A multilevel LINC transmitter. The multilevel LINC transmitter comprises a multilevel signal component separator, a phase modulator block, and an RF block. The multilevel signal component separator comprises a multilevel scaler and converts a base band signal to constant envelope signals. The phase modulator block is coupled to the multilevel signal component separator. The RF block comprises a plurality of power amplifiers coupled to the phase modulator block and the multilevel scaler and a power combiner coupled to the power amplifiers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a LINC transmitter and, in particular, to a multilevel LINC transmitter.
2. Description of the Related Art
To prolong battery life of mobile handset devices, demands on power efficiency of wireless mobile communication systems have become more important. In general, the most power hungry device in a transceiver is a power amplifier which has nonlinear characteristics. In addition, modulation of non-constant-envelope signals demands high linearity of a power amplifier. As a result, a trade off between linearity and power efficiency in a wireless transmitter is necessary.
Various PA linearization techniques have been adopted to improve linearity and power efficiency of wireless transmitters. Linear amplification with nonlinear components (LINC) is a transmitter architecture which increases linearity and power efficiency of a wireless transmitter. Due to accurate signal processing and insensitivity to process variation, a digital LINC architecture is more suitable for modern process technologies.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional LINC architecture. As shown in FIG. 1, an input signal S(t) of the LINC 100 is a varying envelope signal. A signal separator 110 receives and divides the input signal S(t) into two constant-envelope signals S1 and S2. Subsequently, two power amplifiers PA1 and PA2 respectively amplify the constant-envelope signals S1 and S2. Since a nonlinear power amplifier can amplify a constant-envelope signal linearly, two power efficient nonlinear power amplifiers are used in such architecture. Finally, the two amplified signals are combined by a power combiner 120. Thus, a linearly amplified signal is obtained at an output of the power combiner 120.
The input of the LINC system is a varying-envelope signal S(t),S(t)=A(t)·ejφ(t) wherein A(t) denotes the signal envelope and φ(t) is signal phase. In the phasor diagram shown in FIG. 2A, the varying-envelope signal S(t) is split into a set of constant-envelope signals, S1(t) and S2(t),
                                             S                                      (              t              )                                =                                                        1              2                                                  [                                                                    S                    1                                                                          (                    t                    )                                                  +                                                      S                    2                                                                          (                    t                    )                                                              ]                                                                    =                                                        1              2                                                                  r                0                                                          [                                                      ⅇ                                          j                                                                    (                                                                              φ                                                                                (                              t                              )                                                                                +                                                      θ                                                                                (                              t                              )                                                                                )                                                                              +                                      ⅇ                                          j                                                                    (                                                                              φ                                                                                (                              t                              )                                                                                -                                                      θ                                                                                (                              t                              )                                                                                )                                                                                ]                                                        And an out-phasing angle θ(t) is expressed as
      θ              (      t      )        =            cos              -        1                        (                        A                                (            t            )                                    r          0                    )      Both S1(t) and S2(t) are on a circle with a radius r0. In a conventional LINC transmitter, r0 is a constant scale factor predefined by a system designer. Because input range of an inverse cosine function is [−1, 1], selection of r0 needs to satisfy the formula:r0≧max(A(t))
FIG. 2B illustrates the signals after amplification. The amplified signals are expressed as G·S1(t) and G·S2(t), where G is voltage gain of the power amplifiers. The two amplified signals are combined by a power combiner to obtain a signal √{square root over (2)}G·S(t) which is a linear amplification of the input signal S(t). Because of the out-phasing technique, LINC achieves linear amplification with two power efficient nonlinear power amplifiers.


An apparatus for plasma treatment contains a process vessel provided with a mounting table for mounting a substrate, a first gas supplying unit configured to supply a first gas into the process vessel, a first plasma generating unit configured to convert at least a part of the first gas to a first plasma, a second gas supplying unit configured to supply a second gas into the process vessel, and a second plasma generating unit configured to convert at least a part of the second gas to a second plasma. A height of ea an inlet of the second gas from the mounting table is lower than a height of an inlet of the first gas from the mounting table.

Semiconductor devices such as LSI (Large Scale Integrated circuit) and MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) are manufactured by subjecting a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate to such treatments as etching, CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), and sputtering. Here, plasma can be employed as an energy source for such treatments. Examples of such plasma treatments include: plasma etching, plasma CVD, plasma ALD, plasma sputtering, and plasma doping.
In manufacturing the semiconductor devices, uniform in-plane treatment of the substrate is demanded. However, there are many biases preventing such uniformity. These biases may be due to equipment difference of apparatuses or non-uniformity of plasma distribution in an apparatus.

Apparatus for plasma treatment and method for plasma treatment


Disclosed is a touch pad using the piezo effect, including a touch pad equipped with touch keys; a piezo film that attaches to the bottom surface of the touch pad and radiates ultrasonic waves; and a control section that recognizes touches a user executes by analyzing the electric displacement of the piezo film and ultrasonic impedance reflected by the touch pad surface and a touch object that contacts to the surface.

The present invention relates to a touch pad and, more specifically, to a touch pad, based on piezoelectric effect, that employs a piezo film, is fabricated thin on, but not limited to, metal, exactly and stably recognizes various touch patterns a user executes such as long key, multi key, slide key, etc. and significantly improves the level of security.
Touch-sensitive switch technology that has been thus far developed includes a (reflective mode ultrasonic) touch-sensitive switch comprising: a substrate having a touch region thereon; a piezoelectric element that has electrodes; drive means that apply a drive signal to the electrodes; detection means that provide a detection signal derived from the drive signals; and discriminating means that provide an output signal. (Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,041)
Such a touch-sensitive switch has a first surface and a second surface that are opposed and parallel to each other, wherein the first surface has a substrate having a touch region; and a piezoelectric element having first and second generally planar and parallel opposed surfaces and an electrode on each of the piezoelectric element surfaces, wherein the piezoelectric element is secured, from the touch region, across the substrate, in parallel with the second surface of the substrate.
In addition, such a touch-sensitive switch has drive means that are coupled to the electrodes to apply a drive signal to the electrodes; detection means that are coupled to the electrodes to provide a detection signal derived from the drive signal; and discriminating means that are equipped for receiving the detection signal from the detection means in order to evaluate the detection signal and provide an output signal that indicates a finger touch to the touch region.
Based on such a configuration, a frequency-modulated drive signal is applied to the piezoelectric element that is mounted on the substrate opposed to the touch region, the piezoelectric element converts the signal to an amplitude-modulated signal and the amplitude-modulated signal is demodulated, wherein the amplitude of the demodulated signal varies according to whether a finger touches to the touch region.
Therefore, the touch region does not easily get damaged, the reliability of a touch increases to a certain extent and the sensibility of the sensor does not decrease to a large extent even if the force of a touch gradually increases. On the other hand, the severe disadvantage of ultrasonic touch-sensitive switches according to existing technology has still been maintained per se in that those switches are vulnerable to touch errors brought about by foreign substances such as water or ketchup.
Meanwhile, simple piezoelectric devices are vulnerable to external impacts or vibration. Piezoelectric devices especially for touch recognition may not produce an adequate amount of output if the plate, such as metal, that is equipped with touch keys is thick or the clearance between the touch keys is narrow, which fails to guarantee exact and stable touches of users.
In addition, those piezoelectric touch devices that utilize the piezo effect existing technology provides can neither be directly applied, without an additional process, to metal, advanced materials, etc. nor produce an appropriate value of the electric displacement of the piezoelectric devices when a touch object is slowly detouched even with a touch input on the metal plate, etc. that is equipped with touch keys.
Here, another drawback is derived in that the devices may not safely recognize such behaviors as long key input that maintains the state of a key input for a certain period, multi key input that simultaneously inputs multiple keys and wheel slide touch input that is, as a drag touch, the touch object is detouched after a short period.
Therefore, security keys users can specify such as password are very restricted in terms of their species and it is practically hard to expect a high degree of security because there is a limit to recognition of long key input and multi key input in applying a touch device using the piezo effect to a metal plate, etc.
Furthermore, those piezoelectric touch devices using the piezo effect of existing technology that employ ceramic piezoelectric elements cannot be fabricated considerably thin and are hard to be achieved in smartphones, etc.


