Methods and apparatus to perform associated extensions for negotiated channel security protocols are disclosed. A disclosed method to extend a security protocol comprises exchanging identifying information between a first and a second endpoint, determining a secret based on the exchanged identifying information, determining a first master secret based on the determined secret and a second master secret determined in a prior protocol exchange block, and deriving a session key based on the first master secret.

Traditional security protocols (e.g., Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Internet Key Exchange (IKE), etc.) negotiate session keys that are authenticated using digital certificates, keys, or shared secrets (e.g., a pass phrase). The session keys are used to encrypt and decrypt subsequent communications carried across a secured channel.
FIGS. 1A-B illustrate an example prior-art authentication sequence (i.e., an authentication protocol encapsulation block (PEB)) executed between two endpoints A and B to negotiate (i.e., derive) session keys. Endpoints A and B are one of a variety of computing devices or platforms (e.g., a computer, a server, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, an Internet kiosk, etc.) connected together, for example, by a computer network, a bus, a wireless communication link, a serial channel, etc. The endpoints A and B may communicate in a master-slave, a client-server, or a peer-to-peer configuration.
The example authentication PEB of FIGS. 1A-B begins with endpoints A and B exchanging authentication attributes (i.e., identifying information) (block 102 of FIG. 1A). The exchanged attributes (e.g., public keys, digital signatures, certificates, attestation information, etc.) allow an endpoint to authenticate information received from the other endpoint. For example, endpoint A encrypts (or digitally signs) an attribute (e.g., attestation information) using a private key (that is only known to endpoint A) and sends the encrypted attribute and a public key (that corresponds to the private key which remains known only to endpoint A) to endpoint B.
Next, using received authentication attributes (e.g., public keys), the endpoints A and B authenticate the received attributes (block 104). For example, endpoint B uses the public key (received from endpoint A) to decrypt the received encrypted attribute (e.g., attestation information). If the decryption is successful, endpoint B knows that the received attribute is authentic (i.e., sent by endpoint A).
In the example authentication PEB of FIG. 1A, endpoint A then generates a high entropy random number (i.e., nonceA), digitally signs nonceA (using a private key of endpoint A), encrypts the signed nonceA (using a public key of endpoint B), and sends the encrypted and signed nonce to endpoint B (block 106). Endpoint B then decrypts and authenticates (using a private key of endpoint B, and a public key of endpoint A) the received nonceA (block 108). Endpoint B then generates a second high entropy random number (i.e., nonceB), creates a cryptographic combination (e.g., arithmetic addition, exclusive-or, hash, etc.) of nonceA and nonceB, signs and encrypts the nonce combination, and sends the encrypted and signed nonce combination to endpoint A (block 110). Endpoint A authenticates the received nonce combination (block 112) and sends an encrypted and signed version of nonceB back to endpoint B (block 114).
The example authentication PEB continues with block 120 of FIG. 1B. The endpoints A and B determine a master secret from nonceA and nonceB. For example, the master secret may be determined using a cryptographic combination of nonceA, nonceB, and a cryptographic hash of the handshake messages (i.e., exchanged identifying information or authentication attributes) (block 120). Using one of a variety of techniques (e.g., "Deriving Keys for use with Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption (MPPE)", Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comment (RFC) 3079, March 2001), session keys are derived from the master secret (block 122). By exchanging and basing session keys on nonceA and nonceB, the authentication PEB of FIGS. 1A-B reduces the risk of replay attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, etc.
Using techniques similar to those discussed above, the endpoints A and B exchange some initial data (block 124). Each endpoint A and B then determines if the received data is valid (e.g., decrypted correctly) (block 126). If the received data is valid (block 126), the session is authenticated and secure communications can proceed using the established session (block 128). Otherwise, the session is not authenticated, and, thus, secure communication can not properly proceed using the new session (block 130).

Methods and apparatus to perform associated security protocol extensions


A light source unit including a light source that emits light into a vehicle interior through a lens of a room light, a substrate on which the light source is mounted, the substrate being mounted on a base member of the room light, an engagement portion that engages with, among a plurality of mounting seats that are provided on the base member and that have different protrusion heights, an upper side mounting seat, the engagement portion being provided on the substrate and on a circumference of an imaginary circle formed about the light source, and a clearance portion that is capable of avoiding interference with, among the plurality of mounting seats, a lower side mounting seat, the clearance portion being provided in the substrate and on the circumference of the imaginary circle formed about the light source.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a light source unit and a vehicular room light.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a vehicular room light (hereinafter, merely referred to as a room light) for illuminating a vehicle interior, a so-called ambient lighting that spotlights only a predetermined irradiation area inside the vehicle interior is known (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-75316, for example). Such a room light mainly includes a light source, such as an LED, a substrate on which the light source is mounted, a base member on which the substrate is fixed, and lens that transmits light emitted from the light source and that emits the light towards the irradiation area inside the vehicle interior.

Light source unit and vehicular room light


To make it easier for a user to print at an intended printing apparatus when performing printing with a printing apparatus which is managed by a server, among printers which were accessed by the user who is a request source, and are at the same location as that specified by the user, the printer capable of printing based on the print setting corresponding to that user is determined as the printing destination.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus, a printing control method, and a storage medium. The present invention is especially suitable when used for printing with a printing apparatus managed by a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to strengthen internal control and security, and to reduce personal computer (PC) management costs, the trend towards using thin clients, in which applications are not installed in a client PC even in an office environment, is accelerating. In conjunction with this, printing systems in which a print server manages all of the printers and manages the print jobs is now mainstream even in printing work. In such a printing system, the PC client does not hold the printer drivers or printer objects.
Thus, when managing all printers with a print server, the number of printers being managed increases dramatically. Consequently, a user who is performing printing has to select a printer from among a large number of printers. Therefore, in order to select a suitable printer, the user has to know in advance information about the printer drivers, the printer capabilities and the like. Especially, in an environment in which a mobile terminal whose location is not specified is used as the client terminal, the amount of printer information that can be obtained by the client terminal can be low. In such a case, in actual practice it can take some time until printing can be started. In view of this situation, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-58306 discusses a system in which the print server automatically selects the printer which is suited to the printing conditions.
However, in the technology discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-58306, since the printer is automatically selected by the print server based on only the printing conditions, the automatically selected printer may not be a printer known to the user, and a print product may be output at an unintended location. Therefore, user-friendliness and print product security are not guaranteed. Further, to change the printer for outputting the print product from the automatically selected printer to a closer printer, the user has to specify that printer from among a large number of printers. Moreover, the user has to perform other tasks, such as setting the printer driver. Consequently, it is not easy to output a print product from a closer printer.

Printing control apparatus, printing control method, and storage medium


The invention generally relates to devices, systems, and methods for percutaneous closure of cardiac openings and obliteration of the cardiac cul-de-sacs. In one embodiment, a closure device includes a patch with an adhesive and/or a removable frame. The patch may be placed across a cardiac opening, such as a patent foramen ovale, or across a cardiac cul-de-sac, such as a left atrial appendage. In another embodiment, a closure device includes a balloon together with adhesives and/or substances for stimulating tissue growth coated on, or contained within, the balloon. The balloon may be inserted into a cardiac opening, such as the patent foramen ovale, or into a cardiac cul-de-sac, such as a left atrial appendage.

