A variable gain circuit includes: input/output terminals P1 and P2 configured to input/output a high frequency signal; a transistor having a signal terminal “a” connected to the input/output terminal P1, a signal terminal “b” connected to the input/output terminal P2, and a control terminal; bias terminals B1, B2 and B3, and a reference voltage terminal respectively set to a first variable voltage, a second variable voltage, a third variable voltage, and a fixed voltage that are independent of one another; an impedance element connected between the bias terminal B1 and the signal terminal a; an impedance element connected between the bias terminal B2 and the signal terminal b; an impedance element connected between the bias terminal B3 and the control terminal; and a first switch configured to switch between connecting and not connecting the reference voltage terminal and the control terminal.

The present disclosure relates to a variable gain circuit, a high frequency switch, and a transistor circuit.
A variable gain circuit has been well-known in which there are provided a signal path where a gain is given via an amplifier, a signal path where an amplifier is not involved, and two single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switches, and any one of the signal paths is connected between input/output terminals via the two SPDT switches (for example, see FIG. 9 in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-162662).
According to the above-described variable gain circuit, such a variable gain circuit is achieved that has two kinds of gains, that is, a gain of 0 dB by a signal path with no amplifier involved, and a gain based on a predetermined amplification factor set for the amplifier.
The variable gain circuit described above requires a plurality of components including at least the amplifier and two SPDT switches, and thus the circuit tends to be large in size. Further, without necessarily additional components being provided, it is impossible to perform a bidirectional amplification operation, and also impossible to perform an operation of switching between flowing and cutting off a signal toward the variable gain circuit in accordance with a request from the variable gain circuit.

Variable gain circuit, high frequency switch, and transistor circuit


A magnetic drawing apparatus including image forming means, image erasing means, motion generating means, movement control means and a main housing, wherein:

The present invention relates to image forming apparatus and, more particularly, to erasable image forming apparatus. More specifically, although of course not solely limited thereto, this invention relates to magnetic drawing apparatus or magnetic drawing boards including toy magnetic drawing boards.
Pictures, drawings and graphics are an effective means of communication and convenient means for expressing ideas and creativities. Drawing apparatus are generally used for making drawings, sketches, pictures and graphics or even writing. In many applications, erasable drawing apparatus such as erasable drawing boards are particularly useful for jotting down initial thoughts, random ideas or sketches before a more pertinent form of record is desirable. Erasable drawing apparatus are also useful in children education since young children can feel free to express themselves without fear of being laughed at subsequently as the images formed on the drawing apparatus can be easily wiped off.
Magnetic image forming apparatus such as magnetic drawing apparatus or magnetic drawing boards are a well known form of erasable drawing apparatus. A typical magnetic drawing board includes a magnetic image forming surface which is formed by an ensemble of closely placed image forming cells or micro capsules. The image forming cells or micro capsules are filled with a viscous fluid and an image forming powder. The image forming powder generally includes photoabsorptive ferro magnetic powder which is dispersed in the viscous fluid. In some applications, non-magnetic photoreflective powder is also dispersed in the viscous fluid and mixed with the photo absorptive magnetic powder for enhanced drawing quality. A pen with a magnetic tip is usually used to form images or drawings on the magnetic image forming surface by moving the magnetic pen with its magnetic tip touching the image forming surface. The magnetic attraction of the tip of the magnetic pen will attract the photoabsorptive magnetic powder and form dark traces which collectively form a drawing or an image. To erase the image, a magnetic eraser is usually used to wipe on the image forming surface so as to move the photoabsorptive magnetic powder away from the image forming surface. Magnetic attraction or repulsion of the magnetic powder can be used to drive the magnetic powder away from the image forming surface to reset. A well known type of such magnetic drawing board is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,472.
Although magnetic drawing boards of the above-mentioned description have been known for over 20 years, it is noted that the magnetic drawing boards available today still bear a remarkable resemblance to the original version which comprises a plastic main housing on which there is mounted a magnetic image forming member and a magnetic eraser, although substantial cosmetic changes have been introduced to the rigid main housing and better quality magnetic image forming members are now available. As more and more new toys or educational aids with more interesting features are becoming available every day, it will be appreciated that erasable magnetic drawing apparatus of the above description should be equipped with new features which are useful and attractive to the users, especially the younger users, in order to maintain or regain its popularity. In particular, it will be highly desirable if magnetic drawing apparatus are provided with novel features which facilitate some form of interaction between the user and the apparatus to make using the drawing apparatus a more enjoyable exercise.
Hence, it is an object of the present invention to provide magnetic drawing apparatus with novel features which are useful and interesting to the users, especially the young users. More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a toy magnetic drawing board with novel means and features which are useful and interesting to attract user attention. More specifically, although of course not solely limited to, it is an object of the present invention to provide magnetic drawing apparatus with means and features to facilitate interaction between the user and the apparatus to make the use of the apparatus more enjoyable. At a minimum, it is an object of the present invention to provide the public with a useful choice of magnetic drawing apparatus with novel features.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magnetic drawing apparatus including image forming means, image erasing means, motion generating means, movement control means and a main housing, wherein:
said image forming means include a plurality of magnetic cells which collectively define an image forming surface, said magnetic cell contains a viscous fluid and magnetic powder;
said image erasing means include a magnetic image eraser which is adjacent to said image forming means, said magnetic image eraser is connected to said motion generating means and is movable relative to said image forming means to erase an image on said image forming means; and
said movement control means include means for actuating and controlling said motion generating means to erase an image.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a toy drawing board including image forming means, image erasing means, motion generating means, motion indication means, sound generation means, movement control means and a main housing, wherein:
said image forming means include a plurality of magnetic cells which collectively define an image forming surface, said magnetic cell contains a viscous fluid and magnetic powder;
said image erasing means include a magnetic image eraser which is adjacent to said image forming means, said magnetic image eraser is connected to said motion generating means and is movable relative to said image forming means;
said motion indication means includes a visible indicia which is indicative, representative or characteristic of an object, the audible sound generated by said audible signal generating means being indicative, representative or characteristic of said object;
said sound generation means generates audible sound during the movement of said magnetic image eraser; and
said movement control means include means for actuating said motion generating means and means for selecting the direction of movement of said magnetic image eraser with respect to said image forming means.
Preferably, said movement control means include means for selecting the direction of movement of said magnetic image eraser with respect to said image forming means.
Preferably, said drawing board or apparatus further including a visible motion indication means, said motion indication means being movable in synchronization with said magnetic image eraser.
Preferably, said drawing board or apparatus further including an audible sound generating means, said audible signal generating means generates audible sound during the movement of said magnetic image eraser.
Preferably, said motion indication means includes a visible indicia which is indicative, representative or characteristic of an object, the audible sound generated by said audible signal generating means being indicative, representative or characteristic of said object.
Preferably, said object includes a vehicle such as a train, said audible sound being the characteristic sound associated with the movement of said vehicle.
Preferably, said visible motion indication means includes a visible indicia of an object which has a commonly recognized direction of movement with reference to a direction indicator of said visible indicia, said visible indicia being movable along a pre-defined track formed on said main housing.
Preferably, said drawing board and apparatus further including means for changing the orientation of said direction indicator at the extremes of said track.
Preferably, said movement control means include means for selectively changing the direction of movement of said magnetic image eraser along said track when said visible indicia is located intermediate between the ends of said track.
Preferably, said motion generating means include a motorized driving mechanism, said motorized driving mechanism includes a motor and a set of geared transmission link, said magnetic image eraser being mounted with said motorized driving mechanism and said geared transmission link being engageable with said main housing so that motion of the motor will be translated into movements of said magnetic image eraser through engagement between said transmission link and said main housing.
Preferably, said movement control means include a user control interface which is visible and accessible to a user for user control and selection of the movement of said magnetic image eraser.
Preferably, said user control interface includes means to control the duration of movement of said magnetic image eraser.
Preferably, said drawing board including an image forming device, said image forming device includes a cylindrical drum with image forming magnetic patterns formed on the curved cylindrical surface of said drum.
Preferably, said image forming device further includes a handle with a shaft for engaging and driving the rotation of said drum.

Abstract: the image forming means include a plurality of magnetic cells which collectively define an image forming surface, the magnetic cell contains a viscous fluid and magnetic powder;

Abstract: the image erasing means include a magnetic image eraser which is adjacent to the image forming means, the magnetic image eraser is connected to the motion generating means and is movable relative to the image forming means; and

Abstract: the movement control means include means for actuating the motion generating means and means for selecting the direction of movement of the magnetic image eraser with respect to the image forming means.


A method and an apparatus that generate a request from a first thread of a process using a first stack for a second thread of the process to execute a code are described. Based on the request, the second thread executes the code using the first stack. Subsequent to the execution of the code, the first thread receives a return of the request using the first stack.

