Fusion hints can be generated in order to recommend streams application actors (like streams operators) for fusion or separation in a streams computing environment. Profiles can be made for the streams application actors, and fusion candidates can be determined from the profiles, based on fusion candidate rules. Based on the fusion candidate rule satisfied, a particular associated fusion recommendation can be identified and made to the user via a user interface. The recommendation can be displayed, along with the identities of the streams application actors identified as fusion candidates.

The present disclosure relates to stream computing, and more particularly to the use of an integrated development environment in streams computing.
Database systems are typically configured to separate the process of storing data from accessing, manipulating, or using data stored in a database. More specifically, database systems use a model in which data is first stored and indexed in a memory before subsequent querying and analysis. In general, database systems may not be well suited for performing real-time processing and analyzing streaming data. In particular, database systems may be unable to store, index, and analyze large amounts of streaming data efficiently or in real time.
An integrated development environment (IDE) may be a software application that provides facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE may be designed to facilitate programmer productivity. An IDE may consist of a source code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger. An IDE may also have intelligent code completion capabilities.
While database systems that are configured to analyze large amounts of streaming data efficiently in real time may provide a number of benefits, their introduction to the development world is relatively new. Thus, programmers and developers may be unfamiliar with a data streaming environment, which can make it difficult for developers to best design, troubleshoot, and optimize a system. Without an advanced understanding of arrangement and compartmentalization of streams operations in a streams operator graph, many of the benefits of streams applications may be lost.

Fusion recommendation for performance management in streams

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods and systems are disclosed that relate to locating cached data corresponding to data in persistent memory within a data storage facility. An exemplary method includes receiving a request for data in persistent memory, applying a function to a persistent memory address of the requested data to determine an address of one of a plurality of cache tag controllers, each of which controls nonduplicative cache tags, and looking up, at the addressed cache tag controller, a cache memory address for data corresponding to the requested data.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,757,790 to Chalmer et al., which issued on Jun. 29, 2004, disclosed a distributed, scalable data storage facility with cache memory. The '790 patent describes a data storage facility that includes a plurality of data storage devices coupled through multi-path connections to cache memory. In the disclosed facility, a plurality of interfaces to host processors communicate with the cache memory and with cache tag controllers that define cache memory over multiple paths.
Generally, cache memory serves as an intermediate data repository between persistent memory and host systems. Cache memory can reduce the time a data storage facility requires to complete a data read or write operation by returning requested data or by receiving data being sent to the data storage facility.
Each cache memory entry can have a tag, which specifies the identity of the associated data in persistent memory. When the cache client (e.g., a CPU, Web browser, operating system) wishes to access data in persistent memory, it first checks the cache. If an entry can be found with a tag matching that of the desired data, the cache memory data associated with the entry is used instead of the data in persistent memory. This situation is known as a cache hit. The alternative situation, i.e., when the cache is consulted and found not to contain data with the desired tag, is known as a cache miss. The data fetched from the persistent memory during miss handling can be inserted into the cache, ready for the next access.
The '790 patent discloses two cache tag controller nodes interconnected by a high-speed bus and operating in parallel. Each cache tag controller contains an entry for each cache memory location in the data storage facility. The cache tag controller nodes in the '790 patent are redundant and coherent. Data coherency assures the data at different locations is synchronized at least temporarily to improve reliability. When a I/O node in a data storage facility such as disclosed in the '790 patent receives a request for data, it first checks one of the redundant cache tag controllers to determine if that data has been cached.
With respect to the present invention, the inventors recognized that the need to synchronize redundant cache tag controllers containing an entry for each cache memory location in a data storage facility may result in bottlenecks in the data storage facility. Therefore, there is a need for improved method or system for managing and accessing cached data.

Methods and systems for distributed cache tag management


In a method and system for operation of a transfer printing station of an electrographic printing device, a transfer printing station is provided comprising a light-sensitive medium onto which toner images are provided by electrostatic forces affected via a toner image electrical potential. A transport band is provided holding successive sheet-form recording medium by electrostatic forces. Toner images are transfer printed from the light-sensitive medium onto the successive sheet-form recording media by electrostatic forces affected by an electrical transfer printing potential. The electrical transfer printing potential is at least reduced while the light-sensitive medium passes into intervening space line between two successive recording media sheets. A cleaning station cleans off residual toner on the light-sensitive medium that is not transfer-printed. A cleaning device mechanically loosens residual toner from the transport band. A toner quantity sensor is provided for at least one of a residual toner reservoir of the cleaning station and a residual toner reservoir of the cleaning device. The sensor provides an operator an indication to exchange at least one of the residual toner reservoirs.

The disclosure concerns a method as well as a device for printing of information by means of an electrographic printing device. Such printing devices are known in a plurality of configurations, for example as electrophotographic printing devices, as ionographic printing devices or as magnetographic printing. Various physical effects are respectively used in order to initially generate a virtual image on an intermediate image carrier, to ink this virtual image with suitable dye (in particular toner), and to transfer-print the image so generated onto a recording medium.
Such digital printing methods for variable data are, for example, specified in the publication "Das Druckerbuch, Technik und Technologien der Océ-Drucksystem, Drucktechnologien, Océ Printing Systems GmbH", 6th edition (May 2001), ISBN 3-000-00 1019-X in chapter 9, third section (pages 9-21 through 9-36).
For printing of sheet-form recording medium, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,244 A to respectively pass the recording medium on a transport band to the intermediate image carrier. The transport band thereby causes the sheet-form recording medium to remain on its desired transport web because it adheres to the transport band and does not remain electrostatically adhered to the intermediate image carrier. Thus a paper jam can be prevented.
It has emerged that, in transfer printing arrangements that comprise such a transport band for a sheet-form recording medium, toner particles are transferred from the intermediate image carrier onto the transport band. The cause for such an unwanted toner transfer onto the transport band can, for example, be a print image projection in which the transferred image is larger than the format of the recording medium. Toner markings in the edge region of the intermediate image carrier or in the intervening spaces that result in the spaces between successive recording media (what are known as gaps) can also lead to such unwanted toner transfers onto the transport band. A regulation method for developer stations that operate on the basis of toner markings is known from the publication WO 99/36834 A1.
Further causes for an unwanted transfer of toner onto a transport band are undefined charged toner particles (background) that are located on the inked image of the intermediate image carrier as well as toner image regions that are not transfer-printed dependent on the transfer printing efficiency ΠTransfer.
An electrographic printing device with a plurality of transfer printing stations and a transport band for transportation of the recording medium is known from JP 2002-169385 A. Electrographic printing devices with a reservoir for residual toner are known from JP 2000-181312 A and from JP 11265090 A.
A method for operation of a transfer printing station of an electrographic printing device is known from EP 0 339 673 A2, in which the transfer printing potential in the region of the transfer printing station is dissipated as long as no paper traverses the station.
Further methods and transfer printing stations are disclosed in JP 2001-324841, JP 2002-156,843 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,081

Method and device for preventing unwanted transfer of toner with a cleaning station and a cleaning device in a transfer printing station of an electrographic printing machine


