A dispersion-compensated optical fiber which does not cause an increase in a loss if it is wound in a small reel and has a stable temperature characteristics is provided, wherein, in a wavelength range from. A dispersion-compensated optical fiber is formed such that, in at least a wavelength between 1.53 to 1.63 μm, a bending loss of with a 20 mm bending diameter is 5 dB/m or lower, a wavelength dispersion is −120 ps/nm/km or lower, a cut-off wavelength under a usage condition is 1.53 μm or lower, an outer diameter of the cladding is 80 to 100 μm, an outer diameter of a coating is 160 to 200 μm, and a viscosity of a surface of a coating resin is 10 gf/mm or lower. It is set such that b/a is 1.5 to 3.5, c/b is 1.2 to 2.0, a radius of a core is 4 to 8 μm, Δ1 is +1.6% to +2.6%, Δ2 is −0.30% to −1.4%, and Δ3 is −0.30% to +1.0%. Young's modulus of a first coating layer is 0.15 kgf/mm2 or lower and its thickness is 20 to 30 μm. Young's modulus of a second coating layer is 50 kgf/mm2 or lower and its thickness is 15 to 30 μm.

In general, if a transmission distance for an optical fiber transmission path is formed to be long, a transmission speed is made to be high, and a number of a wavelength multiplication increases, there are a problem such as a transmission loss, an accumulated wavelength dispersion, and a polarization mode dispersion (Polarization Mode Dispersion, hereinafter called as "PMD" for short). It is possible to compensate the transmission loss by realizing an erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier. Next problem is an accumulated wavelength dispersion. A relationship between a transmission speed and an allowable wavelength dispersion is shown in FIG. 3. It is possible to compensate this accumulated wavelength dispersion by a module in which a dispersion-compensated optical fiber, etc. is used.
By the way, the S-SMF is commonly used all over the world presently. If a transmission for 1.55 μm bandwidth is performed by using this optical fiber network, a wavelength dispersion of approximately +17 ps/nm/km is generated in this 1.55 μm bandwidth. Therefore, if a signal is transmitted by using this optical fiber, the transmission characteristics deteriorates greatly by an influence of the accumulated wavelength dispersion in a long distance transmission. Also, although an NZ-DSF which has a smaller wavelength dispersion in 1.55 μm bandwidth than in the S-SMF is installed mainly for a long distance transmission path, it is necessary to compensate the wavelength dispersion which is accumulated on the transmission path.
Furthermore, at present, a wavelength multiplication transmission (Wavelength Division Multiplexing, hereinafter called as "WDM" for short) has been developed along with an increase in a transmission capacity; thus, the WDM transmission has already been realized practically in a lot of transmission paths. It is necessary to reduce the wavelength dispersion which is allowable over an entire wavelength bandwidth which is used in the WDM transmission. Therefore, it is necessary to compensate not only the wavelength dispersion but also a dispersion slope. A transmission optical fiber, a dispersion-compensated optical fiber, and a remaining dispersion characteristics after compensating the dispersion are shown in FIG. 4. A code for a dispersion slope of the dispersion-compensated optical fiber is opposite to a code for a dispersion slope for a transmission optical fiber, there is a case in which a remaining dispersion may be small in a wide range of bandwidth. An RDS is named for an index for indicating a performance for compensating this dispersion slope. The RDS (RDS; Relative Dispersion Slope) is a ratio of a dispersion slope with reference to the wavelength dispersion. RDS can be shown in a following formula (1) under condition that D indicates the wavelength dispersion and S indicates the dispersion slope.RDS=S/D  (1)
In order to reduce the remaining dispersion in a wide range of bandwidth, it is necessary to adapt a value which has an opposite code of a dispersion against the wavelength dispersion of the transmission optical fiber such that the RDS is as close as possible.
For such a dispersion-compensated optical fiber, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 6-11620 discloses a technology for a dispersion-compensated optical fiber which has a wavelength dispersion which is −20 ps/nm/km or lower for compensating the wavelength dispersion in 1.55 μm bandwidth in a standard single mode optical fiber which has a zero-dispersion wavelength in the wavelength 1.3 μm bandwidth. Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 11-95056 discloses a technology for a dispersion-compensated optical fiber in which a dispersion slope is reduce while reducing a connection loss such that an absolute value for the wavelength dispersion per a unit length is increased.
Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 8-136758 discloses a technology for a dispersion-compensated optical fiber in which the dispersion slope is minus such that the wavelength dispersion is −100 ps/n/km or lower.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 8-54546 discloses a small-diameter dispersion-compensated optical fiber which has a first coating layer of which Young's modulus is 0.1 kgf/mm2 on an outer periphery of an optical fiber naked line (cladding) of which outer diameter is smaller than 125 μm and has a second coating layer of which Young's modulus is 150 kgf/mm2 or greater on an outer periphery of the first coating layer in an optical fiber which has a coating structure shown in FIG. 2. In a sixth embodiment of this Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 8-54546, a small-diameter dispersion-compensated optical fiber is disclosed which has 60 μm cladding, 160 μm coating, and −80.0 ps/nm/km.
Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 10-115725 discloses a technology for a dispersion-compensated optical fiber which is connected to an optical fiber which has a wavelength dispersion in a transmission wavelength and compensates the above explained wavelength dispersion so as substantially to nullify the wavelength dispersion in an entire transmission system in the transmission wavelength. Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 10-115725 discloses a technology for a dispersion-compensated optical fiber for reducing the wavelength dispersion in an entire transmission system in the transmission wavelength as close as zero which has a multi-layer structure such as at least two layers or more which comprises a core which is formed by a silica glass, a cladding which is formed by a silica glass on an outer periphery of the core, and a coating layer which is formed by a plastic resin member on an outer periphery of the cladding such that an outer diameter is smaller than 250 μm, the coating layer has 20 μm thickness or greater, and an outer layer which has a Young's modulus which is higher than that of an inner layer. A small-diameter dispersion-compensated optical fiber is disclosed in this Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 10-115725 and in embodiments in a specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,104 such that a diameter of an outer cladding is 60 μm to 125 μm, an outer diameter of coating is 110 μm to 250 μm, and the wavelength dispersion is approximately −105 ps/nm/km.
Also, it is reported, in a B-13-4, p-585, thesis titled as "Small Dispersion-Compensated Optical Fiber For Compensating Dispersion", 1999 General Conference, The Institute Of Electronics, Information And Communication Engineers, by Naoto Ogawa et al, that there is not a problem with regards to an increase in the loss due to a side pressure and rigidity point of view if a proto-type for a small-diameter dispersion-compensated optical fiber is produced in which a wavelength dispersion is −102 ps/nm/km to −110 ps/nm/km, an outer diameter of a cladding is 90 μm to 125 μm, and an outer diameter of coating layer is 150 μm to 185 μm.
Such a dispersion-compensated optical fiber is formed to be a module by disposing in a casing for winding a coil of which length is ⅕ to 1/7 of the transmission optical fiber. Although, when an accumulated dispersion in the transmission optical fiber of which length is approximately 120 km is compensated by a module of a dispersion-compensated optical fiber, a necessary length for the dispersion-compensated optical fiber is approximately 20 km; thus, it is necessary to wind a very long dispersion-compensated optical fiber.
However, it is preferable that a size of the module should be constant with regardless to a necessary amount of for compensating the dispersion. Even if an absolute amount of the dispersion which is compensated is great, it is necessary to wind the dispersion-compensated optical fiber as long as possible in a small casing. Furthermore, it is preferable that this module for the dispersion-compensated optical fiber should be as small as possible so as to form a small transmission device.
A volume of the module depends on a volume for winding the dispersion-compensated optical fiber. Such a winding volume is indicated by a product for a cross sectional area which includes a coating and a spiral length of the dispersion-compensated optical fiber.
Therefore, it is effective if dispersion-compensated optical fiber is formed such that its diameter should be as small as possible for forming a small module as disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 8-54546, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 10-115725, or U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,104.
The development for the dispersion-compensated optical fiber has been made such that an absolute value for the wavelength dispersion per a unit length unless the transmission loss is deteriorated, and an optical characteristic and reliability are not deteriorated; thus, the diameter of the optical fiber should be as small as possible in an allowable range. However, the technology which are disclosed in the above mentioned publication and a report by an institute was not sufficient for realizing a small module while restricting an increase of a loss which is caused by a bending loss over an entire range of the usage wavelength.