Advancement of computing systems has allowed a software program to run as one or more execution entities, such as threads, processes, and so forth. Usually, such a software program may cause thread context switching running from one thread to another. As a result, resources are allocated dynamically to coordinate activities among execution entities. For example, a synchronization mechanism is activated when more than one threads in a process concurrently request a single-thread service which allows only one thread to access at a time. Usually, synchronization mechanism requires allocation of synchronization resources such as events, mutexes, or locks, etc. Therefore, available resources for execution entities are reduced and the performance of a computing system can be compromised when synchronizing threads.
Although it may be possible to dedicate a single thread to perform a single thread task, such a thread is likely to idle most of the time wasting valuable computing resources when no request is present for its service. Additionally, a thread has to communicate with the single thread to obtain its service. Often times, communications between threads may incur message passing, queuing, and/or notifications, etc. which, again, may drain away resources from computing systems.
Therefore, system performance can be improved if multiple threads are synchronized leveraging existing mechanisms already established, such as thread context switching in a multi-threading system, without requiring allocating additionally resources.

Method and apparatus to migrate stacks for thread execution


A direct current offset correction circuit includes an obtaining module, a controller, and a correction module. The obtaining module obtains a DC offset voltage from an output of a target circuit. The controller is connected to the obtaining module, and the controller outputs correction signals in response to the direct current offset voltage being greater than a predetermined voltage. The correction module is connected to the target circuit, the obtaining module, and the controller. The correction module compensates the direct current offset voltage of the target circuit according to the correction signals.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to correction circuits, and particularly to a direct current (DC) offset correction circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
In digital communication systems, a DC offset is often mixed in with received signals. This causes the received signals to be distorted by the DC offset, thereby leading to inaccurate data decoding. Therefore, there is a need for a digital communication system that can overcome the described limitations.

Direct current offset correction circuit


A data transmission path includes a transfer control circuit and a data hold circuit. The transfer control circuit outputs a transmission signal for transferring the data held by the data hold circuit to a data transmission path in a succeeding stage in response to an existence of data to be transferred in the data hold circuit, non-existence of data in the data transmission path in the succeeding stage and an externally applied timing signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data transmission apparatuses, and more particularly, to data transmission apparatuses for controlling packet flow of a data transmission path and a method of operating such apparatuses.
2. Description of the Background Art
Such a data processor as a FIFO (First-In.First-Out) memory or a data driven type information processor employs a data transmission apparatus using an asynchronous handshaking circuit. Such a data transmission apparatus includes a plurality of data transmission paths connected to each other to send and receive a transmission signal and a transmission acknowledging signal for autonomous data transfer.
FIG. 14 shows one example of a conventional data transmission path. A data transmission path 10a includes a transfer control circuit 11a and a data hold circuit 12a. The data hold circuit 12a holds input data DI and outputs the same as output data DO in response to a fall of a transmission signal C2 applied from the transfer control circuit 11a.
FIG. 15 is a circuit diagram showing the structure of the transfer control circuit 11a and FIG. 16 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of the transfer control circuit 11a.
As shown in FIG. 15, the transfer control circuit 11a includes NAND gates G1, G2 and G5, inverters G3 and G4 and a buffer G6.
The operation will be described in a case where a data transmission path in a subsequent stage is in a ready state.
When the data transmission path in the subsequent stage is in a ready state, an "H" (logic high level) transmission acknowledging signal AK2 is applied from a transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage. In response to a fall of a transmission signal C1 applied from a preceding stage portion to "L" (logic low level), the output of the NAND gate G2 attains "H". As a result, a transmission acknowledging signal AK1 output from the inverter G4 attains "L" (inhibited state). Meanwhile, the output of the NAND gate G5 attains "L" and the output of the inverter G3 attains "H". At this time, with the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 attaining "H", the output of the NAND gate G1 falls to "L". As a result, a transmission signal C2 falls to "L".
The data hold circuit 12a shown in FIG. 14 holds the input data DI and outputs the same as the output data DO in response to the fall of the transmission signal C2.
The transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage receiving the transmission signal C2 brings the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 to "L" in response to the fall of the transmission signal C2.
In response to the fall of the output of the NAND gate G1, the output of the NAND gate G5 attains an "H" and the inverter G3 attains "L" to bring the output of the NAND gate G1 to "H" again. As a result, the transmission signal C2 rises to "H" again. The transmission signal C2 falls to "L" and rises to "H" after a lapse of a predetermined time in this way.
The transmission signal C1 applied from the preceding stage portion rises to "H" after a lapse of a fixed time. The output of the NAND gate G2 falls to "L" and the output of the inverter G4 rises to "H". As a result, the transmission acknowledging signal AK1 again attains "H" (acknowledged state).
As described in the foregoing, when the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 applied from the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage is at "H" (acknowledged state), the transmission acknowledging signal AK1 to be applied to the preceding stage attains "L" (inhibited state) in response to a fall of the transmission signal C1 applied from the preceding stage portion and after a lapse of a fixed time, the transmission signal C2 to be applied to the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage falls to "L".
An operation in the event that a data transmission path in the subsequent stage is clogged will be described.
In this case, the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 applied from the transfer control circuit in the subsequent state is at "L" (inhibited state). When the transmission signal C1 applied from the preceding stage portion falls to "L", the output of the NAND gate G2 attains "H" and the output of the inverter G4 falls to "L". As a result, transmission acknowledging signal AK1 falls to "L". When the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 applied from the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage is at "L" (inhibited state), the output of the NAND G1 is at "H". Therefore, as long as the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 is at "L", the transmission signal C2 to be applied to the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage maintains "H". No data is transmitted from the data transmission path 10a to a data transmission path in the subsequent stage as a result.
When the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 applied from the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage rises to "H" (acknowledged state), the output of the NAND gate G1 falls to a "L" level. As a result, the transmission signal C2 to be applied to the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage falls to "L". In response to the fall of the transmission signal C2, the data hold circuit 12a shown in FIG. 14 holds the input data DI and outputs the same as the output data DO.
Meanwhile, in response to the fall of the transmission signal C2 applied from the transfer control circuit 11a, the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage brings the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 to "L" (inhibited state) after a lapse of a fixed time. In response to the rise of the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 applied from the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage, the transmission acknowledging signal AK1 to be applied to the preceding stage portion rises to "H" (acknowledged state) after a lapse of a fixed time.
As described above, when the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 applied from the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage is at "L" (inhibited state), the transmission signal C2 to be applied to the transfer control circuit in the subsequent stage does not fall to "L". In other words, when the data transmission path in the subsequent stage is clogged, data transmission from the data transmission path 10a to the data transmission path in the subsequent stage is held off for the transmission acknowledging signal AK2 attaining "H" (acknowledged state).
In the above-described conventional data transmission apparatus, data is autonomously and sequentially transmitted to data transmission paths in the following stages in turn when a data transmission path in a subsequent stage is empty. It is therefore difficult to trace operations step by step while advancing the data stage by stage. It is also difficult to test an operation margin of the transfer control, an operation margin of the logic arranged between the data transmission paths and the like.
A data transmission apparatus using a simple shift register operable in synchronization with an externally applied clock signal without a handshaking circuit, does not perform such control as holding off data transfer when a subsequent stage is clogged and transferring data when the subsequent stage is empty.

Data transmission apparatus and method of operating the same


A system and method are provided that distill an organization's information security plan into a detailed and unambiguous security object model. The developed security object model provides a visualization of complex relationships between individual elements and levels that is usable to carry into effect the organization's information security plan. Configuration control and a verifiable level of security compliance are provided through implementation of the organization's information security plan by the developed security object model. The developed security object model is hosted on a computing platform in communication with at least the organization's network to provide information security plan compliance, configuration control and gap analysis in a usable form to the organization.

