A closable enclosure for rapid thermal processing of semiconductor wafers is presented, wherein the closable enclosure has an enclosed volume less than 10 times the volume of the wafer, and wherein the closable enclosure may be closed about the wafer while the closable enclosure is surrounded by the process gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the rapid thermal processing (RTP) of sensitive electronic materials. The present invention allows high throughput of wafers which must be rapidly processed inside a small enclosure to reduce the loss of material from the wafer surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) is a versatile optical heating method which can be used for semiconductor processing as well as a general, well controlled, method for heating objects or wafers which are in the form of thin sheets, slabs, or disks. The objects are generally inserted into a chamber which has at least some portions of the chamber walls transparent to transmit radiation from powerful heating lamps. The transparent portion of the walls is generally quartz, which will transmit radiation up to a wavelength of 3 to 4 microns. These lamps are generally tungsten-halogen lamps, but arc lamps or any other source of visible and/or near infra-red radiation may be used. The radiation from the lamps is directed through the transparent portions of the walls on to the surface of the object to be heated. As long as the objects absorb light in the near infrared or visible spectral region transmitted by the transparent portion of the walls, RTP techniques allow fast changes in the temperature and process gas for the different material processes and conditions. RTP allows the "thermal budgets" of the various semiconductor processes to be reduced, as well as allows the production of various metastable states which can be "frozen in" when the material is cooled rapidly.
RTP systems are relatively new. In the last 10 or 15 years, such systems were used only in research and development. The thrust of the work was increasing the temperature uniformity, and developing heating cycles and processes which decreased the thermal budget. Prior art RTP machines can heat unstructured, homogeneous materials in the form of a flat plate or disk, and produce temperature uniformities across the plate adequate for semiconductor processing processes.
The temperature control in current RTP systems is mostly performed by monochromatic (or narrow wavelength band) pyrometry measuring temperature of the relatively unstructured and featureless backside of semiconductor wafers. The results of the temperature measurement are generally used in a feedback control to control the heating lamp power. Backside coated wafers with varying emissivity can not be used in this way, however, and the backside layers are normally etched away or the temperature is measured using contact thermocouples.
A newer method of temperature control is the power controlled open loop heating described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,693, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
German patent DE42 23 133 C2, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a method of producing relatively defect free material in RTP machines. Apparatus induced thermal inhomogeneities have been reduced in the last few years because of the demand for more uniform processing. Among the techniques used have been control of the individual lamp power, use of circular lamps, and rotation of the semiconductor wafers with independent power control.
Most RTP machines have a thin rectangular quartz reaction chamber having one end open. Chambers meant for vacuum use often have a flattened oval cross section. Chambers could even be made in the form of a flat cylindrical pancake. In general, the chambers are used so that the thin objects to be heated are held horizontally, but they could also be held vertical or in any convenient orientation. The reactor chamber is usually thin to bring the lamps close to the object to be heated. The reactor chamber is opened and closed at one end with a pneumatically operated door when the wafer handling system is in operation. The door is usually made of stainless steel, and may have a quartz plate attached to the inside. The process gas is introduced into the chamber on the side opposite the door and exhausted on the door side. The process gas flow is controlled by computer controlled valves connected to various manifolds in a manner well known in the art.
Reactors based on this principle often have the entire cross section of one end of the reactor chamber open during the wafer handling process. This construction has been established because the various wafer holders, guard rings, and gas distribution plates, which have significantly greater dimensions and may be thicker than the wafers, must also be introduced into the chamber and must be easily and quickly changed when the process is changed or when different wafer sizes, for example, are used. The reaction chamber dimensions are designed with these ancillary pieces in mind. Copending patent application Ser. No. 08/387,220, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,830, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, hereby incorporated by reference, teaches the importance of the gas flow and the use of an aperture in the door to regulate gas flow and control impurities in the process chamber.
The wafer to be heated in a conventional RTP system typically rests on a plurality of quartz pins which hold the wafer accurately parallel to the reflector walls of the system. Prior art systems have rested the wafer on an instrumented susceptor, typically a uniform silicon wafer. Copending patent application Ser. No. 08/537,409, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, hereby incorporated by reference, teaches the importance of susceptor plates separated from the wafer.
Rapid thermal processing of II-VI and III-V semiconductors has not been as successful as RTP of silicon. One reason for this is that the surface has a relatively high vapor pressure of, for example, arsenic (As) in the case of gallium arsenide (GaAs). The surface region becomes depleted of As, and the material quality suffers.
Kanack et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 55, 2325, (1989) disclose a method of annealing contacts in GaInAsP by placing the InP substrate wafer between two silicon susceptor wafers.
Katz et al., J. of Vac. Science and Tech. B 8, 1285, (1990); Pearton et al. in SPIE 1393, 150, (1991), and Kazior et al. IEEE transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing 4, 21 (1991) teach a method of enclosing a compound semiconductor wafer in an enclosed susceptor having an enclosed volume only slightly greater than the wafer volume, then placing the susceptor in the RTP system for processing. A sacrificial wafer is processed first to charge the walls of the interior of the enclosed susceptor with the volatile component of the wafer of interest, and thereafter a number of product wafers can be treated. Presumably, the partial pressure of the volatile component inside the susceptor is high enough that the rate of evaporation from the wafer surface is equal to the rate at which the volatile component redeposits on the wafer surface.
Such a process does not lead to high throughput, however. The wafer and the enclosing susceptor must be flushed for a relatively long time to expel all the oxygen which was introduced into the enclosure when the wafer was introduced.
The enclosed susceptor could be flushed relatively rapidly if the vacuum RTP system is used. However, these systems have much greater cost and complexity.

