The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus (9) for controlling and regulating a rotorcraft turbine engine (1). The apparatus is provided with an electronic control and regulation computer (3) that receives signals relating to monitored parameters of the turbine engine (1). The apparatus is remarkable in that it is provided with an alarm (4) controlled by the electronic computer (3) via an analog connection (8) to operate whenever an event occurs that might diminish the safety of the rotorcraft.

Rotorcraft are generally provided with at least one free-turbine engine. Power is then taken from a low pressure stage of each free turbine, which stage rotates at a speed in the range 20,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) to 50,000 rpm.
Thereafter, a speed-reduction gearbox is needed to connect the free turbines to the main lift and propulsion rotor, since the speed of rotation of such a rotor lies substantially in the range 200 rpm to 400 rpm: this gearbox is the main transmission gearbox.
Thermal limits on turbine engines and torque limits on main transmission gearboxes then enable three ratings to be defined for normal utilization of a turbine engine:                a takeoff rating that can be used for five to ten minutes, corresponding to a torque level for the main transmission gearbox and heating of each turbine engine that can both be accepted for a limited length of time without significant deterioration, this is the maximum takeoff power (PMD) rating;        a maximum continuous power rating during which capabilities are not exceeded, neither the capabilities of the main transmission gearbox, nor the capabilities associated with the maximum acceptable continuous heating upstream of the high pressure blades of the first stage of each free turbine: this is the maximum continuous power (PMC) rating; and        a maximum transient power rating that is set by regulation: this is referred to as the maximum transient power (PMT) rating.
The engine manufacturer then determines the limits of each turbine engine so as to obtain an acceptable lifetime and a guaranteed minimum power for each of the above-mentioned ratings, where the guaranteed minimum power corresponds in particular to the power that can be developed by a turbine engine that is old, i.e. a turbine engine that is at the end of its recommended maximum utilization time.
These limits are generally monitored by monitoring three parameters of the turbine engine: the speed of rotation of the engine gas generator; the driving torque; and the ejection temperature of the gas at the inlet to the free turbine of the turbine engine, these three monitored parameters being written Ng, Cm, and C45 respectively by the person skilled in the art.
Furthermore, recent turbine engines are controlled and regulated by control and regulation apparatus having an electronic regulation computer known to the person skilled in the art as a full-authority digital engine control (FADEC), that serves in particular to determine the position of the fuel supply throttle as a function firstly of a regulation loop comprising a primary loop based on maintaining the speed of the rotation of the rotorcraft rotor, and secondly a secondary loop based on a setpoint value for a piloting parameter.
A FADEC also receives signals relating firstly to the monitored parameters of the turbine engine it controls, and secondly monitored parameters concerning important members of the rotorcraft such as the speed of rotation of the main lift and propulsion rotor, for example.
The FADEC then uses a digital connection to deliver these monitored parameter values to a display system of the control and regulation apparatus, which display system is arranged in the cockpit of the aircraft.
With reference to document FR 2 749 545, the display system may include a first limitation instrument that identifies and displays a parameter that constitutes a limiting parameter, specifically that one of the monitored parameters that is the closest to its respective limit.
It should be observed that the FADEC may optionally determine which parameter is the limiting parameter, with the first limitation instrument then serving for display purposes only.
Finally, the FADEC is capable of triggering various alarms if incidents should occur, a minor failure, or a total failure of fuel regulation to the turbine engine, for example.
Furthermore, the FADEC sends information to the display system via a digital connection in the event of a monitored parameter of the turbine engine exceeding a limit that has been predetermined by the manufacturer.
Consequently, the control and regulation apparatus includes a display system, sometimes referred to as an "avionics system", together with an electronic regulation computer, the electronic regulation computer serving simultaneously: to regulate the turbine engine; to deliver information via a digital connection to the display system for the pilot; and to monitor parameters of the turbine engine.
In addition, for reasons of safety and in order to achieve a fault occurrence rate that complies with aviation requirements, the control and regulation apparatus is also provided with sensors connected via emergency analog connections to emergency instruments, e.g. displaying the speed of rotation of the engine gas generator, the driving torque, the gas ejection temperature at the inlet to the free turbine of the engine, or indeed the speed of rotation of said free turbine.
Thus, a failure in the digital connection of the FADEC or of the display system is compensated by an emergency analog connection together with emergency instruments.
Nevertheless, that known architecture for the control and regulation apparatus makes use both of a FADEC connected via a digital connection to a display system, and of a plurality of sensors connected to emergency instruments via analog connections. It will readily be understood that such an architecture is particularly burdensome to implement, since it requires numerous analog cables to be taken all the way to the cockpit.
In addition, the cockpit needs to have enough space to receive certain emergency instruments for each turbine engine.
Finally, the magnitude and the number of analog cables presents a cost that is not negligible in terms of weight, given that the distance between the turbine engines and the rotorcraft cockpit is often considerable.

Method and apparatus for controlling and regulating a rotorcraft turbine engine


An element for use in stationary material mixing and distribution. The element has an element longitudinal axis and a web positioned along the element longitudinal axis. A ramp is connected to a first end of the web and oriented diagonally thereto. A diverter is positioned on a first side of the web and a diverter is positioned on a second side of the web. First and second ears are bent respectively in upward and downward directions relative to the longitudinal axis. A rectangular member whose plane of orientation is substantially perpendicular to the web is provided as well as a third ear in the plane of orientation of the rectangular member extending from the rectangular member to the web.

Applicant has long ago recognized the desirability of providing a superior line of motionless mixers, that is, mixing elements which do not rely upon any moving parts to create and enhance the mixing operation. For example, in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,965, an invention was disclosed in the form of a motionless mixer created from a plurality of self-nesting, abutting and axially overlapping elements fitted within a conduit. Such elements were found to be capable of not only mixing two or more unlike materials but also of redistributing a single material for thermal or other purposes. Such elements were shown to be capable of fitting into a conduit carrying fluids to be mixed and was shown to be inexpensive to fabricate. Regarding this latter issue, the elements could be punch pressed from flat sheets. The invention of the '965 patent included a mixing element having a central flat portion, the plane of which was intended to be generally aligned with the longitudinal axis of the conduit in which it was placed. First and second ears, being rounded, fit to the wall of the conduit being bent upwardly and downwardly from the flat portion. Various elements were taught to stack or "nest" with respect to one another such that material moving longitudinally within the conduit experiences a velocity or rotational vector imposed by the ears of the mixing element. The flat portion transforms the rotational vector to a lateral or radial vector. Subsequent to the flat portion, ears impose a further velocity vector adding somewhat to the lateral or radial vector. Such devices have been employed for mixing and distributing all types of materials including liquids, solids, gases, foams and the like. Because various "nested" elements were not permanently fastened to each other or to the inner wall of the conduit, the conduit could be a flexible material so that the apparatus could take various curved shapes as may be required in a particular application.
Even though the material distributing and mixing apparatus as disclosed in the'965 patent represented a breakthrough in material distribution and mixing, certain drawbacks were recognized in the use of such apparatus which have be addressed in later designs. For example, the replaceable mixing elements made the subject of Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,137,731 terminated in a substantially rectangular member whose plane of orientation was substantially perpendicular to the central portion of the mixing elements in order to aid in minimizing "barber poling" resulting from the influence that the ears of the mixing elements imposed upon a moving fluid. Other improvements have been made as well over time.
Applicant has also created mixing elements which offer superior results in unique applications. For example, it is crucial that mixing and redistribution of fluids takes place upstream of the sampling point in a crude oil transfer line. It is critical that bottom sediment and water be thoroughly dispersed throughout the crude oil stream prior to the sampling point over a wide flow range to enable an automatic sampler to take a truly representative sample, all within conduits of 14 inches or greater in diameter. Further, such mixing elements, referred to as Custody Transfer Mixers, to work effectively, must be capable of being installed in a horizontal or vertical pipe line. Although Applicants provided adequate Custody Transfer Mixers in the past which are capable of creating internal vortices such as those created when employing the mixers of Applicant's '965 patent, the need for accurate mixing within large pipe diameters when dealing with crude oil transfer lines drove the need for improved solutions.
It is thus an object to the present invention to provide a stationary material mixing and distribution device capable of mixing and redistributing fluids upstream of a sampling point in a crude oil transfer line more effectively than similar products that previously exist.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a stationary material mixing and distribution device designed to deal with immiscible fluids, such as oil and water, capable of directing heavier fluids to the center of a conduit for greater mixing efficiency. These and further objects will be readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.


