A digital cordless telephone combines speakerphone control information together with voice data information in each of a plurality of data packets transmitted between the remote handset and the base unit while the remote handset is operating in a speakerphone mode. To allow half-duplex speakerphone functionality in the digital remote handset, the speakerphone control information includes break-in information relating to a break in by the user of the remote handset into an ongoing conversation. To allow full-duplex, echo cancellation mode operation of the speakerphone functionality at the digital remote handset, the speakerphone control information includes coordinating information relating to an amount of echo cancellation performed by the base unit and by the remote handset. In the disclosed embodiment, the speakerphone control information further includes switching and signal level information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cordless telephones. More particularly, the present invention relates to the inclusion of speakerphone features in the remote handset of a digital cordless telephone.
2. Background of Related Art
Typical cordless telephones contain a base unit connected to a telephone line, and a portable unit or remote handset. The base unit and remote handset are coupled via a frequency modulated radio frequency (RF) link. The RF link either transmits the voice signals between the base unit and the remote handset using analog techniques (e.g., frequency modulation (FM), or using digital techniques (e.g., quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or frequency shift keying (FSK), etc.).
A speakerphone allows hands-free communication over a telephone line. A speakerphone typically includes a receiving element (e.g., a microphone) to detect voice and other sounds, and a transmitting element (e.g., a loudspeaker) to audibly broadcast sound signals.
As is well known, the placement of a microphone close to a speaker in a closed audio loop can cause annoying feedback, e.g., in the form of whining and wailing noises output from the speaker. To avoid feedback problems, speakerphones typically operate either in half-duplex mode, or in an echo-canceling mode.
In half-duplex mode, a conversation between two parties is carried in one direction at a time, essentially requiring the connected parties to take turns speaking. For example, when one party is transmitting, they cannot at the same time receive voice signals from the other party, and vice versa.
In echo canceling mode, a conversation is carried in both the transmitting and receiving directions simultaneously. Echo cancelers suppress portions of the voice signal that would normally cause feedback.
Speakerphones have been adequately implemented in the remote handset of analog cordless telephones. The short delay caused in the transmission of analog voice signals between the base unit and the corresponding remote handset prove negligible for use either in a half-duplex mode or in an echo canceling mode. In an analog implementation, the entire algorithm is implemented in the base unit, and the speaker and microphone in the remote unit are used to implement a speakerphone in the remote handset instead of the speaker and microphone in the base unit, passing the audio over the RF link, causing an insubstantial delay. However, an implementation of a speakerphone in the remote handset of a digital cordless telephone would face challenges not faced with analog telephone cordless telephones.
For instance, in a half-duplex mode digital speakerphone, the significant round trip delay in the digital communication link between the base unit and the remote handset would cause short bursts of what would appear to be echo at the receiving end due to packets already in the pipeline. A significant portion of these delays is typically caused by the time required to packetize and otherwise format the speech data, and/or by the delays inherent in a low bit rate encoding/decoding device (e.g., a code-excited linear predictive (CELP) device). The round-trip delays in a digital cordless telephone between the base unit and the remote handset are often in the range of 15 to 30 milliseconds or more.
For instance, suppose a speakerphone is implemented in the portable handset of a digital cordless telephone. In a receive mode, a receive signal is output through the speaker of the portable handset. If a transmit break-in occurs wherein the user of the portable handset is given use of the communication link to transmit to the base unit, the transmit and receive signals are mixed at the portable handset for a period of time based on the delay (e.g., 15-30 milliseconds) due to acoustic coupling at the portable handset. This signal mix is sent to the base unit where a switching decision is made. Until this switching decision is made, the received signal will be present at the portable handset. Because of the round trip delay, a few packets transmitted to the far end will contain the receive signal mixed in, which will be perceived at the far end as a short initial burst off echo.
Similarly, in echo canceling mode speakerphones the aforementioned delays must be addressed by the echo canceling algorithms used, also requiring significant memory and processing resources.
There is thus a need for a digital cordless telephone implementing a speakerphone in its portable handset which does not exhibit the disadvantages expected from the implementation of conventional speakerphone techniques in a digital cordless telephone.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a digital packet transmitted between a base unit and a remote handset of a digital cordless telephone comprises speakerphone control information adapted to allow speakerphone functionality in the remote handset, and voice data information relating to a telephonic conversation.
A digital cordless telephone in accordance with another aspect of the present invention comprises a base unit comprising a controller, an RF transmitter, and an RF receiver. A remote handset comprises a controller, a speakerphone including a microphone and a speaker, an RF transmitter, and an RF receiver. A digital communication link is coupled between the base unit and the remote handset. The digital communication link is adapted to digitally transmit information packets between the base unit and the remote handset in a half-duplex mode. The information packets comprise voice data and control information, the control information comprising break-in indicia indicating an occurrence of a break-in communication emanating from the microphone of the remote handset or a line-in signal from the base unit.
A digital cordless telephone in accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention comprises a base unit comprising a controller, an RF transmitter, and an RF receiver. A remote handset comprises a controller, a speakerphone including a microphone and a speaker, an RF transmitter, and an RF receiver. A digital communication link is coupled between the base unit and the remote handset. The digital communication link is adapted to digitally transmit information packets between the base unit and the remote handset in a full-duplex echo cancellation mode. The information packets comprise voice data and control information. The control information comprises echo cancellation information indicating an amount of echo cancellation performed by a transmitting one of the base unit and the remote handset.
A method of implementing a speakerphone function in a cordless telephone system in accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention comprises providing a base unit comprising a controller, an RF transmitter, and an RF receiver. A remote handset is provided comprising a controller, a speakerphone including a microphone and a speaker, an RF transmitter, and an RF receiver. A digital communication link is coupled between the base unit and the remote handset. The digital communication link is adapted to digitally transmit information packets between the base unit and the remote handset relating to a speakerphone functionality in the remote handset. Voice data and control information are inserted in the information packets. The control information comprises break-in indicia indicating an occurrence of a break-in communication emanating from the microphone of the remote handset.
A method of transmitting data packets between a base unit and a remote handset of a digital cordless telephone while the remote handset is in a speakerphone mode, in accordance with another aspect of the present invention comprises packetizing voice information relating to a conversation on the digital cordless telephone into a plurality of data packets, and inserting speakerphone control information into each of the plurality of data packets.

Digital cordless telephone with speakerphone in a remote handset


A method and system for use in wafer fabrication systems. The method and system identify wafer fabrication system impacts resulting from specified actions by specifying at least one action related to at least one integral part associated with the wafer fabrication system, and generating a presentation of at least one impact upon at least one integral part associated with the wafer fabrication system arising from the at least one action related to the at least one integral part associated with the wafer fabrication system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to wafer fabrication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The production of semiconductor devices consists of many layers of chemical compounds applied to or removed from a silicon base. The base is a disk known as a xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d. Depending on wafer size and chip complexity, each wafer can contain 25 to several hundred separate identical chips.
Using photolithography, the pattern of electrical circuits for a given layer is captured on the wafer. The image is developed, and the wafer moves to another process, either adding or modifying a layer, or etching it out in the pattern of the lithographic image. This process is repeated many many times in many layers to get a full 3-D electronic circuit. The dimensions of these circuits are incredibly tiny. Present technology is in the range of 0.25 micron line width or feature size.
Wafer fabrication systems are utilized to manufacture semiconductor devices. A wafer fabrication system can be conceived of as being composed of production equipment and utility systems. Production equipment can be conceived of as being composed of functional units known in the art as xe2x80x9cproduction tools.xe2x80x9d Utility systems can be conceived of as being composed of functional units known in the art as xe2x80x9citems of utility system equipment.xe2x80x9d
Prior to the initial installation of a wafer fabrication system, the production equipment and utility systems are individually designed and integrated together using top down engineering design techniques in order to yield the wafer fabrication system. Each individual production equipment and utility system design, as well as the overall wafer fabrication system design, is typically recorded in its own equipment layout plan drawing.
Subsequent to the initial installation of a wafer fabrication system, it is common within the industry to take a xe2x80x9cmodularxe2x80x9d approach to the production equipment and utility systems making up the wafer fabrication system. That is, the constituent parts of the production equipment and the utility systems are treated as functional members that can be independently added, modified, replaced, relocated, removed, or upgraded with only concern for impacts local to the modification, replacement, relocation, removal, or upgrade.
With respect to the manufacture of semiconductor devices, there are hundreds of different production tools utilized to apply or remove or condition the various layers within the semiconductor device. Additionally, there are dozens of different chemicals required to produce the desired effects. The different chemicals require separate distribution, or utility, systems to deliver them.
Use of the modular approach to production equipment and utility systems allows the piecemeal addition, modification, replacement, relocation, removal, and/or upgrading of production tools making up the production equipment and items of utility equipment making up the utility systems as new process steps become necessary, or when production tools are improved. In practice, there are many advantages to the modular approach. One advantage is that the modular approach is highly efficient and effectively allows an existing wafer fabrication system to continuously evolve over time in order to meet expanding demand and changing manufacturing procedures. In a sense, a wafer fabrication system resulting from the modular approach is the best system possible in that it is uniquely adapted to the needs at hand, a fact which arises from its evolutionary growth in response to a changing environment of present and future needs.
One significant disadvantage to a wafer fabrication system utilizing the modular approach is that its evolutionary growth pattern means that there is no overall conscious design, or plan, applicable to the wafer fabrication system which has been evolving for any significant length of time. In theory, this disadvantage could be overcome by maintaining extensive documentation about the wafer fabrication system as it evolved. In practice, this has not happened.
The semiconductor device manufacturing industry has been in the midst of sustained capacity expansion for years. To keep up with demand, companies have been installing and updating production equipment and items of utility system equipment on a need-driven basis. Consequently, many of today""s semiconductor device wafer fabrication systems consist of a bewildering array of production tools and items of utility system equipment assembled together in response to past needs. While such wafer fabrication systems do work exceptionally well, they give rise to significant difficulties from the standpoint of facilities engineers attempting to manage, maintain, or upgrade such wafer fabrication systems.
One such difficulty arises from the lack of documentation, and consequent lack of understanding, concerning the interrelationships of the production tools composing the production equipment. Another difficulty arises from the lack of documentation, and consequent lack understanding, concerning the interrelationships of the items of utility system equipment composing the utility systems. Yet another difficulty arises from lack of documentation, and consequent lack understanding, concerning the interrelationships of the various production tools and items of utility system equipment. This lack of documentation and understanding exists since existing wafer fabrication systems, composed of production equipment made up of various and sundry production tools and utility systems made up of various and sundry items of utility system equipment, are the result of sustained evolution, often over a period of several years, in response to needs that had to be satisfied immediately (e.g., either to avoid a shutdown of the facility or to quickly ramp up for production of a new product or quantity of product).
The result of the foregoing described process or real-time installation and modification is a highly evolved sprawl of well-functioning production equipment which is often partially undocumented (that is, because of the rapid modification without documentation, the original equipment layout plan drawings quickly become inaccurate representations of the production equipment and utility systems making up a wafer fabrication system). That is, since the production tools (and their supporting items of utility system equipment) had to be installed and/or modified virtually in real time, time for documenting such installations/modifications did not typically exist at the time of such installations/modifications. Furthermore, rapid growth in the industry has also typically meant that one real-time project has followed on the heels of a preceding real-time project. Consequently, often, time is not available to go back and document the changes in production tools and their supporting distribution systems which gave rise to existing production equipment. Thus, existing wafer fabrication systems are in the main vastly undocumented. This lack of documentation gives rise to a corresponding lack of information regarding the overall system functioning.
Incomplete documentation and overall wafer fabrication system understanding poses several grave difficulties to facilities engineers due to the overwhelming complexity of existing systems. The following example of an existing system will help to demonstrate a few of the difficulties arising from such complexity and lack of documentation.
At the NEC Electronics, Inc. semiconductor device manufacturing facility in Roseville, California, there are literally hundreds of production tools in place, which, as discussed above, collectively make up the production equipment. A great number of the relationships and interrelationships of the production tools in place are poorly documented or undocumented for the reasons set forth above. In addition, connected to the production tools in place are the following utilities, many of which have relationships and interrelationships that are likewise undocumented. Thirty-five (35) bulk liquid chemical supply or return systems. These chemical supply and return system carry various types of chemical ranging from IPA to MEK to HF to H2SO4 and many others. Four (4) different types of electrical power systems, all at various voltages. Five (5) different types of communication systems. Eleven (11) bulk gas systems. These bulk gas systems carry various types of chemical including Argon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen, compressed air, etc. Forty (40) bottled gas systems (serving only1-5 tools). These bottled gas systems include several types of gases such as freons, CO2, HBr, Nexe2x80x94Krxe2x80x94F, PH3, SF6, etc. Four (4) major process exhaust systems: acid exhaust, alkali exhaust, organic exhaust, powder exhaust. (Each has several scrubbers to release only cleaned air to the atmosphere.) Several (e.g., house and process) vacuum systems. Six (6) wastewater systems for different chemical mixtures. Five (5) water systems: Cooling supply and return, super high purity (deionized or DI) water, hot DI water, industrial water.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that each of the foregoing described utility systems contains utility system equipment such as mains, valves, panelboards, branches, plus all sorts of generation equipment, pumps, tanks, pressure reducing stations, etc. Those skilled in the art will further realize that the number of utilities serving the production equipment fluctuates constantly, as the mix of different tools evolves and changes. Those skilled in the art will yet further realize that it is common for as many as 20 of the foregoing described utility systems to come together at a single production tool, depending upon the necessary requirements (e.g., chemical, vacuum, power, and cooling requirements) of the production tool.
As noted above, the modular approach to wafer fabrication systems allows the addition, modification, replacement, relocation, removal, and/or upgrading of individual production tools and items of utility equipment. Unfortunately, the addition, modification, replacement, relocation, removal, and/or upgrading of such production tools and items of utility equipment is generally not just a simple matter of stopping the wafer fabrication system, plugging in the new production tool or item of utility equipment, and re-starting the system. Insofar as production tools are typically being served by a number of different utilities, and insofar as the production tools are themselves often serving as conduits for utilities to other production tools, the addition, modification, replacement, relocation, removal, and/or upgrading of production tools or items of utility system equipment often requires that the production tools and/or utilities surrounding the production tool(s) or item(s) to be replaced or modified be taken off line.
More often than not, the addition, modification, replacement, relocation, removal, and/or upgrading of production tools or items of utility system equipment requires extensive engineering modification of existing production tools and utility systems, such as retrofitting connections, adjusting power supplies, modifying software controls, etc. in order to make the added, modified, replaced, relocated, removed, and/or upgraded production tools or items of utility system equipment function effectively. This operation of xe2x80x9cintegratingxe2x80x9d a new production tool into existing production equipment is known in the art by the term xe2x80x9chook-upxe2x80x9d. Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are always unforeseen difficulties which arise during hook-up. These difficulties need to be overcome in order to for the new production tool or items of utility system equipment to function effectively. Overcoming these difficulties takes time, and can sometimes take a great deal of time.
Insofar as adding, modifying, replacing, relocating, removing, and/or upgrading production tools or items of utility system equipment can require that all or part of a wafer fabrication system be shut down, it is extremely important that the facility engineers deciding whether or not to deploy new production tools or items of utility system equipment be able to estimate the worst case scenarios in order to determine a plan of installation having substantially no effects on the wafer fabrication system operation. This means that they need to be able to estimate the effect on the wafer fabrication system of taking off-line the production tools or items of utility system equipment necessary to effect the change/modification. Unfortunately, assessing such worse case scenarios is not something easily done in the art due to the lack of documentation and understanding regarding the interrelationships of the production tools and their supporting utilities within the evolved existing wafer fabrication systems.
Since in the art there is typically no adequate description of the interrelationships within the evolved system, it is very difficult for facility engineers to anticipate the effects of proposed changes to production equipment or utility systems. That is, if the relationships are not well documented, it is very difficult to anticipate the effect of, say, shutting off a valve delivering sulfuric acid to a tool, especially if that valve serves several conduits or the tool itself serves several other tools. Since the interrelationships between components of the production equipment, the interrelationships between components of the utilities serving the production equipment, and the interrelationships between the components of the production equipment and the components of the utilities may not be generally well known or documented, shutting down parts of the system often has many unexpected effects. Those skilled in the art will recognize that this lack of knowledge is undesirable, and makes an already risky operation more risky.
In the absence of the present invention, the common approach to the foregoing noted difficulties is for each utility to be separately (which are usually outdated, for the reasons set forth above) documented on a large blueprint drawing (or drawings) of its own. To examine all the utilities at a given production tool, many drawings must be researched (typically at least one drawing per each utility).
Those skilled in the art will recognize that, for a proposed addition to or modification of a group of tools (such modifications tend to come in groups needed to support a certain product and defined quantity of the product), facilities construction engineers, utilizing the existing (and typically outmoded) blueprint drawings on a piecemeal basis, prepare a utility matrixxe2x80x94a listing of the utility demands for the entire group of production tools to be modified. Thereafter, the construction engineers evaluate the matrix to determine if utility service is adequate in the proposed locations, or whether system upgrades will be required. If system upgrades will be required, the type and cost of the upgrade are determined.
As product planners attempt to refine their production mix, several such proposed modifications occur throughout the year. Thus, from a planning standpoint the foregoing described procedure is very labor intensive and fraught with risk. Notwithstanding the foregoing, that risk becomes real and the dangers present when a design decision is made and the changes actually implemented.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that, even if the evolutionary nature of the system had been well documented, from a practicable standpoint it is extremely difficult to represent all the hook-up information related to installing or modifying production tool(s) as a drawing single. In most practical instances, there are just too many branch lines feeding any one production tool. With hundreds of tools and dozens of utilities interlinked, such a diagram would be a very convoluted web, virtually impossible to draw even if it could be understood.
Those skilled in the art will also recognize that even if the evolutionary nature of the production equipment and utility systems making up the wafer fabrication system had been well documented, from a practicable standpoint it is extremely difficult to represent wafer fabrication system-wide impacts related to installing or modifying production tool(s) and/or utility systems. The practical reasons for this is that most wafer fabrication systems maintain separate blueprint drawings for separate production tools and utility systems, which makes an overall wafer fabrication system assessment of likely impacts substantially impracticable.
It is therefore apparent that a need exists in the art for a method and system which can dynamically learn, coordinate, and present the massive amount of production tool and utility interconnect data from existing and evolving wafer fabrication systems, and present such learned information in such a fashion that the costs, benefits, and impacts of any proposed modifications of production equipment and/or utilities on parts of the wafer fabrication system can be adequately accessed.
A method and system have been invented which can dynamically learn, coordinate, and present the massive amount of production tool and utility interconnect data from existing and evolving wafer fabrication systems, and present such learned information in such a fashion that the costs, benefits, and impacts of any proposed modifications of production equipment and/or utilities on parts of the wafer fabrication system can be adequately accessed. The method and system identify wafer fabrication system impacts resulting from specified actions by specifying at least one action related to at least one integral part associated with the wafer fabrication system, and generating a presentation of at least one impact upon at least one integral part associated with the wafer fabrication system arising from the at least one action related to the at least one integral part associated with the wafer fabrication system.
The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth below.

Identifying wafer fabrication system impacts resulting from specified actions


A vehicle instrument configured so that turning on and off the light sources without depending on inputted vehicle information enables the instrument to be illuminated in a visually effective manner. The instrument is provided with: input circuits into which vehicle information is inputted as electric signals and which are provided with resistors connected to light sources relating to the vehicle information; electric-potential adjustment circuits for adjusting the electric potentials of lines of wiring between the input circuits and the light sources on the basis of control signals from a controller and eliminating influence on the light sources from the vehicle information; and light source control circuits which, when influence on the light sources is eliminated by the electric-potential adjustment circuits, operate and visualize turning on and off of the light sources on basis of the control signals from the controller.

For example, as an instrument for a vehicle that displays various information regarding a vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as vehicle information), such as vehicle speed, engine revolutions per minute, water temperature and hydraulic pressure, an instrument for a vehicle is known which has a pointer display type instrument that displays a measure and which shows the vehicle information by rotating a pointer installed in a driving body on a display board, and there is a combination meter whose case body contains a speedometer or a tachometer and a fuel gauge.
The instrument for a vehicle requires a novel design, and it is known that the instrument for a vehicle performs a directing operation (non-display operation) different from a display of the vehicle information, according to a manipulation of an ignition switch (power supply switch) of the vehicle. For example, in the directing operation, the pointer performs an operation to return to a zero point position after the pointer is rotated from the zero point position to a highest scale position along a display board scale, or dedicated illumination sources are included respectively in the pointer and a dial, and the illumination sources are lighted up in different lighting time with each other according to a switching ON state of the IGN switch. Such an instrument for a vehicle is disclosed in PTL 1, for example.


In an ear tip and a method of manufacturing the same, the ear tip includes a sound transfer part including a hollow shaft and an external sheet and an acoustic absorbent making contact with the external sheet and the hollow shaft. The hollow shaft has a cylindrical shape of which a circumferential surface is flat and provides a sound conduit for transferring audio signals. The external sheet is extended from an end portion of the hollow shaft in such a way that the hollow shaft is enclosed with the external sheet and a gap space is provided between the external sheet and the hollow shaft. The acoustic absorbent is positioned in the gap space and has a plurality of pores, thereby absorbing surrounding noises and preventing the surrounding noises from transferring into user's ear.

1. Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to an ear tip and method of manufacturing the ear tip and an ear phone including the same, and more particularly, to an ear tip having silicone foam and a method of manufacturing the same, and an ear phone including the ear tip having the silicone foam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various headphones have been used for listening audio signals in a single mode or for listening high quality of the audio signals. Particularly, as mobile devices such as a smart phone and a tablet PC have been widely used in a recent time, there have been plenty of chances and needs for individually listening the audio signals such as many pieces of music and lecture files without any external noises and disturbances from surroundings. For those reasons, high sealed and fidelity headphones are now in great demand.
Conventional ear phones includes a body for converting electrical signals to sounds or the audio signals and an ear tip detachably coupled to the body and making contact with an ear skin of the users. The body usually comprises hard materials such as hard polymer and metal and includes some grooves and stepped portions at an end portion for reinforcing the coupling between the body and the ear tip.
The ear tip usually includes a sound conduit coupled to the groove and the stepped portion of the body and transferring the sound into the user's ear there through and a external sheet extending from an end portion of the sound conduit and surrounding the sound conduit in such a configuration that the external sheet makes close contact with the skin of an auditory canal of the user's ear and the user's ear hole is covered with the external sheet. Thus, an internal ear and an external ear are separated from each other in the user's ear and the environmental noises are usually prevented from being transferred into the internal ear from surroundings. Since the external sheet makes direct contact with the user's skin in the ear, the external sheet usually plays a key role for comfortable and natural usage and high degree of noise-proofing of the ear phone. Particularly, urethane foam is usually provided in a gap space between the sound conduit and the external sheet of the conventional ear tip so as to protect the environmental noises.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional ear tip having urethane foam and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the urethane foam of the ear tip shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a conventional ear tip 10 having an acoustic absorbent 3 is usually manufactured by inserting urethane foam into the gap space of the ear tip and the urethane foam is formed by an additional process irrespective of the process for manufacturing a naked ear tip having no urethane foam. A foam body comprising urethane may be provided through a foaming process and the foam body is cut into a plurality of cylindrical acoustic absorbent pieces 31 by a cutting process and a piece process. Then, a central hole is provided at a central portion of the acoustic absorbent piece 31 and a form tube 32 is secured into the central hole, to thereby form the acoustic absorbent 3. The external sheet 1 of the naked ear tip is turned over and the sound conduit 2 is exposed and then the sound conduit 2 is inserted into the form tube 32 of the acoustic absorbent 3. Thereafter, the external sheet 1 is restored to cover the acoustic absorbent 3 to thereby form the conventional ear tip 10.
However, since the external sheet 1 comprises silicone (Si) and the acoustic absorbent 3 comprises urethane, the external sheet 1 is not sufficiently adhered to the acoustic absorbent 3 and thus the acoustic absorbent 3 is frequently separated from the external sheet 1. For that reason, a protrusion or a stepped portion, which is frequently protruded from the sound conduit 2 toward the external sheet 1 in the gap space between the sound conduit 2 and the external sheet 1, is additionally provided at an end portion of the sound conduit 2 so as to prevent the separation of the external sheet 1 and the acoustic absorbent 3. In addition, the urethane foam has insufficient flexibility and thus is much more irritating to the user's ear than flexible foam. Further, the foaming process and cutting process for the acoustic absorbent piece are usually performed to every individual absorbent piece, which causes reduce the process efficiency of the ear tip and increase the manufacturing cost of the ear tip.
Accordingly, there is still a need for an improved ear tip and a method of manufacturing the ear tip by which the surrounding noises are sufficiently shut off without any feelings of irritations to the user's ear.

Ear tip and method of manufacturing the same and ear phone including the same


Devices, systems, and processes for facilitating seamless use of tuners across multiple devices within a LAN are described and may include use of a first user device, communicatively coupled to the LAN, that includes a first hardware processor configured to execute first, non-transient, computer instructions for facilitating a first seamless tuner engine configured to identify at least one first tuner. A second user device, communicatively coupled to the LAN, may include a second hardware processor configured to execute second, non-transient, computer instructions for facilitating a second seamless tuner configured to identify at least one second tuner. At least one of, if not each, of seamless tuner engines may be configured to generate a universal tuner directory identifying availability of each the tuners. The universal tuner directory may be populated and tuners allocated based upon an emergency broadcast, auto-tune, PPV, original content, re-run, or Joey request type.

Today, users commonly use content receiving devices, such as cable set top boxes, satellite set top boxes, streaming devices, such as those provided by ROKU, AMAZON, and others, and other devices to receive various forms of content. Herein and for purposes of efficient description only, such receiving devices are identified as each being an "STB". STBs may receive various forms of content, including analog content and/or digitally encoded content. Such content may include video programs, television shows, movies, video clips, and the like, audio programs, and other forms of content. Often multiple users are associated together, such as members of a family, or other localized group of individuals. Such associations of user are each referred to herein as being within a "household." Users in such households often desire to receive, often at a same time, given instances of content, such as a specific episode of a television show, a movie, or other content; such specific instances of content each being identifiable herein by a "title."
Yet and despite the association of two or more users in a household, each user of a household commonly is required, with respect to their STB(s), to receive and process separate instance of a given title using those resources provided by their STB. For example, a first user in a given household desiring to receive an instance of a show is commonly required to dedicate one or more resources in their STB to the reception, demodulation, decrypting, and otherwise processing of that content. If one or more of such resources are not then available, access to the content may not be achievable. Such resources are commonly identified herein as each being, separately and/or in combination, a "tuner," however, it is to be appreciated that such resources may be separately identifiable and/or useful to a given STB. Accordingly, as used herein a "tuner" refers to a hardware, software and/or combination of hardware and software resource that is provided within and/or accessible by a given user with respect to a given one or more STBs. A "tuner" resource may be accessible using an Internet or other server, or otherwise.
It is to be appreciated, however, that such tuners are often not available to a given user to receive a desired show, at a given time. This scenario may arise even when multiple tuners are located within a household, and each of such tuners are not, at that given time, in use. To overcome such constraints, content providers, such as cable and satellite TV companies, often provide additional tuners in a given STB. Some STBs include over a dozen tuners, such as the DISH Network HOPPER 3 STB, which includes 16 separate tuners. Thus, often multiple tuners are provided, such tuners are not commonly used at the same time, and undue waste and expense occurs. Accordingly, devices, systems, and methods for addressing these and other concerns are needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Devices, systems and processes for facilitating seamless use of tuners across multiple devices within a local area network


The present disclosure relates to an electronic control unit for a motor vehicle, having a first electronic control device, in particular a first equipped circuit board. The electronic control unit additionally has a gas cooling duct for conducting a compressed gas. The gas cooling duct is connected in a thermally conductive fashion to the first electronic control device, and is designed to separate the compressed gas from the first electronic control device. The gas cooling duct has an expansion section in which a flow cross section of the gas cooling duct widens in order to expand and cool the compressed gas in order to cool the first electronic control device.

The present disclosure relates to an electronic control unit, to a motor vehicle having an electronic control unit and to a method for cooling an electronic control unit.
Power components such as, for example, graphic processors, of electronic control units can become very hot during operation. In addition, electronic control units in a motor vehicle can to a certain extent be subjected to very high temperatures if they are arranged, for example, close to a gearbox or an internal combustion engine. In order to prevent failure of the electronic control unit owing to overheating and to lengthen a service life, the control unit can be cooled.
The cooling can be carried out, for example, passively by means of convection or assisted by means of fans. In order to output heat to the surroundings, control units must have large surfaces. Heat can be output here only to a small extent as a function of the ambient temperature. In addition, ram air which forms can further reduce the output of heat.
DE 195 17 491 A1 discloses a cooling system for a gearbox control apparatus of a motor vehicle. An electronic control device of the control apparatus is forcibly cooled by targeted feeding of a control fluid to the electronic control device or through the electronic a control device. The control fluid can be driven by feed means through a cooling plate on which the electronic control device is arranged with optimum thermal conductivity. The control fluid can be air or hydraulic oil.
DE 20 2005 009 039 U1 discloses an electronic control unit for a motor vehicle, in particular for a gearbox controller. The electronic control unit has a printed circuit board which is arranged in a housing and carries electronic components. An electronic heat protection barrier is arranged between the printed circuit board and the housing. Compressed air can be conducted in a meandering cooling coil of a cooling element of the electronic control unit.

Cooling device for electronic control unit


A TFC selection apparatus includes: a SIR calculation unit calculating SIR by using a CPICH symbol of receive data; a conversion unit obtaining STFC(m) which contains m pieces of TFC corresponding to the calculated SIR; a total transmit power calculation unit selecting TFC corresponding to the obtained STFC(m) from a TFCS which is a set of TFCs sequenced in proportion to a magnitude of total transmit power, and calculating total transmit power of TFC included in the TFCS in order indicated by a search direction signal, beginning with the selected TFC as a starting point; and a TFC selection unit generating the search direction signal based on the calculated total transmit power of the TFC as the starting point, and selecting an optimum TFC to be applied to transmit data from the TFCS, wherein the TFC selection unit selects TFC as the optimum TFC corresponding to total transmit power which indicates less than or equal to as well as approximate to a maximum value allowed for the transmit data.

According to Wideband Code Division Multiplex Access (W-CDMA), which is a mobile telecommunications interface specified by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) that is one of the International Standards Groups, upstream channels such as a DCH (Dedicated Channel) and an E-DCH (Enhanced DCH) are defined. A plurality of data series transmitted while being carried on one of these channels is present (data series 1, 2, . . . and N). Data pieces at appropriate data lengths are clipped from the data series, respectively and the clipped data pieces are combined, thereby forming transmit data. A combination of the lengths of the data pieces clipped from the respective data series is referred to as "TFC".
Several tens to several hundreds of TFCs are present. A set of TFCs that are possibly present is referred to as TFCS (Transport Format Combination Set). FIG. 7 shows examples of the TFCS and TFC. "TABLE" shown in FIG. 7 is an example, of the TFC for which the number N of columns of data series is 2 (N=2) (data series-1 and -2) and the number of TFCs is 9 (TFC(1)-(9)).
Generally, higher total transmit power is required for mobile communication as transmit data is larger in size. Conversely, lower total transmit power is required for mobile communication as transmit data is smaller in size. Thus, the total transmission power differs among the TFCs.
Meanwhile, transmission process in the DCH or E-DCH is implemented according to a procedure 300 shown in FIG. 5. First, a TFC decision unit 301 decides a TFC which can be transmitted with a total transmit power that does not exceed a maximum value of allowable transmit power. A transmit data creation unit 302 clips data pieces from data series 1, 2, . . . and N, respectively, and combines the clipped data pieces based on each of the TFC decided by the TFC decision unit 301, thereby creating transmit data. A transmit data process unit 303 implements error correcting coding and interleaving on the created transmit data. Finally, a frequency conversion unit 304 modulates the transmit data processed by the transmit data process unit 303 and outputs the modulated transmit data as a carrier.
In a series of the foregoing units, the TFC decision unit 301 includes functions shown in FIG. 6. A total transmit power calculation unit 401 calculates total transmit powers of each TFC in a TFCS. A TFC selection unit 402 selects a TFC having a highest total transmit power from among the TFCs the total transmit powers of which do not exceed the maximum value of allowable transmit power.
As to selection of a TFC, there is known a technique as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-304195. This document discloses a TFC selection method for a mobile terminal device selecting a TFC that specifies a combination of transmit data lengths at predetermined time intervals in each transport channel, multiplexing transmit data on respective transport channels based on the selected TFC and transmitting the multiplexed transmit data.

TFC selection apparatus in mobile communication system and TFC selection method


Provided are a semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor package comprises a substrate, a semiconductor chip on the substrate, an interconnect substrate spaced apart from the semiconductor chip on the substrate and including a conductive member therein, a solder ball on the interconnect substrate and electrically connected to the conductive member, a polymer layer on the interconnect substrate and the semiconductor chip and including an opening through which the solder ball is exposed, and polymer particles in the solder ball and including the same material as the polymer layer.

The disclosed concepts relate to a semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to a solder ball of a semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing the same.
A semiconductor package is provided to implement an integrated circuit chip to be suitable for use in an electronic appliance. Typically, in a semiconductor package, a semiconductor chip is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) and bonding wires or bumps are used to electrically connect the semiconductor chip to the printed circuit board. With the development of the electronic industry, electronic products have increasingly demanded high performance, high speed, and compact size. In order to cope with this trend, there have been developed numerous stacking methods such as a plurality of semiconductor chips being stacked on a single substrate or a package being stacked on another package.

Semiconductor packages and methods of manufacturing the same

Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do


Systems and methods for implementing counters in a network processor with cost effective memory are disclosed. Embodiments include systems and methods for implementing counters in a network processor using less expensive memory such as DRAM. A network processor receives packets and implements accounting functions including counting packets in each of a plurality of flow queues. Embodiments include a counter controller that may increment counter values more than once during a R-M-W cycle. Each time a counter controller receives a request to update a counter during a R-M-W cycle that has been initiated for the counter, the counter controller increments the counter value received from memory. The incremented value is written to memory during the write cycle of the R-M-W cycle. A write disable unit disables writes that would otherwise occur during R-M-W cycles initiated for the counter during the earlier initiated R-M-W cycle.

Many different types of computing systems have attained widespread use around the world. These computing systems include personal computers, servers, mainframes and a wide variety of stand-alone and embedded computing devices. Sprawling client-server systems exist, with applications and information spread across many PC networks, mainframes and minicomputers. In a distributed system connected by networks, a user may access many application programs, databases, network systems, operating systems and mainframe applications. Computers provide individuals and businesses with a host of software applications including word processing, spreadsheet, accounting, e-mail, voice over Internet protocol telecommunications, and facsimile.
In today's networked world, bandwidth is a critical resource. Very high network traffic, driven by the Internet and other emerging applications, is straining the capacity of network infrastructures. To keep pace, organizations are looking for better ways to support and manage traffic growth and the convergence of voice with data. Today's dramatic increase in network traffic can be attributed to the popularity of the Internet, a growing need for remote access to information, and emerging applications. The Internet alone, with its explosive growth in e-commerce, has placed a sometimes insupportable load on network backbones. The growing demands of remote access applications, including e-mail, database access, and file transfer, are further straining networks.
Eliminating network bottlenecks continues to be a top priority for service providers. Routers are often the source of these bottlenecks. However, network congestion in general is often misdiagnosed as a bandwidth problem and is addressed by seeking higher-bandwidth solutions. Today, manufacturers are recognizing this difficulty. They are turning to network processor technologies to manage bandwidth resources more efficiently and to provide the advanced data services, at wire speed, that are commonly found in routers and network application servers. These services include load balancing, QoS, gateways, fire walls, security, and web caching.
A Network Processor (NP) may be defined as a programmable communications integrated circuit capable of performing one or more of the following functions:                Packet classification—identifying a packet based on known characteristics, such as address or protocol        Packet modification—modifying the packet to comply with IP, ATM, or other protocols (for example, updating the time-to-live field in the header for IP)        Queue/policy management—reflects the design strategy for packet queuing, de-queuing, and scheduling of packets for specific applications        Packet forwarding—transmission and receipt of data over the switch fabric and forwarding or routing the packet to the appropriate address
Although this definition accurately describes the basic features of early NPs, the full potential capabilities and benefits of NPs are yet to be realized. Network processors can increase bandwidth and solve latency problems in a broad range of applications by allowing networking tasks previously handled in software to be executed in hardware. In addition, NPs can provide speed improvements through certain architectures, such as parallel distributed processing and pipeline processing designs. These capabilities can enable efficient search engines, increase throughput, and provide rapid execution of complex tasks.
Network processors are expected to become the fundamental network building block for networks in the same fashion that CPUs are for PCs. Typical capabilities offered by an NP are real-time processing, security, store and forward, switch fabric, and IP packet handling and learning capabilities. The processor-model NP incorporates multiple general purpose processors and specialized logic. Suppliers are turning to this design to provide scalable, flexible solutions that can accommodate change in a timely and cost-effective fashion. A processor-model NP allows distributed processing at lower levels of integration, providing higher throughput, flexibility and control. Programmability can enable easy migration to new protocols and technologies, without requiring new ASIC designs.
A network processor comprises circuitry to perform accounting functions, usually by implementing an accounting module in a data flow unit within the network processor. The accounting module counts packets for a very large number of flow queues. To perform a count, the network processor reads a current counter value corresponding to a flow queue from a memory location associated with the counter. The network processor increments the current counter value by one to produce a new counter value. The network processor then stores the new counter value back into the memory location that holds the current counter value. Because a very large number of packets are counted for a very large number of flows, a large amount of memory is required to store the counter values.
Because a large amount of memory is required, implementation of counters with relatively inexpensive memory is desirable. More particularly, because DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) is inexpensive relative to the cost of higher speed memory such as SRAM (Static RAM), implementation of counter memories in DRAM is desirable. However, long latency memory such as DRAM produces an obstacle to counting packets at the packet reception rate of the network processor. The Read-Modify-Write cycle for long latency memory may be longer than the counter update rate. Thus, methods and systems for implementing counters in a network processor using cost effective, relatively long latency memory are needed.

International Business Machines Corporation


Aspects of the disclosure are directed to clock management. In accordance with one aspect, a clock management apparatus for built-in self-test (BIST) circuitry includes a plurality of local clock controllers; a plurality of clock generators coupled to the plurality of local clock controllers; a master clock controller coupled to the plurality of clock generators; an X-tolerant logical built-in self test (XLBIST) circuit coupled to the master clock controller; and a test access port (TAP) coupled to the XLBIST circuit.

Integrated circuits (ICs) include logic cells to perform various logical operations and memory cells to store data and instructions. Current integrated circuits have a very high quantity of logic cells and memory cells on a single monolithic structure. Because of this complexity, many ICs incorporate internal built-in self-test (BIST) circuitry to diagnose circuit faults or failures. For logic cells, logical built-in self-test (LBIST) circuitry is used to test logic cells. However, often the details of the logic cells are unknown (known as x-logic) so that it is difficult to perform robust clock management for the LBIST circuitry. As a result, a conservative clock management approach may be used to avoid possible timing problems in the LBIST circuitry where only one on-chip clock controller (OCC) is active during each capture window. However, this approach is often inefficient since substantial timing overhead is needed to activate each OCC sequentially. There is a need for more efficient clock management for LBIST circuitry.

On-chip clock controller (OCC) manager based turbo capture clocking


A lidded container includes a container having an open top defined by an annular rim; a lid having a central section and an outer rim attachable to the rim of the container; and an annular gasket between the rim and the lid. The annular rim of the lid includes an annular clamping section defined by spaced inner and outer walls for receiving the rim of the container in the space between the walls. The annular clamping section of the lid is integrally joined to the central section of the lid by an annular, elastically deformable juncture section effective to increase (a) the clamping action of the lid clamping section, and (b) the sealing action of the gasket, with an increase in pressure within the container.

The present invention relates to lidded containers capable of withstanding an internal pressure. The invention is particularly useful for plastic lidded containers, and is therefore described below with respect to this application.
Containers closed by lids are commonly used in storing and shipping goods, particularly goods in the form of flowable materials, such as liquids, pellets, pastes, powders and the like. Where the container may be subjected to an internal pressure, it is necessary to make the container, and particularly the attachment of the lid to the container, sufficiently strong to withstand such internal pressures. This is particularly problematic with respect to containers made of plastic materials (as distinguished from metal or glass), since plastic generally is more deformable under pressure. Plastic containers are highly susceptible to deformation under pressure, particularly at the attachment of the lid to the container rim, which may result in leakage because of loosening of the lid. Therefore lidded containers, and particularly the area of attachment of the lid to the container, must be made of sufficient thickness to withstand such internal pressure. As a result, the lidded containers are relatively costly to produce because of the added material needed, are relatively costly to transport because of the increased weight, and are environmentally unfriendly because of the relatively large amount of plastic material to be disposed of.

Lidded container capable of withstanding an internal pressure


Embodiments of the invention include apparatuses and methods relating to three dimensional transistors having high-k dielectrics and metal gates with fins protected by a hard mask layer on their top surface. In one embodiment, the hard mask layer includes an oxide.

In microelectronics products, transistors and other devices are typically fabricated and interconnected to form an integrated circuit. The performance of the integrated circuit is often directly related to the performance of the fabricated transistors. In some proposed processes, the transistors are three dimensional transistors having fins with two (dual or double gate transistors) or three (tri-gate transistors) channel surfaces in contact with the gate structure. Three dimensional transistors can be contrasted with planar transistors, which have one channel surface in contact with the gate structure. Due to the greater surface area of contact between the channel region and the gate structure, three dimensional transistors offer the potential for performance advantages over planar transistors.
Further, processing of transistors (three dimensional or planar) has traditionally involved the use of monocrystalline silicon for the channel material, silicon dioxide for the gate dielectric, and polysilicon for the gate electrode. However, the continued scaling to smaller and smaller transistors, along with a desire for increased performance, has driven the transition to high-k gate dielectrics (those having a dielectric constant, k, greater than that of silicon dioxide, i.e., greater than about 4), which offer greater capacitance and less leakage. The move to high-k gate dielectrics has also enabled new gate electrode materials, such as metal gate electrodes, to provide advantageous work function materials in the gate electrode.
In some processes, fabricating a three dimensional transistor includes forming a dielectric layer and an electrode layer over the transistor fin. The dielectric and electrode layers are then patterned and etched to expose portions of the fin. In such processes, etching the fins has numerous difficulties. For example, it may be difficult to remove all of the materials from the sidewalls of the fins, particularly with high-k dielectrics and metal electrodes. In some instances, etching the dielectric and electrode layers to expose the sidewalls of the fins can erode the fin causing non-operative devices and low yields.

Protection of three dimensional transistor structures during gate stack etch


Disclosed herein are compounds represented by Structural Formula (I) and (I-A):

CRTH2 is a G protein-coupled chemoattractant receptor expressed on Th2 cells (Nagata et al., J. Immunol., 1999, 162, 1278-1286), eosinophils, and basophils (Hirai et al., J. Exp. Med., 2001, 193, 255-261). Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) is a natural ligand for CRTH2, and is the major inflammatory mediator produced from mast cells. It has been shown that activation of CRTH2 by PGD2 induces migration and activation of Th2 cells (Hirai et al., J. Exp. Med. 2001, 193, 255-261; Gervais et al., J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2001, 108, 982-988) which in turn are involved in the orchestration of an allergic inflammatory response by directly or indirectly inducing migration, activation, priming and prolonged survival of effector cells, such as eosinophils and basophils (Sanz et al., J. Immunol. 1998, 160, 5637-5645; Pope et al., J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2001, 108, 594-601; Teran L. M., Clin. Exp. Allergy 1999, 29, 287-290). The role of PGD2 in the initiation and maintenance of allergic inflammation has also been demonstrated in mouse models of asthma by showing that overproduction of PGD2 in vivo by PGD2 synthase exacerbates airway inflammation (Fujitani et al., J. Immunol. 2002, 168, 443-449).
Accordingly, compounds which are modulators, preferably inhibitors, of the interaction between CRTH2 and PGD2 should be useful for the treatment of diseases and disorders that are mediated by CRTH2, PGD2, Th2 cells, eosinophils, and/or basophils. These diseases include but are not limited to allergic disorders, asthmatic disorders, and inflammatory disorders such as allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, bronchoconstriction, atopic dermatitis and systemic inflammatory disorders.

PGD2 receptor antagonists for the treatment of inflammatory diseases

Abstract: Also disclosed is the use of such compounds for inhibiting the G-protein coupled receptor referred to as chemoattractant receptor-homologous molecule expressed on Th2, or simply “CRTH2” for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. The variables in Structural Formula (I) and (I-A) are defined herein.


The invention discloses a direct interaction between D-type cyclins and a novel myb-like transcription factor, DMP1, which specifically interacts with cyclin D2. The present invention also provides evidence that D-type cyclins regulate gene expression in an RB-independent manner. Also included is DMP1, the transcription factor composed of a central DNA-binding domain containing three atypical myb repeats flanked by highly acidic segments located at its amino- and carboxyterminal ends. The invention includes amino acid sequences coding for DMP1, and DNA and RNA nucleotide sequences that encode the amino acid sequences. A use of DMP1 as a transcription factor is disclosed due to its specificity in binding to oligonucleotides containing the nonamer consensus sequence CCCG(G/T)ATGT. In this aspect of the invention, DMP1 when transfected into mammalian cells, activates the transcription of a reporter gene driven by a minimal promoter containing concatamerized DMP1 binding sites.

The cell cycle for growing cells can be divided into two periods: (1) the cell division period, when the cell divides and separates, with each daughter cell receiving identical copies of the DNA; and (2) the period of growth, known as the interphase period. For the cell cycle of eucaryotes, the cell division period is labeled the M (mitotic) period. The interphase period in eucaryotes is further divided into three successive phases: G1 (gap 1) phase, which directly follows the M period; S (synthetic) phase, which follows G1; and G2 (gap 2) phase, which follows the S phase, and immediately precedes the M period. During the two gap phases no net change in DNA occurs, though damaged DNA may be repaired. On the other hand, throughout the interphase period there is continued cellular growth and continued synthesis of other cellular components. Towards the end of the G1 phase, the cell passes a restrictive (R) point and becomes committed to duplicate its DNA. At this point, the cell is also committed to divide. During the S phase, the cell replicates DNA. The net result is that during the G2 phase, the cell contains two copies of all of the DNA present in the G1 phase. During the subsequent M period, the cells divide with each daughter cell receiving identical copies of the DNA. Each daughter cell starts the next round of the growth cycle by entering the G1 phase.
The G1 phase represents the interval in which cells respond maximally to extracellular signals, including mitogens, anti-proliferative factors, matrix adhesive substances, and intercellular contacts. Passage through the R point late in G1 phase defines the time at which cells lose their dependency on mitogenic growth factors for their subsequent passage through the cycle and, conversely, become insensitive to anti-proliferative signals induced by compounds such as transforming growth factor, cyclic AMP analogs, and rapamycin. Once past the R point, cells become committed to duplicating their DNA and undergoing mitosis, as noted above, and the programs governing these processes are largely cell autonomous.
In mammalian cells, a molecular event that temporally coincides with passage through the R point is the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (RB). In its hypophosphorylated state, RB prevents the cell from exiting the G1 phase by combining with transcription factors such as E2F to actively repress transcription from promoters containing E2F binding sites. However, hyperphosphorylation of RB late in G1 phase prevents its interaction with E2F, thus allowing E2F to activate transcription of the same target genes. As many E2F-regulated genes encode proteins that are essential for DNA synthesis, RB phosphorylation at the R point helps convert cells to a pre-replicative state that anticipates the actual G1/S transition by several hours. Cells that completely lack the RB function have a reduced dependency on mitogens but remain growth factor-dependent, indicating that cancellation of the RB function is not sufficient for passage through the R point.
Phosphorylation of RB at the R point is initially triggered by holoenzymes composed of regulatory D-type cyclin subunits and their associated cyclin-dependent kinases, CDK4 and CDK6. The D-type cyclins are induced and assembled into holoenzymes as cells enter the cycle in response to mitogenic stimulation. Acting as growth factor sensors, they are continuously synthesized as long as mitogenic stimulation continues, and are rapidly degraded after mitogens are withdrawn. In fibroblasts, inhibition of cyclin D-dependent CDK activity prior to the R point, either by microinjection or by scrape loading of antibodies directed against cyclin D1 or by expression of CDK4 and CDK6 inhibitors (INK4 proteins) prevents entry into S phase. However, such manipulations have no effect in cells lacking functional RB, implying that RB is the only substrate of the cyclin D-dependent kinases whose phosphorylation is necessary for exiting the G1 phase.
Since RB-mediated controls are not essential to the cell cycle per se it is difficult to understand why mammalian cells contain three distinct D-type cyclins (D1, D2, and D3), at least two cyclin D-dependent kinases (CDK4 and CDK6), and four INK4 proteins, all, purportedly, for the sole purpose of regulating RB phosphorylation. This apparent redundancy has been explained as a method to govern transitions through the R point in different cell types responding to a plethora of distinct extracellular signals.
Alternatively, cyclin D-dependent kinases, or the cyclins alone could also be involved in the regulation of RB-independent events, perhaps linking them temporally to cell cycle controls. One mechanism for this regulation could involve the direct interaction between a cyclin, such as a D-type cyclin, and a specific transcription factor, which would allow the cyclins to regulate gene expression in an RB-independent manner. However, up until now, no such RB-independent transcription factor has been identified.
The citation of any reference herein should not be deemed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the instant invention.

Cyclin D binding factor, and uses thereof


A catheter assembly is disclosed, comprising a catheter and an elongate package accommodating said catheter in a closed condition. The package is provided with an insert opening arranged to releasably receive an end of the elongate package in the closed condition, thereby temporarily retaining said closed package in a folded disposition in which also the catheter is folded.

The present invention relates to a catheter assembly, and in particular for urinary hydrophilic catheters. Catheters are commonly used for draining bodily fluids, e.g. from the bladder. Urinary catheters are e.g. used by a large group of persons for intermittent catheterization, which is a daily-life procedure, taking place several times a day. Typically catheters for intermittent catheterization are used by patients suffering from urinary incontinence or by disabled individuals like para- or tetraplegics. Using an intermittent catheter, the bladder may be drained through a natural or artificial urinary canal. Many catheters for intermittent catheterization are provided with a hydrophilic coating or the like, providing a smooth and slippery surface when wetted, for safe and comfortable insertion in the urinary canal.
Many hydrophilic catheter assemblies include a supply of wetting fluid, either in direct contact with the catheter or in a separate compartment, for clean and convenient activation of the hydrophilic surface before use.
However, there is still a need for improved packages for such catheter assemblies. The package should preferably be relatively simple and cost-efficient to produce. Further, the package should be easy to handle, even for users with reduced dexterity. Still further, the package should enable adequate wetting of the catheter and handling of the package in a clean manner. The package should also preferably be rather small, so that it can easily be carried around by the user in his/hers daily life. It would also be highly advantageous if the package is resealable, so that the catheter could be re-closed after use, if it cannot be immediately disposed of.
Patent application US 2011/056852 by the same applicant discloses a urinary catheter assembly having a resealable opening. However, even though this catheter assembly is highly usable for short catheters, for female users, re-insertion of longer catheters, typically for male users, may be cumbersome and with the risk of spillage and the like. Male catheters may be 40 cm long, or even longer, and insertion of the tip portion through the resealable opening without touching the insertable part of the catheter is rather difficult, especially for users with reduced dexterity. Further, even though this product is small when used for short female catheters, it inevitably becomes much longer when used for long male catheters. Further, closing of the reseable opening after re-insertion of the catheter in a sufficiently sealed manner may also be difficult with this known catheter assembly, and again, especially for users with reduced dexterity.
Since a catheter needs to be of sufficient length to extend through the urethra, for instance having an insertable length of at least 200-350 mm for male users, the catheter assembly generally requires more space than is convenient. The assembly may thus be cumbersome to store, transport and handle, which is inconvenient not least for the individuals for whom catherisation is a daily-life procedure. To alleviate the inconvenience, there is a strive for less space consuming catheter assemblies which improve life quality for the user of catheters in that the assemblies can be handled and stored more discreetly, for instance in the pocket of a users clothing. Various attempts to produce more compact catheter assemblies have been made.
For example, US 2009/163884 by the same applicant discloses a catheter assembly including a urine collection bag integrated in a rearward part of the package. This assembly is made more compact by folding the rearward part over an elongate pocket housing the catheter. However, even though this solution makes the catheter assembly significantly more compact, the size of the product is still at least as long as the catheter itself.
A similar approach is taken in U.S. Pat. No. 8,052,673, also by the same applicant, in which a rearward part of the package housing the wetting fluid container is folded over a forward part housing the catheter. The folded parts are held together by means of an adhesive. However, even though this solution also makes the catheter assembly significantly more compact, the size of the product is still at least as long as the catheter itself.
There have also been attempts to make the catheter telescopic, but for natural reasons, such solutions are difficult and costly to produce.
Still further, it has been proposed to arrange the catheter in a curved disposition. For example, EP 2 106 821 by the same applicant discloses a catheter assembly in which the package comprises pleated regions allowing the package, and the catheter within it, to be arranged in a folded or double folded disposition. This solution greatly reduces the size of the catheter assembly. However, this type of package is relatively complicated and costly to produce. Still further, even though the curving of the catheter is arranged to exceed a minimum diameter of curvature, there is still a risk that the catheter will remain in a curved disposition even when withdrawn from the package. This is due to the fact that catheters are normally of a material having certain rigidity/shape memory characteristics. Storing the catheter assembly for a long period of time in a non-straight disposition, may result in kinking and distortion of the catheter, and imply resistance of easily reverting the catheter to its straight disposition prior to an intended use. The user may subsequently experience discomfort during insertion of the catheter, especially if the first section of the insertable part remains in a non-straight disposition.
Consequently, there is a need for a leaner and less bulky catheter assembly, and/or a catheter assembly which is less expensive to produce, meanwhile easy and convenient to handle and store, and in which the catheter will assume as straight a disposition as desired before use.


Provided herein are recombinant peptides useful for inhibiting the function of autophagy-related 8 (Atg8) proteins. The recombinant peptides can be used in the preparation of imaging agents for monitoring autophagy in a cell or subject and treating autophagy related diseases, such as cancer.

Autophagy, meaning "self-eating" in Greek, is an evolutionarily conserved pathway in eukaryotes first described more than half a century ago. Autophagy is responsible for degrading intracellular protein aggregates, damaged organelles and invasive pathogens thus plays essential roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis as well as responding to stress conditions. Autophagy is a highly regulated process involving multiple steps. First, a cup-shaped membrane called phagophore or isolation membrane nucleates to initiate autophagy. The phagophore continues to elongate and mature into a closed double-membrane autophagosome. The autophagosome later fuses with lysosome to form autolysosome. The materials engulfed inside the autolysosome will then undergo lysosomal degradation and recycling. Dysregulation of autophagy is tightly associated with a variety of human diseases including, but not limited to, cancers, metabolic diseases, immunity disorders and neurodegenerative diseases (Choi et al., 2013; Deng et al., 2017; Galluzzi et al., 2017b; Jiang and Mizushima, 2014; Levine and Kroemer, 2008; Levine et al., 2011; Menzies et al., 2015; Rubinsztein et al., 2012). Accordingly, autophagy has drawn increasing attention as a potential target for therapeutic intervention.
Over the past two to three decades, genetic screenings in yeast and C. elegans have enabled researchers to identify and characterize a series of key components of the autophagy machinery, including autophagy-related (Atg) genes and ectopic P-granules (Epg) genes. Among these genes, Atg8 participates in multiple steps of autophagic process and considered as a central component in autophagy. Atg8 is attached to phagophore membrane via conjugation with a phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) lipid. Atg8-PE facilitates phagophore expansion and autophagosome closure, most likely through its membrane tethering and fusion activity. Atg8 also recruits the Atg1/ULK1 complex to the phagophore to promote autophagosome formation. In the closed autophagosome, Atg8 on the outer membrane interacts with Rab effectors PLEKHM1 and EPG5 for fusion with late endosomes/lysosome. In selective autophagy, Atg8 on the inner membrane of phagophore interacts with autophagy receptors (e.g. p62 and NBR1) to recruit targets for degradation. As a result, Atg8 and its orthologues (Atg8s) are commonly used as autophagy indicators, and elimination of Atg8's function impairs autophagy. Yeast contains only one Atg8 gene, but in higher eukaryotes like C. elegans, there are two homologs LGG-1 and LGG-2. In vertebrates, these two members further expand into two subfamilies, namely the GABARAP subfamily (GABARAPs, including GABARAP, GABARAPL1, and GABARAPL2) and the LC3 subfamily (LC3s, including LC3A, LC3B, and LC3C). Genetic studies in C. elegans and RNA interference in mammalian cells have shown that the two families play some non-redundant roles and neither of them is dispensable for the overall autophagic process. However, the high sequence similarities shared by different mammalian Atg8 homologs and potential genetic compensations in response to gene knockout or knockdown complicate further functional studies of each individual member.
Atg8s contain a short N-terminal two-helix extension followed by a C-terminal ubiquitin-like domain. The two hydrophobic pockets in Atg8s can recognize proteins containing a ΦXXΨ motif (where Φ represents aromatic amino acids Trp/Tyr/Phe, Ψ represents hydrophobic amino acids Leu/Ile/Val and X represents any amino acid), also known as LC3 interacting region (LIR) or Atg8 interacting motif (AIM) (Birgisdottir et al., 2013; Noda et al., 2010). In addition to the two hydrophobic residues, a typical LIR usually contains a few N-terminal acidic residues Asp/Glu and binds to Atg8s with dissociation constants (Kd) ranging from micromolar to sub-micromolar. Two recent studies have reported the developments of LIR-based sensors to monitor autophagy using different strategies (Lee et al., 2017; Stolz et al., 2017). However, these LIR-based peptides, like many known canonical naturally occurring LIR motifs, still bind to Atg8s with modest affinities. Due to the central roles of Atg8s in autophagy, it is exceedingly desirable to develop extremely potent and highly selective Atg8 binding peptides as such peptides will be remarkably valuable for numerous applications, such as to efficiently inhibit Atg8-mediated selective autophagy spatiotemporally in living animals, as biochemical tools to study and clearly delineate functions of different Atg8 members in autophagy, and to monitor autophagy process by specifically recognizing each member of Atg8s, etc. In view of the foregoing, there exists a need to develop improved inhibitors of Atg8 proteins.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology


A catheterization system for embedment in a patient includes a sharp edged needle at the proximal end portion of the catheter. A protective sheath is received about the needle for relative slidable movement thereon between a first position wherein the sharp edge of the needle extends beyond the protective sheath and a second position wherein the blunt leading proximal edge of the protective sheath extends beyond and covers the sharp edge of the needle.

The invention relates generally to catheters and, more specifically, to a catheter having a protective cover that protects the sharp edge after insertion of the catheter into the body of a patient.
Many current medical practices involve gaining access to a body cavity or blood vessel by the penetration of tissues with a sharp edged instrument, most typically a needle. The sharp edged instrument may be used to obtain a tissue sample. In other situations, the sharp edged instrument is replaced by a blunt edged catheter which may remain in the body for an extended period of time.
The procedure for inserting a catheter into a blood vessel is usually performed using the Seldinger technique wherein a sharp edged needle is used to penetrate the tissues and into the blood vessel, a guide wire is inserted through the needle into the vessel, the needle is removed, and a catheter having a blunt edge is advanced along the guide wire and into the vessel.
The sharp edged instrument cannot be left in the body for any extended period of time due to the potential for trauma from the sharp edge. A catheter may be used, for example, to drain fluid from the chest cavity. Embedding a sharp edged needle would pose a risk of penetrating and collapsing a lung.
While the Seldinger technique does provide a method for insertion of a blunt edged catheter that remains in the body, it is complex, cumbersome, and time consuming to perform. In addition, the multiple parts involved in the Seldinger technique result in increased waste of sterile supplies and is expensive. There is, accordingly, a need for a catheterization system which is simpler and faster to use, less expensive, and results in less waste than known systems.

Catheter with protective cover and method of catheterization


A frame of a backlight module includes a first side bar, a second side bar, a third side bar and a fourth side bar. The first side bar, the second side bar, the third side bar and the fourth side bar are connected end to end. The frame includes two contacting portions. One of the contacting portions is positioned at a corner of the first side bar and the second side bar, and the other one of the contacting portions is positioned at another corner of the first side bar and the fourth side bar.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to backlights and, particularly, to a frame of a backlight module.
2. Description of Related Art
An LCD panel typically includes an LCD sheet and a backlight module for providing light for the LCD sheet. Following the popular trend of miniaturization of the LCD panel a decrease of thickness and weight continues, accordingly, the backlight module and the LCD sheet also should be sufficiently thin and light.
The LCD sheet typically includes two glass substrates and a number of LCD molecules between the two glass substrates. The backlight module typically includes a number of optical members in a frame, such as a light source, a reflector, a light guide plate, a diffusing sheet, for example. The optical members are mounted in the frame in a predetermined order. The frame keeps the optical members as a group and protects the optical members from being damaged. When first mounting the LCD sheet to the frame, the LCD sheet is tilted to be put into the frame, therefore, only a side of the LCD sheet may contact to the frame, and the force from the frame may act on a small area of the LCD sheet. The glass substrates of the LCD sheet may be easily broken during assembly, because the thinness of the LCD sheet.
What is needed therefore are a frame of a backlight module addressing the limitations described.


A doctor blade for use in cleaning a roll in a paper machine comprises a thermosetting plastic polymer material selected from the group consisting of vinylesterurethanes and polyether amides.

Not applicable
The present invention relates to a doctor blade for a papermaking machine in general and to a doctor blade constructed of plastic in particular.
Faces of rolls in a paper/board machine tend to be coated with impurities derived from the papermaking process. Doctor blades are used in order to remove these materials from roll faces. As the running speed of paper machines has increased, the amount of friction between the doctor blade and the roll face has also increased, resulting in increased temperature at the doctor blade/roll interface and of the doctor blade itself. This is a problem, because the materials conventionally used in doctor blades do not withstand such higher speeds. For example, at a paper machine speed greater than 1400 meters per minute, doctor blades made of conventional materials can start to melt and abrade rapidly, in which case they no longer operate in cleaning of the roll face.
From the prior art, many doctor blades made of different materials are known, including composite structures. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,933, a doctor blade for a paper machine is described, which blade consists of a number of alternating layers of fibre and carbon fibre. The fibre layer can consist of cotton, paper, fibreglass, or equivalents thereof.
On the other hand, in published German patent application DE 4137970, a doctor blade comprising fiber-reinforced plastic is suggested. The fibre-reinforced plastic contains from 60 to 90 per cent by weight of polyamide-6 or polyamide-66, and from 10 to 40 per cent by weight of reinforcement fibers. A polyamide, which is a thermoplastic resin, is used in order to increase the thermal conductivity of the blade.
In Finnish Patent FI 101,637, a caring doctor blade is described, which blade comprises a number of fibre layers in a laminate construction, where at least one layer of carbon fibre or at least one layer that contains a substantial proportion of carbon fibre is present. This patent further discloses that the blade contains grinding particles in direct vicinity of the carbon fibers and that the carbon fibers are oriented substantially obliquely in relation to the direction of the longitudinal axis of the blade, preferably in the cross direction of the blade.
Japanese Published Application JP 05-214696, discloses a doctor blade comprising polyethylene of very high molecular weight or fibre-reinforced polyethylene of very high molecular weight, which polyethylene is a thermoplastic resin.
Japanese Published Application JP 05-32118 describes a doctor blade which is made of a thermoplastic fibre composite material which contains from 30 to 80 percent by weight of polyphenylene sulphide (a thermoplastic resin), and from 20 to 70 percent by weight of either glass fibers, aramide fibers, or graphite fibers.
Finally, Japanese Published Application JP 05-13289 discloses a doctor blade which consists of a material that contains fibreglass, where the filament fibres have been immobilized in a resin parent material, such as epoxy resin.
As evidenced by the above prior art, a number of different thermoplastic resin materials have been suggested for use in a doctor blade. In spite of their desirable heat resistance properties, thermoplastic resins have not achieved commercial importance as doctor blade materials because of their high cost and because of their difficult workability. A thermosetting plastic from which high resistance to heat in operation is expected also requires a considerably high melting-processing temperature. In practice, in commercial products, epoxy resins have been used almost exclusively.
However, doctor blades that comprise an epoxy matrix tend to wear, or degrade rapidly, resulting in shorter service life. As machine running speeds increase, this problem has become even worse. As discussed earlier, higher machine operation speed increases the friction heat between the revolving roll and the doctor blade. This heat causes the epoxy in the doctor blade to soften and start to melt. The phenomenon of softening is increased by the wet conditions, for epoxy has a certain degree of tendency to absorb water. The softening and the melting have the effect that the roll face becomes coated with the blade material. This causes changes in the properties of adhesion, separation and surface energy in the roll face, which has a very detrimental effect on the operation of the papermaking machine.
A second serious drawback of epoxy is its poor suitability for pultrusion and for similar methods that would allow continuous manufacture of doctor blades.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a material for a doctor blade that can endure high paper machine running speeds and, thus, high operating temperatures at the doctor blade/roll interface.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a doctor blade which can withstand high operating temperatures, and also possesses good mechanical strength and rigidity.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a doctor blade that can be manufactured efficiently in a variety of ways, including continuous manufacturing processes, such as pultrusion.
These, and other objects and advantages, are achieved by the doctor blade of the present invention.
The present invention relates to a doctor blade for cleaning a roll face in a papermaking machine, comprising a thermosetting plastic polymer material selected from the group consisting of vinylesterurethanes and polyether amide resins. Other thermosetting plastic polymers can also be used, provided that their glass transition temperature (Tg) is at least 20xc2x0 C. higher than the operating temperature at the blade/roll face interface at any operating speed of which the papermaking machine is capable of being operated. In addition to being able to endure high operating temperatures, the thermosetting plastic polymers of the doctor blades of the present invention also have high impact resistance. Since these materials do not come close to their Tg temperature during operation, blade wear resulting from softening and/or melting is slower. Also, in such a case, the wear takes place in a controlled way without breaking of the tip of the blade. Controlled wear is important in order that the blade should remain sharp through its whole service life. Owing to high impact strength, the blade tip is not broken equally easily if some material adhering to the roll face passes under the blade in a running situation.
Owing to their nature of thermosetting plastic, the thermosetting plastic polymers for use in the doctor blades of the present invention are suitable for being processed by all methods that are used with thermosetting plastic, including pultrusion. Moreover, processing of these materials does not require considerably elevated temperatures, as the processing of thermoplastic resin materials does. In the manufacture of oblong pieces, such as doctor blades, suitability for pultrusion is a highly desirable feature, because it permits continuous manufacture, in which case the overall economy of the manufacture is better and the product is of uniform quality.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the doctor blades are composite structures further comprising reinforcing materials and/or filler materials. The reinforcing materials can be conventional fibre reinforcements, such as glass, carbon or aramide fibers, or structures woven out of said materials or mixtures of said fibre reinforcements. For example, a multi-layer structure can be made using structure fibreglass and carbon fibre reinforcements, where the alignment of said reinforcement fibers vary/alternate in different layers.
Not applicable.


A drop-away arrow rest having an arrow support arm that drops in a straight, non-pivotal and non-rotational path. The arrow rest that has an arrow support arm that lifts the arrow, from a first, relaxed, position to a second, actuated, position when the archer draws the bowstring. Upon release of the bowstring, the arrow support arm drops, with vertical, non-rotational and non-pivotal movement, in a straight line, to return to its relaxed state. Actuation and release of the arrow support arm is accomplished by an attachment to the bowstring, such as a cord, and by a biasing means. The arrow rest includes various adjustment means that allow lateral and/or horizontal positioning of the arrow in relation to the bow handle.

In the sport of archery, there are many accessories used in conjunction with the bow in order to obtain a more accurate shot. An example of a common accessory is an arrow rest. Arrow rests are used to lift the arrow off from the shelf of the bow handle, to support the arrow when the bowstring is drawn, and to release the arrow after the bowstring has been released. An object of an arrow rest is to allow the arrow to fly straight after being released.
As with other accessories, such as sights, there are numerous different designs for arrow rests. One general design of arrow rests is a "drop-away arrow rest", which has a support structure that supports the arrow while the archer is at full draw and then rotates out of the way as the archer releases the arrow. Drop-away arrow rests that rotate out of the way are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,803,971; 4,865,007; 5,415,154; 5,960,779, and 6,044,832.
However, improvements are needed. One issue with many drop-away arrow rests is that the bow support arm does not drop away from the arrow sufficiently fast, thus hindering the flight of the arrow. Another issue is that many spring-loaded or pivotal arrow rests have recoil remaining after the arrow is released, causing the arrow support to move back into the path of the arrow. Attempts have been made to compensate for this recoil and to design a faster acting drop, however, the results have been marginal.
What is needed is an arrow rest that falls away quickly and does not hinder the flight of the arrow.