A focal plane array dual processing system and technique utilizes a single ocal plane array to provide scene imagery and temporal processing of a sub-region of the scene. Resultant data from a row by column focal plane array detector elements is processed for imaging and image processing by an image processor. A smaller data subset from a row by column subset of the focal plane array with resultant spatial data subset is temporally processed by a temporal processor. The data and data subset which is multiplexed, digitized and formatted as raster-formatted raw data vector format is addressed for image and temporal processing by a data buffer integrator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to focal plane array processing systems and techniques and more specifically, to an infrared focal plane array dual processing system and technique capable of simultaneous temporal and image processing from a single infrared focal plane array.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
Infrared imaging devices operate at a specific wavelength region, spatial resolution and frequency response determined by such major factors as the spectral, spatial, and temporal response of the detector. An infrared focal plane array is the surface upon which radiation will impinge upon to be detected by the device. Detector elements may be integral with the array to convert the radiation to electrical signals. By use of signal processing incorporated into the electronics of the infrared imaging device, there can be achieved the enhancement or reduction of features in the produced output.
Two types of generalized processing capabilities of an infrared focal plane array detector are image and temporal processing. Image processing includes not only imaging (display) but also intelligent processes such as pattern recognition. Temporal processing is implemented for such purposes as spectral estimation. Sampling frequencies for the two types of processing generally require different frequencies because of the nature of the signature of interest. Image processing generally requires a sampling frequency equal to a video rate, typically 30 hertz. A temporal sampling frequency, is usually greater than the imaging sampling frequency since information gained from the temporal domain require a larger data sample. In the prior art, separate systems are required for implementation of both processing capabilities.
Currently, two systems are required in order to provide thermal imagery of a scene as well as temporal processing of selected areas in the scene. One of the systems is an imaging system, typically a scanned forward-looking infrared (FLIR) system. The complimentary system is a co-boresighted, non-imaging infrared (IR) device which temporally processes subareas of the field of view of the imaging FLIR. Both systems require front-end optics, detector cooling apparatus and a great deal of common electronics. Disadvantages arise from the use of the above prior art devices. Typically, two distinct co-boresighted systems are mounted on a host platform that is subject to vibration. The ability to economically provide line-of-sight motion compensation and maintain boresight between two distinct systems is compromised in practice by jitter introduced by vibrating host platforms. The temporal processing system is extremely sensitive to jitter induced by the host platform. Jitter rejection by the temporal processing system is crucial to achieving high temporal processing performance, known as temporal signal fidelity. Expensive and complicated stabilization schemes are generally required to attenuate jitter and maintain boresight since the use of elastomer damping to achieve vibration isolation does not allow the boresight tolerances required in a high performance system.
While the prior art has reported using separate imaging and temporal processing systems and technique, none have established a basic for a specific apparatus that is dedicated to the task of resolving the particular problem at hand.
What is needed in this instance is a dual processing system and technique utilizing a single focal plane array such that there is substantially no temporal signal fidelity degradation when operated.

Focal plane array dual processing system and technique

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


The techniques introduced here provide for efficient mass handover from a shared-spectrum wireless communication system (e.g., Licensed Shared Access, Authorized Shared Access, Cloud Spectrum Services, or the like) to a target system (e.g., 3GPP LTE, or the like). The techniques further provide for efficient handling of transitions from one shared-spectrum allocation period to the next shared-spectrum allocation period. Additionally, the techniques provide for efficient handling of multi-operator transitions to re-licensed or re-negotiated shared-spectrum allocations.

Shared-spectrum licensing introduces a mechanism that enables operators of wireless communication networks to temporarily increase or decrease bandwidth according to need. Indeed, it is expected that not enough dedicated spectrum will be available for the operators of cellular communication networks in the future. The temporary increase or decrease of bandwidth may be had by licensing a portion of shared-spectrum bandwidth on a short-term or long-term basis. One objective for developing shared-spectrum licensing systems is to provide for the increased spectrum needs of some operators by providing the operators of cellular communication networks with access to additional licensed spectrum from other entities (e.g., public safety, government, other private licensees, etc.).

Shared spectrum reassignment in a spectrum sharing context


The conductor assembly for optical or electrical conductor or fluid line terminals, according to the invention, comprises a socket and a plug, each having a cavity for receiving conductor terminals. Socket and plug are mutually displaceable to engage them, whereby to engage the respective conductors and allow signals to be transmitted between them or to engage the respective fluid line terminals to allow fluid to flow through them, or to disengage them, whereby to disengage said conductors or said fluid line terminals. Each of them is provided with a cover for screening the respective conductor terminals from the environment, when closed, and baring them when open, and with elastic means urging the cover to its closed position. Opening means are provided for bringing said covers to their open positions when socket and plug are engaged, said elastic means bringing said covers back to their closed position when said socket and plug are disengaged.

Connector assemblies for electrical or optical conductors are conventional in the art. In the case of optical fibers the problem arises of protecting them against contamination from dirt, dust and the like, which may cause an alteration in the transmission of optical signals. Another problem which arises is how to protect the eye of the user against accidental damage from radiation, e.g. laser radiation, issuing from the terminals of conductors and emitters. Electrical conductors are less sensitive to contamination, but they should desirably be protected against it, especially in applications in which a perfect electrical contact is important.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,575 discloses a combination dust cover and radiation shield which normally covers and can be forced into close engagement with a terminal from which radiation, e.g. laser radiation, is emitted, and can be detached therefrom and deformed to allow insertion of another terminal. Such a device, however, requires manual operation, is unreliable because it is based on the elastic memory of the flap, and is structurally awkward and adapted to be applied only to a socket type terminal. It is therefore of very limited applicability and efficiency.
DE 3307289 discloses a connection for optical fibers in which both terminals are closed by a transparent plate, both plates being elastically mounted to facilitate their coming into contact. This device actually provides no protection against dirt, because such dirt will accumulate on the transparent plates and interfere with the transmission of optical signals. Their presence, further, may interfere with a good optical engagement of the terminals.
OLS 2734522 discloses a connection for optical fibers in which one terminal is protected by a flexible membrane, which is cut along radial lines, so that the terminal itself may penetrate through the membrane, deflecting it outwardly, and engage the other terminal. This device affords protection to one terminal only and further is based on a flexible membrane and is therefore not reliable. Furthermore, when the two terminals are coupled, the flexible membrane is deflected towards the inside of the coupling and tends to introduce into it any dirt that may have accumulated thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,491 describes a connector assembly wherein the two terminals are protected by flexible membranes that are centrally slit, displacement means being provided for deforming the membranes, upon engagement of the connector components, so as to widen the slit and permit passage and mutual engagement of the optical elements. This device is structurally complicated and does not provide full protection of the optical terminals. Since it is based on the deformation of flexible membranes, it is not reliable and its performance on reusing is doubtful, as it is based on the assumption that the membranes will fully recover from the deformed state in which they have been kept during the operation of the coupling. Further, it too tends to introduce into the coupling any dirt that may have accumulated on the membranes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,540 discloses a connector assembly in which both terminals are protected by a diaphragm, and both diaphragms are perforated by ferrules mounted on the ends of the optical fibers of one terminal, which can thus come into optical engagement with the fibers of the other terminal. This device is intended for underwater use and, if applied to other uses, it is needlessly complicated. It is unreliable, because it entrusts the optical fiber ends, provided with ferrules, with a perforating action. It is not reversible, because once the diaphragms have been perforated, the device must be disassembled and reassembled if it is to be used again. Furthermore, the ferrules, in performing their perforating action, will pick up dirt that has accumulated on the diaphragms and carry it into the coupling.
None of the devices disclosed in the prior art has the qualities of being fully automatic, fully reversible, sturdy and completely reliable, and of a simple and economical construction.
It is an object of this invention to provide such a device.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a device which does not rely on flexible membranes or the like elements.
It is a further object to provide such a device which will prevent any dirt that may have accumulated thereon from coming into contact with the conductor terminals.
It is a still further object to provide such a device which will completely protect the terminals both in their disengaged and in their engaged relationship.
It is a still further object to provide such a device that can be engaged and disengaged with a simple and quick motion.
It is a still further object to provide such a device that is provided with means for assuring that an exact positioned relationship of the terminals, and therefore a perfect optical or electrical contact, is automatically achieved.
It is a still further object to provide a connector device for fluid lines terminals which completely protects the terminals in their engaged and disengaged positions.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Line terminal particularly signal transmitter, connector assembly

State of Israel, Ministry of Defence, etc.


A method of customizing hold-time content in a mobile vehicle communication system includes gathering preference information from the mobile vehicle, determining hold-time content from the preference information and playing the determined hold-time content while the call is on hold. Systems and programs for customizing hold-time content are also provided.

In a mobile vehicle communication system, the user may occasionally be placed on hold while a call center performs the necessary actions for providing a desired service to the user. During the time that the user's call is on hold, the user may listen to "canned" hold music or messages but does not necessarily receive content that is relevant to the user's call or situation. For example, the user may receive messages saying "Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold" but does not receive messages indicating the actual status of the call.
It would be particularly desirable during an emergency call to keep the user informed of each action that the call center is taking while the user is on hold. In a less urgent example, the user may request directions to a restaurant and it would be desirable to let the user know the steps the call center is taking to locate the restaurant while the user is on hold.
In addition, an advisor may often have to place the user on hold while calling a third-party on behalf of the user. The advisor first collects information from the user, places the user on hold, calls the third-party, repeats to the third-party the information collected and then returns to the user (often placing the third-party on hold) and reports on the third-party conversation to the user or finally connects the user and the third-party together. This is known as a "warm transfer". It would be desirable to provide hold content to the user that reports on the third-party conversation as it is happening, thereby eliminating the need for reporting back to the user the entire third-party conversation.
It would also be desirable to provide hold content to the user that is uniquely directed to the user. For example, if a user is listening to a particular XM radio station in her mobile vehicle, rather than providing "canned" hold music, the call center could continue to play the same radio station as the user's hold music.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system and method for customizing hold-time content so that it is targeted to a specific user of a vehicle or so that it keeps the user updated during a specific call. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a method for customizing hold-time content in a mobile vehicle communication system, and to overcome the deficiencies and obstacles described above.