The human heart is divided into four compartments or chambers. The left and right atria are located in the upper portion of the heart and the left and right ventricles are located in the lower portion of the heart. The left and right atria are separated from each other by a muscular wall, the intraatrial septum, while the ventricles are separated by the intraventricular septum.
Either congenitally or by acquisition, abnormal openings, holes, or shunts can occur between the chambers of the heart or the great vessels, causing blood to inappropriately flow therethrough. Such deformities are usually congenital and originate during fetal life when the heart forms from a folded tube into a four chambered, two-unit system. The septal deformities result from the incomplete formation of the septum, or muscular wall, between the chambers of the heart and can cause significant problems.
One such septal deformity or defect, a patent foramen ovale, is a persistent, one-way, usually flap-like opening in the wall between the right atrium and left atrium of the heart. Since left atrial pressure is normally higher than right atrial pressure, the flap typically stays closed. Under certain conditions, however, right atrial pressure exceeds left atrial pressure, creating the possibility for right to left shunting that can allow blood clots to enter the systemic circulation. This is particularly problematic for patients who are prone to forming venous thrombus, such as those with deep vein thrombosis or clotting abnormalities.
Moreover, certain patients are prone to atrial arrhythmias (i.e., abnormal heart rhythms which can cause the heart to pump less effectively). In a common such abnormality, atrial fibrillation, the two upper chambers of the heart (i.e., the left atria and the right atria), quiver instead of beating effectively. Because the atria do not beat and empty cleanly during atrial fibrillation, blood can stagnate on the walls and form clots that can then pass through the heart and into the brain, causing a stroke or a transient ischemic attack. These clots typically form in a cul-de-sac in the heart called the left atrial appendage due to its tendency to have low or stagnant flow.
Nonsurgical (i.e., percutaneous) closure of a patent foramen ovale and similar cardiac openings such as an atrial septal defect or a ventricular septal defect, and obliteration of a left atrial appendage can be achieved using a variety of mechanical closure devices. These closure devices typically consist of a metallic structural framework with a scaffold material attached thereto. Currently available closure devices, however, are often complex to manufacture, are inconsistent in performance, require a technically complex implantation procedure, lack anatomic conformability, and lead to complications (e.g., thrombus formation, chronic inflammation, residual leaks, perforations, fractures, and conduction system disturbances).
Improved devices, systems, and related methods for closing cardiac openings, such as, for example, a patent foramen ovale, and for obliterating cardiac cul-de-sacs, such as, for example, a left atrial appendage, are, therefore, needed.

Devices, systems and methods for closure of cardiac openings


A method for regulating an AC output current of a converter having a DC voltage intermediate circuit and a semiconductor switch in a bridge circuit for converting a DC voltage of the DC voltage intermediate circuit into an AC output current. The AC output current is regulated by way of a direct hysteresis current regulation, in which an actual value of the AC output current is maintained within a hysteresis window around a set point value. Furthermore, a hysteresis width of the hysteresis window is modulated in order to adjust a frequency spectrum of the AC output current.

The invention relates to a closed-loop control of an output current of a power converter that comprises a DC voltage intermediate circuit and semiconductor switches in a bridge circuit for converting a DC voltage of the DC voltage intermediate circuit.
Two different methods may be used for the closed-loop control of an output current of a power converter of this type. A so-called indirect closed-loop current control is used most frequently. In this case, a current controller is used to calculate an output voltage that is then generated in accordance with a pulse width modulation method. Alternatively, a so-called direct closed-loop current control is used. In this case, the next output state of the power converter is determined directly by means of evaluating the actual current, in other words the pulse pattern of the closed-loop current control is derived directly from a current error.
The object of the invention is to specify an improved method for the closed-loop control of an output current of a power converter and to specify a power converter that renders it possible to use said method.

Regulation of an output current of a converter


In a motor-driven power steering apparatus for converting rotation of an electric motor into a linear stroke of a rack shaft by an interposition of a power transmission mechanism and steering a tire wheel connected to the rack shaft, there is provided a motor slip detecting means for previously determining a cumulative rotational speed of the electric motor corresponding to a maximum stroke displacement amount of the rack shaft, integrating the rotational speed of the electric motor, and estimating that slip or idle running is generated in a rotational force transmission system from the electric motor to the rack shaft, where the integral rotational speed of the electric motor becomes more than a prescribed cumulative rotational speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor-driven power steering apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A motor-driven power steering apparatus may include a system which detects steering torque of a steering system by a steering torque sensor, and sets a target current on the basis of the detected steering torque. The system may control driving of an electric motor on the basis of a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal obtained by applying a proportional integral (PI) compensation to a deviation between the target current and a current actually flowing through the electric motor so as to execute a linear stroke of a rack shaft, and may apply a steering assist force to a tire wheel connected to the rack shaft, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-8839 (patent document 1).
In the conventional motor-driven power steering apparatus, even if slip is generated in a rotational force transmission system extending from the electric motor to the rack shaft, it is impossible to achieve early detection of the slip generation, and there is a risk that the steering assist control becomes unstable. With slip generated in the rotational force transmission system of the electric motor, there may be breakage of a belt transmission mechanism for converting the rotation of the electric motor into the linear stroke of the rack shaft and a ball screw apparatus, or an irregular slip caused by slack in a fastening connection portion of the transmission mechanism.


Systems and methods for proximity detection between electronic devices are disclosed. One or more electronic devices transmit signals to a proximity server, which determines whether the first electronic device may be proximate the second electronic device. The proximity server transmits a signal to the first electronic device and the second device, and in response to the signal, the first and second electronic devices activate an environmental sensor, collect at least one sample of environmental data, extract at least one feature set of the environmental data, generate a first obscured feature from the feature set, transmit the first and second obscured feature sets to the proximity server. The proximity server uses the first obscured feature set and the second obscured feature set to determine whether the first electronic device and the second electronic device are proximate.

Technology that understands the set of people that with whom a user interacts over time has applications in context aware computing systems. For example, such technology can help a user understand and review how much time he/she spent with different people over time and as a consequence help the person in improving his/her social life. Alternatively, it can help identify a set of people who are currently involved in an activity together which provides group context for the context aware system. For example, ambient displays or kiosks can automatically adapt to the group context instead of relying on individuals' context. Thus, systems and methods for proximity detection may find utility.


An improved handheld electronic device and associated method provide an advanced editing feature and an improved learning feature that are provided in a disambiguation environment. The advanced editing feature advantageously enables a new word that has been incorrectly disambiguated by a disambiguation routine to be readily corrected by the user without requiring the incorrectly disambiguated word to be deleted and retyped. Rather, the advanced editing feature enables the incorrectly disambiguated characters to be replaced with opposite characters on the same keys, and such changes can be accomplished merely through the use of inputs to a track ball. The newly edited word can then be learned by a learning database. The improved learning function advantageously favors words that are learned using the advanced editing feature over words that have been learned in other fashions.

1. Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device and method that provide an advanced text editing function in a text disambiguation environment.
2. Background Information
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also feature wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices.
In order to reduce their size, some handheld electronic devices have been provided with keypads wherein at least some of the keys each have a plurality of characters such as Latin letters assigned thereto. During a text entry operation or other operation using such a keypad, an actuation of a key having a plurality of characters assigned thereto will be ambiguous. Such devices are usually configured with some type of disambiguation routine that is executable thereon and that resolves the ambiguity of the input. Disambiguation routines can include multi-tap routines and dictionary-based routines, by way of example.
Dictionary-based disambiguation routines have been generally effective for their intended purposes but have not been without limitation. A dictionary ultimately possesses a limited number of words that can be used to disambiguate an ambiguous text input. While it is known to provide data structures that can learn new words that the user has input, such learning databases typically do not assist with the actual inputting of the new words. It is generally understood that the inputting of a new word on a handheld electronic device having a reduced keyboard requires significantly more concentration and effort than the inputting of a word that is already known to the device. For instance, with each keystroke a user typically must carefully examine the proposed disambiguated interpretations of the ambiguous input and choose the one that correctly reflects the user's intended input, if such an interpretation is available. If the user tries to enter a word not knowing that it is not already stored on the handheld electronic device, the proposed disambiguated interpretations of the ambiguous input typically will be quite different than the input intended by the user. In such a situation, the user oftentimes must delete most or all of the typed word and retype the word while carefully selecting for each keystroke the desired disambiguated interpretation, as mentioned above. It thus would be desirable to provide an improved handheld electronic device and method that overcome these and other shortcomings.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.