A method and apparatus is described for sharing data among a plurality of devices using a wireless short-range transceiver and for ultimately transmitting at least one part of the shared data to a remote server using a data network transceiver. Each device further comprises a localization unit providing a geographic position of the device.

More specifically, operations in the asphalt and cement concrete industries are real-time driven and knowing a position and a movement historic of vehicles used to deliver a product can improve efficiency. Beside, theft of heavy vehicles is really a problem in some areas.
Real time localization of vehicles in the construction industry has been first obtained through vocal communication with radio or cellular links with the vehicle's driver. A few years ago, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the use of cellular networks to carry digital data have lead to the development of devices that can communicate their geographic position to Internet servers. Nevertheless, those solutions are not best fitted for the construction industry for technical and economical reasons.
Most of the solutions use a combination of GPS for providing geographic position and digital cellular or satellite technologies for providing communications. The digital cellular or satellite technologies apparatus are called, or can call, to transmit the geographic position of the vehicle. However, the above-mentioned devices, when used in the construction industry, suffer from many drawbacks as explained above.
Firstly, the devices are usually not portable; the devices may therefore not be easily removed and remounted on another vehicle. An installation of the device on the whole fleet of vehicles is therefore required. Usually a cost of 500$ to 1000$ is necessary per vehicle.
Secondly, the devices need an external source of power which require a lengthy setup.
Thirdly, a cellular coverage is not available everywhere on earth, creating therefore dead zones where no information from the device may be available.
A fourth drawback is the fact that satellite communication coverage, as well as a GPS coverage are not available in underground environments or in tunnels.
A fifth drawback is the fact that the cost of a communication using a satellite communication technology is still very high.
The cost to use a cellular technology may also be very high if many vehicles use it, a subscription cost located between 20$ and 50$ per month and per vehicle is necessary.
Finally, "anti-theft" in vehicle is not efficiently enough implemented.
There is therefore a need for a device that will overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Sharing method and apparatus using a non-permanent communication link


A display panel is provided including a first substrate, an upper structure, and a first conductive pattern. The first substrate may include an upper surface and a lower surface on opposite sides of the first substrate, the upper and lower surfaces facing away from each other. The upper structure may be on the upper surface of the first substrate. A first conductive pattern layer may be on the lower surface of the first substrate. The first conductive pattern layer may be configured to absorb and discharge static electricity input from outside the display panel.

1. Field
Embodiments relate generally to a display device configured to discharge static electricity and a method of manufacturing the display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device may include a display panel having a plurality of pixels that are formed on a substrate. To increase a resolution of the display panel, a size of the pixels may be reduced, and a size of internal elements included in the display panel also may be reduced. However, when a size of the internal elements is reduced, the internal elements are sensitive to a static electricity input from outside. For example, because a substrate of the display panel includes insulating materials, the static electricity may directly damage the internal elements of the display panel.

Display panel and method of manufacturing the same


There is provided an information processing apparatus. A multidimensional input vector is input. For each dimension of the input vector, a function value of a single-variable function with an element of the dimension as a variable is derived, by referring to a lookup table indicating a correspondence between a variable and a function value of the single-variable function. A product of the single-variable functions approximates a function value of a multiple-variable function. For each dimension of the input vector, a product of the function value derived by the derivation unit and a predetermined coefficient corresponding to the dimension is calculated. A value calculated using the total of the products calculated by the product calculation unit for each dimension of the input vector is output as a classification index indicating a class of the input vector.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, information processing methods, and storage media.
Description of the Related Art
Classification using support vector machines (SVMs) is employed in a variety of applications and fields, such as image recognition. Regression calculations using support vector regression (SVR) are also employed in such fields. Assuming an input vector to be classified is represented by x, a support vector is represented by xi (where i=1, 2, . . . , n), and a kernel function for vectors x and y is represented by K(x, y), an SVM classification function f(x) can be expressed by Formula (1).
                              f                                (            x            )                          =                                            ∑                              i                =                1                            n                                                                  α                i                                                          y                i                                                          K                                                  (                                      x                    ,                                          x                      i                                                        )                                                              +          b                                    (        1        )
Here, yi is a supervisory label corresponding to xi, whereas αi and b are parameters determined through learning.
Various types of functions are used as the kernel function K(x, y), such as a linear kernel, a polynomial kernel, an RBF kernel, and so on. A kernel function class known as "additive kernels", such as the "intersection kernel" described in Subhransu Maji, Alexander C. Berg, and Jitendra Malik, "Classification using Intersection Kernel Support Vector Machine is Efficient", In IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 2008 (Non-Patent Document 1), is an example of a frequently-used kernel function. The additive kernel is expressed by Formula (2).
                              K                                (                          x              ,              y                        )                          =                              ∑                          d              =              1                        D                                          k                                      (                                                x                  d                                ,                                  y                  d                                            )                                                          (        2        )
Here, xd and yd represent dth-dimension elements of x and y, respectively, which are D-dimensional vectors. Meanwhile, k(x, y) is a function for calculating an output value from two scalar input variables x and y.
Andrea Vedaldi, Andrew Zisserman, "Efficient Additive Kernels via Explicit Feature Maps", In IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 2010 (Non-Patent Document 2), discloses a specific example of an additive kernel. For example, Formula (3) expresses k(x, y) for an intersection kernel, whereas Formula (4) expresses k(x, y) for a X2 kernel.
                              k                                (                          x              ,              y                        )                          =                  min                                (                          x              ,              y                        )                                              (        3        )                                          k                                (                          x              ,              y                        )                          =                              2                        xy                                x            +            y                                              (        4        )

Information processing apparatus, information processing method and storage medium


Methods of defining ontologies, word disambiguation methods, computer systems, and articles of manufacture are described according to some aspects. In one aspect, a word disambiguation method includes accessing textual content to be disambiguated, wherein the textual content comprises a plurality of words individually comprising a plurality of word senses, for an individual word of the textual content, identifying one of the word senses of the word as indicative of the meaning of the word in the textual content, for the individual word, selecting one of a plurality of event classes of a lexical database ontology using the identified word sense of the individual word, and for the individual word, associating the selected one of the event classes with the textual content to provide disambiguation of a meaning of the individual word in the textual content.

Collection, integration and analysis of large quantities of data are routinely performed by intelligence analysts and other entities. Vast numbers of different types of communications (e.g., documents, electronic mail, etc.) may be analyzed and perhaps associated with one another in an attempt to gain information or insight which is not readily comprehensible from the communications taken individually. Various analyst tools process communications in attempts to generate, identify, and investigate hypotheses. However, many words present in the documents may have a plurality of senses or different meanings which may lead to unacceptable processing of the documents. At least some aspects of the present disclosure are directed towards apparatus and methods of disambiguating the meaning of words occurring in text to facilitate analysis of the documents.


A combined joint compound dispenser and applicator for corners comprises a cylinder mechanically attached to a tube extending therefrom. The cylinder pushes a compound by way of a piston. A ball joint provides an articulated connection between the tube and an applicator by way of an insertion shoe. The applicator has two flaps cojoined at an apex so as to form a <<V>> shape. The compound passes from the tube through the applicator by way of a slit, and that slit is formed by an arrow shaped element placed in front of a hole. The hole is at the apex. Wheels located on wedges allow the applicator to roll on walls. The wedges extend integrally from the flaps.

Filling joints with compound, especially in room corners is a difficult operation and over the years, a number of products have been developed to address this issue.
There are two categories of tools: The simple tools which have been used for years and were probably never patented and there are more complex tools which are themselves subdivided into two categories: Those that provide for a clean, even spreading of the joint filling compound and those that do that but with the added convenience of pushing the joint filling compound which is contained in a container that forms an internal part of the device.
Such combined devices have the drawback of either being very good at dispensing joint filler and not very good at applying it or very good at applying but not reliable in providing a steady supply of joint filling compound.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,101 has a wheel that tend to clog up with compound and becomes quite inefficient over time. Other systems such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,59,4606 and 2,824,443 and 3,932,101 have openings which do not provide for even distribution of compound material. Generally, because of the shape of the devices gliding motion along a wall is not smooth and regular.