Various semiconductor chip underfills and methods of making the same are provided. In one aspect, a method of manufacturing is provided that includes coupling a semiconductor chip to a substrate to leave a gap therebetween, and forming an underfill layer in the gap. The underfill layer includes a first plurality of filler particles that have a first average size and a second plurality of filler particles that have a second average size smaller than the first average size such that the first plurality of filler particles is concentrated proximate the substrate and the second plurality of filler particles is concentrated proximate the semiconductor chip so that a bulk modulus of the underfill layer is larger proximate the substrate than proximate the semiconductor chip.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductor processing, and more particularly to semiconductor chip underfills and methods of making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of conventional packaged integrated circuits consist of a semiconductor chip flip-chip mounted to a package substrate. Electrical interconnections between the semiconductor chip and a package substrate are provided by a plurality of solder bumps. The materials used for the semiconductor chip, the solder bumps, and the package substrate are selected for certain desirable characteristics. For example, the semiconductor chip is usually composed of silicon or a laminate of silicon and silicon dioxide. Silicon is selected for its advantageous semiconductor properties. Solder is selected as a bump material due to its electrical conductivity and easy thermal reflow properties. Conventional organic package substrates are frequently composed of alternating layers of epoxy resins. The layers are relatively inexpensive to manufacture. Although these various materials provide certain favorable characteristics, there is a penalty for using disparate materials.
The use of dissimilar materials results in the semiconductor chip and the package substrate having rather different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). Indeed, the CTE of the substrate may be larger than the CTE of the semiconductor chip by a factor of ten or more. The differences in CTE between a semiconductor chip and the package substrate can, if not compensated for, impose tremendous stresses on the solder bumps. If the stresses are too large, bump failure and delamination can occur.
To compensate for differences in CTE between the semiconductor chip and the package substrate, manufacturers have, for some time, placed an underfill layer between the semiconductor chip and the package substrate. The conventional underfill is designed to have a CTE that falls somewhere in between the CTE of the chip and the CTE of the substrate. In a conventional process, the chip is mounted to the substrate and a solder reflow is performed. Next, an epoxy resin that includes a collection of filler particles of silica is deposited at the edges of a semiconductor chip after the chip is preliminarily coupled to the substrate. Surface tension forces tend to draw the deposited underfill material into the voids between the semiconductor chip and the substrate. A subsequent thermal cure sets the underfill material.
Conventional underfill materials have a bulk modulus and CTE that does not vary with depth. Accordingly, the bulk modulus at the top of the underfill layer is substantially the same as the bulk modulus at the bottom of the same layer. Unfortunately, the conventional underfill material may still present a rather abrupt difference in CTE relative to both the chip and the substrate.
The present invention is directed to overcoming or reducing the effects of one or more of the foregoing disadvantages.

Semiconductor chip with stratified underfill


The present invention relates to the field of environment monitoring. The present invention solves the problem in the prior art of large errors arising when using spectrophotometry to monitor a water quality COD index, and provides a method for constructing a water quality index prediction model and a method for monitoring a water quality index. The technical solution thereof can be summarized as follows: a method for constructing a water quality index prediction model, comprising: acquiring multiple water samples as water inspection samples, and acquiring respective required water quality indexes for the water inspection samples; measuring, for each of the water inspection samples, a spectrum corresponding thereto, obtaining an original spectrum, and acquiring a physical parameter thereof; conducting at least two digestions on the water inspection samples, measuring a spectrum corresponding thereto after each of the digestions to obtain a digestion spectrum, and acquiring a digestion parameter of the digestion and a physical parameter of the water inspection samples after the digestion; and independently constructing, according to data collected from each of the water inspection samples, an individual water quality index prediction model for each of the required water quality indexes. The present invention has an advantageous effect of fundamentally reducing measurement errors, and is applicable to water quality index monitoring.

At present, common water quality indexes such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (AN), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) for measuring environmental water quality in China are measured by methods specified in national standards. Almost all of these analysis methods require chemical reagents, and produce effluent. The chemical reagents used and the effluent produced often contains toxic heavy metals such as chromium and mercury, and heavy metals such as silver, manganese, molybdenum, etc. It is estimated that the effluent produced by the water quality monitors alone reaches nearly 100,000 tons every year in China, and the environmental risks cannot be ignored.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of conventional chemical analysis methods, the UV spectroscopy invented in the 1960s to monitor the COD index has attracted increasing attention, especially the COD measurement technology using multi-wavelength or even the whole UV-visible spectrum which has been developed rapidly in recent years. The method has the advantage of fast analysis speed, generally about 10 seconds, and does not need any toxic chemical reagents such as potassium dichromate, mercury sulfate, silver sulfate, etc. Thereby avoiding the environmental risk of secondary pollution. This provides a promising alternative to the widely used COD chemical analysis method, and the economic and environmental benefits are very attractive.
The COD monitoring technology by UV-visible spectrometry is to obtain UV-visible absorption spectra of water samples by transmitting light beams through the water samples to be measured, and obtain the mathematical relationship, i.e., a mathematical model for COD measurement, between COD index and spectral data of the water samples by a regression algorithm by using the known COD index and UV-visible absorption spectral data of a plurality of water samples; and then calculate the COD index of the water samples to be measured based on the mathematical model for COD measurement by measuring the UV-visible spectral data of unknown water samples. However, since the existing monitoring methods, technologies and instruments are based on working modes of single machine, and the type and quantity of water samples used in COD measurement (i.e., prediction) models in the instruments are limited, it is often impossible to give accurate COD measurements when the composition of the water samples changes greatly. Some organic substances composed of single bonds such as C—C, C—H and N—H, and some inorganic reducing substances have no absorption peaks in the UV-visible wavelength range of 200 nm-780 nm, which leads to measurement errors and limits the scope of application of existing COD measuring instruments by UV-visible spectroscopy.
In order to make up for the defects in the prior art, unremitting efforts have been made in UV-visible spectroscopy, optimization algorithms of mathematical models for COD measurement and classification of water samples. For example, in the invention patent with patent number of 201710183620.7, foreground-background interaction of monitoring data is realized through the Internet of Things by methods such as water sample type identification and remote water sample database, greatly improving the adaptability of COD spectrometry to different types of water quality. Although other existing water quality indexes such as permanganate, nitrate and turbidity can be monitored in the same way, a plurality of water quality index monitors are required to test the indexes respectively, that is, each index corresponds to a water quality index monitor.

Method for constructing water quality index prediction models and method for monitoring water quality indexes