Handheld electronic device and associated method providing advanced text editing function in a text disambiguation environment


Systems and methods to localize objects for mapping applications may comprise a vehicle having an imaging device, a location sensor, and an edge processor. Using imaging data from the imaging device, location data from the location sensor, and bounding box data associated with objects, three-dimensional models of environments may be reconstructed using structure from motion algorithms and/or direct triangulation algorithms. After aligning the reconstructions to real-world environments based on the location data, objects may be accurately localized relative to real-world environments.

Various systems and methods may be used to generate accurate localization data for mapping applications based on imaging data, radar data, light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data, and other types of data. For example, structure from motion algorithms may reconstruct three-dimensional environments based on combinations of such data. However, structure from motion algorithms may be expensive, slow, and computationally intensive, generally requiring remote servers. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods to quickly generate localization data associated with objects in an environment that are less expensive, faster, and less computationally intensive, which may facilitate real-time processing and generation of localization data by onboard, edge processors.

Object localization for mapping applications using geometric computer vision techniques


This application relates to a picture sharing method, a computer device, and a storage medium. The method includes: receiving a picture compressed in a first compression manner; obtaining characteristic information of the picture; compressing the picture in a second compression manner in a case that the characteristic information meets a compression trigger condition, to obtain a compressed picture; receiving a picture download request for the picture, wherein the second compression manner has a higher compression ratio than the first compression manner; and returning the compressed picture in response to the picture download request. The solutions of this application reduce a network bandwidth occupied in a picture feedback process.

With the rapid development of Internet technologies, online information sharing has become a very important information sharing manner in daily life. Picture sharing is a common information sharing form.
In the related art, a picture sharing process includes as follows: A terminal that performs picture sharing uploads a picture to a server. After receiving the uploaded picture, the server directly stores the picture. A terminal that needs to obtain the picture may download, from the server, the picture uploaded by the picture sharing terminal. In this way, picture sharing is implemented.
Because the picture stored in the server usually has a relatively large size, a relatively large network bandwidth is occupied in a picture downloading process.

Picture sharing method, computer device, and storage medium

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A method of linking a security policy stored in a policy database that is specific to an application in the application layer with a new corresponding process launched in the LINUX layer in a security system for an operating system running on a device that comprises a LINUX-based kernel. The system architecture is defined by a middleware layer between the LINUX layer associated with the kernel and the higher application layer comprising the applications.

The ANDROID operating system is a LINUX-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. The ANDROID operating system uses a LINUX kernel at its core, and also provides an application framework that software developers incorporate into their ANDROID operating system applications and services. The ANDROID operating system additionally provides a middleware layer between the LINUX operating system at the LINUX operating system layer and the ANDROID operating system applications and services at the higher the application layer to enable easier cross-platform development for deploying the same applications or services across different types of smartphones, tablets or other hardware.
The middleware layer comprises libraries that provide services such as data storage, screen display, multimedia, and web browsing, and are compiled to machine language to enable services to execute quickly. The middleware libraries implement device-specific functions, so applications and the application framework need not concern themselves with the variations between devices running the ANDROID operating system. The middleware layer also supports a specialized version of Java to simplify cross-platform development. In particular, it contains the Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM) and its core Java application libraries. Applications or services can be compiled from Java (or other supported languages) to a byte-code that can be run by the DVM.
Although the middleware layer simplifies application development, it also adds significantly more complexity to the overall ANDROID operating system. This additional complexity can be exploited by applications or services programmed to perform malicious tasks (malware) or execute malicious code (malcode).
By way of example, malware or malcode can exploit Inter-Process Communications (IPC) to attack sensitive applications and their data. Referring to FIG. 1, each application 10,12 is executed in a respective DVM 14,16. When launched, each application corresponds to an instance of a DVM. Each DVM 14,16 is mapped into a dedicated process 18,20 running in User Mode 22 in the LINUX operating system layer 24. In the ANDROID operating system, applications can communicate with each other using IPC mechanisms. The standard mechanism in the ANDROID operating system to implement IPC is though the Binder framework. The Binder framework has the facility to provide bindings to functions and data from one process to another. The Binder framework in the ANDROID operating system is provided in three levels. At the application layer 42 there is an Application Programming Interface (API) 26,28 to enable applications to communicate with each other, such as the ANDROID Interface Definition Language (AIDL). The AIDL allows application developers to define the interface for remote service and an AIDL parser generates the required Java client and server code. At the middleware layer 44 a Binder 30, such as C++ code, is provided which has user space facilities to be used by the applications via Java Native Interface (JNI) and interacts with the Binder kernel driver 32 in the LINUX operating system layer 24. The Binder kernel driver 32 in the LINUX kernel carries out the message passing between processes and provides a shared memory facility. The driver sits behind a special device, /dev/binder, and implements various system calls, such as open and ioctl, to enable processes to communicate with each other.
As shown in FIG. 1, the IPC mechanism can be described in two layers. At the ANDROID operating system layer 46, when Application 1 (10) sends an IPC through its AIDL API (26) as shown at 34, the binder code 30 in the middleware will take care of the delivery of the request to the destination Application 2 (12) as shown at (36). At the LINUX operating system layer, this operation is translated into a sequence of system calls (open and ioctl) executed by Process 1 (18) (corresponding to Application 1) using the binder kernel driver (dev/binder) 32 as shown at (38). The request is then forwarded to Process 2 (20) (corresponding to Application 2) as shown at (40).
In conventional UNIX and LINUX operating systems, security systems have been proposed that use kernel modules in order to trace a process to enforce security policies, and this involves recompiling the kernel image in order to register the module. Additionally, as new applications are launched by the user via a shell, the monitoring module is able to link the correct security policy to the newly launched process. Such security systems do not work effectively on the ANDROID operating system, which uses a distinctly different way of launching and managing programs. It is also desirable to have a security system for the ANDROID operating system that does not require recompilation of the LINUX kernel.
In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.
It is an object of the invention to provide a security system and method for the ANDROID operating system in which security policies for each application can be configured at the ANDROID operating system layer and which are enforced at the lower LINUX operating system layer, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Security system and method for the android operating system


A pylon for supporting a test target in an anechoic chamber during a radar cross section measurement. The pylon includes an elongated support extending upwardly from a base to a tip on which the test target is mounted. The support inclines and curves in the direction of an interrogating radar signal, and its tip is smoothly faired to the test target. The tip is formed from a resilient, radar-absorbing material, and it is bent by internal actuating means to vary the angular orientation of the test target.

