Raman-enhancing structures include a layer of dielectric material, a superlens configured to focus electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength greater than about 100 nanometers to a two-dimensional focal area having linear dimensions less than about 100 nanometers on a surface of the layer of dielectric material, and at least two nanoparticles comprising a Raman-enhancing material disposed proximate the focal area. Additional Raman-enhancing structures include a layer of dielectric material, a layer of conductive material, and at least two nanoparticles comprising a Raman-enhancing material disposed on a second, opposite surface of the layer of dielectric material. The layer of conductive material has a plurality of apertures therethrough that are arranged in a two-dimensional array. Methods for conducting Raman spectroscopy are performed using such structures and systems.

Raman spectroscopy is a well-known technique for analyzing molecules or materials. In conventional Raman spectroscopy, high intensity monochromatic radiation provided by a radiation source, such as a laser, is directed onto an analyte (or sample) that is to be analyzed. In Raman spectroscopy, the wavelength of the incident radiation typically is varied over a range of wavelengths within or near the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. A majority of the photons of the incident radiation are elastically scattered by the analyte. In other words, the scattered photons have the same energy, and thus the same wavelength, as the incident photons. However, a very small fraction of the photons are inelastically scattered by the analyte. Typically, only about 1 in 107 of the incident photons are inelastically scattered by the analyte. These inelastically scattered photons have a different wavelength than the incident photons. This inelastic scattering of photons is termed "Raman scattering". The Raman scattered photons can have wavelengths less than, or, more typically, greater than the wavelength of the incident photons.
When an incident photon collides with the analyte, energy can be transferred from the photon to the molecules or atoms of the analyte, or from the molecules or atoms of the analyte to the photon. When energy is transferred from the incident photon to the analyte, the Raman scattered photon will have a lower energy and a corresponding longer wavelength than the incident photon. These Raman scattered photons having lower energy than the incident photons are collectively referred to in Raman spectroscopy as the "Stokes radiation." A small fraction of the analyte molecules or atoms can be in an energetically excited state when photons are incident thereon. When energy is transferred from the analyte to the incident photon, the Raman scattered photon will have a higher energy and a corresponding shorter wavelength than the incident photon. These Raman scattered photons having higher energy than the incident photons are commonly referred to in Raman spectroscopy as the "anti-Stokes radiation." The Stokes radiation and the anti-Stokes radiation collectively are referred to as the Raman scattered radiation or the Raman signal.
The Raman scattered radiation is detected by a detector that typically includes a wavelength-dispersive spectrometer and a photomultiplier for converting the energy of the impinging photons into an electrical signal. The characteristics of the electrical signal are at least partially a function of both the energy of the Raman scattered photons as evidenced by their wavelength, frequency, or wave number, and the number of the Raman scattered photons as evidenced by the intensity of the Raman scattered radiation. The electrical signal generated by the detector can be used to produce a spectral graph illustrating the intensity of the Raman scattered radiation as a function of the wavelength of the Raman scattered radiation. Analyte molecules and materials generate unique Raman spectral graphs. The unique Raman spectral graph obtained by performing Raman spectroscopy can be used for many purposes including identification of an unknown analyte, or determination of physical and chemical characteristics of a known analyte.
Raman scattering of photons is a weak process. As a result, powerful, costly laser sources typically are used to generate high intensity incident radiation to increase the intensity of the weak Raman scattered radiation for detection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a technique that allows for enhancement of the intensity of the Raman scattered radiation relative to conventional Raman spectroscopy. In SERS, the analyte molecules typically are adsorbed onto or placed adjacent to what is often referred to as a SERS-active structure. SERS-active structures typically include a metal surface or structure. Interactions between the analyte and the metal surface may cause an increase in the intensity of the Raman scattered radiation. The mechanism by which the intensity of the Raman scattered radiation is enhanced is not precisely understood.
Several types of metallic structures have been employed in SERS techniques to enhance the intensity of Raman scattered radiation that is scattered by analyte molecules adjacent thereto. Some examples of such structures include electrodes in electrolytic cells, metal colloid solutions, and metal substrates such as a roughened metal surface or metal "islands" formed on a substrate. For example, it has been shown that adsorbing analyte molecules onto or near a specially roughened metal surface made from gold or silver can enhance the Raman scattering intensity by factors of between 103 and 106.
Raman spectroscopy recently has been performed employing randomly oriented nanoparticles, such as nanometer scale needles, particles, and wires, as opposed to a simple roughened metallic surface. The process of performing Raman spectroscopy utilizing structures comprising nanoparticles to enhance the intensity of Raman scattered radiation will be referred to herein as nano-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (NERS). The intensity of the Raman scattered photons from a molecule adsorbed on such a nanostructure can be increased by factors as high as 1016. At this level of sensitivity, NERS has been used to detect single molecules. Detecting single molecules with high sensitivity and molecular specificity is of great interest in the fields of chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacology, and environmental science.
Hyper-Raman spectroscopy is another Raman spectroscopy technique that involves detecting the shift from the second order harmonic of the excitation frequency. The hyper-Raman scattered radiation is Raman-shifted relative to integer multiples of the frequency of the incident electromagnetic radiation. Hyper-Raman scattered radiation can provide information about the analyte that cannot be obtained from normal Raman spectroscopy. The intensity of the hyper-Raman scattered radiation, however, is even less than the intensity of the Raman scattered radiation. As a result, hyper-Raman spectroscopy typically is performed using SERS-active or NERS-active structures.
One limitation inherent in heretofore known Raman spectroscopy systems is the inability to focus the incident electromagnetic radiation to a "spot size" having linear measurements less than about one wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation due to the diffraction limit. As Raman spectroscopy typically is performed using incident electromagnetic radiation in or near the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, the incident electromagnetic radiation generally cannot be focused to a spot size smaller than about 100 nanometers in diameter. This inability to provide a relatively smaller spot size precludes performing Raman spectroscopy on smaller, more precise regions of an analyte. It is desirable to provide ever smaller spot sizes, which theoretically could be used to conduct Raman spectroscopy on a particular portion of a molecule, such as, individual nucleotides of a DNA molecule or particular amino acids or peptides of a protein. Therefore, it is desirable to provide Raman spectroscopy systems configured to emit incident electromagnetic radiation to ever smaller spot sizes.

Raman and hyper-Raman excitation using superlensing

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


To provide magnetic composite particles which can be separated from a sample solution in a short period of time using magnetism, and furthermore, have an excellent dispersion stability in the sample solution, which are magnetic composite particles in which an outer shell is formed on surfaces of core particles containing an inorganic oxide or a polymer, wherein the outer shell comprises magnetic nanoparticles and a silicon compound, the value of the volume average particle diameter (dTEM) of the magnetic composite particles measured by a transmission electron microscope is 30 nm or more to 210 nm or less, and the value of (dDLS)/(dTEM) which is the ratio of the value of the particle diameter (dDLS) of the particles measured by a dynamic light scattering method and the value of the volume average particle diameter (dTEM) is 2.0 or less.

In order to separate and collect targets such as various proteins, nucleic acids and cells from a sample liquid such as blood, antigen-antibody measurement methods in which an antibody suitable for a respective target substance is carried on the surface of a predetermined particle, and the particle is recovered and analyzed after the capture of the target substance have been investigated.
Recently, in order to shorten the measurement time in applications requiring rapid measurement and analysis in clinical examinations, a method which uses a carrier on which an antibody is carried and provided with a magnetic property for rapidly recovering the magnetic carrier, and recovering a target substance by providing magnetism from the outside after capturing the target substance has been investigated.
In order to impart a high magnetic separation characteristic to a fixed carrier provided with a magnetic property, increasing the proportion of the magnetic component comprised in a magnetic body added to the fixed carrier, and making a magnetic body as one having a high saturation magnetization (specifically, using a magnetic material in which the value of the saturation magnetization is high) is known.
PTL 1 proposed magnetic polymer particles mainly used for immunodiagnosis and the like, wherein the average particle diameter is 0.2 to 4.0 μm, and the residual magnetization is 10 to 35% of the saturation magnetization.
On the one hand, in PTL 2, the present inventors disclosed magnetic-substance-containing particles, wherein the volume average particle diameter is 10 to 500 nm, the CV value of the number average particle diameter is 8% or less, and, the saturation magnetization at 25° C. is 15 emu/g or more obtained by disposing an outer shell layer on the surfaces of core particles containing an inorganic oxide or a polymer as a fixed carrier provided with a magnetic property, and containing magnetite particles and sodium silicate together in the outer shell layer.

Magnetic composite particles, method for manufacturing the same, and immunoassay particles


A computer (“patch analysis computer”) retrieves from a website, metadata describing one or more patch files to be used to change software in one or more computers (“target computers”). Prior to installation of the patch files in a target computer, the patch analysis computer performs analysis on the patch files and on the target computer and on application of the patch files to the target computer. The analysis is based on the retrieved metadata and based on configuration data of the target computer. Subsequent to performing the analysis, the management computer displays a report resulting from the analysis including one or more operations to fix issues found during analysis, and receives input from a human on specific patch files and operations. In response to receipt of human input, the patch analysis computer performs operations approved by the human and applies the patch files to the target computer.