Method and system for customizing hold-time content in a mobile vehicle communication system


A portable cable management device that includes various attachment mechanisms adapted for securing the device to various surfaces and structures including an I-beam flange attachment mechanism, a 2″×4″ attachment mechanism, one or more drywall attachment mechanisms, a metal framing stud attachment mechanism, and one or more hooks including a throat for holding cables.

The present subject matter discloses a portable cable management device. The portable cable management device includes various attachment mechanisms adapted for securing the device to various surfaces and structures, as described further herein.
Construction sites present inherently dangerous conditions. In a typical construction work environment, there may be various teams of tradesmen simultaneously operating in partially constructed structures, in loud and congested spaces, using various types of equipment and tools, often with uncoordinated movement through and around the space. As a result, construction sites are high-risk areas for accidents and personal injury.
Within a given worksite there may be numerous equipment cords, extension cords, etc. for powering the various tools and equipment used on site. Adding the electrical cords to an already dangerous site only increases the risk to the people on site. Cords present tripping hazards, severed cords present risk of electrocution, etc. As a result, cable management is an important safety consideration on construction sites.
While construction sites are an extreme example of a location in which cable management is an important safety consideration, it can be seen that the same principles apply in nearly every instance in which electrical cords are used. Whether in a residential or industrial setting, cord management is a legitimate safety concern.
Accordingly, there is a need for a portable cable management device that enables a user to quickly and securely provide a temporary solution for managing cable placement in a workspace or other area.


Low doses of stroma-free diaspirin cross-linked hemoglobin are administered to patients undergoing hemodialysis, to achieve hemostabilization and avoid hypotensive episodes in susceptible patients. Hemoglobin therapy when implemented prophylactically in hemodialysis also partially obviates the need for further interventions to control circulatory system instability.

Kidney dialysis has been a therapeutic boon to thousands of patients a year, who have severely compromised or nonexistent kidney function. However, many of these patients experience side effects and complications ranging from hypersensitivity to recurrent hypotension. For a general discussion of hemodialysis complications, see Levin, et al., "Complications During Dialysis", in Nissenson, et al., eds., Dialysis Therapy, Hanley & Belfes, Inc., 1986, p. 85. Among the most common of complications is hypotension, arising in 20-30 percent of all hemodialysis patients. Many of these patients experience chronic hypotension, some so severe that they cannot tolerate the procedure at all, and must resort to peritoneal dialysis or transplant. The incidence of intradialytic hypotension occurs most frequently in older patients and in women.
The cause of intradialytic hypotension varies depending on whether it occurs early or late in the treatment phase. It may result when the rate of intravascular volume depletion during ultrafiltration exceeds replacement. The diffusion of replacement fluid into the intravascular space counteracts the normal compensatory response of increased peripheral resistance. Also, hypotension can occur even during volume overload because of the time dependency of refilling of the intravascular space. Similarly, if the patient's weight is below the "dry weight", volume shifts may no longer be adequate to maintain blood pressure. For a discussion of the causes of hypotension in hemodialysis, see Schulman, et al., "Complications of Hemodialysis", in Principles and Practices of Nephrology, Jacobson, et al., eds., B. C. Decker, Inc., 1991, pp. 757-759.
Other causes of intradialytic hypotension have been described. Shulman, infra, p. 759 lists as early hemodialysis hypotension causes: dialyzer volume, bioincompatible membranes, various medications, sepsis, and pericardial tamponade; listed as late stage hypotension causes, in addition to ultrafiltration rate and a too low setting for dry weight: excessive weight gain, decline in osmolarity, acetate accumulation, arrhythmia, and autonomic neuropathy. It is significant to note that most of the common causes of intradialytic hypotension involve fluid volume changes for which the body is incapable of fully compensating.
Treatment of intradialytic hypotension focuses on its suspected cause. If a too rapid removal of fluids is the suspected cause, dialysis is discontinued and the patient is placed in the Trendelenburg position to enhance venous return. (See Kidney Electrolyte Disorders, eds. J. C. M. Chan, et al., Churchill Livingstone, 1990). The most common pharmacologic intervention for hypotension is administration of isotonic or hypertonic saline, to restore fluid balance. Pressor agents are not generally recommended, in part because a high percentage of hemodialysis patients are older persons with manifest clinical hypertension. In fact, it is recommended in designing hemodialysis regimens for these patients, that all blood pressure medication be curtailed for at least four hours prior to treatment.