Aircraft radar cross section is becoming an increasingly important parameter in the design of military aircraft. All aircraft reflect interrogating radar signals. However, it is important that the magnitude of the radar reflectivity, or radar cross section, be minimized to make military aircraft less observable to various types of radars. The radar cross section of an aircraft is typically measured by placing a scale model of the aircraft in an anechoic chamber having radar absorbing walls, interrogating the model with a pulsed radar signal and measuring the magnitude of the radar signal reflected from the model. The model, also known as a test target, is generally supported in the anechoic chamber by either several downwardly extending strings or an upwardly extending pylon. Regardless of whether the test is supported by strings or a pylon, it is critical that the strings or pylon have a lower radar cross section than the test target. Otherwise, the magnitude of the measured radar reflections provides an indication of the radar cross section of the strings or pylon rather than the radar cross section of the test target. At relatively low frequencies, it is generally preferable to support the test target with strings since the radar cross section of strings is generally lower than that of pylons at low frequencies. At higher frequencies, the radar cross section of a pylon is generally significantly less than the radar cross section of strings. Thus, at the relatively high frequency at which many radar systems operate, it is preferable to utilize a pylon to support the test target.
Conventional pylons for supporting a test target in an anechoic chamber are generally in the form of an elongated inclined support or column terminating in a tip on which the test target is mounted. The test target is generally mounted on the tip of the pylon through a rotator to rotate the test target around its yaw axis. The test target is also mounted on an actuator that rotates the test target about its pitch axis. The support is generally tapered from its base to the tip, and it is generally ogival in cross section. Such pylons are manufactured, for example, by Scientific Atlanta Company.
The radar cross section of conventional pylons for supporting test targets is typically -30 dBsm at 2 GHz. At lower frequencies, the radar cross section of these pylons increases rapidly to about -20 dBsm at 1 GHz. The pylons are typically coated with a radar-absorbing material to improve the low frequency performance, but the improvement is generally no more than about 2-5 dB. As frequency increases, the radar cross section of conventional pylons improves to about -50 dBsm at 8 GHz, and radar-absorbing coatings can improve this performance about 15-20 dB.
While the conventional pylon described above has in the past proven satisfactory for most applications, it is becoming more and more inadequate as the radar cross section of new aircraft designs continues to decrease. More specifically, the radar cross section of test targets simulating modern, low observable aircraft is approaching the radar cross section of the pylon so that it is becoming impossible to measure the radar cross section of the test target alone. The principal contributor to the radar cross section of the pylon is the interface between the pylon and test target. At low frequencies, the finite length of the pylon causes diffraction to be generated at the pylon/target interface. As frequency increases, diffraction becomes less important but surface roughness effects limit the radar cross section performance of the pylon. There is thus a need for a low radar cross section pylon that is capable of supporting a large, heavy test target at a variety of angular orientations.

Test pylon having low radar cross section


An interlayer insulating film of a semiconductor device is made of a material in which silicon atoms are main elements, and each of the silicon atoms has an oxygen bond and a carbon bond, and further at least some of the silicon atoms have a hydrogen bond. The interlayer insulating film is formed by chemical vapor deposition employing a mixed gas of hydrogen peroxide and a reactive gas having a gas molecular structure in which silicon atoms have a hydrogen bond and a carbon bond.

As for an interlayer insulating film of a semiconductor device, a silicon oxide film formed by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) by using a silicon compound, such as a silane gas (SiH.sub.4) and hydrogen peroxide (H.sub.2 O.sub.2), has a high flowability and can fill in very fine spaces of less than 0.25 (.mu.m between conducting lines. Further, the silicon oxide film formed by the above method exhibits a self-planarization effect. Due to these advantages, the above method is increasingly being used as a method for planarization of interlayer insulating film of a next-generation to replace the conventional methods such as a spin on glass method (SOG). For details, refer to, for instance, "Novel Self-planarizing CVD Oxide for Interlayer Dielectric Applications," Technical Digest of IEDM '94.
According to the above method, a silicon oxide film is formed by a process that is expressed by the chemical formulae shown below. First, silanol (Si(OH).sub.4) is formed by an oxidizing reaction involving silane gas (SiH.sub.4) and hydrogen peroxide (H.sub.2 O.sub.2) (see chemical formulae (1-1) to (1-3)). Then, a silicon oxide (Sio.sub.2) is produced from silanol by hydrolysis or a dehydropolymerization reaction with application of thermal energy (see chemical formula (2)). A silicon oxide film is formed when the above reactions are effected on a substrate. EQU SiH.sub.4 +2H.sub.2 O.sub.2.fwdarw.Si(OH).sub.4 +2H.sub.2 (1-1) EQU SiH.sub.4 +3H.sub.2 O.sub.2.fwdarw.Si(OH).sub.4 +2H.sub.2 O+H.sub.2 (1-2) EQU SiH.sub.4 +4H.sub.2 O.sub.2.fwdarw.Si(OH).sub.4 +4H.sub.2 O (1-3) EQU nSi(OH).sub.4.fwdarw.nSiO.sub.2 +2nH.sub.2 O (2)
FIG. 7(a)-FIG. 7(c) schematically show a conventional flow for forming an interlayer insulating film according to the above method. This flow will be described below with reference to FIG. 7(a)-FIG. 7(c).
Referring to FIG. 7(a), reference numeral 1 denotes a semiconductor device substrate including a silicon substrate, a device, and an insulating film formed thereon (not separately shown). Aluminum interconnections 2 are formed on the substrate 1.
An interlayer insulating film is formed in the following manner. A first plasma oxide film 3 is formed on the substrate 1 on which the aluminum interconnections 2 have been formed. Then, a silicon oxide film 4a is formed so as to cover the first plasma oxide film 3 by the above-described CVD method using a silane gas (SiH.sub.4) and hydrogen peroxide (H.sub.2 O.sub.2). Finally, a second plasma oxide film 5 is formed so as to cover the entire structure, to thereby form a flat interlayer insulating film.
A silicon oxide film, formed by the CVD method using a silane gas (SiH.sub.4) and hydrogen peroxide (H.sub.2 O.sub.2), can fill in very fine spaces between conducting lines and achieves superior self-planarization, because the silanol that is produced during the film formation process exhibits superior flowability.
A silicon oxide produced through the formation of silanol in the above manner has a relative dielectric constant of 4.0-5.0. With recent miniaturization of devices, the delay of the conducting lines due to the capacitance of an interlayer insulating film is becoming a more serious problem. Therefore, for the future processes to form an interlayer insulating film, a reduction in capacitance is an important objective. In particular, it is important to reduce the capacitance of fine spaces of less than 0.3 .mu.m between conducting lines. For this purpose, an interlayer insulating film is needed which has a small relative dielectric constant and which is superior in embeddability and planarization characteristics.
An organic spin-on-glass (SOG) film containing a methyl radical is known as a conventional film that satisfies the above requirements. The molecular structure of this material is shown in FIG. 8. The Si--O network is divided by terminating one bond of some silicon atoms by a methyl radical, whereby the film density is lowered and, in turn, the relative dielectric constant is reduced. For details, refer to, for instance, "A New Methylsilsesquioxane Spin-on-Polymer," Proceedings of The 48th Symposium on Semiconductors and Integrated Circuits Technology and "New Reflowable Organic Spin-on-Glass for Advanced Gap-filling and Planarization," Proceedings of VMIC Conference 1994.
To reduce the dielectric constant with this material, however, it is necessary to mix a large amount of methyl radicals. This causes a problem of a reliability-related failure called "poisoned via."
FIG. 9 illustrates a mechanism of occurrence of a poisoned via failure. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate on which a device and a first plasma oxide film 3 are formed; 2, a lower-layer aluminum conducting line; 3, a first plasma oxide film; 4a, an organic SOG film; 5, a second plasma oxide film; 6, a titanium nitride/titanium film; 7, a tungsten film; 8, a layer denatured by oxygen plasma; 9, water migrated from the via side wall; and 10, an interstice (poisoned via).
The poisoned via is a failure that occurs in the connection hole (via) 10 for connecting the upper and lower conducting layers. The poisoned via is generated when a portion of the organic SOG film 4a exposed at the via side wall is bombarded with oxygen plasma, during resist removal after opening of the via, and is, thereby denatured. That is, Si--CH.sub.3 radicals are changed to Si--OH radicals by the oxygen plasma, leading to easy entrance of water from the external air. The water introduced from the external air is emitted through the side wall when the via is charged with the tungsten film 7, for instance by CVD, and thereby prevents growth of the tungsten film 7 in the via 10. As a result, the resistivity increases or a disconnection occurs in the via 10, and the reliability of the conducting line is reduced remarkably.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof


A system for steering a vehicle including: an actuator disposed in a vehicle to apply torque to a steerable wheel; a driver input device receptive to driver commands for directing the vehicle; and a sensor for determining an intent of a driver and generating a signal indicative thereof. The system also includes: a lane keeping system for detecting a location of the vehicle relative to a lane marker and generating a lane position signal indicative thereof; a controller in operable communication with the actuator, the driver input device, the first sensor, and the lane keeping system. The controller provides a command to the actuator responsive to the intent of the driver, the lane position, and a desired lane position. The controller executes a lane keeping algorithm consisting of a single control loop based on at least one of the lane position and the lane position deviation.

The present disclosure relates generally to vehicle steering control systems and, more particularly, to an electric power steering system having a lane keeping function integrated therewith.
A number of vehicle systems have been devised to assist the vehicle in maintaining a central position within a driving lane. Generally, a "lane keeping" system will include a device such as a video camera that gathers information on the current position of the vehicle, along with sensors for detecting certain dynamic state variables of the vehicle. Changes in the curvature of the road path is treated as unknown disturbances. Through the use of information on the deviation of the vehicle from the center of the driving lane, as well as the dynamic state variables of the vehicle, an appropriate feedback indication is provided to the driver.
For example, the feedback indication could be in the form of an audio signal, a visual signal, and/or a haptic signal to the driver. Such a signal would alert the driver that a corrective action may be required if the driver's intent is not to deviate from the center of the driving lane. In addition to driver feedback, the lane keeping system may also be integrated within the steering system of the vehicle to provide a corrective input thereto when a path deviation is detected. However, it may not always be desirable for the lane keeping function to assume total control over the steering but rather to assist the driver in maintaining control of the vehicle's path in accordance with the driver's intent.
Conventional lane keeping systems usually employ a camera system and control system integrated with a steering system to provide a lane keeping assist torque. In addition, such systems may employ various means to evaluate the driver's intent to ascertain whether a torque input in intentional or just a deviation of the vehicle from a desired path. However, such systems are very complex, involving multiple sensor systems and utilize multiple control loops to maintain a lane keeping function. Accordingly, an assistive lane keeping system is desired that provides operator cues to assist an driver with lane keeping, yet may be configured for autonomous operation that is less complex than existing systems.

Steering system with lane keeping integration


There is provided a plasma processing apparatus for performing a process on a substrate by generating inductively coupled plasma. The plasma processing apparatus includes an upper lid, provided to cover a top opening of the processing chamber, having a dielectric window; multiple gas inlets provided at the upper lid; a high frequency coil positioned above the dielectric window at an outside of the processing chamber; and a gas supply device supported by the upper lid and provided under the dielectric window. Here, the gas supply device includes a single sheet of plate having through holes, multiple groove-shaped gas paths are formed between the plate and the dielectric window, end portions of the groove-shaped gas paths are opened to edges of the through holes and communicate with the gas inlets, and the gas supply device is configured to supply the processing gas into the processing chamber via the through holes.

Conventionally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing field, there is known a plasma processing apparatus using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as an apparatus for performing a process such as a film forming process or an etching process on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer.
In a plasma processing apparatus having a high frequency coil provided above an upper portion of a processing chamber, as a processing gas supply structure of the plasma processing apparatus using ICP, a processing gas supply device of an annular hollow pipe is provided around a substrate, i.e., in a space between the high frequency coil and the substrate. Further, a processing gas is discharged into a space above the substrate from a multiple number of gas discharge openings formed at an inner periphery of the hollow pipe (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Meanwhile, in a plasma processing apparatus having a high frequency coil provided at a sidewall of a processing chamber, for example, a processing gas is discharged from an upper center of the processing chamber to a space above a substrate (for example, see Patent Document 2).
As the above-described processing gas supply structures, a nozzle type structure having holes or slits is used. In the plasma processing apparatus having the high frequency coil provided above the upper portion of the processing chamber, if there exists a large structure for introducing the gas to above the substrate, the substrate are blocked by the large structure, so that a non-uniform process on the substrate may be performed. Meanwhile, if a gas diffusion space is provided above the substrate and below the high frequency coil, a means to prevent an electric discharge in this space may be needed. For this reason, a region for discharging a gas is basically limited to a central portion and an outer peripheral portion of the substrate.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-085413
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3845154
As described above, in the conventional plasma processing apparatus and the processing gas supply structure thereof, since the region for discharging a gas is limited, it may be difficult to improve uniformity of a process on a substrate surface by controlling a supply of the processing gas.

Plasma processing apparatus and processing gas supply structure thereof


A method of fulfilling orders in a warehouse with an order fulfillment area comprising the steps—storing slow-moving items in a first storage comprising mobile shelf units, automated transportation of slow-moving items needed for order fulfillment on the mobile shelf units from the first storage to an unloading station, where at least one of the slow-moving items needed for a certain order is manually transferred into a receptacle, routing of the receptacles directly to picking stations if needed right away, otherwise routing of the receptacles to a second storage and storing the receptacles therein. When all of the items to complete an order are available and/or are stored in the second storage, retrieving the receptacles containing items for fulfillment of the certain order and transporting to one of the picking stations for specific item retrieval for fulfilling the certain order.

