A bitstream analyzer for detecting and verifying errors in the bitstream such as inconsistencies of time base and program specific information in real time is disclosed. Frequency tracking is provided with only a single time reference, by tracking the time of reception of various time-elements.

The increasing demand for digital video/audio information presents an ever increasing problem of monitoring the transmission or storage of data in data communication. As the transmission bandwidth increases in response to greater demand, it becomes increasingly more difficult to monitor the enormous amount of transmitted information in real time.
Generally, the data streams (bitstreams) contain various data elements that include video, audio, timing, program specific information and control data which are packaged into various "packets". A packet is a group of binary digits that include various data elements which are switched and transmitted as a composite whole. The data elements and other information are arranged in accordance with various specific formats, e.g., ISO/IEC international Standards 11172-* (MPEG-1), 13818-* (MPEG-2), ATSC standards and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) specification prETS 300-468, which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. In general, MPEG defines a packet as consisting of a header followed by a number of contiguous bytes from an "elementary data stream". An elementary stream is simply a generic term for one of the coded video, coded audio or other coded bitstreams. More specifically, a MPEG-2 "transport stream" packet comprises a header, which may be four (4) or more bytes long with a payload having a maximum length of 184 bytes. Transport stream packets are part of one or more programs which are assembled into a transport stream. The transport stream is then transmitted over a channel with a particular transfer rate.
Important components in the transport stream include various time-elements, i.e., Program Clock Reference (PCR) data and descriptive data called Program Specific Information (PSI). It should be noted that MPEG-2 allows a separate information system to be employed with the PSI, e.g., the Service Information (SI) in accordance with the DVB specification. In brief, the PCR is a time stamp encoding the timing of the bitstream itself and is used to derive the decoder timing, where the SI provides information to the decoder concerning the array of services that are offered. The SI allows a decoder to tune automatically to particular services and allows services to be grouped into categories with relevant schedule information.
Thus, it is important to monitor and verify that these time-elements and program specific information are received properly and that they are within the constraints defined by the relevant standards. Furthermore, it is important to alert the decoding system in real time if these time-elements and program specific information are outside of the allowed tolerances. Detection of such deviations allows the decoding system to account for packet framing errors, jitters, inconsistent time base information or network wide errors that may affect a plurality of channels. Although it may be more cost effective to capture the data in the transport stream into storage and then analyze the data at a later time, the benefit of real time analysis is lost.
With respect to PCR processing, although the set of specifications 13818 contain two very general descriptions of jitter measurement, in Annex D of part one and part nine of the systems specification, these two methods leave many parameters up to the discretion of the user, contain some imperfections and are impractical in-real-time applications.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a method and apparatus for performing real time bitstream analysis. Specifically, a need exists for a method and apparatus for detecting and verifying errors in the bitstream such as inconsistencies of time base and program specific information.

Apparatus and method for analyzing bitstreams


A lithium-containing complex metal oxide having a crystal structure of .alpha.-NaFeO.sub.2 type and represented by a general formula: EQU Li.sub.a Ni.sub.X Co.sub.Y Al.sub.Z O.sub.2. wherein 0.96.ltoreq.a.ltoreq.1.06, 0.70.ltoreq.X<0.85, 0.05.ltoreq.Y.ltoreq.0.20, 0.10<Z.ltoreq.0.25, and 0.98.ltoreq.(X+Y+Z).ltoreq.1.02, and further wherein a separation between a peak position of (018) face and a peak position of (110) face in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern of said metal oxide using CuK.alpha.-ray is in the range of from 0.520 to 0.700.degree. as expressed in terms of .DELTA.2.theta.((110)-(018)).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lithium-containing complex metal oxide suited to a cathode electroactive material for lithium secondary cells, a preparation method thereof, a cathode electroactive material using the same, and a lithium secondary cell. More specifically, it relates to a lithium nickelate-based complex metal oxide which has excellent thermal stability and can be used as a cathode electroactive material in a lithium secondary cell (battery) wherein metal lithium or a lithium-carbon (lithium-graphite) intercalation compound is used as an anode electroactive material, thus making the cell has a high capacity and good cycle characteristics.
2. Related Background Art
The non-aqueous secondary cell disposed lithium or lithium compound as an anode has been expected to the cell having a high voltage and high energy density, and therefore, many studies have been proceeded. Widely known cathode electroactive materials for the secondary batteries with non-aqueous electrolyte solutions include the complex metal oxide comprising of lithium and other metal or metals such as lithium cobalt oxide, lithium nickel oxide, and lithium manganese oxide; metal oxides such as manganese dioxide, titanium disulfide, molybdenum disulfide, vanadium pentaoxide, and niobium pentaoxide; and chalcogens. These oxides and compounds have layer or tunnel crystal structures and are capable of repeating the reversible release and intercalation of lithium ions on the charge/discharge, respectively. Especially, active studies are being made on lithium cobalt oxide, lithium nickel oxide, and lithium manganese oxide for their use in the cathode electroactive material for lithium secondary cells with non-aqueous electrolyte solutions as four-volt (V) type cell. Lithium cobalt oxide, which is relatively easy to prepare, has already been put into practical use.
However, cobalt is a very expensive metal and also a strategic material, and the places of its origin are localized within certain regions; thus, there are problems such as the troubled supply due to changes in political situations or rising in the price. On the other hand, nickel and manganese are relatively inexpensive metals and their stable supply is possible. Lithium manganese oxide has a smaller capacity compared with lithium cobalt oxide and lithium nickel oxide, and has problems in cycle characteristics. Lithium nickel oxide has also some problems in its cycle characteristics. LiNiO.sub.2 results a change in its crystal structure from hexagonal to monoclinic, as it releases Li on the charge. This is believed to cause deterioration of the cycle characteristics. It has been found as a countermeasure to the deterioration that, if a part of the Ni in LiNiO.sub.2 is substituted with Co, there will be no change from hexagonal to monoclinic and thus the cycle characteristics will be improved. See, T. Ohzuka et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 140, 1862 (1993) and S. Arai, S. Okada, H. Ohtsuka, and J. Yamamoto, Battery Technology (Denchi Gijyutsu), 7, 98 (1995).
When LiNiO.sub.2 is released Li through charging, NiO.sub.2 is formed. NiO.sub.2 is a very unstable compound, which generates heat while releasing oxygen. Accordingly, it is strongly desired that the thermal stability of LiNiO.sub.2 is improved.
It has been found that if a part of the Ni in LiNiO.sub.2 is substituted with Al, there will be a great improvement in its thermal stability. In this case, the charge capacity, however, lowers greatly. See, T. Ohzuka et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 142, 4033 (1995).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Sho 63-121,258 (1988) suggests a method to improve overpotential characteristics by substituting LiCoO.sub.2 with a variety of other metals. Also, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei 5-242,891 (1993), it is suggested that if LiNi.sub.X Co.sub.Y O.sub.2 is further substituted with a variety of other metals, its discharge capacity will increase and that when Fe or Cu exists their thermal stability will be improved.
O. Zhong et al. have studied the synthesis and electrochemistry of LiAl.sub.Y Ni.sub.1-Y O.sub.2. See, O. Zhong and Ulchi von Sacken, J. Power Sources, 54, 221 (1995). Synthesis of LiAl.sub.Y Ni.sub.1-Y O.sub.2 was first attempted with a mixture of LiOH, NiO, and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 (or Al (OH).sub.3), but the synthesis of a single-phase LiAl.sub.Y Ni.sub.1-Y O.sub.2 was unsuccessful, as the product was contaminated with Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 as an impurity. Thus, they changed the Al source to a metal Al powder (300 mesh) and, for the first time, succeeded in synthesizing the single-phase product. Nevertheless, its discharge capacity was as small as 104-148 mAh/g.

Lithium-containing complex metal oxide, preparation methods thereof, and cathode electroactive material using the same and lithium secondary cells


A zoom lens includes a first variable refractive power element that changes a refractive power thereof in a positive direction by changing a shape of an interface between different media during zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end; and a second variable refractive power element that changes a refractive power thereof in a negative direction by changing a shape of an interface between different media during zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end. An imaging magnification of at least one of the variable refractive power elements increases during zooming from the wide angle end to the telephoto end. Variations in chromatic aberration and other distortions are controlled when predetermined conditional expressions are satisfied.