Any software that is previously installed ("pre-installed software") and currently executing in systems of computers in an enterprise or organization may need to be changed, for example to keep up with new requirements, latest technologies, and fix defects ("bugs"). A vendor of the pre-installed software may release additional software ("patch") to fix bugs in the pre-installed software. Patches are typically released in a binary form, and used to overwrite portions of pre-installed software also in binary form. Note that if the pre-installed software is in another form, e.g. byte codes, then the patch is also released in the same form, e.g. also byte codes. For example, Oracle® Corporation releases a bundle of patches ("Critical Patch Update" or CPU) on a quarterly basis to provide security fixes for ORACLE® products.
Specifically, ORACLE® CPUs are released every quarter on a pre-announced date at a predetermined website. Each CPU contains patches in patch files, and also contains files of supporting documentation ("metadata"), including a documentation roadmap. The documentation roadmap helps a human decide on appropriate patches for specific software in the systems of computers ("enterprise systems"). The metadata also indicates actions to be performed with the patch files during deployment, e.g. actions to replace files of pre-installed software with newer version of the software in files released as patches. Patches in a CPU can be either cumulative (include fixes in all earlier patches) or incremental (e.g. one-off patches).
The task of upgrading and/or patching of pre-installed software is normally handled by a human skilled in Information Technology (IT). For example, steps to be performed by IT personnel to keep the Oracle® Database software up-to-date with latest product fixes available from Oracle Corporation is described in Chapter 12 entitled "Managing Oracle Database Software" in the book Oracle® Database 2 Day DBA 11 g Release 1 (11.1), Part No. B28301-03, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. An IT professional typically performs such a task on enterprise systems by first testing patch files on a test deployment (FIG. 1A) before applying them to a production system (FIG. 1B). For effective testing, the test environment is set up to resemble the production environment as closely as possible. Vendors of software products may provide software tools to assist IT professionals in selecting one or more patch files to be deployed, and thereafter automatically deploy the selected patch files to one or more computers in the enterprise systems that contain the software to be patched.
A software utility called "OPatch" is available from Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif. Prior to installing a patch file, OPatch can be used to resolve patch conflicts, and do a version check. A patch conflict can arise, for example, if a previously applied patch touches certain files that are also touched by a new patch and the new patch is not a superset of the previously applied patch. OPatch checks for such situations and raises an error when it detects a conflict.
Another software utility called "Oracle Universal Installer" is normally used to install ORACLE products (i.e. not patches, but entire products). Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) maintains an inventory which can be used by OPatch to detect conflicts by issuing the following command "opatch apply-silent-no_bug_superset-report". The -report option detects any conflicts without applying the patch.
For more information on the above-described two tools, namely OPatch and OUI, see the following document which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety: Chapter 7 of Oracle® Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide, 11 g Release 1 (11.1) for Windows and UNIX, Part No. B31207-03, January 2008, entitled "Patching Oracle Software with OPatch."
Another software tool called ORACLE® Enterprise Manager 10.2.0.5 is also available from Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif. The Enterprise Manager (EM) provides a central management console to manage computers in a system containing software from ORACLE Corporation. Using this management console, an IT professional can identify patches applicable to their enterprise system, schedule CPU patching across multiple computers in the enterprise, and apply patches to multiple ORACLE_HOMEs at the same time (scalable patching model).
If any issues arise during patch deployment, the IT professional to take corrective action can use the EM. The EM can also be used to automate parts of the CPU implementation tasks by developing the necessary extensions to existing change management tools or systems. The following article is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as background, entitled "Saving Time and Labor On ORACLE Patching With Enterprise Manager Provisioning Pack—a case study with Oracle Internal IT" dated January 2008, by Pankaj Chandiramani and Hariprasanna Srinivasan.
Moreover, please see the following documents which are also incorporated by reference herein in their entirety as background: (1) Chapter 10 of Oracle® Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration, 10g Release 4 (10.2.0.4.0), E10954-01, October 2007, entitled "Using Enterprise Manager For Grid Automation With Deployment Procedures." (2) Chapter 6 of Oracle® Enterprise Manager, Concepts, 10 g Release 1 (10.1), Part No. B12016-0, December 2003 entitled "Managing Deployments."
Furthermore, also incorporated by reference herein in their entirety are the following: (1) US Patent Publication 20070288903 by Manglik et al. entitled "AUTOMATED TREATMENT OF SYSTEM AND APPLICATION VALIDATION FAILURES"; (2) US Patent Publication 20080098099 by Khasnis et al. entitled "FACILITATING DEPLOYMENT OF CUSTOMIZATIONS OF ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS"; (3) US Patent Publication 20060225072 by Lari et al, entitled "Packaging multiple groups of read-only files of an application's components into multiple shared libraries"; and (4) US Patent Publication 20080178173 by Sriram et al, entitled "Enhanced Flexibility In Deployment of Patches to Fix Errors In Pre-Installed Software."
Software tools of the type described above assist an IT professional in deploying to one or more target computers, a patch that the IT professional has personally selected e.g. based on the IT professional's knowledge of the target environment in their enterprise system. The target environment includes vendor-specific types of hardware (e.g. IBM-PC or Sun Workstation), as well as vendor-specific software, such as the type of operating system (e.g. Unix or Windows), and/or application software (e.g. PeopleSoft or Siebel).
Inventors of the current patent application note that due to the diverse nature of hardware and software in the computers of an enterprise system, deployment of patches can cause unforeseen problems. For example, the IT professional may not think of some critical functionality of a computer that is found to be adversely affected after applying a patch, resulting in the computer becoming unavailable until the original configuration is restored.
Inventors of the current patent application further note that restoring an adversely affected computer back to its original configuration is difficult and time consuming. Even if there is no critical failure, a newly-applied patch in one software tier (e.g. application software) may conflict with a previously-applied patch in another software tier (e.g. middleware software), requiring roll-back (i.e. removal) of the previously-applied patch. Accordingly, the inventors of the current patent application believe there is a need for a new tool of the type described below, to improve the process of deployment of a patch.

Change analysis on enterprise systems prior to deployment


An in-finder display device includes an optical member having prisms and disposed about a position where an objective unit forms an image; an image-inverting unit receiving light from the optical member; an eyepiece unit for guiding the light from the image-inverting unit to an observer; a light source; and an illuminating unit for guiding light from the light source to the prisms. Each of the prisms in the optical member has two prism facets forming a ridgeline nonparallel to a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of the objective unit. Light from the light source is reflected off the prisms, passes through the image-inverting unit, and is guided by the eyepiece unit to the observer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-finder display device suitable for displaying image-capturing information in a finder of, for example, a single-lens reflex camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
A so-called superimposed display function, in which image-capturing information is superimposed on a subject image in a finder of a single-lens reflex camera, is conventionally known. An example of a display device with such a function is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-43913. In this display device, a plurality of focus-detection points in a finder screen are displayed in superimposed display mode, based on the structure in which a plurality of light-emitting elements correspond to respective reflecting surfaces of a deflecting part.
FIG. 9 shows the structure of the in-finder display device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-43913.
A quick-return mirror 91 guides light from an image-capturing optical system (not shown) to a finder optical system. Light from a subject is reflected off the quick-return mirror 91 and forms an image on a focusing plate 92. The subject image formed on the focusing plate 92 is guided to the photographer's eye through an optical member 93 for superimposed display, a pentaprism 94 for inverting the subject image on the focusing plate 92 to form an erect image, and an eyepiece 95. Light from a light-emitting diode (LED) 96, which is provided for superimposed display, is guided through an illumination optical system 97 and the pentaprism 94 to the optical member 93. The optical member 93 is, as shown in FIG. 11, provided with prisms 111 on a surface adjacent to the focusing plate 92. A prism facet 111a and a prism facet 111b of each prism 111 reflect and allow light to pass through the illumination optical system 97 and the pentaprism 94 to reach the photographer's eye.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the above-described in-finder display device (FIG. 9) viewed from obliquely above. LEDs 103a to 103e correspond to respective focus-detecting frames 121a to 121e within the finder field of view shown in FIG. 12. The LEDs 103a to 103e are turned on to illuminate the focus-detecting frames 121a to 121e, respectively. An illumination optical system 102 in FIG. 10 corresponds to the illumination optical system 97 in FIG. 9. The illumination optical system 102 has a powered surface (curved surface) facing a pentaprism 101. The powered surface is divided into three areas, that is, an area corresponding to the focus-detecting frames 121a and 121b, an area corresponding to the focus-detecting frame 121c, and an area corresponding to the focus-detecting frames 121d and 121e. The three areas guide light from the LEDs 103a to 103e, along the length of the finder field of view shown in FIG. 12, to the photographer's eye.
According to the structure described above, a plurality of focus-detection points arranged in and around the perimeter of the screen can be displayed in superimposed display mode.
However, the structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-43913 poses a problem in that an increase in the number of focus-detection points to be displayed in superimposed display mode leads to an increase in the size of the camera and increased costs, because additional illumination optical systems for guiding light from the light source to the photographer's eye, or additional powered surfaces of the illumination optical system are required.