The invention relates to a method of fulfilling orders in a warehouse with an order fulfillment area.
When operating a warehouse with an order fulfillment area several aspects must be taken into account as described below.
While picking or compiling orders from transporting units, such as e.g. articles or containers, it is necessary to provide the transporting or storage units, which are associated with a common order, in a directed or sorted fashion. In addition, it is conventional to intermediately store (buffer) the transporting units of an order, until all of the transporting units required for the order are present. They are then passed together onto a collecting line which leads them e.g. to the palletization area, picking station, goods issue, shipment etc.
At the picking station the goods for fulfilling an order are taken from the storage units (receptacles) and placed according to the order into an order container etc. The storage unit (often called donor) is then routed back into the racking storage and stored until needed for the next order.
Order fulfillment of orders placed over the Internet must take place within a relatively short period of time in order to be commercially competitive. Such order fulfillment is known as E-commerce and places demands on an order fulfillment system to meet such obligations. This is compounded by the fact that E-commerce usually involves a large number of small orders (each containing as few as one item in the order) that are selected from a large number of potential items. Each unique item has a specific inventory identification, known in the industry as a stock-keeping unit (SKU). Each item usually bears an optical code, such as a barcode or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that identifies the SKU of the item.
Because of the large number of SKU's from which an order may be selected, the inventory warehouse may be very large in footprint. As such, it is common to designate geographic portions of the inventory warehouse to each be picked by an individual picker such that each picker picks only a portion of each order, since each order may be spread out over the entire general footprint of the inventory warehouse. Each picker is directed by a warehouse management system to pick portions of a number of orders using a various picking technology known in the art. It is efficient to have the picker mix several orders in one picking or picked receptacle rather than having multiple receptacles, each bearing one order portion. In this way, each order may be contained in a number of picked receptacles if the order contains more than an individual item. However, it is then necessary to subsequently sort the contents of the picked receptacle(s) to the order and to process the items so that they can be packed-out for shipment via courier. Also, orders may be made up of items having various physical characteristics such that some items are not able to be readily handled by a conventional material-handling system. Such items are known as non-conveyables.
EP 1 590 272 B1 discloses use of mobile inventory pods in the form of autonomous robotic mobile trays that store and transport inventory items based on instructions from a central computer.
EP 2 170 742 B2 discloses a method in which at a singulation station of a materials handling facility, individual units of items from collections of items are selected, wherein the collection of items includes units of heterogeneous items picked from inventory storage of the materials handling facility to fulfill a plurality of orders; associating an item identifier of a particular item of the individual units of items with a receptacle identifier of a particular conveyance receptacle of a plurality of conveyance receptacles; associating the particular conveyance receptacle with a particular order that specifies at least one unit of the particular item. In Other words articles from a mixed or dirty batch picking process are singulated by putting a single separate article into/onto a conveyance receptacle and marrying these by correlating their identifiers in a database. From then on only the receptacle identifier is tracked throughout the facility.
US 2011/0295413 A1 also discloses singulation of batch wise picked items from a batch container into single containers with a single item per container.
Further it is difficult to manage fluctuations in demand within storage facilities. Manually run storage facilities with manual pack stations usually capable of managing the fluctuation and have low initial costs and can be very effective for very slow moving articles in general and fast moving particularly across limited articles and low cost labor situations. However they must be larger in space to handle the same amount of orders as automated high bay systems. In addition, it is difficult to control the progress of manual operations in the timely fashion and running cost and even availability of labor may become an issue in high cost labor situations.
Slow-movers are items which are infrequently asked for in orders and therefore have longer storage duration. In contrast fast-moving items are items which are frequently used for order fulfillment and therefore have short storage duration.
Common procedure is to store both such slow-moving and fast-moving products within the same automated storage system. If the amount of so-called slow-moving products is high, it means that a lot of storage locations within the automated storage system are occupied with items that are rarely needed. If only so-called fast movers are stored in the automated storage system, it is necessary to provide a second storage. Both situations increase costs as storage locations have to be provided. Further, if slow moving products are stored within manual shelving, an operator needs to walk around and pick those products manually. Since those are slow movers, the operator has to spend a majority of his time walking to the location where products are stored rather than for the picking operation itself. Batch picking would be the most effective way to minimize the walking distance per pick but still a great amount of walking time is required and also the separation of the batch picked items is tiresome and causes require duplicate handling of the products, one for the batch pick and one for the separation from the batch pick.

Method of fulfilling orders in a warehouse with an order fulfillment area


A packing machine for packing cigarettes, having a conveyor in turn having at least one pocket for forming and conveying a respective group of cigarettes; the pocket being carried by a carriage run along a fixed guide by a linear electric motor, a stator or primary of which extends along at least one portion of the guide, and a cursor or secondary of which is carried by the carriage.

The present invention relates to a cigarette packing machine.
Known cigarette packing machines, such as the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,219, comprise a conveyor for step feeding a number of forming and conveying pockets along a path extending parallel to a number of hopper outlets. At each stop of the conveyor, a reciprocating pusher extracts one or more layers of cigarettes from each outlet of the hopper into a respective pocket arrested in front of the hopper; which operation may be repeated at successive stops of the conveyor until a complete group of cigarettes defining the content of a packet is formed inside each pocket.
At a transfer station, the complete groups are extracted successively from the conveyor pockets onto a step-operated or continuous wrapping unit.
Though perfectly functional, group-forming units of the type described above have the drawback of being unable to operate at relatively high speed, on account of intermittent operation of the conveyor, and the difficulty posed in connecting the unit to a continuous wrapping unit. Moreover, such forming units also have a relatively high noise level.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette packing machine designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks, and which, in particular, is straightforward mechanically.
According to the present invention, there is provided a cigarette packing machine comprising a conveyor having at least one pocket for forming and conveying a respective group of cigarettes; the machine being characterized in that said conveyor comprises a fixed guide; at least one carriage running along said guide and supporting said pocket; and a linear electric motor having a stator or primary located along at least a portion of the guide, and a cursor or secondary carried by said carriage.


Zn(II) is selectively detected in a sample by contacting the sample with a tripodal ligand with a piperidine or quinuclidine scaffold, one of which acts as a zinc sensor, in which the rigidity of the ligand scaffold is increased. The rigidity of the ligand scaffold can be increased by adding aromatic groups or cyclic hydrocarbon groups. Examples of aromatic groups include naphthalene and the like. Examples of cyclic groups include nitrogen-substituted cyclohexane and cyclohexene such as piperidine.

Zinc is an important element in most cells, and variation from normal concentration is associated with many diseases, such as Alzheimer's syndrome (Cualungee et al., 1999; Suh et al., 2000; Xuang et al., 2000; Andrasi et al., 2000). Rapid analysis of trace metal cations requires both high sensitivity and selectivity. Fluorescent chemosensors, which consist of a recognition moiety and a signaling moiety, are particularly attractive because they are inherently highly sensitive.
One problem with the sensitivity of fluorescent chemosensors is that other metal ions may interfere. Many reported fluorescent chemosensors for Zn(II) suffer from interference from binding Cu(II), which commonly forms more stable complexes that Zn(II) with many ligands (Walkup et al., 1997; Hirano et al., 2000; Fahrnti et al., 1999).
In a previous study (Castagnetto et al., 1998), it was found the recognition of Zn(II) by compound I, shown in FIG. 1, benefited from both fluorescence enhancement as well as chiroptical signal increase. However, Cu(II) was a significant competitor for Zn(II) in that system, as it has been found to be in many published systems.
In the pharmaceutical industry, asymmetric synthesis is crucial. Chiral coordination complexes are frequently used in asymmetric synthesis and chiral discrimination technologies. Among known chiral ligands, C2-symmetric compounds have been widely and successfully used in enantioselective reactions. It has been suggested that a higher symmetry would give better control of enantioselectivity. While numerous classes of achiral C3-symmetric ligands exist, there are relatively few examples of chiral C3-symmetric ligands.

Chiral piperidine and quinucledine ligands


An organic light-emitting device includes a lower electrode, an upper electrode, and an organic layer disposed between these electrodes. The organic layer is a laminate of a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light-emitting layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer. The light-emitting layer includes a host and a first dopant. The hole transport layer includes a hole transporting material, and the electron transport layer includes an electron transporting material. The hole transporting material and the electron transporting material have functional groups. The first dopant in the light-emitting layer has a functional group, and is concentrated on the side of the light-emitting layer in contact with the hole transport layer or the electron transport layer.

PTL 1 discloses a single-layer white emitting organic EL device as an organic white emitting device that has a single-layer light-emitting layer. The single-layer light-emitting layer is inserted between electrodes, and has a composition containing at least a polymer that emits blue color or a color of a wavelength shorter than the wavelength of blue light, and emission center-forming compounds. Two or more of the emission center-forming compounds exist in the polymer by being molecularly dispersed, and the emission center-forming compounds independently emit light.