A driving method for a color liquid crystal display which drives the color liquid crystal display based on a video red signal, a video green signal and a video blue signal by independently applying a gamma compensation to a clamped video red signal, a clamped video green signal and a clamped video blue signal in gamma compensating circuits in order to make suitable to a red transmittance characteristic, a green transmittance characteristic and a blue transmittance characteristic. With this operation, it is possible to carry out an optimal gamma compensation suitable to a characteristic of the color liquid crystal display and to remove a gradation batter occurring in a specific color.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving method and a driving circuit for a color liquid crystal display and more particularly to the driving method and the driving circuit for driving the color liquid crystal display based on a gamma compensated video signal.
The present application claims the Convention Priority of Japanese Patent Application No. Hei11-316873 filed on Nov. 8, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a conventional electric configuration of a driving circuit of an analog circuit configuration of a color liquid crystal display 1.
The color liquid crystal display 1 is a liquid crystal display of an active matrix driving type using a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) as a switching element, in which intersection points of plural scanning electrodes (gate lines) provided at predetermined intervals in a row direction and plural data electrodes (source lines) provided at predetermined intervals in a column direction are used as pixels, for each pixel, a liquid cell of a equivalent capacitive load, a TFT for driving a corresponding liquid crystal cell, a capacitor for keeping data charges during one vertical synchronous period are arranged, a data red signal, a data green signal and a data blue signal generated based on a video red signal SR, a video green signal SG, a video blue signal SB, are applied to the data electrode and a scanning signal generated based on a horizontal synchronous signal SH and a vertical synchronous signal SV is applied to a scanning electrode, and then a color character, a color image and a like are displayed. In addition, the color liquid crystal display 1 is a normal white type having a high transmittance when no voltage is applied.
Further, the driving circuit of the color liquid crystal display 1 is mainly provided with clamp circuit 21 to clamp circuit 23, a reference voltage generating circuit 3, gamma compensating circuit 41 to gamma compensating circuit 43, polarity inverting circuit 51 to polarity inverting circuit 53, video amplifier 61 to video amplifier 63, a timing generating circuit 7, a data electrode driving circuit 8 and a scanning electrode driving circuit 9.
Clamp circuit 21 to clamp circuit 23 execute a clamp fixing (direct current refreshing) a level of a top or a back porch of the horizontal synchronous signal SH of the video red signal SR, the video green signal SG and the video blue signal SB supplied from outside to a black level and output a video red signal SRC, a video green signal SGC and a video blue signal SBC.
The reference voltage generating circuit 3 a generates a reference voltage VL, a reference voltage VM, a reference voltage VH used to gamma compensate the video red signal SRC, the video green signal SGC and the video blue signal SBC and supplies the video red signal SRC, the video green signal SGC and the video blue signal SBC to gamma compensating circuit 41 to gamma compensating circuit 43. Gamma compensating circuit 41 to gamma compensating circuit 43, based on the reference voltage VL, the reference voltage VM and the reference voltage VH supplied from the reference voltage generating circuit 3, give a gradient to the video red signal SRC, the video green signal SGC and the video blue signal SBC by gamma compensating the video red signal SRC, the video green signal SGC and the video blue signal SBC and output them as the video red light SRG, the video green light SGG and the video blue light SBG.
Here, the gamma compensation will be explained. For example, when a logarithm value of a luminance originally provided for a subject such as a view and a person taken by a video camera is set to a horizontal axis and a logarithm value of a luminance of a reproduced image displayed on a display by a video signal from the video camera is set to a vertical axis and then an inclination angle of a reproducing characteristic curve is set to θ, tan θ is called a gamma (γ) . When the luminance of the subject is reproduced on the display with fidelity, namely, when an input (horizontal axis) increases or decreases by one and also an output (vertical axis) increases or decreases by one, the inclination angle of the reproducing characteristic curve is a straight line having an inclination angle of 45°, tan 45°=1 and then the gamma becomes 1. Therefore, in order to reproduce the luminance of the subject with fidelity, it is necessary to set a gamma of a whole system including taking the subject by the video camera though reproducing an image on the display to gamma=1.
However, an image pickup element such as CCD (Charge Coupled Device), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display or a like making up a video camera has a peculiar gamma. A gamma of the CCD is 1 and a gamma of the CRT display is about 2.2.
Therefore, it is necessary to compensate a video signal in order to obtain a reproduced image of good gradation by setting gamma=1 as a whole system, and this is called gamma compensation. Generally, the gamma compensation is applied to the video signal so as to be suitable to a gamma characteristic of the CRT display.
Polarity inverting circuit 51 to polarity inverting circuit 53, in order to alternately drive the color liquid crystal display 1, invert respective polarities of the video red light SRG, the video green light SGG and the video blue light SBG and output them. Video amplifier 61 to video amplifier 63 amplify the video red light SRG, the video green light SGGand video blue light SBG which are polarity-inverted to a level until the color liquid crystal display 1 can be driven. The timing generating circuit 7, based on the horizontal synchronous signal SH and the vertical synchronous signal SV supplied from outside, generates a horizontal scanning pulse PH and a verticality scanning pulse PV and supplies the horizontal scanning pulse PH and the verticality scanning pulse PV to the data electrode driving circuit 8 and the scanning electrode driving circuit 9. The data electrode driving circuit 8 generates a data red signal, a data green signal, a data blue signal from the video red light SRG, the video green light SGG and the video blue light SBG which are amplified and polarity-inverted and applies the data red signal, the data green signal and the data blue signal to corresponding data electrodes in the color liquid crystal display 1 at a timing of the horizontal scanning pulse PH supplied from the timing generating circuit 7.
The scanning electrode driving circuit 9 generates a scanning signal and supplies the scanning signal to a corresponding scanning electrode in the color liquid crystal display 1 at a timing of the vertical scanning pulse PV supplied from the timing generating circuit 7.
Further, FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a second conventional electric configuration of a driving circuit of a digital circuit configuration for the color liquid crystal display 1.
The driving circuit for the color liquid crystal display 1 is mainly provided with a controlling circuit 11, a gradation power supply circuit 12, a data electrode driving circuit 13 and a scanning electrode driving circuit 14.
The controlling circuit 11 is, for example, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), supplies red data DR of six bits, green data DG of six bits and blue data DB of six bits supplied from outside to the data electrode driving circuit 13 and generates a horizontal scanning pulse PH, a vertical scanning pulse PV and a polarity inverting pulse POL for alternately driving the color liquid crystal display 1 and supplies them to the data electrode driving circuit 13 and the scanning electrode driving circuit 14. The gradation power supply circuit 12, as shown in FIG. 21, is provided with resistor 151 to resistor 1511 connected longitudinally between a reference voltage VREF and ground and voltage follower 161 to voltage follower 169 connected with connection points of resistors adjacent to respective input terminals, and applies buffer to a gradation voltage V0 to a gradation voltage V9 set for the gamma compensation and appearing at connection points of adjacent resistors and supplies gradation voltage V0 to gradation voltage V9 to the data electrode driving circuit 13.
The data electrode driving circuit 13, as shown in FIG. 21, is mainly provided with a multiplexer (MPX) 17, a DAC 18 and voltage follower 191 to voltage follower 19384. In addition, a real data electrode driving circuit is provided with a shift register, a data register, a latch and a level shifter at a front step of the DAC 18, however, these elements and operations are not directly related with features of the present invention, therefore, explanations are omitted in this specification and they are not shown.
The multiplexer MPX 17 switches a group of gradation voltage V0 to gradation voltage V4 and a group of gradation voltage V5 to gradation voltage V9 among gradation voltage V0 to gradation voltage V9 supplied from the gradation power supply circuit 12, based on the polarity inverting pulse POL supplied from the controlling circuit 11 and supplies one of the groups to the DAC 18. The DAC 18 applies the gamma compensation to the red data DR of six bits, the green data DG of six bits and the blue data DB of six bits supplied from the controlling circuit 11, converts the red data DR, the green data DG and the blue data DB into an analog data red signal, an analog green signal and an analog blue signal and supplies the analog data red signal, the analog green signal and the analog blue signal to voltage follower 191 to voltage follower 19384, based on the group of gradation voltage V0 to gradation voltage V4 and the group of gradation voltage V5 to gradation voltage V9. Voltage follower 191 to voltage follower 19384 apply buffer to the analog data red signal, the analog data green signal and the analog data blue signal supplied from the DAC 18 and apply these data signals to corresponding data electrodes in the color liquid crystal display 1.
The scanning electrode driving circuit 14 sequentially generates scanning signals and sequentially applies the scanning signals to corresponding scanning electrodes in the color liquid crystal display 1 at a timing of the vertical scanning pulse PV supplied from the timing generating circuit 7.
Now, in the driving circuit for the color liquid crystal display 1 of the first conventional example, the gamma compensation is applied to the video red signal SRC, the video green signal SGC and the video blue signal SBC based on the common reference voltage VL, the common reference voltage VM, the common reference voltage VH, so that the gamma characteristic of the CRT display (gamma is about 2.2) is suitable for the video red signal SRC, the video green signal SGC and the video blue signal SBC.
Further, in the driving circuit for the color liquid crystal display 1 of the second conventional example, the gamma compensation is applied to the red data DR, the green data DG and the blue data DB based on the common gradation reference voltage V0 to the common reference voltage V4 and common gradation reference voltage V5 to common gamma reference voltage V9 so that the gamma characteristic of the CRT display (gamma is about 2.2) is suitable for the red data DR, the green data DG and the blue data DB.
However, a color liquid crystal display 1 has a gamma characteristic different from that of a CRT display, a characteristic curve of a transmittance T for an applied voltage V (a V-T characteristic curve) is not linear, and particularly, the transmittance hardly changes against a change of the applied voltage near a black level. Further, since the V-T characteristic curve of the color liquid crystal display, as shown in FIG. 22, is different for each of a red (curve a), a green (curve b) and a blue (curve c), a characteristic curve of the luminance (an output) for the gradation (an input), as shown in FIG. 23, is different for each of the red (curve a), the green (curve b) and the blue (curve c) . In FIG. 23, the luminance is a relative luminance in which the gamma compensation is applied to the video signal so as to be suitable to a gamma characteristic of a CRT display (about 2.2 gamma) in the gamma compensating circuit.
Accordingly, in the conventional gamma compensation common with the red, the green and the blue and making suitable to the gamma characteristic of the CRT display (about 2.2 gamma), for example, in a case of the V-T characteristic curve shown in FIG. 22, a transmittance is set to 100% when an applied voltage is 1.7 V, namely, a white level is set. However, particularly in the green (curve b), a white level is set at transmittance of 80%, therefore, it is impossible to carry out an optimal gamma compensation and then it is impossible to obtain a reproduced image of a good gradation. As a result, there a disadvantage in that it is impossible to meet a recent need of a high video quality.
Further, recently, in order to meet the need of the high video quality, a color liquid crystal display having a high transmittance is developed, and FIG. 24 shows an example of a V-T characteristic curve of a color liquid crystal display having such a high transmittance characteristic red (curve a), green (curve b), blue (curve c)) . In such the V-T characteristic curve, each of red (curve a), green (curve b) and blue (curve c) has a transmittance of 100%, namely, each best luminance is too different, therefore, there is a problem in that the color liquid crystal display 1 cannot be used since it is impossible to deal with gamma characteristics of the conventional gamma compensation which are used in common with red, green and blue.
Furthermore, as above described, in the first conventional example and the second conventional example of a driving circuit for the color liquid crystal display, gamma compensation is applied based on common reference voltage VL, common reference voltage VM and common reference voltage VH or a common group of gradation voltage V0 to gradation voltage V4 and a common group of gradation voltage V5 to gradation voltage V9, therefore, there is a problem in that, though a gradation batter occurs in which gradation change is not displayed on a display as luminance changes, the gradation batter can not be removed.

Driving method and driving circuit for color liquid crystal display


A dis-bond membrane prevents co-mingling between a thermoplastic liner and a fiber reinforced thermoset outer wall of a pressure vessel during thermal curing of the outer wall.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to composite pressure vessels having liners, and deals more particularly with a dis-bond membrane that prevents bonding between the composite pressure vessel and the liner.
2. Background
Several types of constructions are known for high pressure vessels used to store liquids or gases such as hydrogen, for example. In one type of construction, commonly referred to as a Type IV pressure vessel, a plastic inner liner is surrounded by an outer structural wall formed by a fiber reinforced resin wrap. These types of pressure vessels are typically cylindrical in shape with domed ends. The pressurize vessels are cyclically pressurized, both as part of the fabrication process, and later, when placed in service.
The mechanical performance of the pressure vessel may depend upon the compatibility of the materials used for the liner and structural outer wall, and the processes used to fabricate the vessel. For example, where the liner is formed of a thermoplastic and the structural outer wall is formed of a thermoset that is in contact with the thermoplastic, undesired stress concentrations in the vessel may result from co-mingling of the thermoplastic with the reinforcing fibers used in the wall. This co-mingling occurs when the temperature at which the thermoplastic softens and/or melts is below the cure temperature of the thermoset resin used in the wall. During curing of the thermoset resin outer wall, the thermoplastic liner softens to the point that it flows or migrates into the wall. When the thermoset wall cools following curing, the migrated thermoplastic may cover and surround some of the reinforcing fibers of the wall, causing random bonds to be formed between the liner and the outer wall. These random bonds create undesired stress points when the liner expands and contracts during use. The presence of these stress points between the liner and the outer wall may reduce the performance of the pressure vessel.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of fabricating a pressure vessel that reduces or eliminates bonding between an inner thermoplastic liner and a thermoset outer wall. There is also a need for a dis-bond barrier, and a simple method for installing the barrier between the liner and the outer wall.