Combined joint compound dispenser and applicator for corners


A method and apparatus are provided for at least partially environmentally isolating a volume, such as by environmentally isolating the cargo compartment from the passenger compartment of an aircraft. In the context of an apparatus, a barrier curtain is provided that partially defines the volume. The apparatus also includes a cable extending along one or more walls that partially define the volume. The barrier curtain is supported by the cable. The apparatus may also include a cable release mechanism. The cable is held in place by the cable release mechanism and the cable release mechanism is configured to detach the cable at a predetermined load, thereby permitting the barrier curtain to drop in response to a decompression event.

It may be desirable to environmentally isolate various spaces from one another in order to provide for flame, smoke or other particulate isolation. For example, within an aircraft fuselage, the passenger compartment may be environmentally isolated from the cargo compartment so as to provide smoke or flame isolation, thereby reducing smoke or flame dispersion within the fuselage of the aircraft. Within an aircraft, the environmental isolation of the passenger compartment from the cargo compartment may be complicated by the cabin pressure differences between the passenger compartment and the cargo compartment. In this regard, some aircraft include a frame or other structural member positioned between the cargo compartment and the passenger compartment for supporting a barrier that extends between the compartments. As the frame or other structural members must be capable of carrying the loads created by the differential pressure between the passenger compartment and the cargo compartment under normal operating conditions, the frame or other structural members may be structurally substantial, thereby adding to the cost and weight of the aircraft.
In addition to compensating for pressure variations between the passenger compartment and the cargo compartment, environmental isolation techniques must also account for rapid decompression events and, as such, aircraft may include integral decompression panels. The pressure differential at which the integral decompression panels are caused to open may be dependent on friction which may, in turn, vary over time and from installation to installation, such as in response to material properties, material incompatibilities, dirt, debris or the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for establishing an environmentally isolated volume


A method for producing a MnZn ferrite core used at a frequency of 1 MHz or more and an exciting magnetic flux density of 75 mT or less, the MnZn ferrite comprising 53-56% by mol of Fe (calculated as Fe2O3), and 3-9% by mol of Zn (calculated as ZnO), the balance being Mn (calculated as MnO), as main components, and 0.05-0.4 parts by mass of Co (calculated as Co3O4) as a sub-component, per 100 parts by mass in total of the main components (calculated as the oxides); comprising a step of molding a raw material powder for the MnZn ferrite to obtain a green body; a step of sintering the green body and cooling it to a temperature of lower than 150° C. to obtain a sintered body of MnZn ferrite; and a step of conducting a heat treatment comprising heating the sintered body of MnZn ferrite to a temperature meeting Condition 1 of 200° C. or higher, and Condition 2 of (Tc−90)° C. to (Tc+100)° C., wherein Tc is a Curie temperature (° C.) calculated from the percentages by mol of Fe2O3 and ZnO contained in the main components of the MnZn ferrite, keeping the sintered body at the above temperature for a predetermined period of time, and then cooling the sintered body from the keeping temperature at a speed of 50° C./hour or less.

Switching power supplies are used in power supply circuits in various electronic apparatuses needing power supply, in electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), mobile communications equipments (cell phones, smartphones, etc.), personal computers, servers, etc.
Recent electronic apparatuses are increasingly required to be small and light in weight, consuming less electric power from the aspect of energy efficiency. Accordingly, large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs) such as digital signal processors (DSPs), micro-processing units (MPUs), etc., and functional elements used in electronic apparatuses are also required to be smaller and have higher performance and lower power consumption. On the other hand, recent higher integration of transistors by finer wiring in LSIs reduces the breakdown voltage of transistors and increases current consumption, resulting in increasingly lower operation voltage and larger current.
Power supply circuits such as DC-DC converters for supplying power to LSIs should also be adapted to lower-voltage, higher-current operation of LSIs. For example, lowering the operation voltage of LSIs narrows a normally operable voltage range, resulting in fluctuated power supply voltage of LSIs due to the ripple of voltage from power supply circuits, so that the operation of LSIs becomes unstable. Accordingly, the switching frequencies of power supply circuits have been increased, for example, to 500 kHz or more.
Higher frequencies and current of power supply circuits are advantageous in reducing the sizes of magnetic cores constituting electronic devices such as transformers, choke coils, etc. used in the circuits. For example, when a transformer is operated with a sinusoidal wave, voltage Ep (V) applied to a primary coil is expressed by the formula:Ep=4.44×Np×A×f×Bm×10−7,wherein Np represents the number of winding of the primary coil, A represents a cross section area (cm2) of a magnetic core, f represents a frequency (Hz), and Bm represents an exciting magnetic flux density (mT).
This formula indicates that when voltage Ep having a higher switching frequency f is applied to a primary coil, a magnetic core can have a smaller cross section area A, resulting in a smaller size. Also, higher current increases the maximum exciting magnetic flux density Bm, which is called "exciting magnetic flux density" below, resulting in a smaller magnetic core.
Suitably miniaturizable magnetic cores operated at a high exciting magnetic flux density in a high frequency range are mainly made of MnZn ferrite as a magnetic material. MnZn ferrite has larger initial permeability and saturation magnetic flux density than those of Ni ferrite, etc., and smaller core loss than those of magnetic cores of Fe-based amorphous alloys, Co-based amorphous alloys, pure iron, and magnetic metals such as Fe—Si, Fe—Ni, Fe—Si—Cr, and Fe—Si—Al. Small core loss is advantageous in suppressing the power consumption of power supply circuits. The core loss of MnZn ferrite has conventionally been reduced by various means from the aspects of crystal grains, composition, production method, etc. It is known that the core loss is effectively lowered in a high frequency range, by reducing the crystal grain sizes of MnZn ferrite, and insulating crystal grains with high-electric-resistance grain boundary phases containing Si and Ca.
Power supply circuits may be subject to higher than 100° C. by the heat generation of constituent devices and peripheral circuits, ambient temperatures, etc., so that they are required to be stably operable at such high temperatures.
JP 2007-112695 A (Patent Reference 1) discloses MnZn-ferrite, whose core loss in a high frequency range of 500 kHz or more is lowered by keeping a sintered body in a temperature range of 200-350° C. for 0.3-12 hours, or by setting a cooling speed to 45° C./hour or less in a cooling process from a range of 240-350° C. after sintering at a predetermined temperature.
The production method disclosed in Patent Reference 1 is an effective method for reducing core loss, but further decrease in core loss is required for MnZn ferrite in a wide temperature range. Accordingly, technologies for further reducing core loss are desired.

MnZn ferrite core and its production method


An intermediate wiring layer, lowermost vias and uppermost vias of a semiconductor integrated circuit are disposed within a zone of wiring tracks, which are superposed by wiring traces of an uppermost wiring layer and wiring traces of a lowermost wiring layer, as seen from the direction normal to the plane. The lowermost vias are disposed so as to fit in a 4-row, 1-column rectangle, and the uppermost vias are disposed so as to fit in a 2-row, 2-column rectangle. The center of a via unit, which comprises the uppermost vias, as seen from the direction normal to the plane is disposed at the intersecting portion of the lowermost wiring layer and uppermost wiring layer. The center of a via unit, which comprises the lower vias, as seen from the direction normal to the plane is offset by a prescribed amount from the center of the via unit, which comprises the uppermost vias, as seen from the direction normal to the plane.