Organic light-emitting device, light source device using same, organic light-emitting layer material, coating liquid for forming organic light-emitting layer, and method for producing organic light-emitting device


An internal combustion engine apparatus includes a cylinder having a head, an intake valve cooperating with the head for selectively allowing passage of fluids into the cylinder and an exhaust valve for selectively allowing passage of fluids out of the cylinder. The exhaust and inlet valves are open during both the intake and exhaust phases of operation of the engine. A piston is mounted for reciprocal movement in the cylinder between a top dead center position and a bottom dead center position. The cylinder has at least one opening therein, the opening is disposed in a side wall thereof intermediate the top dead center position and the bottom dead center position. The opening communicates between the interior of the cylinder and space outside of the cylinder and the opening is fully covered by the piston in at least one position of the piston. The engine also includes apparatus for pressurizing air and apparatus for fluid coupling the apparatus for pressurizing air to the opening and to the intake valve simultaneously during both intake and exhaust phases of the engine.

The invention has particular application to four stroke supercharged diesel engines and specifically a particular construction of such engines to maximize engine cooling. It will be understood that the invention also has application to use with conventional internal combustion engines as well as diesel and conventional engines which are provided with a turbocharger particularly if the gasoline engine has direct cylinder injection of the gasoline.
The prior art includes various apparatus which have utilized the air flow from a turbocharger or a supercharger for engine cooling. The prior art includes the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: Gettinger 2,209,078; Townsend 4,129,101; Katayama 4,573,808; Townsend 4,127,096; Okano et al 4,376,617; and Johnson 4,656,975.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,617 shows the use of air from the compressor section of a turbocharger being directed to an annular air passage to cool parts of the turbocharger. U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,808 describes a pneumatic journal member which has compressed air introduced into the clearance space between the journal member and a cylindrical bearing surface.
The journal member is formed with holes to admit compressed air into an interior space to cool the shaft. The patent suggests that the compressed air is supplied by the compressor section of the turbocharger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,975 describes the use of low pressure air from an engine supercharger which is guided by a passage across external surfaces of the engine cylinders for cooling.
It is an object of the invention to provide apparatus having particular application to diesel engines which will eliminate the necessity for liquid cooling.
It is another object of the invention to provide apparatus which will substantially improve the cooling of internal combustion engines.
It is another object of the invention to provide an internal combustion engine that will have relatively cool exhaust gasses as compared to other internal convention combustion engines and particularly diesel engines.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a diesel engine that will have a progressive combustion step to obtain greater power for a given amount of fuel.

Four cycle diesel engine with pressurized air cooling system


The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting a data rate in a turbo decoder for a mobile communication system. When a rate selector selects one data rate among a plurality of data rates, a turbo decoder repeatedly decodes an input data frame within a predetermined repetition limit number using the selected data rate and outputs the decoded data. A CRC detector performs CRC check on the decoded data and outputs the CRC check result, and a decoding state measurer measures decoding quality depending on the decoded data and outputs decoding state information. A controller then sets the repetition limit number to a predetermined minimum value, controls the repetition limit number according to the decoding state information, controls the rate selector and determines a data rate of the input data depending on the CRC check result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for detecting a data rate, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for detecting a data rate of a turbo decoder in a mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an encoder and a decoder are used in a digital mobile communication system to correct an error of a forward channel. The digital mobile communication system transmits and receives data in a radio environment, so it employs a coding technique to prevent generation of noises in a transmission channel. The mobile communication system typically uses a turbo coding technique for the coding technique. 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Projection) or 3GPP2 (3rd Generation Partnership Projection 2), an ongoing standardization work on the mobile communication system, specifies that transmission data can be transmitted at different data rates. Here, the data rate depends upon a length (or size) of a frame decoded by a turbo decoder. For example, a data rate of 2.4 Kbps corresponds to a decoded frame length of 24 bits/frame, and a data rate of 4.8 Kbps corresponds to a decoded frame length of 48 bits/frame.
When transmitting data at various data rates, a transmitter generally transmits the data to a receiver along with information on a data rate of the currently transmitted data. However, transmitting the data along with the data rate of the transmission data causes a waste of transmission power, especially when the transmission data has a low data rate. Therefore, there is a demand for a method for transmitting data without information on its data rate.
There is a known blind rate detection (BRD) technique, in which a transmitter transmits data without information on its data rate and a receiver detects the data rate based on only the received data. When data is transmitted in the BRD mode after being subject to turbo encoding the results of CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Code) checking performed on an output of a turbo decoder are typically used to detect a data rate.
That is, the transmitter adds CRC information to transmission data before transmission. Then, a channel decoder of the receiver decodes the received data at all of its available data rates and determines whether the decoded data includes noises, through CRC checking. If it is determined through the CRC checking performed at a specific data rate that the frame is not damaged, the receiver detects the corresponding data rate. A procedure for detecting a data rate by the receiver using the CRC checking will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a procedure for detecting a data rate by a receiver through CRC checking of the BRD technique in a mobile communication system according to the prior art. A detailed description of the conventional procedure for detecting a data rate will now be made with reference to FIG. 1.
In step 10, the receiver performing the turbo decoding receives frame data over a radio channel. In this procedure, a description of a radio processing process and a channel decoding process will not be provided. After receiving the frame data, the receiver sets count values i and j to '0', in step 12. Here, i represents a value for counting a decoding iteration number (or decoding frequency) to perform turbo decoding on one frame at a selected data rate. Further, j represents a value for counting the number of types of the data rates. That is, if the turbo decoding is iteratively performed 6 times, the i value represents a decoding iteration count value for limiting the turbo decoding to be performed up to 6 times, and if the number of the types of the data rates is 7, the j value represents a data rate type count value for performing the decoding at up to 7 data rates.
After the step 12, the receiver sets an iteration limit number to its maximum value in step 14. Here, the "iteration limit number" refers to the maximum number of iterative decoding at a specific data rate, i.e., a value for setting a threshold for the iteration count value 'i' of the turbo decoder. In step 16, the receiver performs turbo decoding at a data rate set to the j value. For example, if decoding on voice data is performed at 2 Kbps, 4 Kbps and 8 Kbps, then the receiver performs the decoding on the data with a frame length FL(j) associated with 2 Kbps or 8 Kbps, whichever determined first. That is, the receiver performs the decoding at one initial data rate.
After the decoding, the receiver analyzes the result of CRC checking performed on the decoded data in step 18. As the result of the analysis, if it is determined that the CRC is 'good', the receiver performs a data rate detection process for the current j value in step 20. Otherwise, the receiver determines whether the decoding iteration count value i is less than the iteration limit number, in order to iterate the decoding up to the iteration limit number. As the result of the determination, if the decoding iteration count value i is less than the iteration limit number, the receiver proceeds to step 24, and otherwise, proceeds to step 26. In the step 24, the receiver increases the decoding iteration count value i by 1, and then returns to the step 16. The reason for iteratively performing the decoding at one data rate will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 illustrates distribution of a decoding state value m(i) indicating the quality of a data frame when data with a frame size 60 transmitted over a radio channel is subject to iterative turbo decoding by a turbo decoder with a frame size 60. FIG. 3 illustrates distribution of an m(i) value when data with a frame size 40 transmitted over a radio channel is subject to iterative turbo decoding by a turbo decoder with a frame size 60.
In FIG. 2, a part represented by a solid line represents a part having an m(i) value of correctly decoded frame, while a part represented by dots represents an incorrectly decoded part. When performing the decoding for second time, the receiver iteratively performs the decoding for restoration, using the incorrectly decoded frames represented by the dots. Then, the incorrectly decoded frames are divided again into restored frames and non-restored frames, as shown in a second graph of FIG. 2. If the process is iterated several times, the frame data will be more correctly decoded, thus increasing a probability that the CRC will be detected in a 'good' state. However, in the case where the data is decoded with a frame length associated with another data rate, even though the decoding is performed several times, the decoding results will continuously show an error state as shown in FIG. 3.
Turning back to FIG. 1, the iterative limit number is typically set to 6. If the CRC is not 'good' after iterating the decoding six times at one data rate, the receiver determines in step 26 whether the data rate type count value j is larger than the number N of the data rates. As the result of the determination, if the data rate type count value j is not less than the number N, e.g., 3, of the data rates, the receiver proceeds to step 28 to perform a data rate detection failure process, considering that the decoding and the CRC checking have been completed for all of the available data rates. However, if the count value j indicates that the decoding has not yet performed at all of the data rates, i.e., if the j value is less than N, the receiver increases the count value j by 1 and sets the decoding iteration count value i to 0 in step 30, and then returns to the step 16 to repeat the steps 16 to 30.
However, the turbo decoding technique for detecting a data rate through the above process causes a waste of time in detecting the data rate, especially when there is a great difference between a data rate at which the data frame has been transmitted and the initial data rate at which the turbo decoding is performed. That is, for example, if it is assumed that the number of the data rates to be detected is N and the iteration number is 8, the decoding is performed (N−1)*8 times at the worst. In addition, an increase in the number of the data rates for the transmission data causes an increase in the detection time and also causes an increase in power consumption for detecting the data rate.

