A ball socket for connection with a ball stud resists accidental pull-out of the ball stud. The ball socket includes arms that form a socket cup for retaining the ball stud. The arms allow relatively easy insertion of the stud head, yet greatly resist accidental pull-out. The ball socket may be used in connection with disengageable or conventional ball studs. The ball socket may be an in-line design, peanut-style, or some other design. One known effective application of the present invention is in automotive lamp assemblies. The in-line socket may include a centrally located mounting hole and an undercut which forms a chamber for trapping the head of a mounting screw to facilitate assembly to the reflector.

This invention relates generally to pivot joints, and in particular to a pivot joint useful for connecting a headlamp adjuster to a reflector inside a headlamp assembly or an external reflector and lens headlamp assembly. The improved ball socket can be used effectively with disengageable ball stud or conventional spherical, semi-spherical or xe2x80x9cearedxe2x80x9d ball studs.
Pivotable spherical joints, commonly referred to as ball joints, include a ball stud engaged in a socket. Such joints have a wide variety of applications where a pivotable connection between two parts is desirable. For example, they may be used in many types of linear actuators and have been found to be particularly useful in automotive lamp assemblies. As seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,133, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, automotive lamp assemblies used as headlights typically comprise several basic parts: a support frame, a reflector, a lens, a bulb, and one or more adjusters.
In the automotive lamp assembly example, the support frame houses the reflector and the bulb on a pivotable mounting to allow the aim of the light to be adjusted using the adjuster. The lens seals the front of the assembly to protect it from the elements assailing the front end of the vehicle and provides an aerodynamic shape and attractive appearance. The reflector mounts inside the housing on one fixed ball joint and is adjustable horizontally and vertically using adjusters that interface with the reflector through moving ball joints. The moving ball joints are moveable by actuating the adjusters connected to the moving ball joints by a ball stud having a head and a shaft. Another type of automotive headlamp assembly that uses linear actuators is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,282. In this type of headlamp assembly the linear actuator is mounted to a bracket and the ball joint end supports a reflector, lens and light bulbs. This type of application requires a higher strength ball joint due to the additional weight being supported. In particular, pull-out strength of the ball joint needs to be greater to withstand vibration.
While one possible application of the present invention is in headlamp assemblies, other applications are possible and references to use in a headlamp assembly should not be deemed to limit the application of the present invention. Additionally, while the improved ball socket design described herein may be used with a disengageable ball stud, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,301, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, it can also be used advantageously with ball studs having xe2x80x9cearsxe2x80x9d or engaging tabs or semi-spherical ball stud designs. Examples of such adjusters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,725 and 5,186,531, an example of an xe2x80x9cearedxe2x80x9d ball stud is shown in FIG. 13, and an example of a semi-spherical ball stud is shown in FIG. 12.
Conventional ball joints for use in automotive lamp assemblies typically include a ball stud with a spherical engagement head extending from an adjuster. The ball stud is moveable linearly in and out of the adjuster. Examples of such ball studs and corresponding sockets are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,725; FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,992; FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,411; and FIGS. 10-14 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,532. Additionally, several U.S. Patents disclose ball joints for use in headlamp adjusting mechanisms: 4,974,123, 5,047,904, and 5,063,481.
As is known in the art, ball studs interface with a plastic socket 20, such as the one shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,548. The sockets 20 are attached to the reflector such that movement of the ball stud effectuates movement of the reflector. For example, socket 20 is attached to a boss 30 with a fastener 31. Boss 30 has an aperture 32 therein for receiving the fastener 31. The interface between the ball stud (not shown) and the socket 20 is such that the head of the ball stud cannot be readily removed from the socket 20 once the head is disposed therein. This is because fingers or tabs 22 point inwardly toward socket cup 24 at approximately a forty-five degree angle to retain the head in socket 20. The ball stud head cannot be allowed to slip from socket 20 once the adjuster is installed, or the adjuster will not be able to adjust the orientation of the reflector. When engaged in socket 20, the ball stud head is free to pivot within the socket cup 24 of socket 20.
While functionally quite effective, there is at least one shortcoming to using ball studs in conventional xe2x80x9ctabbedxe2x80x9d sockets. This shortcoming is that the head 22 can be pulled out of socket 20 under certain conditions of operation, such as vibration while supporting heavier reflectors or in heavier headlamp assemblies like the one previously referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,282, leaving the adjuster non-operational. This unexpected pull-out generally occurs because tabs 22 are flexible. Tabs 22 must be flexible enough to allow the head to be inserted into socket 20, while at the same time resist pull-out. Though pull-out of the ball stud is resisted to some degree of success, if enough pull-out force is applied, the tabs 22 deflect downward toward the socket cup 24 and the ball stud head xe2x80x9cpops out.xe2x80x9d Reducing the flexibility of tabs 22 is not an option because it would either be to difficult to insert the ball stud head into socket 20, or the elasticity of the tabs 22 would be lessened to the degree that they would break off during insertion of the ball stud.
Accordingly, the need exists for an improved ball socket that securely retains a ball stud placed therein, can be effectively used in connection with disengageable or conventional ball studs, is cost effective, and resists accidental pull-out. The present invention relates to an improved ball joint which is capable of being used in automotive lamp assemblies and solves the problems raised or not solved by existing ball joints. Of course, the present invention may be used in a multitude of non-automotive lamp situations where similar performance capabilities are required.
The present invention provides a ball socket that is cost-effective, easily installed in the lamp, securely retains a ball stud placed therein, and can be effectively used in connection with disengageable or conventional ball studs. Further, ball studs can be selectively inserted and removed from the corresponding socket as desired, yet greatly resist accidental pull-out of the ball stud.
The ball socket for use with a ball stud and a mounting screw is generally constructed so that the socket has a face plate having an opening for receiving the ball stud, and a combination of support legs and arms extending from the face plate to form a socket cup for receiving the ball stud. The ball socket includes a socket body having a socket cup with an undercut portion defining a chamber. This chamber is designed to hold the head of a mounting screw. A mounting screw having a head may be placed in the chamber of the socket, yet still rotate for attachment purposes. The arms extend from the face plate to the opposite end of the socket, near the undercut portion. The arms have an upper portion, middle portion and a bottom portion. During insertion of the ball stud into the socket cup, at least the upper portion and middle portion of each arm deforms.
The ball socket may be used in a headlamp assembly. Generally, the headlamp assembly is composed of a reflector having a boss and a ball socket mounted to the boss by a mounting screw. The ball socket has an opening for receiving a ball stud into the adjacent socket cup having several arms. The headlamp adjuster has a ball stud extending therefrom, which is engaged in the ball socket.
The ball socket can accept different types of ball studs, either conventional or disengageable. The ability to use the socket with a wide variety of ball studs provides a significant benefit to headlamp assemblers because it allows the use of one style of socket with a number of types of ball stud.
While one possible application of the present invention is in headlamp assemblies, many other applications are possible and references to use in a headlamp assembly should not be deemed to limit the uses of the present invention. The terms xe2x80x9cball stud,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cengagement head,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cheadxe2x80x9d as used herein should not be interpreted as being limited to spherical or semispherical shapes, rather, the engagement heads of ball studs in accordance with the present invention may have a wide variety of shapes and may include protrusions having semispherical or otherwise pivotably-shaped tips. The arms used in the socket can be a wide variety of shapes capable of selectively retaining the ball stud in the socket. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description, claims, and accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art socket shown in relation to a mounting screw and mounting boss;
FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the prior art socket shown in FIG. 1 taken generally along the line 2xe2x80x942;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a socket in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 4 is an end elevation of the socket shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a bottom cross-section of the socket shown in FIG. 3 taken generally along the line 5xe2x80x945 in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the socket shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view of the socket shown in FIG. 3 taken generally along the line 7xe2x80x947 in FIG. 4;
FIG. 8a is a schematic side view of a ball stud prior to insertion into a socket in accordance with the invention as shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 8b is a schematic side view of a ball stud during insertion into a socket in accordance with the invention as shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 8c is a schematic side view of a ball stud after insertion into a socket in accordance with the invention as shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the forces exerted on the socket as a ball stud is pulled from a seated position within a socket in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention having a peanut-style extension;
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a disengagable ball stud;
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a semi-spherical ball stud;
FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a ball stud with ears; and
FIG. 14 is a partial cross-section of an automotive lamp assembly having a socket constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention installed to a reflector.

Ball socket with improved pull-out force resistance


A light-emitting diode structure with transparent window covering layer of multiple films includes one (or several) first transparent covering layer(s) and one (or several) second covering layer(s), which are formed on the outside of the light-emitting diode chip. The light-emitting diode chip can emit light in more than two wavelengths to increase the transmission of the different wavelengths and the taking out efficiency of the light-emitting diode. The first transparent covering layer(s) and the second covering layer(s) are deposited each on the other on the outside of the light-emitting diode chip. The surface of the light-emitting diode with the covering layers is smooth. The contacting parts of the first transparent covering layer(s) and the second covering layer(s) are connected by a strong adhesive force and the contacting parts of the covering layer and light-emitting diode chip also are connected by a strong adhesive force.