Dis-bond membrane for a lined pressure vessel


The invention relates to combing element for a circular comb of a combing machine that is connectable to a base body of the circular comb via fastening means. The combing element has a plurality of adjacently situated clothing elements oriented transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the combing element and provided with a toothed clothing. The combing element has a mounting bar with a supporting surface on which the clothing elements rest. The ends of the clothing elements protrude beyond the lateral faces of the mounting bar adjoining the supporting surface, and the clothing elements are joined to the mounting bar by means of at least one weld seam applied between the base surfaces of the ends of the clothing elements that protrude beyond the supporting surface of the mounting bar and the mounting bar.

In practice, designs are known in which the combing elements for a circular comb are composed of multiple toothed segments that are provided with a toothed clothing and held together by longitudinal bolts. The longitudinal bolts protrude into boreholes provided in the toothed segments. Such a design is disclosed in DE 33 36 876 A1, for example. Multiple combing elements (also referred to as bars) situated one behind the other form a toothed segment having a closed comb surface. In the cited example, the toothed segments are provided with a dovetailed recess by means of which they are connected to a base body of the circular comb via a retaining element. The retaining element is provided with a corresponding dovetailed counter-profile via which it engages with the recess in the toothed segments and is held in a recess in the base body via a screw connection. In this design, additional bolts are necessary to hold the toothed segments together; in addition, a special punch is necessary to produce the dovetailed recess in the toothed segments.
Furthermore, a design is known from DE 10 2009 018 058 A1 in which combing elements are likewise disclosed, having multiple adjacently situated toothed segments held together by longitudinal bolts. In contrast to the design in cited DE 33 36 876 A1, the combing elements are fastened by means of a retaining element engages with a T-shaped recess in a base body of a circular comb via a correspondingly formed base area, and is held in the installed position via clamping and spring elements.
WO 2009/003771 A1 discloses a design of a circular comb in which multiple combing elements situated one behind the other are fastened to a base body of a circular comb. The individual combing elements have multiple adjacently situated toothed segments with base surfaces that rest on a retaining element, and which form a comb segment with a closed comb surface. The retaining element is provided with lateral webs by means of which the toothed segments are held on the retaining element. For fastening the toothed segments to the retaining element, the webs are pressed against a dovetailed base part of the toothed segments using specialized devices, and are thus fixedly clamped to the retaining element. The respective retaining element has a dovetailed section via which it is held in a correspondingly formed recess in the base body of the circular comb. In addition, the retaining elements are fixed in the recess in the base body via screw connections. In the disclosed design, no additional longitudinal bolts are necessary in order to brace the toothed segments against one another. However, a specialized device is necessary to securely clamp the toothed segments to the base body. In addition, a special design of the base body is necessary in order to achieve the clamping effect.

Combing element for a circular comb of a combing machine


This invention relates to methods for transforming cotton using isolated shoot apical tips of seedlings. The apical shoot tips of cotton seedlings are isolated and chilled at a low temperature to slow the metabolic activity of the isolated cells, and then inoculated with a transforming agent carrying a desired gene. The invention also provides a method of regenerating transformed cotton plants with a desired trait from transformed apical shoot tips.

Current research in plant molecular biology is directed toward the development of improved plant varieties through the use of genetic engineering. Historically, improved plant varieties have been developed using classical genetic techniques to identify, preserve and crossbreed plants having desired traits. However, the genetic traits available to the classical breeder are limited to those that can be identified in the particular plant species the breeder is seeking to improve.
Advances in the application of the techniques of molecular biology to plants now allow for the introduction of new traits isolated from entirely different species into the plant of interest, particularly major crop plants such as cotton, maize, sorghum, soybeans, alfalfa, tobacco, and brassicas, such as rape. Traits that have been successfully transferred include insect resistance, herbicide resistance, stress tolerance, drought resistance, and disease resistance. Present day recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to identify new genes which effect the properties of plants and of products made from plants when they are transformed into new plant species. For example, a number of insect resistant varieties of cotton are presently being grown. Crop plants resistant to the herbicides Roundup®, Buctril®, and Liberty® Link are now available, as are tomatoes which can be left on the vine longer than normal tomatoes, making mechanical harvesting of tomatoes easier and cheaper.
A variety of techniques have been used to introduce foreign genes into plant cells. However, most of these techniques are limited to use with plant tissues that must be regenerated into whole plants and require a period of time in tissue culture. Methods of regenerating whole plants from cells or tissues include, micropropagation of apical and lateral meristems, organogenesis, and somatic embryogenesis. Transformation of apical meristems, lateral meristems and organogenesis produce chimeric plants, i.e., plants which have the gene encoding the newly introduced trait in only a few cells, which may or may not be in the gene in germline tissue. Plants regenerated through somatic embryogenesis are rarely chimeric. Somatic embryos are usually derived from a single cell.
One common method used to introduce foreign genes into plant cells is transformation with Agrobacterium, a relatively benign natural plant pathogen. Agrobacterium actively mediates transformation events—the integration of a gene providing a desired phenotypic trait—as part of the natural process it utilizes when it infects a plant cell. Methods for transferring foreign genes into plant cells and the subsequent expression of the inserted genes in plants regenerated from transformed cells are well known in the prior art. See for example, M. De Block et al., The EMBO Journal (1984) 3:1681; Horsch et al. Science (1985) 227:1229; and C. L. Kado (Crit. Rev: Plant. Sci. (1991) 10:1.
Certain plant species have proved to be more difficult to transform with Agrobacterium than others, particularly members of the monocotyledonous plant family. Transformation of the dicot cotton has also been particularly difficult. Since monocotyledonous plants generally do not form crown galls, it was initially assumed that the host range of Agrobacterium was restricted to dicotyledonous plants. However, Stephen L. Goldman and Anne C. F. Graves described a process for transforming plants, including the monocot corn, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,177,010 and 5,187,073. These methods involve making a wound in a seedling in an area containing rapidly dividing cells, then inoculating the wound with Agrobacterium.
Roberta H. Smith and Jean H. Gould disclose a method for transforming plants via the shoot apex of a plant tissue in U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,310. These inventors teach that the method described permits rapid propagation of plants while perpetuating the unique clonal and genetic characteristics of the plant being transformed. But again, these methods have proved difficult to apply on a commercial scale due to the low numbers of transformants expressing a gene responsible for a desired trait that are actually produced.
Further improvements of methods for transforming plants by inoculating plant tissues containing rapidly dividing cells are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,770 issued to Paula P. Chee et al. Chee et al. demonstrate that the time after germination of infecting P. vulgaris seed with Agrobacterium-based vectors is critical to the ability of the Agrobacteria to infect meristematic cells. According to Chee et al., the amount of vascular tissue in germinating cells is rapidly increasing as differentiation proceeds. Therefore, the inoculation step must be conducted within 16 to 96 hours of germination to achieve successful transformation in this legume family of plants. Chee et al., further disclose that the transformation can be carried out with either an armed or disarmed Agrobacterium vector.
The technique known as microprojectile bombardment has been used to successfully introduce genes encoding new genetic traits into a number of crop plants, including cotton, maize, tobacco, sunflowers, soybeans and certain vegetables. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050, issued to Sanford; Sanford et al., Trends in Biotechnology (1988) 6:299; Sanford et al., Part. Sci. Technol. (1988) 5:27; J. J. Finer and M. D. McMullen, Plant Cell Reports (1990) 8:586–589; and Gordon-Kamm, The Plant Cell (1990) 2:603). Transformation by microprojectile bombardment is less species and genotype specific than transformation with Agrobacterium, but the frequencies of stable transformation events achieved following bombardment can be quite low, partly due to the absence of a natural mechanism for mediating the integration of a DNA molecule or gene responsible for a desired phenotypic trait into the genomic DNA of a plant. Particle gun transformation of cotton for example, has been reported to produce no more than one clonal transgenic plant per 100–500 meristems targeted for transformation. Only 0.1 to 1% of these transformants were capable of transmitting foreign DNA to progeny. See WO 92/15675. Cells treated by particle bombardment must be regenerated into whole plants, which requires labor intensive, sterile tissue culture procedures and is generally genotype dependent in most crop plants, particularly so in cotton. Similar low transformation frequencies have been reported for other plant species as well.
The methods of the prior art will provide transgenic plants in many types of plants. However, all of the presently available methods have been difficult to apply to the development of transgenic plant lives on a commercial scale due to the low numbers of transformants produced by the prior art transformation methods.
Thus, there still exists a need for procedures that will allow the delivery of a transforming agent, such as Agrobacteria carrying a foreign DNA encoding a desired trait, to germline tissues in a manner that provides efficient incorporation of the foreign DNA into the genomic DNA of the cells in these tissues. The method of the present application targets apical meristematic tissues in a manner that enhances incorporation of the foreign DNA into the genomic DNA of the plant greatly improving the frequency with which transformed plants can be produced.

Methods for producing transgenic cotton plants using chilled apical shoot tips


Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to verify application permission safety. An example apparatus to identify unsafe permissions associated with a candidate app disclosed herein includes an app classifier interface to retrieve a cluster of apps associated with the candidate app, the candidate app including a requested permission set (RPS), a trusted app (TA) identifier to identify a set of TAs within the cluster, the set of TAs associated with a designation of trust, a safe permission set (SPS) evaluator to generate an SPS list associated with the set of TAs within the cluster, and an RPS identifier to determine whether permissions of the RPS are listed in the SPS list, the SPS evaluator further to designate first respective ones of the permissions of the RPS as safe when the first respective ones of the permissions are listed in the SPS list, and designate second respective ones of the permissions of the RPS as unsafe when the second respective ones of the permissions are absent from the SPS list.