A system and method of operating a wind farm, having multiple wind turbine generators, at high wind speeds is provided. Wind speeds at individual wind turbine generators are monitored and a signal is transmitted from the wind turbine generators to a wind farm control system based on the monitored wind speeds. Rate of change of collective power output of the wind farm is temporally monitored and is controlled by coordinating of operational states of the wind turbine generators based upon the signals transmitted by the one or more wind turbine generators, operating conditions of the wind turbine generators and the monitored rate of change of power output of the wind farm.

The invention relates generally to the field of wind power generation, and in particular to wind farms having multiple wind turbine generators. Specifically, embodiments of the present technique provide a method and system to control power ramp down rate of a wind farm during high wind speed conditions.
Wind turbines are regarded as environmentally friendly and relatively inexpensive alternative sources of energy that utilize wind energy to produce electrical power. A wind turbine generator generally includes a wind rotor having a plurality of blades that transform wind energy into rotational motion of a drive shaft, which in turn is utilized to drive a rotor of an electrical generator to produce electrical power. Modern wind power generation systems typically take the form of a wind farm having multiple such wind turbine generators that are operable to supply power to a transmission system providing power to a utility grid. Output from the wind turbine generators is typically combined for transmission to the grid.
Wind is an intermittent resource and power supplied by the wind farm to utilities is significantly influenced by changes in wind conditions. Generally, power output of a wind turbine power station increases with wind speed, until the wind speed reaches the rated wind speed for the turbine. With further increases in wind speed, the turbine operates at rated power up to a cut off value or a trip level. This is generally the wind speed at which dynamic loads on the wind turbine cause the mechanical components of the turbine to reach a fatigue limit. As a protective function, at wind speeds higher than a certain speed, wind turbines are often required to shut down, or reduce loads by regulating the pitch of the blades or braking the rotor, thereby leading to a reduced power output of the wind turbine generator, and consequently of the wind farm. However, electrical loads on utilities need to be balanced at all times by power generation units. Hence, utility systems usually have additional power generation resources available, such as thermal generators, that can accommodate this variability in wind conditions.
While the additional power resources can compensate for loss of power from wind farms, some amount of time is required to ramp up their output. For this reason, transmission system operators may require wind farms to control power ramp down rates during high wind speed conditions, particularly during high wind speed shutdown of the wind turbines. Such ramp down control is desirable in order to achieve compatibility between power ramp down rate of the wind farm and power ramp up rates of certain other generation resources supplying power to the utilities. This problem has not been coordinated at the wind farm level to control the aggregate shutdown and ramp down levels before wind turbines reach their high speed shutdown protective limits.
Accordingly, there exits a need for a technique to control operation of a wind farm so as to maintain power ramp down rate of the wind farm within desirable power ramp down rates during high wind speed conditions.

System and method for operating a wind farm under high wind speed conditions


An indoor-outdoor detection method includes constructing a first indoor-outdoor detector; and constructing a second indoor-outdoor detector. A normalized brightness of a subject image is determined and a comparison result is generated based on the determined normalized brightness and a threshold brightness value. One of the first detector or the second detector is selectively applied to the subject image based on the comparison result, and a detection result is generated. Image signal processing is performed on the subject image based on the detection result.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to indoor-outdoor detection and control mechanisms for image signal processing in digital cameras.
2. Description of Related Art
Example embodiments are related to the filed of digital cameras for mobile devices. More particularly, example embodiments are related to the field of control mechanisms for white-balance, color correction matrix selection, and chromatic aberration reduction.
The color associated with an object in digital mobile cameras is not constant, and may depend on illuminant color, viewing conditions, and miscellaneous sensor parameters. The indoor-outdoor distinction strongly affects further image signal processing (ISP). An indoor image that is erroneously processed as an outdoor image and vice versa may appear with multiple artifacts such as color cast, unnatural colors, and chromatic aberrations.
Conventional indoor-outdoor detectors are based on topological, geometrical, and hierarchical texture features. These detectors often involve cluster-based image segmentation technologies, which consume a great deal of time and memory for small mobile phone cameras. However these techniques make a huge impact on image quality as is reflected in typical consumer digital stills cameras.

Indoor-outdoor detector for digital cameras


In one embodiment, an apparatus for providing clock synchronization in a packet-based network, the network having as components nodes and links therebetween and having a network topology, is arranged to compute a forward clock synchronization packet path to a synchronization destination from the network topology according to a computation rule such that the return path for a clock synchronization packet from the synchronization destination is the same as the forward path.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In computer networks such as the Internet, packets of data are sent from a source to a destination via a network of elements including links (communication paths such as telephone or optical lines) and nodes (for example, routers directing the packet along one or more of a plurality of links connected to it) according to one of various routing protocols.
One such protocol is the link state protocol which relies on a routing algorithm resident at each node. Each node on the network advertises, throughout the network, links to neighboring nodes and provides a cost associated with each link, which can be based on any appropriate metric such as link bandwidth or delay and is typically expressed as an integer value. A link may have an asymmetric cost, that is, the cost in the direction AB along a link may be different from the cost in a direction BA. Based on the advertised information in the form of a link state packet (LSP) each node constructs a link state database (LSDB), which is a map of the entire network topology, and from that constructs generally a single optimum route to each available node based on an appropriate algorithm such as, for example, a shortest path first (SPF) algorithm. As a result a "spanning tree" (SPT) is constructed, rooted at the node and showing an optimum path including intermediate nodes to each available destination node. The results of the SPF are stored in a routing information base (RIB) and based on these results the forwarding information base (FIB) or forwarding table is updated to control forwarding of packets appropriately. In some instances two paths have equal cost, termed an equal cost multi-path (ECMP) or path split. In those circumstances the node will forward down one or the other path dependent on some predetermined rule, for example to achieve load balancing between the paths. When there is a network topology change an LSP representing the change is flooded through the network by each node adjacent the change, each node receiving the LSP sending it to each adjacent node. The nodes each recomputed their SPF based on the changed topology and "converge" on the new topology.
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Internet services often rely on accurate computer clocks, for example, when receiving a request to send a file modified after a certain time. For the purposes of maintaining consistent time-stamping, there is the requirement that computers sharing files from the same file server utilize synchronized clocks.
NTP employs a hierarchy of servers each with a designated stratum level. The stratum level defines the distance from and accuracy of the reference clock, a lower level being more favorable. NTP enables each server to synchronize to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) using the most accurate source and shortest path to that source. It is preferable to have access to several sources of lower stratum time in order to detect error from any of the sources. Ordinarily, when the NTP servers are in agreement, NTP will choose the source with the combination of lowest stratum and transmission delay and highest claimed precision.
Currently, service providers are increasingly required to provide a much higher precision clock to some of their customers. NTP was designed on the basis that it was unable to influence the network between the clock source and the clock user. Where the service provider owns both the clock source and the delivery network, a solution may be deployed that utilizes the network to enhance delivery of the clock.
There are two particular problems that all clock over packet transfer protocols face. A first issue is path reciprocity—without path reciprocity it is impossible to do true clock synchronization. Ideally, Time at node A, Ta=Time at node B, Tb. When A pings B (or vice versa), it is assumed that where Transmission delay from A to B=Delay_ab and Transmission delay from B to A=Delay_ba that Delay_ab=(Delay_ab+Delay_ba)/2, and Tb is set to Ta+Delay_ab accordingly. In other words to synchronize clocks taking into account the path delay it is assumed that the delay is the same in both directions. In fact in time transfer systems, it is necessary to correct for path delay between the server and the client as Tactual=Tmsg+Ttransmission.
There is no way to measure Ttransmission directly as Tactual would need to be known at both the server and the client. The simple approximation of Ttransmission=Troundtrip/2 (as discussed above) is not suitable as the forward and return paths may not be symmetric between the server and the client. This may be as a result of using asymmetric costs when generating the network topology or because Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) paths exist where the flows are not reciprocal (forward path≠return path).
A second issue is clock phase transients as a result of network transients. For example where the network topology changes (i.e. a clock synchronization path fails), there will be a constant offset in the delivery time and no 'normal' delay packets will be delivered until the network re-converges on the changed topology. During this time, the client is said to be in holdover (it has no NTP synchronized clock source) and must run on its own local oscillator.
These problems are both addressable with assistance at the routing layer. Similar problems exist with other packet timing protocols such as IEEE 1588.
In order to provide a high quality clock service, a client needs to groom the incoming packet stream to determine whether the packet has been delayed en route. A delayed packet should not be used to operate the clock servo as this will introduce errors.
Therefore, there follows a need to provide router assistance for enhancing and safeguarding the delivery of the clock synchronization packets to clients, and providing an enhanced degree of immunity of the network timing paths to network topology changes.