The light-emitting diodes of III-V group nitrides were known since 1995. The manufacturing yield and properties have been improved continuously in the recent years. Light-emitting diodes were developed, which lack the blue color of the three primary colors in the visible light spectrum and further the light-emitting diodes were developed which generate white light by mixing colors of generated light wherein the light-emitting diode with the blue light is an important element for the light-emitting diode with white light. Generation of imitated white light produced by mixing blue light with yellow light or the white light produced by mixing red and green light with yellow light is the important application for the light-emitting diodes of III-V group nitrides.
Please refer to the FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B. The common light-emitting diode chip comprises a sapphire substrate 11′, a N type BGaN layer 12′, an InGaN multiple quantum wells layer 13′, P type GaN layer 14′, N type electrode 15′, P type electrode 16′ and a seal and package layer 17′. When the light emits from the InGaN multiple quantum wells layer 13′, the light has no specific transmission direction. The light propagates in all directions so only a part of the light will emit from the top of the light-emitting diode chip. Accordingly, common light-emitting diode chips have low taking out efficiency of the light and only up to 50% of the generated light emits from the surface of the light-emitting diode chip. A portion of 50% light will be absorbed by P type electrode 16′, to further reduce the light take out. White light is composed of the blue, green and red lights generated in radiating layers of the chip or is produced by adding the fluorescence powder into the radiating layers. At present, only a single seal and package layer is used to seal the light-emitting diode with the white light. Because the blue, green and red light have different transmissions for seal and package layers due to the different refractive indexes thereof, use of a single seal and package layer may reduce the light strength of the mixed blue, green and red lights in the conventional LEDs.
A light-emitting diode structure of III-V group nitrides with light reflection layer of multiple films and the manufacturing method is presented in Taiwan Patent No. 229954 which was filed on 29 Jun. 2004. The patent discloses the light-emitting diode structure of III-V group nitrides with light reflection layer of multiple films, which has a light reflection layer of multiple films deposited each on the other up above the covering layer of N type GaN and below the transparent electric conduction film and formed from two materials having different refractive coefficients. The light reflection layer of multiple films connects with a part of P type electrode, N type electrode and in contact with a layer of N type Ω. The light reflection layer of multiple films is used for covered crystal structure and reflective light.
Accordingly, when red, green and blue lights are mixed to form light-emitting diode with white light, these three wavelengths have different transmissions for the seal and package layer. When the light-emitting diode emits lights of different wavelengths, increase of the taking out efficiency of the light is a very important issue.

Light-emitting diode structure with transparent window covering layer of multiple films


The invention relates to an arrangement for preparing a gas in a closable reactor by supplying the reactor with carbon-based biomass or chopped wood material, such as chips, in substantially oxygen-free conditions, by allowing the biomass or wood material to gasify at a high temperature, and by recovering the gas generated in a gasification reaction. In that the arrangement the reactor has its interior defined by a feed pipe whose inlet end is closable with a shut-off valve, especially with a ball valve, and whose outlet end adjoins a heatable gasification dome, biomass or chopped wood material is delivered from the feed pipe's inlet end into the reactor's interior, the reactor's interior is supplied with free water/water vapor in its supercritical state, which is optionally prepared catalytically by splitting water/water vapor, the biomass or wood material is conveyed into a gasification space of the reactor's interior, which is in connection with the heated gasification dome and which is adapted to have existing conditions selected in a manner such that the water present in said gasification space is present in its supercritical state, and the gas generated in the gasification reaction is recovered.

In the production of wood gas particularly from wood material, and even more specifically from chips, several options are available.
From wood material, such as chips, can be produced wood gas by introducing excess air into a fuel and air mixing chamber or mixer head. In this case, however, the resulting gas contains a fairly large amount of unburned inert nitrogen gases and the combustion value of generated wood gas per unit of supplied wood material remains low.
In case an attempt is made to increase the amount of gas per unit of supplied wood material by introducing pure oxygen into the mixer head, the production costs will rise dramatically because of the price of oxygen feed.
Both foregoing problems are at least partially avertable in so-called pyrolysis, wherein wood material, such as chips, is heated while attempting at the same time to avoid the passage of air or oxygen into the mixer head or gasification space. Although the pyrolysis of wood material, such as chips, provides a solution to the foregoing problems relating to the produced gas having a low combustion value per unit of supplied wood material, one major problem in pyrolysis results from impurities which migrate from wood material to gas fraction and hamper further processing of the product for example with a well-known Fischer-Tropsch process, and from impurities, most notably tars, which are left in so-called pyrolysis oil as a result of incomplete combustion. The elimination of impurities contained in pyrolysis oil and in gas fraction entails normally a considerable increase in pyrolysis costs.
The pyrolysis-generated impurities can be reduced with a so-called ablative pyrolysis in which wood material, such as chips, is gasified at a high temperature and at a relatively high pressure, but the problem here turns out to be a low conversion of wood material, resulting in 30-35% of unburned carbon residue per kilogram of supplied dry wood material.

Arrangement and method for preparing a gas


Embodiments of the present invention generally provide an input device. The input device includes a first plurality of sensor electrodes disposed substantially parallel to each other and a second plurality of sensor electrodes disposed substantially perpendicular to the first plurality of sensor electrodes. An areal extent of the first and second sensor electrodes defines a sensor region. The input devices further includes a plurality of routing traces disposed within the sensor region of the input device. A first sensor electrode included in the first plurality of sensor electrodes is coupled to a first routing trace included in the plurality of routing traces, and the first routing trace is routed through a second sensor electrode included in the first plurality of sensor electrodes.

Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to capacitive sensors having improved response symmetry.
Description of the Related Art
Input devices including proximity sensor devices (also commonly called touchpads or touch sensor devices) are widely used in a variety of electronic systems. A proximity sensor device typically includes a sensing region, often demarked by a surface, in which the proximity sensor device determines the presence, location, and/or motion of one or more input objects. Proximity sensor devices may be used to provide interfaces for the electronic system. For example, proximity sensor devices are often used as input devices for larger computing systems, such as touchpads integrated in, or peripheral to, notebook or desktop computers. Proximity sensor devices are also often used in smaller computing systems, such as touch screens integrated in cellular phones or tablet computers.
Conventional mutual capacitance proximity sensors typically include two kinds of electrodes—referred to as transmitter electrodes and receiver electrodes—running orthogonal to each other to form a matrix of unique transmitter-receiver intersections. Each electrode is electrically connected at two edges of the sensor area, necessitating a border width in which conductive routing traces are disposed.
The requirement of a border width in conventional proximity sensors prevents the active area of the proximity sensor and, in some cases, the viewable portion of the display device from extending to the edge of the input device. Additionally, signals transmitted through the conductive routing traces may couple to nearby sensor electrodes, creating an asymmetrical response at transmitter-receiver intersections that are located near the border width of the input device.
Therefore, there is a need for improved electrodes configurations for mutual capacitance proximity sensors.

Input device having a reduced border region


A tire coating apparatus for applying fluid to vehicle tires in a vehicle washing system, includes a pair of mechanical applicators, which each have at least one coating applicator disposed thereon for contacting the vehicle tires to apply the fluid. One mechanical applicator is intended to engage the tires on a right side of a vehicle while the other mechanical applicator is intended to engage the tires on a left side of the vehicle. The mechanical applicators also include a guide portion for guiding the vehicle wheel when a patron had elected not to have a coating fluid applied to the vehicle wheels. The mechanical applicators are rotatable between an initial position where the coating applicators are in a non-coating position to a second position where the coating applicators are intended to contact a vehicle tire.