There are existing optical elements that are capable of changing the refractive power thereof by changing the curvature of the interface between two optically transmissive materials (e.g., liquids).
FIG. 11A illustrates a variable refractive power element 100 including two liquids that do not mix with each other. Electrodes 101, which are covered with insulators, are disposed so as to be in contact with liquid 103 and liquid 104. In addition, electrodes 102 are disposed so as to be in contact with the liquid 103. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes 101 and the electrodes 102, electric charges are generated on the surfaces of the electrodes 101, so that the balance of the tension generated between the electrodes 101 and the liquid 103, and the tension generated between the electrodes 101 and the liquid 104 is changed. Thus, the curvature of the interface between the two liquids 103 and 104 can be changed.
FIG. 11B illustrates a variable refractive power element 200 including an elastic film 203 between two liquids 201 and 202. The elastic film 203 is deformed by moving the two liquids 201 and 202 by using a driving unit 204, whereby the refractive power of the element 200 can be changed. For the variable refractive power element 200, liquids that mix with each other may be used as the two liquids 201 and 202.
Zoom lenses including the above-described variable refractive power element are known. Patent Literature (PTL) documents 1 and 2 each describe a zoom lens in which the movement amounts of lens units during zooming are reduced or eliminated by using a plurality of variable refractive power elements and thereby the total length of the zoom lens is reduced.
Patent Literature 3 describes a zoom lens that reduces variation in chromatic aberration due to zooming by changing the shape of the interface between different media having about the same refractive index and different Abbe numbers.
Citation List
Patent Literature
PTL 1 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-98972
PTL 2 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-24210
PTL 3 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-78521
In an optical system including a variable refractive power element, the larger the magnification during zooming, the larger the change in refractive power during zooming, and larger the variation in chromatic aberration generated in the variable refractive power element.
The zoom lenses described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 do not have measures against the variation of chromatic aberration due to zooming. Therefore, if the refractive power of the variable refractive power element does not change appropriately, the variation in chromatic aberration due to zooming becomes large.
The zoom lens described in Patent Literature 3 is capable of reducing the variation in chromatic aberration due to zooming. However, the refractive power does not change during zooming because the two media that form a deformable interface therebetween have the same refractive index. Accordingly, a high zoom ratio cannot be realized by using a change in the refractive power at the deformable interface.
In light of the foregoing state of the art, a zoom lens of the type described above is desired to offer a high zoom ratio and small variation in chromatic aberration due to zooming.

Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus including the same


A switch assembly including a socket, a top cap, and an intermediate cart located in the socket. The intermediate cart is slidable with the socket. The top cap is in a spherical or pivot engagement with the intermediate cart. An activation force of the sliding movement is lower than an activation force of the spherical or pivot movement.

The present disclosure relates to the field of switch assemblies. Such switch assemblies can be used for example in a vehicle such as on a dashboard and/or on any control panel.
Switches, buttons or controls are widely used, for example for using electronic appliances at home, in the industry or in a vehicle. In particular, car dashboards are usually provided with switches in order to trigger safety or comfort functions, such as headlights, windshield wipers, air conditioning or to interact with multimedia functions of the car infotainment system.
Among switch assemblies currently used in vehicles, capacitive switches detect a contact between the finger of a user and a touch-sensitive surface of the switch. However, these capacitive switches do not provide haptic feedback and are not always appreciated for this reason.
Toggle switches have the advantage of providing a haptic feedback. Further, several actions can be triggered and/or selected with a single toggle switch. An example of a toggle switch is described in document DE9421644U1. However, such a toggle switch has the disadvantage that a space must exist between the top cap, which is pressed by a user, and a cover surrounding the top cap, such as a cover surface of the dashboard or the control panel. Such a space may allow dust and particles to penetrate the inside of the toggle switch and does not provide for a high level of perceived quality.
Consequently, the present disclosure relates to a switch assembly providing a haptic feedback with a minimal space between a top cap of the switch assembly and a cover surrounding the top cap.


Provided is an electric power converter, including: a casing; a heat radiating plate having a first main surface and a second main surface; and a substrate which is fixed to the main surface and to which a heat generating component is mounted, wherein the casing has an inner wall surface in which a first tapered portion is formed, wherein the heat radiating plate includes a second tapered portion which is connected to the first tapered portion in a heat exchangeable manner and slid with respect to the first tapered portion, wherein the heat radiating plate is configured to be displaced in a first direction with respect to the casing by the second tapered portion being slid with respect to the first tapered portion, and wherein the heat generating component is connected to the casing in a heat exchangeable manner by the heat radiating plate being displaced in the first direction.

In related-art electric power converters, heat of a heat generating component such as an electronic component mounted on a substrate accommodated in a casing is transferred to the casing via a metal plate or other heat radiating member to perform cooling with the use of a cooling device mounted to the casing (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).


The present invention generally relates to metal-ligand complexes, catalysts comprising or prepared from the metal-ligand complexes, processes of catalyzing olefin polymerization reactions with the catalysts to prepare polyolefins, polyolefins prepared thereby, processes of making the metal-ligand complexes and catalysts, and intermediate compounds useful therefor.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,676 mentions, among other things, catalyst precursors and catalysts comprising a Group 4 metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,433 B2 mentions, among other things, metalloenamine compounds and catalysts comprising a metal that is nickel, palladium, platinum, titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, or scandium.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,919,413 B2; U.S. Pat. No. 6,919,467 B2; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,199,255 B2 are family members that mention, among other things, catalyst precursors and catalysts comprising a metallic element of any one of Groups 1 to 15 and the lanthanide series (of the Periodic Table of the Elements disclosed in Lange's Handbook of Chemistry (McGraw Hill Handbooks, 15th edition, 1999).
Chemical industry desires new metal-ligand complexes and catalysts prepared therefrom with improved stability (e.g., towards alkyl group migration) under olefin polymerization reaction conditions (e.g., temperature). Preferably, the new catalysts would be useful for catalyzing reactions that provide new compositions of matter (e.g., new polyolefin compositions), improving reaction yields, providing alternative substrate selectivities (e.g., providing a new relative selectivity for a monomer and co-monomer in making a polyolefin copolymer), reducing manufacturing costs, improving process safety, or a combination thereof.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A vehicle includes an image sensor configured to acquire a surrounding image; a sensor configured to detect at least one of a vehicle state or a surrounding condition of the vehicle; an external display disposed on an outer side of the vehicle; and a controller configured to identify whether a predetermined situation occurs based on at least one of the acquired surrounding image or an output value of the sensor, and configured to control at least one of a flicker frequency or a flicker pattern of the external display to display information on the occurring situation when the predetermined situation occurs.

Vehicles have various functions as the technology develops. Particularly, according to the tendency that a vehicle has a number of automotive electronics, an active safety system (ASS) has been developed, which operates automatically to prevent an unexpected situation.
Furthermore, in recent years, a research about a vehicle equipped with the advance driver assist system (ADAS) has been actively conducted, wherein the ADAS provides information for controlling a vehicle and information needed for a driver by integrally considering vehicle state, driver state, or information related to the surrounding conditions.

System for exchanging information between vehicles and control method thereof


Procedures for the synthesis of zero dimension GQDs based on exfoliation/reduction of surface passivated functionalized graphite oxide (f-GO PEG) are described. The synthesis procedures can include exfoliation/reduction f-GO PEG in presence of hydrogen gas, using focused solar radiation and under vacuum.

Carbon, the sixth element of the Periodic Table, exists in various allotropic forms that span multiple dimensions, for example, 0D fullerenes, 1D nanotubes and 2D graphene. Each of these nano-allotropes has diverse properties and hence, varied applications. Graphene is a single-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms and that possesses desirable properties, such as, for example, high conductivity, high mechanical strength, high thermal conductivity, etc. Charge carrier concentration and mobility in graphene sheets are as high as 1013 cm−2 and 10,000 cm2 V−1s−1 at room temperature. Moreover, single layer graphene has a Young's modulus of ˜1 TPa, close to value of bulk graphite. Several synthesis procedures exist for large scale production of single and few layer graphene sheets. While the discovery of 2-D graphene by Novoselov and Geim lead to the 2010 physics Nobel prize, the zero band gap of 2-D graphene limits its electronic application, which is primarily based on semiconductors. The zero band gap of graphene can be overcome by modifying its size and shape, for example, reduction of the lateral size of the graphene sheets to small length scales (for example, a few nm), a band gap opens up making the material semiconducting.
Graphene nanoribbons address this drawback of single layer graphene, however, more recently, focus has been on another carbon nanostructure called graphene quantum dots (GQDs) or carbon quantum dots (CQD) (also known as graphene quantum discs). GQDs show very desirable photoluminescence properties, as the size and shape of the GQDs can be tuned to have desired band gap and emission properties. Moreover, GQDs have desirable characteristics, for example, high surface area, larger diameter, better surface grafting using the π-π conjugated network or surface groups and other special physical properties due to the structure of graphene. Since most of the carbon nanomaterials including GQDs are biocompatible and nontoxic, GQDs can advantageously be used in biological applications for example, image scanning and sensing, drug delivery and cancer treatment. The photoluminescence properties of GQDs are useful for photovoltaic applications too as it has been theoretically proved that the energy gap in GQDs can be tuned by using electrostatic potentials.
The band gap of a GQD depends on its size and shape. With existing technology it is possible to cut graphene in to desirable size and shape forms. As the number of atoms increases, the energy gap in almost all the energy spectra of GQDs decreases monotonously. In the case of GQDs, along with size and shape, the edge type plays an important role in electronic, magnetic and optical properties.
Typical synthesis procedures of GQDs include laser ablation treatment, solvothermal methods, hydrazine methods, hydrothermal methods, micro wave synthesis, chemical treatment of carbon fiber and bottom up methods. Depending on the synthesis procedure some GQDs are water soluble and some are not. Since the edges are highly active, functional groups may become attached, which may alter the solubility of the GQDs. The yield of production of GQDs in each of these typical procedures is less than 20%. In most of the cases a mixture of GQD and 1-D nanostructures and/or GQD and 2-D nanostructures is obtained.