In a device for calculating a result of a modular exponentiation, the Chinese Residue Theorem (CRT) is used, wherein two auxiliary exponentiations are calculated using two auxiliary exponents and two sub-moduli. In order to improve the safety of the RSA CRT calculations against cryptographic attacks, a randomization of the auxiliary exponents and/or a change of the sub-moduli are performed. Thus, there is a safe RSA decryption and RSA encryption, respectively, by means of the calculating time efficient Chinese Residue Theorem.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to modular exponentiation and, in particular, to modular exponentiation using the Chinese Residue Theorem (CRT).
2. Description of the Related Art
Before the RSA crypto-system will be explained in greater detail, some basic concepts of cryptography will be summarized. In general, we distinguish between symmetrical encrypting methods, which are also referred to as secret key encrypting methods, and public key encrypting methods, which are also referred to as encrypting methods having a public key.
A communication system having two parties which use an encryption with a symmetrical key can be described as follows. The first party communicates its encryption key via a safe channel to the second party. Subsequently, the first party encrypts the secret message by means of the key and transfers the encrypted message via a public or non-safe channel to the second party. The second party then decrypts the encrypted message using the symmetrical key having been communicated to the second party via the safe channel. A considerable problem in such encrypting systems is to provide an efficient method for exchanging the secret keys, i.e. for finding a safe channel.
An asymmetrical encryption in contrast takes place as follows. One party who wants to obtain a secret message communicates its public key to the other party, i.e. the party from which it wants to obtain a secret message. The public key is communicated via a non-safe channel, i.e. via a "public" channel.
The party who wants to send a secret message receives the public key of the other party, encrypts the message using the public key and sends the encrypted message again via a non-safe channel, i.e. via a public channel, to the party from which the public key comes. Only that party having produced the public key is able to provide a private key to decrypt the encrypted message. Not even the party having encrypted its message using the public key is able to decrypt the message. An advantage of this concept is that no safe channel between the two parties, i.e. no secret key exchange, is required. The party having encrypted the message must not know the private key of the message recipient.
A physical analogy to the asymmetrical encryption concept or public key encryption concept is as follows. A metal box is considered, the lid of which is locked by a combination lock. Only that party who wants to obtain an encrypted message knows the combination. If the lock is left open and made available in public, every party who wants to transmit a secret message can put this message into the metal box and close the lid. Only that party from which the box originates, however, knows the combination of the combination lock. It is only this party who is able to decrypt the message, i.e. to open the metal box again. Even that party who put the message into the box is no longer able to take the message out of it again.
Of importance for asymmetrical or public key encryption concepts is the basic mathematical problem, the solution of which for decrypting is nearly impossible using the public key, the solution of which is, however, easily possible knowing the private key. One of the best-known public key crypto-systems is the RSA crypto-system. The RSA crypto-system is described in "Handbook of Applied Cryptography", Menezes, van Oorschot, Vanstone, CRC Press 1997, pages 285-291.
Subsequently, reference will be made to FIG. 3 to illustrate the RSA algorithm. The initial situation is that one communication partner encrypts a message m which the other communication partner has to decrypt again. The encrypting entity must at first, in step 200, obtain the public key (n, e) in order to be able to send the other party an encrypted message. Subsequently, the encrypting entity, in step 210, must present the message to be encrypted as an integer m, wherein m has to be within the interval from 0 to n−1. In step 220, which is the actual encrypting step, the encrypting entity must calculate the following equation:c=me mod n.
c is the encrypted message. It is then output in step 230 and transferred to the recipient of the encrypted message via a public channel which, in FIG. 2, is referred to by 240. The recipient, in step 250, receives the encrypted message c and, in step 260, which is the actual decrypting step, performs the following calculation:m=cd mod n.
It can be seen from FIG. 3 that only the public key (n, e) is required for encrypting but not the private key d, while when decrypting the private key d is required.
The question is how an attacker can violate an RSA crypto-system. He knows the public key, that is n and e. He could factorize the modulus n into a product of two prime numbers and then precisely calculate the secret key d like the key-generating authentic party has done. For this, the attacker would have to test all the possible prime number pairs p′, q′ to find the private key d sometime taking e into consideration as well. With small prime numbers p and q, this problem can be solved relatively easily by testing. If p and q, i.e. the modulus n equaling the product of p and q, become larger, the different possibilities for factorizing the modulus n will also increase extremely. This is the basis for the safety of the RSA system. Thus, it is obvious that a safe RSA crypto-system must use very long numbers which could, for example, have a length of 512, 1024 or even 2048 bits.
It can be seen from FIG. 3 that a modular exponentiation must be calculated for both an RSA encryption to produce an encrypted message c from a non-encrypted message m and for decrypting to generate a decrypted message m from an encrypted message c. This is made clear in FIG. 3 by steps 220 and 260. When calculating the modular exponentiation, the Chinese Residue or Remainder Theorem (CRT) is of special advantage when the integers used and, in particular, the modulus n, are long numbers. As has been explained, the safety of the RSA algorithm, however, is based on the fact that the integers are long.
The Chinese Residue Theorem is described in "Handbook of Applied Cryptography" mentioned above on page 610 and the following pages. The Chinese Residue Theorem, in particular in its form known as the Garner's algorithm, is based on the idea of splitting the modular exponentiation with the modulus n into two modular exponentiations of second sub-moduli p, q, wherein the sub-moduli p, q are prime numbers, and wherein the product of them results in modulus n. A modular exponentiation with a long modulus is thus split into two modular exponentiations having shorter sub-moduli (typically having half the length). This method is of advantage in that calculating units having only half the length are required or that, when the length of the calculating unit remains the same, numbers which have double the length can be used, which results in a more favorable relation of safety and chip area, i.e., in general in an improved relation of performance and price.
The Chinese Residue Theorem, applied to the modular exponentiation described, is as follows. At first, two prime numbers pq which should, if possible, have an equal length and the product p×q of which results in the modulus n, are calculated. Subsequently, a first auxiliary quantity dp is calculated as follows:dp=d mod(p−1)
Then, a second auxiliary quantity dq is calculated:dq=d mod(q−1)
Subsequently, a third auxiliary quantity Mp is calculated:Mp=cdp mod p
Another auxiliary quantity Mq is calculated as follows:Mq=cdq mod q
In a final summarizing step, the result of the modular exponentiation, i.e. in the present example, the plain text message m, is calculated as follows, assuming c to be the encrypted message:m=Mq+[(Mp−Mq)×q−1 mod p]×q
It can be seen from the above illustration of the Chinese Residue Theorem that a modular exponentiation with a long modulus n has been split into two modular exponentiations with sub-moduli p, q having half the length and that, in a last step for calculating the plain text message m, a summarizing operation is performed, in which the multiplicative inverse q−1 in relation to a sub-modulus p is required. Since the sub-modulus p is shorter than the original modulus n, the calculation of the multiplicative inverse q−1, such as, for example, using the extended Euclidian algorithm, is possible with a justifiable calculating complexity.
Although the usage of the Chinese Residue Theorem reduces the calculating time efficiency and the chip area consumption of a safety IC, respectively, the Chinese Residue Theorem has problems concerning attacks on the cryptography system, such as, for example, so-called side channel attacks, power analyses or fault attacks. An attacker could perform such attacks on the algorithm to "crack" the private key d.
In the case of an RSA encryption, i.e. when an encrypted message c is to be calculated from the plain text message, the safety problem is not that evident since, for encrypting a message, only the public key e is used anyway. The problem, however, occurs when using RSA as a signature algorithm.

Device and method for calculating a result of a modular exponentiation


A method and image reconstruction facility are disclosed for reconstructing an image dataset based on a projection dataset acquired with the aid of an x-ray computed tomography apparatus. With an embodiment of the method, a first image dataset is reconstructed based on the projection dataset and an edge image dataset is generated, which indicates a measure of an edge strength of edges occurring in at least one spatial/temporal direction in the first image dataset, as a function of location. An output image dataset is then generated based on the first image dataset, with the resolution in the first image dataset being increased as a function of location in at least one spatial/temporal direction taking into account the edge image dataset.

With an x-ray computed tomography method the object for which a projection dataset is to be acquired is generally exposed to x-ray radiation from a number of projection directions. An image dataset is then reconstructed from this projection dataset. This is generally done using a back projection method, in which in most instances the projection data acquired from the scanner of the x-ray computed tomography apparatus is preprocessed. A so-called rebinning step is then performed, in which the data generated with the beam propagated in the manner of a fan from the source is rearranged so that it is present in such a form as if the detector were struck by an x-ray beam wave front running in a parallel manner to the detector. The data that has been rearranged and filtered in this manner is then used for a back projection onto the individual image points within the volume of interest.
The standard method generally used here is a so-called filtered back projection method FBP. With this method the rebinned data is generally first transformed into the frequency range, where filtering takes place by multiplication using a convolution kernel. The filtered data is then back transformed and the back projection takes place with the filtered data. The selection of the convolution kernel allows the desired image characteristic, in particular the image sharpness and noise, to be influenced.
However such simple back projection methods have the disadvantage that the image sharpness is always linked to image noise. The greater the sharpness achieved, the greater the image noise and vice versa. Therefore iterative reconstruction methods have recently been developed, with which such limitations can be eliminated to some degree.
With such an iterative reconstruction method a reconstruction of initial image data from the measured projection data takes place first. A convolution back projection method for example can be used for this purpose. From this initial image data a "projector" (projection operator), which should map the measuring system mathematically as closely as possible, is then used to generate synthetic projection data. The difference in respect of the measurement signals is then back projected, thereby reconstructing a residue image, which can be used to update the initial image. The updated image data can in turn be used to generate new synthetic projection data in a next iteration step with the aid of the projection operator, to form the difference in respect of the measurement signals from this again and to calculate a new residue image, which can in turn be used to improve the image data of the current iteration stage.
Such a method allows image data to be reconstructed, which has relatively good image sharpness but still a low level of image noise. Such raw data-based or projection data-based iteration methods have the disadvantage of being very computation-intensive due to the necessary repeated virtual projections from the image data space into the projection data space and back projections from the projection data space into the image data space and therefore require extremely high-performance hardware.


A device for adjusting the grinding of a condiment in a mill includes a drive element having a thimble 6, a thimble support 4, a wheel 9 and a fixing ring 11 for attachment to the mill. Rotational movement of an adjustment ring 3 fitted with an adjustment stop 5 independent of the device results in translational movement of the thimble support 4.

The present invention relates to a continuously adjustable device for grinding condiments such as salt, pepper or any other spice, in a mill.
Devices of this type are known in the art, and provide for adjustment of the grinding action of the mill by modifying the position of part of the grinding mechanism of the condiment mill, allowing step changes in the degree of fineness of the grinding.
In this type of device, the operator comes in contact with the condiment being ground when the grinding action of the mill is adjusted. This leads to a risk of the product becoming contaminated. In addition, it is not possible to adapt this type of adjustment device to electrically operated condiment mills because the adjustment device has to be positioned where the condiment exits the mill.
It should also be emphasized that the grinding adjustment device is dependent on the body of the condiment mill. As a result, if the adjustment device deteriorates, the entire mill has to be changed.
It is an object of the present invention to solve these various drawbacks by providing an adjustment device for a condiment mill that offers continuous adjustment of the grinding of the condiment, that avoids contact between the user and the product to be ground, and that enables the fineness of the grinding to be adjusted.

Device for continuously controlling condiments grinding in a mill


Complementary transistors and methods of forming the complementary transistors on a semiconductor assembly are described. The transistors are formed with an optional interfacial oxide, such as SiO2 or oxy-nitride, to overlay a semiconductor substrate which will be conductively doped for PMOS and NMOS regions. Then a dielectric possessing a high dielectric constant of least seven or greater (also referred to as a high-k dielectric) is deposited on the interfacial oxide. The high-k dielectric is covered with a thin monolayer of metal oxide (i.e., aluminum oxide, Al2O3) that is removed from the NMOS regions, but remains in the PMOS regions. The resulting NMOS transistor diffusion regions contain predominately metal to silicon bonds that create predominately Fermi level pinning near the valence band while the resulting PMOS transistor diffusion regions contain metal to silicon bonds that create predominately Fermi level pinning near the conduction band.

Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices are dominated by n-channel (NMOS) and p-channel (PMOS) transistor structures. Various physical characteristics of each type of transistor determine the threshold voltage (Vt) that must be overcome to invert the channel region and cause a given transistor to conduct majority carriers (either by electrons movement in an NMOS device or by hole movement in a PMOS device).
One of the controlling physical characteristics is the work function of the material used to form the gate electrode of the transistor device. In semiconductor devices, such as a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) device, the transistor gates are predominantly made of polysilicon and an overlying layer of metal silicide, such as tungsten silicide and the gate dielectric is typically a high quality silicon oxide. The industry has moved to a transistor gate dielectric possessing a high dielectric constant of seven or greater (high-k dielectrics) for better leakage at given Effective Oxide Thickness (EOT). However, choosing a material with the appropriate work function as a gate electrode is still a challenge.
Studies have been conducted in one area of using high-k dielectric concerning Fermi-level pinning at the polysilicon/metal oxide interface of the transistor gate structure. Taking HfO2, for example, the hafnium and the polysilicon form Hafnium-Silicon bonds whose energy level in the band gap causes the Fermi-Level of the polysilicon to be pinned near the conduction band. With this scenario, using the HfO2 as the transistor gate dielectric in an NMOS device, a small shift in the transistor Vt, relative to N+ polysilicon on SiO2 will occur due to Hafnium-Silicon interface. However, applying this case in a PMOS device, a large shift in the transistor Vt will occur due to the Hafnium-Silicon bonds still pinning the Fermi-Level of the polysilicon near the conduction band.
Taking Al2O3, for example, the aluminum and the polysilicon form Aluminum-Silicon bonds that cause the Fermi-Level of the polysilicon to be pinned near the valence band due to the creation of the interface states that reside close to the valence band. With this scenario, using the Al2O3 as the transistor gate dielectric in a PMOS device, a small shift in the transistor Vt will occur due to P+ Aluminum-Silicon interface. However, applying this case in an NMOS device a large shift in the transistor Vt will occur due to the Aluminum-Silicon interface still having the Fermi-Level of the polysilicon being pinned near the conduction band and the transistor will not function in the desired range.
CMOS transistor devices that use the traditional polysilicon gate electrodes in combination with a metal oxide dielectric (high-k dielectric) must be fabricated such that the NMOS and PMOS devices will each possess a suitable transistor threshold voltage (Vt).
There is a need for the construction of CMOS devices using high-k dielectric materials for the transistor gate dielectric which will successfully be used to form both n-channel (NMOS) and p-channel (PMOS) transistors in semiconductor devices.

Methods of enabling polysilicon gate electrodes for high-k gate dielectrics


A device for producing hydrogen includes a container housing a water-based solution and a metal constituent. A generator ultrasonically irradiates the water-based solution in the presence of the metal constituent to produce hydrogen gas.

Power supply systems generate electrical or mechanical power to drive machine elements, producing useful work. Fuel cells have been used as a power plant in many power supply systems. For example, fuel cells have been proposed for use in electrical vehicular power plants to replace internal combustion engines (ICE's).
Fuel cells generate electricity that is used to charge batteries and/or to power an electric motor. A solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cell includes a membrane that is sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. To produce electricity through an electrochemical reaction, hydrogen (H2), is supplied to an anode side of the fuel cell and an oxidant, such as oxygen (O2), is supplied to a cathode side of the fuel cell. The source of the oxygen is commonly air.
Besides fuel cells, other power supply systems have been developed and are currently being developed that process H2. For example, an ICE has been developed that processes H2 to provide drive torque.
Because H2 is required to generate power, on-board H2 storage systems are a focus of research and development. Traditional H2 storage systems include pressurized tanks of gaseous H2 or cryogenic liquid H2 and adsorption/absorption of H2 on or into exotic material. Cryogenic liquid H2 storage includes the potential of H2 loss during extended periods of storage. Both pressurized and cryogenic H2 storage require sophisticated and expensive materials and support systems. Significant energy is associated with depositing and/or extracting H2 in an adsorption/absorption H2 storage system.

System for sono-catalytic production of hydrogen


The present invention relates to an alcohol extract of ogalpi, erectile dysfunction improving health food and a treating agent containing the same, more precisely, an alcohol extract of ogalpi having an effect of improving erectile dysfunction, erectile dysfunction improving health food and an erectile dysfunction treating agent containing the same. The alcohol extract of ogalpi of the present invention has a promoting effect of penile erectility, so that it can be effectively used for the improvement of erectile dysfunction.

The penile erection, coming through a complicated physiological pathway involved in not only blood vessel system but also endocrine and nervous system, is induced by a chain of phases such as relaxation of corpus cavernous smooth muscle by a variety of stimuli, increase of blood flow by the inflation of a small hole and the expansion of an arteriole, increase of the inside pressure of the penis, decrease of the venous outflow by compressing of the subtunical venular plexuses between the tunica albuginea and the peripheral sinusoids, and then increase of the inner pressure of the penis more (Lue T F, Tanagho E A., J Urol, 1987, 137, 829-36). With the physiological explanation of the penile erection and the studies on the medicinal effects and mechanism of many agents applying to corpus cavernous smooth muscle, an attempt has been made to apply those medicines having an activity of relaxing corpus cavernous smooth muscle to the treatment of erectile dysfunction. As of today, known agents being able to relax corpus cavernous smooth muscle are adrenergic α-receptor blockades, cholines, NO (Nitric Oxide), peptides, prostaglandin, histamines, calcium channel inhibitors, calcium channel openers, nonspecific vasodilators, etc. (Linet O I, Ogrinc F G., N Eng J Med, 1996, 334, 873-7; Tong Y C et al., Pharmacology, 1992, 45, 241-9; Miller M A et al. Int J Impot Res, 1995, 7, 91-100; Andersson K-E, Wagner G., Physiol Rev, 1995, 75, 191-236; Andersson K-E, Stief C G., World J Uro, 1997, 115, 14-20; Andersson K E., Pharmacol Rev, 2001, 53, 417-50).
There has been no report on the frequency of erectile dysfunction. However, the number of patients suffering from erectile dysfunction is definitely being increased by the reasons of the expanded life span, the increase of adult diseases, change of diet, the increase of industrial and traffic accidents, the increase of mental stress and physical fatigue resulted from complicated modern life, etc. The methods for the treatment of erectile dysfunction are internal treatment including taking medicines and male hormones, surgical treatment including vascular surgery, surgical implantation of penile prosthesis, etc, and injection of vasodilators in corpus cavernous smooth muscle. Medicines for the internal treatment, which is, though, not suitable for the treatment of severe stromal erectile dysfunction, are exemplified by male hormones, yohimbin, apomorphine and traszodone. However, such medicines have side effects and even their treating effects are in doubt. A medicine acknowledged to have a reliable reproducibility has not been reported yet (Andersson K E, Pharmacol Rev, 2001, 53, 417-50; Montorsi F et al., BJU International, 2003, 91, 446-54; Vitezic D, Pelcic J M, Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther, 2002, 40(9), 393-403), and just sildenafil has been used for the primary treatment of erectile dysfunction (Heaton J P, Dean J, Sleep D J, Int J Impot Res, 2002, 14, 61-4).
Ogalpi has been well known as a traditional medicine in Korea. It has a hot and bitter taste and has a property of warming things up. Ogalpi is known to eliminate gout in liver and nervous system, invigorate and bring the essence in a body. It has been prescribed for such diseases as Oro (fatigue caused by the weakness of five internal organs), Chilsang (seven representative symptoms shown in men caused by the weakness of a body) and difficulty in moving legs. Long-term administration of ogalpi increases energy, protects the stomach, invigorates, clears mind, increases will power, prevents aging, helps having a light heart and clears bad blood in a body. So, ogalpi has been used for the treatment of such symptoms as pain in backbone, male impotence, scrotal eczema, female amenorrhea, etc. In Korea, ogalpi has long been used as a natural tonic medicine, and is still added to health food. It was once reported that an extract of Acanthopanax senticosus had liver protective activity (Chun-Ching Lin and Pei-Chen Huang, Phytotherapy Research, 2000, 14, 489-494). However, there is no report on the effect of ogalpi on sexual function.
Thus, the present inventors found that extracts of each roots and stems of Acanthopanax divaricatus var. albeofructus, Acanthopanax senticosus, Acanthopanax senticosus var. subinermis and Acanthopanax koreanum, extracted by using 70% ethanol or distilled water, induce the penile erection and have completed this invention by confirming that those extracts can be effectively used for the production of health food and a treatment agent for erectile dysfunction.

Method for treating erectile dysfunction with acantopanax extract (ogalpi)

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology


Described are methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for mitigating against a cyber attack on a network. An indication is received from an intrusion detection system that an event has occurred representing a threat to the network. Upon receiving the event from the intrusion detection system, automated processes determine a port associated with the threat and automatically block the port.

Companies, government, and other entities are often heavily reliant on computer networks to conduct their day-to-day operations. These computer networks are sometimes subject to a cyber attack from a malicious user (e.g., a hacker) or program (e.g., virus, worm, zombie, etc.), which can cause a significant negative impact on, for example, a company's business operations. While a company can purchase intrusion detection software that notifies the company of a cyber attack, many software products have limited ability to mitigate against such an attack.