In recent years, application distribution, downloading and usage has become a ubiquitous aspect of computing devices, particularly with regard to mobile computing devices such as wireless telephones and tablets. Operating system manufacturers/designers of such computing devices typically manage an application store (hereinafter referred to as an "app-store") to showcase, index and/or otherwise provide one or more apps to users. Example app-stores include, but are not limited to Google Play (previously Android Market) for Android-based devices, the Amazon Appstore for Android, and the App Store for Apple-based devices.
The figures are not to scale. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.

Methods, systems, articles of manufacture and apparatus to verify application permission safety


A directional antenna tracking method includes obtaining first motion feature information of a first device, receiving second motion feature information transmitted from a second device, calculating tracking information of a first directional antenna of the first device with respect to a second directional antenna of the second device based on the first motion feature information and the second motion feature information, and controlling the first directional antenna to move according to the tracking information to face toward the second directional antenna.

In a wireless communication system, an antenna system is an interface with external transmission media. In a typical point-to-point wireless communication system, such as between two unmanned aerial vehicles or between an unmanned aerial vehicle and a remote controller, both parties of communication are configured with antennas. Because both parties of communication may be moving in real-time, a distance between both parties and an attitude of each party may change. To ensure uninterrupted communication in this changing process, both parties of communication often use omni-directional antennas to communicate, thereby increasing a coverage range of communication.
In the related art, although the omni-directional antennas ensure a party of communication to receive signals from the other party of communication in any direction within the antenna coverage range, the structure of the omni-directional antenna does not concentrate communication signals in transmitting and receiving, and hence affects the communication distance and communication quality between both parties of communication.

Directional antenna tracking method and communication device


This disclosure describes deblock filtering techniques in which an in-loop deblock filter of a first codec is used as a post deblock filter of a second codec. A number of techniques are also described to facilitate input parameter adjustments and allow for the effective use of the filter with both codecs. The techniques can simplify the architecture of a device that includes multiple codecs operating according to different coding standards. Specifically, the different codecs can use the same deblocking filter regardless of whether the coding standard calls for in-loop filtering or whether post filtering is used. For example, a filter designed as an in-loop deblocking filter for a codec that complies with the ITU-T H.264 coding standard can be used as a post deblocking filter for MPEG-4 video.

Digital video capabilities can be incorporated into a wide range of devices, including digital televisions, digital direct broadcast systems, wireless communication devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, desktop computers, digital cameras, digital recording devices, cellular or satellite radio telephones, and the like. Digital video devices can provide significant improvements over conventional analog video systems in creating, modifying, transmitting, storing, recording and playing full motion video sequences.
A number of different video coding standards have been established for coding digital video sequences. The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), for example, has developed a number of standards including MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Other standards include the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunications (ITU-T) H.263 standard, QuickTime™ technology developed by Apple Computer of Cupertino Calif., Video for Windows™ developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., Indeo™ developed by Intel Corporation, RealVideo™ from RealNetworks, Inc. of Seattle, Wash., and Cinepak™ developed by SuperMac, Inc. Furthermore, new standards continue to emerge and evolve, including the ITU-T H.264 standard and a number of proprietary standards.
Many video coding standards allow for improved transmission rates of video sequences by coding data in a compressed fashion. Compression can reduce the overall amount of data that needs to be transmitted for effective transmission of video frames. Most video coding standards, for example, utilize graphics and video compression techniques designed to facilitate video and image transmission over a narrower bandwidth.
The MPEG standards and the ITU-T H.263 and ITU-T H.264 standards, for example, support video coding techniques that utilize similarities between successive video frames, referred to as temporal or inter-frame correlation, to provide inter-frame compression. The inter-frame compression techniques exploit data redundancy across frames by converting pixel-based representations of video frames to motion representations. In addition, some video coding techniques may utilize similarities within frames, referred to as spatial or intra-frame correlation, to further compress the video frames. The video frames are often divided into smaller video blocks, and the inter-frame or intra-frame correlation is applied at the video block level.
In order to achieve video frame compression, a digital video device typically includes an encoder for compressing digital video sequences, and a decoder for decompressing the digital video sequences. In many cases, the encoder and decoder form an integrated "codec" that operates on blocks of pixels within frames that define the video sequence. As used in this disclosure, the term "codec" refers to an encoder, a decoder or an integrated encoder/decoder.
In the MPEG-4 standard, the codec typically divides a video frame to be transmitted into video blocks referred to as "macroblocks." The ITU-T H.264 standard supports 16 by 16 video blocks, 16 by 8 video blocks, 8 by 16 video blocks, 8 by 8 video blocks, 8 by 4 video blocks, 4 by 8 video blocks and 4 by 4 video blocks. Other standards may support differently sized video blocks. For each video block in the video frame, an codec searches similarly sized video blocks of one or more immediately preceding video frames (or subsequent frames) to identify the most similar video block, referred to as the "best prediction." The process of comparing a current video block to video blocks of other frames is generally referred to as motion estimation. Once a "best prediction" is identified for a current video block during motion estimation, the codec can code the differences between the current video block and the best prediction.
This process of coding the differences between the current video block and the best prediction includes a process referred to as motion compensation. Motion compensation comprises a process of creating a difference block indicative of the differences between the current video block to be coded and the best prediction. In particular, motion compensation usually refers to the act of fetching the best prediction block using a motion vector, and then subtracting the best prediction from an input block to generate a difference block. The difference block typically includes substantially less data than the original video block represented by the difference block.
After motion compensation has created the difference block, a series of additional steps can also be performed to further code the difference block and further compress the data. These additional steps may depend on the coding standard being used. In MPEG-4 compliant codecs, for example, the additional steps may include an 8×8 discrete cosine transform, followed by scalar quantization, followed by a raster-to-zigzag reordering, followed by run-length encoding, followed by Huffman encoding. A coded difference block can be transmitted with a motion vector that indicates which video block from the previous frame (or subsequent frame) was used for the coding. A codec of a receive device receives the motion vector and the coded difference block, and decodes the received information to reconstruct the video sequences.
The use of discrete video blocks in inter-frame and/or intra-frame compression can cause artifacts in the video sequence between adjacent video blocks. In particular, when a video frame is divided into video blocks for video coding, the edge of one video block may appear discontinuous with the adjacent edge of another video block. When this occurs, the video frame may appear "blocky," which is highly undesirable. Transforms and quantization of video blocks can compound this undesirable blockiness effect in coded video frames.
In order to remove such "blockiness," filtering can be performed on the video blocks to "smooth" the transitions between adjacent video blocks. Deblocking filters generally refer to the filters that are used to smooth the transitions between adjacent video blocks to reduce or eliminate blockiness artifacts. The ITU-T H.264 standard, for example, requires a deblocking filter as part of the in-loop coding. In this case, when filtering is part of the in-loop video coding, the previously coded frames used in motion estimation and motion compensation are filtered versions of such frames. For other standards that do not mandate a deblocking filter as part of the coding loop, post deblock filtering may still improve the quality of the video coding.

Deblock filtering techniques for video coding according to multiple video standards


Antisense compounds, compositions and methods are provided for modulating the expression of EGR-1. The compositions comprise antisense compounds, particularly antisense oligonucleotides, targeted to nucleic acids encoding EGR-1. Methods of using these compounds for modulation of EGR-1 expression and for treatment of diseases associated with expression of EGR-1 are provided.