Apparatus and method for rapid thermal processing


An improved rear derailleur for changing the gear ratio of a bicycle is disclosed. It includes a fixed member, a movable member, a parallelogram mechanism connecting the fixed member with the movable member, and a cable adjusting screw which is screwed to a screw socket fixed on the fixed member. The cable adjusting screw is connected to a first end of a cable, wherein the cable has a second end fixed to a movable member. The cam member comprises a guiding surface for guiding the cable between the cable adjusting screw and the movable member. The guiding surface of the cam member is structured substantially coinciding a portion of a fictitious circle centered at a rotating pin which connects an outer linkage of the parallelogram with a second end of the fixed member. Furthermore, the cable adjusting screw is positioned in such a manner that its extension is always substantially tangential to the guiding surface of the cam member, so as to allow the cable to be pulled in a direction substantially coincident with the axial extension of the cable adjusting screw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear derailleur structure which is affixed to the rear fork of a bicycle. The rear derailleur structure disclosed in the present invention utilizes a cam member to provide uniformity of operational force as the rider shifts the driving chain from one sprocket to another sprocket of a multistage sprocket assembly mounted on the bicycle frame. The improved rear derailleur structure disclosed in the present invention can, at the same time, reduce the possibility of indexing error of the derailleur caused by the protruding length of the cable adjusting screw, as often observed in the prior art derailleurs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the structure of most of the derailleurs taught in prior art mainly includes a fixed member, a moveable member, a pair of mutually parallel linkage, an upper guide pulley and a lower guide pulley, and a return spring. The two ends of the linkage set are connected to the fixed member and the moveable member, respectively, by a rotating pin. The upper guide pulley and the lower guide pulley are connected to the chain guide to form a guide pulley set. And the set of guide pulleys are connected to the moveable member by the rotating pin.
One end of shifting cable is fixed on the shifting lever, and the other end of the shifting cable passes through a cable adjusting screw and is then fastened on the fixed screw of the shifting cable which is settled on the outer linkage. By pulling the shifting cable for changing speed, the inner and outer linkages of parallelogram mechanism rotate around the pin of the fixed member to cause the moveable member and the set of guide pulleys to be moved outward or inward along with axis of freewheel assembly and thereby move the guide pulley to the alignment position of a respective sprocket of the freewheel assembly in order to shift a driving chain and thereby change speed.
When the rider wishes to shift the driving chain from a smaller sprocket to a larger sprocket, the pulling effort exerted by the shifting cable should be able to overcome the resistance exerted by the return spring of parallelogram mechanism (i.e., should be large enough to change the morphology of parallelogram mechanism), and thereby be able to move the guide pulley set and the driving chain inwardly along the axis of the freewheel assembly. When the rider wishes to shift the chain from the larger sprocket to the smaller sprocket, by means of loosening the shifting cable, the return force exerted by return spring will move the guide pulley set outwardly along the axis of the freewheel assembly in order to shift the chain and thereby to change speed.
The prior art is designed according to the operational principle mentioned above. However, in practice use, the defects of the control performance and indexing error of derailleur under the pre-determined stroke of index shifter can be explained as follows:
(1) As shown from FIGS. 1A through 1F, in the prior art devices, the actual pulling angle of cable (.alpha.) varies during the shifting procedure. When the chain is shifted from a smaller sprocket to a larger sprocket, the distance between the fixed screw of the cable and the adjusting screw cable becomes closer and thereby the active length of cable become shorter. When the guide pulley has a certain upward movement at the axis of freewheel assembly, the actual pulling of cable changes too much and the portion of the cable leaving the adjusting screw becomes folded so that friction and pulling effort of cable to shift chain increase rapidly. Therefore, it will cause the rider to feel the shifting operation uncomfortable. In the meantime, the shifting cable will be easily broken down by long-term friction. PA1 (2) The effect of protruding length L of adjusting screw 20 of prior art on the active length (L1, L2) of cable 21 is shown in FIG. 2A. When the adjusting screw is being screwed in and out for making the adjustment for guide pulley's initial position, the different protruding length of cable adjusting screw 20 will change the active length L of steel cable, wherein initial actual pulling angle of cable (.alpha.1, .alpha.2) be changed. It indicates that the relationship between the change of active length of cable in guide pulley's working area and the change of position of guide pulley changes. Therefore, the chain guide and the guide pulley will often fail to move to the appropriate position as intended within a certain change of cable by using the index type of shifting lever. The function for changing speed will thereby become lower and will even fail.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The present invention relates generally to the field of generating genetically modified C57 mice. More particularly, the present invention pertains to 1) blastocyst-derived mouse embryonic stem cell (ES) cell lines including, but not limited to, the IC1, IC2, IAC1, IAC2, IAC3, IAC4, IAC5, IAC6, IAC7 or IAC8 ES cell line, 2) to efficient methods of making genetically modified C57 mice by introducing the modified C57 ES cells into the mouse blastocysts of either the same mouse strain and/or color of albino C57 strain, or other C57 strain, to generate genetically modified novel, useful and hereto unknown models of C57 mice, and to methods for identifying the chimerism of chimeras which can be not known by coat color.

Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells are continuous cell lines derived directly from the fetal founder tissue of the preimplantation embryo. They can be expanded in culture while retaining the functional attributes of pluripotent embryo cells. In particular, they can participate fully in fetal development when reintroduced into the embryo. The capacity for multilineage differentiation is reproduced in culture whose embryonic stem cells produce a wide range of well-defined cell types. Such pluripotent stem cells can constitute a renewable source of more differentiated cells that can be employed to replace diseased or damaged tissue by cellular transplantation.
Mouse ES cells were established from 129 strain mouse blastocysts in 1981, Evans M J, Kaufman M. Nature 292: 154–156 (1981); Martin G. R. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78: 7634–7638 (1981). They can be cultured and manipulated in vitro and then introduced back into the embryonic environment to differentiate into somatic and germ cell lineages even after transfection. The protocols for ES cell derivation include embryos at the expanded blastocyst stage being plated, either intact or following immunosurgical isolation of the inner cell mass (ICM) onto a feeder layer. Roberson E. J. Trends Genet. 2:9–13 (1986).
ES cells injected into host embryos give rise to mosaic mice known as chimeras. Male ES cells are injected into unsexed blastocysts. If the host embryo is female and the male ES cells make germ cells, the chimera will often be a fertile male. If the proportion of ES cell descendents in the coat of the animal is high, the probability that ES cells are represented in gametes is also high, since ES cells mix thoroughly with host cells early in embryogenesis. ES cells give rise to brown coat color because they are Aw/Aw (dominant White-bellied Agouti), and the host cells give rise to black coat color because they are a/a (recessive non-agouti). The ES cells are from the 129 strain of mice; the host embryos are from the C57BL6 strain of mice. If the chimeras are bred to a/a non-agouti mice (for example C57BL6 or Black Swiss), then any brown offspring (Aw/a) must have arisen from ES cell-derived gametes, and 50% of the brown offspring are expected to carry the knockout allele.
The differences in chimerism are due to different amounts of contribution of the ES cells to the Blastocysts. The better the ES cells do in the blastocyst the more cells of the embryo are derived from the ES cells. The most important lineage is the germ line, because that is the only way to pass on the genetic information to the next generation (germline transmission).
An important characteristic of ES cells is that even after extended propagation and manipulation in vitro, ES cells remain capable of re-entering embryogenesis, colonize the germ cell lineage into a chimera and generate functional gametes. Therefore, genetically modified mice can be derived from cultured ES cells. For example, the following types of genetically modified mice may be produced from genetically modified ES cells: 1) knockout mice in which a gene is dysfunctioned, 2) knockin mice in which a gene is introduced in a specific site of a gene of interest, 3) site-specific transgenic mice which is similar to the knockin but certain copies of the gene are merely introduced into a certain site. These are mosaics, with the exogenous gene in only a proportion of their cells and crossing these mosaic animals generates fully genetically modified offspring. 4) non-site-specific transgenic mice which is similar to the conventional transgenic mice but no pronuclear microinjection is employed.
Maintaining ES cell pluripotency and germline transmission are two most important factors to be addressed for generating genetically modified mice. For example, germline-competent ES cell lines require early passage of ES cells and addition of LIF in the culture medium, and conditions that contribute not only ES pluripotency but also germline transmission. The combination of ES cells and embryo is also a very important factor affecting germline transmission.
A large number of ES cell lines have been generated since 1981 and some of the commonly used ES cell lines include the CCE, HM-1, E14, AB1 and R1 lines, all these ES cell lines derived from 129-sub strains or 129 hybrids. Smith A. G, Annu Rev Cell Dev. Biol 17: 435–462, 2001. The preference for gene targeting in pure inbred lines has now dictated a demand for ES cell lines from various inbred strains, such as C57, Balb/c and DBA etc.
There is a special need for genetically modified C57 mice as experimental tools because in some medical fields, the C57 mice are more sensitive than other mice such as the 129 strain, e.g. in electrophysiology and neuroscience. For example, the C57 mice are more sensitive to tastants than 129 mice, and therefore, the C57 mice are preferred when studying taste transduction.
However, C57 ES cells are difficult to get germline transmission because they are much easier to differentiate than the 129 ES cells.
The chimerism of the chimeras is commonly evaluated by coat color, eg., if 129 ES cells are injected into black C57 blastocysts, the offspring, if chimeric, will be a black background (from C57 blastocysts), with agouti chimerism. The above example is the currently commonly used method for making genetically modified mice. If pure C57 background is preferred, normally researchers need to backcross the F1 offspring (50% 129; 50% C57) (which are commonly from the mating of chimeras with C57 mice, see FIG. 3) with C57 mice, this will take about 2 years after 8–10 generations of mating with C57 mice. This makes it very time-consuming to generate genetically modified C57 mice. The generation of gene-targeted mice via C57 ES cells has become an invaluable research tool. Balb/c mice and 129 mice were used to be host blastocysts for the C57 ES cells, the combination C57 ES cells with Balb/c blastocysts results in significantly higher frequencies of chimeras than the combination C57 ES cells with 129 blastocysts. Ledermann, B. and K. Burki, Exp. Cell Research 197:254–258 (1991). The main disadvantage of using Balb/c as donors is that it is difficult to get good quality and quantity of blastocysts from Balb/c mice because of their delayed embryonic development.
Some researchers have used albino C57 blastocysts (C57BL/6J-Tyrc-2J) and introduced C57 ES cells into them with good result. C57BL/6J-Tyrc-2J strain has a white coat color but still C57 black background, it has a G to T base change at nucleotide 291 of the TyrC-2J allele and resulting in an amino acid change from arginine to leucine at residue 77 which lies in the highly conserved DDRE sequence. Le Fur et al, Genomics 37:245–248 (1996). The disadvantage is that albino C57BL/6J-Tyrc-2J mice are expensive and not available in large quantities for experimentation because only one vendor, the Jackson Laboratory, in Maine, provides this strain in limited quantity.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages outlined above and provides methods for producing germline-competent C57 ES cell lines, and genetically modified (knockout, knockin or transgenic) C57 mice.