1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for implementing an automated security policy for an organization, particularly through implementing a semantic model in a formal modeling language such as Unified Modeling Language Model (UML), Web Ontology Language (OWL), Semantic Application Design Language (SADL), a controlled-English language that maps directly into OWL, or any other semantic language capable of capturing the instances, classes, and relationships of the security domain in such a way as to render the model computable.
2. Related Art
The information security of an organization is generally governed at the highest levels by the existence of policies, guidelines and standards. These policies, guidelines and standards are generally provided in written form. One or more individuals in the organization are then tasked with developing information security procedures, requirements and, in many cases, specific configurations for information security policy implementation and enforcement. Within this structure also decision points are often established in order to determine whether the organization's security infrastructure is meeting the organization's security needs.
Conventionally, the implementation of information security with an organization is largely human dependent. In this regard, the establishment and enforcement of an information security policy is subject to specific interpretation. In general, there does not exist a comprehensive framework for capturing, for instance, relationships between overarching policy objectives and specific security implementation guidelines. Security policy implementation within an organization, therefore, tends to be undertaken on an ad hoc basis.
In conventional implementations, a corporate policy is drafted by senior members of the organization. The corporate policy drives development of specific business policies. Business guidelines and standards are then generally relied upon to shape security requirements. Standard operating procedures may then be developed to enforce compliance requirements on appropriate devices within the organization's information sharing network. It is rare that the senior members of a corporation structure the corporate policy then draft the security requirements or the standard operating procedures. Rather, other members of the organization interpret the corporate policy to establish certain guidelines for the particular business of the organization. Within the framework of the business guidelines, security requirements are established. The security requirements are then interpreted, by perhaps another group of individuals, to produce a specific information security configuration for the organization.
The lack of a comprehensive framework makes it difficult for the individuals tasked with implementing, overseeing and enforcing information security policy to ensure, with any degree of confidence, that the security infrastructure properly reflects the organization's overall goals and objectives. This difficulty is exacerbated in the all-too-often occurrence where a change in certain situational factors dictates some shift in the security posture of the organization. Absent an overarching framework, it is difficult for any individual or group to first visualize, and then analyze, an overall impact of potential changes.
This difficulty becomes even more acute in instances where, for example, security policies are intended to be shared between organizations. In these situations, where it is important to ensure that data flow between organizations remains secure, it is often important to ensure that security procedures and implementations in all participating organizations are comparable and compatible.
The current manual process, overseen by the specified individual(s) suffers from a number of significant drawbacks in meeting the above objectives. Even in small single organization implementations, the ultimate security configurations are oftentimes unverifiable. A very basic difficulty exists in interpretation of the terminology used in preparing and interpreting policies, guidelines, standards, procedures, requirements, and ultimately configurations for the security policy implementations. A small organization may have only one individual who is tasked with overseeing security policy implementation through the manual process. The manual process, however, requires that the terms that are used in establishing the policy, generating guidelines, and distilling the security requirements be independently interpreted by that individual who is tasked with setting the security configuration. Unfortunately, within this task of interpretation, there exists an unavoidable level of semantic ambiguity. This semantic ambiguity often then leads to differing interpretations of the requirements and the configuration by even a small group of individuals tasked with carrying out the security implementation, or between the individual noted above who is tasked with carrying into effect the security policy today, and that individual's successor.
As organizations grow in size and the numbers of people and network components increase significantly, changes in configuration, required updates and specific maintenance to individual network components may go largely untracked other than with regard to a single specific component that is being re-configured, updated or fixed. In a comprehensive network environment, changes, updates and maintenance of components at a specific level in the organization may be undertaken in a manner disconnected from corresponding changes, updates and maintenance at other levels in the organization. A result is that a specific change in configuration, update or fix may not be adequately managed network wide. An impact of a specific change in configuration, update or fix, which could have a significant effect on other levels of the organizational infrastructure, may be implemented without a complete assessment regarding the significance of that effect.
A reliance on individual humans in the loop further then suffers because there is incomplete, if any, detailed turnover from one individual to the next regarding a specific interpretation of what a particular term in a particular security configuration entails. Simply put, different individuals, without detailed guidance, which is often non-existent, will likely interpret a large number of terms in a security policy implementation in different ways leading to potentially vast differences in implementation of the security policy. Significant difficulties are then encountered in verification of the security policy implementation as those metrics are then themselves open to broad interpretation. The manual process, therefore, requires a level of expert intuition for completeness. Even with that expert intuition, however, a measurable level of consistency in the manual process remains largely unachievable.
For the above reasons, security policy implementations within organizations, or across organizational lines where required, end up being subject to significant interpretation leading to wide variability in carrying out security policies. With increasing levels of sophistication in security infrastructures, these shortfalls become magnified. As such, the outcome of the security policy implementation may be decidedly different from what was intended.
Modeling tools exist that can implement and track specified sets of instructions for task accomplishment. Automated manufacturing and automated inventory control employ such modeling tools. These modeling tools are implemented in a manner that leaves little room for interpretation. In the case of automated manufacturing, this leads to repeatable outcomes in the details of the manufactured articles. If room existed for interpretation of a specification for a manufactured article, it is likely that unacceptable variations in the manufactured article would be introduced. In like manner, in the case of automated inventory control, if there were room for interpretation, inventory management would quickly suffer.


Systems and methods of virtual feedback include a virtual feedback device virtually coupled between a first and second device and a control unit. The control unit is configured to select a virtual feedback model (VFM) for the virtual feedback device from among a plurality of VFMs; configure the VFM; determine, based on information from one or more first sensors for detecting information related to a position of the first device and one or more second sensors for detecting information related to a position of the second device, a relative displacement between the first second devices; determine, based on the relative displacement and the VFM, a feedback level; send feedback commands, based on the feedback level, to one or more first actuators for inducing feedback on the first device and to one or more second actuators for inducing feedback on the second device.

More and more devices are being replaced with electronic and electro-mechanical devices of ever increasing complexity. This is especially true in the hospitals of today with large arrays of autonomous and semiautonomous electronic devices being found in operating rooms, interventional suites, intensive care wards, emergency rooms, and the like. For example, glass and mercury thermometers are being replaced with electronic thermometers, intravenous drip lines now include electronic monitors and flow regulators, and traditional hand-held surgical instruments are being replaced by computer-assisted medical devices.
A common improvement in many of these devices is the replacement of largely mechanical device controls with hybrid electro-mechanical controls that provide drive-by-wire functionality. Rather than rely on an arrangement of mechanical parts including linkages, pivots, springs, and/or the like, these hybrid electro-mechanical controls monitor an input mechanism, such as a dial, joy stick, switch, articulated arm, and/or the like, to receive commands from an operator. Changes in the input device are converted to input electrical signals that are passed to a control system for processing. The processed input electrical signals are used to determine output electrical signals that become control signals for one or more corresponding actuators. In this way, the operator controls the behavior of the electro-mechanical device indirectly through the processing performed by the control system.
This approach allows for added flexibility in how the electro-mechanical device can be operated. Not only can the parameters and/or algorithms of the control system be adjusted to change the behavior of the electro-mechanical device, but the lesser reliance on potentially complex linkages, pivots, and springs may result in simpler mechanical designs, smaller devices, and/or the like. In addition, the use of electro-mechanical controls may reduce the amount of force that an operator may exert to obtain a corresponding operation of the electro-mechanical device. Further, the use of haptic input devices allows the control system to additionally provide force feedback to the operator along with the control signals for the actuators.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved methods and systems for providing feedback to operators through haptic input devices.

System and method for virtual feedback with haptic devices


A sputtering device enabling a small incident angle. A plurality of shield plates provided with holes at the same positions as targets are arranged in a vacuum chamber. Sputtering particles ejected diagonally from the targets 5.sub.1 -5.sub.9 become attached to the shield plates 21-23 and only particles ejected vertically reach the surface of a substrate 12. As a result, it is possible to uniformly form a thin film inside microscopic holes of high aspect ratio. If sputtering gas is introduced close to the targets 5.sub.1 -5.sub.9, reactant gas is introduced close to the substrate 12 and evacuation carried out close to the substrate 12, reactant gas does not reach the targets 5.sub.1 -5.sub.9 side. Consequently, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the surfaces of the targets 5.sub.1 -5.sub.9.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the technical field of sputtering devices, and particularly to a multiple cathode sputtering device.
2. Related Art
A sputtering device is widely used in the field of semiconductor devices and liquid crystal display devices to form metallic thin films and insulation films.
Reference numeral 102 in FIG. 10(a) shows an example of a sputtering device.
This sputtering device 102 has a vacuum chamber 111, with a substrate holder 113 arranged on the bottom of the vacuum chamber 111, and a target holder 115 arranged close to the ceiling of the vacuum chamber 111 at a position above the substrate holder 113. A plurality of cylindrical shield tubes 106 are provided on a substrate holder 113 side surface of the target holder 115 (in this drawing three shield tubes 106.sub.1 -106.sub.3 are shown).
Targets 105.sub.1 -105.sub.3 are arranged one each inside the shield tubes 106.sub.1 -106.sub.3, and when a substrate on which a film is to be formed is placed on the substrate holder 113 the substrate and each of the targets 115 face each other.
When sputtering is carried out with this sputtering device 102, among particles ejected from the each of the targets 105.sub.1 -105.sub.3, those that are ejected diagonally become deposited to the shield tube 106, and only particles that fly out vertically can pass through the shield tube 106.
Reference numeral 112 in FIG. 10(b) represents as substrate mounted on the substrate holder 113, and if sputtering particles that have passed through the shield tube 106 are incident on the substrate 112, an angle formed by those sputtering particles and the surface of the substrate 112 becomes a minimum of .phi.(incident angle is .pi./2-.phi.). When the particles are incident at this angle .phi., the incident angle of the sputtering particles becomes maximum.
A rotating shaft 117 is attached to a rear surface of the target holder 115. The rotating shaft 117 is airtightly lead through to the outside of the vacuum chamber 111. Rotation of the rotating shaft 117 causes rotation of the target holder 115, and each of the targets 105.sub.1 -105.sub.3 can be horizontally rotated parallel to the substrate holder 113. Reference numeral 118 represents the rotational axis of the rotating shaft 117.
With this type of sputtering device 102, if sputtering is carried out while rotating the target holder 115, a thin film is uniformly formed on the surface of the substrate 112 with a small incident angle of the sputtering particles to the surface of the substrate 112. Accordingly, uniform film formation is also possible inside microscopic holes having a high aspect ratio.
However, since sputtering particles deposit to the inner walls of the shield tubes 106.sub.1 -106.sub.3, a thin film is also formed at this section, and a problem occurs in that this film breaks up into smallness dust. Also, even if surface treatment to prevent smallness dust being generated is performed on the inner wall surfaces of the shield tubes 106.sub.1 -106.sub.3, it is difficult to insert a spray gun inside the tube.
Also, when reactive sputtering is carried out, not only sputtering gas but also reactant gas infiltrates into the shield tubes 106.sub.1 -106.sub.3, which causes problems such as a metallic target surface being nitrided (for example, TiN being formed on a Ti target surface), a reduction in sputter yield, and lowering of film deposition rate.