It is well known in the vehicle washing industry to perform various automated steps during the vehicle washing process as the vehicle is conveyed through a washing facility or as the vehicle washing system moves or translates with respect to the vehicle. As is known, such automated steps are designed to wash particular portions of the vehicle. Over the years, numerous advances to such washing facilities have expedited and improved the washing process while decreasing the manpower requirements of the facility. One area where improvements have been focused has been with respect to tire washing apparatus or systems.
Accordingly, many current vehicle washing facilities allow patrons to pay an extra fee, in addition to the fee for the vehicle wash, to have a dressing, coating fluid or the like applied to the vehicle tires to make them more visually attractive. For many years, commercially available coatings have been manually applied to vehicle tires to substantially improve their finish and provide a finishing touch. Obviously, manually applying the coating to the vehicle tires is labor intensive and expensive. As will be appreciated, manual application of the tire coating fluid provides various disadvantages, including inconsistent application of the coating and difficulty in controlling the amount of fluid manually applied to each tire.
In an effort to address the issues and deficiencies of manual application of the tire coating fluid, various types of apparatus and methods have been employed for automatically applying such a coating fluid to the tires after they have been cleaned. One such automatic system involves a tire coating apparatus that automatically applies the coating fluid to the vehicle tires. In this system, the coating fluid is applied by spraying the fluid directly to the vehicle tires through a plurality of spray nozzles as the vehicle passes the tire coating apparatus. Because the tire coating occurs after the vehicle wash, the tire coating apparatus is generally located near the exit of the vehicle washing facility. While this system eliminates the step of manually applying the fluid to the tires, it also has disadvantages.
For example, in the type of system where the coating fluid is applied by spray nozzles to the tires, a large quantity of coating fluid is wasted, as the spray nozzles spray the coating fluid to both the tires and wheels, instead of just the tires. This does not take into account any coating fluid that is sprayed beyond the periphery of the tire, which is also a waste. This obviously increases the material cost of the vehicle washing process. Additionally, once the coating fluid is sprayed onto the vehicle tires in this fashion, the tires typically must be wiped down to smooth out any dripping fluid or to remove any excess fluid. This obviously requires labor either on the part of someone at the vehicle washing facility or on the part of the patron after they leave the facility. Additionally, this system does not necessarily reduce material costs as coating fluid is applied to unnecessary areas.
Other systems have been designed that involve applicator pads, which automatically apply the coating fluid to the vehicle tires. With these systems, the coating fluid is applied first to the applicator pads, which consist of cushion-like foam structures. Thereafter, the applicator pads are positioned such that they are intended to contact the vehicle tires as the vehicle passes through the vehicle washing system to apply the coating fluid to the tires. Utilization of these applicator pads to apply the coating fluid to the tires addresses some of the disadvantages present with the other systems that spray fluid directly to the tires.
Further, as mentioned above, because the coating fluid is applied after completion of the washing process, the applicator pads in these systems are located near the end of the conveying system for the vehicle washing system.
Moreover, many of the tire coating mechanism that utilize applicator pads, are intended to reciprocate between a tire contacting position and a retracted position depending upon whether the additional fee for the tire coating process has been paid for by the patron. However, because the vehicles do not always pass down the conveyor in a straight line and often wander to one side of the system or the other, some vehicles that have not paid the additional fee for the separate tire coating process can inadvertently contact the tire coating mechanism with its tires on one side of the vehicle. This can cause the pads one side of the tire coating mechanism to wear prematurely. This also increases the expense of the system and decreases its longevity. This is also undesirable, as some patrons do not want the tire coating service. Moreover, in in-bay washing systems where patrons can drive through the vehicle wash system, which is unattended, patrons sometimes drive through twice favoring the opposite sides of the vehicle in order to receive the tire coating services at no charge.
Therefore, a need exists for a tire cleaning and finishing system that addresses the disadvantages present with existing systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A series of rt-3DE images of the mitral valve are quantitatively analyzed so as to enable, for example, prediction of the degree of recurrent ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) and comprehensive assessments of leaflet tethering and “tenting” for the entire mitral valve. In accordance with the method, first, the rt-3DE images are registered with symmetric diffeomorphism to obtain information about how the mitral valve deforms over time. Second, the mitral valve is segmented with the level sets or other known segmentation method at each time point in the cardiac cycle with minimal user interaction. Third, the information about mitral valve structure is reduced into a 3D medial model, a compact representation of shape. In other words, a volumetric segmentation of the mitral valve is condensed to a form that is amenable to clinically relevant morphometry.

Mitral valve repair has become the treatment of choice for patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) due to myxomatous leaflet degeneration and post-infarction ventricular remodeling (ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR). In this condition, the mitral leaflets are structurally normal but valve geometry is grossly disturbed due to a variable combination of leaflet tethering and annular dilation. However, recent long-term studies have indicated that the recurrence rate of significant MR after repair is much higher than previously thought, particularly in patients with IMR. Precise three-dimensional (3D) modeling of the mitral valve has the potential to improve the understanding of valvular mechanics and to allow for an optimized patient—specific approach to mitral valve surgery. Recent technological advancement in real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (rt-3DE) overcomes the limitations of two-dimensional echocardiography by facilitating through-plane motion analysis and three-dimensional reconstruction of valve geometry. Current commercial rt-3DE software packages provide visual representations of the mitral valve but enable only simple mitral valve quantification, such as manual segmentation and user-guided measurement of the valve dimensions. It is desired to apply automated image processing methods to rt-3DE image data to provide a means of quantitatively assessing mitral valve geometry and function. Such practical, quantitative tools would have the potential to assist in clinical decision-making, to guide therapeutic intervention, to examine the outcome of prevention and treatment strategies, and to develop research models and tools for study of the function of the mitral valve.
IMR is a common clinical phenomenon that results from complex 3D changes in valve anatomy. IMR increases mortality even when mild, with a strong graded relationship between severity and reduced survival. The current surgical treatment for IMR is undersized ring annuloplasty. Results of this approach are suboptimal. Automated rt-3DE analysis has the potential to enhance the understanding of the mechanism of IMR and to improve the therapeutic result. Preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that IMR results from two distinct anatomic disturbances: 1) subvalvular remodeling that promotes leaflet tethering, and 2) annular dilation that produces central malcoaptation in the annular plane. Although annuloplasty effectively treats annular dilation, it does not improve and may even exacerbate leaflet tethering. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that commonly used annuloplasty devices significantly reduce leaflet curvature, thereby increasing valvular stress and further compromising repair durability. Leaflet augmentation techniques have the potential to improve repair results by alleviating leaflet tethering and flattening. However, using automated rt-3DE analysis of the mitral valve, it is believed that combining posterior leaflet augmentation with ring annuloplasty in an ovine model of IMR will decrease leaflet tethering and improve the efficacy of repair compared to undersized annuloplasty alone.
A number of imaging modalities have been utilized for qualitative and quantitative analysis of mitral valve function. These include 2D and 3D echocardiography (2DE and 3DE), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multidetector computed tomography (MDCT), sonomicrometry, and biplane radiation with tantalum markers. Traditionally, assessment of the mitral valve has been achieved by 2D ultrasound image analysis, which derives structural and dynamic information from one cross-sectional view of the valve. With the advent of 3D ultrasound, the possibility of obtaining a full 3D assessment of cardiac structures was introduced. This early 3D technology, however, was considerably limited by poor spatial and temporal resolution. With recent advances in transducer design and super-computed signal processing, high-resolution 3D ultrasound images of the heart can now be acquired at 20-30 frames per second. This capability, combined with the advancement of transesophageal probes, opens a previously unexplored avenue for the study of mitral valve architecture and mechanics. Although current software packages allow for manual segmentation and user-guided measurement of valve dimensions in rt-3DE datasets, the quantification is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To address this issue, it is desirable to develop a tool for comprehensive, semi-automated analysis of the mitral valve using the latest rt-3DE technology. The invention addresses these needs in the art.

Automatic quantification of mitral valve dynamics with real-time 3D ultrasound

The Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania


A process for the preparation of a methylpolysilane having a controlled carbon content is provided which includes the steps of heating together to form a reaction mixture at least one alkoxy-functional disilane selected from the group consisting of disilanes having two, three, and four alkoxy groups bonded to the silicon atoms, and mixtures thereof, with either an alkoxy-functional silane having at least one unsaturated substituent or an unsaturated hydrocarbon compound in an amount effective to increase the carbon content of the resulting polymer. The reaction is carried out in the presence of a catalyst which is a source of alkoxide ions. The methylpolysilane polymers produced may be pyrolyzed to form ceramic compositions having increased carbon contents. The ceramics may find use as films, fibers, and coatings, as well as the many other uses to which silicon carbide ceramics have heretofore been put.