A gas injector comprises (1) a carrier gas channel through which a carrier gas can enter the injector, (2) an output channel through which the carrier gas and a gaseous sample can be injected from the device to an analytical instrument, (3) a sample gas channel capable of holding the gaseous sample, and (4) a switch structure regulating the connections among the sample gas channel, the carrier gas channel and the output channel. The injector also comprises at least a purge channel through which the carrier gas can flow across part of the device, purging therein and preventing contaminants from reaching the output channel. The gas injector provides a low baseline noise and a high signal to noise ratio when applied to a sensitive analytical instrument.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a gas injector which provides an improved signal to noise ratio when applied to a sensitive analytical instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
The carrier gas that passes through a conventional gas injector can be contaminated easily due to air leaks or gases emitting from polymers and other internal surfaces of the injector. The contaminated carrier gas creates a high baseline noise when injected into a sensitive analytical instrument, therefore reducing the signal to noise ratio. Examples of sensitive analytical instruments include, but are not limited to, gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers or ion mobility spectrometers.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate how the carrier gas becomes contaminated when passing through a conventional gas injector. The gas injector in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a six-port switching valve which has, in the clockwise order, ports 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. In FIG. 1, the switching valve is at the sample loading position. The carrier gas can flow through ports 1 and 2 to an analytical instrument. At the same time, a gaseous sample can be loaded to a sample gas channel through ports 5 and 6. The waste in the sample gas channel can be driven out of the sample gas channel through ports 3 and 4. Air leaks through the seals of ports 1 and 2, as well as gases emitting from the internal surfaces of the injector, contaminate the carrier gas when the carrier gas flows through the injector. The contaminated carrier gas enters the analytical instrument and creates a high baseline noise.
FIG. 2 shows the conventional gas injector at the sample injecting position. The carrier gas can be directed through, in the consecutive order, port 1, port 6, the sample gas channel, port 3 and port 2 to the analytical instrument, sweeping the gaseous sample in the sample gas channel to the analytical instrument.
Traditionally, contaminations by air leaks can be reduced by enclosing the gas injector in a container purged with the same type of gas as the carrier gas. Contaminations by the internally released gases can be minimized by limiting the upper temperature at which the gas injector operates.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a gas injector which does not require externally purged enclosure and which is easy to make and use. There is also a need to make a gas injector which can operate at high upper temperatures and has a low baseline noise.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to produce a gas injection device which has a low baseline noise and a high signal to noise ratio.
It is another object of the invention to make a gas injection device which does not require externally purged enclosure and can be used at high upper temperatures without losing the high signal to noise ratio.
It is further an object of the invention to make a gas injection device which is easy to make and use.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the gas injection device comprises (1) a carrier gas channel through which a gas is capable of entering the device, (2) an output channel through which the gas can leave the device, (3) a first purge channel, (4) a sample gas channel capable of holding a gaseous sample and (5) a switch structure. The switch structure can be a multi-port switching valve, or an assembly of discrete switches such as pneumatic switches. Other flow controlling devices or switching mechanism can also be used as a switch structure, as appreciated by one of skill in the art. The switch structure has at least a first position and a second position. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel connects to the output channel through the sample gas channel and the first purge channel. When the switch structure is at the second position, the sample gas channel disconnects to the carrier gas channel, the output channel and the first purge channel, and the carrier gas channel connects to (1) a first vent environment through the first purge channel and (2) the output channel.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the gas injection device further comprises a second purge channel and a connecting channel. The carrier gas channel connects to the output channel through the connecting channel. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel also connects to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel, the sample gas channel and the second purge channel. When the switch structure is at the second position, the sample gas channel disconnects to the carrier gas channel, and the carrier gas channel connects to a second vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the connecting channel and the second purge channel.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the gas injection device comprises a first vent channel and a second vent channel. When the switch structure is at the second position, the carrier gas channel connects to the first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel and the first vent channel, and the carrier gas channel connects to the second environment through, in the consecutive order, the connecting channel, the second purge channel and the second vent channel. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel disconnects to the second vent channel, and preferably, the carrier gas channel disconnects to both the first and the second vent channels.
In one embodiment of the invention, the pneumatic restriction of the connecting channel is greater than the sum of the pneumatic restrictions of the first purge channel, the sample gas channel and the second purge channel.
In another embodiment of the invention, the first and the second vent environments are the atmosphere.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the switch structure of the gas injection device comprises a 8-port switching valve comprising, in the clockwise order, ports 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel connects to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel, port 7, port 6, the sample gas channel, port 3, port 2 and the second purge channel. When the switch structure is at the second position, the carrier gas channel connects to the first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel, port 7, port 8 and the first vent channel, and the carrier gas channel connects to the second vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the connecting channel, the second purge channel, port 2, port 1 and the second vent channel.
In another preferred embodiment, the switch structure comprises a 6-port switching valve. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel connects to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel, port 5, the sample gas channel, port 2 and the second purge channel. When the switch structure is at the second position, the carrier gas channel connects to the first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel, port 5, port 6 and the first vent channel, and the carrier gas channel connects to the second vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the connecting channel, the second purge channel, port 2, port 1 and the second vent channel.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the switch structure comprises three pneumatic switches. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel connects to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the first purge channel, the first pneumatic switch, the sample gas channel, the second pneumatic switch and the second purge channel, and the second purge channel disconnects to the second vent environment. When the switch structure is at the second position, the carrier gas channel disconnects to the sample gas channel, and the carrier gas channel connects to the second vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the connecting channel, the second purge channel, the third pneumatic switch and the second vent channel.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the output channel connects to an analytical instrument. The analytical instrument may be a gas chromatography, a mass spectrometer or an ion mobility spectrometer.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method is provided for introducing a gaseous sample to an analytical device. The method comprises the steps of (a) directing a carrier gas to the first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel and the first purge channel, and directing the gaseous sample to the sample gas channel, wherein the switch structure is at the second position; and (b) changing the switch structure from the second position to the first position and directing the carrier gas to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel and the sample gas channel.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method for introducing a gaseous sample to an analytical instrument comprises the steps of: (a) directing a carrier gas to the first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel and the first purge channel, directing the carrier gas to the second vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel, the connecting channel and the second purge channel, and directing the gaseous sample to the sample gas channel, wherein the switch structure is at the second position; and (b) changing the switch structure from the second position to the first position and directing the carrier gas to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel, the first purge channel, the sample gas channel and the second purge channel.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the method for introducing a gaseous sample to an analytical instrument comprises the steps of: (a) directing a carrier gas to the first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel, the first purge channel and the first vent channel, directing the carrier gas to the second vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel, the connecting channel, the second purge channel and the second vent channel, and directing the gaseous sample to the sample gas channel, wherein the switch structure is at the second position; and (b) changing the switch structure from the second position to the first position and directing the carrier gas to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the carrier gas channel, the first purge channel, the sample gas channel and the second purge channel.
In one embodiment, the gas injection device comprises an input means for channeling a gas into the device, an output means for channeling the gas out of the device, a first purge channel, a holding means for holding a gaseous sample, and a switching means for regulating connections among the holding means, the input means and the output means. The switching means has at least an open state and a close state. When the switching means is at the open state, the gas is capable of being channeled from the input means through the first purge channel and the holding means to the output means. When the switching means is at the close state, the holding means disconnects to the input means and the output means, and the gas is capable of being channeled to (1) a first vent environment through, in the consecutive order, the input means and the first purge channel and (2) the output means through the input means.
In another embodiment, the device further comprises a second purge channel and a connecting means for connecting the input means to the output means. When the switching means is at the open state, the gas is capable of being channeled through, in the consecutive order, the input meaning, the first purge channel, the holding means and the second purge channel to the output means. When the switching means is at the close state, the holding means disconnects to the input means, and the gas is capable of being channeled through, in the consecutive order, the input means, the connecting means and the second purge channel to a second vent environment.
In a preferred embodiment, the pneumatic restriction of the connecting means is greater than the sum of the pneumatic restrictions of the first purge channel, the holding means and the second purge channel.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the switch structure of the gas injection device of the invention comprises a first switch and a second switch. When the switch structure is at the first position, the carrier gas channel connects to the output channel through, in the consecutive order, the first switch, the sample gas channel and the second switch. In one embodiment, the switch structure comprises a switching valve which comprises a plurality of ports. Each of the first and the second switches comprises at least one of said plurality of ports.


A liquid crystal display device and a method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device is provided. A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate; a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a light sensor, formed on the first substrate, to sense a capacitance to output an electrical signal such that the capacitance varies with an intensity of light. A method of fabricating a liquid crystal display includes forming a thin film transistor, a pixel electrode electrically connected with the thin film transistor, and a light sensor on a first substrate; providing a second substrate on which a color filter and a black matrix are formed; and forming a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to an LCD device and method of fabricating the same that controls the brightness of a backlight depending on the intensity of an external light.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An LCD device is a flat panel display device considered to be a next generation display device because of the advantages including slim size, lightweight, low power consumption, high picture quality, and mass production yield. The LCD device includes a liquid crystal panel and a backlight in which the liquid crystal panel includes a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate, a color filter array substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two substrates, and the backlight provides light to the liquid crystal layer. The LCD device displays an image on the panel by controlling light transmittance through the liquid crystal layer using the optical anisotropy of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer.
The backlight wastes a power in a dark environment because it provides a constant light brightness to the liquid crystal panel. In the dark environment, a user has a relatively high recognition degree and an extra amount of light is not required.

Liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


A substrate plating apparatus forms a plating layer on the surface of a substrate and stores the substrate until the next process in a way that the substrate is not exposed to the atmosphere. The substrate plating apparatus is not only capable of introducing semiconductor wafers continuously one by one into the plating apparatus without loading the wafers into cassettes, but is also capable of preventing particle contamination and the formation of oxidized film on the surface of the wafers, thus reducing the number of process and reducing the installation area required for the apparatus. The substrate plating apparatus includes a plating process section (20) for plating a substrate, a washing process section (10) for washing the substrate after the plating process, and a storage vessel (16) containing a storing solution in which the substrate is immersed after having been plated and washed. A substrate conveyor is provided in the substrate plating apparatus for loading substrates into the substrate plating apparatus and discharging substrates out of the substrate plating apparatus, or for performing at least one of the loading or discharging operations, such that the substrates are loaded into the substrate plating apparatus one at a time, plated in the plating process section, washed in the washing process section, and subsequently discharged one at a time from the substrate plating apparatus.

The present invention relates to a plating apparatus for plating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or the like, and particularly to a substrate plating apparatus for forming a wiring layer in a wiring portion comprising fine channels and/or fine holes formed in the surface of a substrate.
Aluminum wiring is well known for its common use as the wiring material for forming circuits in semiconductor devices. One of the most common methods for forming wiring patterns in a semiconductor device has been the etch-back method of an aluminum layer which is sputtered thereon. However, this method can be very difficult when forming wiring patterns using other metal materials, such as copper or the like. In this case, the common method is to form channels and holes for wiring in the substrate, implant metal material in the channels and holes, and subsequently perform chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) on the surface of the substrate.
However, as the level of integration in semiconductor devices increases, forcing a finer pattern in wiring scale as well as in the width of the wires, the step coverage increases and conventional methods of sputtering are limited in their ability to implant metal into a wiring area composed of fine channels and holes (fine contact holes). There is a tendency for voids to be formed in the wiring area.
Due to the increased functionality of semiconductor devices, it is necessary to form wiring channels and wiring holes having widths of 0.18 xcexcm or 0.13 xcexcm. However, it is difficult to implant metal materials in such miniaturized channels and holes using the sputtering method. Therefore, it is required to develop a new technique to use in place of sputtering. This technique will use one apparatus to perform either electrolytic plating or electroless plating to form a copper (Cu) plated layer on the surface of a semiconductor wafer including a wiring area having these type of fine channels and holes. The technique will include a process for removing the Cu plated layer from the surface of the semiconductor wafer while leaving a Cu plated layer in the wiring area.
Further, if the Cu plating apparatus and the CMP apparatus are provided separately, the surface of the Cu plating film may oxidize or particles may be attached on the surface when the device is exposed to the air after the plating and cleaning processes.
Further, when the Cu plating apparatus and the CMP apparatus are separated, an extra drying process is needed. That is, after the semiconductor wafer has been plated in the Cu plating apparatus, the wafer is dried and transported out of the apparatus. The wafer is then conveyed into the CMP apparatus in its dried state. If an additional cover plating apparatus is required separately to form a cover plating over the top of the wire plated layer, the wafer must again be dried before being conveyed to the cover plating apparatus. In addition, oxidation on the surface of the wire plated layer progresses more with the passage of time.
Further, when forming a seed layer as a preprocess to the plating process using electroless Cu plating or electrolytic Cu plating having different liquid components, the semiconductor wafer is dried after completing these plating processes and inserted into a wafer cassette to be moved between apparatuses. However, it is possible to eliminate the drying process and the like by introducing the semiconductor wafer into the Cu plating apparatus while still coated with cleaning solution, that is, while the wafer is still wet. Feeding the semiconductor wafers continuously one by one into the Cu plating apparatus without drying and inserting the wafers into cassettes will reduce the amount of wafer contamination.
After the semiconductor wafers are introduced one at a time into the Cu plating apparatus, there is a waiting period before the wafers are plated. During this time the wafers can become contaminated with particles and an oxidation film may form on the surface. To prevent this from occurring, the wafers can be temporarily stored in pure water or dilute sulfuric acid, thereby eliminating the need to set a non-conducting time for removing the oxidized film from the surface of the wafer after immersing the wafer in plating solution.
Further, as the thickness of the seed layer in the holes becomes thinner due to the finer patterns of semiconductor devices, it is essential that etching processes for removing oxidized layers are reduced as much as possible. That is, it is important to minimize the formation of oxidized film before the plating process is conducted.
After the plating process is completed, the semiconductor wafers are continuously discharged one by one from the Cu plating apparatus and loaded into the CMP apparatus for the next process. Even though the Cu plating apparatus is separate from the CMP apparatus, by installing the CMP apparatus close to the Cu plating apparatus, it is possible to eliminate the unloading stage and, in some cases, the drying process, thereby reducing the amount of installation area required for the equipment.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate plating apparatus capable of forming a plating layer on the surface of a substrate and storing the substrate until the next process in a way that the substrate is not exposed to the atmosphere.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate plating apparatus that can be easily configured to execute all steps continuously, including a process of forming a plating layer on the surface of a substrate and a CMP process which includes a wet process in which the plated layer is removed from the surface of the substrate without removing the plated layer from the wiring area.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate plating apparatus not only capable of performing a process of introducing semiconductor wafers continuously one by one into the plating apparatus without loading the wafers into cassettes, but also capable of preventing particle contamination and the formation of oxidized film on the surface of the wafers, reducing the number of processes and reducing the installation area required for the apparatus.
These and other objects will be attained by a substrate plating apparatus having a plating process section for plating a surface of a substrate and a washing process section for washing the substrate after the substrate has been plated in the plating process section. The substrate plating apparatus comprises a substrate storage vessel containing a storing solution for storing the substrate in an immersed state after the substrate has been washed in the washing process section.
With this construction, the substrate storage vessel provided for immersing the substrate after the plating and washing processes prevents the substrate from being exposed to the air after being plated and before undergoing the next processing step. Accordingly, the present invention can prevent particle contamination and the formation of an oxidized film on the surface of the substrate.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate plating apparatus having a plating process section for plating a substrate comprising an underwater substrate conveyor for conveying the substrate through a water channel containing flowing pure water after the substrate has been plated in the plating process section.
With this construction, the present invention enables transport of the substrate to the location of the next process without exposing the substrate to the air. Further, such wet and dry processes as CMP or washing processes can be provided at the downstream end of the substrate conveyor. Accordingly, it enables easy configuration of equipment capable of continuously conducting all processes, including wet processes, such as a plating process for forming a plating layer on the surface of the substrate, a CMP process for removing the plated layer from the surface of the substrate, leaving only the plating in the wiring section, and the like.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate plating apparatus having a plating process section for plating a substrate and a washing process section for washing the substrate with a washing solution after the substrate has been plated in the plating process section. The apparatus comprises a substrate conveyor disposed in the substrate plating apparatus for loading substrates into the substrate plating apparatus and discharging substrates out of the substrate plating apparatus, or for performing at least one of the operations of loading or discharging the substrates. A plurality of the substrates to be plated in the plating process section are loaded into the substrate plating apparatus one at a time, plated in the plating process section, washed in the washing process section, and subsequently discharged one at a time from the substrate plating apparatus.
With this construction, when conducting a preprocess before the plating process, such as forming a seed layer using Cu electroless plating or electrolytic plating with differing liquid components, it is not necessary to dry the wafer, insert wafers into wafer cassettes, or transfer wafer cassettes between apparatuses after the wafers have been plated and washed. Instead, the wafers can be handled while still coated with cleaning solution, thereby eliminating the drying process. As a result, it is possible to reduce the overall equipment scale required to perform the processing.


A transmission system in a downhole component comprises a data transmission element in both ends of the downhole component. Each data transmission element houses an electrically conducting coil in a MCEI circular trough. The electrically conducting coil comprises at least two generally fractional loops. In the preferred embodiment, the transmission elements are connected by an electrical conductor. Preferably, the electrical conductor is a coaxial cable. Preferably, the MCEI trough comprises ferrite. In the preferred embodiment, the fractional loops are connected by a connecting cable. In one aspect of the present invention, the connecting cable is a pair of twisted wires. In one embodiment the connecting cable is a shielded pair of twisted wires. In another aspect of the present invention, the connecting cable is a coaxial cable. The connecting cable may be disposed outside of the MCEI circular trough.