An inflatable game incorporating a flexible, inflated structure filled with gas, suitable for users to jump and bounce thereupon and a suspended structure that permits users to be suspended above the inflatable structure. The suspended structure may be a zip line, a bridge, or the like. The suspended structure allows users to move from one elevated position on the inflatable structure to another elevated position. The inflatable structures used in conjunction with suspended features provide an added variety of activities to the user. For example, users can hang in midair, drop onto the inflatable structure from elevated heights, engage in competitive activities.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inflatable games, and more particularly to an inflatable game that incorporates features designed to suspend people above ground for fun and entertainment.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many years, inflatable games have amused and entertained young and old persons alike. The typical inflatable game is a large, flexible air-filled structure taking on a variety of shapes such as a castle, a pyramid, a pirate ship, and the like. Most inflatable games have at least one air-filled horizontal mattress upon which people, typically children, can jump and bounce. The air-filled jumping surface typically provides spring back making trampoline-type play possible, such that users can jump and bounce to higher heights than normal. The inflatable games are usually large enough for multiple persons to use at the same time. In some instances, the inflatable games can be twenty (20) feet high and one hundred twenty (120) square feet wide. Furthermore, since the inflatable structures are filled with air and the surfaces are relatively soft, users can fall on the inflatable mattress with little fear of injury. Hence, the inflatable games provide a great deal of safe entertainment especially for young children.
In recently years, the increasing popularity of inflatable games has led some game manufacturers to make inflatable games that are more sophisticated and contain more features than just an inflatable mattress. For instance, some inflatable games now include slides, obstacle courses, and other features for playing physically challenging games like tug-of-war. In addition to jumping and bouncing, these alternative inflatable games allow for a variety of different activities, all of which could be engaged with little fear of injury. As more features are added, the user is treated to an ever widening variety of games and activities to engage in, thereby enhancing the user""s experience with the inflatable games. In an effort to keep their customers entertained, inflatable game manufacturers are constantly seeking more features to include in their games.
Moreover, it is also generally known that the added elevation and the thrill of being suspended in midair can be very exciting for people seeking amusement. Consequently, zip lines and suspended bridges have always been popular activities at amusement parks, fairs, and carnivals. However, Applicant is not aware of any inflatable game that incorporates features designed to suspend people in midair. This may be partly due to the difficult of utilizing inflatable structures to structurally support a person suspended in midair. Inflatable structures are generally too soft and pliable to withstand the load of the weight of the suspended structure loaded together with the person. In fact, the side walls of most conventional inflatable structures are likely to sag and crumble under the weight of a person riding for example a zip line. Hence, it will be appreciated that there is a need for an inflatable game that incorporates features that can suspend a person in midair. To this end, there is a particular need for an inflatable structure that is designed to withstand the load of the combined weight of a suspended structure together with a person hanging from the structure.
The aforementioned needs are satisfied by the snow sliding apparatus of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. In one aspect, the preferred embodiments provide an inflatable game that incorporates an inflatable structure in conjunction with a suspended feature that is configured to suspend a person in midair over the inflatable structure. In one embodiment, the suspended feature is supported by two inflatable supporting structures wherein the inflatable supporting structures are dimensioned to support the weight of the suspended feature and the person. In one embodiment, the ratio of the width to the height of the supporting wall is at least 1 to 2 so as to inhibit the supporting wall from sagging or toppling over. Preferably, the supporting wall has sufficient mass so that it is less likely to sag when the suspended feature is being used. In one embodiment, the suspended feature comprises a zip line. In another embodiment, the suspended feature comprises a suspended bridge.
In another aspect, the preferred embodiments provide an inflatable game comprising an inflatable mattress and a suspended feature that extends over the inflatable mattress. In one embodiment, the suspended feature comprises a zip line that is attached to rigid structures positioned adjacent the inflatable mattress. In another embodiment, the suspended feature comprises a suspended bridge that is attached to rigid structures positioned adjacent the inflatable mattress.
In yet another aspect, the preferred embodiments provide an inflatable game that is designed to suspend a person in midair over a cushioned surface. In one embodiment, the person can be suspended via a tie line over a horizontal inflatable structure. In another embodiment, the person can be suspended via a hollow tube over a horizontal inflatable structure. These and other advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Inflatable structure with suspended features


A system with a gantry of a computed tomography device and a docking station and method are for cooling a component of the gantry. In an embodiment, the system includes a gantry of a computed tomography device, the gantry including a chassis and a heat store; and a docking station. The gantry is movable via the chassis relative to the docking station. The gantry and the docking station are detachably connectable to one another such that a detachable coolant-exchange connection for exchanging a coolant and/or a detachable heat-conduction connection for heat conduction is formed between the heat store and the docking station.

A computed tomography device with a mobile gantry can in particular be used in hygienically sensitive areas, for example in operating rooms. As far as possible in the hygienically sensitive areas it is in particular necessary to avoid cooling of the gantry which is substantially based on heated air flowing out of the gantry into the examination room. In addition, both the cooling and the electrical energy supply for the mobile gantry should be embodied such that, independently of electrical terminals, it is possible to acquire as many items of projection data as possible without this entailing any significant impairment of the quality of the projection data.

System with a gantry of a computed tomography device and a docking station and method for cooling a component of the gantry


A temperature control device comprising a heater element and a power source. The heater element having a conductive ink affixed to a substrate. The power source connected to the conductive ink to supply power to said conductive ink, thereby heating the heater element.

This invention relates generally to temperature control devices, more particularly a temperature control device in a disposable covering for medical applications and as an insert worn under existing clothing.
Peri-operative or peri-trauma hypothermia can have serious side effects for any patient. Negative effects include a decrease in cardiovascular stability, an increase in oxygen consumption, and a decrease in resistance to infection. The benefits of maintaining normothermia are well documented. Four recent publications are as follows:
Frank, S. M. et al.; Perioperative Maintenance of Normothermia Reduces the Incidence of Morbid Cardiac Events. JAMA, 14:277, 11271-1134, April, 1997.
Cheney, F. W.; Should Normothermia be Maintained During Major Surgery? JAMA, 14:277, 1165-1166, April, 1997.
Kurz, A.; Perioperative Normothermia to Reduce the Incidence of Surgerical-Wound Infection and Shorten Hospitalization. New England Journal of Medicine, 19:334, 1209-1213, May 1996.
Sessler, D.; Mild Perioperative Hypothermia. New England Journal of Medicine, 24:336, June 1997.
Many methods have been used to warm peri-operative and peri-trauma patients including heat lamps, water mattresses, warmed hospital blankets and warm air blowers. These have been frequently proven to be impractical under usual operating constraints.
A warm air heated blanket system is sold by Augustine Medical, Inc. under the name Bair Hugger(trademark) Patient Warming System. This system is effective but requires large non-portable equipment such as a heavy heater/blower system that in many instances is impractical in confined hospital spaces. Also, this system is not desirable for patients with open wounds because the blower system can circulate germs.
A less common rewarming technique is the use of a water circulating mattress. The equipment is heavy, complex, expensive, and may leak. This large non-portable equipment is unusable by paramedic rescue units or in an emergency room, where they are often most needed.
The most common method of treating hypothermia, heated hospital blankets, requires six or more applications before reaching nanothermia. The small amount of heat retained by a cotton blanket quickly dissipates thereby requiring the patients to warm themselves. Although warm blankets are simple and safe, they are inconvenient and time consuming for the nursing staff because laundering and sanitizing of the cotton blankets is necessary.
Another blanket system, West U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,026, supplies current through wires encapsulated between two thin sheets of plastic film. This film is attached to a non-woven polypropylene base fabric by use of stitching or adhesives. The temperature is regulated and provides a method of maintaining a constant temperature. However, this system is heavy, many of the components are expensive and disposed after one use, and the system to conduct current through use of wires between plastic film is disadvantageous because the film-wire combination needs to be affixed to the blanket through either adhesives or stitching. This system is costly and improbable to produce blankets of varied sizes and configurations.
It is desirable to provide a system for warming patients which overcomes one or more of the above described disadvantages.
It is an object of this invention to provide a reusable, thermal warming device for use in hospitals, and in emergency situations, as well as within clothing.
Another object of this invention is the ability to quickly place the thermal warming device within a disposable covering for use in hospitals and in emergencies.
Another object of this invention is to produce heating elements of varied sizes and configurations.
Another object of this invention is to make reusable the heater element of the thermal warming device.
Another object of this invention to provide a portable direct current power source to be connected to the thermal warming device.
Another object of this invention is to use reusable component parts of a temperature regulating unit and of a power supply source.
Another object of this invention is to make use of a cost effective and efficient means to insert the heater element into blankets and under existing articles of clothing without use of adhesives or stitching.
Another object of this invention is to provide an environmentally friendly method of affixing circuitry to a blanket and to clothing.
Another object of this invention is to quickly heat the element.
Another object of this invention is to provide an safe and efficient method of heating a body or surface.
These, and other objects and advantages of the present invention, will become apparent as the same becomes better understood from the Detailed Description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Apparatus and method for an airborne particulate booth, such as a dust or paint, include a velocity sensing device for detecting the velocity of the air flow in the booth, utilizing, in a preferred form, a pendulum mounted sail. The air flow from the booth moves the sail; the sail moves the pendulum; and the pendulum's motion is detected and used to control the booth's air flow intake and exhaust fans or blowers to maintain the air flow at essentially a preset or desired constant velocity. Additionally, the apparatus and method when used in a powder paint booth with powder filters, includes progressive pulsing means which pulse the powder filters in a manner such that the interval between pulses may be automatically and progressively changed to keep the powder filters operating at or near peak efficiency from the time they are installed until the time they can no longer be kept functioning efficiently by pulsing, but must be replaced. Additionally, an alarm or warning device can be provided to indicate that the filters must be replaced soon and/or at a future time the booth shut down.

It is known in the art to use air flow in a paint booth to control the flow of the excess paint, be it liquid drops or powder particulate, which is discharged from the paint source, such as an atomizer or paint or spray gun, etc., and not actually applied to the articles being painted. It is also known to attempt to control the velocity of the air flow in the booth and/or to try to keep the air flow velocity constant to provide a consistent environment for painting. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,811 teaches measuring the air flow velocity in a powder paint booth and adjusting the incoming air volume to keep the velocity constant in order to compensate for the fact that the articles being painted are moving through the booth and otherwise would have altered the air flow velocity. The actual velocity adjustment in that patent is taught as being accomplished by sensing the air speed and then through a controller adjusting the speed of the air feed and/or air exhaust fans or blowers.
A prior art technique for sensing such paint or powder booth air velocity was by pitot tube. However, over a period of time the narrow pitot tube tended to clog, was not accurate when dirty, and its sensitivity changed and effect the booth's operation.
In a previous wind chill measuring device, a pendulum moving along a scale was used to determine air speed by taking visual readings off a scale. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,667.
In powder booths the excess powder not applied to the articles being painted is in the form of airborne particulate, is recovered and collected on the surfaces of cartridge filters. The air is exhausted from the booth and is pulled through the filters to be treated and recirculated or discharged. In other types of dust booths where an airborne particulate is generated, such is by painting, grinding, sanding, or the other repair or work, the particulate is similarly collected or recovered. The powder or particulate as it is collected tends to build up on the filters. Periodically, in order to extend the time between a filter's installation and the time it must be replaced, the filter is pulsed, with some form of vibration, usually in the form of an air blast or "shot" or pulse of compressed air. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,770,118 or 4,913,085, which teach in column 8 thereof, that the "pulse duration and intervals can be determined to be different from normal operation values. These factors can also be varied periodically, by self action, which can be accomplished without further ado through an electronic control."

Apparatus and method for airborne particulate booth


A facility that is especially suited for the freezing of juices and similar products, which includes a cooling tank that supplies the product by means of an impelling pump to a freezing chamber that receives a supply of a liquefied gas at a temperature of around −140° C., preferably nitrogen, and pressurized air through an electro-valve to transform the juice into micro-drops or pellets and to freeze the droplets or the pellets inside the freezing chamber, which then exit the chamber through one or more dispensing valves, said freezing not affecting the original characteristics of the juice, in terms of its vitamin, protein and enzyme content.

Food liquids, such as those mentioned earlier, are known to be prone to attack from microorganisms, consequently suffering modifications from both the chemical and/or biochemical and physical viewpoint.
At room temperature, microbial proliferations are very fast and the microorganisms present in all substances or food raw materials inevitably produce enzymes in the substrate during growth. Therefore, microbial enzyme activity modifies the flavour, texture, smell and appearance of food.
On the other hand, it is also known that a drop in temperature is parallel to a decrease in the development of the microorganisms which can ultimately alter the product.
It is also known that, from the physical viewpoint, if the temperature drop is fast, the ice crystals formed are small, while on the contrary, slow freezing produces thicker ice crystals which break the product fibres, due to which, upon unfreezing, said product has lost part of its proteins, enzymes, vitamin content, etc.
In conclusion, a drop in temperature to below freezing point inhibits the growth of most microorganisms, and if we take into account that the formation of ice crystals reduces water activity, the result is that the less water is available for microorganism growth, the less microbial activity.
In accordance with the foregoing, it must be pointed out that the application of an agent or liquefied gas to a liquid causes instant freezing thereof, especially if the liquid is in the form of a drop, macro drop or pellet at the time of application.
This application also benefits from the size of the drop for an exact fulfillment of the purpose of homogeneous, fast and effective freezing that will guarantee the micro-crystallisation of the fibres and cells contained in the food liquid, without subsequent breaking thereof upon unfreezing, thereby conserving all its original vitamin, protein and enzyme content.
The applicant is unaware of the current existence of any facility that is capable of producing pellets or granules from frozen liquids, through the application of liquefied gases.

Facility for the forming of frozen granules from food liquids


A switch-based sensor apparatus is disposed between the bottom cushion and frame of a seat. The sensor apparatus includes upper and lower rigid and generally parallel force translation plates biased apart by a set of springs, and a switch assembly. The force translation plates are joined so as to pre-load the springs while permitting closing movement between the upper and lower force translation plates in response to occupant seat force that exceeds the pre-load force of the springs. The switch assembly includes a circuit board and elastomeric switch pad defining one or more switch elements that are actuated by a prescribed closing movement between the upper and lower force translation plates for electrically detecting the presence of a seat occupant.

Motor vehicles are customarily equipped with seat occupant detection sensors for use in connection with occupant safety systems including seat belts and pyrotechnically deployed restraints such as air bags. For example, an occupant detection sensor can be used in connection with a seat belt switch to detect an unrestrained seat occupant and trigger an appropriate reminder. Additionally, occupant detection sensors can be used to enable or disable air bag deployment for a particular seating location in the vehicle, and potentially to classify the occupant by seated weight.
A common approach to seat occupant detection involves installing a pressure-responsive sensor on, in or under the bottom foam cushion of the seat, and comparing the measured pressure to calibrated thresholds to detect the presence of an occupant, and possibly distinguish between different classes of occupants. Various types of pressure-responsive sensors have been used for this purpose, including: resistive mats, fluid-filled bladders, and capacitive load cells.

Switch-based seat sensor for occupant presence detection


A method of fabricating an integrated circuit package assembly comprises forming solder bumps over a first surface of a first integrated circuit package. The method also comprises forming at least one first support structure over the first surface of the first integrated circuit package or over a second surface of a second integrated circuit package. The method further comprises mounting the first integrated circuit package over a second integrated circuit package. The first integrated circuit package is mounted over the second integrated circuit package with the first surface facing the second surface, and the at least one first support structure is electrically isolated.

Package on Package (POP) is an integrated circuit packaging technique to allow vertically combining multiple packages, e.g., discrete logic and memory ball grid array (BGA) packages. Two or more packages are mounted on top of one another, i.e. stacked, with an electrical interface to route electrical signals between them. This allows higher density integrated circuit chips usable in mobile devices, for example in mobile telephones or Personal digital assistants (PDA). However, due to different materials used in the combined multiple packages, the POP structure may have thermal (heat) related issues such as heat dissipation or mismatched thermal expansion coefficients.

Method of forming an integrated circuit package

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


A semiconductor optical device that achieves both of heat dissipation and light confinement and permits efficient current injection or application of an electric field is implemented. The semiconductor optical device includes: a core layer including an active region (1) made of a compound semiconductor; two cladding layers (5, 6) injecting current into the core layer; and a third cladding layer (4) made of a material having a larger thermal conductivity, a smaller refractive index, and a larger band gap than a material for any of the core layer and the two cladding layers.

Semiconductor devices are widely used as small-sized, low-power-consuming electronic elements (electronic devices). In particular, semiconductor optical devices including semiconductor lasers that perform light emission, light reception, light modulation and the like are important components that constitute an optical information communication system.
In the optical information communication system, a direct transition type compound semiconductor such as InP (indium phosphorus) or GaAs (gallium arsenide) is mainly used as a material for a semiconductor optical device from the viewpoint of light emission. However, materials such as InP and GaAs cannot be said to have a good thermal conductivity, and the characteristics have been limited by a temperature rise due to heat generation during operation of the device (for example, Non-Patent Literature 1).
On the other hand, although Si (silicon), which is widely used as a material for semiconductor devices, has a higher thermal conductivity than compound semiconductors such as InP and GaAs, Si is an indirect transition type semiconductor, so that it is very difficult to use Si as a material for the active layer of a light emitting device.
Further, Si has a refractive index higher than that of InP and GaAs, and cannot be used for a cladding layer from the viewpoint of light confinement. Si needs to be placed at a sufficient distance apart from the active layer (core) material composed of InP, GaAs, or the like via other cladding materials having a lower (smaller) refractive index, which also makes it difficult to improve the heat dissipation of the semiconductor optical device by using Si.
Furthermore, in the case of InP-based semiconductor optical devices, the difference in refractive index between the active layer (core) material (InGaAsP, InGaAlAs or the like) necessary for light confinement and the cladding material (InP or the like) cannot be set large. As a result, the improvement of the device characteristics by using Si are limited.
As a measure to increase the difference in refractive index between the core and the cladding of an InP-based semiconductor optical device, semiconductor lasers that use air or an insulating film (for example, a SiO2 film formed on a Si substrate) with a small (low) refractive index as a cladding material have been proposed (for example, Non Patent Literature 2). In this conventional example, the device characteristics are greatly improved in the region where the current injection is small, that is, the temperature rise is small.
However, in a case where an insulating material such as air or an insulating film is used for a cladding material, the heat conduction characteristic is deteriorated, so that the temperature rise of the device become greater, resulting in notable heat-based deterioration of characteristics.
Furthermore, in this structure, the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between InP, which is the main material for a core layer, and Si, which is the substrate material, limits the rising temperature in the temperature rising process of the manufacturing process.
A metal material is also considered as a material having a high thermal conductivity. For example, Au (gold) has a thermal conductivity higher than that of Si, and the real part of the complex refractive index is also small at the wavelength used for optical communication. However, since the absorption loss of light is large due to a large imaginary part of the complex refractive index, light confinement in the optical waveguide cannot be achieved, so that the material is not suitable for use as a cladding material. It is necessary to use, as a cladding material, a material having a small imaginary part (absorption loss of light) in the complex refractive index at the operating wavelength of the optical element.
Furthermore, there is also a problem such that in a semiconductor optical device in which a current is injected, or an electric field is applied to the semiconductor optical device formed on the substrate in a direction parallel to the substrate surface, a conductive material such as metal acts to cause carriers necessary for operation to escape or bypass, so that current injection and application of an electric field cannot be performed. In order for a cladding material to appropriately permit current injection or application of an electric field to the semiconductor optical device, the cladding material needs to have a band gap larger than those of the core layer and p-type and n-type semiconductor layers, and acts as a barrier for the semiconductor carriers in the semiconductor optical device.
Due to these problems, the structure of a semiconductor optical device that achieves both of light confinement and a high thermal conductivity and efficiently enables current injection or application of an electric field to the active layer of the semiconductor optical device has not been implemented so far.
On the other hand, attempts have been made to use SiC (silicon carbide) as material of substrate having a large thermal conductivity, and mount a semiconductor optical device chip on the substrate to improve heat dissipation (Non Patent Literature 3). However, Non Patent Literature 3 has a structure in which a pre manufactured laser chip is merely mounted on the SiC substrate, so that the structure is not designed for a material having a low refractive index and good heat dissipation to be used for light confinement in the vertical direction of the substrate. That is, Non Patent Literature 3 has a problem such that InP is adopted as a lower cladding material of the semiconductor optical device chip, and the difference in refractive index between the active layer and the core layer and the cladding layer is not large, so that the light confinement factor cannot be increased.
As described above, materials for improving heat dissipation and materials for achieving light confinement have been studied separately so far, but the optical properties of the materials for improving heat dissipation have not been taken into consideration. The electrical characteristics have not been taken into consideration either.

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A system and method for recording a photo chat session are provided. In one embodiment, an online photo album is hosted by a peer node in a peer-to-peer (P2P) photosharing system, and a photo chat session is established between an owner at the peer node and a guest viewing the online photo album at a guest node. At the end of the photo chat session, either the owner or the guest requests that the photo chat session be saved. In response, the peer node generates a chat history including a slideshow for each shared image recreating a portion of the photo chat session related to the shared image. In another embodiment, an online photo album is hosted by a central node in a centrally hosted photosharing system, wherein the central node generates the chat history in response to a request from either the owner or the guest.

Photosharing has been part of our society since the advent of personal cameras. After taking photographs, film is developed and the resultant printed pictures are organized into a photo album or simply stored in some fashion. Thereafter, the owner of the pictures may share the pictures with a guest. In doing so, the owner and the guest are typically sitting side-by-side such that the owner and the guest can comment on each picture. For example, the owner and guest may exchange comments on the people in the picture, where the picture was taken, the day that the picture was taken, and the like. In this manner, the owner and the guest easily converse while viewing the pictures.
With the proliferation of digital cameras, a number of online photosharing systems have emerged in order to enable efficient and convenient sharing of digital images using online photo albums. Two architectures for online photosharing systems are a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture or a centrally hosted architecture. In a P2P system, online photo albums are created and maintained on a peer node and served to guests from the peer node upon request. In a centrally hosted system, the photo albums are hosted on a central server and served from the central server to the guests upon request. These systems typically allow a guest to comment on a picture by entering the comment into a form. Thereafter, the owner of the picture may view the comment. However, these online photosharing systems do not allow the owner and guest to converse while an online photo album is being viewed by the guest. Thus, there remains a need for an online photosharing system that enables a photo chat session to be established between an owner of an online photo album and a guest viewing the online photo album.
Still further, since the participants in a chat session may desire to save the chat session, there remains a need for a system and method for recording a photo chat session between an owner of an online photo album and a guest viewing the online photo album.

System and method for recording a photo chat session


A semiconductor light emitting element includes: a semiconductor layer; first electrodes arranged in a staggered array on an upper surface of the semiconductor layer; and a second electrode on a lower surface of the semiconductor layer. Each first electrode includes an external connection, a first elongated portion which extends from the external connection toward a central region of the upper surface of the semiconductor layer, and a second elongated portion which extends from the external connection to a near-edge region of the semiconductor layer. In addition, the first electrodes are arrayed so that a near-tip part of the first elongated portion of each first electrode is opposed to a near-tip part of the first elongated portion of each of an adjacent one or ones of the first electrodes in a direction in which the first electrodes arranged, on the central region of the semiconductor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting element having an opposed-electrode structure in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are formed as a pair to sandwich semiconductor layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in the field of the semiconductor light emitting elements, uniform inplane distribution of light emission is demanded, and therefore uniform current density is required in the gap between the electrodes. For example, for the semiconductor light emitting elements in which a positive electrode (p-electrode) and a negative electrode (n-electrode) are formed as a pair on the same side of a semiconductor layer, techniques for homogenizing the current density by equalizing the distances between the p-electrode and the n-electrode as much as possible have been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. 2006-012916, 2001-345480, 2007-116153, and 2004-056109 (which are hereinafter referred to as JP 2006-012916 A, JP 2001-345480 A, JP 2007-116153 A, and JP 2004-056109 A, respectively). (See FIG. 8 in JP 2006-012916 A, FIG. 1 in JP 2001-345480 A, FIG. 2 in JP 2007-116153 A, and FIG. 3 in JP 2004-056109 A.)
Specifically, JP 2006-012916 A proposes a light emitting element having a comb-like electrode arrangement in which a p-electrode region and an n-electrode region extend deep into each other. JP 2001-345480 A proposes a semiconductor light emitting element in which the maximum distance between the p-electrode region and the n-electrode region is 500 micrometers or less.
JP 2007-116153 A proposes a semiconductor light emitting element in which a p-type electrode is sectioned by first and second n-type branch electrodes, and all the sections of the p-type electrode are electrically connected. JP 2004-056109 A proposes a semiconductor light emitting element in which linear n-electrodes are formed on a plurality of portions of an n-type layer exposed through a plurality of slits, and p-electrodes constituted by a p-ohmic electrode and current diffusion conductors are formed adjacent to the linear n-electrodes.
However, in the conventional semiconductor light emitting elements having an opposed-electrode structure in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are formed as a pair to sandwich semiconductor layers, it has been impossible to homogenize the current density in the gap between the electrodes even if the electrodes are arranged in a similar manner to one of the proposals by JP 2006-012916 A, JP 2001-345480 A, JP 2007-116153 A, and JP 2004-056109 A. The reason for the impossibility of homogenization can be considered as follows. That is, current flows in the thickness direction (surface normal direction) in the semiconductor light emitting elements having the opposed-electrode structure, while current strongly tends to flow in an in-plane direction in the semiconductor light emitting elements in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are formed as a pair on the same side of a semiconductor layer. Therefore, the current flow and the electrode arrangement which is suitable for the current flow are completely different between the semiconductor light emitting elements having the opposed-electrode structure and the semiconductor light emitting elements in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are formed on the same side of a semiconductor layer.
Particularly, in the semiconductor light emitting elements proposed by JP 2006-012916 A, JP 2001-345480 A, JP 2007-116153 A, and JP 2004-056109 A, the external connections and the branch points of elongated portions are arranged near the side faces of a semiconductor layer because of necessity to attain the greatest possible light emission area. Further, in the semiconductor light emitting elements proposed by JP 2006-012916 A, JP 2001-345480 A, and JP 2007-116153 A, electrodes are continually arranged near the side faces of semiconductor layers. Therefore, if the electrode arrangement in the semiconductor light emitting elements having the opposed-electrode structure is modified to an arrangement similar to the arrangements proposed by JP 2006-012916 A, JP 2001-345480 A, JP 2007-116153 A, and JP 2004-056109 A, the external connections and the branch points of elongated portions are arranged near the side faces of the semiconductor layers. Since current is likely to concentrate in the regions near the side faces because of the above electrode formation, and is inherently likely to concentrate around the external connections and the branch points of elongated portions, the concentration of current in the regions near the side faces is further enhanced by the above arrangement of the external connections and the branch points of elongated portions, so that the variations in the current density between the central region and the regions near the side faces of the semiconductor layers increase. That is, according to the conventionally proposed techniques, it is impossible to uniform the distribution of light emission in the semiconductor light emitting elements having the opposed-electrode structure.
The present invention has been developed in view of the above circumstances. The object of the present invention is to improve the overall distribution of light emission in a semiconductor light emitting element having the opposed-electrode structure (in which a positive electrode and a negative electrode are formed as a pair to sandwich semiconductor layers) by homogenizing the current density in the gap between the electrodes.


Provided herein are compositions, methods, and kits for detecting human Pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2). In certain embodiments, provided herein are HPgV-2 specific nucleic acid probes and primers, and methods for detecting HPgV-2 nucleic acid. In other embodiments, provided herein are HPgV-2 immunogenic composition compositions, methods of treating a subject with immunogenic HPgV-2 peptides, and methods of detecting HPgV-2 subject antibodies in a sample.

Within the family Flaviviridae, viruses belonging to the genus Hepacivirus have been shown to cause hepatitis (Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and GB virus (GBV-B)). The newly defined genus Pegivirus contains viruses similar to Hepaciviruses in genome organization but distinct in tropism and associated pathogenicity (Stapleton et al., J Gen Virol 2011: 92: 233-246). All members of the family Flaviviridae contain a positive sense, single stranded RNA genome of about 10 kb, that encodes for a single long open reading frame (ORF) polyprotein of about 3,000 amino acids (Lindenbach et al., Flaviviridae: The Viruses and Their Replication. Chapter 33. In Fields Virology Fifth Edition, (Knipe et al., Eds.) Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams and Williams, Philadelphia Pa. Pages 1101-1152). The polyprotein is cleaved into smaller functional structural and nonstructural (NS) components by a combination of host and viral proteases. The viral structural proteins are encoded at the amino terminal portion of the genome and include envelope glycoproteins and a nucleocapsid. While HCV and GBV-B encode a nucleocapsid protein, HPgV-1 does not appear encode a nucleocapsid protein in the polyprotein. Phylogenetic analysis show distinct evolutionary lineages between the genera but conserved amino acid motifs involved in the enzymatic functions of the NS3 helicase and the NS5 RNA dependent RNA polymerase. The genome is organized with 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) that are highly conserved and that are involved both in translation and in replication of the genome.
The Pegivirus genus, is named for the persistent (pe) GB virus (g) infection that is not associated with a specific pathogenicity. In 1995-1996, the first human pegivirus, GVB-C(HPgV-1), was detected independently by two groups in sera from patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis. Although originally discovered in chronic hepatitis patients, HPgV-1 appears to be lymphotropic, and not hepatotropic, and has not been associated with hepatitis or any other clinical illness in follow-up clinical and experimental studies. Some studies, however, have suggested that co-infection with HPgV-1 may slow the progression of HIV disease (Heringlake S, J Infect Dis 1998; 177:1723-1726). Together the incidence rate of HCV and HPgV-1 is estimated to be between 2-5% of the world's population (Stapleton et al., J Gen Virol 2011: 92: 233-246).
Pegiviruses infect a wide range of mammals, not limited to chimpanzees, new world primates, bats, rodents, and horses. Recently there have been viral discovery reports indicating the novel hepaciviruses and pegiviruses have been identified in rodents and that bats may be a natural reservoir for these genera of the Flavivirdae (Quan et al., PNAS 110: 8194-8199. 2013: Drexler et al., PLoS Pathog 9 (6) e1003438. 2013: Kapoor et al., mBIo 4(2) e000216-13. 2013). The only pegiviruses previously known to infect humans is HPgV-1. There is considerable sequence divergence between pegivirus variants in the structural proteins and conservation within the nonstructural NS3 and NS5B genes (Kapoor A, mBio. 2013 March-April; 4(2): e00216-13). Sampling of bats from different continents shows several distinct bat-derived pegivirus lineages suggesting bats are a natural reservoir for pegiviruses (Quan P, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. May 14, 2013; 110(20): 8194-8199). Characterization of HPgV-2 described in this patent shows the viral variant is distinct from the other human-tropic virus HPgV-1.
Recently, it has been proposed that Theiler's disease, the most common cause of acute hepatitis in horses, is likely to be caused by TDAV (Theiler's Disease Associated Virus), a newly described horse flavivirus, phylogenetically related to the GB viruses (Chandriana et al., PNAS 110 (15): E 1407-1415. 2013) and classified as a pegivirus. Thus, unlike the case for HPgV-1, where there has been no clear association with disease, TDAV appears to be causally related to hepatitis cases in horses.

Compositions and methods for detecting human pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2)

The Regents of the University of California


A method and system for generating light maps for use with an out the window, or a night vision goggles display utilizes inputs from a variety of different geographical and structural data sources. These data sources are then used to determine the locations of structures, roads, and areas of interest within a selected land area. Realistic light maps can then be created quickly and automatically.

The artificial rendering of an environment as seen by different types of sensors typically requires the implementation of dozens of types of special effects that, if not present, subvert the validity, and thus the value of the simulation. In order to portray a realistic simulated environment, the visual system used in connection with a simulation will need to possess the ability to generate effects such as: surfaces illuminated by the sun or moon depending on their position, the effects of various weather conditions, and illuminated colored surfaces representative of the temperature of ambient illumination present.
Concurrently, the electro-optical system of an effective simulation should be able to present features including: sensor gain representative of current scene illumination; gain related noise levels representative of the current scene illumination level; the reflective properties of materials with respect to the appropriate frequencies of light; proper panchromatic interpretation of visual colors; sensor exposure latitude limitations; illuminated surfaces affected by the position of the moon and other luminous objects; and lens flaring and light point haloing based off of the physical properties and emittance of the luminous object.
Often times certain simulations require an infrared system in order to portray a realistic environment. In order to be effective, such infrared systems should be able to present features including: proper panchromatic interpretation of visual colors (near-IR); proper representation of thermal properties of scene objects (far-IR); appropriate emittance properties for materials used in the database; heating and cooling related thermal properties; and sensor blooming representative of exposure latitude limitations of the sensor. In addition, simulated radar systems, both synthetic aperture and real-time, should be adapted to present: proper reflectance and absorption characteristics for all materials in the database; proper emitter source occulting and entity shadowing; and entity orientation based reflectance variations.
General effects require only simple mathematical calculations to accomplish. For example, illuminated surfaces that must emit without the need to cast light on non-luminant surfaces can be calculated similarly to simple surfaces possessing only reflective properties. Similarly, sensor gain effects need only average the scene illumination detected by the sensor being simulated and adjust the scene luminosity gamut accordingly. More dynamic effects however require more involved physics computations. For example, proper rendering of typical point light sources in visual and electro-optical simulations will require light halos, light blooming, scene gaining, point streaking, blockage near IR objects, reflections and light cast on non-emissive sources, to name a few.
The implementation of all requisite effects on all applicable objects in a simulation database naturally requires considerable amounts of computational time. With this in mind, many tactical real-time simulations can require the scene to be redrawn a minimum of sixty times each second, the minimal accepted rate considered to be imperceptible to most humans. Given the current state of graphics technology, or even that projected for the near future, those requisites cannot be met by the existing state of the art given the computational time required to calculate and render the physical properties of required effects for a minimal acceptable level of entities in a particular scene. FIG. 1 hereof is a flow diagram of one prior art method of generating a light map for an out the window display.
The success of a simulated training environment relies upon the simulation to immerse the trainee to the extent that they believe they're within the established environment. The most immersive effects however tend to also be the most prohibitively expensive, and thus computationally speaking, they are typically omitted from various simulations. This greatly limits the effectiveness of the immersive properties of a simulation, particularly at night.
There is thus a continuing need to improve the quality of optical effects so as to enhance the effectiveness of a given simulation.
It would also be desirable to shorten turnaround time in creating light maps to reduce delays in being able to implement a training program or practice an exercise. Typically, manually placing all the light points, adjustments, and other enhancements takes approximately three months.

System and method of generating light maps


Some embodiments of the application disclose a method and apparatus for paying a fare. When a user takes a public transit means, the user terminal establishes an NFC connection with the fare-collecting device of the public transit means, the user terminal transmits the encrypted account ID of the user to the fare-collecting device, and the fare-collecting device may request a server to deduct the fare from the account of the user.

Currently, the method of using the near field communication (NFC) function of a user terminal (for example, a mobile phone) to simulate the user terminal has come into use (e.g., as shown in FIG. 1, a mobile phone may be simulated into a public transit card so that the user can take a public transit means by "swiping the mobile phone.").
Generally, the user terminal which simulates a public transit card must have at least the following three hardware units: NFC front-end chip, NFC antenna and security chip. Among them, the NFC front-end chip and the NFC antenna are used to realize NFC communication, and the account ID and account balance of the public transit card are stored in the security chip in the form of hardware encryption, that is, the function of the security chip is to prevent the account balance from being maliciously tampered.
When using a user terminal to takes a public transit means, a user moves the user terminal close to a fare-collecting device of the public transit means, the fare-collecting device establishes an NFC connection with the user terminal, and the fare-collecting device has the permission to update the account balance stored in the security chip in the user terminal (for example, rewrite RMB100 into RMB98) over the NFC connection to collect the fare.
Based on the prior art, a low-cost method for paying a fare is desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A gas igniter device includes a first synthetic material casing containing igniter and an electronic control and a terminal board integrally coupled to the first casing and in turn including a cable clamp. The terminal board includes a second synthetic box-shaped material casing including: a cup-shaped body provided with a first and a second opposite side opening and an inlet oriented essentially perpendicular to the side openings; and a closing lid of the inlet hingedly restrained onto a first side of the cup-shaped body; a first end of the first casing is provided with a pair of electric power contacts for the igniter and is snappingly and removably coupled in use to the cup-shaped body within a first side opening with the contacts arranged inside the cup-shaped body in position facing the inlet. The lid is snappingly coupling to a second side of the cup-shaped body and provided with a first clamp for an electric power cable insertable in use through the second side opening; a second clamp joined to the first being integrally carried by a bottom wall of the cup-shaped body in addition to a third clamp adjacent to the second side opening.

It is known from EP1101067B1 by the Applicant an electronic gas igniter device in which there is integrated a box-like terminal board accommodating the electric power contacts therein, to which the terminals of an electric power cable are coupled in use; according to such embodiment, the box-like terminal board, possibly provided with a removable lid and a traditional wedge-shaped cable clamp device for the power cable, operated by means of screw, forms a single casing formed by non-conducting material with a cup-shaped body which accommodates igniter means composed by at least one secondary winding of a transformer and by electric contacts of the faston type connectable in use, in a known manner, to ignition electrodes of the burners of an electric household appliance, e.g. a cooking range, for feeding high-voltage electric impulses for generating sparks adapted to cause the ignition of the burners themselves.
The part of casing forming the terminal board contains therein electronic control means of the igniter means and the power contacts are directly wired to these and to the igniter means inside the device, so as to simplify the assembly operations to the greatest extent. Finally, a ground contact extends in a cantilevered way from the box-shaped part of the casing so that, when the same is fixed, usually by snapping means, to an electrically conductive part of the electric household appliance, it comes into contact with such conductive part, thus forming the grounding of the conductive part itself, usually formed by the cooking range.
The above-described known device is more than satisfactory. However, electric household appliance manufacturers are currently searching for an alternative solution which, on the one hand, may further simplify the assembly operations and which, on the other hand, may reduce the total cost of the device.
Furthermore, it is currently felt the need to allow, during maintenance, the replacement of the terminal board portion of the device independent from the replacement of the portion containing the igniter means (and vice versa), without affecting the possibility of handling on the assembly line and of assembling the two portions of the device as a single unit.

Electronic gas igniter device and integrated box-like terminal board featuring a cable clamp, in particular for electric household appliances

ITW Industrial Components S.R.L. con Unico Socio


Coating for an optical fiber and method of manufacturing thereof, the coating comprising at least one partly crosslinked polymer having a level of crosslinking which increases according to a radial distance as one moves from the internal surface (3) of the coating (4) which interfaces with a cladding section (2) to the external surface of the coating (4). The coating comprises a single resin which is composed of a volatile, multifunctional and moderately reactive monomer dissolved in a fast curable oligomer, having a low modulus when polymerized.

The present invention relates to a coating for optical fibers and a method of manufacturing thereof. More particularly the invention proposes a coating for optical fibers having graded properties so as to improve its resistance under mechanical constraints.
When optical fibers are subjected to mechanical constraints, their optical properties can decrease substantially. One of the main roles of a coating is that of protecting the fibers from such external perturbations. Thus the problem of obtaining a coating structure which could provide such protection in an efficient manner has existed in the related art.
A known solution is a single homogeneous layer for said coating. However as it is known, such single layer coating is not capable of providing an optimum resistance under a relatively high mechanical constraint. Due to theses drawbacks, single layer coating was replaced by a double coating technique using two different UV (ultraviolet) curing resins for coating, so as to provide a higher protection rate. In such structure, an internal layer having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of no more than about xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. and preferably about xe2x88x9230xc2x0 C. or even lower, and a Young""s modulus lower than 2 MPa, preferably 1 MPa or even lower, prevents microbending and an external layer with a relatively high Tg, generally approximately 50xc2x0 C. and a modulus of about one hundred times higher provides good resistance for fibers handling and cables manufacturing process and installation.
Although the double layer structures have provided improvements in the mechanical properties of the fiber optic coatings, they still present the certain drawback due to the fact that in order to obtain the appropriate mechanical properties the thickness of the overall coating is increased which is not a desirable consequence. Another drawback of such structure is that the associated costs for manufacture of the double layer coating become substantially high.
It is therefore desired to obtain a coating structure such that while the mechanical properties are appropriate so as to resist mechanical constraints, the overall thickness of the coating as well as its manufacturing costs are maintained at relatively low levels.
In order to overcome the above drawbacks, the coating for optical fibers and the method of manufacturing thereof, objects of the present invention are proposed. A typical optical fiber structure has a central core section which is the optical fiber itself, covered by a cladding section for example of silica.
The coating as such covers the cladding section surrounding the outer surface of the latter. The coating proposed by the invention is of a so called graded modulus profile, meaning that the coating is configured so as to present a graded mechanical property as one moves outward from the interface between the cladding section and the coating material toward the outer (external) surface of the coating. The graded properties may thus be obtained by different procedure as will be explained in more detail further below.
Accordingly one objet of the present invention is that of providing a coating for an optical fiber, comprising at least one partly crosslinked polymer, characterized in that the level of crosslinking increases according to the radial distance from an internal surface of the coating which interfaces with a cladding section of the fiber to the external surface of the coating.
According to an aspect of the present inventions there is provided the coating comprises a single resin characterized in that said resin is composed of a volatile, multifunctional and moderately reactive monomer dissolved in a fast curable oligomer, having a low modulus when polymerized.
A further object of the present invention is that of providing a method of manufacturing of a coated optical fiber comprising the steps of drawing of the fiber, deposition of the coating, cure of the coating and spooling of the optical fiber, characterized in that the coating comprises a single resin composed of a volatile, multifunctional and moderately reactive monomer dissolved in a fast curable oligomer, having a low modulus when polymerized and in that said monomer is not completely cured.
According to an aspect of the present invention said volatile monomer is evaporated before without being completely cured.
According to another aspect of the present invention ultraviolet irradiation is used for an incomplete curing of the single resin.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention electron beam irradiation is used for an incomplete curing of the single resin.

Coating for optical fibers and method of manufacturing thereof