A product discount system, apparatus, and method are herein disclosed. A discount server may receive one or more product discounts from a use. A wireless device may retrieve product identification information from a product and generate a discount request message that is transmitted to a discount server. The discount server may identify potential discounts associated with the product identification information and transmit product availability data to the wireless device. The wireless device may notify a user of available product discounts based on the product availability data. Once notified, the user may proceed by redeeming one or more of the available product discounts.

1. Related Field
The present invention generally relates to product discount solutions. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems, apparatuses and methods related to offering and redeeming product discounts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Offering and redeeming product discounts, such as coupons, is commonly practiced in many markets and economies throughout the world. While a single transaction involving a product discount may be or seem somewhat inconsequential, a large number of such transactions can lead to significant economic benefits such as an increase in market competition, enhanced economic efficiency, and greater consumer purchasing power and financial flexibility. Unfortunately, currently available solutions for offering and redeeming product discounts have significant limitations.
For instance, current solutions can be very inefficient in terms of the costs associated with designing and distributing product discounts and the number of discounts actually redeemed by consumers. In addition, popular discount distribution strategies are often quite costly because they typically call for a high-volume distribution approach. One reason for this stems from an inability to better focus distribution resources on appropriate venues, geographic locations, and consumers.
Further, currently available solutions often require consumers to perform tedious tasks in order to redeem a product discount. These tasks include finding desirable coupons, cutting them from newspapers, magazines, or computer printouts, searching store isles to match each coupon to the appropriate product, and having to be mindful of coupon expiration dates. These and other limitations prohibit individuals, companies, and other organization from obtaining a more significant portion of the economic benefits that can come from more efficient and effective product discount solutions.

Product discount system, apparatus and method


The invention relates to a process and apparatus for manufacturing low-gas and pore-free aluminum casting alloys by vacuum degasification and densification of the melt. Contact between the aluminum melt and the atmospheric humidity of the alloying process, from refining to continuous casting of the cast bars, is kept extremely short, so that effective vacuum degasification, and a high cooling rate, can prevent the formation of gas pores. After the metal melt is alloyed in a smelting furnace, the melt is fed through a system of gutters directly to at least one vacuum furnace. Refining components are added in the vacuum furnace and heating is conducted to provide the pouring temperature required for continuous casting. The vacuum in the vacuum furnace is maintained to degasify the melt and increase the density thereof, monitored by periodic measurements of the metal density until a stable maximum density is obtained, and the metal melt is then fed through the gutter system directly to the continuous casting mold to produce low gas, substantially pore-free aluminum alloy castings.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process and an apparatus for manufacturing low-gas and pore-free aluminum casting alloys. Crucible or tank-type furnaces generally are used to make casting alloys. Either liquid electrolysis metal is loaded or solid metal is smelted. The desired alloy composition is adjusted by adding alloy components such as silicon, magnesium, copper, titanium and/or nickel. The smelting bath is heated to dissolve and alloy the components. Increased amounts of hydrogen are absorbed because aluminum in the liquid state has a high dissolving capacity for hydrogen. The latter is produced by the reaction of liquid aluminum with steam and is immediately absorbed atomically by the melt. The steam comes in contact with the molten aluminum through the materials used, the jackets of the oven and crucible, the tools, the melting auxiliaries and flux, the combustion of gaseous and liquid fuels, and the atmospheric humidity. The amount of hydrogen dissolved depends on the temperature of the metal, the composition of the alloy, and the partial pressure of the hydrogen. The hydrogen uptake is favored by open burner flames or vigorous bath movements in induction furnaces. In the refining of casting alloys with alkali and alkaline earth metals such as strontium, sodium and calcium, the hydrogen content of the melt increases considerably to values of more than 0.3 ml hydrogen per 100 g of metal, since steam decomposes even more rapidly under the influence of these metals. The melt should be purified immediately before pouring if possible, since treatment performed too early can lead to contamination once again during subsequent technological steps, for example pouring to transport the melt. In particular, the melt coming in contact with the humidity in the atmosphere results in an increase in hydrogen content and the resultant undesirable increased porosity of the aluminum castings. Usual purification processes are performed with inert as well as chemically-active gases. During flushing with inert gases (argon or nitrogen, for example), the hydrogen is practically physically removed by lowering its partial pressure. This type of hydrogen removal is expensive from the technical standpoint and poses the risk of hydrogen coming in contact with the melt during treatment. In addition, undesirable nitride formation can occur when nitrogen is used with certain alloy components. When chemically active chlorine gas is employed, aluminum chloride is formed and rises to the surface; it produces effective flushing because of its distribution in the melt. Chlorine gas is a serious environmental poison, however, and is also expensive to manufacture. The protective measures required to prevent the escape of the poisonous gas and its reaction products require considerable investment. In contrast to the use of chemical agents, vacuum degasification of the melt is especially environmentally friendly and effective method. However, this method is not optimally successful, mainly because of the costly transportation of the melt, intermediate cooling and remelting after the necessary alloying, refining, and vacuum degasification processes, until continuous casting takes place and the necessary coming into contact with the atmospheric humidity which that involves, so that the alloying and refining process followed by continuous casting does not produce gas-poor and pore-free aluminum casting alloys.

Process and apparatus for manufacturing low-gas and pore-free aluminum casting alloys


A control method and system for controlling a hydraulically actuated mechanical arm to perform a task, the mechanical arm optionally being a hydraulically actuated excavator arm. The method can include determining a dynamic model of the motion of the hydraulic arm for each hydraulic arm link by relating the input signal vector for each respective link to the output signal vector for the same link. Also the method can include determining an error signal for each link as the weighted sum of the differences between a measured position and a reference position and between the time derivatives of the measured position and the time derivatives of the reference position for each respective link. The weights used in the determination of the error signal can be determined from the constant coefficients of the dynamic model. The error signal can be applied in a closed negative feedback control loop to diminish or eliminate the error signal for each respective link.

Many excavation and loading tasks require equipment operators to simultaneously coordinate the motion of multiple machine links, in order to achieve complex tool trajectories. Efficiency, work quality, and machine wear, can all be affected by the skill and attentiveness of the operator. A software-based kinematics reconfiguration system is described in Danko, G. (2001). Operator control architecture, Proceedings, The 4th Symposium on Computer Applications in the Mineral Industries, Tampere, Finland, 253-265. ("Danko (2001)" herein) to assist the operator with various tasks. As described in Danko Danko (2001), the operator can select a job-specific, virtual motion kinematics, to be followed by the real machine, under automatic control, and can control the machine in this virtual space.
The implementation of a kinematics transformation with a real machine to follow is a difficult task using sensors and actuators which are usually imperfect. Hydraulic control of heavy machinery adds another difficulty related to the efficiency of the actuators. For energy loss reduction, mobile hydraulics systems generally employ simplified control loops which have higher energy efficiencies than some other control loops, for example such as may be employed for hydraulic robots. However employing simplified control loops can compromise response time and precision.
Manual control of such mobile machines with imperfect hydraulic circuits can work surprisingly well. Compensation for motion errors and response delays can be learned by an operator through training and work experience. Some skilled, experienced operators of heavy hydraulic machinery can perform fine-tuned control tasks with ease and confidence. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide control methods and systems for such machines that can more efficiently assist the end effector to follow a desired trajectory.
One useful approach is to provide a simple, mathematical model of the machine dynamics and control response during real-time operation and to incorporate the dynamic model in the control loop of the imperfect machine.
System identification in hydraulic machine control systems is addressed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0168100 to Danko ("Danko '100" herein) the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Some of the difficulties that may arise in providing suitable control methods and systems include the difficulty of adapting to time-dependent variations of the machine itself. A control system's range of adaptation is usually limited, and the control system's adaptation ability may be overwhelmed in case of large changes in factors such as the external load on the machine, unknown disturbances due to the mass and inertia of the load-bearing links and so on. Orders of magnitude variation in external load disturbances are not unusual during some excavation and loading operations in the construction and mining industries.
For these and other reasons, known control methods and systems can attempt to provide great flexibility in the adaptability of the control system parameters to allow for unknown, possibly unlimited and arbitrary ranges of variation in such factors.
Industrial robots can be sometimes controlled based on a pre-planned trajectory which can be described in terms of the position and orientation of the end-effector (by means of start and end points, as well as intermediate via points). The velocity of the end-effector may also be specified at various points along the path. Trajectory planning involves calculation of a continuous desired path (described in terms of position, velocity and acceleration) which satisfies the specified constraints. Joint torques can be calculated based on the desired acceleration using the inverse kinematics of the manipulator.
Differential control architecture such as that described and claimed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0267404 to Danko ("Danko '404" herein), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, allows an operator to perform the trajectory planning in real-time by recognizing that a manual machine is often velocity controlled. Position is controlled implicitly by integration of the machine velocity.
Danko '404 describes and claims a differential control architecture wherein as-built motion kinematics of the machine can be transformed into an as-desired, virtual motion kinematics. The operator can control a virtual, as-desired machine, while the real, as-built machine follows the movement of the virtual machine. In some embodiments of the described invention, the motion trajectory of the tool of the machine is not explicitly determined nor is employed for control of the machine. Position information (from measurement) can, if desired be employed, for the transformation of the machine kinematics from as-built to a virtual, as-desired machine. A kinematics transformation performed as described in Danko '404 can be useful but approximate owing to measured but imprecise tool position information in the calculation.
Danko '100 describes control architecture wherein tool position information from measurement is not required in the machine kinematics transformation. Instead, the calculated tool position of the virtual machine can be used for the kinematics transformation. This is because the tool motion and the kinematics of the real machine may not accurately follow the desired tool motion of the virtual machine. Embodiments of Danko '100 can compare a virtual, potentially errorless, desired reference tool position with the measured tool position. The velocity control signals to the actuators can then be modified by closed-loop feedback control, or other suitable means, in such a way that the difference between the measured real tool position and the reference tool position is reduced or minimized or eliminated. However, in some cases, the reference position derived from a kinematics model may not be achievable with a real machine having dynamic limitations.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a control method and system for controlling a hydraulic machine which can adapt to the dynamic limitations of a real machine.
The foregoing description of background art may include insights, discoveries, understandings or disclosures, or associations together of disclosures, that were not known to the relevant art prior to the present invention but which were provided by the invention. Some such contributions of the invention may have been specifically pointed out herein, whereas other such contributions of the invention will be apparent from their context. Merely because a document may have been cited here, no admission is made that the field of the document, which may be quite different from that of the invention, is analogous to the field or fields of the present invention.