Apparatus and method for detecting transmitting rate of turbo decoder


A semiconductor substrate including one or more conductors is provided. A first layer and a second layer are deposited on the top surface of the conductors. A dielectric cap layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate and air gaps are etched into the dielectric layer. The result is a bilayer cap air gap structure with effective electrical performance.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to the formation of air gap structures in a semiconductor device with a bilayer selective cap.
Semiconductor devices generally include a plurality of circuits which form an integrated circuit fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. To improve the performance of the circuits, low k dielectric materials, having a dielectric constant of less than silicon dioxide, are used between circuits as inter-layer dielectric (ILD) to reduce capacitance. Interconnect structures made of metal lines are usually formed in and around the ILD material to connect elements of the circuits. Within a typical interconnect structure, metal lines run parallel to the semiconductor substrate. An interconnect structure may consist of multilevel or multilayered schemes, such as, single or dual damascene wiring structures.
Manufacture of a semiconductor device, also called an electronic device or integrated circuit, is normally divided into two major phases. The "front end of the line" (FEOL) is dedicated to the creation of all transistors in the body of the semiconductor devices, and the "back end of the line" (BEOL) creates the metal interconnect structures which connect the transistors to each other, as well as provide power to the devices. Once all active components are created, the BEOL manufacturing begins.
Air gap structures, which may be used in flash memory chips, are known to reduce capacitance in the interconnect back end of the line (BEOL) structures of high performance integrated circuits. Integration processes used in the formation of air gap structures are known in some cases to attack the copper (Cu) conductors, resulting in poor reliability, an increase in resistance, and open conductors.

Air gap semiconductor structure with selective cap bilayer

International Business Machines Corporation


A wireless device, system and method. The device includes a processing circuitry is configured to decode duplicate Request to Send (RTS) frames from a first access point (AP) that is part of an Extended Service Set (ESS) including a second AP, the first AP and the second AP buffering data for the device. The processing circuitry is further to cause transmission of duplicate multi-AP channel bonding (MACB) Trigger frames to the first AP and to the second AP in response to the duplicate RTS frames. Each of the duplicate RTS frames and duplicate Trigger frames have a legacy preamble portion over a first bandwidth of a corresponding wireless channel, and a MACB portion over a second narrower bandwidth of the corresponding wireless channel. The processing circuitry is further to decode a first data frame portion from the first AP and a second data frame portion from the second AP.

The IEEE 802.11 standards specify a common Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer which provides a variety of functions that support the operation of IEEE 802.11-based Wireless LANs (WLANs) and devices. The MAC Layer manages and maintains communications between IEEE 802.11 stations (STAs) by coordinating access to a shared radio channel and utilizing protocols that enhance communications over a wireless medium.
IEEE 802.11ax is the successor to IEEE 802.11ac and aims to increase the efficiency of WLAN networks, especially in high density areas such as public hotspots and other dense traffic areas. IEEE 802.11ax uses orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), and is directed towards improvements to spectrum efficiency to enhance system throughput and coverage area in high density scenarios of APs (Access Points) and/or STAs (Stations).
As a result of propagation loss, a STA at the edge of the coverage area of a basic service set (BSS) (a "cell edge" STA or CE STA), the physical data rate to the CE STA tends to be much lower than that to a non-cell-edge STA (non-CE STA). For example, in an environment with four access points (APs) located at the four corners of a large 40 m×40 m room, a STA will follow the rules defined in IEEE 802.11 specification to connect with the nearest AP. The physical data rate to the CE STA in the middle of the room is much lower than that for another STA near one of the four corners, where the STA is closer to an AP. Thus, CE STAs continue to underperform in many networks, and there exists a need to improve throughput and performance associated with the same.

Mechanism to increase the transmission range of a cell edge station in a wireless network


A conferencing computing device, including memory storing one or more dispatch data structures. The conferencing computing device may further include a processor configured to, at a port, receive, from a sender computing device, a first input packet including first input packet data and a second input packet that includes a copy of the first input packet data, via a first communication channel and a second communication channel, respectively. Based on the input packet data and the one or more dispatch data structures, the processor may add the input packets to a queue of a transport provider bound to the port. The processor may transmit the input packets to an application program instance associated with the queue. The processor may determine that the first communication channel or the second communication channel is disconnected and may maintain communication with the sender computing device through the port via a remaining communication channel.

Using online conferencing application programs, two or more users may communicate remotely via modalities such as voice and video. These online conferencing application programs typically make use of a conferencing server that receives communications from each of the client devices in a session and transmits those communications to the other client devices.

Maintaining communication with conferencing computing device


A structured light projector outputting light which is adapt to variations in distance between an object under test and the structured light projector can efficiently obtain data as to three dimensions of the object. The structured light projector includes a lens, an infrared laser source, a voice coil motor, a first camera, and a second camera. The infrared laser source can emit infrared light towards the voice coil motor, the first camera is movably housed in the voice coil motor. The voice coil motor can adjust a focal length of the first camera. The first camera is disposed on a transmission path of the infrared light, so that the infrared light enters the to-be-tested object. The second camera is disposed on the second surface, to receive light reflected by the to-be-tested object.

Structured light projectors include projectors and cameras. The projector projects light beam towards a to-be-tested object. The camera collects the light reflected by the to-be-tested object to form data as to the object. The data includes a position and a depth of the to-be-tested object. Thus, a three-dimensional data of the to-be-tested object can be obtained by analyzing the reflected light.
However, the light beam emitted from the structured light projector has a divergence angle, causing the light beam to fall in a speckled pattern on the to-be-tested object. The larger a distance between the to-be-tested object and the structured light projector, the larger is the speckled pattern on the to-be-tested object, which reduces the accuracy of the depth data. In addition, when the distance is large, a large portion of the speckled patterns do not even strike the to-be-tested object, causing an energy loss.