The present invention relates to the preparation of methylpolysilanes, and more particularly to a method of preparing methylpolysilanes by a catalyzed redistribution of alkoxydisilanes, and the methylpolysilanes produced thereby.
In recent years, workers in the art have developed procedures for the preparation of silicon carbide ceramic materials from polymeric silane precursors such as methylpolysilanes. Silicon carbide possesses a number of desirable properties such as chemical inertness, semiconducting properties, extreme hardness and stability at very high temperatures. Accordingly, silicon carbide ceramics have found use in electrical heating units, furnace walls, mufflers, abrasives, rocket nozzles, and automotive and turbine engine parts. Further, it has been found that the use of polymeric precursors permits the formation of fibers and thin films or coatings of silicon carbide which were heretofore extremely difficult to form using inorganic sources of silicon carbide.
Baney et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,651, teach a procedure for the preparation of methylpolysilanes having halogen substituents through a catalyzed redistribution reaction utilizing tetrabutylphosphonium chloride as the catalyst. The Baney et al process has the advantage of being able to utilize as a starting material the process residue from the direct synthesis of organochlorosilanes. Direct synthesis of organochlorosilanes involves passing the vapor of an organic chloride over heated silicon and a catalyst. See, Eaborn, Organosilicon Compounds, Butterworths Scientific Publications, 1960, page 1. This residue contains a mixture of di-, tri-, and tetra-substituted halodisilanes. However, the halogen substituents on the methylpolysilanes of the Baney et al process have resulted in some difficulties in handling the compositions which tend to auto-ignite when exposed to oxygen or moisture. Moreover, pyrolysis of the compositions to form ceramics releases large quantities of corrosive HCl or HBr gases which must be handled and properly disposed of.
Baney et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,558, teach an improved procedure which converts the halogen substituents on the methylpolysilanes to alkoxy or phenoxy substituents. However, the improved procedure still requires a two step process of converting halodisilanes to halo-substituted methylpolysilanes and then converting the halogen substituents to alkoxy or phenoxy-substituted compositions.
Other workers have attempted to produce methylpolysilanes by a single step redistribution reaction using methoxydisilane starting materials. For example, Ryan et al, 84 J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 4730 (1962), reported the redistribution of 1,1,2,2-tetramethoxy-1, 2-dimethyldisilane to higher polysilanes in the presence of sodium metal. Watanabe et al, in a series of published reports, taught that metal alkoxide catalysts could be used in the redistribution reaction. See, e.g., Watanabe et al, J. C. S. Chem Comm. (1977) 534; Watanabe et al, J. C. S. Chem. Comm. (1977) 704; Watanabe et al, 128 J. Organometallic Chem. 173 (1977); Watanabe et al, J. C. S. Chem. Comm., (1978) 1029; Watanabe et al, 218 J. Organometallic Chem. 27 (1981); and Watanabe et al, 244 J. Organometallic Chem. 329 (1983).
Atwell et al, 7 J. Organometallic Chem. 71 (1967), have also reported the redistribution of alkoxy disilanes to higher organopolysilanes. However, in the Watanabe and Atwell reports, the higher organopolysilane was either uncharacterized, unidentified, or was of a low molecular weight (less than 6 silicon atoms in the chain).
More recently, Frey et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,046, teach a method for preparing higher molecular weight methylpolysilanes by reacting a trialkoxy-substituted disilane, and optionally a tetraalkoxy-substituted disilane, with a silane having at least one silicon to hydrogen bond in the presence of an alkali metal alkoxide catalyst. The methylpolysilanes are taught to be useful as negative photoresist coatings and ceramic precursors. However, the starting materials of Frey must be separately prepared. Frey does not teach the ability to use the process residue from the direct synthesis process which contains mixtures of di-, tri-, and tetra-substituted materials.
Accordingly, the need still exists in the art for a relatively simple single step process for the production of higher molecular weight methylpolysilanes which are free of halogen substituents. Further, there is still a need in the art for such a process in which readily available, inexpensive starting materials containing difunctional substituted disilanes can be utilized.

Methylpolysilanes and method for their preparation


In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including an ultrasonic probe, a scan controller, a storage unit, and an image generation unit, the scan controller receives a trigger signal every heartbeat period, scans each of a predetermined number of blocks of a particular diagnostic region of a body under examination with an ultrasonic beam a plurality of times in response to the trigger signal. The storage unit converts an acquired reflection signal into image data and stores the image data of an amount corresponding to a period in which the body under examination is fully scanned a plurality of times. The image generation unit selects image data from the image data stored in the storage unit for the respective blocks in accordance with the spatial arrangement order without being restricted by the temporal acquisition order, and generates a full image of the body under examination by connecting the selected image data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured to three-dimensionally scan the inside of a body under examination using an ultrasonic wave in response to a trigger signal generated based on an electrocardgram signal or the like, and a method of controlling such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying a three-dimensional moving image has been in active development, and it has become possible to display a three-dimensional diagnostic image with higher resolution over a larger region than in conventional two-dimensional images.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus generates a diagnosis image using an ultrasonic wave propagating in a living body, and thus the time from the transmission of an ultrasonic pulse to the reception of a reflected wave from a living body is basically the same for a three-dimensional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a two-dimensional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. To scan a three-dimensional region in a living body with high resolution, a great number of scanning beams are required. Thus, the three-dimensional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus generally needs a longer time to scan a specified region than the two-dimensional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus needs. In other words, when the spatial resolution is equal, the frame rate of the three-dimensional image (i.e., the frequency at which the three-dimensional image is updated) obtained by the three-dimensional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is theoretically lower than the frame rate of the two-dimensional image obtained by the two-dimensional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.
To solve the problem described above, various techniques have been proposed (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,175, JP-A 2007-20908, JP 3,046,424 B etc.). A basic idea of these techniques is to divide a full region (volume) under examination for diagnosis (hereinafter, referred to simply as a full volume) into a plurality of small regions (hereinafter referred to as sub volumes), and obtain a three-dimensional image of the full volume by connecting image data obtained by scanning three-dimensional space of the sub volumes at a high frame rate. In this technique, the observation time of sub volumes is different from each other. Therefore, it is important to connect sub volumes so that good spatial continuity is achieved.
Depending on a part under diagnosis, the part can move due to breathing or a heartbeat. To avoid a problem due to the motion of the part under diagnosis, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,175 discloses a technique to acquire a plurality of image data in a sub volume in synchronization with the motion of a heart. In this technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,175, a three-dimensional moving image of a heart is produced in real time as described briefly below.
In this technique, a signal of an electrocardiogram, i.e., an ECG signal is used as a signal synchronous with motion of a heart. More specifically, an R-wave signal, which appears at the end of a diastolic period, is used as an ECG trigger signal.
A three-dimensional full volume of a heart under examination is divided into four sub volumes, and image data of one heartbeat is captured in synchronization with the ECG trigger signal for each sub volume. Note that the image data of one heartbeat includes a plurality of frames of images. For example, 20 frames of images of one sub volume are obtained by repeatedly scanning the sub volume 20 times for one heartbeat (during one interval of the ECG trigger signal). In this case, if the repetition period of the heartbeat is assumed to be one second, the image data of each sub volume is obtained at a frame rate of 20 fps, which is reasonably high to obtain a moving image representing motion of a heart.
The plurality of frames of image data obtained for each sub volume are connected to obtain a full volume of image data as follows. That is, frame images that are same in "time phase" are extracted from the plurality of fame images of sub volumes and are connected together so as to obtain a frame image of the full volume. The "time phase" refers to a delay with respect to a time at which an ECG trigger signal is generated. The motion associated with contraction and relaxation of the heart normally has periodicity synchronous with the ECG trigger signal. Therefore, by extracting frame images which are equal in the time phase from the respective sub volumes and connecting the extracted frame images, it is possible to obtain good spatial continuity between the sub volumes. In practice, successive "time phase numbers" are assigned to frame images in scanning order from one closest to an ECG trigger signal, and an image of a full volume is synthesized by connecting frame images having an equal time phase number. For example, in a case where the full volume is divided into four sub volumes A, B, C, and D and each sub volume is scanned repeatedly 20 times, a total of twenty frame images with time phase numbers of 0 to 19 are obtained for each sub volume. Frame images with each equal time phase number are extracted from the sub volumes A, B, C, and D and the extracted frame images are connected together thereby obtaining a synthesized image of the full volume corresponding to the time phase number. The combining of frame images is performed for each of the time phase numbers so as to obtain synthesized full volume images with time phase numbers from 0 to 19. Thus, a total of twenty synthesized full volume frame images are obtained for each ECG trigger signal. Note that the frame rate of the full volume images is equal to that of the sub volume images. Thus, for example, a full volume moving image with a frame rate of 20 fps is obtained.
As described above, in the conventional techniques, each sub volume is scanned a plurality of times in response to each ECG trigger signal so that each scanning provides one frame image (a frame image of a sub volume). The number of repetitions of scanning for each sub volume is predetermined based on the period of the ECG trigger signal before diagnosis using a three-dimensional image is started.
However, our heartbeat period is not necessarily constant. On the contrary, even persons with a normal and healthy body have a variation of about 10% in the heartbeat period. In the case of patients having a disease such as arrhythmias, a greater variation in heartbeat period can occur. Thus, the period of the ECG trigger signal also varies according to the variation in heartbeat period.
Therefore, the number of repetitions of scanning for each sub volume is not necessarily equal to a value determined before diagnosis is started. For example, even if the number, N, of repetitions of scanning for each sub volume is set to 20 before diagnosis is started, the number, N, of repetition of scanning can vary to a lower value such as 18 or a higher value such as 22 depending on a variation in heartbeat period occurring after the diagnosis is started. This can cause such a problem that when frame images with the same phase number are tried to be connected, there is no scanning data for some sub volume.
For example, if the heartbeat period is short in a scan period for a sub volume A and thus scanning data is obtained for only time phase numbers from 1 to 18, and if the heartbeat period becomes longer for sub volumes B, C, and D following the sub volume A and thus scanning data is obtained for all time phase numbers from 1 to 20, then the following problem can occur. When it is attempted to produce a full volume image by connecting frame images with a time phase number 19 or 20, it is impossible to achieve spatial continuity in the full volume because there is no frame image with a time phase number 19 or 20 for the sub volume A. Furthermore, for example, in the sub volume A, the maximum obtainable time phase number varies depending on the fluctuation of the heartbeat period, and thus scanning data can be acquired only up to the time phase number 18 in a particular period, while scanning data can be acquired up to the time phase number 20 in another period. As a result, when the full volume image is displayed in the form of a moving image, temporal continuity is not obtained in the sub volume A.
As described above, in the conventional techniques, there is a possibility that spatial or temporal discontinuity occurs in the image due to fluctuations of the heartbeat period. The discontinuity of the image can cause a problem in diagnosis using the image.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of preventing or reducing spatial/temporal discontinuity in a synthesized image regardless of a fluctuation of the heartbeat period, and a method of controlling such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and method of controlling the same


Systems and methods for analyzing blood samples, and more specifically for performing a white blood cell (WBC) differential analysis. The systems and methods screen WBCs by means of fluorescence staining and a fluorescence triggering strategy. As such, interference from unlysed red blood cells (RBCs) and fragments of lysed RBCs is substantially eliminated. The systems and methods also enable development of relatively milder WBC reagent(s), suitable for assays of samples containing fragile WBCs. In one embodiment, the systems and methods include: (a) staining a blood sample with an exclusive cell membrane permeable fluorescent dye, which corresponds in emission spectrum to an excitation source of a hematology instrument; (b) using a fluorescence trigger to screen the blood sample for WBCs; and (c) using measurements of (1) axial light loss, (2) intermediate angle scatter, (3) 90° polarized side scatter, (4) 90° depolarized side scatter, and (5) fluorescence emission to perform a differentiation analysis.