Providing clock synchronization in a network


An adhesive tape for use with high-speed webs which provides for adherence between two surfaces before allowing the tape to separate along a specific interface between two non-adhesive layers. The separation of tape along the specific interface results in the absence of any exposed adhesive surfaces and provides for improved performance in a variety of uses.

This invention relates generally to double-sided tapes and, in particular, to double-sided tapes for use with high speed webs.
Web-splicing is a common process encountered in many industrial applications. The process is typically used in the printing or coating of paper or other substrates and other applications in the film and paper industry. These applications typically involve numerous web-splices, which are labor intensive and time consuming.
During the web-splicing process, the loose end or tail of a wound reel of material is adhered or otherwise attached to the web of reel already in use. Due to the depletion of the reel in use, a web-splice must be performed in order to allow for the continuation or the printing or coating application. In order to alleviate the time lost during the connection of the new reel to the depleted reel, it is known in the prior art to connect these reels while the printing or coating application is proceeding. This type of web-splice is referred to in the art as a flying reel splice.
Several problems are associated with flying reel splices. First, the loose end or tail of the new web must be kept in a tightly wound position on the reel, otherwise the reel could unwind. This problem was typically overcome in the prior art by placing tabs of adhesive tape over the loose end to adhere it to the reel. Typically, the adhesive tape was perforated along an axis where the tape was intended to break during the splice. This system required the reel handler to place the tabs onto the loose end individually, ensuring that the perforations were in line with the end of the reel. was contacted with the new reel, the double-sided tape adhered the two webs and the tabs separated along the perforations. This resulted in the presence of separated tabs on the loose end of the new reel and on the outer surface of the inner layer of the new reel. Due to the application and separation of the tabs, adhesive surfaces of the tab were exposed and could disrupt and damage the machinery of the industrial application. Even without exposure of adhesive, the presence of unadhered portions of tabs could disrupt and damage the machinery. In addition, air often entered into the reel between the tabs. The presence of air in the reel hinders the xe2x80x9cbumpxe2x80x9d between the reels which results their adherence to each other. If air is trapped in the reel, adherence between the reels would be prevented. Thus, this prior art method of providing for high-speed web-splicing did not address all problems associated with the process.
Other prior art systems employed the use of adhesives with different adhesion strengths. For instance, a first adhesive was applied to adhere the inner surface of the loose end to the inner layer and a second adhesive was applied to the outer surface. The second adhesive was stronger than the first so that, upon application to the depleted reel, the second adhesive caused the loose end to adhere to the depleted reel and pull the first adhesive from the inner layer. This resulted in an exposed adhesive on either the inner surface of the loose end, the outer surface of the inner layer or both. Such exposed adhesive can disrupt and severely damage the expensive machinery involved in web handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,555 to Caudal attempted to overcome the problems of the prior art. It relates to a tape with a cleavable central component that separates when subjected to a peeling force greater than its internal bond strength. Caudal addresses the problem of trapped air since it teaches the application of the adhesive continuously across the loose end of the reel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,901,919 and 5,916,651 to Wienberg utilize a similar structure to Caudal. These patents also involve the application of a tape across the end of the loose reel to prevent the trapping of air in the reel. Paper is used since the patents seek to provide an adhesive which can be used in repulpable applications. Separation of the tape also occurs along a zone in a cleavable layer.
While these patents addressed some of the problems of the prior art, they present additional problems. Specifically, each of these patents utilizes a cleavable paper layer in the adhesive tape which separates randomly through its middle zone so that portions of its top and bottom halves remain attached to the surrounding adhesive layers. The method of separation is simply applying a force greater than the cleavable layer""s internal bond strength which causes the layer to split.
These systems assume that the paper can repeatedly split along its middle. However, in practice the paper often does not cleave so perfectly resulting in exposed adhesive and damage to the machinery. Furthermore, the paper-backed tape is not strong enough to use in high-speed web-splices due to the inherent strength limitation of paper and the preferred use of paper which will split along its middle when normal splice force is applied. In addition, the ragged surface of the cleaved paper layer may cause disruptions in, and damage to, the expensive web handling machinery. Finally, the paper layers involved in these patents accept and reject moisture, are susceptible to humidity and encounter storage problems when experiencing high temperatures. These factors can lead to curling and wrinkling of the reel and problems in web handling.
Thus, there is still a need for an effective web-splice tape which can perform high-speed web-splices with separation at a specific engineered interface and leave no exposed adhesive anywhere on the new or depleted reels so that damage to machinery is avoided. An improved high-speed web-splicing tape which attains these purposes would be an important advance in the art.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which releasably secures the loose end of a new reel to the new reel so that, upon attachment to a depleted reel, the tape separates along a specific engineered interface so no adhesive is exposed after the tape separates.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which releasably secures the wound end of the reel to the reel core so that, upon depletion of the reel, the tape separates along a specific engineered interface.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which releasably secures the wound end of the reel to the reel core so that, upon depletion of the reel, the tape separates along a specific engineered interface so that the web does not wind back onto the core.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which releasably secures the wound end of the reel to the reel core so that, upon depletion of the reel, the tape separates along a specific engineered interface so that no adhesive is exposed after the tape separates.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which releasably secures the wound end of the reel to the reel core so that, upon depletion of the reel, the tape separates along a specific engineered interface so that the reel does not exert tension on the web which may damage machinery through which the web passes.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which prevents damage to either reel or to the machinery involved in web handling.
Another object of the invention is to provide a thin tape which offers sufficient strength for use in high-speed web-splices.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which has a specific separation interface and separation force.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which splits into two smooth-surfaced parts after connection between web reels.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which allows for quick application to a reel and preparation for splicing.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a tape for use with high-speed web reels which is moisture, humidity and temperature resistant.
How these and other objects are accomplished will become apparent from the following descriptions and the drawings. In the brief summary of the invention which follows, numbers are added for explanatory purposes only and are in no way to be construed as limiting the elements and combinations of the invention to the particular forms referenced
An embodiment of the new high-speed web-splicing tape and method of use thereof is intended to provide for reliable, efficient high-speed web-splicing requiring less labor, time and repair. The new high-speed web-splicing tape for use in high-speed flying reel splices between a reel (roll) of a depleted web and a reel (roll) of a new web, the new web having an outer layer (10) with an inner surface (10B) and an inner layer (11) with an outer surface (11A). The tape includes: a first adhesive (1) having top (1A) and bottom (1B) surfaces; a breakaway-coating (2) covering the top surface (1A); a release-coating (3) affixed to the breakaway-coating (2) along an interface; a substrate (4) having first (4A) and second (4B) surfaces, the second surface (4B) secured to the release-coating (3); and a second adhesive (5) having upper (5A) and lower (5B) surfaces, the lower surface (5B) adhered to the first surface (4A) and the upper surface (5A) having proximal (5C) and distal (5D) portions. The tape, having been adhered to the new web through adhesion of the bottom surface (1B) to the outer surface (11A) and adhesion of the proximal portion (5C) to the inner surface (10B) and having adhesive which is exposed at the distal portion (5D), separates along the interface of the release-coating (3) and breakaway-coating (2) when the distal portion (5D) is contacted and adhered to the depleted web, such that the first adhesive (1) and breakaway-coating (2) continue to adhere to the outer surface (11A) and the release-coating (3), substrate (4) and second adhesive (5) adhere to both the inner surface (10B) and the depleted web so that no adhesive is exposed after separation.
This embodiment of the new high-speed web-splicing tape for use in high-speed flying reel splices preferably further comprises a release-liner (6) adhering to the proximal (5C) and distal (5D) portions and having a mechanical weakness at the juncture of the proximal (5C) and distal (5D) portions to divide the release-liner (6) into first (6C) and second (6D) portions, such that the first portion (6C) can be removed to enable adhesion of the proximal portion (5C) to the inner surface (10B) before the second portion (6D) is removed to enable adhesion of the distal portion (5D) to the web of the depleted reel.
In another description of the novel tape for use with high-speed web reels, the tape comprises a first adhesive having top and bottom surfaces; a breakaway-coating covering the top surface; a release-coating affixed to the breakaway-coating along an interface; a substrate having first and second surfaces, the second surface secured to the release-coating; and a second adhesive having upper and lower surfaces. Such a construction allows the tape to separate along the interface of the release-coating and breakaway-coating when a force pulls the first adhesive from the second adhesive so that no adhesive is exposed after separation.
This tape may be provide for use during a flying reel splice between a reel of a depleted web and a reel of a new web. The new web includes an outer layer with an inner surface and an inner layer with an outer surface. The bottom surface of the first adhesive can be adhered to the outer surface of the inner layer and the upper surface of the second adhesive can be adhered to the inner surface of the outer layer.
The tape may also be provided for holding a reel of a web onto a core. The web has an innermost layer with an inner surface and the core has a outer surface. The bottom surface of the first adhesive can be adhered to the outer surface of the core and the upper surface of the second adhesive can be adhered to the inner surface of the innermost layer such that a force pulling the web from the core causes the tape to separate along the interface of the release-coating and breakaway-coating.
The tape may also include a release-liner adhering to the upper surface of the second adhesive such that the release-liner can be removed prior to use of the second adhesive.
The first adhesive is a pressure sensitive adhesive, preferably acrylic, silicone or rubber-based, and has a peel adhesion between about 80-125 oz/in, most preferably about 110 oz/in. The first adhesive has a preferably thickness between about 1-3.5 mils, most preferably about 2 mils. The first adhesive could be have other compositions as are known in the art as long as it retains a sufficient peel adhesion and resistance to environmental conditions.
The second adhesive is a pressure sensitive adhesive, preferably acrylic, silicone or rubber-based, and has a peel adhesion between about 125-175 oz/in, most preferably about 150 oz/in. The first adhesive has a preferably thickness between about 3.5-7.5 mils, most preferably about 5 mils. The second adhesive could have other compositions as are known in the art as long as it retains a sufficient peel adhesion and resistance to environmental conditions.
The adhesion force between the first adhesive and the breakaway-coating and the adhesion force between the second adhesive and the release-coating must be great enough to allow the breakaway-coating to separate from the release-coating when separation forces are applied. The propensity of the breakaway-coating and release-coating to remain affixed to one another must also be small enough to allow the force of the reel splice affect separation along the interface between these coatings.
The substrate upon which the release-coating is secured is preferably polyester, or another polymeric film. It has a thickness of preferably between about 0.5-2 mils, most preferably 1 mil.
In the first embodiment, the mechanical weakness in the release liner is preferably a continuous slit, though it could be a series of slits or perforations.
The tape is preferably constructed by first coating the substrate with the release-coating. After the release-coating is in place, the breakaway-coating can be applied to it. This application process is not critical to the invention, however it is understood that no adhesive is utilized to secure the breakaway-coating to the release-coating. After the substrate, release-coating and breakaway-coating are secured to one another, the first and second adhesive layers can be applied. Typically, the second adhesive is applied to the breakaway-coating by contacting the second adhesive as a layer with the release liner backing onto the breakaway-coating. The first adhesive can be applied as a layer which contacts the release-coating or as a liquid.
One embodiment of the method of this invention involves using such novel tape to splice a reel of a new web to a reel of a depleted web which is rotating at a high speed, the new web having an outer layer (10) with an inner surface (1B) and a distal end (12) and an inner layer (11) with an outer surface (11A). The method includes the steps of: applying the bottom surface (1B) to the outer surface (11A); removing the first portion (6C) and applying the proximal portion (5C) to the inner surface (10B) along a desired adhesion junction; cutting the distal end (12) of the outer layer (10) near the junction such that the outer layer (10) does not extend substantially beyond the proximal portion (5C); removing the second portion (6D); and contacting the depleted web to the new web so that the depleted web adheres to the distal portion (5D) and causes the tape to split along the interface such that no adhesive surface is exposed.
This method preferably also includes the step of rotating the new reel at a high speed substantially similar to the speed of the depleted reel before contacting the depleted web to the new web. The speed of rotation of the depleted reel is preferably higher than about 750 ft/min, and may be substantially higher than about 750 ft/min. The method preferably also comprises the steps of folding back the outer layer (10) to expose the outer surface (11A) before adhering the bottom surface (1B) to the outer surface (11A); and smoothing the outer layer (10) over the proximal portion (5C) to adhere the proximal portion (5C) to the inner surface (10B).
The bottom surface (1B) is adhered to the outer surface (11A) along an elongate area, preferably an area which is substantially linear and perpendicular to the direction of the web when winding/unwinding the reel, and the desired adhesion junction is located on the inner surface (10B) directly adjacent to the elongate area when the outer layer (10) is wound tightly around the inner layer (11).
A second embodiment of the method of this invention involves using such novel tape to splice a reel of a new web to a reel of a depleted web which is rotating at a high speed, the new web having an outer layer (10) with an inner surface (10B) and an opposite surface (10C) and a distal end (12), and an inner layer (11) with an outer surface (11A). The method includes the steps of: adhering the bottom surface (1B) to the outer surface (11A); removing the release liner (6); adhering the upper surface (5A) to the inner surface (10B); providing an adhering element (13) on the opposite surface (10C); and contacting the depleted web to the new web so that the depleted web adheres to the adhering element (13) and causes the tape to split along the interface such that no adhesive surface is exposed. These steps may be performed in many different orders so long as the tape is properly positioned on the new web before contact with the depleted web.
The second embodiment may further comprise the steps of: folding back the outer layer to expose the outer surface before adhering the bottom surface to the outer surface, and smoothing the outer layer over the proximal portion to adhere the proximal portion to the inner surface.
The second embodiment may further comprise the step of rotating the new reel at a high speed substantially similar to the speed of the depleted reel before contacting the depleted web to the new web. The second embodiment may also further comprise the step of positioning holding tape over the distal end to keep the outer layer from unintentionally separating from the inner layer.
The tape in each of the first two embodiments is intended for use in machinery which automatically connects a new reel to a depleted reel. Such machinery typically includes multiple turrets which hold the reels. A first turret is positioned to hold the reel in use. When it becomes depleted, a second turret holding a new reel moves into position to contact the web of the depleted reel to the new reel. The new reel may be propelled to rotate at substantially the same rate as the depleted reel, or it may be stationary.
The second turret moves the new reel into the depleted reel so that they xe2x80x9cbump.xe2x80x9d Upon bumping, the new reel is adhered to the depleted reel and the tape separates along the interface between the breakaway-coating and the release-coating so that the new reel is able to unwind. After the connection between the new reel and the depleted reel, the machinery cuts or otherwise stops the depleted reel from supplying web. The first turret moves out of its position to allow an operator to remove the depleted web and replace it with another reel.
A third embodiment of the method of this invention involves using such novel tape to releasably adhere a reel of a web to a core, the web (17) having an innermost layer (16) with an inner surface (16B) and the core (14) having a outer surface (14A), comprising the steps of: adhering the bottom surface (1B) to the outer surface of the core; removing the release-liner (6); and adhering the upper surface (5A) to the inner surface (16B) of the innermost layer (16), such that the tape splits along the interface when the reel is depleted and the web is pulled from the core. In this embodiment, the upper surface may be adhered to the inner surface before the bottom surface is adhered to the outer surface.
This embodiment preferably results in no adhesive surface being exposed after the tape splits, but more preferably prevents the core from beginning to wind the web back onto the core, and most preferably eliminates tension on the web when the reel is depleted due to the designed separation of the tape.