Graphene quantum dots, their composites and preparation of the same


In a substrate structure of a primary disk array apparatus of a disk array system, the primary disk array apparatus contains in one housing at least a plurality of disk drives and a controller substrate with a controller section for controlling the disk drives, and a resource management section that is mounted on the controller substrate of the primary disk array apparatus for managing resources within the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate structure of a disk array apparatus, a disk array apparatus and a disk array system.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 9 shows a front view of an example of a conventional rack-mounted disk array system. As indicated in the figure, depending on the performance and/or specification required, the disk array system is equipped with one or more expansion housings (secondary disk array apparatuses) 110 to expand disk drives, in addition to a basic housing (a primary disk array apparatus) 100 that makes up a disk array apparatus. More specifically, a disk array system is structured by containing the basic housing 100 and the expansion housings 110 inside a rack frame 120. The basic housing 100 and the expansion housings 110 are equipped with boards (substrates) and apparatuses that provide various functions of the disk array apparatus.
Conventionally, in addition to a controller module, a resource management section called an enclosure is provided and a dedicated substrate is used to operate the enclosure as a module. The enclosure has several functions, and one of them is a management function to consolidate the control of access to every hard disk drive module in every housing when a disk array apparatus is expanded by adding one or more expansion housings. In other words, the enclosure collects and monitors management information concerning the status of resources, such as every hard disk drive within every housing. The basic housing (the primary disk array apparatus) is equipped with the enclosure (the resource management section) in addition to the controller, but each expansion housing (the secondary disk array apparatus) is required to have only an enclosure (a secondary resource management section) and does not have to have a controller.
Specifically, as shown in the block diagram in FIG. 8, the enclosure of the basic housing 100 controls switching Of a Fibre Channel Loop (which is also called Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL)) between a controller 700 and disk drives 200. A fibre loop switching function of the enclosure is achieved by a port bypass circuit (hereinafter called a "PBC") on a chip. On the other hand, the enclosure (the secondary resource management section) of each expansion housing 110 is connected to the enclosure of the basic housing 100 via a Fibre Channel Loop PBC and lines 60 and 91. This structure allows management information regarding resources such as disk drives 200 of the expansion housings 110 to be collected and monitored.
In addition, the enclosure is wired to be electrically connected to a display lamp device that indicates the operating status of the disk array apparatus, as well as to a power source module and a fan module, which enables the enclosure to obtain data regarding the status of each module and to send control signals to the various modules. In other words, the enclosure has a function to monitor the power source module, a function to control the display lamp device that indicates the operating status of the disk array apparatus, and a function to control the fan module by monitoring the temperature inside each housing. The function to monitor the power source module involves monitoring its running state and on/off control. In FIG. 8, such data and control signals sent to and from each of these modules are indicated as resource management information.
One of the resource management functions of the enclosure of the basic housing 100 and of each expansion housing 110 is to collect data regarding the mounting status of the disk drives 200 and the power source module onto the disk array apparatus, and based on the data to notify the controller of the mounting status.
The various functions of the enclosure described above are achieved by a dedicated LSI, microcomputer or PBC functioning as an enclosure controller section.
Mounting the enclosure of the basic housing 100 in FIG. 8 as a single, independent module has been an impediment to building a smaller disk array apparatus. This is even more true in high-speed transmission such as at 2G bps, where a CDR (clock data recovery) must be added for every few drives in order to maintain waveform quality. Since the number of CDRs that can be added per chip of PBC that realizes the fibre loop switching function is limited, the number of PBCs mounted increases; and this often further impedes the building of a smaller disk array apparatus.

Substrate structure of disk array apparatus, disk array apparatus and disk array system


An ion implantation apparatus includes a charge neutralizer having a control circuit which controls the quantity of secondary electrons irradiating a semiconductor wafer. Electrons are generated in response to a direction of movement of a semiconductor wafer to neutralize positive charge on the semiconductor wafer. The apparatus can neutralize the positive charge homogeneously and prevent electrical breakdown of the semiconductor wafer.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ion implantation apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ion implantation apparatus producing a high current and equipped with an electron neutralizing unit in order to neutralize the positive charge on a semiconductor wafer during implantation of cations in the semiconductor wafer.


A fluid pressurizing structure and fan using same are disclosed. The fluid pressurizing structure includes a hub having a plate portion located therearound. The plate portion has a first and a second surface provided with a plurality of first and second hollow protrusions, respectively. Each of the first hollow protrusions has a first fluid inlet and a first fluid outlet, and each of the second hollow protrusions has a second fluid inlet and a second fluid outlet. The first and second fluid outlets extend through the plate portion to communicate the first and second fluid inlets with the second and first surface, respectively. When the fan rotates, fluid drawn thereinto sequentially flows through the first fluid inlets and outlets and the second fluid inlets and outlets in a helical movement in cycles, and is therefore continuously pressurized, which facilitates reduced fan vibration and noise and fan motor power consumption.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a conventional centrifugal fluid pressurizing structure 20, which usually includes a blade-type fan wheel having a hub 22 and a plurality of blades 24, as well as a fan frame 30. When the blade-type fan wheel is driven to rotate, an external fluid is drawn into the fan frame 30 via an inlet 31 thereof and is pressurized by the blades 24. Then, the pressurized fluid flows out of the fan frame 30 via a sideward outlet 32 thereof.
In the above-described conventional centrifugal fluid pressurizing structure 20, each of the blades 24 has a fluid pressurizing section measured from a fixed end 241 of the blade 24 connected to the hub 22 to a free end 242 distal from the hub 22. The fluid pressurizing section of the blades 24 is so short that the conventional centrifugal fluid pressurizing structure 20 can provide only very limited fluid pressurizing effect.
In addition, part of the fluid having been pressurized by the conventional centrifugal fluid pressurizing structure 20 would form swirls between the blades 24 and the fan frame 30, so that some of the work done by the fan motor becomes useless while more power is consumed. Further, the swirls so formed would collide against the fan frame 30 and the blades 24 continuously to produce vibration and noise.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved fluid pressurizing structure and a fan using same to overcome the above problems and disadvantages.