Transcription factors represent a group of molecules within the cell that function to connect extracellular signals to intracellular responses. Immediately after an environmental stimulus, these proteins which reside predominantly in the cytosol are translocated to the nucleus where they bind to the promoter regions of various genes and activate the transcription of the respective target gene. Certain transcription factors belong to a group of genes which are transcribed without any de novo protein synthesis allowing quick response times to external stumuli.
EGR-1 (also known as early growth response 1, Krox-24, sif/268, NGFI-A, cef5, TIS8 and GOS30) is the protein product of a gene in the group of immediate early genes which exhibit transcriptional induction within 30 minutes of mitogen stimulation. EGR-1 plays a major role in the regulation of signaling cascades within cells of the immune system (McMahon and Monroe, J. Leukoc. Biol., 1996, 60, 159-166) as well as specific cellular processes such as apoptosis (Liu et al., Cancer Gene Ther., 1998, 5, 3-28). Furthermore, it is currently believed that EGR-1 plays a role in regulating DNA and RNA synthesis by binding to the promoter of the inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) type II gene. The enzyme encoded by this gene controls a critical step in the biosynthesis of guanine nucleotides (McMahon and Monroe, J. Leukoc. Biol., 1996, 60, 159-166).
As a transcriptional activator, EGR-1 binds a consensus sequence in the promoter of several genes including tumor necrosis factor (TNF), IL-2, ICAM-1, and CD44 in T- and B-lymphocytes. In addition, it also activates the genes for IGF-II, TGF-beta-1, PDGF alpha chain and thymidine kinase (McMahon and Monroe, J. Leukoc. Biol., 1996, 60, 159-166).
EGR-1 has been shown to regulate cellular growth and differentiation in a diverse set of cell types including macrophage, fibroblast, hepatocyte, neuronal, granulocyte, thymocyte, hematopoietic and T-cell lineages. Moreover, these effects have been shown to be very cell-type and tissue specific (Liu et al., Cancer Gene Ther., 1998, 5, 3-28).
Manifestations of altered EGR-1 gene regulation appear in both injury and disease states. EGR-1 upregulates cytokine expression involved in the inflammation process (McMahon and Monroe, J. Leukoc. Biol., 1996, 60, 159-166) and the level of EGR-1 protein itself goes up at the site of vascular occlusive lesions (Khachigian and Collins, Circ. Res., 1997, 81, 457-461).
To date, strategies aimed at inhibiting EGR-1 function have involved the use of antisense oligonucleotides and gene knockouts in mice.
Studies in which cells were treated with antisense oligonucleotides targeted to the 5' untranslated region of either mouse or human EGR-1, resulted in the inhibition of phorbol ester-induced differentiation of mouse HL-60 cells into macrophages (Nguyen et al., Cell, 1993, 72, 197-209). In addition, it has been demonstrated that EGR-1 protein levels are increased in the condition known as mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis, and that antisense oligonucleotides to the translation initiation codon of rat EGR-1 inhibit the proliferation of rat glomerular mesengial cells (Rupprecht et al., Med Klin, 1997, 92, 68-73). Functional studies that used the same antisense oligonucleotide used by Nguyen et al, targeted to the 5' untranslated region of human EGR-1 to block EGR-1 protein expression in human melanoma cells confirmed that EGR-1 expression and function are essential for apoptosis induced by thapsigargin or ionizing radiation (Ahmed et al., J Biol Chem, 1996, 271, 29231-29237; Muthukkumar et al., Mol Cell Biol, 1995, 15, 6262-6272). Finally, Perez-Castillo et al. demonstrated that both lectin- and IL-2-induced proliferation of T-cells were blocked by treatment with antisense targeted to the start codon of rat EGR-1 (Perez-Castillo et al., J Biol Chem, 1993, 268, 19445-19450).
Gene knockout studies involving mice in which the EGR-1 gene was eliminated by homologous recombination showed no gross immunological defects in the animals. However, the reproductive capacity of female mice lacking the EGR-1 gene was compromised due to the lack of hormone production (Liu et al., Cancer Gene Ther., 1998, 5, 3-28).
Currently, there are no known therapeutic agents which effectively inhibit the synthesis of EGR-1. Consequently, there remains a long felt need for additional agents capable of effectively inhibiting EGR-1 function.
Antisense oligonucleotides capable of inhibiting EGR-1 function can prove useful in a number of therapeutic and research applications and are thereby believed to provide a promising new pharmaceutical tool.

Antisense inhibition of EGR-1 expression


In a photovoltaic cell composed of a photovoltaic element and a coating film provided thereon, the photovoltaic element has an electrode portion or portions having a thickness larger than the average thickness of the coating film, and in addition, the thickness of the coating film which is in contact with the electrode portion or portions is equal to or smaller than the average thickness described above.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photovoltaic cell which has a transparent coating film on a light receiving face of a photovoltaic element for preventing photovoltaic element properties from being degraded by scratches, moisture, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a greenhouse effect, that is, global warming caused by increase in amount of CO2, has became a serious problem, and hence development of clean energy sources which will not discharge CO2 at all has been increasingly required. As one of the energy sources described above, for example, nuclear power generation may be mentioned; however, since various problems thereof, such as radioactive wastes, must be solved, development of safer clean energy sources has been further required.
Accordingly, among various clean energy sources which are expected in the future, solar cells have drawn significant attention because of their cleanness, highly reliable safety properties, and easy handling.
At present, various solar cells have been proposed, and some of them have actually been used as an electrical source. The solar cells mentioned above are roughly categorized into a crystal silicon-based solar cell using single crystal or polycrystal silicon, an amorphous silicon-based solar cell using amorphous silicon, and a compound semiconductor solar cell.
In general, a solar cell is used as a solar cell module in which a photovoltaic element is covered with a transparent coating material for protection. This surface coating material provided at a topmost surface is composed of a glass or a transparent fluorinated resin formed of a fluorinated resin film, a fluorinated resin paint, or the like, and a seal composition material is provided thereunder. In general, as the seal composition material, various transparent thermoplastic resin compositions are used.
The reasons a glass substrate is used at the topmost surface are that a glass substrate has superior moisture resistance, scratch resistance, and weather resistance and that a decrease in conversion efficiency of a solar cell module which is caused by decrease in transmittance due to degradation can be suppressed. In particular, as for scratch resistance, a glass substrate may be regarded as one of the most superior materials since it mechanically protects a photovoltaic element without causing any damage thereto. However, a glass substrate has several problems, such as heavy weight, inflexibility, poor impact strength, and high cost, and in particular, the heavy weight has serious influence on an installation structure of the solar cell module.
In addition, due to various installation structures of solar cell modules and output requirements of current, voltage, and the like, the external form of a solar cell module is considerably changed. On the other hand, in general, several types of external forms of photovoltaic elements have been standardized, and in accordance with the structure of a solar cell module, a plurality of photovoltaic elements are connected to each other to form a desired structure. That is, depending on the production schedule or the like for a solar cell module, photovoltaic elements may be temporarily stored or transported in some cases after being formed.
When being stored or transported as described above, the photovoltaic element is not covered with a coating material, and hence properties of the photovoltaic element are degraded by moisture and/or scratches, thereby causing decrease in production yield. For protection of photovoltaic elements in a production process, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 9-36396, 9-92759, and 10-233519, a thin film resin layer used as a protection coating may be provided for the photovoltaic element immediately after the production thereof to form a photovoltaic cell.
A typical photovoltaic element structure has a semiconductor layer having a pn junction; a light receiving electrode made of a transparent conductive oxide provided on a light receiving face of the semiconductor layer; a collector electrode which is formed of a relatively thin metal for collecting current and which is provided on the light receiving electrode; and an electrode formed of a relatively thick metal called a bus bar for collecting current collected by the collector electrode.
As an electrode structure of a photovoltaic element, for example, according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,429, an electrode has been proposed which is composed of a polymer containing conductive particles and a metal wire coated therewith. According to this patent, since a metal wire made of copper or the like having superior conductivity is used, electrical resistance loss can be reduced even when a long collector electrode is formed, and in addition, since an aspect ratio of 1 to 1 can be realized, the shadow loss can also be reduced. In addition, according to this patent, by using a conductive adhesive for fixing the wire, bonding can be advantageously performed by simple thermo-compression bonding. The inventors of the present invention improved the collector electrode made of the metal wire described above and proposed an electrode structure of a photovoltaic element as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 7-321353, 9-18034, and 10-65192.
One example of a method for forming the electrodes of a photovoltaic element will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic views each showing the structure of a photovoltaic element having collector electrodes using metal wires; FIG. 5A is a schematic view of the photovoltaic element when viewed from a light receiving face side; and FIG. 5B is a schematic view of the photovoltaic element when viewed from a non-light receiving face side.
In FIGS. 5A and 5B, reference numeral 501 indicates a photovoltaic element plate composed of a substrate and three layers provided thereon, the three layers being a lower electrode layer, an amorphous silicon layer responsible for a photovoltaic function, and an upper electrode layer. The collector electrodes are to be formed on this photovoltaic element plate 501.
In this photovoltaic element plate 501, aluminum (Al) and zinc oxide (ZnO) are formed in that order on a stainless steel substrate supporting the entire photovoltaic element plate 501 by sputtering so that each has a thickness of several hundreds nanometers, thereby forming the lower electrode layer. In addition, an n-type, an i-type, a p-type, an n-type, an i-type, and a p-type layer are deposited in that order from the substrate side by plasma CVD to form the amorphous silicon layer. In addition, the upper electrode layer is formed of a transparent electrode film, and an indium oxide thin film is formed by depositing indium (In) in an oxygen atmosphere by resistance heating.
Furthermore, in order to avoid the adverse influence of short circuiting between the substrate and the transparent electrode film on an effective light receiving area, which short circuiting occurs when the outer periphery of the photovoltaic element plate 501 is cut, after an etching paste containing FeCl3, AlCl3, or the like is applied onto the transparent electrode film by screen printing, followed by heating, washing is performed so that parts of the transparent electrode film of the photovoltaic element plate 501 are linearly removed, thereby forming etching lines 502.
Subsequently, copper foil strips used as rear-side conductive foil bodies 503 are formed along two sides of the non-light receiving face side of the photovoltaic element plate 501 by a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-139349.
Next, onto two sides facing the rear-side conductive foil bodies 503 provided on the non-light receiving face of the photovoltaic element plate 501, insulating member 504 composed of a base plate made of polyimide and acrylate adhesives provided on both sides thereof are adhered.
Next, metal wires 505 each formed of a copper wire coated with a conductive adhesive composed of a carbon paste beforehand are continuously formed on the photovoltaic element plate 501 and the insulating members 504 at predetermined intervals, thereby forming the collector electrodes.
Furthermore, on the insulating members 504, conductive foil bodies 506 are formed which are used as additional collector electrodes for the collector electrodes described above. In particular, after copper foil strips are placed, the entirety is then fixed by applying heat and pressure thereto under predetermined conditions.
On the light receiving face of a photovoltaic element 500 formed in accordance with the steps described above, surface protection coating is performed. One example in which a surface protection coating film is provided for the photovoltaic element 500 which has the collector electrodes made of the metal wires will be described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a photovoltaic cell composed of the photovoltaic element and a coating film provided thereon when it is viewed from the light receiving face side. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 indicates a surface protection coating film which is formed by applying a predetermined coating solution by spraying coating to a power generation region of the photovoltaic element, followed by heating for curing.
By the method described above, a photovoltaic cell 600 can be formed. In the photovoltaic cell 600, even on the light receiving face of the photovoltaic element, for example, the coating film 601 is not applied to the conductive foil bodies 506 in order to mount backflow prevention diodes or the like thereon in a subsequent step. That is, the surface protection coating film is provided only in the power generation region of the photovoltaic element.
Objects of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the photovoltaic cell taken along the line 7-7′ in FIG. 6.
On the light receiving face of the photovoltaic element described above, the insulating members 504, the conductive foil bodies 506, and the like are placed, and in the power generation region of the photovoltaic element, the surface protection coating film 601 is provided. In the step described above, since the heights of the insulating member 504, the conductive foil body 506, and the like are larger than the average height of the surface protection coating film 601, due to the surface tension or the like, the thickness of the surface protection coating film (indicated by the arrow in FIG. 7) in the vicinity of the insulating member 504 becomes considerably larger than the average thickness described above.
In the state described above, when the surface protection coating film 601 is dried for curing, a problem occurs in that internal bubbles are generated in the surface protection coating film 601 in the vicinity of the insulating member 504. That is, since drying conditions for curing the surface protection coating film 601 are set in consideration of the average film thickness thereof, at a part of the surface protection coating film 601 having a larger thickness, a solvent contained therein cannot be removed by evaporation within a predetermined drying time. Hence, it is believed that even after the curing of the coating film has started, the solvent is still being evaporated, and as a result, internal bubbles are generated in the surface protection coating film 601.
Since the internal bubbles described above are generated in the power generation region of the photovoltaic cell, optical properties are degraded, the properties of the photovoltaic cell are degraded, and in addition, due to the cosmetic defects, the yield is also reduced.
As a method for solving the problems described above, it may be considered that the drying time is increased; however, in order to prevent the generation of internal bubbles at a place at which the thickness of the coating film is large, the drying time must be several times that performed in the past, and in addition, the drying temperature must be precisely controlled. Accordingly, in the case of a photovoltaic cell having a large area such as 200 mm by 250 mm, the method described above cannot actually solve the above problem. In addition, when the drying time is greatly increased, yellow discoloration of the coating film may occur, thereby causing degradation of optical properties such as transmittance.