An emission device for an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp which maintains an electrode tip shape by which a stable discharge can always be carried out is achieved for a short arc ultra-high pressure mercury lamp with silica glass arc tube containing a pair of opposed electrodes spaced apart a distance of at most 2 mm and in which the arc tube is filled with at least 0.15 mg/mm3 of mercury, a rare gas and a halogen in the range from 1×10−6 μmole/mm3 to 1×10−2 μmole/mm3; by providing an operating device which produces a current feed by which the surface of the tip of at least one of the electrodes is shifted into a molten state during lamp operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an emission device for an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp. The invention relates especially to an emission device which is used for a liquid crystal display device with a light source which is a short arc ultra-high pressure mercury lamp in which an arc tube is filled with at least 0.15 mg/mm3 of mercury, and in which the mercury vapor pressure during operation is at least 110 atm, and for a projector device such as a DLP (digital light processor) or the like using a DMD (digital micro mirror device).
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a display device of the projection type, there is a demand for illumination onto an image device in a uniform manner, and moreover, with adequate color rendering. Therefore, the light source is a metal halide lamp which is filled with mercury and a metal halide. Furthermore, recently smaller and smaller metal halide lamps and more and more often point light sources are being produced and metal halide lamps with extremely small distances between the electrodes are being used in practice.
Against this background, instead of metal halide lamps, lamps with an extremely high mercury vapor pressure, for example, with 150 atm, have been recently proposed. Here, the broadening of the arc is suppressed (the arc is compressed) by the increase of the mercury vapor pressure and moreover a great increase of the light intensity is the goal.
These ultra-high pressure discharge lamps are disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent disclosure document HEI 2-148561 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,181) and Japanese patent disclosure document HEI 6-52830 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,049).
For the above described lamp, for example, a short arc ultra-high pressure mercury lamp is used in which in the silica glass arc tube there is a pair of opposed electrodes with tungsten as the main component and spaced apart by a distance of at most 2 mm. This arc tube is filled with at least 0.15 mg/mm3 of mercury and also contains an amount of halogen in the range from 1×10−6 μmole/mm3 to 1×10−2 μmole/mm3. The main purpose of adding the halogen is to prevent devitrification of the arc tube. However, the so-called halogen cycle also arises as a result.
In the above described ultra-high pressure mercury lamp (hereinafter also called only a "discharge lamp") the phenomenon occurs that, in the course of operation, tungsten is deposited on the electrode tips, that the electrode tips deform and that projections form. This phenomenon is not entirely clear, but the following can be assumed.
The tungsten which is vaporized from the high temperature area in the vicinity of the electrode tip during lamp operation combines with the halogen and residual oxygen which are present in the arc tube. In the case, for example, that bromine (Br) is added as the halogen, it is in the form of a tungsten compound such as WBr, WBr2, WO, WO2, WO2Br, WO2Br2 or the like. These compounds decompose in the high temperature area in the gaseous phase in the vicinity of the electrode tips and yield tungsten atoms or tungsten cations. Due to thermal diffusion (diffusion of the tungsten atoms which are moving from the high temperature area in the gaseous phase (=arc center) in the direction toward the low temperature area (=vicinity of the electrode tip)), due to concentration diffusion and due to the fact that in the arc the tungsten atoms are ionized, yield cations and during operation of the electrode as a cathode are pulled (drift) by the electric field in the direction to the cathode, the tungsten vapor density in the gaseous phase in the vicinity of the electrode tip becomes high, by which deposition on the electrode tip takes place and the electrode tips deform, or by which projections are formed. The circumstances of the above described projections are disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent disclosure document 2001-312997 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,545,430).
FIG. 9 schematically shows the electrode tips and projections. In the figure, the each of the electrodes 1 has a spherical part 1a and a shaft 1b. On the tip of the spherical part 1a, a projection 2 is formed. In the case in which, at the start of lamp operation, there is no projection, projections 2 are also produced by subsequent operation, as is shown in FIG. 9. An arc discharge A is formed on these projections 2 as the starting points.
In this case, if the above described projections are formed in ideal form, there is no disadvantage. However, since they form, as was described above, in the course of operation of the discharge lamp by a physical phenomenon, they do not always have an ideal shape. Especially in the case in which they have a crooked shape, such as showing asperity, the starting point of the discharge becomes unstable, which causes the serious disadvantage that, in the case of a light source of a projector device which is designed such that a point light source is assumed, light cannot emerge to a sufficient degree. Similar disadvantages also arise.

Emission device for an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp


An endoscope includes: a first objective lens that causes an image of a first object to be observed to be formed; a second objective lens that causes an image of a second object to be observed to be formed; a light guide that guides illuminating light from a light source to an insertion portion; a light distribution member that distributes light from the light guide between a first observation direction and a second observation direction; a light amount varying portion for changing light amount proportions with respect to light emitted in the first observation direction and light emitted in the second observation direction; a distance detection portion that measures a second distance between the second objective lens and an object to be observed in the second observation direction; and a control portion that controls the light amount varying portion based on a second distance signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an endoscope with which a front field of view and a lateral field of view can be observed simultaneously.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endoscopes have been widely used in medical fields and industrial fields in recent years. An endoscope can observe an inside of a subject by inserting an elongated insertion portion into the subject. Various types of such endoscopes have been proposed and put into practical use including, for example, a front-view type endoscope in which an observation lens or an illumination lens is provided in a distal end face of a distal end portion that is provided on a distal end side of an insertion portion, and a side-view type endoscope in which an observation lens or an illumination lens is provided at a part of a side face of a distal end portion of an insertion portion.
Furthermore, recently, in order to widen the observation range, various endoscopes that are configured to enable observation not only in a field of view in front of a distal end portion of an insertion portion, but also in a field of view in a circumferential direction that is laterally located along the circumference of the outer circumferential side face of the distal end portion at the same time have been proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-152202 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-228810, and put into practical use.
Such kinds of endoscopes have a configuration that includes front illumination means for illuminating a front field of view range, and lateral illumination means for illuminating an entire lateral circumference field-of-view range. As the aforementioned lateral illumination means, for example, a device has been proposed which illuminates the entire lateral circumference by scattering an illuminating light that has been optically guided from a light source to a distal end side in the longitudinal direction of an insertion portion of the endoscope using a light guide fiber or the like in the radial direction of the insertion portion.
Further, some conventional endoscopes include means for measuring the amount of reflected light from an observation target and detecting a luminance distribution of the observation target. In an endoscope disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-019692, luminance distribution information that is detected in this manner is used for calculating a photographing distance between the distal end portion of the insertion portion and the observation target.