In a semiconductor integrated circuit such as an LSI chip, it is necessary to strengthen the structure of the power wiring internally of the semiconductor integrated circuit in order to prevent malfunction caused by a fluctuation in delay ascribable to a voltage drop (IR drop), or failure due to electromigration (EM). Strengthening of the power wiring structure is achieved by adjusting wiring width and the number of vias.
An example of prior art that contemplates strengthening the power wiring structure within a semiconductor integrated circuit is an electromigration verification method that includes a step of calculating the number of power vias required, specifically a step of calculating the number of required power vias, which are connected to a data bus, from the number of power main lines in the top layer of the data bus when the data bus is designed, and storing the number in storage means; a power via checking step of referring to the number of required vias, which have been stored in the storage means, when power wiring is performed at the chip level, and checking to determine whether the number of required power vias connected to the data bus satisfies the required number (see FIG. 12, Patent Document 1). In accordance with this method, chip-level EM verification at completion of chip design is made unnecessary, a return to power wiring in a case where an error is found in the chip-level EM verification is eliminated and it is possible to shorten the time involved in the design phase and to improve design efficiency.
Further, in ordinary power wiring processes according to the prior art, the following process is performed automatically based upon a prescribed program using a layout apparatus (CAD apparatus) for designing a semiconductor integrated circuit: As shown in FIG. 13, power wiring preprocessing (e.g., chip-level layout) is executed (step C1); wiring layers (e.g., M1 and M4) each having a pair of power wiring traces (e.g., VDD and GND) of different potentials are generated in parallel at prescribed wiring widths (e.g., a wiring width of A for M4 and a wiring width a for M1) (steps C2 to C5); intersecting portions of the wiring traces of each of the wiring layers are extracted and a via wiring process is performed (e.g., layers M2, M3 and vias 1 to 3 are produced) (step C6); and power wiring post-processing (e.g., power via check and chip-level wiring) is executed (step C7). With regard to the wiring layers (metal wiring layers) concerning M1 to M4, here M1, M2, M3 and M4 represent first, second, third and fourth wiring layers in order starting from the lowermost layer. Further, in order to connect the layers M1 and M4 in the via wiring process, processing for generating Vias 1 connecting M2 with M3 and M1 with M2, Vias 2 connecting M2 and M3 and Vias 3 connecting M3 and M4 is executed for every power wiring trace of corresponding potential in areas that include the intersecting portions of the layers M1 to M4 and the vicinities of these intersections.
With ordinary power wiring according to the prior art, wiring structures of the kind shown in FIGS. 14 to 17 are obtained in a case where four each of Via 1 to Via 4 are required to be disposed between M1 and M4. FIG. 14 is an example of the structure in a case where the width (transverse width) of a 4-column, 1-row via unit (a unit comprising a plurality of vias) is greater than the width of M4. FIG. 15 is an example of the structure in a case where the wiring width of M4 has been enlarged up to the width of a 4-column, 1-row via unit. FIG. 16 is an example of the structure in a case where two sets of a pair of power wiring traces pertaining to M4 have been generated and four 2-column, 1-row via units have been produced. FIG. 17 is an example of the structure in a case where the wiring width of M1 has been enlarged and a 2-column, 2-row via unit produced. According to this via wiring process in power wiring of the prior art, Vias 1, Vias 2 and Vias 3 are generated such that the centers of a first via unit comprising Vias 1, a second via unit comprising Vias 2 and a third via unit comprising Vias 3 will agree and such that these centers will fall within the area of an intersecting portions of the lowermost wiring layer (M1) and uppermost wiring layer (M4). Further, the grid-like lines in FIGS. 14 to 17 are wiring tracks and serve as auxiliary lines when the wiring structure of the semiconductor integrated circuit is designed. In addition, although the intermediate wiring layers (M2 and M3) are generated as layers underlying the uppermost wiring layer (M4), they are illustrated as overlying wiring layer M4 in FIGS. 14 to 17 in order to facilitate description. In FIGS. 14 to 17, the "+" symbols indicate the centers of the via units comprising Vias 1, Vias 2 or Vias 3 as seen from the direction normal to the plane, and the "X" symbols indicate the wiring tracks superposed by lowermost wiring layer (M1), uppermost wiring layer (M4) and vias (via 1 to via 3).
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2002-24313A
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-A-9-212661

Semiconductor integrated circuit, layout method, layout apparatus and layout program


Method of assessing the adhesion of soils or exudates to the skin. The method may allow for an assessment of the amount of artificial bowel movement remaining on the skin following treatment with a lotion.

Cleaning the skin is a personal hygiene problem not always easily solved. Dry tissue products are the most commonly used cleansing products post-defecation, post-urination and during menstruation. Dry tissue products are also commonly used to remove soils, such as food and dirt, from the skin. Dry tissue products, such as those commonly used, are generally referred to as "toilet paper," "toilet tissue," or "paper towels." In addition to the use of dry tissue products, it is becoming increasingly frequent to use moistened substrates, such as wet wipes, for the purpose of cleansing the face and body after soiling, and the anus, the genital area, the perinea, and the peri-anal area after the voiding of bodily exudates. So called "wet wipes" are generally a fibrous structure impregnated with a water or oil-based lotion.
For the purpose of the present document, the anus, the perinea, the perineal area and the vulvar area are all terms indicating the body area of the pelvis between, around and including the anus and the external genitalia.
Both the perineal area and the vulvar area are marked by the presence of fine folds/wrinkles (sulci) and hair follicles, both of which make these regions more difficult anatomical areas to cleanse. During defecation, fecal matter is excreted through the anus and tends to accumulate in hard to reach locations such as around the base of hairs and in the sulci of the skin's surface. During menstruation, menses may accumulate on the skin and hair after the use of a sanitary napkin. As the fecal or menstrual matter dehydrates upon exposure to air or upon contact with an absorbent implement such as tissue paper, diaper, or sanitary napkin, it adheres more tenaciously to the skin and hair. Subsequent removal of the remaining dehydrated exudates may be even more difficult and may result in inadequate cleansing. Among those negatives associated with the failure of adequate cleansing are irritation, redness, desquamation, infections, unpleasant odor, or other kinds of personal discomfort or health related issues.
People suffering from pathological conditions (such as hemorrhoids, fissures, cryptitis, etc.) are even more susceptible to the negatives listed above. Common hygienic concerns make the benefits of a good cleansing after defecation, menstruation, and urination very relevant to babies, toddlers, children and adults. Cleansing must be efficient in terms of removal of residues and gentle in terms of absence of irritation caused by the cleansing. Wet-wipes bring a response to that basic need.
In comparison to dry tissue products, wet wipes have several benefits including:                The enabling of a better lubrication during the use of the wipe, thereby reducing the abrasiveness of the cleansing operation;        The hydration of the residues, thus enhancing their removal from the skin or hair;        The hydration of the skin tissue; and        The ability to deliver a soothing or protective lotion to the skin that can remain on the skin after the cleansing operation.
Manufacturers of wet wipes have tried to develop wipes products that deliver the right balance between normally antagonistic concepts such as:                Enhancing the removal of soil while protecting the skin from irritation and abrasion.        The long lasting feeling of comfortable cleanliness while avoiding a greasy feeling on the skin.
A variety of methods exist that may measure the strength of adhesion between two materials and that may ascertain whether or not the strength of the adhesive interactions between the two materials may be impacted by surface treatments or other factors such as temperature or relative humidity. Many of the methods may be intended for industrial or academic applications where the materials being studied generally may be non-biological, for example metals, woods, or polymers. For example, ASTM D2919 and ASTM D3528 determine the durability of adhesive joints stressed under shear. Other methods, such as those described in Adhesion Measurements of Films and Coatings edited by K. L. Mittal published in 1995 as available from VSP Publishers, may be useful for assessing the force required to peel a material away from a surface. Again, these methods may be generally intended for non-biological materials. Thus, there is the need for a method that may assess the strength of adhesion between a material and a biological surface. There exists a need for a method that may assess the strength of adhesion between soils or exudates and the skin surface.

Method for assessing adhesion of soils or exudates to the skin


A multi-media gaming printer. The multi-media printer may accept various kinds of voucher media, such as thermally writable medias, smart cards, or magnetic strip cards. The multi-media printer includes writing, reading, and erasing devices within the printer to manage and use the different types of media. In addition, the multi-media printer includes control logic and articulated printing mechanisms that prevent the multi-media printer from inadvertently manipulating a voucher in an inappropriate manner. The design of the multi-media printer is modular so that voucher media magazines may be replaced as needed.

This invention relates generally to gaming printers and more specifically to printers for use in cashless gaming machines that use vouchers.
The gaming machine manufacturing industry provides a variety of gaming machines for the amusement of gaming machine players. An exemplary gaming machine is a slot machine. A slot machine is an electro-mechanical game wherein chance or the skill of a player determines the outcome of the game. Slot machines are usually found in casinos or other more informal gaming establishments.
Gaming machine manufacturers have more recently introduced cashless enabled games to the market and these have begun to find wide acceptance in the gaming industry. Cashless enabled games are so named because they can conduct financial exchanges using a mixture of traditional currencies and vouchers. Typically, a cashless enabled game has a gaming printer to produce vouchers and a voucher reader that supports automatic reading of vouchers. To coordinate the activities of multiple cashless enabled games, one or more cashless enabled games may be electronically coupled to a cashless enabled game system that controls the cashless operations of a cashless enabled game.
When a player cashes out using a cashless enabled game coupled to a cashless enabled game system, the cashless enabled game signals the system and the system may determine the type of pay out presented to the player. Depending on the size of the pay out, the cashless enabled game system may cause the cashless enabled game to present coins in the traditional method of a slot machine, or the cashless enabled game system may cause a gaming printer in the cashless enabled game to produce a voucher for the value of the pay out. The voucher may then be redeemed in a variety of ways. For example, the voucher may be redeemed for cash at a cashier's cage or used with another cashless enabled game. In order to use the voucher in a cashless enabled game, the voucher is inserted into a voucher reader of another cashless enabled game at a participating casino and the cashless enabled game system recognizes the voucher, redeems the voucher, and places an appropriate amount of playing credits on the cashless enabled game.
Cashless enabled games have found an increasing acceptance and use in the gaming industry, both with players who enjoy the speed of play and ease of transporting their winnings around the casino and casinos who have realized significant labor savings in the form of reduced coin hopper reloads in the games, and an increase in revenue because of the speed of play. Practical field experience with printers used in cashless enabled games has illustrated that there are areas for improvement in the current printer designs and implementation. These areas in need of improvement include methods and means for printing and reading images on a variety of media using direct thermal, thermal transfer, smart card, magnetic media, and Radio Frequency technologies, and magazine type loading and unloading containers for new and exhausted media storage and/or replacement.


A magneto-optical recording disk includes a recording layer for recording information as a mark and a reproduction layer, laminated with the recording layer, to which magnetization direction of the recording layer is transferred at high temperatures, wherein the reproduction layer and the recording layer are magnetostatically coupled and are not exchange-coupled. The information is read out by using a temperature distribution generated by a light beam for reproduction. The recording layer has, on a side thereof to which the reproduction layer is not provided, a supplementary back layer of a soft magnetic material composed of ferromagnetic material. The magneto-optical disk is designed to generate good CNR and thereby improves recording density even when a short mark is reproduced.

A magneto-optical disk, a variety of magneto-optical recording media, is already commercialized as an external memory for a computer. This example demonstrates that the magneto-optical recording medium, using light for reproduction, can realize a larger recording capacity than a floppy disk and a hard disk, using a magnetic head.
Recording density of the magneto-optical disk is limited by the size of a light beam spot on the magneto-optical disk. Specifically, if the recording bit diameter or the recording bit interval is too small in comparison to the light beam spot, the light beam spot covers more than one bit, and thereby cannot separate recording bits for reproduction. Shortening the wavelength of the laser beam is an effective way of reducing the size of the light beam spot in order to improve the recording density. Nevertheless, semiconductor laser devices currently on the market cannot produce a wavelength shorter than 680 nm, and a semiconductor laser device capable of producing a shorter wavelength is still in a development stage. Therefore, it is difficult to further improve the recording density of the magneto-optical disk with semiconductor laser devices currently on the market which are only capable of producing long wavelengths.
On the other hand, for instance, Journal of The Magnetics Society of Japan, Vol. 19, Supplement, No. S1 (1995), page 421-424 shows a method to improve recording density by improving reproduction resolution with a magneto-optical recording medium composed of two magnetostatically coupled magnetic films and temperature distribution in a light beam spot, i.e., a magnetically induced super resolution (MSR) technique using magnetostatic coupling.
A signal detected with the above-mentioned MSR technique using magnetostatic coupling has good signal quality (CNR) with a short mark length and therefore is capable of improving the recording density, compared to a method not employing the MSR technique. However, the shortest mark length possible for the method is 0.5 .mu.m. Therefore, the method still has a problem of low CNR when the mark length is shortened to, for example, 0.25 .mu.m in order to further improve the recording density.


There is disclosed a data storage system used in a computer environment where there are plural host computers and plural storage array controllers. When a remote copy is made while assuring the order of writing across plural storage array controllers, one of the host computers gains copy information about all the storage array controllers associated with the remote copy as a representative. The representative one of the storage array controllers collects and stores copy statuses which are individually managed by the storage array controllers for which a remote copy is made. The host computer gains the copy statuses from the representative controller using an instruction to gain the copy statuses.

The technique disclosed herein relates to data storage equipment and method of controlling it and, more particularly, to data storage equipment used in a remote copy environment in a computer system having a plurality of computers and a plurality of data storage units and to a method of controlling the data storage equipment.
As the amount of data has increased explosively, the number of host computers within a computer system and the capacities of storage systems tend to increase. Furthermore, in order to process a huge amount of data, plural host computers are often run in cooperation. One example of this is a computer system in which the results of processing performed by one host computer are input to and processed by another host computer.
Additionally, as businesses depend more on information processing systems and the amount of damage caused by lost of data increases to an enormous level, the importance of disaster recovery of the data increases.
Where duplication for disaster recovery of a computer system is carried out by the prior art technique, each host computer has instructed a storage system under control of the host computer itself to copy data for the host computer itself. The copy made by the storage system is controlled by the host computer that specifies the corresponding storage area of a copy-source storage system and the corresponding storage area of a copy-destination storage system.
In the technique disclosed in US2005/0154829A1, one host computer of a computer system performs a batch copy into arbitrary or whole storage area within data storage equipment in the computer system including plural host computers and a storage system. Specified ones of storage areas offered by the disk equipment are collectively defined as a group. A copy can be performed by specifying such a group. Each group is made up of an assemblage of subgroups. Subgroups are defined for each computer. The consistency of the order of copy operations among the computers is assured.
US2005/0114467A1 discloses a technique for gaining the status information about remote copy of a storage subsystem in a remote location by a host computer, the subsystem being not directly coupled to the host computer.
Where a primary storage system for storing data to be written (hereinafter may be referred to as "write data") from a host computer is different among different host computers, a certain one host computer has not collected the status of the primary storage area possessed by each primary storage system or the status of a pair formed by a secondary storage area of a secondary storage system and a primary storage area. Therefore, the status of the whole computer system has not been managed efficiently.

Computer system and method of managing status thereof


After a transferring process, a first predetermined voltage is applied to a transfer unit to charge a photosensitive drum surface to a first predetermined constant voltage. At the same time, a memory removing member is grounded. Therefore, a voltage difference is produced between the transfer unit and the memory removing member. This voltage difference causes the toner remaining on the memory removing member to be transferred to the photosensitive drum. In other words, the toner remaining on the memory removing member is redeveloped on the photosensitive drum whereby the cleaning of the memory removing member is conducted. Here, the memory removing member is a device for removing the toner from the photosensitive drum.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of forming an image without a cleaner and particularly to such a method which may be applied to a copying machine such as laser printers and photocopying machines using electrophotographic technology.
2. Background Art
Generally, when the above mentioned type of copying machine is used, image information is exposed onto a photosensitive drum to form an electrostatic latent image on an exposed portion and then toner is fed to the latent image to form a visible image (toner image). After that, the toner image is transferred to a sheet of paper by a transfer unit to obtain a copy.
The toner remaining on the photosensitive drum (some toner is not transferred to the paper) must be completely removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum. Otherwise, the quality of the next copy suffers considerably. Therefore, generally the photosensitive drum which has completed the image transferring step is cleaned prior to the next copying procedure. The cleaning is usually conducted by a cleaner provided at a lateral portion of the photosensitive drum. The cleaner has a blade which scrapes the remaining toner off the photosensitive drum. The scraped off toner is then guided into a collecting room by a guide sheet which extends below the blade.
Some copying machines employ a conventional image forming method which does not have a cleaner. In such a copying machine, a developing unit performs a developing process as well as a toner recovering process. Specifically, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum is collected by the developing unit. After the transferring step, a memory removing member such as brush and electroconductive rubber roller is applied to the photosensitive drum to smudge and spread the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum even when image transferring has not taken place. This spreading step is referred to as "memory erasure step" in this particular specification. The remaining toner image left by the unused image transfer toner is erased in this way. Next, the photosensitive drum, used in the following image forming steps of charging and exposing, proceeds to the developing step.
FIG. 4 of the accompanying drawings shows the relative setting voltages of various components of a copying machine which employs a conventional image forming method without a cleaner. As seen in the illustration, the setting voltages have the following relation: Charging voltage on the photosensitive drum surface (V.sub.0)<Bias voltage of developing unit (V.sub.1)<Voltage of a portion exposed by the exposing unit (V.sub.2)<Zero volt (0 V)<Voltage of the photosensitive drum surface after the transfer and charge removal (V.sub.3)<Voltage of memory removing member (V.sub.4).
The potential difference between V.sub.1 and V.sub.2 causes the development. The potential difference between V.sub.2 and V.sub.4 causes the transferring. The potential difference between V.sub.3 and V.sub.4 causes the memory removal. Since the setting voltage of the memory removing member is higher than the photosensitive drum surface voltage after the transfer and charge removal, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum surface is lifted on the memory removing member. Then, some toner overflows from the memory removing member and returns onto the photosensitive drum surface. In this way, the remaining toner image left on the photoelectric drum by the unused image transfer toner is erased.
FIG. 3(c) of the accompanying drawings is a time chart showing a printing sequence according to a conventional image forming method which does not have a cleaner. In this time chart, since the photosensitive drum is rotated at a time t1, a charging device and a charge-removing lamp are turned on simultaneously with the motor. At a time t2, i.e., when the motor reaches a predetermined revolution speed, the developing unit and the memory removing member are turned on, respectively. At a time t3, the transfer unit is turned on so as to transfer the toner onto the sheet. Then, at a time t5, i.e., when the transferring step is completed, the transfer unit is turned off. At a time t7, the motor is turned off, and accordingly the revolution speed of the motor drops and the motor stops at a time t8. At the same time (t8), the electric charger, the developing unit, the charge-removing lamp and the memory removing member are turned off, respectively.
According to the conventional copying machine which depends on the above described image forming method without a cleaner, "jamming" occurs, and at the time that the image forming process is interrupted, there is a large amount of toner left on the photosensitive drum ready for image transfer. When jamming is eliminated and the image forming process resumes in this state, the toner holding capacity of the memory removing member is greatly exceeded and its performance is considerably deteriorated. Specifically, the remaining toner image left by the unused image transfer toner cannot be sufficiently removed and an undesired situation arises, i.e., during the next image forming process, an old toner image remains. In addition, the toner held in the memory removing member overflows from the memory removing member and stains peripheral elements and the sheet under the photosensitive drum etc.
Even if jamming does not occur, it is unavoidable that the memory performance will lower as the image forming process is repeated frequently. Therefore, the conventional without-cleaner image forming method actually needs a cleaning step for the memory removing member at an appropriate time.


A semi-automated biological sample analyzer and subsystems are provided to simultaneously perform a plurality of enzyme immuno assays for human IgE class antibodies specific to a panel of preselected allergens in each of a plurality of biological samples. A carousel is provided to position and hold a plurality of reaction cartridges. Each reaction cartridge includes a plurality of isolated test sites formed in a two dimensional array in a solid phase binding layer contained within a reaction well which is adapted to contain a biological sample to be assayed. The carousel and cartridges contain structures which cooperate to precisely position the cartridges in each of three separate dimensions so that each cartridge is positioned uniformly. An optical reader operating on a principle of diffuse reflectance is provided to read the results of the assays from each test site of each cartridge. Also provided is a subsystem which provides predetermined lot-specific assay calibration data which is useful for normalizing the results of various assays with respect to predetermined common standard values.

The present invention relates generally to biological sample analyzers and more specifically to a semi-automated analyzer and subsystems thereof capable of simultaneously carrying out a panel of assays on each of a plurality of different biological samples. In one aspect, the analyzer of the invention is adapted to simultaneously assay each of a plurality of biological fluid samples for human IgE class antibodies specific to a preselected panel of allergens.
A significant portion of the population has some allergic reaction to substances such as pollen, animal dander, or other commonly present allergenic substances. A key element in the treatment of such allergic symptoms is identification of the particular substance to which a person may be allergic. Previous methods for determining allergic hypersensitivity were performed using direct skin tests on the patient. In these direct skin tests minute quantities of various allergens were injected into or under the patient's skin and the particular patch of skin was subsequently examined to determine whether or not a person had an allergic reaction to the previously introduced allergen.
In addition to being uncomfortable for the patient, patients on certain medications (i.e. antihistamines) cannot be accurately tested by direct skin tests.
Accordingly, a number of in-vitro testing procedures have been developed. Such procedures detect circulating IgE in serum or plasma or other microbiological interreactions using an insoluble solid carrier coated with a known quantity of antigan extract derived from a known allergenic substance. The coated carrier is typically exposed to, and incubated in, a sample of the patient's blood serum. If the patient carries the IgE class antibody which is specific to the particular allergen and which is the cause of the patient's allergic reaction to the allergen, a measurable binding reaction occurs on the carrier during the incubation period. The concentration of the IgE antibody in the sample and accordingly the degree of allergic sensitivity of the patient is then determined by measuring the magnitude of the binding reaction either visually, photometrically, fluorometrically, radiologically, enzymatically, or by other known techniques.
While such in-vitro procedures provide advantages over in-vivo testing procedures, they are not without disadvantages. First, a relatively large quantity of blood is required to test the patient's sensitivity to a large number of specific allergens. Second, testing for a large number of different allergens in separate cuvettes is tedious and -time consuming for the physician or technician performing the test.
To this end, efforts have been devoted to develop a system which simultaneously tests for a number of specific allergens utilizing a single sample of the patient's blood serum. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,941,876 (Marinkovich) and 4,031,197 (Marinkovich) disclose techniques for the screening of different IgE class antibodies. The techniques taught by Marinkovich involve coating an elongated cellulosic body, such as a strip of paper, with separate identified allergens to form bands or islands, which are separated from one another by allergen-free areas. The coated cellulose material is then contacted with a test serum so that serum IgE class antibodies specific for the coated allergens will bind to the appropriate bands or islands. The cellulosic body is then washed and subsequently incubated with labelled antibodies that are reactive with the attached IgE class antibodies. The bands or islands are then analyzed for the presence of the labeled antibodies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,360 (Marinkovich) also discloses a similar multiple-component binding assay system which includes a plurality of coated filaments mounted on a support for simultaneously screening a liquid test sample for a plurality of components. Each of the filaments, which are preferably cotton threads, is used to bind a different allergen.
Another example of presently available invitro devices is given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,149 (Sell et al.), which discloses an apparatus including a well which contains a plurality of elongated strips. Each strip is coated with a separate assay binding component such as an antigen or allergen. The well is adapted to contain a liquid specimen for incubation with the strips. After the incubation process the liquid specimen is removed and the binding reaction which occurred on each strip is determined by known methods.
Still a further device which may be used for affecting a plurality of antibody-antigen reactions simultaneously in one operation is disclosed in European Patent Application No. 0 063 810 A1 (Gordon et al.). The Gordon reference teaches a device for carrying out immuno-assays which comprises a solid porous support, preferably made of a nitrocellulose material, having antigens and/or immunoglobulins bound thereon by direct application, thereby forming an array of test areas. The array thus formed comprises a plurality of dots or lines of the antigen and/or immunoglobins.
Various systems are available which may be used in conjunction with the above-described multiple component binding assay systems to quantify the reactions which occur on the carriers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,013 (Marinkovich et al.) discloses an apparatus (which may be used in conjunction with a device such as the one taught by Sell et al.) in which a carrier with an uncoated reference region is used to manually produce a strip of photographic film having a linear array of spots or stripes. Each spot or stripe on the film has an optical density indicating the magnitude of the binding reaction on a particular test strip or thread. A scanning densitometer is then used to successively measure the optical density of each film strip, thereby providing a quantitative measure of a patient's reaction to the various allergens.
Another device which may be used with the above-described multiple component binding assay systems to quantify the reaction of each specific allergen is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,393 (Sell et al.) which discloses a portable photo chamber which is used to manually photographically record the magnitude of a chemical reaction evidenced by the emission of radio-activity by a substrate labelled with a radioactive tracer.
Although these methods provide advantages over previously available in-vitro methods, and over the in-vivo methods, they are not without limitations. One major limitation is the fact that the methods for effecting and measuring the reactions on the above-described multiple test spot devices require an extensive amount of manual manipulation by the physician or technician performing the test, which increases the time, cost, and risk of error associated with such tests. For example, known in-vitro procedures require that the multicomponent biological test carriers be manually contacted with the liquid sample being analyzed, removed from the liquid sample, washed, and then incubated with a solution typically containing a labeled second antibody that is reactive with human IgE class antibodies. Subsequently the carrier must be manually removed from the solution and the magnitude of the resulting binding reaction on the solid phase be then determined by autoradiographical analysis in conjunction with densitometric analysis as proposed by Marinkovich, by fluorometry, or by other known techniques.
In addition, the washing step identified above normally comprises a multi-step procedure including removing waste fluid (for example used reagent or sample solution), adding wash solution, agitating the wash solution for a predetermined time period, removing used wash solution, adding more wash solution, and repeating the cycle two or more times before adding the next reagent. If a number of patient samples are to be analyzed simultaneously, the hands-on time requirements are further magnified. For instance, if often patient samples were to be analyzed, each washing step alone could involve performing 90 washes. This would probably require a minimum of approximately 30 minutes hands-on time for the technician or physician for each washing step required.
A number of analyzers for automatically analyzing a plurality of biological samples are known. Such analyzers typically include automated apparatus for providing wash, reagent, and sample fluids, and automated apparatus for measuring the results of the tests on the samples. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,427,294 (Nardo); 4,451,433 (Yamashita, et al.); 4,406,547 (Aihara); 4,634,575 (Kawakami, et al.); 3,964,867 (Berry); and 4,061,469 (DuBose).
Although these analyzers generally automate the analysis of a plurality of biological samples for the presence of a particular substance, none are suitable for carrying out the procedures required to simultaneously analyze a plurality of patient samples in a plurality of test cartridges each containing a plurality of different test sites and each adapted to simultaneously perform a complete panel of tests on a single sample.
Available systems have still further limitations. For instance, the accuracy of test results derived from devices such as those disclosed by Gordon et al. may be less than optimal. Since the test dots in the Gordon et al. device are formed by direct contact of the specific allergen with the nitrocellulose without an effective means for confining or isolating the allergen to a specific area, the accuracy and reliability of the results achieved with this device are affected. Specifically, if the dots are arranged in close proximity to each other there is a possibility that an allergen from one test dot will migrate onto a neighboring test dot when the allergen is applied to the support. This migration adversely affects the accuracy of the determination of the patient's reaction to the allergen associated with the neighboring test dot. Second, since the specific allergens are not confined to a predetermined area, the concentration of allergen will vary from dot to dot on each carrier and from carrier to carrier. As a result, depending on the detection technique employed, dot to dot variations in optical density or in the intensity of optical or other radiation resulting from the binding reactions on a dot will occur in dependence on the area over which the allergen initially dispersed during the initial contact with the support. Such variations have a substantial adverse affect on the uniformity and repeatability of test results.
Therefore, in view of the above, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a biological sample analyzer which may be used to automatically and simultaneously carry out a panel of tests on each of a plurality of patient samples.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide reaction cartridge means which are adapted for use in such an analyzer to simultaneously test a patient sample for a plurality of different components with a single addition of patient sample and selected reagents and which provides test results directly on the vector cartridge accessible by an optical reader.
It is also a more specific object of the present invention to provide reaction cartridge conveying means for such an analyzer including means to accurately and uniformly position a plurality of such cartridges in three separate dimensions so that an optical reader can accurately and uniformly read the results of a plurality of tests on each of a plurality of patient samples.
It is also a more specific object of the present invention to provide means adapted use with such an analyzer to provide access to a large volume of predetermined assay calibration data, such means preferably including reaction cartridge means provided with code means to access corresponding assay calibration data in a data storage means.