Control method and system for hydraulic machines employing a dynamic joint motion model

Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, on Behalf of the University of Nevada, Reno


A vehicle D-ring attachment bracket assembly includes a vehicle D-ring attachment bracket having a first mounting hole, a second mounting hole, and a D-ring bolt hole positioned between the first and second mounting holes. The assembly also includes a first energy absorber attached to the attachment bracket. The first energy absorber includes a first energy absorber first hole positioned coaxially or substantially coaxially with the bracket first mounting hole, and a first energy absorber second hole positioned coaxially or substantially coaxially with the bracket second mounting hole.

A D-ring may be attached to a portion of a vehicle interior for supporting a portion of a seat belt. The D-ring may be attached to the vehicle interior using a bracket bolted or otherwise secured to a portion of the interior. Forces exerted on the D-ring during a collision event may be transmitted to the bracket, stressing the bracket and the attachment of the bracket to the vehicle. It is desirable for the bracket to help absorb some of the energy transmitted to the D-ring during the collision event.

Energy absorption for D-ring attachment bracket

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


In a solid electrolyte integrated device including a substrate with electrically insulated surfaces, a first lower electrode layer and a second upper electrode layer are electrically connected to each other on a first main surface side, and a first upper electrode layer, the first lower electrode layer, the second upper electrode layer, and a second lower electrode layer transmit ions and/or have ion redox ability, contain a metal or a metal oxide or both of a metal and a metal oxide, and have a permeable portion.

Solid electrolyte elements have conventionally been used in oxygen sensors and oxygen concentrators, for example.
In order to improve the integration of solid electrolyte elements and reduce the current to be used, solid electrolyte integrated devices in which a plurality of solid electrolyte elements are connected in series and integrated are proposed (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).

Solid electrolyte integrated device, method of manufacturing solid electrolyte integrated device, and solid electrolyte element


A browser plug-in to drive a device for securely transmitting documents in real-time over the Internet into an enterprise's computing environment is provided. Leveraging the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, a system and method for providing a browser plug-in that allows a bank customer to scan checks using a personal computer and deposit the checks via the browser to a bank account is provided.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to providing a plug-in to drive a device for securely transmitting documents in real-time over the Internet into an enterprise's computing environment. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for providing a browser plug-in that allows a bank customer to scan checks using a personal computer and deposit the checks via the browser to a bank account.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, better known as Check 21, modernized the U.S. payments system. This new federal legislation, which took effect on Oct. 28, 2004, allows banks to create and present a substitute check or image replacement document (IRD) for payment in place of the original check, accelerating settlement and eliminating many of the costs and risks of physically transporting checks.
Presently, consumers have available to them the traditional banking visit model. Also, mechanisms for allowing banks to create and present a substitute check exist in the market, however, they require the customer to install a non-browser-based software application, referred to as a fat client. Also, known problems with float, fraud, and check processing speed are present in these mechanisms.
Currently, there are systems and methods that relate to check deposit and image processing at locations other than a bank, as follows. M. Martens, C. P. Tresser, R. J. Von Gutfeld, and C. W. Wu, Method and Apparatus for Depositing Ordinary Checks from Home or Office, U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,403 B1 (Sep. 17, 2002) and M. Martens, C. P. Tresser, R. J. Von Gutfeld, and C. W. Wu, Method and Apparatus for Depositing Ordinary Checks from Home or Office, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0084321 A1 (Jul. 4, 2002) discuss an apparatus and method that allow depositing ordinary checks from home or office. A special scanner is used to scan an endorsed check for deposit. The check may have printed thereon encryptions in at least selected locations. Scanning the endorsed check with the scanner generates a digitized version of the check. The scanner virtually partitions the digitized version of the check into a plurality of regions. These regions may be stripes or zones. Each region is successively examined to extract from the digitized version of the check information from that region. The information extracted from a region is encrypted and transmitted to a bank. Upon acknowledgment from the bank, at least some of the regions of the plurality of regions are voided by a form of indelible but non-invasive, e.g. allowing reading after voiding, marking, such as punched holes, burned areas, overprinting of a pattern. The processing by the scanner continues until all regions have been processed. This progressively voiding scheme is an important security feature. The scanner is preferably contained in a secure housing with an encryption processor and the housing preferably includes an arrangement for detecting tampering and preventing normal operation if tampering is detected.
J. E. Jones, P. A. Jones, R. M. Gafron, W. J. Jones, and D. U. Mennie, Image Processing Network, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0001393 A1 (Jan. 3, 2002) discuss a paperless image processing network where images and other information are exchanged between various financial institutions rather than physical documents. Further discussed is an image processing network where images and other information as well as physical documents are exchanged between various financial institutions. Also discussed is an image processing network where the processing of document images is distributed amongst various locations rather than concentrated at a single central location. Also discussed is an image processing network which is capable of processing both images and physical documents; an image processing network which is capable of extracting the MICR, CAR, and LAR data from checks and inserting this data into an image file or files; an image processing network where images are sorted between transit and on-us image files; and a data file format that comprises two subparts, containing image data and the other part containing data extracted from the document's image.
M. Martens and C. P. Tresser, Method and Apparatus for Depositing Paper Checks from Home or Office, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0065786 (May 30, 2002) discuss a method and apparatus in combination with a special form of paper checks, which allows for the secure deposit of paper checks from home or office; in other words, at a location other than the bank or an ATM. The apparatus can be implemented at the payee's home or office with a Personal Computer (PC) which has a scanner attached to it and connected to the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet. The process of depositing paper checks begins by the payee endorsing a check having printed thereon encryptions in at least selected locations where information is written by a payer, the act of writing by the payee obscuring some of the encryptions. The payee then scans the endorsed check with a scanner to generate a digitized version of the check. The computer extracts from the digitized version of the check a concatenated branch number, account number and check number and a corresponding digital signature. The payee then transmits the extracted information together with the digitized version of the check for deposit. The checks are specially designed to prevent fraud such as alterations of the payee, amount and multiple deposits. In addition to the encryptions imprinted on the check, a secret key and a plurality of digital signatures are generated based on the concatenated branch number, account number and check number.
Ravi V. Acharya and J. Kang, System and Method for Electronic Deposit of Third-Party Checks by Non-Commercial Banking Customers from Remote Locations, International Publication No. WO 01/61436 A2 (23 Aug. 2001) discuss a system and method for initiating a deposit transaction, where the depositor is a non-commercial banking customer located at a remote location, and where the item to be deposited is a paper check from a third party, payable to the depositor. Features include a Remote Customer Terminal (RCT) with certain input devices, connected to a bank system. The image and/or other data sent from the RCT to the Bank of First Deposit (BOFD) may be processed by conversion to Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), via Electronic Check Presentment (ECP), or via check reconstruction.
A. Slater, M. L. Sears, H. P. Rin-Rin, D. C. DO, H. P. McSharry, E. M. R. Dudasik. S. M. Gryte, and R. O. Brooks, System and Method for Image Depositing, Image Presentment and Deposit Taking in a Commercial Environment, European Patent Application No. EP 0 984 410 A1 (08 Mar. 2000) discuss a method and system for scanning a check and/or cash to create an electronic image of the front and the back of the check and/or cash. The image is then processed and transmitted electronically to a central location. The image may be recreated into a paper form at the central location, resembling the original paper check or cash. Paperless processing of checks and cash is thus provided, including local voiding and storage of the check without requiring immediate pickup, while still allowing the transaction to be processed.
However, none of the references cited teach or suggest creating efficiencies by providing a browser plug-in that allows a bank customer to scan checks using a personal computer and deposit the checks via the browser to a bank account, while, at the same time, provide a light client vs. heavy client side footprint/solution and provide means for a customer to install software via application-managed download.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and method for capturing data objects from a programmed machine where the configuration is not limited to a fixed location, office, or home personal computer; where a supported capturing device, such as a scanner, is plugged into the programmed machine, e.g. a personal computer, at any location that works with downloadable runtime components, such as plug-in software, and can be used to capture data objects, e.g. to scan checks and prepare deposits.
It would be advantageous to improve operating efficiencies by providing faster access to money deposited in a customer's account and providing increased flexibility to invest and direct funds.
It would further be advantageous to provide a system and method that can handle reductions in float as the time to settle transactions between banks decreases.
It further would be advantageous to provide a system and method that displays substitute checks or copies of substitute checks online when a customer requests check copies or view images online.
It further would be advantageous to provide a system and method that allows a bank customer to be able to capture electronic images of the customer's checks and to transmit the checks for processing instead of requiring the customer to physically transport the checks to the bank for deposit.
It further would be advantageous to provide a system and method that attains the following business goals:
provide faster access to funds and information;
reduce transportation time and costs;
leverage Check 21 legislation;
provide alternative to traditional banking visit;
provide low cost entry point to market model; develop, deploy, and manage such; and
enrich customer experience.
It further would be advantageous to provide a system and method that attains the following technical goals:
provide a light client vs. heavy client side footprint/solution;
provide means for a customer to install software via application-managed download;
provide means for a customer to scan checks and upload them to the application;
provide an application that validates checks and creates deposit transactions;
provide an application that sends deposit transactions to an existing downstream item processing;
provide for the customer access to timely information on the status of the customer's deposit or any errors which would prevent an item from being accepted; and
provide a same and/or better than response time.