Tape for use with high-speed webs and method of use thereof


An oil spill skimmer for removing heavy hydrocarbons from bodies of water, having a plurality of oleophilic oil separation devices, a housing and frame structure that is suitably supported above a body of water, an adjustable wave damper supported by the housing at a front of the skimmer, an at least one flow inducer supported by the housing at a rear of the skimmer, and ballast-adjustable tanks. The at least one flow inducer for inducing inflow such that water is pulled at the front of the skimmer and directed out a bottom of the skimmer while collecting the spillage in a collection area. The ballast can be moved in and out of the tanks to increase or decrease buoyancy and influence the wave riding or wave heave of the skimmer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oil spill recovery, and more particularly to large scale, offshore and nearshore oil spill skimming equipment capable of high volume recovery of oil in the open sea, regardless of weather conditions.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
For many years, crude oil and refined hydrocarbon product spillages at sea have been a problem. The environmental damage and clean up costs of large spills can present a serious problem for the industries involved. As more crude oil and refined hydrocarbon products are being transported over longer distances by large tankers, and with the increase in off shore hydrocarbon exploration and production, the problem of dealing with spillages is likely to increase. As such, a method and apparatus is needed for reliably removing the spillages as rapidly as possible from the surface of the water in open seas.
Slicks in the open sea vary considerably in their characteristics depending upon the type of crude oil or refined hydrocarbon products spilled, the weather, size of the spillage and the condition of the sea. When compared with the problems of recovering spillages in quiet, calm seas, bays, harbors or rivers, the recovery of spillages in the open sea, particularly under adverse weather conditions, is clearly more difficult. Frequently in the past, many types of spillage recovery equipment have only been effective in relatively calm conditions and were intended for short term operation.
To date, many types of methods and apparatus have been used in attempts to deal with spillages. Most of the presently-known equipment is of marginal use in harbors or relatively protected waters but is ineffective on the high seas. Even in calm water, the prior art can be marginal at best.
As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome shortcomings of the prior art.