Reaction cartridge and carousel for biological sample analyzer


A powered strength trainer includes: a motor of a load element being a DC or brushless motor; a controller, provided for users to adjust current and signal of the motor through a microcomputer control panel, and control the torque, vibration frequency and amplitude of the motor, such that the motor can produce a pulling force, a resistance and a vibration force at the same time, and a vibration waveform can be selected as needed, and a movement path sensor is provided for feeding back a position and determining a positive and negative rotation, and a curved load control is used for compensating a load current appropriately, and allowing users to obtain a smooth and real-world setting. A planar spiral spring drives a winch to rewind the steel wire to prevent the steel wire from falling out during a power disconnection or a power failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a powered strength trainer, in particular to a DC or brushless motor having a linear relation between current and torque to replace a traditional iron weight plate as a load element, and also having a vibration training function for controlling a curved load, compensating a load current, and preventing a rewound steel wire from falling off.
2. Description of the Related Art
Regardless of recreation, health or professional reasons, fitness exercise is an important part of our life. For example, strength trainers become very popular in developed countries in Europe and America, and iron weight plates are used to build up muscles, promote physiological functions, and maintaining a good health. Thus the iron weight plate is called a "weight strength trainer", whose structure is shown in FIG. 1. Such conventional strength trainer 10 is a weight machine that uses an iron weight plate 11 as a load of exercise, and patents of this sort were disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,029,427, 5,833,585 and 4,478,411. However, the conventional loading methods still have the following shortcomings:
1. The iron weight plate 11 comes with a large volume and occupies much space. If a user needs to adjust the exercise load by increasing or decreasing the number and the weight of the load such as the iron weight plate 11, it will take much time and effort for the user to make the adjustment, and the user also has to stop the exercise to do so, and thus it is difficult to achieve the expected exercising effect.
2. The load such as the iron weight plate 11 is heavy and cannot be adjusted easily. Furthermore, an expected load acting as an index of the exercise cannot be achieved, and thus the exercising effect will be reduced substantially.
3. If the load such as the iron weight plate 11 is lifted by a transmission cable 12 and then released slowly, an annoying sound will be produced, and the irritating sound will cause discomfort to the exerciser.
4. The conventional strength trainer 10 is a weight load, and thus the load cannot be changed by setting an exercise curve, or vibration training cannot be preformed. As a result, the exercising function is limited.
5. Since the load cannot be adjusted during an exercise, such as the heartbeat rate exceeds a user's safe range, the load cannot be reduced automatically and immediately, and thus an over-exercise or exercise injury may occur easily.
Obviously, the conventional load device of the strength trainer 10 still has the following shortcomings and requires improvements.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention has provided an automatic load device for electric fitness equipments as disclosed in R.O.C. Pat. Publication No. 230359, wherein the torque of a DC motor is used to drive a steel wire to produce a rated tension in order to replace the conventional iron weight plates, and related technologies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,020,794, 5,180,348, 4,979,733 and 4,678,184. However, the aforementioned prior arts still have the following drawbacks:
1. For a low load, the torque outputted by a DC motor is very low. Since the mechanical system inertia and mechanical loss offset a portion of the torque, the steel wire has no force exerted thereon and a very slow rewind speed. Thus, the speed is slower than that of the conventional iron weight plate, and users generally have poor response to the machines of this sort, and it is a pity of losing the original intention of exercises.
2. If there is a power disconnection or failure of the system when an exerciser is doing exercise, then the motor will lose its rewind capability, and the steel wire will be loosened. Thus, the steel wire will be slid from the spiral groove of the winch.
3. Due to the mechanical loss, the system inertia, and the acceleration of the transmission in the machine, the linear speed of the steel wire cannot match up with the user's exercise synchronously, and thus the machine of this sort is not good enough.
In view of the aforementioned issues, the inventor of the present invention provides a better solution and an improved design to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and gives a better application to users.


An object of the present invention is to provide a circuit device in which the power consumption can be reduced without the dedicated signal. A circuit device (1) comprising a D flip-flop (F0) for receiving a pulse of a clock signal (CK) to introduce data thereinto and output said introduced data and a shift register (2), comprising the D flip-flops (F1 to F7) for introducing the data thereinto in accordance with the pulse to output the introduced data, for processing the outputted data from the D flip-flop (F0), wherein the circuit device (1) comprises a control circuit (3) for controlling whether the D flip-flops (F1 to F7) are supplied with the pulse of the clock signal (CK) on the basis of outputted data from the D flip-flop (F0) in accordance with the pulse of the clock signal (CK) and data to be introduced into the D flip-flop (F0) in accordance with the next pulse.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a circuit device comprising a first delay circuit for outputting data in response to a pulse of a clock signal and a signal processing circuit for processing said outputted data from said first delay circuit, a signal processing circuit comprising a second delay circuit for output ting data in response to said pulse of said clock signal.
2. Description of Related Art
A circuit device comprising a plurality of D flip-flops which are cascaded, and a circuit device comprising logic circuits and D flip-flops which are alternately cascaded are known in the prior art. In such circuit devices, each of a plurality of D flip-flops receives a clock signal, introduces data thereinto in response to a pulse of the clock signal, and outputs the introduced data.
A clock frequency has been increasing with the faster processing rate of a circuit in recent years, so that a power consumption of the circuit device is increasing. Further, all D flip-flops of the circuit device are supplied with the clock signal, so that if the number of the D flip-flops increases, the power consumption increases accordingly. For the purpose of decreasing the power consumption of the circuit device, it is considered to construct a control circuit which can control whether the supply of the clock signal to the D flip-flops is allowed or blocked. However, if such a control circuit is constructed in a simple manner, there is a problem that not only a data signal to be processed in the circuit device but also a dedicated signal for only driving the control circuit mentioned above are required.
It is an object of the invention to provide a circuit device in which the power consumption can be reduced without the dedicated signal.


Described are methods for implementing customer designs in programmable logic devices (PLDs). The defect tolerance of these methods makes them particularly useful with the adoption of “nanotechnology” and molecular-scale technology, or “molectronics.” Test methods identify alternative physical interconnect resources for each net required in the user design and, as need, reroute certain signal paths using the alternative resources. The test methods additionally limit testing to required resources so devices are not rejected as a result of testing performed on unused resources. The tests limit functional testing of used resources to those functions required in the user designs.

Programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), are user-programmable integrated circuits that can be programmed to implement user-defined logic functions. In a typical architecture, an FPGA includes an array of configurable logic blocks (CLBs) surrounded by programmable input/output blocks (IOBs). A hierarchy of programmable routing resources interconnects the CLBs and IOBs. Loading a configuration bitstream into configuration memory cells of the FPGA customizes these CLBs, IOBs, and programmable routing resources. Additional resources, such as multipliers, processors, memory, and application-specific circuits may also be included.
PLDs are growing ever more dense as vendors attempt to satisfy customer demand for PLDs capable of performing ever more complex tasks. Unfortunately, as die size and complexity increase, so too does the probability of finding a defect on a given die. The process yield therefore decreases with PLD complexity, making already expensive PLDs still more expensive. Yield is expected to approach zero as minimum feature sizes approach molecular dimensions.
PLDs are not design specific, but instead afford users (e.g., circuit designers) the ability to instantiate an almost unlimited number of circuit variations. Not knowing in advance the purpose to which a given PLD will be dedicated places a heavy burden on a PLD vendor to ensure the quality and reliability of the PLD because PLD vendors must verify the functionality of every feature that might be used. As a result, PLD manufacturers discard PLDs' that include even relatively minor defects.
PLD defects can be categorized in two general areas: gross defects that render the entire PLD useless or unreliable, and localized defects that damage a relatively small percentage of the PLD. It has been found that, for large die, close to two thirds of the die on a given wafer may be discarded because of localized defects. Considering the costs associated with manufacturing large integrated circuits, discarding a significant percentage of PLD die has very significant adverse economic impact on PLD manufacturers. This problem is expected to worsen with further reductions in feature size and increases in device complexity.
Others have recognized the growing importance of defect-tolerant reconfigurable systems. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,771, incorporated herein, Bruce W. Culbertson and Philip J. Kuekes describe methods that facilitate the use of reconfigurable systems that contain one or more defective resource. That reference discusses techniques for locating and documenting defective resources on reconfigurable systems. Circuit designs are then instantiated on the defective reconfigurable system using the recorded defect information to avoid defective resources.
The main difficulty with the aforementioned "locate and avoid" approach to defect tolerance in reconfigurable systems is that the task of locating defects can be daunting. This difficulty is expected to grow more troublesome with increases in device complexity and with the adoption of nanoscale technology, or "nanotechnology" and molecular-scale technology, or "molectronics." In the present disclosure, nanotechnology employs device minimum feature sizes that range from about one to ten nanometers, and molectronic devices employ still smaller minimum feature sizes.
Many of the constituent components of devices formed using molectronics or nanotechnology are chemically assembled in a manner that affords process engineers less control over individual circuit features than is currently available in modern photolithography processes. As a result, the super-high density circuits have a far greater number and proportion of defects. PLDs incorporating molectronic and nanotechnology structures are therefore virtually guaranteed to include a significant number of defective resources. There is therefore a need for defect-tolerant methods of instantiating circuit designs on integrated circuits.

Application-specific methods for testing molectronic or nanoscale devices


A system including a data projector and a plurality of touch-sensitive input tablets enables multiple participants to collaborate in the creation and marking up of a projected drawing or image. A data projector receives user markup data entered on various touch-sensitive tablets and projects the markup data onto a display surface as part of a collaborative drawing or image.

Chalkboards and whiteboards with erasable markers for interactive discussions have widespread use in business and educational settings. Various electronic whiteboards provide for electronic recordation of markings such as figures, words and characters handwritten by a user onto the whiteboard for later printout, review, and/or transmission. Typical electronic whiteboards include a resistive membrane stretched over a rigid substrate, an electronics module for determining the position of an instrument such as a pen or stylus used to write on the whiteboard, and a computer for processing and storing the coordinates of the pen as it moves over the whiteboard.
Disadvantages with current whiteboards include the inability for participants dispersed throughout a room to provide handwritten input to a drawing being discussed and developed on a whiteboard. Therefore, participants who want to contribute to a drawing being developed on the whiteboard must crowd around the whiteboard in order to gain access and provide handwritten input. The problem of accessing the whiteboard is magnified as the setting gets larger, such as in a large conference room or lecture hall where a greater number of people want to share and collaborate on ideas. In addition, most whiteboards are simply not visible to people seated in the back rows of a large conference room or lecture hall. Another disadvantage with current whiteboards that are able to record handwritten input (e.g., electronic whiteboards) is that they are often bulky and difficult to transport due to the resistive membrane and rigid substrate typically used to sense handwritten input. This can create problems for a lecturer who travels to numerous locations to give interactive presentations. Yet another significant disadvantage with current whiteboards is that they do not provide the ability to mark up pre-existing drawings or images. Rather, the drawings on the whiteboard are developed from scratch.
Projection systems are also commonly used in business and educational settings for interactive discussions. Unlike electronic whiteboards, projection systems provide pre-existing images for interactive discussions. For example, data projectors are devices that accept image data from a computer and project images onto a screen or white wall. An advantage of data projectors is the ease with which hardcopies of a presentation can be printed and made available to participants. Another advantage with projectors in general is their ability to make projected images large enough to be visible to people seated in back rows of a large conference room or lecture hall.
Data projectors initially used only cathode ray tubes (CRT) to create an image which was magnified and projected. However, CRT data projectors are quite large and difficult to transport. Therefore, LCD (liquid crystal display) data projectors are now more commonly used. LCD projectors form an image on an LCD panel which is backlit by a very bright halogen lamp to illuminate the panel and project the image through a lens onto a screen or white wall. A significant advantage of an LCD data projector is that it can be very small and easy to transport.
A disadvantage of data projectors (e.g., an LCD projector) for collaborative purposes, is that they do not provide the ability for discussion participants to provide handwritten input to projected images. Therefore, interaction between a speaker and an audience is limited to verbal interaction. More recently, data projectors have been developed that include electronic white boards. Although projecting images onto a whiteboard permits handwritten input, the problem of having participants crowd around the whiteboard in order to provide handwritten input to an image remains. In addition, use of a whiteboard with a projector reduces the projected image size to the size of the whiteboard, and thus reduces visibility for people seated in the back rows of a large conference room or lecture hall. Furthermore, the illumination of an image onto a whiteboard often visually overpowers underlying markings made to a whiteboard. Thus, it is often difficult to see the handwritten input. In addition, although an electronic whiteboard permits the recordation of handwritten markings for later printout, review, and/or transmission, such markings are of little use if not combined with the originally projected image being marked up.
Accordingly, the need exists for an interactive projection system that permits numerous participants dispersed throughout a room, including a large conference room or lecture hall, to collaboratively generate and discuss drawings that can easily be recorded for printout, review, and/or transmission. The need also exists for such a system to provide pre-existing images that can be collaboratively marked up and recorded for printout, review, and/or transmission.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.