Fluid pressurizing structure and fan using same


A method and apparatus for testing assisted position location capable devices that includes providing a position determination entity (PDE) simulator that is in communication with a base station simulator simulating one or more base stations and connecting an assisted position location capable device under test (DUT) to the base station simulator and a global positioning system (GPS) simulator. Then, initiating a test sequence wherein the DUT receives a set of predetermined GPS signals and at a desired time the DUT requests assistance data from the base station simulator and the base station simulator requests assistance data from the PDE simulator, wherein the PDE simulator provides data that is independent of the GPS simulator data to the base station and the base station transfers the PDE data to the DUT. The PDE data is a set of predetermined responses to any one of a plurality of DUT requests indexed by elapsed test time.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to testing assisted position location capable devices. In particular, the invention relates to a position determination entity simulator used in testing assisted position location capable devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently there has been a great deal of interest in determining the location of mobile devices. One area that is of particular interest is the ability to determine the location of cellular phone users in certain circumstances. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the U.S.A. has mandated that the location of a cellular telephone user be determined automatically when the user dials 911. In addition to the FCC mandate, it is envisioned that other applications that can take advantage of knowing a users"" location will be developed.
Various techniques have been used to determine the location of a mobile unit. For example, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite system that provides users equipped with a GPS receiver the ability to determine their location anywhere in the world. A GPS receiver normally determines its location by measuring the relative times of arrival of signals transmitted simultaneously from multiple GPS satellites.
Each GPS satellite transmits a microwave carrier signal that is xe2x80x9cspreadxe2x80x9d by a repeating pseudo random noise (PRN) code. The PRN code of each satellite is unique to that satellite, and all PRN codes repeat with the same duration. In addition, the spreading of the carrier signal used by all GPS satellites is synchronized to begin at the same time, corresponding to GPS time. The microwave carrier signal is also modulated by a 50 Hz signal that contains data describing the satellite orbits, clock corrections, and other system parameters. The GPS satellite positioning data, as well as data on clock timing, is commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cephemerisxe2x80x9d data.
Typically, a GPS receiver is able to produce, or has stored in memory, replicas of PRN codes used by the GPS satellites. The receiver shifts the PRN replica in time until there is correlation with the PRN code transmitted by the satellite and received at the GPS receiver. The offset in time corresponding to when there is a correlation represents the time of arrival (TOA) of the satellite PRN at the receiver. The TOA is proportional to the distance between the satellite and the receiver, offset by any difference between the receiver clock and GPS time. The TOA is commonly referred to as the pseudo-range. To be able to solve for the receiver location, the GPS receiver measures the pseudo-ranges to multiple satellites (typically four) to solve for x, y, and z position and to correct timing errors between the receiver clock and GPS time. In addition to the pseudo-range measurements, the receiver demodulates the emphemeris data to allow estimation of the location of the satellites when a pseudo-range measurement is made. Knowing the location of the satellites and the relative range to each satellite allows the receiver location to be estimated through a trilateration process.
The process of searching for and acquiring GPS signals, reading the ephemeris data for a multiplicity of satellites and estimating the location of the receiver from this data is time consuming, often requiring several minutes. In many cases, this lengthy processing time is unacceptable and, furthermore, greatly limits battery life in micro-miniaturized portable applications.
Several techniques have been attempted to reduce the time needed to acquire the GPS data used in location estimation. One such technique that has been developed by the wireless communication industry is the TIA/EIA IS-801-1 standard entitled xe2x80x9cPosition Determination Service Standards for Dual Mode Spread Spectrum Systemsxe2x80x9d, incorporated herein in its entirety. The IS-801-1 standard includes definitions for messages that are communicated between a mobile unit and a network infrastructure, such as a cellular network, to reduce the time needed to acquire the GPS data. The mobile unit may comprise, for example, a GPS-enabled cellular telephone. The network infrastructure may include a Position Determination Entity (PDE) that assists the mobile unit acquiring the GPS data. For example, when it is desired to determine the location of the mobile unit, the PDE may communicate assistance data to the remote unit to improve the mobile unit""s acquisition of the GPS data. Such assistance data may include, for example, the PRN code of the GPS satellites that are most likely to be in the view of the mobile unit, Doppler information, including Doppler search window size, and PRN code phase search window.
Another well-known position location technique is Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT). The AFLT technique is based on measuring time-of-arrival differences between terrestrial base station signals. In the case of a CDMA wireless network, these measurements are called pilot phase measurements. Whenever the mobile device is able to detect signals from three different base station locations, one of which is likely to be the serving base station, the mobile device""s position can be determined.
It is possible that at a particular location, the mobile device is neither able to detect signals from at least four GPS satellites nor able to detect signals from at least three base stations. In this case, neither the GPS nor the AFLT technique alone would give a position solution. A third technique, commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cHybridxe2x80x9d technique, combines the GPS and AFLT measurements. The hybrid technique may still give a position solution even in the case in which less the required number of satellites are available. When the mobile device communicates with a GPS synchronous cellular network, such as an IS-95 or IS-2000 standards compliant CDMA network, the Hybrid technique has the additional advantage of further reducing the required minimum number of measurements. Both the AFLT and Hybrid techniques are supported by the IS-801-1 standard, which defines applicable assistance messages to be sent by the PDE to the mobile device.
Presently, various vendors are developing PDEs to comply with the IS-801-1 standard. However, even if two PDEs from different vendors both meet the IS-801-1 standard, the assistance data provide by the two PDEs may be different. Differences in the assistance data provided to a mobile unit may affect the performance of the mobile unit in acquiring GPS data. For example, it may take longer for a mobile unit to acquire the GPS data with the assistance data provided by one vendor""s PDE than with another vendor""s PDE. Most mobile units, however, are optimized for operation with a specific vendor""s PDE. The published performance specifications of a mobile unit may relate to operation with the PDE for which the mobile unit has been optimized.
Variations in PDE performance make it difficult to test and compare the performance of various mobile units. For example, if a single vendor produces both PDEs and mobile units, the PDE and mobile units may achieve a satisfactory level of performance together. However, the same PDE or mobile unit may not achieve satisfactory performance when operating with a mobile unit or PDE produced by a different vendor. As it is anticipated that there will be many different manufacturers of PDEs and mobile units, variations in performance when different combinations of PDEs and mobile units interact can reduce the overall effectiveness in estimating the location of the remote unit. This can result in very severe consequences, particularly in an emergency, or 911, situation.
Due to these and other problems, there needs to be a standard technique and apparatus that facilitates testing of mobile unit performance when acquiring GPS data for estimating the mobile unit""s location.
A method and apparatus for testing assisted position location capable devices are provided. One aspect is providing a position determination entity (PDE) simulator that is in communication with a base station simulator. The base station simulator simulates one or more base stations. The disclosed method includes connecting an assisted position location capable device under test to the base station simulator, a global positioning system (GPS) simulator, and initiating a test sequence wherein the device under test receives a set of predetermined GPS signals. At a desired time, the device under test (DUT) requests assistance data from the base station simulator and the base station simulator requests assistance data from the PDE simulator, wherein the PDE simulator provides data that is independent of the GPS simulator data to the base station, and the base station transfers the PDE data to the DUT. The PDE data may be a set of predetermined responses to any one of a plurality of requests.
Another aspect of a method for testing assisted position location capable devices includes (1) providing a position determination entity (PDE) simulator that is in communication with a base station simulator simulating one or more base stations, (2) connecting an assisted position location capable device under test to the base station simulator and a global positioning system (GPS) simulator, and (3) initiating a test sequence. During the test sequence, the PDE simulator provides assistance data and a request for the device under test to make pseudo-range measurements or pilot phase measurements or both, and wherein the device under test receives the assistance data and the request and, using the assistance data, makes pseudo-range measurements or pilot phase measurements or both and provides the measurement results to the base station simulator. The PDE data may be a set of predetermined responses indexed by elapsed test time.
Another aspect of testing assisted position location capable devices in accordance with the invention includes providing a position determination entity (PDE) simulator that is in communication with a base station simulator simulating one or more base stations and connecting an assisted position location capable device under test to the base station simulator and a global positioning system (GPS) simulator and initiating a test sequence. In the test sequence, the PDE simulator provides assistance data and a request for the device under test to make a location measurement, and the device under test receives the assistance data and the request and, using the assistance data, makes a location measurement and provides the location measurement to the base station simulator. The PDE data may be a set of predetermined responses indexed by elapsed test time.
A position determination entity (PDE) simulator constructed in accordance with the invention includes a controller configured to receive assistance requests and to output assistance responses, and operates with a database populated with predetermined assistance responses corresponding to a set of assistance requests. An appropriate response is selected from the database in accordance with the received type of assistance request and the elapsed test duration. The assistance responses may correspond to GPS or AFLT data.

Method and apparatus for testing assisted position location capable devices


An autonomous robotic system, and method for automatically monitoring the state of shelves in stores, like retail stores or supermarkets are based on a mobile The mobile robot is capable of autonomously navigating the aisles of a store, with the ability to monitor the condition of product shelves. Specifically, the robotic system solves problems associated with the operation of the shelves, mainly with respect to the detection of incorrect or missing price signs, verification of offer signs, detection of product stock, estimation of product layout, and identification of products misplaced or with errors in the spatial extent assigned to the supplier on a shelf.

Currently, the monitoring of shelves or gondolas in large retail stores is mainly done manually, where operators go around the stores checking situations such as accuracy and positioning of price signs and posters of offers, lack of stock of products, verification of the space extension used by each product, or detection of misplaced products. However, the magnitude of the stores, the thousands of products available, as well as the thoroughness required, makes manual solutions inefficient and inaccurate.
Among the solutions aimed at solving the above problems there are electronic labels for the products on shelves. However, such a solution involves a high investment cost and the high failure rates have limited its application. Additionally, this technology only aims at a partial solution to the problem of shelf monitoring as it only focuses on the problem of price tags.
An additional complication of shelf monitoring is that each store is affected by various changes in its layout or product planogram on a weekly basis, which are difficult to record correctly generating problems both in the management of the store as well as in the relationship with suppliers that rent display surfaces in shelves. There have been attempts to solve the problem by installing cameras to remotely monitor the shelves from monitoring rooms by operators. However, such solutions are expensive, complex to install and maintain, and not scalable to the size of an entire store. Along the same line, solutions have recently been developed for automatic recognition of situations such as detecting product stock-outs using video cameras. However, high installation and maintenance costs have undermined the massive adoption of such a strategy.
In terms of robots for retail, there are currently robotic solutions aimed at assisting customers who visit stores, providing the ability to read product codes and the ability to find the products that customers are looking for, by going to the place where the product is located. In addition, some of these solutions allow operators to be assisted in inventory review tasks based on information from the inventory database held by the store. However, such solutions have not shown the ability to scale to the requirements of an entire store and more importantly have not proven to be an effective and comprehensive solution to the various challenges and tasks involved in monitoring product shelves in retail stores.
In this context, document WO 2017/083424 A1 from Simbe Robotics, Inc. discloses a robot for stock-out detection, that is, to identify empty spaces on the shelves that are indicators of a product's lack of stock. The document only focuses on stock-out detection and does not indicate methods for solving other shelf monitoring problems. According to this document, in order to determine out-of-stock the robot identifies an empty shelf space, which is an indicator of out-of-stock, and uses information from the store planogram, i.e. how the products are placed on the store shelves, to identify which product caused the out-of-stock based on the information in the planogram. In other words, the robot described in document WO 2017/083424 A1 does not directly identify the products, but indirectly infers the correspondence between empty space and product through the planogram information. Such a feature results in a disadvantage, since although the planogram of the products on the shelves of a store may be known and provided to the robot by an operator in advance, usually such planogram changes over time and stores do not have an updated version of it. Therefore, the solution in WO 2017/083424 A1 will only be useful if an updated planogram of the store is available, since not having it could result in incorrect identification of a product.
Additionally, the robot described in document WO 2017/083424 A1 identifies the absence and presence of products in the images using their visual appearance, differentiating an empty space from one that is not. This is also a disadvantage since the robot described in the prior art does not allow identifying intermediate stock situations, where the relationship between empty space and product stock quantity depends on the type of product and its way of stacking, side by side, one on top of the other, etc. Thus, this robot is not capable of accurately detecting a reduced stock situation and alerting the stockholders in advance of a stock shortage.
Additionally, WO 2017/083424 A1 highlights the definition of waypoints or reference points to guide shelf monitoring, i.e., specific areas of the store that need to be monitored. Such waypoints are used by the prior art to define a navigation plan in advance, including priority information, which allows prioritizing the order in which the points are visited, in particular, visiting first the points with products most likely to be out of stock, for example. While this strategy allows you to prioritize the items most likely to be out of stock, it does not privilege and therefore ensures full coverage of the store by monitoring the condition of all its shelves. In addition, the navigation approach employed in the prior art focuses on meeting waypoints or reference points, and does not guarantee spatial coverage of the store.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 7,693,757 B2 of the company IBM describes a system and method aimed at taking inventory of a store by means of a mobile robot. The document states that the robot captures images of store shelves in order to identify a code that can be associated with a product, to compare that code with a product database and to retrieve an image of the product associated with that code. Then, this image of the product associated to the captured code is compared with the image of the product from the images captured by the robot. In case the comparison shows that the recovered and captured product images do not fit, an out-of-stock alert is sent. Considering the above, the solution described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,693,868 B2 has the disadvantage that the robot does not directly read the products on the shelves, but it extracts a product code to obtain a predetermined and stored image of the product, and then compares that image with the image of the shelf. This indirect approach to identify the product does not deal with situations where incorrect or missing codes are presented on the shelves, so in these cases the method proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,693,757 B2 does not perform a correct identification and therefore a correct determination of the conditions of the eventual lack of stock. It should be mentioned that the presence of incorrect or missing codes is in itself a problem of great relevance for the monitoring of shelves, with error rates higher than 10% being common.
Like the document WO 2017/083424 A1 of Simbe Company, the solution in IBM's U.S. Pat. No. 7,693,757 B2 does not allow for identifying labeling errors or analyzing the distribution, planogram or layout of products on the shelf.
Finally, the US 2009/0094140 A1 document of NCR company describes a solution for an airborne platform that enables store inventory management by capturing images and reading prices and products. To do this, image recognition is used to extract information from product labels and product inventory, which is then compared with that contained in a database for identification and alerting of any discrepancies. While the solution in US 2009/0094140 A1 allows for the identification of discrepancies between captured and stored information, it does not allow for the generation of the current store planogram, based on stored information that does not necessarily correspond to the correct information in real time. In addition, US 2009/0094140 A1 describes the use of cameras and headlights or beacons arranged in the store to determine the positioning of the aerial platform. In this way, this solution resorts to a modification of the environment, introducing an artificial location system for the robot. This makes the navigation system more complex and introduces problems associated with maintaining the structural changes of the store.
Therefore, the existence of a completely autonomous robotic system is necessary, which can navigate in a store without the need to intervene the store including icons or beacons, and which is capable of generating information on the current conditions of distribution of products on the shelves, avoiding indirect identifications that involve difficulties given the continuous changes in the distribution of products, price tags and posters inside the store.
In addition, it is necessary to have a solution that combines visual information with distance or depth measurements, enriching the captured information with data that guarantees the correct collection of information and that allows to detect the stock of a product with a high degree of precision.
On the other hand, it is necessary to have a system capable of reading all types of signs and banners in the store, capturing relevant information from the shelves, including product logos, signs with information on aisles, price signs, offer signs, etc.
Finally, it is necessary to have an autonomous robotic system with a navigation route planning system that allows an efficient spatial coverage, including replanning techniques in case points of the store are identified that were left pending either by the presence of an obstacle or by capturing images of insufficient quality, returning to those points after the route is completed, ensuring a total coverage of the shelves to be analyzed.
Therefore, it is necessary to have a robotic system that delivers a comprehensive solution to the main problems that involve the monitoring of shelves in stores, as indicated above.

Autonomous robotic system for automatically monitoring the state of shelves in shops

PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE


A device is configured to receive a request for a first user, of a first telephone device, to leave a voice mail message for a second user of a second telephone device; retrieve a profile associated with the second telephone device and to determine, based on the profile, whether the second telephone device is registered for a selective voice mail service; determine, based on the profile, whether the first user is allowed to leave the voice mail message when the second telephone device is registered for the selective voice mail service; and allow the first user to leave the voice mail message for the second user of the second telephone device when the second telephone device is not registered for the selective voice mail service or when the first user is allowed to leave the voice mail message.

A user of a mobile telephone device can set up voice mail, for the mobile telephone device, to allow callers to leave voice mail messages when the user does not answer telephone calls to the mobile telephone device. Currently, any caller is able to leave a voice mail message after the caller places a call to the mobile telephone device and the user does not answer the call. As a result, the user often receives voice mail messages from callers (e.g., telemarketers) from who the user is not interested in receiving voice mail messages. The user has to spend time and energy reviewing and deleting the voice mail messages that the user did not want receive.
Furthermore, a carrier, associated with the mobile telephone device, has to provide storage capacity required to store the voice mail messages that the user does not want to receive. The carrier is forced to continuously expend resources to add storage capacity (e.g., by adding new voice mail servers) to store an increasing amount of voice mail messages, including those that subscribers, of mobile telephone devices associated with the carrier, do not want to receive.
Currently, a user of a mobile telephone device may create/provide a blacklist of telephone numbers from which to block incoming calls. However, this approach does not allow the user to only block the leaving of voice mail messages, while still allowing the calls, from those telephone numbers, to be received. Additionally, users of mobile telephone devices with any telephone numbers that are not on the blacklist are still able to leave voice mail messages. Therefore, benefits to the operator from conserving resources (e.g., storage capacity of voice mail servers), by allowing users to use blacklists, are minimal.


A power transmission has a housing comprised of an end support, a casing, an end cover, a converter housing, an input shaft, an output shaft and a pair of identically dimensional countershafts. A bushing and oil feed sleeve are positioned on each end of each countershaft for cooperating with the end support connecting the housing for alignment therebetween and with the casing for alignment therebetween. Each countershaft has a pair of ratio gears rotatably disposed thereon and meshing with respective output gears rotatable with the output shaft and a friction clutch is provided for each ratio gear. Four of the friction clutches which are disposed on the countershafts are identical in construction. A fifth clutch assembly, in line with the input shaft, can be shortened, if desired, by the elimination of one friction plate and one reaction plate. Each clutch has an apply piston which cooperates with respective lube passages formed in the shaft to control lubricant and cooling flow to each respective clutch during engagement. A reverse gear pair has one gear member connectible to one countershaft by a synchronizer clutch and one of the friction clutches and the other gear member drivingly connected with a ratio gear on the other countershaft. A park pawl secured to one of the reverse gear members is provided to obtain a park gear having a torque ratio greater than one with the output shaft thereby providing improved disengagement loading in the park system.

This invention relates to power transmissions and more particularly to power transmissions having multiple countershafts.
Power transmissions with multiple countershafts generally have a housing assembly formed with at least two members that are aligned by dowel pins. These members generally include a casing and an end cover or bell housing. The bell housing generally encloses a torque converter or friction clutch. The countershafts are supported in the casing at one end and in the end cover at the other end. The input shaft is generally supported in the end cover and the output shaft is supported in the casing.
The alignment and parallelism of the shafts is determined by the doweling between the casing and cover and the bearing bores in each of the casing and end cover. The machining of the required dowel and bearing bores is subject to manufacturing tolerances which must be held within close limits for quiet, efficient and durable operation of the transmission. As is well known, close tolerance machining adds to the overall cost of the product.
In the prior art multiple countershaft transmissions, each countershaft in the transmission has a different or distinct configuration. The bearing mounting surfaces and the gear mounting surfaces are machined to specific tolerances and dimensions for each bearing and gear. Lube passages are unique from one countershaft to another. These and other differences require that manufacturing and inventory capabilities must be available for each individual shaft configuration. The number of repair and replacement parts proliferates with each shaft configuration. The end result is an increase in cost for the transmission.

Power transmission with parallel identical countershafts


An “RDMA-Based Memory Allocator” applies remote direct memory access (RDMA) messaging to provide fast lock-free memory allocations and de-allocations for shared memory distributed across multiple servers in an RDMA-based network. Alternately, in various implementations, the RDMA-Based Memory Allocator combines RDMA messaging and remote procedure call (RPC) requests to provide fast lock-free memory allocations and de-allocations for shared memory distributed across multiple servers in an RDMA-based network. In either case, any of the networked servers can act as either or both a client for requesting (or releasing) memory allocations and a host for hosting a portion of the distributed memory. Further, any server (including the requesting client) may act as the host for the distributed memory being allocated or de-allocated by any client via RDMA messaging. Advantageously, being lock-free improves overall performance of memory access between networked computers by reducing overall system latency.

In general, direct memory access (DMA) provides various techniques that enable a device or process of a local host computing device to directly read and write local memory of that host device without interrupting the host's CPU(s). In contrast, remote direct memory access (RDMA), which is increasingly being deployed in data centers, extends traditional DMA-based techniques to enable a remote device or process to directly read and write memory of a remote computing device without interrupting the CPU(s) of the remote computing device.
Existing RDMA-based techniques, such as, for example, InfiniBand, iWARP, RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), etc., make use of RDMA-enabled network interface controller (NICs). When writing data across an RDMA-enabled network, servers or other computing devices equipped with an RDMA-enabled NIC typically apply DMA to read data in a user- or process-specified buffer or memory address and transmit that data as a self-contained message to an RDMA-enabled NIC of networked computing device. The receiving RDMA-enabled NIC then uses DMA to write that data into a user- or process-specified buffer or memory address. Similarly, for data reads across RDMA-enabled networks, the local computing device uses the RDMA-enabled NIC to transmit a self-contained message to an RDMA-enabled NIC of the remote computing device to request data from a user- or process-specified buffer or memory address. The remote computing device then applies DMA to read the requested data and return it to the local computing device via the RDMA-enabled NICs of each device.

Distributed lock-free RDMA-based memory allocation and de-allocation


Systems and methods for generating a bookmark for a snapshot of one or more volumes of a production server include initiating a snapshot process to capture a shadow copy of a snapshot-volume set, which includes one or more volumes of the production server. The snapshot process (e.g., Volume Shadow Copy Service of Windows™ operating system) may include (a) temporarily freezing operations on a file system of the production server, and (b) releasing a freeze of operations on the file system of the production server. A bookmark for the shadow copy (representing a consistent state of the associated volumes) may be generated such that the bookmark corresponds to a completion of the temporarily freezing or releasing a freeze of the operations. The bookmark may include a point in time of the completion of the temporarily freezing or releasing the freeze of the operations.

Data replication for backup and recovery purposes can be achieved by creating a shadow copy of one or more storage volumes, e.g., in a production server. Such replication may be done, for example, using Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) utility of the Windows™ operating system. A VSS command may be issued to take a volume snapshot periodically such as, for example, every fifteen minutes, to ensure that all existing application transactions are placed on a temporary hold, and all application data and data in a cache memory of a file system are flushed to disk.
A bookmark representing, for example, a point in time when the snapshot or shadow copy is generated may be beneficial, as the bookmark may represent a consistent state of the protected data when the snapshot was taken, e.g., a state of protected data to which users can rewind back for data recovery. For instance, data can be restored to a point in time indicated by the bookmark at which the data is application consistent, i.e., the restored data is equal to those of the snapshots at that time point. Moreover, such bookmark may indicate a transition phase used to distinguish between two phases of data backup process, i.e., initial synchronization phase and replication phase.
However, it may be difficult to record an accurate point in time, and thus generate an associated bookmark, when a consistent state for a snapshot is achieved. For example, conventionally, a pseudo software provider may be given higher priority as compared to a system provider and may be selected by a shadow copy process for generation of a snapshot of storage volumes at the production server and capturing the point in time of the snapshot. However, pseudo software providers are known to respond to commit snapshot events of a replication service, e.g., VSS, in specific snapshot-generation cases where the snapshot may merely indicate directory structure and attributes of data items in the storage volumes, and not necessarily actual data in the storage volumes. Accordingly, because a pseudo software provider may not generate snapshots capturing actual data, the snapshots generated by the pseudo software provider may not represent a consistent state of captured data. In some embodiments, where only one application, e.g., ArcServer RHA utilizes VSS, the pseudo software provider may be used to generate consistency bookmarks for other applications, e.g., SharePoint, Hyper-V, etc., that may be used for data recovery. However, in cases where more than one application utilize VSS, those applications may also warrant the use of pseudo software provider as the VSS provider, which, as discussed above, does not capture actual data in the snapshots. Therefore, in scenarios where the pseudo software provider is selected for VSS by multiple applications, a point in time (or bookmark) corresponding to consistent backup data may not be generated. Moreover, a pseudo software provider may not be used for periodic data replication scenarios, where snapshots including actual data beside the consistency bookmarks need to be generated.
Thus, it is desirable to develop and provide an improved technique for generating a consistency bookmark in the shadow copy or snapshot generation process, while minimizing any modification to the shadow copy process, or without slowing down, or otherwise negatively impacting the replication process.


Disclosed herein is an image processor including: a random number sequence generation section adapted to generate a random number sequence; a random number-superimposed luminance variable generation section adapted to generate a random number-superimposed luminance variable by superimposing the random number sequence on a luminance variable; and a random number-superimposed image signal generation section adapted to generate a random number-superimposed image signal by superimposing the random number-superimposed luminance variable on an image signal.

The present technology relates to an image processor adapted to process an image and an image processing method.
Recent years have seen the development of high-definition liquid crystal display panels applicable to digital cameras and other products. In such a liquid crystal display panel, the RGBW scheme is used in which a W (white) subpixel is added to the ordinary R (red), G (green) and B (blue) subpixels in each pixel.
By enhancing white through the addition of adding a white subpixel to each pixel, it is possible to maintain the brightness comparable to that of an RGB liquid crystal panel in related art even if the power consumption of the backlight is reduced 50 percent. Further, it is possible to improve the luminance about two-fold as compared to liquid crystal display panels in related art, thus minimizing the power consumption of the backlight and providing improved visibility outdoors.
As one of the image quality improvement techniques in related art, a technique has been proposed to improve the image quality degradation by calculating, based on a random number, the weight of error of a plurality of pixels near the pixel of interest and superimposing the mean weight of error of the pixels near the pixel of interest on the corrected image signal (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-232713). Another technique has been also proposed to render less noticeable false contour appearing at the boundary between the area on which noise is superimposed and that on which noise is not superimposed by superimposing noise on the pixels according to the input density of image data (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-023541).

Image processor and image processing method


An electrical connector (100) includes an insulative housing (2), a number of first and second contacts (31, 32) accommodated in the insulative housing and a conductive shell (5). The insulative housing includes first and second mating segments (25, 26) side by side arranged along a lateral direction perpendicular to a mating direction and divided by a partition wall (205), and a rear wall (24) extending downwardly from rear ends of the first and second mating segments and forming a division section to divide the rear wall into two parts corresponding to the first and second mating segments. The first and second contacts are received in the insulative housing with mating portions (30) thereof received in the first and second mating segments, and leg portions (34) bending downwardly to be located in the two parts of the rear wall. The conductive shell encloses the insulative housing and the contacts except the first and second mating segments and mating portions of the contacts. The conductive shell forms a solder foot (500) aligning with the division section of the rear wall of the insulative housing for being assembled to a printed circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector used for high-speed transmission.
2. Description of Related Art
Impedance match and EMI issue are two most important things for signal transmission of electrical connectors. Different kinds of ways are adopted by designers to adjust the impedance of contacts to proper value and improve the EMI effect. To adjust the impedance of contacts to proper value, designers usually adopt the way of changing the dielectric constant around the contacts. To improve the EMI effect, designers usually adopt a conductive shell to cover housing and contacts to depress EMI. These solutions are more important for connectors used in external circumstances. As disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,052,321 and 6,758,685, conductive shells are adopted to enclose housings and contacts to improve EMI effect. Particularly, rear walls of the conductive shells each define a cutout at lower ends thereof to expose tail portions of the contacts to be soldered on corresponding PCBs. However, it is right the cutouts cause the leakage of noises which affects the EMI effect. It is desired to have an electrical connector with improved conductive shell to improve EMI effect. On the other hand, CN Patent Nos. 2865042 and 2793964 respectively disclose a housing forming a plurality of aligning slots on rear wall to align tail portions of contacts and adopting a spacer to aligning tail portion of contacts. These proposals mainly for how to align tail portions of contacts, and not mentioned impedance match problem. Therefore, how to control impedance to desired value is another problem needing to be resolved.


The present invention provides an effective rapid thermal annealing process to fill a narrow contact window and to interconnect two conductive layers in semiconductor devices. The present invention rapidly raises an annealing temperature by a simple step of temperature raising under pure nitrogen after a step of depositing a contact layer and a barrier layer and before a step of filling a conductive layer in the contact window. Therefore, ammonia, which requires disposal treatment, is avoided and a good interconnection can be accomplished at a relative low temperature without damaging the conductive layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming interconnections in semiconductor devices and, more specifically, relates to a method for forming a plug in a contact window or a via hole to connect two conductive layers respectively disposed above and below the hole in semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As integrated circuit technology develops, methods of fabrication for most devices in a limited space is a task that needs to be overcome. A contact window or a via hole has been widely applied to form an interconnection of two conductive layers in semiconductor devices. Since the sizes of the contact window and via hole are shrinking due to process requirements, one of the most important tasks is how to form a good conductive plug to connect two conductive layers without obstructing conductivity, as the sizes of the contact window and via hole become smaller.
One of conventional methods for forming interconnections in semiconductor devices is first forming a hole in a dielectric layer on a semiconductor substrate. A first conductive layer, which can be a potion of the semiconductor substrate being implanted with an impurity or can be any conductive layer, is disposed under the dielectric layer. A contact layer, which is usually made of titanium, is deposited on inner surface of the hole and a barrier layer, which is usually made of titanium nitride, is deposited on the contact layer. Then, a second conductive layer fills the hole to form a conductive plug. Finally, a third conductive layer is formed on the second conductive layer, thereby, the third conductive layer connects the first conductive layer by the second conductive layer to form the interconnections in semiconductor devices.
In the above conventional method, the contact layer is used to effectively connect the second conductive layer and dielectric layer, which would otherwise have poor contacts, and to allow the second conductive layer to have good ohmic contact with the underneath first conductive layer. For example, when the first conductive layer contains silicon, the titanium of the contact layer will react with the silicon to produce a titanium silicon compound, which forms an effective ohmic contact. The barrier layer is used to protect the contact layer from being damaged by reactive gas, which is applied in a consequent depositing step of the second conductive layer. For example, the second conductive layer is usually made of a tungsten compound, and tungsten hexafluoride, which is applied in forming a tungsten plug, will produce reactive fluoride ions to attack the contact layer.
Since the conventional method cannot prevent the contact layer from fluoride ion attacks due to poor deposition of the barrier layer, and cannot avoid problems which result from the loss of the contact layer, such as peeling of the contact layer and barrier layer, and volcano effects which occur due to a rise in deposition, a rapid thermal annealing process is introduced to the method. U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,672 discloses an annealing process which introduces ammonia and raises the annealing temperature to above 700.degree. C., after depositing a titanium contact layer and titanium nitride barrier layer in the contact window. This allows ammonia to react with an exposed portion of the titanium contact layer and to form titanium nitride which repels fluoride ion attacks. The contact window is then filled with a metal layer.
The annealing process introduces nitrogen gas at a flow rate of 20 liters per minute at standard state into a thermal annealing chamber and loads therein a wafer, when the chamber temperature reaches 350.degree. C. to 450.degree. C. A first temperature raising step commences: the annealing chamber temperature is rapidly raised to between 575.degree. C. and 625.degree. C. and lasts for 60 seconds. Next, a second temperature raising step commences: the temperature is rapidly raised to between 700.degree. C. and 745.degree. C. The gas introduced into the chamber for both steps is ammonia, at a flow rate between 2 and 5 liters per minute. Lastly, nitrogen, at a flow rate of 20 liters per minute at standard state, is introduced into the chamber to rapidly lower the chamber temperature to below 350.degree. C. and the wafer is removed from the chamber.
Although the method may ease volcano effects, some problems remain unsolved. The annealing process of wafers in the rapid thermal annealing chamber is characterized by the introduction of ammonia, two temperature raising steps, and an annealing temperature higher than 700.degree. C. The introduction of ammonia results in the disadvantage of requiring ammonia waste gas disposal treatment, since the ammonia is an air pollutant and is not allowed to be directly expelled into the environment without treatment. Furthermore, the high temperature may damage the conductive layer under the contact hole, for example impurities of a source and/or a drain of a field effect transistor, may cause device failures and can cause a reduction in production yields.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,671 discloses a method for forming interconnections. Although the method uses a high temperature process, the high temperature process is carried out after the deposition of the titanium contact layer and titanium nitride barrier layer, and the filling of a metal layer in the contact window. The reason why the high temperature process is carried out after the filling of metal layer in the contact window is to prevent the contact layer and barrier layer from thermal oxidation. The method can not avoid conventional problems such as volcano effects. Moreover, the high temperature process is carried out in a conventional furnace, which raises and lowers the temperature slowly to prevent a quartz tube in the furnace from being broken. The temperature raising and lowering rates are about 4 to 5.degree. C. per minute, which is a slower rate than that of a rapid thermal process. A preferred embodiment of the method is by raising the temperature of the furnace, which is full of nitrogen, from 450.degree. C. to between 500.degree. C. and 550.degree. C. The step of raising the temperature requires ten to sixty minutes to complete.

Method for forming interconnections in semiconductor devices

Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation


A child restraint includes a support with a harness for securing a child to the support. The support is formed of two portions, a base and a flap, which are hinged together and which are locked in a planar configuration supporting the child, but are folded over for carrying and storing the restraint. The restraint is constructed further with a set of three wing panels extending from the base and another two wing panels extending from the flap, all the wings being connected by hinges and being locked in a common plane for supporting the child on a person's lap. The wing panels can be locked also in forwardly extending positions wherein the wing panels serve as walls surrounding the child to provide protection in vehicular travel, particularly during sudden deceleration and possible crash situations. A strap is securable to the base in either a longitudinal or transverse direction of the restraint, the longitudinal direction serving to secure the restraint to a person's lap for holding the child, while the transverse direction is employed for securing the restraint with a front surface thereof facing a seat back. The wing panels of the base are folded towards the base to provide a compact configuration of the restraint for storage.

This invention relates to a restraint for a child to facilitate holding the child in a position wherein the child may eat or rest comfortably, as well as permitting deployment of the restraint to protect the child during vehicular transportation and, more particularly, to a construction of such restraint in a manner which allows the restraint, during periods of non-use, to be folded into a relatively small package which is readily carried about and is readily stored.
Child restraints are employed frequently for holding a child in a position convenient for feeding. Typically, a restraint may be used also during vehicular travel, such as in an automobile or an aircraft, for holding the child in a position wherein the child can sleep comfortably without placing any undue burden on the part of a parent holding the child and the restraint in the parent's lap.
Typically, in the construction of a child restraint, there is some form of rigid support which holds the child, and some form of harness which secures the child to the support. Thereby, when the child and restraint are held in the parent's lap, the restraint prevents the child from jumping out of the lap.
The child restraint is also used, particularly, in vehicular transportation, to protect the child in the event of a rapid deceleration or possible crash of the vehicle. It is common practice in the construction of restraints employed for protecting children to secure the rigid support to a seat in the vehicle as by use of a seat belt or other suitable strap. A restraint designed primarily for protecting the child from a crash may have a different construction from a restraint which is intended merely to facilitate a feeding of the child.
There are other restraints which are constructed without rigid supports, these restraints being formed primarily of webbing. The webbing-form of restraint has, as a primary benefit, the facility to be folded into a small package which is readily carried about and stored during periods of time when the restraint is not needed for the child.
A problem arises in that none of these restraints have all of the foregoing desired features, namely, the capacity to hold a child comfortably in a parent's lap and the capacity to be secured to a vehicular seat for protecting the child, and the facility to be folded into a compact package. Therefore, it has been necessary to make compromises in the selection of a suitable restraint for a child.


Apparatus and methods for equalizing the jitter on a communication line attributable to uncorrelated data coupled from one or more data lines in close proximity to the communication line. The crosstalk jitter induced by adjacent data lines can be equalized by detecting one or more data or state transitions in the adjacent data lines and comparing the timing of the one or more data or state transitions to the timing of one or more data or state transitions on the communication line. The state transitions can be compared to determine a mode and corresponding level of coupling. A time delay contributed by a variable time delay positioned in series with the communication line can be varied based in part on the level of coupling.

The present invention relates to electronic data communications. More particularly, the disclosure relates to timing jitter and compensating for timing jitter in a high speed communication link.
The continual increase in processing speed and complexity provided by processors require tremendous amounts of information to be communicated between devices. The amount of information that is communicated can be increased by increasing the rate at which information is transmitted and by increasing the bus widths that carry the information. Early processors operated on eight bit buses carrying data at rates on the order of 1 MHz. Presently available processors operate on bus widths of 64 bits, each capable of supporting rates on the order of 1 Gigahertz. Further developments in processing capabilites allow even higher data rate to be supported on increasing numbers of data lines. Backplanes and circuit boards are increasingly required to support data rates on the order of 10 GHz. Additionally, high speed data communication is not limited to processor based circuits. Optical data links can be configured to operate at data rates on the order of 10 GHz.
The design of highly complex electronic communication devices is further complicated by the increasing desire to shrink or further miniaturize device sizes. Miniaturization requires that the circuits and devices be packed in highly dense structures.
Exceptional effort is focused on extending the data rate capabilities of economical copper backplanes. While VLSI circuit speed is steadily increasing, the wires between chips and even on-chip are becoming bottlenecks [R. Kollipara, et al., DesignCon2003(2003); R. Ho, et al., Proc. of the IEEE, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 490-504 (2001)]. To avoid costly optical interconnects, circuit designers are forced to equalize the channel to increase the data rate, implement alternative channel coding schemes, or simply use more parallel channels J. Zerbe, et al., ISSCC Digest, pp. 80-81 (2003); V. Stojanovic and M. Horowitz, CICC 2003, pp. 589-594 (2003)]. Ultimately, space and power dissipation limits the number of parallel channels.
The trend in the design of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits and backplanes for computers is to push as many parallel data lines, called interconnects, into close proximity to achieve high physical densities. As parallel wires are positioned closer, electromagnetic energy couples between different interconnects. The energy coupled from one interconnect to another can be referred to as crosstalk. This crosstalk energy is related to the signal on the wire.
Increasing the interconnect density in controlled impedance environments is a problem common to copper backplane and VLS1. Electromagnetic coupling between transmission lines is overwhelming as trace separation reduces. To prevent an aggressive neighboring signal from generating errors in a victim signal, circuit designers match line lengths such that the strongest coupling from the aggressor occurs not in the center of the data eye but during data transitions. While this prevents errors at the sampling point, the aggressor generates jitter on the victim line.
Typically, the signal communicated across an interconnect is a digitally modulated signal. Therefore, the energy coupled from one interconnect to another depends on the symbols transmitted over the interconnects. The coupled energy from one interconnect can disturb the signal on neighboring interconnects. For example, the crosstalk energy can contribute to signal jitter on neighboring interconnects. Ultimately, the coupling can cause errors in data transmitted over the neighboring interconnects.
Crosstalk jitter introduces a sensitivity penalty to the performance of communication networks. The amount of energy coupled by crosstalk is further exacerbated by the use of pre-emphasis on the transmitted signal. Pre-emphasis is typically used to equalize the dispersive effect of the electrical interconnect. In typically pre-emphasis, the transmitted signal is amplified and distorted. Therefore, the transmitted pre-emphasized signal can create more crosstalk than signal transmitted without pre-emphasis.
Signal integrity issues such as timing jitter are at the forefront of high-speed digital design for communication applications. Electronic circuit speeds are overwhelming the legacy channels that traditionally could be treated as ideal.
In high-speed data circuits, the channel behavior is typically compensated appropriately to enable the highest information capacity. Noise considerations dictate the choice of equalization technique. Communications over densely packed high speed interconnects can benefit from techniques for minimizing the sources or effects of crosstalk in a serial communication interconnect.


In each work process of the assembly work of a large rotating machine, an input terminal unit 101 displays measuring points necessary for measurements of radial and axial clearances between a rotor and a casing so as to provide workers with instructions. When workers measure the clearances at the instructed measuring points, the measured values will be supplied to the input terminal unit 101 so as to confirm whether the measured values are within design tolerances or not. In addition, when workers measure the clearances at the instructed measuring points, amounts of adjustment of the casing will be displayed so that the measurement results at the measuring positions will have an optimum positional relation with the designed values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for assembly of a rotating machine to perform data processing of measurements of each portion in an assembly work of a large rotating machine such as a gas turbine, a steam turbine and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in order to assemble a large rotating machine such as a gas turbine, a steam turbine and the like, a lower half of each of an outer casing and an inner casing thereof is placed on a base stand being installed with a predetermined levelness. Then, after a rotor is installed to the lower half of the inner casing being placed, the upper half of the inner casing is assembled to the upper side of the lower half of the inner casing so as to cover the rotor, and subsequently, the upper half of the outer casing is assembled to the upper side of the lower half of the outer casing so as to cover the inner casing.
A large rotating machine being assembled as described hereinabove is so designed as to have smaller clearances between the rotor and the casing in order to enhance energy efficiency thereof. However, due to a decrease in the clearances, when each of the shaft centers of the casing serving as a stationary part and the rotor serving as a rotating part is slightly out of alignment, edges of the stationary vanes and rotating blades being installed to the casing and the rotor, respectively, come into contact with the casing and the rotor. In addition, when the casing and the rotor are axially misaligned, the casing including the stationary vanes and the rotor including the rotating blades come into contact with each other. As a result, due to the contacts as have been mentioned, there is a fear of breakage of a rotating machine when the rotating machine is rotated.
Therefore, when a large rotating machine being designed to decrease the clearances is assembled, it is necessary to measure the clearances between the casing and the rotor and adjust the positions thereof so as to make the measurement results stay within the allowable range of the designed values. When measurements are taken in order to confirm whether the clearance at each position being formed between a casing and a rotor is within the allowable range of the designed values or not, it is required that the measurements should be accurate. In order to make the clearances between the casing and the rotor appropriate, an assembly method of a steam turbine is disclosed, wherein measurement using wiring is performed to measure the positions of the stationary parts such as the casing and the like by having a piano wire being supposed as the shaft center of the rotor serve as the basis. (See the Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. H6-55385 and No. H7-4207.)
In the assembly methods being disclosed in the Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open as No. H6-55385 and No. H7-4207, after aligning the shaft center of each portion of the casing based on the measured values being obtained by the measurements using wiring, the casing and the rotor are assembled sequentially to complete assembly of a steam turbine. Moreover, in the assembly method being disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open as No. H6-55385, after the rotor is installed into the casing, the clearances between the inner casing and the rotor are obtained based on the results of measurements using a depth gauge, so as to make adjustments by moving the position of the inner casing.
A large rotating machine such as a steam turbine, a gas turbine and the like is assembled as described hereinabove. However, in each process of (1) when a rotor is assembled to the lower half of an inner casing, (2) when the upper half of the inner casing is assembled, (3) when the upper half of an outer casing is assembled, and (4) when all parts are assembled, deflection and distortion of the rotor and the casing occur based on the empty weight and rigidity thereof, which consequently changes the relative positions of the rotor and the casing. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm whether the clearances between the rotor and the casing are within an appropriate range or not.
In order to confirm whether or not the axial or radial clearances between the rotor and the casing are within the appropriate range, respectively, not only there are so many points to measure the clearances but also measurable points and non-measurable points are different in each work process. Therefore, conventionally, it is necessary for a worker to check each measurement part, and there is a potentiality that missing of measurement might occur. In addition, for non-measurable points, calculations for correction are done, using the measured values being obtained at the measurable points. However, because different workers do the calculations for correction for each point, activities thereof become cumbersome. Hereat, it is necessary to determine parameters for the calculations for correction, based on the empty weight and rigidity of the casing and the rotor of a large rotating machine to be assembled, which further makes activities of the calculations for correction cumbersome and complicated.

System for assembly of a rotating machine


An access device enables dynamic migration of telecommunications subscribers between multiple transport networks and call services providers. The access device stores access patterns that associate a subscriber with a call server and define trigger events. The access device monitors the trigger events. The access device associates the subscriber with a different call server in accordance with the trigger events and the access patterns. The trigger events can be dynamic or static, can be on a line-by-line or call-by-call basis, and can be selected by a user or implemented by an operator. In this manner, the access device allows graceful migration of voice services from a legacy network to a next-generation packet network with lower capital and ownership costs.

In a telecommunication system, subscriber lines are generally connected to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via access network devices. Typically, access devices include channel interfaces for terminating the subscriber lines and a network interface for connecting the access device to a local exchange switch of the PSTN. The PSTN is connected to the network device using one or more wide-band carrier links. The access device converts data between an analog signal used on subscriber lines and a digital signal typically used by the PSTN so data can be transported over the network. This conversion involves operations such as sampling and digitizing voice-band signal from each of the subscriber lines and aggregating the digitized signals from the plurality of lines into a single signal for transporting, so the information can be transported more efficiently on the wide-band carrier links.
Primarily, telecommunication systems have been implemented using time-division multiplexing (TDM) as the carrier technology of choice. TDM technology divides the available bandwidth into timeslots and assigns a predefined timeslot to each subscriber line. The subscriber line transmits its data to the network during its assigned timeslot. As such, existing access devices normally provide a TDM interface to the network in the form of T1 or T3 carrier links. However, as the amount of data traffic travelling over public packet networks outgrows voice traffic, new access devices have become available which provide connectivity to next-generation packet networks, thereby enabling call services to be provided over a packet network.
However, although a trend is developing towards next-generation packet network to provide voice communication, there are still many legacy systems that are reluctant to make such a switch. This reluctance is because packet network access devices are designed solely for packet network access. Thus, this limitation has left service providers with an obligation to keep and maintain legacy access equipment in parallel with next-generation access equipment, and follow a costly and inefficient migration path that requires physically moving subscriber lines from the legacy equipment to the packet-network access device. This difficulty discourages service providers from adopting next-generation packet networks, thereby delaying the introduction of new call services that a packet-based infrastructure would make possible.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages.

System supporting the dynamic migration of telecommunication subscribers between call services providers