The present invention relates to an interlabial pad that is worn by female wearers, placed in intimate contact and supported between the labia, which provides an interlabial pad that gives no discomfort to the female wearer in the body motions of the wearer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interlabial pad that is able to be worn by female wearer, being placed in an intimate contact between the labia.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, a sanitary napkin and a tampon are used generally as a female sanitary products. Here, there have been great efforts to prevent the leak of menstrual blood from gap caused by a poor contact state near the ostium vaginae as for the sanitary napkin. Moreover, as for the tampon, there have been great efforts for relieving a foreign feeling and discomfort when wearing a tampon product and intervaginal wearing trouble due to the nature of those products.
Under such situation, a sanitary product of the interlabial pad have attracted people as a sanitary product positioned between the sanitary napkin and the tampon in recent years. The interlabial pad is used by inserting its portion between the labia and bringing into contact with a labia inner face, it prevents the menstrual blood from leaking since it has higher adhesion to the body than that of the sanitary napkin, and the menstrual blood from being diffused and brought widely into contact with the body, so it is sanitary and clean. Moreover, the interlabial pad which has characteristics that it excels in a wear feeling, is comfortable because of being smaller than the sanitary napkin, and has lower psychological resistance on wearing than that of the tampon which is inserted into the vagina.
Unlike a sanitary napkins being fixed to an underwear or a tampon and being fixed by insertion into the vagina, the interlabial pad is usually used and fixed to the body by inserting it between the labia, which may make right and left phase shifts in body motions. Therefore, it is necessary that the interlabial pad can make right and left phase shifts flexibly to follow the wearer's body motions. That is, it is required to the motions of the labia corresponding to the asymmetric body motions with respect to the body's longitudinal plane of symmetry, which extends along the anteroposterior axis, like putting one foot in front of the other alternately in walking. If the interlabial pad cannot follow the body motions and falls from the wearer's interlabial space, the resulting leak of menstrual blood is a significant problem. The "right and left phase shifts" refer to a broad concept including asymmetric or separate changes of the right and left sides (The change includes changing positions and moving.).
As a conventional example of such device, an absorbent interlabial device is disclosed (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-506168). The absorbent interlabial device comprises a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid non permeable backsheet and an absorbent core positioned between the topsheet and backsheet. The length of the absorbent interlabial device is greater than about 60 mm and less than about 130 mm. The width of the device is between about 25 mm and about 50 mm. The device comprises an axis of preferred bending, located along the longitudinal centerline of the device. When the device is folded along this axis and is inserted into the wearer's interlabial space, the topsheet maintains contact with the walls of the wearer's labia.
When being inserted between the labia, the absorbent interlabial device is folded to be accommodated in the space. However, unlike a usual sanitary napkin, the interlabial pad is not fixed to the underwear or not fixed by insertion like a tampon. The interlabial pad is inserted between the labia in such condition that the pad may slip or shift and is not fixed as securely as the sanitary napkin or tampon. Therefore, with the wearer's body movement, slips between the absorbent interlabial device (equivalent to the interlabial pad) and the labia may tend to occur, which may make the wearer feel discomfort.

Abstract: The interlabial pad of the present invention is characterized by having a structure and/or shape which allows the pad to make right and left phase shifts easily, even when a shearing force is exerted on the interlabial pad by the wearer's body motion, that is, a structure and/or shape which reduces the friction.


Aspects of the invention relate to compounds, pharmaceutical compositions, methods for the manufacturing of compounds and methods for treatment of various disorders mediated at least in part by one or more galectins.

Galectins are a family of S-type lectins that bind beta-galactose oligosaccharides containing glycoproteins. To date, fifteen mammalian galectins have been identified. Galectins have been associated multiple biological processes such as cell adhesion, regulation of growth, apoptosis, tumor development and other pathways in normal and pathological events. Galectin-3 (Gal-3), in particular, has been shown to be involved in inflammation, fibrosis formation, metastatic cancer including infiltration, angiogenesis, adhesion, proliferation and immunosuppression as well as systemic insulin resistance and obesity.

Compounds for the prevention and treatment of medical disorders and uses thereof


Methods and systems for self-servowriting a data storage medium are disclosed, including servoing to propagation bursts of a propagation pattern located in tracks other than an immediately preceding track. Reference levels used to position a recording head are accordingly kept in a usable dynamic range necessary to keep servo track spacing constant across the medium. The methods and systems are disclosed in connection with a rotary actuator having spaced read and write heads. Similar methods are disclosed for writing trigger or timing bursts of the propagation pattern.

Increased levels of storage capacity in floppy and hard disk drives are a direct result of the higher track densities possible with voice-coil and other types of servo positioners. Previously, low track density disk drives were able to achieve satisfactory head positioning with leadscrew and stepper motor mechanisms. However, when track densities are so great that the mechanical error of a leadscrew-stepper motor combination is significant compared to track-to-track spacing, an embedded servo-pattern is needed so that the position of the head can be determined from the signals it reads.
Conventional hard disk manufacturing techniques often include writing servo-patterns on the media of a head disk assembly (HDA) with a specialized servowriter instrument. Laser positioning feedback is used in such instruments to read the actual physical position of a recording head used to write the servo-patterns. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult for such servowriters to invade the internal environment of an HDA for servowriting because the HDAs themselves are exceedingly small and depend on their in-place covers and castings for proper operation. Some HDAs are the size and thickness of a plastic credit card. At such levels of microminiaturization, traditional servowriting methods are inadequate.
Conventional signals of servo-patterns typically comprise short bursts of a constant frequency signal, very precisely located offset from a data track's center line, on either side. The bursts are generally, but not required to be, located in a trajectory within a track. The bursts are written in a sector header area, and can be used to find the center line of a track. Staying on center is required during both reading and writing. Since there can be sixty, or even more, sectors per track, that same number of servo-pattern areas must be dispersed around a data track. These servo-pattern areas allow a head to follow a track center line around a disk, even when the track is out of round, as can occur with spindle wobble, disk slip and/or thermal expansion. As technology advances provide smaller disk drives, and increased track densities, the placement of servo-patterns must also be proportionately more accurate.
Servo-patterns are conventionally written by dedicated, external servowriting equipment, and typically involve the use of large granite blocks to support the disk drive and quiet outside vibration effects. An auxiliary clock head is inserted onto the surface of the recording disk and is used to write a reference timing pattern. An external head/arm positioner with a very accurate lead screw and a laser displacement measurement device for positional feedback is used to precisely determine transducer location and is the basis for burst placement and spacing of bursts in successive tracks. The servowriter requires a clean room environment, as the disk and heads will be exposed to the environment to allow the access of the external head and actuator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,589 to Oliver et al. describes servowriting wherein optimum track spacing is determined by positioning one of the moving read/write heads at a first limit stop in the range of travel of the positioning means. A first reference burst is then written with the moving head. A predetermined reduction number or percentage of amplitude reduction X %, is then chosen that is empirically related to the desired average track density. The first reference burst is then read with the moving head. The moving head is then displaced away from the first limit stop until the amplitude of the first reference burst is reduced to X % of its original amplitude. A second reference burst is then written with the moving head and the moving head is then displaced again in the same direction until the amplitude of the second reference burst is reduced to X % of its original value. The process is continued, writing successive reference bursts located in successive tracks and displacing the moving head by an amount sufficient to reduce the amplitude to X % of its original value, until the disk is filled with reference bursts in tracks (i.e., a propagation pattern). The number of reference bursts so written is counted and the process is stopped when a second limit stop in the range of travel of the positioning means is encountered. Knowing the number of tracks written and the length of travel of the moving head, the average track density is checked to insure that it is within a predetermined range of the desired average track density. If the average track density is high, the disk is erased, the X % value is lowered and the process is repeated. If the average track density is low, the disk is erased, the X % value is increased and the process is repeated. If the average track density is within the predetermined range of the desired average track density, the desired reduction rate X %, for a given average track density, has been determined and the servowriter may then proceed to the servowriting steps, using the collection of reference bursts written as a propagation pattern. This technique cannot accommodate changes in reference levels which may be required across the disk surface.
The process of servowriting using only the internal recording transducer and product actuator, (one form of self-servowriting) is thus generally known to involve a somewhat rigid application of three largely distinct subprocesses: writing and reading magnetic bursts to provide precise timing; positioning the recording transducer at a sequence of radial locations using the variation in readback signal amplitude from propagation bursts as a sensitive position transducer; and writing the actual product servo-pattern at the times and radial locations defined by the first two subprocesses. Again, such techniques currently suffer from exposure to changing conditions across the disk surface, and, in addition, to manufacturing tolerances in the HDAs themselves.
What is required are systems and methods for self-servowriting which are more flexible and which overcome the deficiencies of the presently known self-servowriting techniques.

Methods and systems for self-servo-writing including writing positioning and timing bursts at different track pitches


A pattern with good adhesiveness to a substrate and good shape and heat resistance can be formed by coating a pattern forming material comprising (a) a resin, (b) a photoacid generator and (c) a solvent on the substrate, exposing to deep UV light, and developing using a mixed solvent of tetramethylammonium hydroxide and an alcohol.

This invention relates to a pattern forming method.
Recently, with the promotion of higher density integration of semiconductor devices, the light source wavelength of an exposure device used for fine process, especially photolithography is more and more shortened. At present i-line (365 nm) has entired its practical use and KrF excimer laser (248.4 nm) is already investigated. However, resist pattern materials, especially resist materials suitable for KrF excimer laser, and deep UV wavelength ranges have not been developed sufficiently. For example, even when MP2400 (Shipley Co.) which is said to have high sensitivity and transmittance for KrF excimer laser light is used, because of the surface absorption of a novolac resin which is a base polymer and poor optical reactivity of a sensitizer, a naphthoquinone diazide compound, pattern profile after pattern formation is too low in quality to be used.
Also as a pattern forming material for deep UV, there is reported a resist which contains of 2-diazo-1,3-dione compound with high transmittance for deep ultraviolet light of near 248.4 nm. However, compared with the transmittance of 70% of the base polymer of the resist, the transmittance of the pattern forming material after exposure is only 45%, and enough photobleach is not obtained. Also as a result of pattern forming experiments, it is found that the pattern has an angle of approx. 70 degrees which value is insufficient compared with a pattern shape which becomes a satisfying etching mask with a vertical shape.
Also it has become clear that the sensitivity of this pattern forming material is as low as from 140 to 150 mJ/cm.sup.2. That is, the high transparent pattern forming material containing a 2-diazo-1,3-dione compound has low sensitivity, and is difficult for a practical use when there is used KrF excimer laser light of which energy efficiency is poor.
In recent years, as a means to decrease exposure energy quantity, a material comprising poly(tert-butoxy carbonate (t-BOC)) styrene and an onium salt was proposed. This is a chemical amplification pattern forming material which generates an acid by exposure to light, said acid acting as a catalyst. Various reports have been made recently [e.g. Polym. Eng. Sci. volume 23, page 1012 (1983)]. A pattern forming method using such a known chemical amplification pattern forming material is explained referring to FIG. 1. The pattern forming material 12 is spin-coated on a semiconductor substrate 1, and it is soft baked for 90 seconds on a hot plate of 90.degree. C. to obtain a film of pattern forming material of 1.0 .mu.m thick (FIG. 1(a)). In most cases, an insulation film, an electroconductive film and an oxide film are formed on the substrate 1. Next, an acid is generated from a photoacid generator in the material 12 as shown in the following chemical change by exposure to KrF excimer laser (248.4 nm) 4 through a mask 5 (FIG. 1(b)). ##STR1## Then, the chemical change mentioned below is caused by the heat treatment (post exposure bake, i.e. PEB) of the said material film on a hot plate 3 for 90 seconds at 130.degree. C., and the resin becomes alkali soluble (FIG. 1(c)). ##STR2## Finally, positive type pattern 12a and 12c are obtained by dissolution and removal of exposed part 12 of the pattern forming material 12 by using an alkaline developer (MF-319, mfd. by Shipley Co.) (FIG. 1(d)).
But it was found impossible to apply this method to formation of fine patterns 12c on the substrate as in FIG. 1(d), if the pattern size is 1.0 .mu.m or less, especially 0.5 .mu.m or less. That is, a fine resist pattern 12, which is to be retained, is not retained. A reason why super fine patterns are not formed was proved to be the low adhesiveness between the pattern forming material and the substrate according to the present inventors' investigation. Although this is not a problem in a device production of several .mu.m level as in the said instance, this is a fatal problem in a process for forming fine patterns of 1 .mu.m or less, especially super fine patterns of 0.5 .mu.m or less in high density. Consequently, it is impossible to produce a device of submicron rule. Thus, the reason why the super fine patterns are not formed turned out to be the low adhesiveness between the pattern forming material and the substrate. Since poly (t-BOC)styrene resin conventionally used for a pattern forming material does not contain a hydrophilic radical in its molecule, when it is made into a thin film, it becomes hydrophobic. As for the substrate, since hydrophobic treatment with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) is performed before forming a pattern forming material film, the substrate surface is hydrophobic. Since the hydrophobic substrate and the hydrophobic pattern forming material have poor adhesiveness, the exposed part of the resist material is dissolved and removed during development after patternwise exposure. At the same time, an unexposed part of the resist material, which should not be dissolved, is removed because of poor adhesiveness, and does not remain on the substrate. This phenomenon becomes especially remarkable in fine patterns of 1 .mu.m or less. Therefore, it is extremely important to prevent this in the production of highly profitable super fine semiconductor integrated circuits having super fine patterns of 1 .mu.m or less, particularly 0.5 .mu.m or less.

Process for forming a positive pattern through deep ultraviolet exposure, heat treatment and development with TMAH solution containing an alcohol to improve adhesion

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus comprising placing a visual indicator such as a stripe or series of markings on the tubing connecting the various components of a penile prosthesis to evidence the proper linear alignment of the tubing, and counter-rotating those components prior to or during implantation to achieve or maintain proper alignment of the components and thus prevent or remove any torque on the tubing that would cause tears or separations at the junction points. A tactile indicator may be used in addition to or in place of the visual indicator.

The art relating to penile prosthetic devices is well established, with representative examples of the basic structures of and improvements to such devices being shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,611 to Cowan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,020 to Bley, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,417 to Cowen. Each of those patents is owned by the assignee of the present application, and suggest various embodiments of a penile prosthesis which have proven operational and commercially suitable.
These examples certainly do not exhaust the structural configurations and functional variations that may be adopted for such a prosthesis, and it is recognized that a wide array of similar products have been developed and are well known to those skilled in the art--emanating both from the assignee of this application and many other individuals and companies.
For purposes of describing the improvement of this invention, it is sufficient to focus on the basic structural components of these representative devices. The common elements include a pair of elongated cylindrical chambers that are implanted within the corpora cavernosa of a patient, and which may be inflated using a biologically compatible fluid to achieve an erection in the patient. The device further includes a reservoir for that fluid, and a pump for transferring fluid from the reservoir to the chambers under pressure. To facilitate operation of the prosthesis, an array of valves must be utilized in combination with the pump to control the flow of the fluid. When the reservoir is located at a remote position relative to the chambers, the reservoir and chambers must be operationally interconnected using tubing or a similar conduit for the fluid. In such devices, it has proven advantageous to locate the pump within the scrotum of the patient, and the reservoir may optionally be located at a remote position such as behind the pelvic wail or combined unitarily with the pump in a Resipump.TM. design.
One problem associated with such prostheses is the tendency for the tubing forming the fluid conduits to leak or completely separate from the valve block, reservoir, or cylinders. Because the pump and valve block are disposed within the scrotum of the patient where they are subject to more unrestricted freedom of movement as well as intentional manipulation by the patient during operation, the connections between the tubing and valve block appear subject to the greatest potential for damage or separation.
The tubing may remain intact for relatively long periods of time (up to the useful life of the prosthesis), may gradually form a relatively small leak due to a fracture or tear at or near the junction of with another component such as the valve block, or may separate completely from a component without advance warning. The compromise of the closed system may occur in the tubing, at the junction between the tubing and a component, or within the tubing-to-component junction itself. These conditions are probably in an adhered, seated, or molded junction. While forming the tubing or conduits unitarily with the other components will reduce the frequency of leaks and separations compared to devices utilizing bonded connections, it can also unduly increase the overall complexity and cost of manufacturing the prosthesis to unacceptable levels.

Prosthesis having an alignment indicator and method of using same


A hydraulic control system for an internal combustion engine, includes a driven mechanism driven by hydraulic pressure fed through a flowing passage change-over valve. The flowing passage change-over valve includes a valve body formed with a plurality of ports which are respectively communicated with the supply passage and the oil passage, and a spool valve body slidably disposed in the valve body to open and close the plurality of ports, the ports including a supplying port communicated with the supplying passage. The maximum cross-sectional area of the supplying port is larger than a minimum cross-sectional area of the supplying passage. The flowing passage change-over valve is supplied with electric current to heat hydraulic fluid kept in the flowing passage change-over valve so as to lower a viscosity of the hydraulic fluid.

This invention relates to improvements in a hydraulic control system used, for example, in a valve timing control system to change opening and closing timings of an intake valve and an exhaust valve in an internal combustion engine.
Hitherto various types of valve timing control systems have been proposed and put into practical use. One of such valve timing control systems is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 11-141359. This valve timing control system is a vane type and applied to an intake side. The valve timing control system includes a timing sprocket having a cylindrical housing whose front and rear open ends are respectively closed with a front cover and a rear cover. A vane member fixed to a cam shaft is rotatably accommodated within the housing. The housing is provided at its inner peripheral surface with generally trapezoidal two shoes which extend radially and inwardly. A timing-advancing chamber and a timing-retarding chamber are formed separate from each other, in which each chamber is defined between one of the two shoes and one of two vanes (or blade portions) of the vane member.
A hydraulic fluid (or lubricating oil) discharged from an oil pump for the lubricating oil is flowed through a main oil gallery formed in a cylinder block to a flowing passage change-over valve (or oil control valve) so as to be selectively supplied to each timing-advancing chamber and each timing-retarding chamber.
More specifically, the flowing passage change-over valve includes therein a spool valve body which is slidably movable in an axial direction by a control current output from an electronic controller in accordance with an engine operating condition thereby selectively opening and closing each port formed in a valve body. With this, communication between the main oil gallery and oil passages which are respectively communicated with each timing-advancing chamber and each timing-retarding chamber is relatively changed over thereby supplying hydraulic fluid to or draining hydraulic fluid from each timing-advancing chamber and each timing-retarding chamber.
Consequently, the vane member is rotated in right and reverse directions thereby changing a relative rotational phase between the timing sprocket and the cam shaft to a timing-advancing side or a timing-retarding side, so that the opening and closing timings of the intake valve is variably controlled.

Hydraulic control system for internal combustion engine


The present invention provides a display panel including a through-hole, a non-display area surrounding the through-hole and a display area; the non-display area includes a substrate, an organic film layer structure, an inorganic film layer structure and a light-emitting functional layer; the organic film layer structure includes a plurality of organic thin film layers; the inorganic film layer structure includes at least one annular first through-groove surrounding the through-hole; the organic film layer structure includes at least one annular second through-groove surrounding the through-hole; the first through-grooves correspond to the second through-grooves by way of one to one, respectively; the width of the first through-groove is smaller than the width of the second through-groove at the organic thin film layer that is in contact with the inorganic film layer structure in the organic film layer structure; the light-emitting functional layer is disconnected at the first through-grooves.

With the development of society and the continuous advancement of science and technology, people have higher and higher demands on a display screen of the mobile phone. The display screen of the Mobile phone is getting bigger and bigger, and the bezels are getting narrower and narrower, Mobile phones that pursue a high screen-to-body ratio have become a mainstream trend in the world.
Full screens, Notch screens, water drop screens or beautiful sharp screens have appeared on the market. At the same time, through the technology of designing narrow bezels and hiding mobile phone handset and other devices that are made small into the bezels, the screen-to-body ratio of mobile phones can reach 90%. However, the front camera having the selfie function commonly used by users today cannot be replaced by other technologies. At present, one or more holes are generally punched at a region which corresponds to the front camera in the display panel. The screen-to-body ratio of a latest punch-hole screen can reach 91.8%.
In the organic display panel, a special encapsulation process is required at the through-holes of the screen to effectively block a light-emitting functional layer, thereby preventing the display panel from malfunctioning due to the penetration of water or oxygen from the outside into the organic light-emitting layer, and increasing the life of the display panel.
It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present invention, and therefore may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Display panel and display device including the same

Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd


The present claim relate generally to steganographic encoding and decoding. For example, one claim recites a method including: using a programmed electronic processor, generating authentication information corresponding to semantic information to be carried on or in a document; and incorporating the authentication information on or in the document, in which incorporated authentication information is to be later obtainable from the document for comparison with the semantic information, and in which the authentication information is steganographically incorporated on or in the document so as to be machine-readable from the document with visible light scanning. Of course, other claims and combinations are provided too.

The use of photograph-based identification ("photo ID") systems is pervasive. Drivers' licenses, passports, visas, government employee cards, immigration documents, and now, more frequently, credit cards and cash transaction cards carry a photograph of the card bearer for identification purposes. Many industries require that their employees carry photo ID on the job.
Fraudulent use of photo ID systems may occur where, for example, an otherwise legitimate passport is modified such that the original photograph is swapped with that of another person, thereby enabling the other person to travel, at least temporarily, under the guise of the original passport holder.
Even in the absence of photograph swapping or alteration, it is oftentimes difficult to confirm by inspection that the individual depicted in the photograph of the identification card is indeed the bearer of the card.
One aspect of this invention provides for enhanced security and certainty in the use of photo ID documents.
Another aspect of this invention pertains to unauthorized use and outright piracy of proprietary source material which, since time immemorial, has been a source of lost revenue, confusion, and artistic corruption.
These historical problems have been compounded by the advent of digital technology. With it, the technology of copying materials and redistributing them in unauthorized manners has reached new heights of sophistication, and more importantly, omnipresence. Lacking objective means for comparing an alleged copy of material with the original, owners and litigation proceedings are left with a subjective opinion of whether the alleged copy is stolen, or has been used in an unauthorized manner. Furthermore, there is no simple means of tracing a path to an original purchaser of the material—something which can be valuable in tracing where a possible "leak" of the material first occurred.
A variety of methods for protecting commercial material have been attempted. One is to scramble signals via an encoding method prior to distribution, and descramble prior to use. This technique, however, is of little use in mass market audio and visual media, where even a few dollars extra cost causes a major reduction in market, and where the signal must eventually be descrambled to be perceived, and thus can be easily recorded.
Another class of techniques relies on modification of source audio or video signals to include a subliminal identification signal, which can be sensed by electronic means. Examples of such systems are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,471 and European patent publication EP 441,702, as well as in Komatsu et al, "Authentication System Using Concealed Image in Telematics," Memoirs of the School of Science & Engineering, Waseda University, No. 52, p. 45-60 (1988) (Komatsu uses the term "digital watermark" for this technique). These techniques have the common characteristic that deterministic signals with well defined patterns and sequences within the source material convey the identification information. For certain applications this is not a drawback. But in general, this is an inefficient form of embedding identification information for a variety of reasons: (a) the whole of the source material is not used; (b) deterministic patterns have a higher likelihood of being discovered and removed by a would-be pirate; and (c) the signals are not generally 'holographic' in that identifications may be difficult to make given only sections of the whole. ('Holographic' is used herein to refer to the property that the identification information is distributed globally throughout the coded signal, and can be fully discerned from an examination of even a fraction of the coded signal. Coding of this type is sometimes termed "distributed" herein.)
Among the cited references are descriptions of several programs which perform steganography—described in one document as " . . . the ancient art of hiding information in some otherwise inconspicuous information." These programs variously allow computer users to hide their own messages inside digital image files and digital audio files. All do so by toggling the least significant bit (the lowest order bit of a single data sample) of a given audio data stream or rasterized image. Some of these programs embed messages quite directly into the least significant bit, while other "pre-encrypt" or scramble a message first and then embed the encrypted data into the least significant bit.
Our current understanding of these programs is that they generally rely on error-free transmission of the of digital data in order to correctly transmit a given message in its entirety. Typically the message is passed only once, i.e., it is not repeated. These programs also seem to "take over" the least significant bit entirely, where actual data is obliterated and the message placed accordingly. This might mean that such codes could be easily erased by merely stripping off the least significant bit of all data values in a given image or audio file. It is these and other considerations which suggest that the only similarity between our invention and the established art of steganography is in the placement of information into data files with minimal perceptibility. The specifics of embedding and the uses of that buried information diverge from there.
Another cited reference is U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,167 to Melen. In the service of authenticating a given document, the high precision scanning of that document reveals patterns and "microscopic grain structure" which apparently is a kind of unique fingerprint for the underlying document media, such as paper itself or post-applied materials such as toner. Melen further teaches that scanning and storing this fingerprint can later be used in authentication by scanning a purported document and comparing it to the original fingerprint. Applicant is aware of a similar idea employed in the very high precision recording of credit card magnetic strips, as reported in the Feb. 8, 1994, Wall Street Journal, page B1, wherein very fine magnetic fluxuations tend to be unique from one card to the next, so that credit card authentication can be achieved through pre-recording these fluxuations later to be compared to the recordings of the purportedly same credit card.
Both of the foregoing techniques appear to rest on the same identification principles on which the mature science of fingerprint analysis rests: the innate uniqueness of some localized physical property. These methods then rely upon a single judgement and/or measurement of "similarity" or "correlation" between a suspect and a pre-recording master. Though fingerprint analysis has brought this to a high art, these methods are nevertheless open to a claim that preparations of the samples, and the "filtering" and "scanner specifications" of Melen's patent, unavoidably tend to bias the resulting judgement of similarity, and would create a need for more esoteric "expert testimony" to explain the confidence of a found match or mis-match. It is desirable to avoid this reliance on expert testimony and to place the confidence in a match into simple "coin flip" vernacular, i.e., what are the odds you can call the correct coin flip 16 times in a row. Attempts to identify fragments of a fingerprint, document, or otherwise, exacerbate this issue of confidence in a judgment. It is desirable, therefore, to objectively apply the intuitive "coin flip" confidence to the smallest fragment possible. Also, storing unique fingerprints for each and every document or credit card magnetic strip, and having these fingerprints readily available for later cross-checking, should prove to be quite an economic undertaking. It would be preferred to allow for the "re-use" of noise codes and "snowy images" in the service of easing storage requirements.
Despite the foregoing and other diverse work in the field of identification/authentication, there still remains a need for a reliable and efficient method for performing a positive identification between a copy of an original signal and the original. Desirably, this method should not only perform identification, it should also be able to convey source-version information in order to better pinpoint the point of sale. The method should not compromise the innate quality of material which is being sold, as does the placement of localized logos on images. The method should be robust so that an identification can be made even after multiple copies have been made and/or compression and decompression of the signal has taken place. The identification method should be largely uneraseable or "uncrackable." The method should be capable of working even on fractional pieces of the original signal, such as a 10 second "riff" of an audio signal or the "clipped and pasted" sub-section of an original image.
The existence of such a method would have profound consequences on piracy in that it could (a) cost effectively monitor for unauthorized uses of material and perform "quick checks"; (b) become a deterrent to unauthorized uses when the method is known to be in use and the consequences well publicized; and (c) provide unequivocal proof of identity, similar to fingerprint identification, in litigation, with potentially more reliability than that of fingerprinting.
In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention, the foregoing and additional objects are achieved by embedding an imperceptible identification code throughout a source signal. In the preferred embodiment, this embedding is achieved by modulating the source signal with a small noise signal in a coded fashion. More particularly, bits of a binary identification code are referenced, one at a time, to control modulation of the source signal with the noise signal.
The copy with the embedded signal (the "encoded" copy) becomes the material which is sold, while the original is secured in a safe place. The new copy is nearly identical to the original except under the finest of scrutiny; thus, its commercial value is not compromised. After the new copy has been sold and distributed and potentially distorted by multiple copies, the present disclosure details methods for positively identifying any suspect signal against the original.
Among its other advantages, the preferred embodiments' use of identification signals which are global (holographic) and which mimic natural noise sources allows the maximization of identification signal energy, as opposed to merely having it present 'somewhere in the original material.' This allows the identification coding to be much more robust in the face of thousands of real world degradation processes and material transformations, such as cutting and cropping of imagery.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Digital authentication with analog documents


Systems and methods are provided for informing a user about the emotional response of the user to a presentation. Facial expressions of the user are monitored while the user is presented with the presentation. The facial expressions are analyzed to determine an emotion displayed at one or more specific times of the presentation. The user is provided with information about the emotion conveyed by the facial expressions of the user. The user is further provided with an opportunity to take a selected action that corresponds to the emotion conveyed.

Understanding consumers' reactions to video campaigns (such as video- and audio-based campaigns) is generally complex, and often campaign organizers rely on in-person interviews, recorded or live-monitored user studies, and/or surveys to determine (or gauge) user reaction to a campaign. These mechanisms can be resource intensive and may be inaccurate due to various biases throughout the process, among other shortcomings.
Emotional reactions, on the other hand, are hard to disguise, and if these emotions can be interpreted correctly, they can be used to help provide an accurate and instantaneous (or near-instantaneous) measure of a campaign's effectiveness.
Existing Emotion Facial Action Coding System (EMFACS) tools use a video recording device (e.g., camera) to track facial muscle movement and compare the detected movements to an existing dataset to determine the emotions of a person. However, these systems are expensive and difficult to deploy. Furthermore, these systems rely on conducting user tests with a web-based application on a computer/PC which can create an artificial environment that many users do not adapt well to. In fact, users may often be reluctant to turn on a camera for use with a web browser in the first instance.

Remote reaction capture and analysis system


A stairs lift system capable of converting stairs climbing operation into a walking movement along a horizontal plane. The system comprises an existing substrate, flight of stairs, and a second, overlying layer of stairs. Each one of the overlying stairs comprises a lifting element. Mechanical, electronic or hydraulic means are provided for lifting the lifting element up to the height of next-in-line overlaying stair. The lifting means are activated when sensing the presence of a subject having stepped on the first-in-line lifting element. The first-in-line lifting element returns to the initial position once the subject has stepped over to the next-in-line stair; and so forth.

Stair flights are the most common means for enabling individuals to climb to (or descend from) different levels in residential and other buildings. The most popular alternatives—though much more expensive and not always practicable—are elevators or escalators.
It is the object of the invention to offer an alternative solution, particularly for the elderly or less-fit persons, who live in residential buildings, multi level apartments or family houses, where retrofitting of an elevator is not possible for economic or other reasons.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an array of substitutional stairs readily installable on top of any existing stair flight, converting it into a so to speak "one level walking" elevator.
The closest prior art known to the Applicant are systems specially tailored for the handicapped, i.e. those who need wheelchairs—cf. U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,773.


The laser range finding system includes a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor unit (SU) and a LIDAR processor unit (PU). The LIDAR SU is for transmitting light pulses and receiving resulting input light signals reflected from objects within the field of view of the SU. The LIDAR SU includes a flash LIDAR illuminating laser source for transmitting light pulses. The LIDAR illuminating laser source includes an illuminating laser and zoom optics operatively associated with the laser. A LIDAR receiver receives resulting input light signals reflected from the objects. The LIDAR receiver includes a sensor; and, a flash readout integrated circuit (IC). The flash readout IC measures the transit time of the light pulses. The LIDAR processor unit (PU) is operatively associated with the LIDAR SU and it utilizes flash LIDAR ranging. A power source is operatively coupled to the LIDAR PU. Zooming of the transmitted light pulses results in the received resulting input light signals illuminating a relatively reduced area of the frame. Thus, a flash LIDAR image of relatively reduced resolution but enhanced range is provided by utilization of the transit time measurements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to measurement of distance to visual landmarks for applications including navigation and mapping, and more particularly navigation and mapping in a Global Positioning System (GPS) denied environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a growing need to provide underground, urban, and indoor navigation without the use of external augmentation aids or GPS. Tracking or navigation systems often make use of measurements from sensors to aid in determining a location ("localization") or an orientation (attitude and heading) or a pose (position and orientation) of an object such as a person, a vehicle or a robot as it navigates in an environment, such as within the bounds of a building. A variety of types of sensors are available for such systems, including sensors that measure a relative location between a sensor and a target. An example of such a sensor/target combination is a pulsed laser emitter and a photosensor that can determine a distance traveled by the laser pulse by measuring time of flight. Different types of sensors measure different aspects of the relative pose of a sensor and a target, such as a range, direction, or relative orientation.
Location and mapping is a fundamental problem in mobile robotics. While a robot navigates in an unknown environment, it must incrementally build a map of its surroundings and, at the same time, localize itself within that map. One popular solution is to use Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms, treat localization and mapping as an estimation problem and apply a Kalman filter.
As will be disclosed below, the present invention supplies technology components that can supply target range and bearing information to a SLAM algorithm using a very compact, low-power sensor. Further, the disclosed design allows the range of the sensor to be extended at the expense of spatial resolution in cases where the range from sensor to target is too great for the sensor to operate normally.
Flash LIDAR, which illuminates a scene using a single laser pulse that is optically spread to cover the field of view of a gated focal plane array, outputs an image in which each pixel is labeled with both brightness and range. This ability to simultaneously range to all objects in a scene is extremely useful for unmanned ground vehicles as well as for general reconnaissance and surveillance.
The alternative to Flash LIDAR is a scanning LIDAR. This uses a pencil laser beam with a single sensor and a moving mirror assembly that scans the beam across the scene. Aside from the potential difficulties with rapidly moving parts, the fact that all pixels in a scene are sampled sequentially can lead to distortion or misperception if there is relative motion between the sensor and all or part of the scene.
A major drawback to the use of flash LIDAR is that the spreading of the illuminating laser beam introduces a quadratic fall-off in illumination with range. In a GPS-Denied Navigation activity for dismounted troops, the range of the flash LIDAR is limited due to the requirement that the LIDAR be body-worn. Both available battery power and heat that must be dissipated from the unit contribute to this restriction. Heretofore, it has been necessary to sacrifice field of view by using longer focal length optics on the flash LIDAR in order to achieve acceptable range for a man-worn system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,746, issued to R. Stettner, et al., entitled "3-D Imaging Multiple Target Laser Radar," assigned to Advanced Scientific Concepts, Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., discloses a device which uses a single pulse from a pulsed light source to detect objects which are obscured by camouflage, fog or smoke but otherwise enveloped by a light-transmitting medium. The device simultaneously operates in two modes, light reflected from the nearest object is processed to form a three-dimensional image by an array of pixels. This first image is based upon the light-pulse transit time recorded in each pixel. Each pixel also contains a high-speed analog memory that sequentially stores reflected signals at a repeated time interval. The first reflection acts as a time base that controls when the analog memory begins or ends the storage sequence. The first return could be from a camouflage net and the amplitudes of the return signals, after the first return, would then be from objects behind the net. Computer processing these amplitudes reveals the three-dimensional nature of the obscured objects. The device consists of the pulsed light source, optics for collecting the reflected light, a sensor for detecting the light and converting it to electrical data, drive and output electronics for timing and signal conditioning of data generated by the sensors and a computer for processing the sensor data and converting it to a three dimensional image. The sensor collects and processes the light data in a unique manner, first converting it to electricity by a number of alternate detector technologies and then using integrated circuit chips which consist of a two dimensional array of electronic pixels also called unit cells. The two dimensional array defines two dimensions of the image. Stored within each unit cells is data associated with the third dimension, ranges of targets, and amplitudes of target reflections. This data are read out of the integrated circuit chip in the time interval between laser pulses to a processing computer. The processing computer corrects the data and, by means of computer algorithms specific to the device, converts the data to a three-dimensional image of one or more targets. This image may be viewed or processed electronically to isolate targets.
Other Advanced Scientific Concepts, Inc. assigned patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,133,989, 5,696,577, and 5,446,529.
None of the aforementioned references provide an efficient flash LIDAR system for laser range finding that is particularly suitable for man worn applications.

Laser range finding system using variable field of illumination flash lidar


An apparatus for holding and organizing artist supplies includes a base having two legs and a ground-engaging surface; a handle extending between the legs of said base; and, a holder including a plurality of plates with long edges and being connected to each other at such long edges, at least one of the plates being immovably connected to and between the two legs a distance above the ground-engaging surface. At least one of the plates defines a plurality of variously sized holes sized to receive and hold a plurality of variously sized paint brushes.

Artists use a wide variety of equipment and supplies including paint bushes, paints, charcoals, chalks, water and the like. Organization of such items is often lacking, making it difficult, for example, to find a right brush when needed. When more than one artist are sharing equipment or supplies, a lack or organization of the equipment further compounds the problem. What is needed is an improved apparatus for holding, storing and organizing artist supplies.

Apparatus for holding and organizing artist supplies