This invention relates to transmission systems in downhole components, more specifically to transmission systems comprising inductive couplers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,880, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a downhole transmission system through a string of downhole components. A first transmission element is located in one end of each downhole component, which includes a first magnetically-conductive, electrically-insulating (MCEI) trough, and a first electrically conductive coil lying there in. A second data transmission element is located in the other end, with a similar arrangement comprising a second magnetically-conductive, electrically-insulating trough and a second electrically conductive coil. The transmission system further comprises an electrical conductor in electrical communication with and running between each first and second coil in the downhole component. The string of downhole components is cooperatively arranged such that the troughs are in magnetic communication with each other and transmit signals through induction. Each downhole component comprises electrical characteristics such as impedance, reactance, capacitance and inductance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,932 discloses an antenna design for a downhole nuclear magnetic resonance logging tool. The logging tool is enhanced to shape the resultant RF field generated by the antenna. The enhancement is accomplished by adding additional turns to a portion of the antenna, either circumscribing a ferrite material or locating it on the surface of an at least partially non-conductive material. The additional turns or half turns in combination with the RF field from parallel antenna portions result in a RF field contribution from the coil portions which are not enhanced. Further, the total RF field can be shaped over an earth sample region depending on placement of the enhancing turns. In this way, for example, the total RF field can be generated to achieve an orthogonal alignment with a static field over a larger region of the sample.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,939 discloses a transverse induction logging tool having a transmitter and receiver for downhole sampling of formation properties. The tool has a symmetrical spilt-coil transmitter coil and a bucking coil interposed between the spilt transmitter coils to reduce coupling of the transmitter time varying magnetic field into the receiver. The tool provides symmetrical shielding of the coils and grounding at either the transmitter or receiver end only to reduce coupling of induced currents into the received signal.


A semiconductor nonvolatile memory device of the gate insulating type is comprised of a semiconductor substrate, an electrically erasable programmable memory cell having a gate oxide film disposed on the substrate, a floating gate electrode formed on the gate oxide film, and a control gate electrode formed in the substrate under the gate oxide film and separated from the floating gate electrode through the gate oxide film so as to control potential level of the floating gate electrode to effect writing and erasing operation of the memory cell, and a peripheral circuit including a transistor of the gate insulating type having another gate oxide film disposed on the same substrate and formed concurrently with the first mentioned gate oxide film.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor nonvolatile memory of the floating gate type operable to electrically effect writing and erasing of data.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a memory cell of the conventional nonvolatile memory operable to electrically effect writing and erasing of data (hereinafter, referred to as an "EEPROM"). FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a peripheral circuit of the conventional nonvolatile memory operable to electrically effect writing and erasing of data.
Firstly, the memory cell of FIG. 4 is briefly explained. A source region 102 of N.sup.+ type, a drain region 103 of N.sup.+ type and a tunnel-drain region 123 of N.sup.+ type are concurrently formed in a surface portion of P type semiconductor substrate 101. Then, a gate electrode 125 of the memory cell is formed on the substrate through a gate oxide film 104 of the memory cell, and at the same time a floating gate electrode 105 is formed on the substrate through a tunnel oxide film 106. Further, a control gate electrode 107 is formed on the floating gate electrode 105 through second gate oxide film 109 so as to control the potential level of the floating gate electrode 105. The injecting and extracting operations of electric charge to and from the floating gate electrode 105 are carried out through the tunnel oxide film 106 formed on the tunnel-drain region 123.
Next, the peripheral circuit of FIG. 5 is briefly explained. An n-well region 110 and a field oxide film 111 are formed in the P type silicon substrate 101. An N.sup.+ type source region 112 and N.sup.+ type drain region 113 are formed in a P type region of the P type silicon substrate 101, and a gate electrode 115 is formed thereon through a gate oxide film 114. A P.sup.+ type source region 116 and P.sup.+ type drain region 117 are formed in the n-well region 110, and another gate electrode 115 is formed thereon through the gate oxide film 114. The second gate oxide film 109 of the memory cell is formed concurrently with the gate oxide film 114 of the peripheral circuit.
As shown in FIG. 4, since the second gate oxide film 109 of the memory cell is formed on the floating gate electrode 105 composed of polysilicon layer, the second gate oxide film 109 must undergo a heating process above a temperature of 1050.degree. C. in order to improve its film quality. However, when carrying out the heating process over 1050.degree. C. after forming the tunnel oxide film 106 under the floating gate electrode 105, the film quality of the oxide film 106 is degradated which causes the drawback that the writing feature of the EEPROM is impaired. The possible repetition cycles of the writing operation in the conventional EEPROM is illustrated in FIG. 3 as dushed lines, in which the abscissa indicates the repetition cycle number of alternate writing and erasing operations and the ordinate indicates threshold voltage V.sub.th.

Method of making memory cell and a peripheral circuit


A mobile storage system includes a number of storage units supported by a supporting surface, including first and second storage units that are movable toward and away from each other to create an aisle. A sensing system detects the presence of persons or objects in the aisle and the direction of movement of persons or objects into or out of the aisle. The sensing system includes exit zone sensors located adjacent an end area of the storage units that defines the end area of the aisle, and inner sensors located along an inner area of the storage units inwardly of the end area. The exit zone and inner sensors are located at generally the same elevation above the supporting surface. Each of the storage units includes a carriage that is movable relative to the supporting surface, and the sensors are mounted to the carriage via a sensor housing interconnected with the carriage.

This invention relates to a mobile storage system, and more particularly to a passive safety arrangement for use in a mobile storage system.
A mobile storage system typically consists of a series of storage units that are movable on rails or the like toward and away from each other. Movement of the storage units is controlled so as to selectively create an aisle between an adjacent pair of storage units. When an aisle is created, a user enters the aisle to access an area of one or both of the storage units that form the aisle, such as to remove an object from one or more of the storage units or to place an object on or in one or more of the storage units. Mobile storage systems of this type are commonly available from a number of different manufacturers, including Spacesaver Corporation of Fort Atkinson, Wis.
A number of safety systems have been developed so as to ensure that an aisle is empty before the pair of storage units forming the aisle are closed in order to create an aisle between a different pair of storage units. In a typical configuration of a passive safety system, a series of cross-aisle sensors are positioned at spaced-apart locations throughout the length of each storage unit in an adjacent pair of storage units. The cross-aisle sensors are typically uniformly spaced a selected distance apart, e.g. on twelve inch centers, and act to sense the presence of a person or object in the aisle. The cross-aisle sensors are typically in the form of light beam emitters and receivers. The presence of a person or object in the path of one of the light beams prevents the light beam from reaching the receiver, which provides a signal to a controller that is interpreted to indicate the presence of a person or object in the aisle. In this manner, the controller is responsive to the signals so as to ensure that the adjacent storage units are not closed until the aisle between the storage units is clear of persons or objects.
In addition, prior art passive safety systems have employed a quadrature sensor at each entry or access point between adjacent mobile storage units. Each quadrature sensor typically includes a pair of light beams, which are sequentially blocked as a person or object enters or exits an aisle to indicate the direction of movement of a person or object into or out of the aisle. The quadrature sensor is typically placed at approximately knee level, which ensures that a person is not able to step over the light beams of the quadrature sensor when entering or exiting the aisle. The controller is responsive to signals from the both the quadrature sensors and the cross-aisle sensors, to ensure that adjacent storage units are not closed until it is determined that the aisle between the storage units clear and that every person or object that has entered that aisle has also exited the aisle.
While a passive safety system having the above-identified components is reliable and functions well, it involves certain drawbacks. For example, the cross-aisle sensors and the quadrature sensors are mounted to each storage unit in different locations, i.e. the cross-aisle sensors are low and close to the floor whereas the quadrature sensors are elevated above the floor. This requires separate mounting of the housings and other components of the different sensors. In addition, the cross-aisle sensors and the quadrature sensors require separate wiring. As a result, the number of parts involved in this configuration, in combination with the resulting assembly time and labor costs, increases the overall cost associated with manufacture of the storage units.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved passive safety system for use in a mobile storage system, which simplifies the construction and installation of cross-aisle sensors and quadrature sensors in the mobile storage units. It is another object of the invention to provide such an improved passive safety system which provides reliability in detecting the presence of persons or objects between adjacent mobile storage units and also senses direction of movement of persons or objects into or out of the aisle. A still further object of the invention is to provide a simplified and reliable method of sensing the presence of a person or object between adjacent mobile storage units and direction of movement of a person or object into or out of the aisle.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a mobile storage system includes a number of storage units supported by a supporting surface, including at least a first storage unit that is movable toward and away from a second storage unit by operation of a drive arrangement to selectively create an aisle between the first and second storage units, in which the aisle is accessible from an end area. A sensing system detects the presence of persons or objects in the aisle and also detects the direction of movement of persons or objects into or out of the aisle. The sensing system includes a number of exit zone emitters and receivers located adjacent an end area of the first and second storage units that defines the end area of the aisle, and a number of inner emitters and receivers located along an inner area of the first and second storage units inwardly of the end area. The exit zone emitters and receivers and the inner emitters and receivers are located at generally the same elevation adjacent and above the supporting surface. In one form, each of the storage units includes a carriage and a storage member secured to the carriage. The carriage is movable relative to the supporting surface, and the exit zone emitters and receivers and the inner emitters and receivers are located on the carriage.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a mobile storage system includes presence and direction sensing means carried by the storage units for detecting the presence of persons or objects in the aisle and for detecting the direction of movement of persons or objects into or out of the aisle. The presence and direction sensing means includes an end sensing section, or exit zone, located adjacent at least an end area of the first and second storage units that defines the end area of the aisle, and an interior sensing section located inwardly of the end area. The end sensing section and the interior sensing section are interconnected with each storage unit via a sensor housing carried by the storage unit and located above the supporting surface. Each storage unit includes a carriage and a storage member secured to the carriage, and the sensor housing is located on the carriage. The end sensing section and the interior sensing section are located at generally the same elevation adjacent and above the supporting surface.
Another aspect of the invention contemplates a method of operating a mobile storage system that includes adjacent first and second storage units supported by a supporting surface. This aspect of the invention includes detecting the location of a person or object within an aisle between the first and second storage units adjacent an end area of the first and second storage units and along an inner area of the first and second storage units inwardly of the end area. The act of detecting the location of a person or object within an aisle is carried out so as to detect both the presence of the person or object and the direction of movement of the person or object, both of which are carried out at generally the same elevation adjacent and above the supporting surface, preferably using a series of emitters and receivers carried by the storage unit.
The invention also contemplates an improvement in a carriage for supporting a storage member for use in a mobile storage system in which the carriage is movable by operation of a drive arrangement relative to a supporting surface. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the carriage includes an outwardly facing side area that is adapted to face an aisle formed in the mobile storage system when the carriage is positioned in spaced apart relationship relative to an adjacent storage member. A presence and direction detecting sensing system is interconnected with the outwardly facing side area, and includes a sensor housing having a series of exit zone sensors located adjacent at least an end area of the carriage, and a series of inner sensors located along at least an intermediate area of carriage inwardly of the end area. The sensor housing and the sensors are configured relative to the carriage so as to be at generally the same elevation adjacent and above the supporting surface when the carriage is positioned on the supporting surface. A power supply and communication arrangement is interconnected with the sensor housing, and is configured to supply power to the sensors and to communicate signals from the sensors to a controller.
The invention also contemplates a method of constructing a carriage for supporting a storage member for use in a mobile storage system, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.