Method and apparatus for accepting check deposits via the internet using browser-based technology


A driving circuit, which can realize the driving waveforms for a PDP without staying at ground potential includes having one side, the X side, of an panel equivalent capacitor Cp of the PDP coupled directly to ground with the Y side of the equivalent capacitor having a Scan IC 99 connected to a plurality of switches, each switch coupled to a different voltage source. One of the switches is bi-directional and coupled to ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving waveform and circuit, and more particular, to a driving waveform and circuit for a plasma display panel (PDP).
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a prior art driving circuit 100 of a PDP. An equivalent capacitor of the plasma display panel is marked as Cpanel. The X-side of the PDP is electrically connected to a switch Sw1 that is connected to voltage Va, a switch Sw3 that is electrically connected to ground, and to an energy recovery circuit 110. The energy recovery circuit 110 comprises inductor L1, which is electrically connected in parallel to diodes D5 and D6 as shown. Diodes D5 and D6 are respectively electrically connected to switches Sw5 and Sw6, both of which are electrically connected to ground via a capacitor C1.
Similarly, the Y-side of the PDP is electrically connected to a switch Sw2 that is connected to voltage Vb, a switch Sw4 that is electrically connected to ground, and to an energy recovery circuit 120. The energy recovery circuit 120 comprises inductor L2, which is electrically connected in parallel to diodes D7 and D8 as shown. Diodes D7 and D8 are respectively electrically connected to switches Sw7 and Sw8, both of which are electrically connected to ground via a capacitor C2.
The X-side circuit and the Y-side circuit together form the panel equivalent capacitor Cpanel. Details of exact functioning of the driving circuit 100 are well known in the art and will be omitted here for brevity. However, it is important to notice that the driving circuit 100 requires quite a few components making it expensive to make. Cost conscious consumers desiring a PDP demand lower prices and thus make PDPs comprising similar circuits uncompetitive in today's market.

Driving waveform and circuit for plasma display panel


Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are described for interoperability between programs associated with different addressing modes. A caller program associated with a first addressing mode (e.g., a 32-bit program or a 64-bit program) that is executing within a parent runtime environment makes a call to an external interface to execute a target callee program that is associated with a second addressing mode different from the first addressing mode. The target callee program is then executed in a pre-initialized secondary runtime environment that executes on the same task or thread as the parent runtime environment.

The present invention relates generally to the interaction between programs associated with different addressing modes, and more particularly, to interoperability between programs associated with different addressing modes.
A 32-bit processor architecture design—a once common processor architecture—is becoming increasingly replaced by a 64-bit processor architecture. An n-bit processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)) includes various registers, each of which is capable of referencing 2n memory addresses that are, in turn, used to access corresponding data stored in random access memory (RAM). For instance, each register in a 32-bit processor is capable of referencing 232 memory addresses, which corresponds to 4 gigabytes of RAM because each bit in the register can reference an individual byte in memory. In contrast, each register in a 64-bit processor is capable of theoretically referencing 264 memory addresses corresponding to 16 exabytes of RAM—several orders of magnitude greater than a 32-bit register.
Generally speaking, a particular operating system (O/S) is configured to run on a particular n-bit processor. For instance, a 32-bit O/S is configured to run on a 32-bit processor while a 64-bit O/S is configured to run on a 64-bit processor. A lower bit O/S can run on a higher bit processor, but not the other way around. For example, a 32-bit O/S can run on a 64-bit processor, but a 64-bit O/S cannot run on a 32-bit processor. Similarly, computer programs, applications, or the like are typically written for a particular n-bit O/S (e.g., a 64-bit program for a 64-bit O/S). Further, while a lower bit program can be handled by a higher bit O/S (e.g., a 32-bit program running on a 64-bit O/S), the converse is generally not true. That is, a lower bit O/S generally cannot handle execution of a higher bit program. For instance, a 64-bit application cannot run on a 32-bit processor (or be handled by a 32-bit O/S) because the 64-bit instructions of the 64-bit application will not be recognized by a 32-bit processor.
Various conventional approaches exist for supporting interactions between programs associated with different addressing modes such as 32-bit and 64-bit programs. These approaches, however, suffer from a number of technical drawbacks. Technical solutions for supporting interoperability between programs associated with different addressing modes that address technical drawbacks associated with conventional approaches are described herein.

Interoperability between programs associated with different addressing modes

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A disk drive with removable cartridges that is designed for laptop and notebook sized computers which are battery powered. The drive includes a disk cartridge that upon insertion into the disk drive is split open to move an underside portion down over a disk drive spindle where the disk, having been released by the splitting of the cartridge engages the spindle for rotation. The spindle is mounted in the drive in a fixed location so that loading of disks thereon is repeatable and interchangeable and do not change with wear of a spindle elevating mechanism. The read/write heads on their actuator arms extend through an opening in the back of the cartridge formed when the cartridge is split. When ejected, the cartridge seals about the disk to prevent contamination thereof and to assure a long life in harsh environments. The cartridge may include an inner door that is opened upon cartridge insertion to provide clearance for the heads and actuator arms.

Disk drives for removable magnetic and optical disks have been available for some time. Magnetic disks generally come in a flexible form known as floppies, or a relatively rigid form known as hard disks, whereas optical disks are embodied in relatively rigid media. Typical flexible disk drives and cartridges are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,155 to Takahashi, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,174 to Takahashi; U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,397 to Asami, et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,093 to Obama, et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,758 to Tanaka. Typical removable hard disk drives and the cartridges therefor are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,187 to Alaimo; U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,474 to Nigam; U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,879 to Toldi, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,506 to Toldi, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,981 to Nigam, et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,012 to Toldi, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,452 to Thompson, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,518 to Thompson, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,437 to Couse, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,462 to Couse, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,685 to Thompson, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,691 to Iftikar, et al. Disk drives having removable disks usually have some sort of entry door and a mechanism to receive a disk cartridge when it is inserted into the drive to assure proper connection therebetween. Most of such disk drives include a motor or solenoid which, after actuation by partial manual insertion of the disk cartridge, draws the cartridge into the drive, moves a shutter to open a window for access to the disk and positions read/write heads on one or both sides of the disk for data reading and writing. When a floppy disk or an optical disk is involved, usually the heads are driven linearly, such as by a stepper motor or linear voice coil actuator, whereas when a hard disk is involved, a linear actuator may be used or the heads may be moved arcuately across the disk by a rotary voice coil actuator. In floppy disk drives, the heads are designed to lightly touch the magnetic media during reading and writing. In optical drives, the read/write heads are spaced a safe distance away from the disk, laser beams being used in most instances to read and write the optical information. In magnetic hard disks, the read/write heads float on an extremely thin layer of air so they never touch the disk while spinning. Unlike floppy disks which wear out after a short use time, this allows hard disks to last the lifetime of the computer to which they are connected. Dust or other contamination, if it is the correct size, can get between the read/write heads and the disk and cause damage to the magnetic media of a hard disk. For that reason, nonremovable hard disk drives are sealed. In removable cartridge hard disk drives, means must be provided to minimize contamination, especially in the sizes of .about.20 to .about.80 nm, because particles smaller than that pass between the disk and a head in the layer of air and particles larger than that tend to be knocked out of the way by the head flying at its normal height above the disk.
Generally, the requirements for a hard disk cartridge are: protect the disk from damage and contamination; provide access for the read/write heads on both sides of the contained disk; provide a positive rotational interface to the disk drive for spinning the disk; provide sufficient rigidity to assure that all but extreme stresses do not cause the cartridge housing to bend and come in contact with the disk; provide some sort of mechanism to open the contamination preventing shutter of the cartridge when the cartridge is inserted into the disk drive and to close the shutter as the cartridge is being ejected; and do all of this in a minimum volume. Heretofore, most removable hard disks have been available in cartridges about 6 inch square and over 1/2 inch thick. The disk drive must accommodate the cartridge internally for contamination control. Therefore, removable cartridge disk drives must be proportionately larger than those with non-removable disks, so much larger in fact that removable cartridge disk drives have been too big to serve as internal disk drives in lap top or notebook sized computers. Also, prior art removable cartridge disk drives, with their ejection system motors and disk retaining solenoids, use a relatively large amount of power when compared to small, efficiently sealed hard drives.
Recently tiny removable disk, hard disk drives, such as shown in U.S. Ser. No. 07/973,838 by McGrath et al. filed Nov. 9, 1992 and assigned to Applicant's Assignee, have become available, in which the hard disk is protected by a removable cartridge. The cartridge includes a window to allow access to the disk by read/write heads, a shutter to close the window except when the cartridge is in a disk drive and a hole on one side to provide access to a disk hub used to spin the disk. The disk drive includes a complex mechanical cartridge insertion and ejection mechanism.
When a cartridge is manually inserted, it contacts an insertion pin connected to linkage. Further manual insertion of the cartridge forces the insertion pin in an arcuate path, which through connecting linkage stores energy in springs. As the cartridge is fully inserted in the disk drive, linkage in the form of sliding cams lifts a drive motor with its connected spindle, up into a magnetic engagement with the hub of the disk.
A short electrical pulse is applied to a trigger magnet to eject the cartridge. The trigger magnet responds by releasing a portion of the linkage, unlatching the spring force therein, which lowers the motor disconnecting the spindle from the hub. Thereafter, the linkage applies the force of loaded springs through the insertion pin to the cartridge to eject it.
Since the drive motor and spindle are moved into contact with the disk as the cartridge is being inserted, the final position of the disk on the spindle may vary each time the cartridge is inserted. Also, small amounts of dimensional variance from cartridge to cartridge or between different disk drives, or wear of the sliding cams can cause interchangeability problems.
Therefore, there has been a need to provide a mechanically simple, reliable, removable cartridge hard drive with very low power requirements, which uses removable cartridges having minimal size so that the drive can physically fit in available space in lap top and notebook sized personal computers while having a drive motor and spindle that remain in a fixed position with respect to the read/write heads of the drive.