A first polarization controller controls a polarization state of measured light. A second polarization controller controls a polarization state of an optical sampling pulse. The measured light and the optical sampling pulse having the polarization states controlled are input to an optical fiber. An optical signal output from the optical fiber is transmitted to a polarizer. A first control unit adjusts the first polarization controller based on the measured light output from the optical fiber and the measured light output from the polarizer. A second control unit adjusts the second polarization controller based on an optical sampling pulse output from the optical fiber. Waveform measurement is performed by using the output of the polarizer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical waveform measurement apparatus and an optical waveform measurement method, and particularly relates to an optical waveform measurement apparatus and an optical waveform measurement method for measuring waveform of an optical signal with a high bit rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A function to observe optical pulse waveforms is necessary for evaluating the quality of the optical signal in receivers of optical communication systems, and it can be applied for the purpose of monitoring the signal quality in optical nodes or optical repeaters in optical communication systems. Meanwhile, along with increase in the capacity for optical fiber communications, the bit rate of the optical signal has reached 40 Gb/s. In addition, as the next generation technology, the research and development of a system transmitting an optical signal at 160 Gb/s or higher is in progress. In order to support such research and development, an optical waveform measurement apparatus and an optical waveform measurement method allowing highly precise observation of the waveform of an optical signal are required. It should be noted that the function to measure or to observe optical pulse waveforms could be used for evaluating a variety of optical components.
The conventional optical waveform measurement apparatus converts a measured optical signal (optical pulse) into an electrical signal using an optoelectronic converter 501, as in an example of FIG. 1. A sampling pulse generation circuit 503 generates a sampling pulse in accordance with a trigger signal generated by a trigger circuit 502. At that time, the sampling pulse is not an optical signal but an electrical signal. A sampling circuit 504 conducts sampling of the electrical signal output from the optoelectronic converter 501 with the sampling pulse. A waveform display device 505 displays the sampling result. In other words, the waveform of an optical signal is observed after the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal.
At that time, in order to observe the waveform of the optical signal with high accuracy, all frequency components constituting the optical signal have to be received. For that reason, the waveform measurement apparatus needs to have a band sufficiently wider than the band corresponding to the bit rate of the optical signal. Here, the band observed by the waveform measurement apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is limited by a device having a narrowest band among the optoelectronic converter, the trigger circuit, the sampling circuit and the waveform display device. However, since the operation band of an electrical circuit is around 50 GHz, highly accurate observation of the optical signal with 40 Gb/s by a waveform measurement apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is considered to be difficult.
For a technology to solve the issue of band limitation, an optical sampling technique, which conducts sampling of optical signals without modification, is known widely. In the following, the optical sampling technique is explained with reference to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B. Note that FIG. 2B is a schematic drawing of an operation of a waveform measurement apparatus shown in FIG. 2A. Assume that the measured light carries an optical pulse signal with a repetition frequency f0.
An optical sampling gate 511 comprises a nonlinear optical medium, and generates an intensity correlation optical signal of the measured light and the optical sampling pulse. In this description, the intensity correlation optical signal refers to an optical signal generated by the measured light and the optical sampling pulse being overlapped in a time domain.
A sampling frequency signal generator 512 extracts a clock signal (frequency: f0) from the measured light, and generates a sampling frequency signal (frequency: f0+Δf) using the clock signal. A short pulse optical source 513 is driven by the sampling frequency signal. By so doing, an optical sampling pulse is generated. When both of the measured light and the optical sampling pulse are input to the optical sampling date 511, a nonlinear effect occurs. Then, an optical signal with intensity correlation of the measured light and the optical sampling pulse (i.e. the intensity correlation optical signal) is obtained.
The intensity correlation optical signal output from the optical sampling gate 511, after being converted into an electrical signal by the optoelectronic converter 514, is input to a vertical axis signal port of the waveform display device 515. To a horizontal axis input port of the waveform display device 515, a frequency shift signal (frequency: Δf) is input. By so doing, the waveform display device 515 can display the waveform of the measured light. Here, the frequency Δf is substantially low, compared with the frequency f0. Therefore, the issue of the band limitation should be solved.
However, the nonlinear effect, which occurs in the nonlinear optical medium of the optical sampling gate 511, depends on polarization states of the incident measured light and optical sampling pulse. Consequently, accurate observation of the waveform of an optical signal with an arbitrary polarization state is difficult by the optical waveform measurement apparatus shown in FIG. 2A.
Non-patent Document 1 describes an optical waveform measurement apparatus, which solves the above issue of the polarization dependency. The apparatus described in Non-patent Document 1 employs a polarization diversity scheme as shown in FIG. 3. That is, an optical signal is separated into a TE polarization component and a TM polarization component by using a polarization beam splitter (PBS) 521. The TE polarization component and the TM polarization component are input to KTP crystals 522 and 523, respectively, which are provided as a nonlinear optical medium. A pair of the optical signals output from the KTP crystals 522 and 523 is guided to a photo detector element 524. Note that the apparatus comprises transmitters 530 and 531, an optical source 532 for generating an optical sampling pulse, a mode locked fiber laser (MLFL) 533 for generating the measured light, half wave plates (HWP) 534 and 535, mirrors 536-538, an A/D converter 539, and a computer 540.
Non-patent document 2 describes another optical waveform measurement apparatus, which also solves the above issue of the polarization dependency. The apparatus described in Non-patent document 2 comprises polarization controllers for controlling each of the polarization states of the measured light and the optical sampling pulse, as shown in FIG. 4. That is, a polarization controller 541 controls the polarization state of the measured light, and a polarization controller 542 controls the polarization state of the optical sampling pulse. A directional coupler 543 combines the measured light and the optical sampling pulse, each having controlled polarization states, and guides them to an optical fiber 544. The optical fiber 544 is a nonlinear optical medium, and causes a nonlinear effect. A polarizer 545 extracts a prescribed polarization component from the optical output of the optical fiber 544. A wavelength filter 546 extracts a wavelength component of the measured light.
The polarization direction of the measured light is controlled so as to be orthogonal to the polarization main axis of the polarizer 545. The polarization direction of the optical sampling pulse is controlled so that the polarization direction of the optical sampling pulse differs from that of the measured light by 40°-50° (preferably 45°). In such a configuration, if the optical pulse of the measured light overlaps the optical sampling pulse in a time domain, the optical pulse of the measured light is output via the polarizer 545, and if the optical pulse of the measured light does not overlap the optical sampling pulse in the time domain, the optical pulse of the measured light is blocked by the polarizer 545.
It should be noted that Patent Documents 1 and 2, and Non-patent Document 3 are known as technologies relating to the above optical waveform measurement.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-98464
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent No. 3494661
[Non-Patent Document 1]
N. Yamada et al., "Polarization-insensitive optical sampling system using two KTP crystals," IEEE Photonics technology letters, vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 215-217, 2004
[Non-Patent Document 2]
S. Watanabe et al., "novel Fiber Kerr-Switch with Parametric Gain: Demonstration of Optical Demultiplexing and Sampling up to 640 Gb/s," Postdeadline session, Th4.1.6, 30th European Conference on Optical Communication, Sep. 5-9, 2004 Stockholm, Sweden
[Non-Patent Document 3]
S. Watanabe et al., "Ultrafast All-Optical 3R-Regeneration," IEICE Trans. Election, vol. E87-C, No. 7, July 2004
The configuration described in Non-Patent Document 1 requires two costly KTP crystals as the nonlinear optical medium. For that reason, cost reduction of the optical waveform measurement apparatus is difficult to achieve.
The configuration described in Non-Patent Document 2 requires setting of the polarization states of the measured light and the optical sampling pulse before operating the optical waveform measurement apparatus. For that reason, if polarization change occurs in the optical fiber during the operation, accurate measurement of the optical waveform is difficult afterwards.

Optical waveform measurement apparatus and optical waveform measurement method


An aligning log conveyor for a scragg mill comprising a pair of spaced, parallel runners which extend longitudinally in front of the saws. The runners have sharpened top surfaces which form a "V"-shaped trough therebetween to cradle and to stabilize the log. A motorized lug chain disposed between the runners propels the log toward the saw. A shock absorbing stabilizing means with a wheel is positioned above the log for maintaining pressure against the log to remain in contact with the sharpened top surfaces of the runners and in alignment with the saws.

This invention relates to a device for aligning and conveying wood, such as in the form of whole logs with the limbs removed, to a scragg mill.
Scragg mills are a common forest product equipment and are used for the primary breakdown of logs into one or more slabs or boards. Typically, the devices will include a conveyor for transporting a log endwise between two or more saws.
Heretofore, existing conveying means have not been a suitable means for maintaining the log's optimum position as it passes forward. Due to the rounded surfaces and irregularities in the log, it exhibits a propensity to shift into an undesirable alignment from the time that it is initially positioned on the conveyor until it reaches the saws. Thus, a reliable means is needed to maintain the log in alignment and to provide a stable support as it is transported through the machining center.


A semiconductor device, disposed on a substrate, includes a first channel layer, a patterned doped layer, a gate insulating layer, a conducting gate electrode, a second channel layer, a first electrode and a second electrode, and a third electrode and a fourth electrode. The first channel layer is disposed on the substrate and in a first region. The patterned doped layer includes a doped gate electrode disposed in a second region, and two contact electrodes electrically connected to two sides of the first channel layer, respectively. The conducting gate electrode is disposed on the gate insulating layer in the first region. The second channel layer is disposed on the gate insulating layer in the second region. The first electrode and the second electrode are electrically connected to the contact electrodes, respectively. The third electrode and the fourth electrode are electrically connected to two sides of the second channel layer, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, an electroluminescent device and method of making the same, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device and an electroluminescent device in which the contact electrodes of one thin film transistor device and the doped gate electrode of another thin film transistor device are defined by the same patterned doped layer, and the method of making the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Compared with amorphous silicon thin film transistor (TFT) device, poly silicon TFT device has advanced electrical performance due to the high electrical mobility of poly silicon material. As the technique of lower temperature poly silicon (LTPS) process progresses, some main issues such as poor film uniformity of large area film have gradually been improved. Therefore, the LTPS process is expected to be applicable in large size substrate. In conventional LTPS process, the doped layer used to reduce the contact resistance of the TFT device is normally formed by ion implant process. However, there are technical problems required to be solved when introducing the implant apparatus to large size substrate process. For example, the cost of the implant apparatus for large size substrate process is extremely high. Thus, to form a doped layer with low resistance by anther approach is one of the main issues to be addressed.

Semiconductor device and electroluminescent device and method of making the same


Disclosed herein is a permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor with a normal force compensation structure in which a stator is inserted in the middle of leg portions of a mover so as to compensate normal forces generated between the mover and the stator, thus reducing noise and vibration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor and, more particularly, to a permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor with a normal force compensation structure in which a stator is inserted in the middle of leg portions of a mover so as to compensate normal forces generated between the mover and the stator, thus reducing noise and vibration.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a motor is a device that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy and fundamentally requires a high output power (output power/motor weight: kW/kg) and a high efficiency (output power/input power).
Especially, in a case where linear motion is obtained using a power transmission system such as a rotary motor, a ball screw, etc., the system becomes complicated and produces particles and dusts, thus it cannot form a clean transfer system. Accordingly, the use of linear motors has been increased recently in linear transmission systems.
The linear motors may be classified into a longitudinal flux motor and a transverse flux motor according to the direction of a magnetic flux.
Here, the direction of the magnetic flux is the same as the moving direction of the motor in the longitudinal flux motor, whereas, the direction of the magnetic flux is transverse to the moving direction of the motor in the transverse flux motor.
That is, in case of the longitudinal flux motor, the direction of an applied current is perpendicular to the moving direction of the motor, whereas, in case of the transverse flux motor, the direction of an applied current is the same as the moving direction of the motor.
In the transverse flux motor, a space (electrical circuit) in which a winding can be performed is separated from a space (magnetic circuit) in which a magnetic flux can flow. Accordingly, the transverse flux motor can increase the output power density and provide a variety of designs, compared with the longitudinal flux motor in which the electrical circuit and the magnetic circuit are coupled with each other.
Moreover, the transverse flux motor has advantages in that the copper loss is small and the amount of copper used therein is small, since the winding is provided in the form of a ring, compared with the longitudinal flux motor having a lot of end-windings.
Meanwhile, as well known in the art, since a linear motor is large in volume and uses many permanent magnets, the size of the system is large and its price is high.
To solve such problems, it is possible to use permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motors that generate a high thrust force per unit weight and require a smaller number of expensive permanent magnets.
However, it has been known that the existing permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motors have numerous limitations in their use due to noise and vibration caused by the normal forces and the pulsation of the thrust force.
Especially, since the permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor has a structure in which the mover faces the stator and the left and right normal forces are applied to the mover and stator structure, large normal forces are generated to cause noise and vibration.
Accordingly, it is necessary to provide an improved method of reducing the noise and vibration by compensating the normal forces in the permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor.
Moreover, since the magnetic flux of the existing permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor flows three dimensionally, an ordinary laminated iron core cannot be used, therefore a solid iron core is used. However, in a case where the solid iron core is employed, the motor performance deteriorates, and the deterioration becomes severe due to iron loss in a high speed range.

Permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor with normal force compensation structure

Abstract: The permanent magnet excited transverse flux linear motor with a normal force compensation structure in accordance with the present invention comprises: a mover including iron cores and permanent magnets, arranged alternately with each other, and a winding coil winding the mover iron cores and the mover permanent magnets; and a stator having an air gap between the mover and itself and arranged longitudinally in the moving direction of the mover, wherein the mover iron cores and the mover permanent magnets are formed in the shape of “∩”, of which both leg portions and middle portions are arranged in a straight line, the winding coil winds the both leg portions of the mover iron cores and the mover permanent magnets in the shape of “∩”, respectively, and an iron core of the stator having a concave-convex shape, in which a plurality of projections formed along the length of a central portion and projected from the central portion to the left and right sides alternately, is arranged to be inserted in the middle of the both leg portions of the mover iron cores and the mover permanent magnets.

Korea Electro Technolgy Research Institute


An air duct system for vehicles, in particular for passenger rail vehicles, has at least one roof venting duct, which has a component venting duct for warm air and a component venting duct for cold-air. A separating means which is arranged inside the roof venting duct is designed so it can be deformed or is held in a movable fashion in such a way that the cross section of each of the two component venting ducts can be enlarged by making the respective other component venting duct smaller. These changes in cross section are brought about solely by the air pressure and volume flow conditions without external energy.

Devices for distributing air are generally known in air conditioned rail vehicles with air conditioning systems which are mounted in the roof area. In these devices, the treated air is fed from the air conditioning system, frequently arranged on the roof of the vehicle, to main venting ducts using air feed ducts, said main venting ducts being located between the roof and the inner ceiling of the vehicle. These air feed ducts lead from the air outlets of the air conditioning device to openings which are located in the main air ducts. Because of the external and internal dimensions of the vehicle which are always limited, the space between the underside of the air conditioning device on which the air outlets are located and the upper sides of the main venting ducts is very small. This small space results in the cross sections of the air feed ducts being limited and as a result there are generally high flow speeds of the air, which in turn generate a high level of noise. This relates to vehicles in which the heating power from the air conditioning device which is conceived as a roof-mounting device is introduced into the passenger compartment via at least one separated-off duct which runs longitudinally in the roof area. The heating air duct is therefore separated off from the cold air duct. Different volume flows for the heating air and cooling air are necessary for different climatic zones. This is problematic for a vehicle which is to be operated in regions with different climates since even higher air speeds would occur in certain climatic zones.
The document DE 101 49 594 A1 is concerned with the previously described problems and provides the largest possible embodiment of the cross sections for the air conditioning ducts, in which case the air conditioning ducts are additionally assigned static functions and as a result installation space for load bearing elements is saved. However, when the cross section is divided into two fixed areas the utilization of the cross section is defined and therefore does not permit the optimum flow speeds when a component duct is not used.

Air duct system for vehicles, in particular for rail vehicles for passenger traffic


A memory device includes logic to detect the last page written in multi-plane non-volatile memory. The device includes a memory array, and a storage controller. The memory array includes multiple planes and multiple word lines operable on the memory array. The storage controller is configured to divide the word lines into contiguous sub-ranges and assign a subset of the word lines to boundaries of the sub-ranges. Each word line of the subset of word lines is assigned to a page in a different one of the memory planes. The controller operates the subset of word lines to sense a page programmed or erased state from each of the memory planes in parallel.

During the initialization process or at other times during operation of electronic memory devices, it may be desirable to identify the last non-erased memory page for various memory areas (e.g., control blocks and host blocks) with reduced latency. For some devices this process may be subject to stringent timing constraints.
Prior approaches to identifying the last non-erased memory page utilize binary search techniques. Binary search has a time complexity of order log2 N, where N is the number of logical word lines (memory pages). Memory devices may benefit from approaches with reduced complexity and improved performance.

Detecting last page written in multi-plane non-volatile memory


The present invention is drawn to an system and a method for configuring subnets within a switch network that is typically comprised of switches and a router coupled together via a common shared bus. In one embodiment, a VLAN-defined (virtual local area network-defined) subnet is configured by mapping a subnet to a VLAN. All subnet members share a single VLAN ID irrespective of device boundaries of the switch network. In particular, in contrast to the span of a conventional subnet, the span of the VLAN-defined subnet is not required to be confined within a single switch""s device boundary. As such, the present invention provides flexibility in configuring subnets. Moreover, an intra-VLAN packet forwarding mechanism is provided for said VLAN-defined subnet such that a packet can be transmitted between any two subnet members. This intra-VLAN packet forwarding mechanism avoids routing even when the VLAN-defined subnet spans more than one switch. Advantageously, packet transmission bottleneck found typically in the router is eliminated. Finally, in the presence of other of similarly configured VLAN-defined VLAN""s, inter-VLAN packet forwarding can be provided flexibly with or without routing.

The present invention is related to computer network. In particular, the present invention is related to configuring subnets flexibly within a computer network.
Network devices are sometimes stacked together and made into one single device constituting a network. Typically, such network is comprised of switches and a router that are coupled together by a shared bus. By being stacked and enclosed within a casing or chassis, these network devices (also known as stackables) and the shared bus are hidden from view. Only local switch ports of these switches are exposed to a user of the network. As such, hosts of the network is coupled to the network via the exposed local switch ports.
With the availability of a network as a stack of network devices, subnets can be configured within the network. However, possible subnet configurations are restricted by the device boundaries of the network. In particular, all members of a subnet must be connected to local switch ports belonging to a single switch. Or, equivalently, a subnet cannot cross the device boundary of a switch. As a result, subnets cannot be configured flexibly within the network. That is, one or more subnets can be configured on a single switch, yet no subnet can span more than one switch.
The inflexibility in configuring subnets across a switch""s device boundary leads to several drawbacks. One such drawback is the network""s inability to support a mobile network user. Once a host as a member of a subnet commits to a local switch port of a switch, relocating the host to a different switch disqualifies the host as a member of the subnet. Specifically, as a member of the subnet configured in the switch, this member is confined to the device boundary of the switch. Thus, the prior art subnet configuration is not well suited for supporting a mobile network user.
Another problem of implementing such network is inefficiency in forwarding packets between two local switch ports that reside respectively on different switches. Specifically, inter-switch packet forwarding is inherently inefficient for the given stack network architecture because the network architecture necessitates routing for all inter-switch packet forwarding. As such, within the given stack architecture of the network, communication bottleneck is created at the router because the router is frequently overwhelmed by such inter-switch packet forwarding. However, the stack network architecture still has merits. Thus, changing the stack network architecture to eliminate the bottleneck in order to have more efficient packet forwarding is not desirable.
Thus, a need exists for flexibly configuring subnets of the network irrespective of the device boundaries of the switches. Also, a need exists for a more efficient packet forwarding within the network while retaining the benefits of the physical stack network infrastructure without altering the network topology.
Fortunately, as will be explained below, the present invention solves all of the problems stated above with an ingenious network architecture and method for configuring subnets and forwarding packets.
The present invention is drawn to an architecture and method for configuring subnets within a switch network that is typically comprised of switches and a router coupled together via a common shared bus. The present invention enables subnets to be configured flexibly irrespective of device boundaries of the switches. The present invention also offers efficient packet forwarding within the network without altering the network topology, thereby retaining all of the benefits of the network topology without sacrificing performance.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a VLAN-defined (virtual local area network-defined) subnet is configured by mapping a subnet to a VLAN. All subnet members share a single VLAN ID irrespective of device boundaries of the switch network. In particular, in contrast to the span of a conventional subnet, the span of the VLAN-defined subnet is not required to be confined within a single switch""s device boundary. As such, the present invention provides flexibility in configuring subnets. Moreover, an intra-VLAN packet forwarding mechanism is provided for the VLAN-defined subnet such that a packet can be transmitted between any two subnet members. This intra-VLAN packet forwarding mechanism avoids routing even when the VLAN-defined subnet spans more than one switch. Advantageously, packet transmission bottlenecks found typically in the router are eliminated. Finally, in the presence of other of similarly configured VLAN-defined subnets, inter-VLAN packet forwarding can be provided flexibly with or without routing.

Generic switch architecture to support flexible subnets across layer-3 devices


Apparatus, systems, and/or methods may provide travel assistance. For example, a determination may be made that a user is to begin driving in the near future. In addition, a determination may be made of one or more predicted destinations when the user is to begin driving in the near future. Thus, travel assistance may be provided to the user based on the one or more predicted destinations when the user is to begin driving in the near future.

A user may interact with a navigation application on a computing platform to obtain a direction to a destination (e.g., an address), to determine an estimated time of arrival (ETA) to the destination, and so on. The user may, however, take time away from reaching the destination to program from the navigation application. In addition, information provided to a user before a drive may not be specific to a context of a drive that the user actually makes (e.g., general traffic patterns, based on limited rule-based approaches). Moreover, a connection with a vehicle may be needed to receive information, which may also cause delay or provide information that is not context specific. Thus, there is considerable room for improvement to save user time, to minimize receipt of irrelevant information, etc.


A method and system is disclosed for communicating with a mobile station in a mobile telecommunications system utilizing a packet technology. The system includes a mobile switching center (MSC), a base station controller (BSC) and at least one radio base station (RBS) in communication with the MSC and BSC. The RBS includes a packet device for converting voice signals received from a mobile station into packet signals and transmitting the packet signals to a destination device based upon destination information provided by the MSC. The RBS also receives packet signals intended for communication with the mobile station, converts the packet signals by the packet device and sends the converted signals to the mobile station over the air interface.

The present invention relates to a system and method for packet-based communicating in a wireless telecommunications network, and particularly to switching packet signals within a cellular telecommunications network between a radio base station and a corresponding mobile switching center.
Wireless communication is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunication applications. Cellular communications systems presently serve millions of cellular subscribers. A conventional cellular telecommunications network employs a circuit-switched architecture in which voice and data pass through physical switching devices in being routed between communicating devices. A conventional cellular telecommunications system, such as a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), may typically include a plurality of mobile switching centers (MSCs) which control the switching functions of the system. A plurality of radio base stations (RBSs) provide the radio interface to mobile stations in the network. Base station controllers (BSCs) provide control functions and physical links between the RBSs and the corresponding MSC.
In providing telecommunications services within a cellular telecommunication network, voice traffic is communicated between a mobile station and a destination terminal via the RBS, BSC and MSC serving the mobile station. If the destination terminal is another mobile station in the network, the voice traffic must also be sent to the other mobile station via the MSC, BSC and RBS corresponding thereto. As can be seen, a number of network devices are utilized in order to communicate with a mobile station using a circuit-switched architecture.
Packet-based communication technologies are becoming more prominent in communicating voice and other media. In part due to a move towards packet-based communication and to address increased traffic levels within physical switches in mobile telecommunication networks, there is a need to divert the handling and/or payload of voice traffic conventionally handled by the MSC.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings in prior systems and thereby satisfies a significant need for a system and method for more effectively transporting packet-based media within a cellular telecommunications network.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a mobile telecommunications system including components which are commonly found in a conventional cellular network, including at least one mobile switching center (MSC) which performs conventional circuit switching functions for the system, a plurality of radio base stations (RBSs) which handle the radio interface to one or more mobile stations by allocating resources between the MSC and the mobile stations, and one or more base station controllers (BSCs) which provide the control functions and physical links between the MSC and each RBS served thereby.
According to the present invention, the mobile telecommunications network provides for the communication of packet-switched signals. Specifically, each RBS includes a device for converting voice signals received from a mobile station into packets and transports the packet signals to the intended destination. The RBS receives necessary identification information for the destination device, such as an address value and/or port number therefor. In addition, the RBS converts packet signals intended for the mobile station to signals suitable for subsequent transport thereto. By directing packet signals based upon voice signals from the mobile station to the appropriate destination as specified by the MSC and directing received packet signals to the mobile station, each RBS acts as a logical switch controlled by the MSC.
A method of communicating information, such as voice information, within the mobile telecommunications network includes performing a series of operations at system startup to initiate and/or establish communication between an RBS and the BSC and MSC associated therewith. A call setup routine is subsequently performed between the RBS and corresponding BSC and MSC upon initiation of a telephone call. The call setup routine includes the RBS communicating to the MSC (via the BSC) the mobile station port at the RBS over which a mobile station will communicate and the media port over which packet-based signals will be communicated with another terminal, and the MSC communicating to the RBS the remote media port associated with the other terminal with which communication will occur. Thereafter, the MSC is capable of controlling or otherwise maintaining the connection between the media port and mobile station port of the RBS and the communication of packet-based signals with the other terminal over the media port of the RBS.
Following the call set-up routine, voice signals are sent from the mobile station to the RBS, which receives the voice signals at the mobile station port and converts the signals into voice packet signals. The RBS then transports the packet signals to the other terminal over the media port. Voice packet signals transmitted by the other terminal and received by the RBS at the media port are converted into voice signals and transported to the mobile station over the mobile station port.
The present invention may also be directed to effectively communicating packet signals with a mobile station that is moving between different RBS devices during a handoff operation. If the moving mobile station leaves the cell served by a first RBS and enters a cell served by another RBS, communication occurs between the MSC and the two RBSs, resulting in the MSC maintaining the media port at the first RBS for communicating with the other terminal and establishing a relay connection between the first RBS and the second RBS presently serving the mobile station. In addition, the MSC controls the connection within the second RBS between the media port and the mobile station port associated with the mobile station. In this way, the first RBS is maintained as an xe2x80x9canchor RBSxe2x80x9d wherein packet information originating from the mobile station is transmitted from the second RBS to the first RBS over the relay connection and then to the other terminal, and packet information originating from the other terminal is transmitted to the first RBS and is then transmitted over the relay connection to the second RBS whereupon it is sent to the mobile station over the mobile station port of the second RBS.

System and method for switching media packets for packet-based communication in a mobile communications network