Passive safety system with a direction sensing exit zone for use in a mobile storage system


The present invention relates to a digital image watermarking apparatus and method. Luminance component of a digital image are transformed into coefficients of a frequency domain, and watermark is generated by encrypting a user key and generating pseudo random number from encrypted user key. Then, a replacement coefficient generated from a coefficient of a first frequency area and the watermark is replaced with a coefficient of a second frequency area so that the watermark is embedded into the digital image. The embedded watermark is extracted at an authenticating apparatus and the digital image is authenticated by finding the correlation between the extracted watermark and watermark for authentication.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital image watermarking apparatus and method, and more specifically, to a digital image watermarking apparatus and method which are able to extract the embedded watermark, and simultaneously not deteriorate the quality of a digital image, and which are able to extract the watermark without an original image by leaving a watermark in spite of print or various image alterations.
2. Description of the Related Art
As creation and distribution of-digital media, such a still image as a picture image or such a moving picture as an animation increase, the digital media is circulated through various storage media or network, and thus illegal copy or illegal alteration is largely increased. Various devices have been developed to prevent the digital media from illegally being altered or copied or circulated. As a device for implementing such object, the inventor of the present invention paid attention to a digital watermarking technology.
The digital watermarking technology is to prevent copy, distribution, alteration, sale, etc. without permission of the ownership holder of the digital data works by additionally embedding information undistinguishable with the naked eye in the digital data works.
There are a spatial domain method, a frequency domain method, a spread spectrum communication method, etc. in the digital watermarking technology widely known up to now. These digital watermarking technologies have some advantages in that it is easy to embed a watermark (spatial domain method) and it is difficult to remove a watermark (frequency domain method), etc., whereas, they have various disadvantages in that it is weak in an operation like filtering (spatial domain method), an image is damaged according to the value of coefficient (frequency domain method), or an original image is necessary for extracting a watermark and an original image is largely altered by an embedding watermark (spread spectrum communication method).
That is, the conventional digital watermarking technologies as described above failed to meet all the requirements, in particular, i) it must be difficult or impossible to remove the watermark embedded in a digital image (difficulty of access); ii) even if the digital image is printed or an image alteration for printing, for example, dithering or halftone, is made, the watermark embedded in the digital image must be robust enough to be extracted after such print or image alteration (robustness against alteration): iii) when a watermark is embedded in the digital image, the deterioration of quality of the digital image by watermark must be minimized (conservation of quality of the digital image); and iv) the embedded watermark can not be known except by a copyright holder or a person whose use is allowed (hiding of the embedded information) to prevent the illegal alteration, copy and distribution of the digital media thereby its range of application is very restrictive and it is difficult to fully obtain the object described above.

Digital image watermarking apparatus and method


An improved photoionization ion mobility spectrometer is disclosed which utilizes a flashlamp as the source for ionization. A gas sample is introduced via a carrier gas into a ionization chamber which is part of the spectrometer cell. Ionizable molecules contained in the injected gas sample are ionized by the ultraviolet light emitted from the flashlamp. The ionized molecules are attracted by an electrostatic drift field into a drift chamber and travel therethrough against the flow of a drift gas counter-current thereto until they are captured by a collector located in the drift chamber opposite to the ionization chamber. A dopant with an effective ionization potential lower than the photon energy of the emitted light can be introduced into the ionization chamber to further improve the sensitivity and specificity.