This invention relates to hematology systems and methods. More specifically, this invention relates to systems and methods for analyzing blood samples to identifying, classify, and/or quantify white blood cells (WBC) and WBC sub-populations in a sample of blood.
The development of an accurate and efficient hematology assay for analysis of WBCs, including counting and classification, has been a challenge. One reason for the difficulty in developing an accurate and efficient assay is the relatively low concentration of WBCs (approximately 0.1% to 0.2%) amongst total blood cells in a sample. Attempts to engineer advanced methods for analyzing WBCs, and formulating robust WBC reagent(s), have remained one of the top priorities in the area of automated hematology analyzers.
Typically, lysis of red blood cells (RBCs) is required to eliminate interference from RBCs, and concentrate WBCs, before counting and classifying WBCs and WBC sub-populations. More specifically, accurate and efficient WBC analysis requires: (1) complete lysis of RBCs in less than 30 seconds; (2) the breaking of large fragments of RBCs into smaller pieces after lysis; and (3) the preservation of WBCs for accurate counting and proper classification. If the blood sample is "under-lysed," unlysed RBCs, even in very small concentrations, interfere with WBC counting and differential analysis. Similarly, larger fragments of lysed RBCs can interfere with WBC counting and differential analysis. In practice, it is difficult to separate unlysed RBCs and/or larger fragments of lysed RBCs from lymphocytes (the smallest WBCs). If the blood sample is "over-lysed," the classification of WBCs may be adversely affected on account of excessive damage to cell membranes of WBCs.
In some instances, the difficulty of WBC analysis may be compounded by the presence of two special types of samples; namely, samples containing lysis-resistant red blood cells (rstRBCs) and samples containing fragile lymphocytes. In the case of samples containing rstRBCs, the WBC count and percentage of lymphocytes are falsely reported "high," on account of the contribution of particles other than true lymphocytes, consequently posing a risk of improper diagnoses and treatments for patients. In the case of samples containing fragile lymphocytes, damaged lymphocytes may not show their characteristics in a WBC differential analysis. In addition, exposed nuclei of WBCs may be counted as nucleated red blood cells (nRBCs), resulting in a false positive count of nRBCs in certain assays.

White blood cell analysis system and method


There is provided a high frequency switch which is satisfactory in terms of both insertion loss characteristics and harmonic characteristics. The high frequency switch includes: a common port outputting a transmission signal to an antenna; a plurality of transmission ports each having the transmission signal input thereto; and a plurality of switching units each connected between the plurality of transmission ports and the common port to conduct or block the transmission signal from each of the transmission ports to the common port, wherein each of the switching units includes a plurality of series-connected MOSFETs formed on a silicon substrate, the plurality of MOSFETs are any one of body contact-type FETs and floating body-type FETs, and each of the switching units includes both of the body contact-type FETs and the floating body-type FETs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high frequency switch, and more particularly, to a high frequency switch used in a front end portion of a wireless communications apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a technology for implementing a high frequency switch used in a front end portion of a mobile phone, or the like, by a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) using a silicon on insulator (SOI) process, has been developed.
Generally, a body (a well, a backgate) of the MOSFET using the SOI process is connected to ground potential (hereinafter, a field effect transistor (FET), of which a body is connected to the ground potential, will be referred to a "body contact-type FET") (please refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-515657).
However, when a high frequency switch is configured to use a body contact-type FET, good harmonic characteristics may be obtained therein; however, insertion loss characteristics are deteriorated, thereby causing difficulty in implementing the high performance of an apparatus.


A system for producing an encoded digital audio recording has an audio encoder that encodes a digital audio recording having a number of audio channels or audio objects. An equalization (EQ) value generator produces a sequence of EQ values which define EQ filtering that is to be applied when decoding the encoded digital audio recording, wherein the EQ filtering is to be applied to a group of one or more of the audio channels or audio objects of the recording independent of any downmix. A bitstream multiplexer combines the encoded digital audio recording with the sequence of EQ values, the latter as metadata associated with the encoded digital audio recording. Other embodiments are also described including a system for decoding the encoded audio recording.

Digital audio content appears in many instances, including for example music and movie files. In most instances, an audio signal is encoded, where the encoding need not necessarily be for purposes of data-rate reduction but could simply be for purposes of format conversion, to enable the storage or transmission of a resulting media file or stream, thereby allowing numerous deliveries or transmissions to occur simultaneously (if needed). The media file or stream can be received in different types of end user devices, where the encoded audio signal is decoded before being presented to the consumer through either built-in or detachable speakers. This has helped fuel consumers' appetite for obtaining digital media over the Internet. Creators and distributors of digital audio content (programs) have several industry standards at their disposal, which can be used for encoding and decoding audio content. These include Digital Audio Compression Standard (AC-3, E-AC-3), Revision B, Document A/52B, 14 Jun. 2005 published by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, Inc. (the "ATSC Standard"), European Telecommunication Standards Institute, ETSI TS 101 154 Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) based on MPEG-2 Transport Stream in ISO/IEC 13818-7, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) ("MPEG-2 AAC Standard"), and ISO/IEC 14496-3 ("MPEG-4 Audio"), published by the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Audio content may be decoded and then processed (rendered) differently than it was originally mastered. For example, a mastering engineer could record an orchestra or a concert such that upon playback it would sound (to a listener) as if the listener were sitting in the audience of the concert, i.e. in front of the band or orchestra, with the applause being heard from behind. The mastering engineer could alternatively make a different rendering (of the same concert), so that, for example upon playback the listener would hear the concert as if he were on stage (where he would hear the instruments "around him", and the applause "in front"). This is also referred to as creating a different perspective for the listener in the playback room, or rendering the audio content for a different "listening location" or different playback room.
Audio content may also be rendered for different acoustic environments, e.g. playback through a headset, a smartphone speakerphone, or the built-in speakers of a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer. In particular, object based audio playback techniques are now available where an individual digital audio object, which is a digital audio recording of, e.g. a single person talking, an explosion, applause, or background sounds, can be played back differently over any one or more speaker channels in a given acoustic environment.
However, tonal balance as heard by a listener is affected when a previously mixed recording (of certain audio content) is then rendered into a different acoustic environment, or rendered from a different listener perspective. To alleviate such tonal imbalance, mastering engineers apply equalization (EQ) or spectral shaping to a digital audio signal, in order to optimize the audio signal for a particular acoustic environment or for a particular listener perspective. For example, rendering a motion picture file for playback in a large movie theater may call for certain EQ to be applied (to the digital audio tracks of the motion picture file) to prevent the resulting sound from being too bright during playback. But rendering the file for playback through a home theater system, e.g. as a DVD file or an Internet streaming movie file, calls for a different EQ because of the smaller room size (and other factors).