Splitting cartridge and the removable cartridge disk drive in which it is used


A reproduction apparatus having a series of process stations and a logic and control unit for controlling the operations of the process stations includes a fuser and pressure roller-type fusing apparatus. The fusing apparatus includes a member for oiling the fuser roller, and a fuser skive device with finger portions that contactably ride on the fuser roller for stripping copy sheets. The finger portions are mounted to a flexible member that is connected to strain gauges which sense actual sheet stripping forces on the finger portions. The strain gauges are connected to the logic and control unit which contains a preprogrammed stand for sheet stripping forces on the finger portions on ideal process station conditions. The logic and control unit compares the sensed actual sheet stripping forces from the finger portions for any deviations from such stand, and then use such deviation to adjust an operating condition of at least a process station.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to electrostatographic reproduction apparatus such as copiers and printers which produce fused toner images on copy sheets. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a reproduction apparatus which includes a process control skive device that strips copy from the fusing mechanism of the reproduction apparatus.
2. Background Art
Electrostatographic reproduction apparatus such as copiers and printers, which produce or reproduce toner images on copy sheets by employing electrostatic charges and toner particles on an image-bearing surface, are well known. Typically, such copiers and printers operate through a sequence of currently well known electrostatographic process steps These process steps for example include (1) charging an insulated photoconductive surface with electrostatic charges, (2) forming a latent image electrostatically on such surface by selectively discharging areas on such surface, (3) developing the electrostatic image so formed with particles of toner to form a toned image, (4) transferring the toned image to a suitable copy sheet, (5) fusing the transferred toned image onto the copy sheet by moving the copy sheet through a fusing apparatus, and (6) cleaning the photoconductive surface after image transfer by removing residual toner and/or other particles therefrom in preparation for similarly reusing such surface to produce another such image.
As disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,959, issued Nov. 11, 1980 to Ateya et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,594, issued May 26, 1981 to Umans et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,234, issued Jan. 29, 1985 to Schram; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,784, issued Aug. 4, 1987 to Tamary, a typical fusing apparatus for use in such copiers and printers includes a heated, rotatable fuser roller, and a rotatable pressure roller that forms a contact fusing nip with the fuser roller. The suitable copy sheet carrying the toned image is moved contactably through the contact fusing nip such that the toned image directly contacts the heated fuser roller.
As further disclosed, for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,784 patent, skive devices are well known for stripping the copy sheet from the heated fuser roller as the copy sheet exits from the contact fusing nip. The quality of the fused image produced on the copy sheet depends significantly on how well the toner particles, which form the toned image, are heated and fused, on how well and efficiently the toned image is released from the surface of the fuser roller, and on how clean and unsoiled non-image areas of the copy sheet are, as the copy sheet exits the contact fusing nip. It has been found that besides temperature and rotational speed of the fuser roller, the density or degree of toner particle laydown of an image being fused, also significantly affects how well the toner particles forming the toned image are heated and fused. How well and how efficiently the toned image is released from the fuser roller, and how clean and un-soiled the copy sheet is, depend in part on the adequacy of a rate of toner release oil that is applied to the surface of fuser roller.

Reproduction apparatus having a process control skive device


There is provided a form measuring apparatus which is configured to perform measurement of a surface form of a surface of an object to be inspected having a three-dimensional shape, the form measuring apparatus including: a detecting section which performs detection of the surface form of the surface of the object having the three-dimensional form; and an area-setting section which sets, as a measurement area, an adjacent area adjacent to a designated area, based on form information of a form of the designated area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a form measuring apparatus, a form measuring method, a method for manufacturing a structure, and a computer-readable medium storing a program for setting a measurement area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among form measuring apparatuses (coordinate-measuring apparatuses) measuring the three-dimensional form or the three-dimensional profile of an object to be measured, there is a form measuring apparatus which maintains a distance from a detecting section to the object and which performs measurement while moving the detecting section along the form of the object (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2010-160084). As such a method for measuring the three-dimensional form, there is known the optical cutting method for measuring the three-dimensional shape of an object, the method including irradiating a slit light onto the object, and measuring the three-dimensional form of the object from an optical cutting line formed corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the object. Further, in the recent years, there is a demand that even an object having a complex form is measured with enhanced precision. In a coordinate-measuring apparatus adaptable for realizing such a demand performs a teaching processing to resister a measurement area, before measuring the three-dimensional form of an object, so as to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the measurement.

Form measuring apparatus, method for measuring form, method for manufacturing structure and non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for setting measurement area


A method for forming an elongate support structure having a central hollow portion is disclosed including arranging an elongate core member to extend horizontally and then forming a core assembly by locating a first tensioning member at a first end where the first tensioning member including tensioning elements extending from the first end of the core member along the outside of the core member to a second tensioning member located at the second end of the core member. An external mold assembly is attacked to the core assembly between the first and second tensioning members to form a combined mold and core assembly and to also form a cavity extending around and along the central core member through which the plurality of tensioning elements extend. The tensioning elements are then tensioned and the combined mold and core assembly is then positioned in an upright orientation and concrete injected into the cavity formed between the elongate core member and the external mold assembly.

Circular hollow concrete poles are well known in applications ranging up to 30 meters in length. A process for constructing these hollow poles involves a spinning process where centrifugal force is used to spread a wet concrete mixture over the inner surface of a horizontally arranged mould. Concrete is fed into the slowly revolving mould which is then spun, squeezing out surplus water and evenly spreading compacted concrete over the inner surface.
While this method of forming hollow concrete poles has the benefit that the concrete wall of the pole is both dense and strong as a result of the centrifugal spinning action there are a number of serious drawbacks to this process. The first disadvantage is the lack of uniformity of wall thickness of the pole which can vary from one pole to another. The spinning process first involves the concrete being placed in the mould before it has been fully assembled. It is then left to an operator to decide precisely how much concrete is placed in any particular part of the mould which can lead to a degree of variability.
Where the pole is tapered, which is required in many standard applications such as a telecommunications or power transmission pole, when the mould is spun the concrete will not always relocate around and along the mould uniformly. In these circumstances, the concrete will as a result of the centrifugal force be distributed along the tapered profile to the place of least resistance at the thicker end of the mould. This results in a pole that will not have a uniform bending capacity because of the variation in wall thickness. Where the spinning process is used in combination with a prestressing process, the variation in thickness is likely to also cause the pre-stressed pole to distort immediately once it is removed from the mould.
A further and significant problem with a spun pole is the advent of a thick layer of laitance on the inner surface of the finished product. This layer is highly absorbent and can cause ground water to move up the inside surface of the pole and into the concrete. If this water contains any salt, the pH of the concrete will be reduced, thereby causing corrosion of any reinforcement of the pole.

Method for forming an elongate support structure