Photovoltaic cell having a coating film provided on a photovoltaic element and manufacturing method thereof


A chemically sensitized high chloride tabular grain emulsion is disclosed. The tabular grains have {100} major faces. Chemically sensitized silver halide epitaxial deposits containing less than 75 percent of the chloride ion concentration of the tabular grains and accounting for less than 20 mole percent of total silver are located at one or more of the corners of the tabular grains.. The emulsions are prepared by first forming the host tabular grains, epitaxially depositing silver halide selected to contain less than 50 percent of the chloride ion concentration of the tabular grains, adsorbing a photographically useful compound to the surfaces of the silver halide epitaxial deposits, and chemically digesting the emulsion.

Radiation sensitive silver halide emulsions containing one or a combination of chloride, bromide and iodide ions have been long recognized to be useful in photography. Each halide ion selection is known to impart particular photographic advantages. By a wide margin the most commonly employed photographic emulsions are silver bromide and bromoiodide emulsions. Although known and used for many years for selected photographic applications, the more rapid developability and the ecological advantages of high chloride emulsions have provided an impetus for employing these emulsions over a broader range of photographic applications. As employed herein the term "high chloride emulsion" refers to a silver halide emulsion containing at least 50 mole percent chloride, based on total silver. The most ecologically attractive high chloride emulsions are those that contain no iodide ion or very low levels of iodide ion.
During the 1980's a marked advance took place in silver halide photography based on the discovery that a wide range of photographic advantages, such as improved speed-granularity relationships, increased covering power both on an absolute basis and as a function of binder hardening, more rapid developability, increased thermal stability, increased separation of native and spectral sensitization imparted imaging speeds, and improved image sharpness in both mono- and multi-emulsion layer formats, can be realized by increasing the proportions of selected tabular grain populations in photographic emulsions.
Although varied definitions have been adopted in defining tabular grain emulsions, there is a general consensus that the functionally significant distinguishing feature of tabular grains lies in the large disparity between tabular grain equivalent circular diameter (ECD, the diameter of a circle having an area equal to the projected area of the tabular grain) and tabular grain thickness (t, the dimension of the tabular grain normal to its opposed parallel major faces). Average tabular grain aspect ratio (ECD/t) and tabularity (ECD/t.sup.2, where ECD and t are each measured in .mu.m) are art accepted quantifiers of this disparity. To distinguish tabular grain emulsions from those that contain only incidental tabular grain inclusions it is also the recognized practice of the art to require that a significant percentage (e.g., greater than 30 percent and more typically greater than 50 percent) of total grain projected area be accounted for by tabular grains.
An emulsion is generally understood to be a "high aspect ratio tabular grain emulsion" when tabular grains having a thickness of less than 0.3 .mu.m have an average aspect ratio of greater than 8 and account for greater than 50 percent of total grain projected area. The difficulty in achieving high average aspect ratios in high chloride tabular grain emulsions has often led to accepting average aspect ratios of greater than 5 as the best available approximations of high average aspect ratios. The term "thin tabular grain" is generally understood to be a tabular grain having a thickness of less than 0.2 .mu.m. The term "ultrathin tabular grain" is generally understood to be a tabular grain having a thickness of 0.06 .mu.m or less. High chloride thin tabular grain emulsions have been difficult to prepare and ultrathin high chloride tabular grain emulsions have been completely unknown.
In almost every instance tabular grain emulsions satisfying grain thickness (t), average aspect ratio (ECD/t), average tabularity (ECD/t.sup.2) and projected area aims have been formed by introducing two or more parallel twin planes into octahedral grains during their preparation. Regular octahedral grains are bounded by {111} crystal faces. The predominant feature of tabular grains formed by twinning are opposed parallel {111} major crystal faces. The major crystal faces have a three fold symmetry, typically appearing triangular or hexagonal.

High tabularity high chloride emulsions of exceptional stability


Method of determining a motion of continuous variable velocity for display means, comprising a step of establishing a model of at least one simulated mechanical force and/or torque value from values measured by a sensor, and a second step of solving a newton equation of motion from these simulated mechanical force and/or torque values, wherein the second step allows a simulated velocity to be calculated for the display means.

In mechanical timepieces, in particular wristwatches with hands, time-setting devices are known that are actuated by a crown, kinematically connected to the motion work of the watch in the axial position thereof corresponding to the time-setting mode, with determined gear ratios for moving the minute hand simply and quickly without having to rotate the crown for too long or too often.
In electronic timepieces with a digital display, in particular a liquid crystal display, it is known to accelerate the scrolling speed of the digital symbols by the prolonged or repeated actuation of a sensor when the timepiece is in a specific adjustment or setting mode. For example, a prolonged application of pressure to the push button accelerates scrolling to a maximum velocity value for the display value to be corrected. The adjustment is then performed sequentially for each display setting.
It is also known to correct a digital display by using a crown provided with sensors as the actuation element, and an electronic control device for correction at a velocity proportional to the rotational velocity of the crown, such as for example, the electronic circuit disclosed in GB Patent No. 2019049. In this case, the correction speeds are constant between different plateaux corresponding to rotational speeds of the crown, but they may however change suddenly upon each incrementation. Moreover, no correction occurs between two successive movements of the crown, and no mechanism is provided for slowing down the scrolling of the counter used for correction. Thus, a fine adjustment requires repeated low amplitude activations by the user, to generate the lowest possible correction velocity. On the one hand this is inconvenient, and on the other hand it does not overcome the jerky movement of the hands.
CH Patent No. 641630 discloses an electronic device for scrolling through symbols at a variable velocity in response to the actuation of a sensor (by moving a finger on a tactile sensor, pressure on a push button). The number of actuations of the sensors and the duration of these actuations have the effect of incrementing or decrementing the values contained in a register, which in turn determine a proportional scrolling velocity. Decrementing the values in the register after prolonged inactivation of the sensors gradually decreases the scrolling speed. However, this slowing down of the scrolling speed still lacks smoothness since the relative variations in the scrolling velocity increase as the register values come closer to zero. This solution has the advantage of using sensors without any mechanical parts. The drawback is that they are less intuitive to use than a conventional crown. Moreover, this solution only concerns digital displays and does not apply to watches with analogue display members.
It is also known, particularly in electromechanical watches, to display the direction of magnetic north by means of hands. However, the movement of the hand indicating north is often jerky and consequently not intuitive for the watch user.

Method and device for obtaining a continuous movement of a display means

The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd