaging apparatus


In this method, an oligonucleotide represented by formula (II) [wherein Y1, Q, Base, r and r′ are each as defined in claim 1] is prepared by using, as a synthesis unit, a novel nucleoside monomer compound represented by formula (I) [wherein X, R1, Y, Base, Z, Ar, R2, R3 and n are each as defined in claim 1]. The novel nucleoside monomer compound is a nucleoside, the base moiety of which is substituted with an aromatic-hydrocarbon-ring-carbonyl or -thiocarbonyl group having at least one hydrophobic group. The method can dispense with column-chromatographic purification in every reaction, and enables base elongation not only in the 3′-direction but also in the 5′-direction, thus attaining efficient liquid-phase mass synthesis of an oligonucleotide.

With rapid progress or development of leading-edge research on biotechnology including genomic drug discovery and genetic diagnosis or therapy, nucleic acid oligomers such as DNA probes, siRNA, antisense DNA, and antisense RNA have been actively utilized in recent years. Solid-phase synthesis methods using phosphoramidite are typically known as methods for synthesizing these nucleic acid oligomers.
Patent Literature 1 has proposed a method for synthesizing a nucleic acid oligomer in a liquid phase, wherein a nucleoside compound in which polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a hydrophilic polymer having a molecular weight distribution is introduced in the base moiety of a nucleoside is used as an end starting material or a building block to facilitate separating or purifying an intermediate product, thereby synthesizing a nucleic acid oligomer. Non Patent Literature 1 has proposed a method for producing a nucleic acid oligomer by: synthesizing nucleotide dimers or trimers in which adenine as the base moiety of a nucleoside is substituted by an unsubstituted benzoyl group by repeating reaction in a liquid phase and column chromatography purification; and binding these dimers or trimers by a phosphoramidite method, followed by column chromatography purification. Alternatively, Non Patent Literature 2 has proposed a method for producing a nucleic acid oligomer by: subjecting a nucleoside in which thymine as the base moiety of a nucleoside is substituted by a p-methoxybenzoyl group (p-toluyl group) to a phosphoric acid triester method in a liquid phase; and performing column chromatography purification after every reaction.
Meanwhile, Patent Literature 2 has proposed the easy step of separating by-products, etc. after reaction using, as an organic synthesis reagent, a compound having the property of shifting its liquid-phase state to a solid-phase state depending on change in solution composition or solution temperature after organic synthesis reaction. The literature has further described, as such an organic synthesis reagent, a compound having a group retaining hydrophobicity on an aromatic ring, for example, a benzylamine substituted by two docosyloxy groups as alkoxy groups each having 22 carbon atoms, and proposed use thereof for peptide synthesis.

Method for liquid-phase synthesis of nucleic acid


An axial fan has an inner-rotor motor which includes a drive end, a non-drive end and a shaft which extends axially from the drive end; and an impeller which includes a cylindrical impeller cup and a number of impeller blades that extend radially from the impeller cup. The impeller cup has an open upstream end and a closed downstream end which is connected to the shaft. In operation, the motor spins the impeller to generate an airflow in a direction from the non-drive end of the motor to the drive end of the motor. The impeller cup is configured to receive the motor therein and surround the drive end of the motor but not the non-drive end of the motor. As a result, the non-drive end of the motor is exposed to the airflow during operation of the fan.

The present invention relates generally to axial fans. In particular, the invention relates to an axial fan which includes an inner-rotor motor and a deep-cup rotor which is mounted over the drive end of the motor to thereby substantially reduce the axial length of the fan.
Prior art axial fans typically use specially designed outer-rotor motors to achieve a compact axial length. Two examples of such prior art fans are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In these fans the impeller is attached directly to a radially outer portion of the motor which rotates in operation. The motor is attached to a stationary support structure located upstream or downstream of the impeller by detachable struts which mount directly to an outer portion of the motor that remains stationary during operation. This type of motor is produced in a limited range of sizes by specialty fan manufacturers, but it is not mass-produced by the major electric motor suppliers because of its limited use in non-fan applications and because it typically has a lower efficiency than an inner-rotor motor.
For newer compact fan applications, a suitable outer-rotor motor design may not be commercially available. A custom design and development effort requires a significant amount of time and expense which may not be acceptable to today's manufacturers, especially for low to moderate volume applications. Use of a pre-existing, mass produced inner-rotor motor avoids the development time and expense of a custom designed motor and also takes advantage of economies of scale to minimize unit costs.
Fans with inner-rotor motors do exist in the prior art, but they typically are not axially compact. An example of such a fan is depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4. Typically, the motor is supported by a frame or fan housing with struts that attach to the mounting feet of the motor. This fan has a significant axial length which is defined by the combined lengths of the motor, the overhung shaft, the impeller, and an inlet bellmouth. As one can readily see, this prior art inner-rotor motor fan is not axially compact.
Applicant's own prior art Tornado™ fan, which is depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6, is an axially compact fan which incorporates an overhung impeller that includes two small drain holes which allow for fluid communication between the upstream and downstream sides of the impeller cup. These drain holes are provided to prevent pooling of liquids or condensates inside the impeller cup and are not intended to provide reverse flow cooling for the motor. This fan uses a custom inner-rotor motor which is connected to the fan shroud by support struts that are integral to the motor housing and fan shroud. Consequently, the motor cannot be readily removed and replaced.
A prior art fan design which employs reverse flow cooling for a fan motor is described in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,641. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 of this patent (which is reproduced in the drawings hereof as FIG. 7), a reverse flow cooling arrangement is provided for the downstream impeller 414 of a counter-rotating fan 410. In this fan embodiment, a pressure difference between the upstream and downstream ends of the impeller 414 induces a portion of the airflow (which is sometimes referred to as a bleed stream and is depicted by the broken-line arrows) to flow upstream through a number of inlet openings 454 in the downstream end of the impeller cup, through the motor 440 and back into the main flowpath F through an annular gap 456 located adjacent the upstream end of the impeller. However, since the impeller 414 is driven by an outer-rotor motor 440, the cooling flow passes through the motor rather than around the outside of the motor. In addition, since no means are provided adjacent the gap 456 to direct the bleed stream back downstream, in some applications the bleed stream may adversely impact the main flow stream in the flowpath F.


In a control method and a control device for shifting an automatic and, in particular, non-powershift-capable transmission having at least two gears, data of a driving-speed-related data source are received by at least one electronic control unit for a defined forecast range. The data are such that the control unit can determine therefrom a region at least lying in the forecast range and having a limit speed below the maximum speed of the lower gear. If such a region was actually detected in the forecast range, either the lower gear is maintained or shifting is performed from the higher gear to the lower gear. Shifting back to the lower gear is preferably performed only if a driver power request value lies below a defined threshold and the driving speed lies below the maximum speed of the lower gear.

The invention relates to a control method and control device for shifting an automatic, and in particular, non-powershift-capable transmission in a vehicle.
Vehicles with powershift-capable transmissions cannot generally use all gears since the long shifting breaks lead to a tractive power interruption, which are perceived as disturbing, particularly in the case of upshifting. The BMW i8 serves as an example. At its front axle, it has an electric engine that transmits power to the street via a two-gear transmission (not powershift-capable). Due to an RPM limit, the first gear can only be used up to approx. 120 km/h. Then, at the latest, a shift must be made into second gear to increase the vehicle's speed. In order to avoid this gear shift, up until this point, starting to drive in automatic mode with an optionally startable combustion engine ("Auto eDrive") is already always performed in second gear. The first gear is only used in the pure electric mode ("Max. eDrive") at a limited vehicle speed. Please refer to non-published DE 10 2014203668.2 by the Applicant for further technical background regarding this operation.
Starting to drive in the second gear, in the case of the BMW i8 in particular, has the following disadvantages.
On the one hand, you can only start driving with less wheel torque. In automatic mode ("Auto eDrive"), this causes a frequent start-up of the combustion engine. This results in a poorer electric driving experience.
On the other hand, in the case of full-load acceleration from a standing position, the electric engine can only render full performance in second gear at a higher speed than in first gear. You cannot start driving as quickly as in the first gear.
It is the object of the invention, in particular in the case of non-powershift-capable transmissions, to improve comfort on the one hand, and the ability to accelerate on the other.
The task is solved according to the invention by a control method and control device according to embodiments of the invention.
In the case of the control method according to the invention and in the case of the control device according to the invention, for shifting an automatic, in particular, a non-powershift-capable transmission, which has at least two gears, data of a driving-speed-related data source are received by at least one electronic control unit for a defined forecast range. Such data sources are, for example, navigation systems, car-to-car systems, transmitting road signs or other telecommunicated digital data. The data are such that the control unit can determine therefrom a region at least lying in the forecast range and having a limit speed below the maximum speed of the lower gear. If such a region was actually detected in the forecast range, either the lower gear is maintained or shifting is performed from the higher gear to the lower gear.
Shifting back to the lower gear is preferably performed only if a driver power request value (in particular, the accelerator pedal angle) lies below a defined (first) threshold and the driving speed lies below the maximum speed of the lower gear. The first threshold can be defined in such a way that the presence of a steady speed or a propulsion operation is ensured.
A shift is preferably made from a lower gear to a higher gear if, within a transition region between the region with the limit speed under the maximum speed of the lower gear and a region with a limit speed or a possible driving speed to be expected over the maximum speed of the lower gear, a driver power request value is under a defined (second) threshold and the driving speed is under the maximum speed of the lower gear.
The first threshold and the second threshold can be defined in the same way, or in terms of a hysteresis, be defined similarly, but differently.
The invention is based on the following considerations.
The disadvantages of a gear shift with comparably longer shifting disruptions only occur when the sample vehicle described above increases its speed to over 120 km/h—meaning over the maximum speed of the lower (e.g. first) gear. Therefore, the invention provides for a navigation-based shifting strategy. The vehicle recognizes if it is in a region with a limit speed under the maximum speed of the lower gear or if it approaches such a region (e.g. speed limit, 50, 60 or 80 km/h). In this region, a desire of the driver to accelerate beyond the maximum speed (e.g. 120 km/h) is unlikely.
So, for example, in an urban environment, according to the invention, the lower gear is maintained or shifted back into.
If the vehicle detects that it is approaching the city limits and will leave the city region (speed limit the same or over 100 km), the transmission shifts to the next highest (e.g. second) gear at a comfort-oriented moment, particularly at a steady speed and/or in a propulsion phase.
By means of this, particularly in the urban environment, driving with a higher electric wheel torque is possible, whereby, for example, the above-mentioned hybrid vehicle becomes more robust at start-up and a great electrical driving experience is achieved. In addition, the vehicle's absolute ability to accelerate in the urban environment increases.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Control method and control device in a motor vehicle for shifting an automatic transmission

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Provided is an information processing system capable of effectively preventing a user's failure to take his or her basal body temperature.

As conventionally known, there exist a basal thermometer that keeps track of a user's basal body temperatures in cooperation with, for example, a smartphone (e.g., see Patent Literature 1).
A user who uses this basal thermometer wakes up at a set alarm time every morning and takes the basal body temperature.
However, the user may fail to take the basal body temperature if the user forgets to set an alarm.
For this reason, Patent Literature 2, for example, discloses a technique for sounding an alarm when a user fails to take the basal body temperature for several days in a row.

Information processing system, information processing method, and program

Abstract: The base time setter 301 sets, as a base measurement time, a time used as a basis for a user to take the user's body temperature after awakening, based on the times at which the user's body temperatures were measured. The sleep duration estimator 302 estimates the user U's most recent sleep duration. When the user's most recent sleep duration exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the alarm controller 303 causes an alarm to sound at the base measurement time.


An aircraft seat for an aircraft passenger compartment suite is disclosed. In embodiments, the aircraft seat includes a primary section including a primary seatback portion and a primary seat base portion, and an auxiliary section including an auxiliary seatback portion and an auxiliary seat base portion. In embodiments, the aircraft seat may further include an actuatable element configured to actuate between an open position and a closed position. The actuatable element may include a first surface which defines at least a portion of the auxiliary seatback portion when the actuatable element is in the closed position, and a second surface which defines a surface of an armrest when the actuatable element is in the open position.

In commercial transportation vehicles such as passenger aircraft, an aircraft passenger compartment suite may include one or more aircraft seats. Some aircraft passenger seats may be designed for a primary occupying passenger, as well as a guest passenger to visit the aircraft passenger compartment suite during flight. Accordingly, there is a need for configurable and integrated structures which may facilitate various surfaces dependent upon the position of the aircraft passenger seat and the needs of the primary occupying passenger.

Integrated seating armrest, stowage and bed surface


In an apparatus for controlling a CVT that transmits power of an engine to driven wheels with hydraulic clamping pressure supplied from a hydraulic mechanism to clamp the belt from laterally-sided pulleys, it is determined whether the ABS operation of the ABS mechanism (to reduce braking force to be applied to the driven wheels when the driven wheels are locked) is delayed, and set hydraulic clamping pressure is increased when the ABS operation is determined to be delayed, while the set clamping pressure is maintained as it is when the operation of the ABS mechanism is determined to be not delayed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a CVT (Continuous Variable Transmission) control apparatus, particularly to an apparatus that corrects pulley clamping pressure in response to the presence/absence of delay in the operation of an ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ABS mechanism is well known which, when a driven wheel is locked, decreases braking force applied to the driven wheel through a braking mechanism so as to prevent a skid. A technique is proposed, for example, by Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 4 (1992)-29580, to delay the operation of the ABS mechanism for preventing a braking distance from increasing on a bad or slippery road surface. Another technique is taught, for example, by Japanese Patent No. 2917064, to increase primary pressure when the ABS mechanism is operated.


A method of spinning multiple parts comprising attaching two blanks to an intermediate mandrel, loading the intermediate mandrel and blanks into the spinning machine by clamping the intermediate mandrel and the blanks between the spinning machine tailstock and the headstock, moving rollers simultaneously radially inward and outward to execute metal forming on each blank to form a part from each blank, ejecting the intermediate mandrel, and ejecting each part substantially simultaneously from the intermediate mandrel.

Spinning is a manufacturing process where a part is formed by being subjected to the forming stresses applied by a roller (or rollers) many times. Each element of metal is brought into the material's plastic region for a very short period of time and formed. The process repeats as many times as required. The ability to form the part an almost limitless number of times gives spinning a great advantage over other processes such as press forming. Some parts can only be practically made by a spinning process in order to be technically and commercially acceptable.
A state of the art for spinning pulleys is known as the split metal process, where the edge of a round metal blank is formed into the pulley sheaves. Spinning pulleys requires high clamping forces on a blank between a headstock and a tailstock tooling. The clamping force for automotive type pulleys is between 40 to 60 metric tons. The clamped part rotates at 400 to 1000 rpm. As it rotates it is exposed to side loads from forming rolls with pressures in the range of about 10 to 15 metric tons each. For typical automotive pulleys there is usually a need to use four rolls. This results in a very heavy and costly equipment as high clamping force and side loads are imposed upon rotating bearings. Hence, the state of the technology today is to make only one part at a time.
Representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,291 which discloses an improved multiple roller spinning machine for spinning vehicle one-piece wheels is disclosed in which the roller holder is capable of sliding in a direction parallel with the axis of spinning and has a hydraulic cylinder which moves through its axially movable piston rod the holder horizontally thereby bringing the multiple rollers sequentially in to an operating position just above the wheel material clamped between the dies of the driving and driven spindles. Each of the multiple rollers is coupled to a control hydraulic cylinder which drives through its piston the respective roller vertically between a retracted position and a drawing position where the roller is pressed against the periphery of the wheel material. Thus, not only can the sequence of different drawing steps, in a most preferable embodiment, from rough to finishing drawing, be completed in an automatic continued manner, but also operation of the hydraulic cylinder to shift the holder, with the particular roller pressed against the material periphery being set in spinning, causes the roller to draw a wider range than its size across the U-cross section portion of the periphery. According to another embodiment, the holder carries therein multiple rows of different forming rollers arranged radially about a common center such that the wheel material can be subject to drawing by multiple rollers simultaneously applied at different points about the material periphery.
What is needed is a method of simultaneously spinning two parts using an intermediate mandrel in a spinning machine. The present invention meets this need.


A document handler, such as used in a digital copier, includes an input tray and an output tray, connected by a paper path. Along the paper path are disposed two scan heads, one to record image data from each side of the sheet. The two scan heads are separated from each other along the paper path by a pitch length longer than a sheet to be scanned. The arrangement allows an image on each side of the sheet to be scanned at an exclusive time. For long sheets, a recirculation path, associated with the paper path, is used to allow the sheet to re-enter the paper path: in this way, one side of the sheet is scanned with one scan head, and then the other side is scanned with the other scan head.

Document handlers are devices which draw individual sheets from a stack of sheets, and sequentially allow the image on each sheet to be recorded, typically by a photoreceptor (in a "light-lens" or analog copier) or by a photosensitive device (in a digital copier, scanner, or facsimile). In a common arrangement, a copier has a conventional main platen, on which single sheets can be manually placed, as well as a smaller platen, typically adjacent the main platen, which is used by the document handler when sheets are being passed therethrough. In a typical design, when a single sheet is being recorded through the main platen, the photosensitive device (or "scan head") is moved relative to the platen to record the entire image; when the document handler is being used to expose images through the smaller platen, a photosensitive device is typically left stationary under the smaller platen, and the motion of the sheet caused by the hardware within the document handler provides the necessary relative motion of each sheet past the photosensitive device.
For recording images on sheets which bear images on both sides thereof, there has typically been two general approaches. For scanners with a single scan head, the general approach is to use the scan head first to scan one side of the sheet, and then mechanically invert and re-feed the sheet so that the other side of the sheet is moved past the scan head. For scanners with two scan heads, each scan head is effectively placed on opposite sides of a paper path, so that both images on both sides of the sheet are recorded.
In the two-scan-head case, a practical challenge relates to the fact that each of the two scan heads will in effect emit image data, possibly simultaneously, as a single sheet is being recorded. To accommodate this dual output of page image data, the downstream circuitry for processing and recording the image data must be designed accordingly. For various practical reasons, however, it is often preferable to retain a processing architecture (regarding both software and electronic hardware) which "handles" one page image at a time.
The present disclosure relates to a mechanical architecture for a two-scan-head document handler which takes into account the above-mentioned considerations.

Image scanning apparatus that scans both sides of an input sheet