This invention relates to a photoionization ion mobility spectrometer for the detection of ionizable chemical species. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved photoionization ion mobility spectrometer system utilizing flashlamp technology as the ionization source.
Ion mobility spectrometry is a technology to detect and identify the presence of an ionizable chemical species, and provide quantitative information. Conventionally, such an ionizable chemical species is ionized using a radioactive source. The ionized samples, which can be positively or negatively charged, are then subject to an electrostatic field which causes the ions to migrate against a counter current flow of a drift gas. Different chemical species migrate with different mobilities and arrive at an ion collector with different elapsed times. Data from such an ion collector can be stored and analyzed to provide information about the ionized chemical species in terms of the elapsed time, and the quantity of the ionizable chemical species contained in the test sample.
Beta particles from a .sup.63 Ni radioactive source generates reactant ions which ionize the chemical species. The use of a radioactive source limits the acceptance of ion mobility spectrometry in the market place due to licensing and waste disposal requirements. Furthermore, an ionizer based on radioactivity provides little specificity for ionization and the ion mobility spectrometer suffers severe interferences, often caused by false positives and false negatives, and matrix effects from components in complex samples. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,839,143 and 4,928,033 disclosed the use of alkali cation emitters as an ionization source to replace the radioactive source in ion mobility spectrometry. With the alkali cation emitters, ionization can be accomplished in the positive ion mode but not the negative ion mode. Therefore, a large number of electronegative chemical species could not be detected with a ion mobility spectrometer using alkali emitter as the ionization source. Furthermore, significantly high power (greater than one Watt) was required to heat the alkali emitters to the operating temperature (600-800 degrees Celsius).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,432 disclosed a low pressure gas filled lamp that excites H.sub.2, Kr, or Xe in a capillary arc discharge to generate the required vacuum ultraviolet radiation for photoionization. Replacing the .sup.63 Ni radioactive ionization source with a photoionization source removes the radioactive hazard. In the '432 patent, the vacuum ultraviolet radiation generated is transmitted through a magnesium fluoride or lithium fluoride window. U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,907 disclosed the use of a helium resonance lamp excited with radio frequency energy. The lamp contains a gettering material to continuously purify the helium. A window, such as aluminum, is provided to pass the desired radiation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,185 disclosed the use of a radio frequency inductively coupled discharge lamp with a magnesium fluoride, lithium fluoride, barium fluoride, strontium fluoride, calcium fluoride, or sapphire window. In the '185 patent, finely divided barium is included in the discharge tube as a getter. U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,333 disclosed the possibility of coupling a vacuum ultraviolet lamp to an ion mobility spectrometer. Baim, Eatherton, and Hill in "Ion Mobility Detector for Gas Chromatography With a Direct Photoionization Source", Anal. Chem., Vol. 55, PP. 1761-1766 (1983), disclosed coupling continuously operated photoionization lamps to an ion mobility spectrometer. They used a 10.0 eV (123.6 nm) krypton lamp mounted perpendicular (side-mount) to the direction of gas flow through the cell. Leasure, Fletscher, Anderson, and Eiseman in "Photoionization in Air With Ion Mobility Spectrometry Using a Hydrogen Discharge Lamp", Anal. Chem., Vol. 58, PP. 2142-247 (1986), also similarly disclosed using continuously operated photoionization lamps in an ion mobility spectrometer. They used a 10.2 eV hydrogen discharge lamp mounted coaxial (on axis) to the direction of gas flow through the cell. The results of their experiments showed that the sensitivity and limits of detection were about 1% to 10% of that achieved using the radioactivity source.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,181 disclosed the use of a pulsed ultraviolet light source to irradiate an electrode to produce ionized samples. The pulsed ion-producing light source was synchronized with a continuous loop magnetic tape recorder, such that the output signal following each pulse of ultraviolet light was recorded in precisely the same position, and consecutive output signals could be superimposed. Stimac, Cohen, and Wernlund in a government report entitled "Tandem Ion Mobility Spectrometer for Chemical Agent Detection, Monitoring, and Alarm", CRDEC-CR-88082, disclosed an ion mobility spectrometer in which a pulse generator is connected through a pulse transformer to a capillary arc photoionization lamp. Their pulse transformer was triggered synchronously with the ion mobility spectrometer shutter-grid drive circuits with adjustable delays between the grid drive and the lamp pulses. Krypton and xenon lamps were used in their study. Both lamps fired regularly when the repetition period was 15 ms or less. However, they became irregular with a 30 ms repetition, and very erratic with a 100 ms repetition. A 3 second to 30 second interval was needed to initially fire the lamps after being turned off several minutes or longer. In summary, great difficulties were encountered during their attempts to use pulsed photoionization technique in conjunction with ion mobility spectrometer. Furthermore, the purpose of pulsing a capillary arc photoionization lamp was to conserve energy, it was not intended to address specificity or sensitivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,624 disclosed the introduction of a chemical reagent, such as acetone and/or carbon tetrachloride, into the carrier gas (of an ion mobility spectrometer) to improve the specificity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,721 disclosed the addition of a controlled concentration of a dopant substance to the air carrier gas stream prior to application of the carrier gas stream to improve the detection of an acid gas analyte using an ion mobility spectrometer. In both patents, beta-particle ionizing radiation was used to generate product ions from the sample gas introduced into the ion mobility spectrometer by the carrier gas.
Ionization of acetone vapors when they are submitted to photoionization was disclosed by Luczynski and Wincel in an article entitled "Reaction of the Solvated Photon System H.sup.+.[(CH.sub.3).sub.2 CO].sub.n Formed in Photoionization of Acetone". Int'l J. Mass Spectrometry and Ion Physics, Vol. 23, PP. 37-44 (1977), and Tzeng, Wei and Castleman, Jr., in another article entitled "Multiphoton Ionization of Acetone Clusters: Metastable Unimolecular Decomposition of Acetone Cluster Ions and the Influence of Solration on Intracluster Ion-Molecule Reactions", J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 111, PP. 6035-6040 (1989). In these two papers it was concluded that protonated monomer, H.sup.+ (CH.sub.3).sub.2 CO, and dimer, H.sup.+ [(CH.sub.3).sub.2 CO].sub.2 ions were formed.

Photoionization ion mobility spectrometer


Methods for improving the processing time, scalability, and resource usage for three-dimensional projecting-backprojecting rays with respect to voxels (pixels) and detector bins are provided. Specifically, improvements to a distance-driven technique, wherein the pixels and detector edges are projected on to a predetermined reference plane are disclosed. The methods balance the computational load of a system of parallel processors, which results in a balanced memory and cache access operations, while reducing the computational complexity of projection-backprojection techniques in scanning systems.

Radiographic imaging, in its simplest expression, is an X-ray beam traversing an object and a detector relating the overall attenuation per ray. From this conceptual definition, several steps are required to properly construct an image. Several elements affect how the actual image reconstruction is performed.
In computed tomography, the operation that transforms an N-dimension image into an N-dimension set of line integrals is called a forward projection or reprojection. One example of this operation is the physical process that generates an X-ray image of an object. After logarithmic conversion, an X-ray image is well approximated as the line integral projection of the distribution of the object's linear attenuation coefficient. The transpose operation is called backprojection. This technique is used in filtered backprojection and in iterative reconstruction, which are used in conventional reconstruction algorithms.
The methods for reprojection and backprojection in X-ray and CT systems can be generally classified as ray-driven methods or pixel-driven methods. A critical drawback associated with these methods is that they introduce artifacts in the constructed image.
A distance-driven method addresses the above issues. However, the distance-driven method for projection-backprojection incurs a significant number of processing operations (i.e., weighting and multiplication operations) that tend to increase the image reconstruction time. Further, a subset of the processing operations may not contribute significantly to the reconstruction of the image. Thus, in a parallel computing environment, the processing time for a subset of processors increases, which creates a computing imbalance. This computing imbalance creates a potentially unbalanced number of memory and cache accesses that affect the bandwidth optimization of the CT system.
Accordingly, methods for improving the overall image reconstruction time in reprojection-backprojection processes, wherein the computation operations are balanced across a set of processors, is required.


A method detects proper connection of an endoscope to an endoscope processor by measuring pressure pulses applied to the connection point. The method can include measuring for the pressure pulses at a second connection point on the endoscope processor and measuring for a beat frequency produced variations in the frequency of pressure pulses input at each connection point. The method can also include looking for echoes of the pressure pulsations from physical structures within a lumen of the endoscope connected to the connection point.

The present invention relates to the decontamination arts including the sterilization arts. It finds particular application in conjunction with the decontamination of medical devices, especially medical devices such as endoscopes and other devices having channels or lumens that must be decontaminated after use.
Endoscopes and similar medical devices having channels or lumens formed therethrough are being used on an ever increasing basis in the performance of medical procedures. The popularity of these devices has led to calls for improvements in the decontamination of these devices between use, both in terms of the speed of the decontamination and the effectiveness of the decontamination.
One popular method for cleaning and disinfection or sterilization of such endoscopes employs an automated endoscope reprocessor which both washes and then disinfects or sterilizes the endoscope. Typically such a unit comprises a basin with a selectively opened and closed cover member to provide access to the basin. Pumps connect to various channels through the endoscope to flow fluid therethrough and an additional pump flows fluid over the exterior surfaces of the endoscope. Typically, a detergent washing cycle is followed by rinsing and then a sterilization or disinfection cycle and rinse.
It is desirable to ensure through testing that all of the connection ports on the endoscope have been properly connected to the corresponding connecting points on the endoscope processor. The connections are typically made via a flexible tube between the connection point on the endoscope processor and the connection port on the endoscope. If either connection of the tube is not made properly the lumen or lumens within the endoscope associated with that connection port may not receive adequate flow for washing and disinfection or sterilization. Therefore it is desirable to test for proper connections. One method employs measuring the back pressure associated with flow through the lumen and if the back pressure is below a given value assumes that the lumen is not connected. A related method seeks to measure a quantity of flow through the lumen in a given time period, which also relies upon the back pressure provided by the lumen to assess proper connection status. However, some lumens have a sufficiently large internal diameter as to make such measurements difficult by providing insufficient restriction to flow therethrough. The present invention overcomes this limitation.

Method of detecting proper connection of an endoscope to an endoscope processor


An analytical process is disclosed, for discriminating data acquired from samples with overlapping distributions, and for improving and assessing the statistical validity of hybridization signal in arrays of assays. The process includes method of convolving data into two or more discrete probability density functions representing signal and nonsignal, discrete fluors, or other convolved independent variables. The system uses the probability density functions to assign hybridization signals, objectively, to one of the modeled distributions. Subsequent processes assess variability inherent to the arrays, and use this assessed variation to establish reliability scores and confidence limits for complete hybridization arrays, and for discrete hybridization assays within arrays.

Array-based genetic analyses start with a large library of cDNAs or oligonucleotides (probes), immobilized on a substrate. The probes are hybridized with a single labeled sequence, or a labeled complex mixture derived from a tissue or cell line messenger RNA (target). As used herein, the term "probe" will therefore be understood to refer to material tethered to the array, and the term "target" will refer to material that is applied to the probes on the array, so that hybridization may occur.
There are two kinds of measurement error, random and systematic. Random error can be detected by repeated measurements of the same process or attribute and is handled by statistical procedures. Low random error corresponds to high precision. Systematic error (offset or bias) cannot be detected by repeated measurements. Low systematic error corresponds to high accuracy.
Background correction involves subtracting from the probe the intensity of an area outside of that probe. Areas used for calculation of background can be close to the probe (e.g. a circle lying around the probe), or distant. For example, "blank" elements can be created (i.e., elements without probe material), and the value of these elements can be used for background estimation.
Normalization procedures involve dividing the probe by the intensity of some reference. Most commonly, this reference is taken from a set of probes, or from the mean of all probes.
Once systematic error has been removed by background removal and normalization procedures (or others, as required), any remaining measurement error is, in theory, random. Random error reflects the expected statistical variation in a measured value. A measured value may consist, for example, of a single value, a summary of values (mean, median), a difference between single or summary values, or a difference between differences. In order for two values to be considered reliably different from each other, their difference must exceed a threshold defined jointly by the measurement error associated with the difference and by a specified probability of concluding erroneously that the two values differ (Type I error rate).
Of primary interest are differences between two or more quantified values, typically across different conditions (e.g., diseased versus non-diseased cell lines, drug versus no drug). The desired estimate of expected random error ideally should be obtained from variation displayed by replicate values of the same quantity. This is the way that such estimates are normally used in other areas of science. Hybridization studies, however, tend to use a very small number of replicates (e.g., two or three). Estimates of random error based on such small samples are themselves very variable, making comparisons between conditions using standard statistical tests imprecise and impractical for all but very large differences.
This difficulty has been recognized by Bassett, Eisen, & Boguski in, "Gene expression informatics: It's all in your mine", Nature Genetics, 21, 51–55 (1999), who have argued that the most challenging aspects of presenting gene expression data involve the quantification and qualification of expression values and that qualification would include standard statistical significance tests and confidence intervals. They argued further that "ideally, it will be economically feasible to repeat an experiment a sufficient number of times so that the variance associated with each transcript level can be given" (p. 54). The phrase "sufficient number of times" in the preceding quote highlights the problem. The current state-of-the-art in array-based studies precludes obtaining standard statistical indices (e.g., confidence intervals, outlier delineation) and performing standard statistical tests (e.g., t-tests, analyses-of-variance) that are used routinely in other scientific domains, because the number of replicates typically present in studies would ordinarily be considered insufficient for these purposes. A key novelty in the present invention is the circumvention of this difficulty.
Statistical indices and tests are required so that estimates can be made about the reliability of observed differences between probe/target interactions across different conditions. The key question in these kinds of comparisons is whether it is likely that observed differences in measured values reflect random error only or random error combined with treatment effect (i.e., "true difference")? In the absence of formal statistical procedures for deciding between these alternatives, informal procedures have evolved in prior art. These procedures can be summarized as follows:                1. Arbitrary thresholds. Observed differences across conditions differ by an arbitrary threshold. For example, differences greater than 2- or 3-fold are judged to reflect "true" differences.        2. Thresholds established relative to a subset of array elements. A subset of "reference" genes is used as a comparison point for ratios of interest. For example, relative to the reference gene, a gene may show a 2:1 expression ratio when measured at time 1, a 2.8:1 ratio when measured at time 2, and so on.        3. Thresholds established based on observed variation in background. The standard deviation of background values is used as a proxy for the measurement error standard deviation associated with probe values of interest. If a probe intensity exceeds the background standard deviation by a specified number (e.g., 2.5), the probe is considered "significant."
None of the above approaches is optimal, because each relies on a relatively small number of observations for deriving inferential rules. Also, assessments of confidence are subjective and cannot be assessed relative to "chance" statistical models. Approaches 1 and 2 are especially vulnerable to this critique. They do not meet standards of statistical inference generally accepted in other fields of science in that formal probability models play no role in the decision-making process. Approach 3 is less subject to this latter critique in that a proxy of measurement error is obtained from background. It is nonetheless not optimal because the measurement error is not obtained directly from the measured values of interest (i.e., the probes) and it is not necessarily the case that the error operating on the background values is of the same magnitude and/or model as the one operating on probe values.
Other informal approaches are possible. For example, the approaches described in 2 above could be modified to estimate the standard deviations of log-transformed measurements of reference genes probed more than once. Because of the equality [log(a)−log(b)=log(a/b)], these proxy estimates of measurement error could then be used to derive confidence intervals for differential ratios of log-transformed probes of interest. This approach would nonetheless be less than optimal because the error would be based on proxy values and on a relatively small number of replicates.
Chen et al. (Chen, Dougherty, & Bittner) in "Ratio-based decisions and the quantitative analysis of cDNA microarray images", Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2, 364–374 (1997) have presented an analytical mathematical approach that estimates the distribution of non-replicated differential ratios under the null hypothesis. Like the present invention, this procedure derives a method for obtaining confidence intervals and probability estimates for differences in probe intensities across different conditions. However, it differs from the present invention in how it obtains these estimates. Unlike the present invention, the Chen et al. approach does not obtain measurement error estimates from replicate probe values. Instead, the measurement error associated with ratios of probe intensities between conditions is obtained via mathematical derivation of the null hypothesis distribution of ratios. That is, Chen et al. derive what the distribution of ratios would be if none of the probes showed differences in measured values across conditions that were greater than would be expected by "chance." Based on this derivation, they establish thresholds for statistically reliable ratios of probe intensities across two conditions. The method, as derived, is applicable to assessing differences across two conditions only. Moreover, it assumes that the measurement error associated with probe intensities is normally distributed. The method, as derived, cannot accommodate other measurement error models (e.g., lognormal). It also assumes that all measured values are unbiased and reliable estimates of the "true" probe intensity. That is, it is assumed that none of the probe intensities are "outlier" values that should be excluded from analysis. Indeed, outlier detection is not possible with the approach described by Chen et al.
The approaches described above attempt to address issues that relate to how large differences across conditions must be before they are considered sufficiently reliable to warrant a conclusion of "true" difference. Distinguishing between probe values that represent signal and those that represent nonsignal represents a different issue which relates to the qualification of probe values within arrays rather than across conditions.
Two approaches have been presented Piétu et al. (Piétu, Alibert, Guichard, and Lamy), observed in "Novel gene transcripts preferentially expressed in human muscles revealed by quantitative hybridization of a high density cDNA array", Genome Research, 6, 492–503 (1996) in their study that a histogram of probe intensities presented a bimodal distribution. They observed further that the distribution of smaller values appeared to follow a Gaussian distribution. In a manner not described in their publication, they "fitted" the distribution of smaller values to a Gaussian curve and used a threshold of 1.96 standard deviations above the mean of the Gaussian curve to distinguish nonsignals (smaller than the threshold) from signals (larger than the threshold).
Chen et al. (cited above) describe the following method for assessing whether a probe represents a signal or nonsignal value. Within a digitized image of an array, pixels within each probe area are rank-ordered. The intensity of the eight lowest pixel values is compared to background via a non-parametric statistical test (Mann-Whitney U-test) If results of the statistical test supports the conclusion that these eight pixel values are above background, the procedure stops and the probe is considered a signal. If the eight pixel values are not above background, some or all of the pixels are considered to be at or below background. The same test is repeated by either eliminating all eight pixels and repeating the test with the next eight lowest pixel values or by eliminating a subset of the eight pixels and replacing them with the same number of the next lowest values. The test proceeds in this fashion until all pixels are estimated to be at or below background or until a threshold of number of pixels is reached. In either case, the probe is classified as nonsignal.
The macro format (FIGS. 1, 4) was introduced some years ago and is in fairly widespread use. Typically, probes are laid down on membranes as spots of about 1 mm in diameter. These large spots are easily produced with robots, and are well suited to isotopic labeling of targets, because the spread of ionizing radiation from an energetic label molecule (e.g. 32P) precludes the use of small, closely-spaced probes. Detection is most commonly performed using storage phosphor imagers.
Microarrays consisting of oligonucleotides synthesized on microfabricated devices have been in use for some time. With the recent commercial availability of microarraying and detection apparatus, microarrays of single-stranded cDNAs deposited on are seeing broader use.
With both micro and macro genome arrays, numerical data are produced by detecting the amount of isotope or fluorescent label at each assay site. The result is one or more arrays of numbers, each member of which quantifies the extent of hybridization at one assay in the specimen array. The hybridization level is an indication of the expression level of sequences complementary to a specific probe. Therefore, analysis can be used to both identify the presence of complementary sequences, and to quantify gene expression leading to those complementary sequences.
The analysis proceeds by determining which specific assays show interesting alterations in hybridization level. Typically, alterations in hybridization are specified as ratios between conditions. For, example, data may be of the form that assay X (representing expression of a particular gene) is three times as heavily labeled in a tumor cell line as in a normal cell line. The relevant issue is "how is the statistical significance of a specific comparison to be specified?"
Specification of statistical significance is important because of the presence of error in our measurements. We could define true hybridization as the amount that would be observed if procedural and measurement error were not present. Ideally, the same probe-target pairing would always give us the same measured hybridization value. Valid hybridization values are those which index true hybridization.
In fact, hybridization tends to be heavily influenced by conditions of the reaction and by measurement error. The mean coefficient of variation in a replicated fluorescent microarray often hovers near 25%. That is, repeated instances of hybridization between the same probe and target can yield values which vary considerably about a mean (the best estimate of true hybridization). Therefore, any single data point may or may not be an accurate reflection of true hybridization.
The present invention differs from prior art in that it estimates measurement error directly from array replicates (within or across arrays). The present invention is able to provide statistically valid inferences with the small numbers of replicates (e.g., three) characteristic of array hybridization studies. In the present invention, the statistical difficulties posed by small sample sizes are circumvented by the novel process of obtaining an estimate of measurement error for each probe based on the average variance of all replicates for all probes. In accordance with one preferred aspect, the invention assumes that all replicates, being part of the same population of experiments and being similarly treated during array processing, share a common and/or constant variance.
In accordance with another preferred aspect, measurement error can be assessed separately for different probe classes. These classes may be determined based on the deconvolution procedures described below or by other statistical or experimental methods.
The present invention differs from all prior art in that it:                1. is applicable to any number of experimental conditions rather than being restricted to only two conditions;        2. estimates measurement error empirically from probe replicates;        3. can detect outliers;        4. can accommodate various measurement error models; and        5. can assess the adequacy of an assumed measurement error model.
There is a second aspect to the present invention, which deals with the discrimination of probe response classes within arrays. Element measurements within arrays may reflect multiple classes of values. For example, some values may represent signals and others may represent nonsignals (e.g., background). As another example, some values may represent a family of genes associated with disease states, while other values originate from genes not known to be altered in disease. The present invention is novel in that it uses a mathematically-derived approach for deconvolving any mixture of distinct underlying distributions, which is used in turn to classify probe values as signal or nonsignal.
Specifically, the present invention is novel in its method of treating overlapping distributions within the arrayed data. In particular, the invention models dual or multiple distributions within an array. Preferably, it does this by mathematical mixture modeling which can be applied to deconvolve distributions and regions of overlap between distributions in a rigorous fashion. This contrasts with prior art, which fails to model more than one distribution with array data and which, therefore, is unable to model regions of overlap between distributions. As a consequence, prior art may miss data (e.g., probes with low signal levels) which have acceptable probabilities of belonging to a valid signal distribution. The present invention assigns probabilities that any probe belongs to one of the contributory distributions within an array data population.

Process for evaluating chemical and biological assays


A system and method for detecting a utility network threat based on the quality of communications received at devices in the utility network. The quality of a communication signal received by a device in the utility network is determined and a threat to the utility network is determined based on the signal quality. Threat information is output to devices on the utility network.

A modern society is served by utilities that must function with extremely high reliability. Proper functioning is typically expressed by reliability, availability, and accountability. In order to reliably and efficiently meet growing demands, utilities, such as electric utilities, are developing and implementing technologies to create an intelligent infrastructure, such as a "smart grid" infrastructure for the power grid. In order to realize an intelligent infrastructure, there must be an embedded or overlaid communications architecture by which devices in the network can be securely accessed, controlled, and communicate with each other.
Communications in an intelligent infrastructure, such as the smart grid or other utilities, are affected by numerous events including faults and cyber security threats. For example, many causes of faults on the electrical power line can also impact communication among devices in the network. Thus, transient communication faults, manifested as dropped packets, for example, may be a precursor to an electric power line fault. In addition, cyber security threats, such as spoofing and denial of service attacks, for example, are deployed to disrupt operation, utility operation, and other communications in the utility network. In order to limit the potential damage of a cyber security threat, efforts are underway to enable awareness of potential threat events as well as their impacts in order to harden the utility communication infrastructure both proactively and in response to incidents.
Currently, there are methods and devices that are specifically used to detect the occurrence of a fault in a utility. For example, in an electric power line, most of the methods and devices rely on detection of an abnormal flow of electric current, such as an overcurrent or an undervoltage. There are also various methods being deployed to detect a cyber security threat to the utility network. Efforts to address both faults in a utility network and cyber security threats to the utility network have relied on separate methods and devices.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for embodiments of the present invention.

System and method for assuring utility network security and reliability


The invention disclosed is a method and apparatus for imparting a desired shape to a surface-to-be-shaped of articular cartilage in the joint of a mammal. The method discloses applying steam to a surface-to-be-shaped to soften the cartilage at and near that surface and positioning a form defining the desired shape adjacent to that softened region. A bias pressure is applied to impart the desired shape and the form is removed. An apparatus for practicing the method includes an element for generating and delivering steam to the surface-to-be-shaped to soften the surface and includes a form for molding the softened surface.

Irregular surfaces on articular cartilage in the joints of mammals are considered defects known to compromise the function of such joints. When possible, arthroscopic surgery is the preferred method for remediating such defects. Presently, there exist several arthroscopic devices for the treatment of such articular cartilage defects. These devices can generally be divided into three categories. The first category includes bipolar heating devices such as a bipolar wand produced, for example, by Arthrocare. The second category includes laser devices. The third category includes radio frequency devices produced, for example, by Mitek and Oratec.
All of these prior art devices effect the application of heat to the surface-to-be-treated, in response to which the collagen fiber bundles that make up articular cartilage at or near the surface "melt", or soften, and become moldable. Articular cartilage that has been melted or softened by application of heat is referenced to hereinafter as "softened". The depth of the penetration of heat, however, has a negative effect on the cartilage consequences. It is preferred that the heat penetration is minimized in order to prevent damage to the underlying bone. In fact, laser devices have been virtually abandoned for treatment of articular cartilage defects because the laser energy often penetrates the bone, sometimes resulting in osteonecrosis. Invariably, all the prior art devices have the additional drawback of having tips with elevated temperatures, which often burn the surrounding tissue. This burning can leave a charred residue in the joint which can later cause complications in the joint after the surgery. Thus, a need remains for a device and method for treating articular cartilage defects which would have relatively little heat penetration and would not burn the surrounding tissue in the mammalian joint.

Articular cartilage surface shaping apparatus and method


Systems, methods, devices, instructions, and other examples are described for natural language processing. One example includes accessing natural language processing general encoder data, where the encoder data is generated from a general-domain dataset that is not domain specific. A domain specific dataset is accessed and filtered encoder data using a subset of the encoder data is generated. The filtered encoder data is trained using the domain specific dataset to generate distilled encoder data, and tuning values for the distilled encoder data are generated to configure task outputs associated with the domain specific dataset.

Network-based communication allow for complex server-based systems to provide access to complex artificial-intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) systems. AI and NLP systems can be used with contextual language models to create complex systems that can respond to a wide variety of inputs. Creation of such systems and encoders which are used to analyze natural language queries input to such systems involves training using large amounts of data, and such creation and training can consume large amounts of energy and significant computing resources.

Domain adaptation of AI NLP encoders with knowledge distillation