Encoded audio metadata-based equalization


A driving method for local dimming of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device and an apparatus using the same are disclosed. The driving method includes measuring light intensities at a plurality of sampling points by driving a light source of a backlight unit and storing the light intensity measurements as light intensity data of the sampling points in a memory, determining a local dimming value of each block by analyzing input image data on a block basis, detecting a pixel position of current input data, selecting a plurality of sampling points adjacent to the current pixel and the light intensity data of the sampling points from the memory, detecting light intensity data of the current pixel by linearly interpolating the light intensity data of the sampling points individually, calculating a gain value by a light intensity analysis based on the light intensity data of the current pixel and the local dimming value of each block, compensating the current input data using the gain value, and controlling luminance of the backlight unit on a block basis using the local dimming value of each block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to a driving method for local dimming of an LCD device, which accurately detects the total light intensity of each pixel simply by changing light intensity data, in spite of a changed optical profile, and an apparatus using the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, flat panel displays have been popular as video displays, such as LCDs, Plasma Display Panels (PDPs), Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), etc.
An LCD device includes a liquid crystal panel for displaying an image on a pixel matrix relying on the electrical and optical characteristics of liquid crystals that exhibit anisotropy in dielectric constant and refractive index, a driving circuit for driving the liquid crystal panel, and a backlight unit for irradiating light onto the liquid crystal panel. The gray scale of each pixel is adjusted by controlling the transmittance of light that passes from the backlight unit through the liquid crystal panel and polarizers through changing the orientation of liquid crystals according to a data signal.
In the LCD device, the luminance of each pixel is determined by the product between the luminance of the backlight unit and the light transmittance of liquid crystals that depends on data. The LCD device employs backlight dimming for the purposes of increasing a contrast ratio and reducing power consumption. Backlight dimming is a technique that controls backlight luminance and compensates data by analyzing an input image and adjusting a dimming value based on the analysis. For example, a backlight dimming method intended for reducing power consumption reduces the backlight luminance by decreasing the dimming value and increases the luminance through data compensation. Thus the power consumption of the backlight unit is reduced.
A Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlight unit using LEDs as light source has recently been used. The LEDs boast of high luminance and low power consumption, compared to conventional lamps. Because the LED backlight unit allow for location-based control, they may be driven by local dimming. According to the local dimming technology, the LED backlight unit is divided into a plurality of light emitting blocks and luminance is controlled on a bock-by-block basis. Local dimming may further increase the contrast ratio and decrease the power consumption since the backlight unit and the liquid crystal panel are divided into a plurality of blocks, local dimming values are decided by analyzing data on a block basis, and data is compensated based on the local dimming values.
However, the local dimming technique according to the related art controls the luminance of backlight unit on a block basis by dividing the backlight unit into a plurality of light emitting blocks, thus decreasing a total luminance, compared to global dimming in which the entire luminance of lamp backlight unit is controlled. In this context, the decreased backlight luminance is compensated for by compensating input data simultaneously with local dimming. For this purpose, the intensity of light that reaches each pixel is analyzed based on an optical profile specifying light intensities of a light source among the backlight unit according to distances from the light source, and a gain value is calculated for data compensation using the analyzed light intensity of the pixel. Therefore, the light intensity of each pixel should be accurately calculated to accurately compensate the luminance of data.
In a local dimming method according to the related art, the intensity of light that reaches each pixel from a light source is calculated using functions such as a Gaussian function, a Butterworth function, etc. with similar characteristics to an optical profile, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Although when backlight unit is illuminated with the same luminance across the entire area of a screen, the intensities of light reaching pixels should be identical, the light intensity is not equal at each pixel with respect to the same luminance of the backlight unit in case of the functions of the related art. The difference between compensation data for the same data under the same luminance of backlight unit may degrade image quality. Moreover, in the case where local dimming is performed by an algorithm that analyzes light intensity using the functions of the related art, if a change occurs to an optical profile according to the shape and type of a light source, a new algorithm should be employed.

Driving method for local dimming of liquid crystal display device and apparatus using the same


A watch for sailing races comprises a watch casing having a dial having marks for indicating hours and minutes and related pointers, the watch further comprising an inclinometer comprising a sector at least partially overlaying the dial and provided with arrows for indicating the inclination angle, which arrows can be registered with registering marks provided on the dial front protecting glass member.

The present invention relates to a watch which has been specifically designed for sailing races.
A lot of watch assemblies are already known which, in addition to a conventional function of indicating the time, are also provided with other additional elements for indicating data relating to different sports.
However, at present there is not available a watch assembly specifically adapted to provide data relating to sailing races.


Method of forming a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) is provided. The RFIC comprises one or more electronic devices formed in a semiconductor substrate and one or more passive devices on a dielectric substrate, arranged in a stacking manner. Electrical shield structure is formed in between to shield electronic devices in the semiconductor substrate from the passive devices in the dielectric substrate. Vertical through-silicon-vias (TSVs) are formed to provide electrical connections between the passive devices in the dielectric substrate and the electronic devices in the semiconductor substrate.

Wireless communication technology and its applications have made tremendous influences in various aspects of modern society. In the past decades, numerous technical breakthroughs have been realized in wireless communication techniques. These advances are represented by the wide adoption of highly efficient access techniques, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), the integration of digital coding/decoding and digital signal processing techniques into a wireless communication device, and the rapid progress in semiconductor manufacturing techniques that enables integrating a large amount of microelectronic circuits on a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) die. These progresses have led to wireless communication products of today's, such as a mobile phone, to provide a wide spectrum of high-quality functions and services to their users. In the mean time, progress in semiconductor IC manufacturing technology has significantly reduced the costs associated with making wireless communication products. As a result, market penetration of wireless communication products has been spreading from developed countries to the developing world at a rapid pace.
Due to its low-power, low-cost features, Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing technology is typically adopted today in manufacturing wireless communication ICs. This includes fabricating an RF front module using CMOS technology. When receiving wireless information, an RF front module processes RF signals received from an antenna and converts the RF signals to baseband signals suitable for further processing. When transmitting wireless information, an RF front module modulates baseband signals to an RF band and transmits the RF signals through an antenna. An RF front module generally includes RF circuits of various kinds, such as low noise amplifier (LNA), frequency synthesizer, mixer, filter, power amplifier, and/or other analog circuits of pre-defined functions. Among other things, an RF circuitry typically includes RF passive components such as inductors and capacitors of large parametric value and large physical footprint. An RF front module plays a critical role on the overall performance of a wireless communication device.
In an existing approach of fabricating RF front module, a typical CMOS technology processing flow is employed to form active and passive components of various kinds in an RF front module. For example, components such as MOS transistors, resistors, MOS capacitors are formed in a monolithic silicon substrate through an existing Front-End-of-Line (FEOL) process flow. Interconnect metal layers are formed over the silicon substrate through an existing Back-End-of-Line (BEOL) process flow. Dielectric layers, such as silicon dioxide (SiO2) layers are formed between adjacent interconnect metal layers, electrically insulating metal traces formed in different metal layers. Also, on-chip inductors such as planar spiral inductors, typically with a large form factor, are formed in the topmost available metal layers through the BEOL process flow. These on-chip inductors are formed and electrically coupled to other components on the silicon substrate through traces formed in the various interconnect metal layers.
Although widely used, this existing approach of fabricating RF front module poses a few drawbacks. First, materials and processing conditions in an existing CMOS process flow are not tailored for the ideal performance of on-chip inductors. As an example, an on-chip inductor formed over the doped silicon substrate as described above exhibits a poor quality factor (Q factor) when compared with a similar inductor formed over a dielectric material, such as a glass substrate. This is described in "A Power-Optimized Widely-Tunable 5 GHz Monolithic VCO in a Digital SOI CMOS Technology on High Resistivity Substrates" by J. Kim, IEEE ISLPED 2003. Second, in current practice, the silicon areas under the on-chip inductors are typically left blank in an effort to avoid the undesirable eddy currents induced in the silicon substrate due to the varying magnetic flux from the on-chip inductors. This drawback poses a significant limitation on further reducing the form factor of an RFIC. Although temporary solutions have been proposed, none of the existing solutions are without pitfalls. For example, in one approach, on-chip inductors are displaced to a separate region on an RFIC, and are coupled to other components through horizontal electrical feed-throughs. These horizontal feed-throughs, however, generally increase the footprint size of an RFIC. Among other drawbacks of the existing approach, horizontal feed-throughs create crossing signal lines that may affect circuit performance, lengthy horizontal signal line routings may increase signal latency, and long metal traces may lead to undesirable inductance.

Forming radio frequency integrated circuits


A matrix converter control apparatus includes three AC switches each including a first and a second switching elements connected in series. The first and the second switching devices each: have a first terminal, a second terminal, and a gate terminal; pass a current between the first terminal and the second terminal when a first voltage which is a voltage of the gate terminal with reference to a voltage of the first terminal is higher than a threshold voltage; interrupt a current flowing from the second terminal to the first terminal when the first voltage is lower than the threshold voltage; and pass a current from the first terminal to the second terminal when the first voltage is lower than the threshold voltage and the voltage of the gate terminal is higher than the threshold voltage with reference to a voltage of the second terminal.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a conventional direct conversion circuit used in a matrix converter or the like of a direct conversion scheme (also referred to as AC direct scheme) cited in a number of documents such as Patent Literature (PTL) 1.
With the conventional direct conversion circuit illustrated in FIG. 21, AC switches S1 to S9 each of which has a breakdown voltage against both positive and negative voltage polarities are disposed as illustrated in FIG. 21.
As illustrated in (a) in FIG. 21, each of the AC switches (S1 to S9) has a configuration having two circuits connected in series, in which diodes and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) are connected in parallel to be oriented oppositely. Alternatively, as illustrated in (b) in FIG. 21, each of the AC switches has a configuration in which two IGBTs having reverse breakdown voltage are connected in parallel to be oriented oppositely.
The IGBT has a feature of having a high breakdown voltage with smaller conduction loss among high-current operation devices. Accordingly, in a matrix converter of the conventional directly conversion scheme (AC direct scheme), the IGBT is used as a switching element used in the AC switches. However, since the IGBT can pass through a current only unilaterally and the breakdown voltage in an opposite direction is weak, the configuration having two circuits connected in series, in which diodes and IGBTs are connected in parallel to be oriented oppositely as illustrated in (a) in FIG. 21 is generally employed. In addition, an IGBT whose reverse breakdown voltage is increased is also developed. With this, a reverse blocking IGBT in which IGBT chips are connected inversely in parallel to face each other is also used as an AC switch, as illustrated in (b) in FIG. 21.
Meanwhile, a power switching element formed of a nitride semiconductor which differs from a power switching element of silicon series such as IGBT is under development. Techniques related to an inverter using a feature of the power switching element is disclosed by PTL 2 and so on.


The present invention relates to methods for LED driver applications, comprising the steps: providing an input voltage, Vin; generating an output voltage, Vout, for driving a plurality of LED channels, wherein a boost converter is used to convert the input voltage Vin to the output voltage Vout; determining a lowest voltage, VLVS, from the LED channels; generating a comparator voltage, Vcomp, by comparing the lowest voltage of the channels, VLVS, with a feedback reference voltage, VFBREF, wherein the feedback reference voltage, VFBREF, and a LED current, ILED, for the LED channels are determined by a current ISET; generating a summed voltage, Vsum, for stabilizing the output voltage, Vout; and generating a PWM voltage, VPWM, as a function of the Vcomp and the Vsum to control the output voltage, Vout.

Low-end displays typically require only monochromatic LEDs. Applications include simple sporting scoreboards, single-line scrolling displays, and transportation road signs. A newer and growing market for high-quality video displays requires the capability to play full-motion video shown in millions of colors. These applications include ever-expanding advertising markets encompassing convenience stores, retail shops, gas stations, and stadiums.
An emerging market for LEDs is in DLP-based televisions and LCD-based televisions. Accurate color reproduction by these televisions is dependent on the available colors of the televisions' backlight. Proper control of red LEDs, green LEDs, blue LEDs (collectively referred to as RGB LEDs), and white LEDs ("WLEDs") produce a color spectrum that is larger than the NTSC color spectrum for television broadcasts. By contrast, the backlighting of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp ("CCFL") produces about 85% of the NTSC color spectrum.
Thus, sophisticated LED drivers capable of providing multiple brightness levels are required. The number of colors available in the display is proportional to the number of brightness levels available for each of the RGB LEDs that make up a single pixel in an overall display. Competition between display manufacturers is driving designers toward high-end LED drivers with integrated PWM functionality capable of delivering thousands of brightness levels. An increased number of brightness levels can enhance color shading and improve video quality.
High-quality, full-color video requires hundreds or thousands of brightness levels between 0% and 100%. Older LED drivers use analog dimming circuits to provide these brightness levels. Analog dimming circuits alter the brightness of a LED display by adjusting the forward electric current of the LEDs. For example, if an LED is at full brightness with 20 mA of forward current, then 25% brightness is achieved by driving the LED with 5 mA of forward current. While this dimming scheme is simple and works well for lower-end displays, a substantial drawback with analog dimming is that an LED's color shifts with changes in forward current.
Pulse width modulation ("PWM") dimming can be used to adjust LED brightness levels while maintaining superior color quality. This technique is also referred to as PWM gray scaling. PWM dimming is achieved by applying a maximum forward current for maximum brightness at a reduced duty cycle. In other words, the LED's brightness is controlled by adjusting the relative ratios of an amount of time that an LED is on to an amount of time that the LED is off. A 25% brightness level is achieved by turning the LED on at maximum forward current for 25% of each duty cycle period. To avoid display flicker, the switching speed must be greater than 60 Hz. Above 60 Hz, the human eye averages the LED's on-time and the LED's off-time, seeing only an effective brightness that is proportional to the LED's on-time duty cycle. An advantage of PWM dimming is that the forward current is always constant. Therefore, the LED's color does not vary since the brightness level does not vary, as is the case with analog dimming schemes. Furthermore, precise brightness levels can be achieved while preserving the color purity by switching the LED off and on.
Since this type of PWM dimming is microprocessor-driven, it is limited to a maximum number of discrete brightness levels for each LED, commonly referred to as grayscale steps. The total available number of discrete steps during any one period determines the LED's brightness resolution. High-quality displays require hundreds to thousands of brightness levels to accurately reproduce the full color spectrum necessary for full-motion video.
Unfortunately, PWM dimming controls have other problems for displaying images. For instance, FIG. 1a illustrates a prior art circuit for driving a plurality of diodes in parallel using a PWM dimming control. Due to non-ideal variations for each diode, the I-V characteristics of each diode may vary. Therefore, the current across each diode (I1, I2, I3, and I4) may be different. Thus the brightness level of each diode may not be matched to each other (i.e., the brightness levels of the diodes are not the same). This can lead to uneven brightness on the respective display that houses the diodes.
FIG. 1b illustrates another prior art circuit for driving a plurality of diodes in series using a PWM dimming control circuit. The brightness levels of the diodes will be similar since the current, I5, is the same over each diode. Thus the brightness level of a diode will be matched with the brightness levels of the other diodes. However, this implementation is costly and does not allow for multiple channels of diodes.
FIG. 1c illustrates a prior art circuit for driving a plurality of diodes using a PWM dimming controller, where a voltage feed back loop is connected to the PWM dimming controller and a single channel. The voltage feed back loop is used to match the current over one channel. However, the implementation of this display may lead to uneven brightness levels for the other channels since the diodes in other channels are not fed back to the PWM dimming control block.
FIG. 1d illustrates a prior art circuit for driving a plurality of diodes using a PWM dimming controller, where a current balancer module is used to select a feed back voltage from a plurality of channels. A current balancer is used to detect the various voltages on each channel, and feed back these voltages to a PWM dimming control to adjust the current over each channel. A drawback of this design is that the current balancer and the PWM dimming controller are two separate circuits; thus leading to time lag, increased implementation complexity, and inefficient power consumption. Furthermore, existing prior art methods for the current balancer have a very large error rate of 10 percent or more.
FIG. 1e illustrates a prior art circuit for driving a plurality of diodes using a PWM dimming control, where a PWM dimming control and a current balancer are integrated in one block. Although this design is more advantageous in certain respects than the previous example, implementation complexity is still not optimized and the current balancing integrated module can have a relatively high error rate of 10 percent or more.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide methods for PWM dimming controls for LEDS, where respective currents for each channel of diodes are matched to maintain even display brightness at a very low error rate.
Another problem with PWM dimming controls is that the currents over the LED channels are not matched due to variations of the resistors of the current source. FIG. 1f illustrates a prior art method for current sources for driving a plurality of LED channels. In a current source 1, a channel VCH1 is connected to an operational amplifier via a transistor. A voltage applied on the negative input of the operational amplifier can be denoted VFB1. A voltage applied at the source drain of the transistor 802 can be denoted VCS1. This nomenclature can be extended to a current source 2 (e.g. VFB2 and VCS2), and so forth for the other current sources since schematically all the current sources are substantially similar. Each current source drives a single channel of LEDs.
There can be at least three resistances for each current source (e.g. in the current source 1, a resistance due to an operational amplifier, RCSREF, and RCS1). These resistances must be matched with other current sources to generate an accurate current through the channel. However, prior art methods do not effectively match these three resistances, thus the currents in the plurality of channels may not be accurately matched to one another. Therefore, methods for improved current matching over a plurality of channels are required. This is especially true when the channels comprise of LEDs since current matching is of particular importance to maintain the same brightness level for the LEDs of different channels.
FIG. 1g illustrates another prior art method for channel matching, where only one RCSEF is used for a plurality of current sources. Here, for each current source only an operational amplifier and a resistor (e.g. RCS1) need to be matched. Current mismatch comes from mismatch between {RCS1, RCS2}, {VCSREF1, VFB1}. However, this also results in inaccurate currents because RCS1, RCS2 . . . RCS8 are generally not physically laid out close together. Therefore, methods for channel matching are required that can produce accurately matched currents over the plurality of channels.
Yet another problem related to PWM dimming controls circuits is generating a compensating ramp signal for a power converter circuit. Conventional current-mode controlled DC to DC converters operating above 50% duty cycle need a compensating ramp signal superimposed on a current sense signal, which is used as a control parameter, to avoid open loop instability and sub-harmonic oscillation problems.
In a typical voltage mode boost converter, an inductor is placed between a power supply and the drain of a switching transistor. A diode is coupled between the common inductor/drain terminal and the output of the converter. As the switching transistor is turned on and off under the control of a pulse width modulator, the inductor is energized with a current which flows through the inductor and switching transistor to ground, thus storing energy in the core of the inductor in the form of a magnetic flux. When the switching transistor is turned off, current continues to flow through the inductor. As the magnetic flux field collapses, a voltage appears across the inductor which is delivered through a diode to the load. Typically, a large capacitor is placed across the output of the converter to hold the converter output voltage at a predetermined level during the periods when the switching transistor is charging the inductor.
In a voltage controlled converter, the voltage appearing at the load is sensed by an error amplifier. The error amplifier generates an error voltage which is related to the voltage appearing at the output of the converter. Minute changes in voltage appearing at the output of the converter are changed to relatively larger voltage swings by the error amplifier. The output of the error amplifier is coupled to one terminal of a comparator which has another terminal coupled to a compensating ramp signal. A current sensing circuit may generate the ramp signal as a function of the current from the inductor. As the voltage appearing at the output of the error amplifier rises and falls with respect to the compensating ramp signal, the output of the comparator changes state in a pulse-width modulated waveform. This signal is coupled to the switching transistor to effect the switching thereof and complete the regulator loop.
However, it remains an ongoing goal to generate a compensating ramp signal to optimize the stability of the power converting circuit. In addition, it remains an ongoing goal to increase the accuracy for sensing the inductor current since switches such as MOSFETS have process variation (e.g., based on temperature) which can cause inaccuracies during voltage measurements.

Methods and circuits for LED drivers and for PWM dimming controls


According to an embodiment of the invention, the organic EL device (100) comprises: an element substrate (20) having a substrate (1) and a plurality of organic EL elements (3) supported by the substrate; a thin film encapsulation structure (10) formed above the plurality of organic EL elements and having at least one compound layered body (10S) constituted by a first inorganic barrier layer (12), an organic barrier layer (14) in contact with the upper surface of the first inorganic barrier layer and having a plurality of solid sections spread out discretely, and a second inorganic barrier layer (16) in contact with the upper surface of the first inorganic barrier layer and the upper surfaces of the plurality of solid sections of the organic barrier layer; an organic planarization layer (42) provided above the thin film encapsulation structure and formed from a photosensitive resin; and a touch sensor layer (50) disposed above the organic planarization layer.

Organic EL (Electroluminescence) display devices start being put into practical use. One feature of an organic EL display device is flexibility thereof. Such an organic EL display device includes, in each of pixels, at least one organic EL element (Organic Light Emitting Diode: OLED) and at least one TFT (Thin Film Transistor) controlling an electric current to be supplied to the at least one OLED. Hereinafter, an organic EL display device will be referred to as an "OLED display device". Such an OLED display device including a switching element such as a TFT or the like in each of OLEDs is called an "active matrix OLED display device". A substrate including the TFTs and the OLEDs will be referred to as an "element substrate".
An OLED (especially, an organic light emitting layer and a cathode electrode material) is easily influenced by moisture to be deteriorated and to cause display unevenness. One technology developed to provide an encapsulation structure that protects the OLED against moisture while not spoiling the flexibility of the OLED display device is a thin film encapsulation (TFE) technology. According to the thin film encapsulation technology, an inorganic barrier layer and an organic barrier layer are stacked alternately to allow such thin films to provide a sufficient level of water vapor barrier property. From the point of view of the moisture-resistance reliability of the OLED display device, such a thin film encapsulation structure is typically required to have a WVTR (Water Vapor Transmission Rate) lower than, or equal to, 1×10−4 g/m2/day.
A thin film encapsulation structure used in OLED display devices commercially available currently includes an organic barrier layer (polymer barrier layer) having a thickness of about 5 μm to about 20 μm. Such a relatively thick organic barrier layer also has a role of flattening a surface of the element substrate. However, such a thick organic barrier layer involves a problem of limiting the bendability of the OLED display device.
There is also a problem that the mass-productivity is low. The relatively thick organic barrier layer described above is formed by use of a printing technology such as an inkjet method, a microjet method or the like. By contrast, an inorganic barrier layer is formed by a thin film formation technology in a vacuum atmosphere (e.g., lower than, or equal to, 1 Pa). The formation of the organic barrier layer by use of a printing method is performed in the air or a nitrogen atmosphere, whereas the formation of the inorganic barrier layer is performed in vacuum. Therefore, the element substrate is put into, and out of, a vacuum chamber during the formation of the thin film encapsulation structure, which decreases the mass-productivity.
Under such a situation, as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document No. 1, a film formation device capable of producing an inorganic barrier layer and an organic barrier layer continuously has been developed.
Patent Document No. 2 discloses a thin film encapsulation structure including a first inorganic material layer, a first resin member and a second inorganic material layer provided on the element substrate in this order, with the first inorganic barrier layer being closest to the element substrate. In this thin film encapsulation structure, the first resin member is present locally, more specifically, in the vicinity of a protruding portion of the first inorganic material layer (first inorganic material layer covering the protruding portion). According to Patent Document No. 2, since the first resin member is present locally, more specifically, in the vicinity of the protruding portion, which may not be sufficiently covered with the first inorganic material layer, entrance of moisture or oxygen via the non-covered portion is suppressed. In addition, the first resin member acts as an underlying layer for the second inorganic material layer. Therefore, the second inorganic material layer is properly formed and properly covers a side surface of the first inorganic material layer with an expected thickness. The first resin member is formed as follows. An organic material heated and vaporized to be mist-like is supplied onto an element substrate maintained at a temperature lower than, or equal to, room temperature. The organic material is condensed and put into liquid drops on the substrate. The organic material in the liquid drops moves on the substrate by a capillary action or a surface tension to be present locally, more specifically, at a border between a side surface of the protruding portion of the first inorganic material layer and a surface of the substrate. Then, the organic material is cured to form the first resin member at the border. Patent Document No. 3 also discloses an OLED display device including a similar thin film encapsulation structure. Patent Document No. 4 discloses a film formation device usable to produce an OLED display device.
The thin film encapsulation structure that is described in each of Patent Documents Nos. 2 and 3 and includes an organic barrier layer formed of a resin located locally does not include a thick organic barrier layer. Therefore, the thin film encapsulation structure is considered to improve the bendability of the OLED display device. In addition, since the inorganic barrier layer and the organic barrier layer may be formed continuously, the mass-productivity is also improved.
However, according to the studies made by the present inventors, an organic barrier layer formed by the method described in Patent Document No. 2 or 3 has a problem of not providing a sufficiently high level of moisture-resistance reliability. This problem has been found to be caused because water vapor in the air reaches the inside of an active region on the element substrate (the active region may also be referred to as an "element formation region" or a "display region") via the organic barrier layer.
In the case where an organic barrier layer is formed by use of a printing method such as an inkjet method or the like, it is possible to form the organic barrier layer only in an active region on the element substrate (the active region may also be referred to as an "element formation region" or a "display region") but not in a region other than the active region. In this case, along a periphery of the active region (outer to the active region), there is a region where the first inorganic material layer and the second inorganic material layer are in direct contact with each other, and the organic barrier layer is fully enclosed by the first inorganic material layer and the second inorganic material layer and is insulated from the outside of the first inorganic material layer and the second inorganic material layer.
By contrast, according to the method for forming the organic barrier layer described in Patent Document No. 2 or 3, a resin (organic material) is supplied to the entire surface of the element substrate, and the surface tension of the resin, which is in a liquid state, is used to locate the resin locally, more specifically, at the border between the surface of the element substrate and the side surface of the protruding portion on the surface of the element substrate. Therefore, the organic barrier layer may also be formed in a region other than the active region (the region other than the active region may also be referred to as a "peripheral region"), namely, a terminal region where a plurality of terminals are located and a lead wire region where lead wires extending from the active region to the terminal region are formed. Specifically, the resin is present locally, more specifically, at, for example, the border between side surfaces of the lead wires or side surfaces of the terminals and the surface of the substrate. In this case, an end of a portion, of the organic barrier layer, that is formed along the lead wires is not enclosed by the first inorganic barrier layer or the second inorganic barrier layer, but is exposed to the air (ambient atmosphere).
The organic barrier layer is lower in the water vapor barrier property than the inorganic barrier layer. Therefore, the organic barrier layer formed along the lead wires acts as a route that leads the water vapor in the air to the active region.
The conventional thin film encapsulation structure including an organic barrier layer formed of a resin located locally also involves the following problem.
For example, as described in Patent Document No. 5, in an OLED display device having a touch panel function that is used for a smartphone or a tablet terminal, an organic barrier layer in a thin film encapsulation structure is relatively thick and acts as a flattening layer. A touch sensor layer (also referred to as a "touch screen layer") is provided on a flat surface of the thin film encapsulation structure while an adhesive layer is located between the touch sensor layer and the flat surface. In the case where a thin film encapsulation structure on which the touch sensor layer is provided includes a relatively thin organic barrier layer described in Patent Document No. 2 or 3, the following problem occurs. In the case where a particle (foreign object) is present in the thin film encapsulation structure, the top surface of the thin film encapsulation structure is made non-flat. Therefore, the touch sensor layer is strained, and as a result, the touch panel function may be deteriorated. For example, in a touch sensor of a resistive film system, which has a microscopic gap between a pair of electrodes, and in a touch sensor of a projected capacitive system, which detects a change in the capacitance between electrodes, a site where such a particle is present may be erroneously detected as a touched position.
In the above, some problems of a thin film encapsulation structure preferably usable for a flexible OLED display device is described. The thin film encapsulation structure is not limited to being used for an OLED display device, and is also usable for other types of organic EL devices such as an organic EL illumination device and the like.

Organic electroluminescent display device and method for producing same